City of Lovers
A new single has brought together a diverse band of Bond fans, with music by Chris Wood, fashion videography by Spencie d’Entremont and artwork by Billy Robertson. They told me about their creative choices and how connecting with other Bond fans is helping them during lockdown. Their project also inspired me to create a brand new cocktail which you can find the recipe for below.
Watch the City of Lovers single on YouTube:
Bond fans coming together in a challenging time
Sublime music, high fashion and striking art design have always been integral to the appeal of Bond. Although it’s a global phenomenon that attracts millions, everyone has their individual take on what makes it tick for them. And everyone has their own way of responding to it. The vacuum created by No Time To Die’s delayed release has led to a proliferation of every kind of creative endeavour imaginable. Although I had been hovering on the periphery of Bond fandom for some time, it wasn’t until I started Licence To Queer in April 2020 and started interacting more with the community that I realised quite how lucky Bond is to have such creative, passionate and talented fans.
Chris Wood, the man behind the music, is equally enthusiastic:
“City of Lovers been a really rewarding piece to work on and I’ve made some fantastic friends along the way - I’d like to think that this is what it must have been like to be in a fan club in the 60s or 70s with other like minded fans all sharing bits and pieces and delving into the minutiae of one thing in particular.
“Social media gets a bad rap (and often rightly so) but I have to say that the conversation that revolves around Bond is so positive and really is a demonstration as to how social media can be used to connect people for good.”
Perhaps we’ve been forging more connections online because we have not been able to do so face-to-face. Lockdown has been a tough time for everyone and everyone has found a different way to cope with the uncertainty. Personally, I started Licence To Queer because I was working longer hours than I would usually and find it impossible to switch off. Rather than switch off, I switched my brain onto something else, investing any of my leftover creative energy in a project I’d had circulating in my mind for the best part of a decade.
Chris has similar feelings: “I work in a sales environment which often brings its own stress and pressure with it so delving into James Bond is a lovely release for me after a tough day at work.”
In May 2020, Chris started an Instagram account, BondonVinyl.
“It all stemmed from listening to James Bond Radio’s ‘Music of Bond’ episodes with Tom Sears and JW. I had always been into Bond music and when I stumbled on their podcast and heard the enthusiasm coming from both of them I was instantly hooked. Bond music, although extremely well known all over the world, isn’t something that is often discussed or documented. If you take the Beatles for instance, you’ll find hundreds of documentaries, films and podcasts but Bond music is still slightly niche and if you’re looking to get your fix then grainy 90s documentaries on YouTube are pretty much all you’re left with. So stumbling on ‘JBR’ really helped fill that void for me and inspired me to create an Instagram page and share my Bond related record collection.”
Bond meets The Beach Boys and The Beatles:
DO listen without earmuffs
After only a few weeks, Chris was creating his own versions of Bond tracks, and not just the songs. My personal favourite is Chris’s surf guitar-inflected version of John Barry’s theme for Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd. Diamonds Are Forever’s gay hitmen were already cool in my eyes, but Chris’s 1950s/60s version makes them even cooler.
“I am a huge lover of sixties music, Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys being huge influences for me, along with The Beatles (I even had a Beatles themed wedding!). Obviously when you think of Bond music, the first thing that springs to mind for most would be the bombastic brass and lush string arrangements - which I absolutely adore but I felt I wanted to put my own stamp on the tunes and inject some mid-to-late 60s flavour.
“The album that I am taking the most from musically is The Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’ album which is well known for influencing The Beatles to start work on Sgt. Pepper. Pet Sounds featured a group of incredible session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew and it was Brian Wilson's love letter to Phil Spector and his iconic ‘Wall of Sound’.
“I went into my guitar project visualising all of those musicians in my head, crammed into a smokey studio in some LA session and approached it thinking “what would those guys play if they had to create a Bond instrumental album?”. I used guitar effects such as a Leslie Spinning Speaker which really evokes that sixties feel and I used twangy Fender guitars with lots of reverb to give that iconic Vic Flick spy feel.”
