Alan comments: "This whole experiment to try and get a different starting point for the album was an interesting exercise but I wouldn't say it was 100% successful since it was quite expensive and much of the material wasn't really different enough to do anything with. I ended up using quite a lot of Monty's drums and some of the more special moments from Merlin but Norman, despite being technically proficient , was too complicated a bass player for my taste. Dean, on the other hand, is the complete opposite - very straightforward and to the point, with a great feel. He has the ability to make the most basic line sound really sexy, just with a simple slide."

The first collaborative session for 'Liquid' took place in the Spring of '98 and involved recording rhythm tracks for source material. Drummer Steven Monty, bassist Norman Wattroy and guitarist Merlin Rhys-Jones were invited to The Thin Line: "I asked them to jam through a whole range of different styles and tempos. We recorded 2 and a half hours of material before transferring everything into ProTools."


Ultimately, Alan used none of Norman's bass, preferring instead to commandeer the services and unique style of Curve's Dean Garcia, who descended upon the Wilder residence with his entire family in tow - a wife, 2 children and an enormous collection of Beanie Babies (we're still finding the little bastards in strange places to this day). After improvising along to a couple of specific songs, his recordings were chopped up and rearranged to be used as additional bass parts on several different tracks.