Bettysoft started as a joke. You could say it still is. But I don't think there are many jokes that have lasted for 10 years.

It was probably about 2003 that Ross and I first got together to record something. Originally we just did bad karaoke - most of which I think was either lost or deleted due to embarrassment. Fining Of Your Face Fast is from that period. Those days were punctuated by beach parties, house parties and GCSE revision.

My Guitar Is Out Of Tune was one of the tracks that was deleted, but we were pleased enough with that song to re-record it a little later in 2007. Having to re-record it also provided us with the influence for a new song, Tune. The sound of Ross's terrapin aquarium in the background is even more pronounced when you hear it looped over and over again. It sounded to me a little like helicopter blades, hence the helicopter noise in the middle of the song.

Both MGiooT and Tune were re-recorded again in 2008, when we had access to the studios of Surge radio at Southampton University. That was also the place we recorded Eight Bells and The Vibe, as well as the place where I would record Shoots & Roots in February 2009.

Songs from our most recent effort, Deep In The Hills, were all written and recorded in the middle of St. Catherine's Hill in Christchurch on a little Dictaphone - the bangs that you can hear in Running Up The Hill are actually gun shots from the nearby firing range.

I began writing my own songs in about 2002 or 2003, not long after I got my first guitar, but it wasn't until 2008 that I first recorded and released anything (Katie, recorded for a friend's birthday). I also attempted the RPM Challenge (see www.rpmchallenge.com) in February 2008 but it was only the 2009 challenge that actually resulted in an album. Ghosts, Clockwork and One Last Fiver all come from that album, a 10-track adventure loosely based around the theme of change and clumsily arranged into a story of sorts.

And with The Steam Engine Song this compilation has been bought right up to the present. Whether you're reliving the memories or hearing this all for the first time, I hope you get some form of enjoyment from this lovingly amassed pile of crap.

LOTS OF CHRISTMAS LOVE,

MR PAUL C. KIDDLE BSc (Hons)



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Seahorse Project are Ross Williams and Paul Kiddle.
Music from a Tiny Island is Paul Kiddle.
Track 15 (The Vibe) features Simon Bevis as the vibe.

Tracks 1, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 recorded at Surge radio studios, Southampton
Tracks 4, 9 and 13 recorded at St. Catherine's Hillywood studios.