I remember it was December of 2002 and I was planning on going to a big concert where a bunch of HK Christian artists were going to be performing, and in anticipation I decided to pick up Frances' most-recent-at-the-time CD entitled "Overdos" (sic -- it's the Swedish word). I'd never heard anything about her but had noticed her CD several times at local shops, and was curious to know what she sounded like. 

Wow. It took about 10 seconds of the first track to know that she was head and shoulders above anyone else in HK doing their own music. Not like I'm some expert or anything, but I've played on enough stuff to know when someone knows their stuff, you know?

And I'm telling you, Frances knows her stuff. 

She has an AMAZING voice -- she can cover so much ground, from angelic gentleness to hard-edged bite, and in fact my favorite thing is where she really pushes her voice almost beyond where she should, but still keeps it under control. I don't know how she does that, but it sounds so raw and sweet at the same time -- just fantastic. And the thing is, she's not just good compared to Christian artists -- she smokes just about everybody in town putting out their own music!! Seriously... 

So I instantly became a "fan" and began wishing (and praying) that I might have a chance to work with her somehow, sometime... 

Okay, fast forward about 9 months, and another of my friends, John Laudon (who Frances introduced me to in the first place), is producing the title track for a new six-song EP Frances is putting together (to eventually be called "Vanilla Me"). 
  

Well, okay, it was just one track on the EP, but still, I'm pretty excited about it. Keep in mind that I basically hadn't done any serious playing at ALL for over two years, other than a bit of recording with my friend Chris Carder when I was home in August. I mean, I don't really "practice" or anything (SHAME on me!), so I really do mean I hadn't even HELD a bass more than a few minutes for the last two years!! So I was feeling VERY stiff when we tracked the part (more stiff than I wanted John to know -- "oh, yeah, I'm fine, I always like to cramp up my fingers like this, helps me get into it"... ahem... ). 

But what a blast! I miss that so much -- being in the studio, working on great music with great people... It's been one of the hardest things for me to give up by being here in HK. And what's funny is that I know pretty much NO ONE that knows me here (in HK) can understand how much playing I used to do, how much it was a part of my life, all the crazy gigs I've done, all the TV shows and concerts and festivals I've played in over the years... Wow, they just know me as the lousy Engrish teacher...

Vanilla Me is the name of the CD, and I think it sounds great -- the more I listen, the more I appreciate it. 

Frances wrote most of the songs (the words, anyway), and she even did all the artwork in the CD. With no record label involvement, this is TRULY an independent release -- but it can float with the big boys, trust me. I admit I don't really know her that well, in fact we've only met and spoken a few times, but from what I can tell she is a genuinely nice person, and everyone tells me her lyrics are very cool... which is good to hear, since I can't read or understand Chinese, and with a title like "Vanilla Me" there was always the possibility that I was playing on a song about ice cream. 

(In fact, the song title comes from the concept of "vanilla branding" where a product is made with no name on it, and whoever distributes it puts THEIR name on it -- the product isn't worth ANYTHING until the big company puts its name on there. So she sings about how SHE is worth nothing without Jesus -- it may sound corny the way I just tried to explain it, but of course when SHE tells it, it sounds all deep and spiritual -- I wish I weren't such a dork so I could help you see that it's a pretty cool idea).