Gary here from The Japanese Popstars to give you more of a back ground regarding our exciting new venture with the F1 Team Caterham, so strap in and enjoy the read and excuse the pun.
As with all good stories it is best to start at the beginning. It was around 65 million years ago that ancient alien theorists believe...Sorry was distracted there...
The idea was the brain child of our Manager Matt Stuart. I would call it (cue ego stroking) a stroke of genius on his part and we are lucky to have him as he is a manager who likes to think out side the box and try far fetched ideas that may or may not come off.
Thankfully this has.
The vision that Matt dreamed of was to have the engine sounds from a F1 race car used in our music and hopefully to have our name on the car too, you see not really overly ambitious at all, yet here I am already regaling the tale to you.
So...Matt commenced his quest and whistefully approached Team Caterham who seemed interested in a meeting at least, a solid positive step.
After a somewhat successful first meeting explaining his wild vision, Matt used his boyish Liverpool Charm and secured a second slightly more glamourous meeting with myself and the rest of the Band, Gareth and Decky and not to forget Jason Ellis from our label EMI.
The location, Monza Milan.
The timing couldn't have been better as not only was the sun shining, it was also Matt's Birthday and we were also there to play a gig for Milan Fashion week. Things were...ahem...definitely shifting up a gear.
From the meeting it was easy to see individually and collectively Team Caterham share the same passion and openness and a great attitude to their work.
Tom the communications director who was looking after us thankfully likes his dance music a lot and had even purchased our debut album We Just Are all on his lonesome. It felt like one of those things happening for a reason type moments in a good way.
We shared stories and experiences over lunch and chatted about Matt's (cue more ego stroking) genius idea, we knew then we might have a chance just to clinch this.
We then met the rest of the lovely Caterham Team and to got a taste of what F1 is really all about from the best seats in town. It was like the best school trip/vacation ever.
Unfortunately we were unable to stay and watch the race but we did manage just a few sneaky pics of the car and the drivers etc, would have been rude not to.
Chapter 2
The next step was to secure the engine noises and set to work on the track. Gareth took the reins and lead the charge on this one. It was definitely a challenge though selecting the correct parts to use and to fit in to the music. We could have chose a few different directions to go in, but decided to find a balance between the raw sounds of the car and the raw sounds in our music with a sprinkle of euphoria was the best approach.
We wanted to write something that would maybe work visually too and so we emailed the 2011 Team Lotus promo video for inspiration, needless to say it worked a treat. Note: Team Lotus was Caterham's previous name.
As we worked on the music our label and Caterham set to work on an agreement and a plan of action that would accommodate every one. This all relied though on the music being delivered and accepted, so there was 'no pressure' what so ever, not one incey wincey bit.
The Bespoke piece of music was completed early in 2012 and we awaited the word from our labe and Team Caterham...thankfully they loved it. Although there were a few small bits and bobs to tie up but it was fantastic to hear their response and at this point we felt we were in pole position.
Following on from this we were invited to Jerez for the testing of the new car for the 2012 Season and some interviews and promo shots which was again an unbelievable experience.
Best School vacation just got bettered as we were taken around the race track in the world renowned Caterham Super 7 and we were allowed to drive one. It was fantastic fun.
This time we chatted more in depth to Heiki Koverlinen (main driver for the team) who revealed he was a drummer and I think at this point Matt had a power surge in his head, too many light bulbs and it was only a matter of time before the chat came about Heiki playing drums on our music, another great idea, so watch this space.
But to top it all off was seeing the name of our band in the cockpit of the car. We had finally crossed the finish line.
We also got a closer look and even jokingly pretended to polish it for some of the photographs.
Matt was obviously beaming with joy and suprisingly a bit speechless at this point as we all were. It is definitely one of the highlights I think we have all ever experienced and a some what priceless one at that.
Myself, Gareth and Deck can't thank Matt all at Team Caterham and also Jase from our label enough.
Caterham's approach to F1 is new and unique and we are very much glad to be involved and apart of this special venture. I hope we can build on our new relationship and move this forward for as long as possible