One of my very good friends is a Singer/Songwriter Named Iain Archer.Originally from Belfast (now Living in London), Iain is one ofthe smartest and sweetest guys I've met. His songs are like reflections of self...sometimes troubled, sometimes tossing and turning, sometimes looking up in childlike amazement -dizzy. But the songs i love the most are tender and sweet, simple and ringing. They make me want to pick up my own guitar and write and go to that place of songs. Iain and I met around five years ago when I was first living in England and recording a recordwith my band at the time -Birthday. The Band had just signed our first big Record deal and we were living in a large house in the English country side -A place called "Jacobs Studios" (No relation to me). We were working upwards of12-hours a day recording what was supposed to be our debut record. Spending overa hundred thousand British pounds of our labels money on this doomed recording.This may sound like a fairy tale situation, but the band had become increasingly fragmented.It was hard for us to even be in the same room together. All and all the pressurefor perfection was eating me up.It was the middle of the summer when England has it's wonderful music festivals and i needed to blow off some steam. The engineer at the session had managedto score the band some nice grass. So i packed up my notebook and rolling papersand hopped on a train to the W2 music festival.After getting a much needed dose of West Coast Hip Hop courtesy of the amazing - 'Jurassic five', I decided to go stand in line to see the flaming Lips. David Kosten, who was producing Birthday, had played me a bit of the Soft bulletin. I had liked what i heard, but I didn't really know what to expect. I decided to roll myself a huge spliff to smoke in line while waiting for the show. Standing there I released I was getting way too stoned -This shit must have come from Damon Albarn's personal secret Gorillaz stash -cause I was pretty lit. So i turned around to the friendly looking couple behind me and asked if they'd like to share. I think they thought I was a bit loony at first, but after a minute or two the guy said with a friendly chuckle "Ah, what the hell!"We shared the joint and a good conversation. The couple was Iain Archerand his lovely wife Miriam. I got a good vibe from them right away. We went into the show and in the company of only a few hundred others,witnessed the Lips play a mind blowing set of epic orchestral psychedelic rock.It was a truly transcendent Rock n Roll experience- Where you're laughing and then crying, then both at the same time. Where you remember that you and as Wayne Coyne says - "Everyone you Know some day will die." and that life is fucking precious! That sort of reminder to really dive in and swim around and yes maybe getcut up a bit along the way, but at least you aimed for something.That show was a major catharsis for me and my new friends, We drove back to London all of us in a wonderfully optimistic and open state. Recharged and re-Imagined, Iain and I stayed up the whole night singing songs for one another and diving into each others belief systems with such ridiculous questions like:"Iain tell me about - "Hall and Oats"."Jacob tell me about - "My bloody Valentine" "Iain tell me about - "God only Knows""Jacob tell me about - "Low"Silly and great questions that can really tell you a lot about someone and how they see the world. It was the first of many famous nights spent singing and talking sometimes about incredibly deep shit and other times just absolute drunken silliness. All the while laughing and crying and being boys. Iain, who has also played guitar for the band "Snow Patrol", Has just releasedhis second proper record. It's called - Magnetic North. I had the honer of playingpiano on the song "full of holes". The record was produced by -David Kosten aka Faultline and was recorded at "Jacobs Studios" Where I was recording when I first met Iain. cheers,Jacob golden