Over the years, I’ve often recorded one, or even two, cover songs as part of a set of songs. Sometimes that’s been to generate some inspiration, sometimes to test a new recording setup, sometimes as a challenge — as in “can I do it?” — and of course sometimes just for fun.

Mostly they’re from some of my favourite bands over my lifetime, so unfortunately yes, there’s a fair bit of dad rock here. Still, there are a few less obvious highlights that I really love and would flag. “The Silence” by Gamma Ray is not well known by most, and that band — the formative Helloween — has largely disappeared since the early 90s, but it’s a great song and was a real challenge to record.

In a similar vein, “Welcome to Dying” by Onslaught is not a well-known track, but it’s something I loved as a teenager, so I wanted to do a cover. Another final highlight for me is “The Eve of the War” from Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds — I’ve always loved that album.