ANDY O’DONNELL AND THE MILLS SISTERS KNOW, THERE’S ‘ALWAYS A WAY ‘

Andy clearly enjoying hisself in the role of Musical Director.

This is a song inspired by a Keb Mo concert Ken and Susie and Pete and Penny saw and absolutely dug at The Corner Hotel in Richmond ( Melbourne ) way back in 2012. Keb and his band absolutely cooked, and oodles of good vibes radiated from the stage.......the best of the human spirit conveyed through top notch music! Right there and then Pete decided to write a song that paid homage to Keb and his abundance of positive values. 

After the initial lyrics were down on paper, Pete, Neil, and Kevin Breeze started kicking some musical ideas around. The song seemed determined to head off in a funky Motown direction. Fine by us. Before long we had a strong sense of what we wanted to do, so Pete and Kev laid down the basic drum and bass grooves, and Neil added some simpatico guitar and keyboard licks. 

At around this point, Pete decided to ask Andy O’Donnell if he might be interested to sing the song. The sort of karma that the song is all about came good – Andy agreed. Yay ! Pete was absolutely stoked and asked Andy to also put his considerable musical experience into steering the song in the right direction. 

Enter Andy, Musical Director! Andy suggested a couple of changes to the arrangement and laid down his vocal lines. 

Well shoot.......who wouldn’t?  

Then, Andy figured the song was just begging for some funky backing vocals. Well we knew that Stacey, Patricia and Phoebe Mills, who sing together in the Ruby Thursday vocal ensemble, could cut the mustard big time, so we invited them to come on down to The Shed. With Andy directing, the girls came up with a bunch of sassy refrains that fitted like a silk glove. 

Brother Ken was busily figuring just what sort of percussion bits and pieces might add the right icing to the cake. We put the Backing Vocals and Ken’s tasty percussion chops down. Sounded Goood. We had the makings. 

Neil gathered all the bits and pieces together and scurried off to mix it all down. After a few collective listens, suggestions, fidgets and re-listens we figured we had it in the bag. 

So HERE it is. The making of this song was a perfect reflection of the karmic promise of the lyrics. Pete is seriously humbled by the goodwill of all the fine people who generously devoted their time and energy to creating this song. 

Heartfelt thanks to............ 

Andy O’Donnell for his super vocals and creative direction 

Stacey, Phoebe and Patricia Mills for their classy backing vocals 

Ken Vatcher for his perfectly placed percussion chops 

Neil Porter for all the fine recording and production work, and for his fab guitar and keyboard work (and the "Horns Of A Dilemma" section)

Kevin Breeze for his brilliant bass lines 

Peter Reid wrote the song, played the drums, then sat back and watched in awe as everybody put their stamps on the final product. Enjoy the peace and love brothers and sisters !!! 

Instant karma’s gonna get you !