Movember – the national moustache growing mission held each November to raise funds and promote awareness of men’s health has been one of the most successful campaigns ever and there have been many Chorleywood Movember fundraisers hosted by Phil Williams, most recently at Rootz, and always involving the singing of the anthem, Curl a Mo. The song, written by musician Mick Flinn, has just been released worldwide as a charity track having been skilfully produced by top music producer Andy Wright at his London studio.
Mick, who was the lead singer / bass player of pop group The Mixtures in the 70s, is no stranger to making records and recognised that his song needed updating.
“I decided to release Curl a Mo after encouragement from the Movember charity.” says Mick, “but realised I couldn’t just put the old demo out and so asked for Andy Wright’s help – Andy is a great friend, incredibly knowledgeable and has worked with so many top names like The Eurythmics, Simply Red, Simple Minds, Jeff Beck, Pavarotti and Imelda May, and has a sixth sense when it come to producing music for today’s audience”
The song lyrics spelling out the male issue, including the hook line ‘I am sending out a message to men of a certain age’, were penned by Mick to his own guitar riff,
“When I was in my twenties in Australia a clairvoyant predicted that a song called ‘Curl the Mo’ would be important. The action was used to mean ‘everything is going to be alright’ and I thought nothing more of it until 45 years later, I had a conversation with the chairman of our local prostate charity FOPS who told me about Movember and that’s when the penny dropped and I wrote the song called “Curl a Mo for Movember” for a good reason! Men are not good at going to the doctors and should be aware of early symptoms. The words of the song get the message over fast.”
“I liked the lyrics and loved the song” says Andy, “Mick called me and asked how I would fit it in with contemporary radio. I told him I would like to produce the song, Mick is used to performing, editing and evaluating music. Producing is different, it’s based on equipment and using it well, it’s about how the chords are married to the melody. We look to improve the song and fit it in with everything around. I compare the musician and producer to a dressmaker and stylist – the dressmaker has amazing skills but a stylist can make a person look amazing in the dress. We can definitely make improvements but it has to be there in spirit in the first place.”
“I’d written the song in an old fashioned style” says Mick, ”Andy used the same melody but with different chords and they fitted better for 2016.”
“I know roughly where radio’s at” adds Andy, “changes I made were mostly to do with the size of the sound. Now it’s more of a sparse, acoustic sound with lots of space for the vocals to resonate. Mick has written a winner, his band are all great musicians who have a good synergy, are positive and open to instruction. Between us all I feel we have made a first class record.”
Find Curl a Mo lyrics at www.chorleywoodmagazine.co.uk
Download Curl a Mo by The Mick Flinn Band from iTunes, Amazon and all other download sites. All proceeds to Movember and the Prostate UK charity.
The Mick Flinn Band and special guests are holding a spectacular Movember evening at My Generation Club in Sandy Lodge Golf Club on 22 November, £30 a head including a meal. Profits to Movember charity . Book from Sandy Lodge 01923 825429