Butcher Boy 'So Far So What?'

'So Far So What?' is taken from 'You Had A Kind Face' an anthology including three brand new songs, out 15th April on Needle Mythology. 180gm Gatefold sleeve + 7" / CD + EP download card / Digital: https://orcd.co/yhakf “So Far So What?” was written by our friend Keith Martin. Keith was one of the first people I played music with. He insisted bands needed a drummer, and he indulged me by becoming the first drummer for Butcher Boy in 2000. We played music with one another in the years after this, in different permutations, and in 2003 we were playing together again in a band Keith had assembled for a batch of songs he had written (with Keith playing guitar and singing, me on bass, Andy Kerr on lead guitar and Tam McGurk drumming). One of Keith’s new songs was “So Far So What?”, a tribute to his friend Larry Rhodes who had died in December the previous year. It was immediately clear to me that this song was special. It was tender and stoic and joyous and sad. I loved it. However, the song was never formally recorded. All I had was Dictaphone tape from a Saturday afternoon practice in Keith’s flat on Westmoreland Street. Keith formed another band (M-26-7) about a year later, with Andy on guitar again, me on bass again, and Findlay joining on drums (it was Keith who introduced me to Findlay, and to Basil, and to Robert). We recorded some songs this time, but “So Far So What?” didn’t make it across. Keith would occasionally play it late at night when there was a guitar nearby, but ultimately it stayed where it was – Keith’s song for Larry. I thought about it a lot. Keith received a cancer diagnosis in September 2017 and passed away a year later. We spoke about “So Far So What?” a few weeks before he died. I asked Keith if the band could record the song for him, and he said we could, and this is what we did. Keith was in love with people and their stories – he understood what you needed in a friend and he was that friend to you. Just last week I thought, disbelievingly, that there was a time in living memory I could meet up with Keith on a Friday night and go to the RAFA Club on Ashley Street, and we could dance and talk in the dusty corners. Keith seemed like the centre of everything. He was the single greatest influence on me in my adult life, but he was that, and even more, to many other people too. This is our tribute to him, and to Larry. John Blain Hunt, Butcher Boy * Words and music by Keith Martin/Butcher Boy Recorded by Brian McNeill, 2020 Butcher Boy are: Maya Burman-Roy, Alison Eales, Fraser Ford, Garry Hoggan, John Blain Hunt, Findlay Mackinnon, Basil Pieroni, Cat Robertson, Robert Spark Video by Scott Rowley * There was a time when we were tame Before the knife Before the graze When you were good enough To recognise my name But how the lonely years have pounded us And it’s a crying shame That there are shadows where you’d lie Why are you trying to hide? I can’t explain why we’re not the same Our voices change every day What are we trying to say? How did we get so lost? So far so what? I painted my hand carnation red I knelt down into the sand I touched the things you left And when I was sure enough I recognised my place You let me dream about a gentle kiss Upon a gentle face But there are shadows where you’d lie Why are you trying to hide? I can’t explain why we’re not the same Our voices change every day What are we trying to say? How did we get so lost? So far so what?