If there is one phrase to describe Diamanda it's 'larger than life'. Everything about her is dramatic from her long black hair and blue tinted glasses, her loud and throaty laugh and e-hem, colourful language. Within five minutes of arriving, she was off, ranting and raving about the sexual machinations of some artist or other "I sorted that f***er out, I said I'll f*** you right in the f***in ass, you f***in son of a b*tch" and vocalising her dislike of another....."That f***in b*tch, she's a pile of f***in s**t....and another thing..." etc, etc....


Naturally, she and Paris became the best of friends and spent a great deal of time rumaging through her airport purchases and painting their toenails many different colours.


In the studio, Alan knew instantly why he'd wanted to work with Diamanda for so many years, when she hit notes that one would only expect to hear from a man with electrodes attached to his toilet parts. She contributed a full vocal to what Alan has described as a "bluesy, southern voodoo groove thang" entitled 'Strange Hours' and additional vocals on 'Jezebel' and 'Vertigen'. Possessing a range of almost 4 octaves, considerable recording experience and a great sense of humour, the session produced a diverse and eclectic selection of material for Alan, Hep and PK to sift through.


"Diamanda and I had been aquainted for a long time but we'd never really got to know one another. I'd always wanted the opportunity to work with a fully trained, classical singer and Diamanda has an extraordinary and unique range of singing styles. I had 2 tracks specifically in mind for her. When it came to the session, she was a consummate professional, to the point where she not only rested her voice the night before but also spent an hour in the studio bathroom warming up prior to recording - much to the bemusement of a local neighbour who bizarrely likened the sound to "an NCP carpark goin' off...." ??


Diamanda tends to work very much off the cuff and didn't come to the session with much prepared. This was fine by me as I wanted her to mainly ad-lib, so we just put her in front of the mic and let her go, again recording everything directly to hard disk. As each take was completely different to the previous one, this approach also meant I could compile all the choicest moments from the various takes."