About the Sex Drugs & HIV project
I started the Sex Drugs and HIV project in 1995 when I decided to record a charity album involving many of my friends and musicians that I'd met on the road. I had the idea to record an album with different musicians on each track, it originally was only meant to be 1 album but the project grew and more & more people wanted to get involved so it is now a double CD, 40 songs, 20 songs on each album which all join up together. The first recording session was 6th November 1995 and after 15 years, many recording sessions and 215 musicians later the album was finished.
Diagnosed with HIV in 1989, I wanted to bring awareness to the stigma surrounding HIV & AIDS and to what it was like being diagnosed with HIV as a teenage boy. The doctors had given me around 5 years to live when I was diagnosed so I really didn't think I had long to live when I started to record the big music project. I had a catalogue of songs that I'd written over the years with various styles and these became the template for the Sex Drugs and HIV album.
Inspired by Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells album I wanted to join all the songs together so the album was a continuous piece of music. With no gaps between the songs the dynamics of the album take you on a musical journey.
Most of the album was recorded at Dave Goodman’s 'Mandala Studios' in Gipsy Hill, London. Dave was known for his work with the Sex Pistols as their sound man, producing 'Spunk' and 'The Great Rock n Roll Swindle' albums. I'd worked with Dave before when he produced two Chelsea albums I'd played on, also two Splodge albums. I liked the way Dave worked in the studio, we were close buddies and Dave believed in my crazy idea to record an album with over 200 musicians.
Mat Sargent
