The Welsh Dragon - 26 Feb 2010

Trouble

Portait of the young man as an artist

How do I live (without you)?

Chains to you

I told you brother

I'll wait for you

Old man & the sea

This was a really enjoyable gig & a much needed shot of confidence after my last solo show at San Fran. The venue is a lot smaller & intimate, the people there are quiet & respectful of the performer therefore I was able to sit comfortably & allow the songs to beathe and linger. So much more enjoyable than trying to battle against people that just want to drink & chat. From a performers point of view it's an ideal situation.

I started with a new track called 'Trouble' which is acapella with handclaps. Quite a daunting way to start a show but I really like it & was itching to try it out. There's five verses to get through so I wrote it out beforehand but didn't need it in the end, once it started I flew through it. I think the majority of people didn't really know what was going on but Ange, who had been listening to me write it all week, thought it was cool, so that's good enough for me. The rest of the show went well, I thought I played & sung well because I didn't need to fight against the audience. What a relief! Had one small glich when I had retuned to an open tuning for the slide on "I told you brother". Afterwards when I tried to retune I couldn't find the low E & the more I tried the worse it got.. slightly uncomfortable moment as I flailed about trying to retune.. luckily people amused themselves for the couple of minutes until I got things right & we were away again. Overall it was one of my favourite shows for the intimacy and the allowance to sing & play gently. I'll be happy to play this type of show again if Niels will have me back.

On another note I didn't realise what a cool pub the dragon actually is, it's small & cosy with a really nice atmosphere. Definately recommended to people that haven't checked it out before.

Cheers!

The Late Greats - Mojo Acoustic 12 Feb 2010

Played a cool set with Caleb on Friday night. We play under the name 'The late greats' which is taken from the Wilco track of the same name. It's about the coolest band that no-ones ever heard of, they've never even played a show. It's a take on the whole 'my musical taste is better than yours cause you've never heard of any of the bands I listen too...' attitude.

We played:

If I am a stranger - Ryan Adams

Goin to acapulco - Bob Dylan

Out on the weekend - Neil Young

To be young is to be free is to be high - Ryan Adams (Caleb solo)

Trouble - Ray Montague

Vampire blues - Neil Young

Come take me home - Ryan adams

It was fun being the support guy, I just played rhythm guitar & a few licks, a little backing vocal here & there. Funnily enough I was still a bit nervous beforhand due to Caleb's family all coming along due to he & his g/f Chloe heading to Melbourne. I wanted to support him well so he could show off a little in front of his crew. I think it went well, we got some good feedback & I certainly felt good up there playing. It made me realise how what a dissapointment it is that we're not going to play again. Nevermind, it was good while it lasted!

R.I.P The Late Greats

2009 - 12/02/2010

Busking

So a few months back we played the Acoustic lounge Christmas showcase with about 5 other acts.

One of the more memorable was a solo accordian player by the name of Vorn. He played his own material except for an ironic version of Led Zep's 'Black dog' which he introduced by saying, "the only time I can get anyone to listen to me is when I play cheesy covers" (or something to that effect). The song got the biggest applause of his set, which was kinda funny as it proved his point. I thought he was a pretty cool cat & we had a post gig cigarette outside. He was complimentary about our set which meant alot coming from an obviously talented musician.

Anyway, Friday night I was out with Ange & who should be busking on Cuba st but Vorn. I happened to have my guitar on me (practicing with Caleb for next Friday's Late greats show) so between songs I dropped some cash in his case & asked if he wanted to jam. The above photo show us mid 'hard to handle'. Awesome. : )

Solo @ San Fran 27/01/2010

Intro

Dog with a bone

Over you

How do I live (without you) ?

Foolish man

Was it something I said?

Jesus & the man

Not my best show, but focusing on the positives. 'Intro' is always an arresting way to start so I had people's attention. The next track was a new one 'Dog with a bone'. It's a good song but has some intricate guitar work that needs to be heard properly to be appreciated. I didn't think the guitar was loud enough & it felt like it was being missed & sure enough, the people I'd grabbed with the opening track started to drift away. You can always tell when an audience has shifted focus & it definately happened during this track. You can't let it throw you though so I played through, the song got stronger in it's second half but by then I'd lost half of the audience. Literally. They walked out! 'Over you' suffered from the lack of momentum from the previous song & it wasn't till I slowed right down with 'How do I live?' that I started to feel reconnected to the audience. It's a lovely slow number about a friend of mine who fell in love with a women while he was on holiday. It has one of my favourite lyrics in it:

"I'd paint your picture/but what good would colour be to me?"

