Cyclists record music album inspired by their travels to Tokyo

Two friends from Hackney have cycled more than 25,000km to Japan to record a music album and raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society in memory of their grandmothers who suffered from the disease.

Adam Faulkner, 32, and Tim Stephens, 31, set off in March last year and last week arrived in Tokyo.

They travelled through 26 countries on their 14 month trip, and started recording a music album with the new instruments they encountered along the way.

“Every country has got different sounds and we tried to record as many as we can, but we also collaborated and made tracks with people right there and then. We’ve still got people sending us stuff they want to put on one of our tracks,” said Adam.

“You get a real mix, drummers, vocalists, instruments I’ve never even heard of, it’s really raw. You have this sound bank of unique sounds no-one else really has. It’s like a musical pilgrimage,” he said.

The friends, who play electronic music in their spare time, now hope to turn their music into an album to raise more money for the charity. Tim said: “The plan is now we’ve done this, we’re gonna spend the summer finishing this album because you need a studio to do it, you can’t do it on a bike.

“We’re coming back and spending the summer playing at festivals in the UK and in Europe, and hopefully by the end of the year we will have the album finished, and the film finished and can release all those things.”

Speaking about the musical connection to his grandmother, Adam added: “My nan loved music and specifically Frank Sinatra, and it always took her back. I could see it had an effect on her no matter ill or how much she was suffering. That always put some light in her eyes. If you want to be philosophical there's something very powerful about music that transcends that condition.”

Explaining the challenges of the trip, he said: “Every day you get that little bit further away from your house, and for the first month you’re just like, where am I going? You’re waking up in a different place every night. It just takes a while to get used to it when you’re a bit displaced.

It's gonna be really nice arriving back in the UK and I’m looking forward to seeing the family.”

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