Things the Tangent have written about:

Here are five topics about which the Tangent have written songs over the years. We'll have more to see here in the coming weeks

Getting Lost

Andy apparently likes to get lost. He actually "suffers" from a condition where he finds it very difficult to be lost (shared by his son) because for some bizarre reason he is very good at working out where he is in relation to the Sun, Stars and compass points.  He has apprently "A Road Map Of Europe In His head" and once rode a motorcycle from Toulouse in Southern France to Malmo in Sweden, passing though 6 countries. He did it without a GPS unit or a road atlas. He didn't get lost, but got hit by a lorry instead and still got to Jonas' front door in Malmo without using so much as a street plan with his motorcycle held together with bungees. The song GPS Culture on "Place In The Queue" relates to this of course.  Both Andy and James Tillison actually enjoy being lost when possible, and it's easiest in Big Cities where man made objects block the sky. The Songs "Lost In London" (parts 1 & 2 -albums "Place In The Queue" - "Not As Good as The Book" respectively), "Perdu Dans Paris" (from "Down & Out In Paris & London) and "Jinxed In Jersey" (this latter from the album Auto Reconnaissance) are all little travelogues covering sights seen and people met on these occasions.

The Death Of Margaret Thatcher

This was the subject of the song "Lost In Ledston" from the fan album "L'Etagere Du Travail". At around the time of Mrs Thatcher's death Andy visited the small village of Ledston Luck in Yorkshire, a village that had lost its industry and had been "back ruralised" as a high property value commuter village for the West Yorkshire Metropolis. The song notes that Thatcher herself died in the luxury of the Ritz Hotel in London, and asks what happened to the Miners who used to live and work in the village before Mrs Thatcher's government destroyed that particular industry. The song does not in any way gloat about or celebrate Mrs Thatcher's death, just wistfully observes that the media was all over the story with stories oif her conquests while no-one actually really knows where the true residents of Ledston Luck are.

Aging Bikers

Andy IS an aging biker and he wanted a chance to sing about adventures on the road. Although as with many British bikers, the roads are not as iconic in the UK as they are on say Route 66. He wrote the song "Bat Out Of Basildon" on the album "Not As Good As The Book) as a set of fond memories of visiting Ian Oakley (the band's manager) in Essex - and also as a lament that there were not many new biker songs since the days of "Born To Be Wild"

The fate of World War Two Veterans

The character "Earnest" is a real person who Andy met at Otley Amateur Radio Society. Combined with several other real life characters (including a Luftwaffe pilot, a real life member of The Dambusters crew who Andy met on the radio) the song "In Earnest" (on the album "A Place In The Queue") is an observation of the way we treated people who took immense risks and sacrifices in our recent history, but who, as they grew older, became more ignored and pushed aside.  Two sides of the composite "Earnest" character also appear in the song "Where Are They Now" from "Down & Out In Paris And London", this song is a series of continuations of earlier stories, and in the case of Earnest he had sadly passed away, undiscovered in his bathtub for three days after he had a stroke.  Meanwhile the Dambuster had had an epiphany on returning to the dam he failed to break.  A third appearance of "Earnest" is on the song "Lie Back and Think Of England" from "Auto Reconnaissance. here Earnest wonders why his exploits and his Spitfire in the war have become icons for the Brexit debate, and wonders how his actions relate to all the hatred that grew in Britain in the past four years. "Is this what I flew for?" he asks.

The Breakdown of  Long Term Relationships

The song "The Full Gamut" from "Not As Good as The Book" is a long and tortured account of the breakup of long term partners Andy and Sam Baine which took place miles from anywhere in Rural France, leaving the two parties highly estranged in their isolated environment.  The song follows the band on tour, sees the disintegration of the relationship both musically and personally. Andy says he has never listened to the piece since the day it was finished. The song "The Sad Story of Lead and Astatine" from the Slow Rust album covers a series of arguments that saw a rift driven between two old friends by political change, a rift that does not seem likely to heal.