'Was it something I said?' is another song I enjoy playing which isn't particularly suited to the band so it was nice to break that out. I'm planning on visiting the above mentioned friend later this year & recording a solo record. These tracks will all be recorded then. I finished with 'Jesus & the man' which is a song based on the film 'Apocalypse now'. It's quite a confronting song with the film character Kurtz renamed 'Jesus'. For those unfamiliar with the film Colonel Kurtz is killed by another soldier, Captain Willard (renamed 'the man' in the song) after he locates Kurtz in his compound in Cambodia. It's a surreal, vivid & confronting film about madness & the hypocrisy of war. It's also a stunning film & I wrote this song within a day of seeing it, it came very easily. I love playing it but it's not the easiest song to listen to & if you didn't know the back story to the song you'd just be hearing about Jesus being killed. Definately open to mis-interpretation. But I was determined to play it because as a piece of art/music it's a powerful piece that deserves to be heard. & the point of art isn't always to be nice & safe, sometimes it's uncomfortable & confronting so I definately put this track in that category. But it doesn't make it any less valid.

Colonel Walter.E.Kurtz

Anyway, enough justifying my song choices, overall it was good to be playing again, my voice got through ok, it took a few songs to warm up but it was fine by the end.

Next up is a slot with my friend Caleb as 'The late greats'. We play covers, he does most of the singing so I get to sit back & work on my guitar playing & backing vocals. It's nice to just be the support guy sometimes. : )

Till then..

Recording 2: Lordy, Lordy, Lordy

Here's some pics of our recording day last year:


This first one is, from left, Allan, myself & Graeme. Allan is the vocalist/songwriter/main man of Graeme's other band the Rodrigoe Brothers. He's built himself a studio in his basement. Quite cool to be there recording..


This is the band, the main thing we recorded on the day were Mikes drums. He's on the left there.


Finally, this is the equpiment it all gets recorded on. That's the reel to reel tape in the middle of the picture with the mixing desks in front of it. I'm helping myself to the complimentary toast & coffee during a short break in recording. We pretty much blasted through the tracks in order to get as many as we could get done in the one day. I think we only did three double takes the whole time otherwise the rest of the songs where recorded in one take. It was a great effort for Mike to get 10 tracks done in one session. Hopefully it'll lend the final sound a 'live' quality.

I went back in on the 23rd Dec & did guitar, vocal & harmonica for 'Portrait', I used a 12 string guitar which was lying around (you can see the neck of it behind my arm in the last photo above). It lends itself quite nicely to the song. I've always been a fan of 12 strings they just have that awesome ringing tone to them. It was quite difficult though because we only started using click tracks to count in from the fourth song we did so I had to try to time the early part of the song before the drums start. I think I got the speed wrong so it sounds a bit funny. I'll listen to it again the next time I'm there, if the spirit of the song has been captured I won't worry about it.


I've been toying with the name 'Lordy, lordy, lordy' for the record. It an expression that has a kind of blues feel/connotation to it. I'll run with it for now & see if anything else inspires me.

I have a good feeling about this recording, if we get it right it's gonna souond awesome.

Pisces LP: Recording 01

Saw 'Avatar' today. Was pretty cool, Sam Worthington's the man. It was a bit long but overall a stunning movie to look at. & Michelle Rodriguez is all kinds of hot..

We started recording a first Pisces LP yesterday at Graeme's singer from the Rod's, Allan's, place. We got 10 drum tracks down:

Lover

Secret Garden

Potrait

I'll wait

Only a fool

Fallen

Hope

Jimmy Jones

In the meantime

City streets

Carly came & did the vocal for Jimmy Jones & Graeme & I were happy with our guitar parts on it as well so the song is pretty much done barring tamborine, it sounds fantastic. Carly's vocal is brilliant & gives the song so much more emphasis. It really is a track that only she should sing, I don't think I'll be attempting it anymore.

I'm heading back to Allan's on Wed to record 12 string guitar on Portrait, it should give the song an interesting sound. A 12 string guitar has a brightness to it that 6 string's don't have so it'll be interesting to hear how it comes out.

Overall the recording went well. We blasted through songs only doing double takes on three or four of them. The rest were one take wonders, mistakes & all. I'm hoping that the final recording will have a live vibe, quite loose but hopefully the songs are strong enough that they shine through regardless. I want it to be a special recording so a lot's gonna come down to what happens from here. I'm going to try to work on it steadily & get it finished over the summer. One night a week Allan willing. A lot will depend on how often Allan's gonna be able to handle me coming round.

