Starsailor Sacked 'Strange' Spector

British band STARSAILOR sacked eccentric pop producer Phil Spector because he was too strange.

The rockers tempted former Beatles producer Spector out of retirement to work on their new album SILENCE IS EASY, just weeks before he was arrested for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson at his Los Angeles home in February (03) - and they found the experience an odd one.

Spector insisted on carrying a talking clock everywhere he went and was so distant at times, bassist JAMES STELFOX resorted to playing his guitar with his penis during recording sessions - in a bit to attract the legend's attention.

Stelfox says of his studio stunt, "It was hardly worth it. Phil was off in his own world. He never saw a thing."

Frontman James Walsh adds, "For a while we went along with his ideas mostly because of who he was.

"We really wanted to believe that what we were going to experience with him would be incredible - life-changing, even."

But his strange behaviour left them with no choice but to fire him.

Walsh continues, "We never found out what was wrong with him. He was never angry, just absent. He would go off in a trance and we couldn't get him back."