The Music
So how did Chris approach City of Lovers, one of the most beloved score tracks on David Arnold’s masterful Casino Royale soundtrack?
“I knew I wanted something romantic and I almost felt ashamed I was even messing with something so beautiful but I thought with the right treatment I could create something different. Water plays a big part in the last third of Casino Royale and I think the guitars do evoke a fluid sound that helps to create the imagery.
“On the track I also used a Mellotron which is another widely used 60s instrument, most notably used on The Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever. Often when you are recording something digitally like I have done, the string and brass emulators that you use can sound very harsh and not very authentic. The Mellotron is an instrument that allows you to assign a piece of tape to each key which represents one note. For instance, you could record each note of a flute and assign each note to a key on the Mellotron so that when you play a key you hear a flute sound.
“The Mellotron has a certain sound to it and never quite sounds like the instrument it's emulating, that’s the charm of it really, it has its own identity so I chose to play the string parts on it which I think helps inject some sixties flavour.
“My version of City of Lovers also features a couple of electric guitars, a bass, vibraphone and minimalistic brass section towards the end of the track which was my ode to John Barry.
“I backed off the lead guitar slightly as I didn’t want it to come across sharp like some of the other tracks. The final version almost sounds Hank Marvin-esque (although completely unintentional). I feel like I’ve achieved what I wanted to with City of Lovers; it's a re-imagination of the song whilst sounding like it has a thin layer of dust on it which is something I always appreciate in music.
The song is just one element in the whole picture though. Chris is quick to point out that it was the “huge input” of his two collaborators on the project that “brought it to life”.
The fashion videography
Spencie d’Entremont is rapidly making a name for herself as the go-to person for Bond girl fashion. I first got to know Spencie myself because of an online Bond event during lockdown, and I wasn’t the only one, as she relates here:
“I connected with Chris Wood through Instagram during the online Bond event, Operation Phoenix. Being mutual fans of all things Bond, a friendship was easily formed. I was drawn to his incredible guitar covers of the film soundtracks, and it seemed like my Bond girl cosplays had caught his eye as well. When Chris approached me with the opportunity to be featured in one of his projects, it was an enthusiastic, yes!
“I can say with conviction that my fascination with the franchise itself is primarily due to the Bond girls. As a child, it was quite exciting to see various strong women from different walks of life accompany Bond in such grandiose adventures, all the while, wearing carefully curated fashion pieces from their respective era of film. The variety of looks and character iconography has inspired my ever-expanding Bond Girl cosplay series.
“While Chris worked on the video that would showcase City of Lovers, my Vesper look was chosen as the focal point to evoke an air of romanticism. Vesper Lynd is such a pivotal and defining character for the Bond franchise. Being able to encapsulate Eva Green’s look for the character is always such fun! When it comes to Bond girls, it is no question that she is one of my personal favourites as well.
“Collaborating on these fun projects with friends does alleviate some of that social lull caused by the lockdown. Working remotely has allowed for a lot more flexibility and free time. Consequently, allowing me to focus my attention on Bond-related hobbies, like corresponding online with fellow enthusiasts, as well as organising more cosplay photoshoots. Likewise, I am always more than happy to lend a hand and contribute to projects organised by some highly creative friends.
“Chris’ vision was for the footage to convey Bond and Vesper on a date, with the [implied] Bond manning the camera. Therefore, I decided to have the footage shot indoors, during the late evening. This would help establish an image of Vesper, playfully sauntering through various rooms and having dinner at a lavish estate. My fashion videography for City of Lovers was filmed at my childhood home since it has a very European chateau feel to its decor. Being able to incorporate aspects of my personal life to Bond projects is incredibly special to me.”
