Kevin Godley
For much of the 1970s Kevin Godley was one of the most prominent rock musicians in England, along with his 10cc bandmates Lol Creme, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart. Godley was 10cc’s drummer and a collaborative songwriter with bandmate Lol Creme.
In 1977, early into the recording of 10cc’s fifth studio album, Godley & Creme - who had first met at art school at the end of the 1950s - left to pursue more experimental songwriting directions. Experimentation with video during the 10cc period led Godley & Creme to a Grammy Award for Best Music Video for The Police: Synchronicity Concert in 1986. The duo split in 1988 after their album Goodbye Blue Skye.
The 90s and early 2000s saw Godley establish his place as a pioneer of the pop music video, directing for Blur, U2, The Charlatans, Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, Bryan Adams, Keane, Hozier and more.
In July 2017 Kevin posted an invitation on the site PledgeMusic: ‘Write and record with me.’ PledgeMusic was a platform for musicians to connect directly with fans who could pay for music in advance to support the creation of albums. Kevin accepted instrumentals from the general public to which he added vocals and turned into fully arranged songs.
In May 2019, before any money pledged had arrived to support the album, PledgeMusic declared bankruptcy. The state51 Conspiracy contacted Kevin and funded the project so that those who had paid would still be able to listen to the record they were helping to make.
The album marks Kevin’s first time fronting a project. Gun control, societal unrest, racism and questions regarding political correctness make for some of the most striking lyrical content likely heard on an alternative pop record.