Anyway, I'll keep posting as the recording continues.

The State of the Art 2009

Favs at the moment;
Them crooked vultures - Nobody loves me & neither do I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M89qz4aWbBo
The Dead weather - I cut like a buffalo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhPhV7Z7_3o

I like these two songs cause a. they fucking kick arse & b. they show two song writers at such a high level they're starting to write rediculously easily. Jack Whites writing & guitar playing has gotten to a stage he's just lethal. That White Stripes single from a couple of years ago, 'Blue orchid' was an amazing piece of minimalist knife point writing & you can hear it in this Dead Weather track. The way he's messing with timing & his arrangements are top notch. Them Crooked Vultures has a similar fell to the Queens album that Dave drummed on, 'Songs for the deaf', again there's a minimalist feel, with absolutely no fat on it. The tempo change half way through the song is brutal & you can almost hear the fun Dave is having playing those massive beats to such a big riff. The song builds to a climax similar to 'A song for the dead' from 'Songs' - my favourite tune from that record. It's great to hear Dave doing what he does best.

Speaking of Dave Grohl, another of my favourite tunes this year was the new Foos single 'Wheels' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wTBp7aQokM I think it's a really nice change of pace for the band. It shows Dave's confidence in his songwriting ability to be able to release a nice standard tune & not have to hide behind massive guitars & screaming vocals. Really like this track.

Nicest surprise of the year: Karen O's return to form with the 'Where the wild things are' soundtrack. After the lackluster YYY albums since Fever to tell it's nice to hear her doing something interesting again.

Fav kiwi tracks: Loving the new Phoenix Foundation track 'Everybodys money'. The Nok track 'Magic' is great. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qODcxtsiTy8 I heard it driving one night playing on Active. As soon as I got home I jumped on their website & found out it was the Nok. At first I thought it was Fat Freddys but once the MC started I knew it was someone else. A promising start, I'll be keeping an eye on them. Speaking of FF, their performance of 'Boondigga' at the NZ music awards was a definate highlight. They were far & away the best performed on the night. Awesome track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRuRcgA057A

Most inspiring: Living with War - Neil Young. What a fucking awesome record. I missed this when it was released a few year back & discovered it via the CSN&Y DVD 'Deja Vu'. It's an albums worth of protest material , but that in itself would be pointless from a musical standpoint if the songs weren't any good & that's why this records so great. The tunes are fricken awesome. Simple but sooo effective. & it's fucking great to hear someone speak out against the 'War on terror'. Love it. Here's an amazingly brave track from the album 'Let's impeach the president'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3_cS_iQ-w0&feature=related God bless Neil Young!

Best finds of the year: Benji Hughes - A love extreme & Bon Iver - For Emma, forever. Fricken awesome albums from two extremely talented writers. Love the fun side of Benji & the serious, romantic side of Bon Iver.

Nice to hear they still got it: Rizzer Adams - 'Cardinology' & 'Little Honey' by Lucinda Williams. So nice to hear two old favourites still doing their thing.

Coolest song I heard while driving: This gem from Guy Clark http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1577193349654584847&postID=8382462922403877554, followed closely by 'Magic' by the Nok. See above.

Not as good as as their first record, but still pretty cool: FOTC - I told you I was freaky. Particularly this gem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bte1M8d2Mu4 Brabara... I love it. : )

Best crazy man: Daniel Johnston - Covered, Uncovered. Fell in love with DJ's writing with this record. Disc 1 are Daniels originals & Disc 2 are covers of the same songs. How can you listen to 'Story of an artist' & not have your heartbroken? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_RbSAwMa3U, also attached is M Ward's cover. Equally beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GOoccNI6pM&feature=PlayList&p=1B2C5E3ED80C1C09&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=24
Honestly, if you want to hear some absolutely beautiful, heartfelt, painfully honest songwriting, you'll go a long way trying to find a better set than this disc. Heartbreakingly sad.

Coolest song: 'Quiet Dog' - Mos Def. Great track, great MC, dope beats. Check it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuwVP1WoIhg

Coolest use of alternative instruments: Beirut - 'March of the Zapotec/Real people Holland' & TV on the Radio - 'Dear Science'

Nice to know I still like blues: Bessie Smith http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go6TiLIeVZA

Favourite book of 2009: Naomi Klein 'The Shock Doctrine'
Favourite movie: Tie between 'Coraline 3D' & '(500) Days of summer

Well, that's about my 2009 summary for my favourites for the year, I'm sure I've left stuff out, but like someone smart once said 'everything that's supposed to be there is there'

Ka kite