You can read my conversation with Spencie, which features her talking about some of her favourite Bond girl looks, here: https://www.licencetoqueer.com/blog/the-world-deserves-a-transgender-bond-girl
Spencie’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spenciemaria/
The art
‘City of Lovers’ by Billy Robertson
If you’re a fan of Bond, or just great art, and you don’t follow Billy Robertson’s Instagram then you’re missing out. Billy shared with me his approach to the artwork for City of Lovers:
“It was a great honour for me to be asked by Chris to be involved in his City of Lovers project. We’d been talking on Instagram for a while and I loved his channel. Chris is a really talented guitarist and has a great passion for 007 so I’m delighted for him that he’s putting together an album’s worth of Bond surf guitar, starting with David Arnold’s iconic “City of Lovers”. As a guitar player myself, it’s something that really appeals to me. I’m hoping to play some bass guitar on the full album if he’ll allow me the pleasure!
“For me personally, as a big fan of Casino Royale and Bond music in general, this was right up my street. As an artist I wanted to capture the city of Venice in a soothing and relaxing way for the artwork. The track is so beautiful and romantic, I was immediately transported to Venice in my mind when I heard it. I’ve always loved watercolours because of their calming translucent colours and their ability to capture relaxing locations accurately without over-working. As my favourite medium anyway it’s always nice when they just so happen to be the perfect medium for a particular project, and not just because that’s what I enjoy most.
“Obviously it was a joy to paint Chris and Spencie too. They’re a couple of absolute beauties, so it was always going to work well in combination with the gorgeous setting of Venice. They look like something straight out of a Bond film. Spencie’s inner Vesper Lynd shines out so well; it really is a joy to watch.
“I hope it can take people’s minds off the state of affairs in the world right now. It hasn’t been easy, but I feel lucky to have been able to spend more time than normal indulging in painting, drawing and other creative endeavours, so if others can find that escapism through this project that is what it’s all about.”
The cocktail
For my part, I couldn’t resist creating a new cocktail to celebrate the release of City of Lovers.
It made sense to have ingredients representing the characters of Bond and Vesper as well as the Venice location. I took as the basis one of my favourite cocktails: a French 75, traditionally made by combining Champagne with gin, lemon juice and sugar. Like most classic cocktails, its origin is ambiguous and there are competing versions. One has it being named after a piece of heavy artillery used by the French army throughout the First World War: a 75mm canon. Whether this story is apocryphal or not, if you up the gin content, it can certainly pack a punch.
I decided to go with a more romanticised version to fit the characters and the setting, complementing the track, the videography and the artwork.
City of Lovers (makes two)
300ml Prosecco (chilled)
60ml London Dry gin (e.g. Gordon’s).
20ml vodka
10ml vermouth
1 fresh lemon
Make a Vesper Martini and leave it in the shaker. My video shows you how to do this effortlessly, but basically: combine the gin, vodka and vermouth in a cocktail shaker filled with large ice. Stir for around a minute or until the shaker has ice forming on the outside. Even better: put the gin and vodka in the freezer a few hours before (it won’t freeze). This way, you will only need minimal stirring to combine the three ingredients.
Fill two Champagne flutes two thirds full with the chilled Prosecco. Pour in the Vesper Martini, straining it straight from the shaker, sharing it between the two glasses.
And that’s it!
As you’ve probably worked out by now, the Vesper Martini represents both Bond and Vesper (he invents it and names it after her) and the Prosecco represents Venice. All Prosecco comes from the region of Italy where you will also find Venice. In the Vesper Martini itself, Bond is represented by the London Dry gin (Gordon's) of course, combined with the French Lillet Blanc. Vesper’s nationality is left ambiguous in the film but Eva Green is French so it seemed fitting. Plunging the Vesper Martini into the chilled Prosecco is akin to that sublime moment in the film where they arrive in Venice, yachting along the Grand Canal, accompanied by Arnold's unabashedly romantic score.
You may add lemon juice if you wish but I tend to find it a bit overpowering. If the lemon is really fresh all you need is a slice of peel, with the oil expressed.
I have a special connection with Venice. It sounds really cliched but it really is the City of Lovers. 10 years ago I went to Venice with my boyfriend (now husband). It was our first ever holiday together. Did Venice help us to fall even deeper in love? Well, maybe. The Prosecco may have helped. We discovered it's the local beverage drunk by everyone in Venice - even fishermen coming in from the night shift have a glass once they're back on shore. And who can blame them?
Salute!
