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Oct 01 2020

TO WHERE I AM NOW

In the studio with Ahad today, day two. We started at 11AM on a new song to sing on a rainy morning with the calendar on the studio wall showing August when in fact today is the 1st October. I remember that my Dad had a calendar on his desk at his office but not like anything you would recognise these days. It looked like a wooden box about 6 inches tall with rolling barrels that changed the day, the date and the month that were on pieces of cloth that rolled on the barrels inside the box. It’s something you just don’t see anymore, maybe in an antique store. I saw the calendar on the wall today and realised how something physical, something in our eye line, something so relevant to our time has become irrelevant and is so insignificant that we don’t even notice that it’s two months out of date – or care. It’s just not how we calculate time anymore. We are in this room every day and this lovely calendar with its spectacular views of Cornwall fails to grab our attention as if we are in a discarded warehouse where life has long ceased to exist but this fragile reminder of bygone era somehow survives.

But we are most definitely taking notice of anything that is happening on a screen – we are obsessed with them. In the studio, Dare, Ahad and I all have phones that bleep or ring throughout the day. The recording process has Dare looking at two computer screens all day, the sampler has a screen, the effects modules have screens, we are using my computer to put the words of the songs up on a screen. When we make music these days we are using our eyes all the time, looking at screens. It didn’t use to be that way. We used to just use our ears. Sure we’d look at VU meters and effects devices in a studio did have parameters on screens when I first entered a studio but before digital readouts, it was only VUs. The screens wear you out, anything digital wears you out, your eyes and ears assaulted by a cold and clinical machine.

This is the argument for analogue. Have you ever been walking somewhere and there’s a bike coming towards you and the rider has a light on his helmet and a light on his bike? It used to be a battery-operated light or a coil, now it’s an LED. It dazzles you in a different way than old-fashioned light did, you have to look away. Christmas has been destroyed by LEDs. The lights on Christmas trees no longer have a warm glow. Fairy lights are now all bright harsh eye-killing, blinding LEDs. This is probably how people felt when the electric lightbulb was invented. Before this everyone lived with the cosy warm glow of candles and suddenly that cosy room was flooded with electric light, the mood of the world was changed.

Technology is an amazing thing, the comforts it gives us are undeniable. From the toilet to the mega TV screen. But can you imagine the feeling lost by retiring your horse for a 2 MPH machine with wheels? (A horseless carriage as they were called.) I’m sure you’ve heard the story that when cars were first invented they had to have someone walking in front of them waving a red flag. Makes sense, don’t want to scare the horses. But then in London in the 19th century, they had huge problems with manure, they couldn’t clean it up fast enough and that brought flies and disease, especially in the poorer areas. So you wanna talk about pollution?

At 1 o’clock today I took an hour out from the studio and went for a swim. When I came out it was pouring with rain but as I got nearer the studio it stopped as if it was only raining over the leisure centre. On the way down there was a seagull splattered in the middle of the road. It was big but still so young that it hadn’t got its adult feathers yet. You could see the blood, a light red, seeping out of the crushed body. When I look back on it I really should have at least moved the bird to the kerb because cars were just going to continue running over it crushing the bones and the flesh together until it was a stain impregnated into the road. Imagine how horrified we would be if it was one of us and how our horror is put on pause when it’s an animal.

Music today was instrumental – again. French today inspired me to listen to Jean-Luc Ponty, or was it Olivia? She is a fan of this virtuoso French violinist. She has seen him live twice. I have lots of his albums and randomly picked Open Strings as the first one to listen to. It was released in 1972 and also included Belgian Jazz guitarist Philip Catherine whose CV is extremely long. It’s some kind of Jazz and you can hear why Frank Zappa wanted him in his band from this performance.

The first album I ever had by him was Enigmatic Ocean, released in 1977 and featuring Allan Holdsworth on guitar. I have never wanted to play music like this, I don’t even understand it but I’ve always liked listening to it, perhaps because it is a total mystery to me, knowing how it’s done can make it less appealing which is probably why you hear me listening to less music by artists that you might think I may be more associated with stylistically.

Song Of The Daze

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: Blog

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there's any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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Peter Walsh and I getting down at the Heron Tower Peter Walsh and I getting down at the Heron Tower disco 🕺🏻 #heyday
Soundchecking at Birmingham Symphony Hall, 10th Fe Soundchecking at Birmingham Symphony Hall, 10th February, 2001. All About Eve supporting Fairport Convention.

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You usually don’t spend the day in the studio an You usually don’t spend the day in the studio and the night at a gig but if you put the studio next to the gig then there’s a greater chance. So @salimnourallah did just that, he put the gig and the studio next to each other and made it possible for me to spend the day recording and the evening playing live 🎵

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TO WHERE I AM NOW A visit in the studio today fro TO WHERE I AM NOW

A visit in the studio today from old mate Mark Burgess from The Chameleons who has been hanging in Texas recently. I was thinking about the two of us growing up in the northwest of England and all these years later finding ourselves in such an unlikely spot together. We fixed a few issues in the universe and I carried on recording some guitars until Mark had to leave. Mark had played at the Galactic Headquarters next to the studio this year as Olivia and I had four years ago and this reminded me to remind myself to remind everyone to remind their friends that we will be playing there with Salim on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, for the ultimate in intimate performance. You can get tickets here (follow link below).

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1045

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#markburgess #thechameleons #chameleonsvox #pleasantrylanestudio #happinessarecordlabel #martywillsonpiper #oliviawillsonpiper #moatband
📷 @argirgirl 📷 @argirgirl
TO WHERE I AM NOW Sadness manifested in a buildin TO WHERE I AM NOW

Sadness manifested in a building, today we went to visit Paisley Park. Prince built Paisley Park in Chanhassen, about twenty minutes southwest of Minneapolis. It opened in 1987 and he recorded his later albums there. Apart from Prince, REM also recorded and mixed Out Of Time there, recording Kate Pearson’s vocal on Shiny Happy People vocal. Madonna had Prince play guitar on three songs from Like A Prayer and the two co-wrote Love Song, finishing it remotely due to Madonna not being able to stand the cold weather and the rather desolate location of the studio. Of course, there are things around but it’s not in the city and it’s not in the countryside, it’s in a suburb, no distractions, just what Prince wanted.

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1032

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In Deep Music Archive

Songwriting & Guitar Guidance with Marty Willson-Piper
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"These are awesome sessions that I highly recommend for guitar players of all levels. Very informative, frank discussions on everything related to guitar and music in general. Definitely a must for anyone pursuing songwriting."
(Stephen G., VA, USA)

"Marty knows how to bypass scales and get to the heart of feel and timing. His musical knowledge spans multiple cultures and genres. Perhaps most importantly, Marty is a cool dude. I highly recommend his guitar guidance." (Jed B., MN, USA)

"Ok, so you’re sitting in your home and Marty is across the world but is actually right here teaching you how to play guitar and write songs. He is a delight to talk to and he is your teacher, meaning he wants to see you get something out of his lessons. You know he’s paying attention and wants to steer you in the right direction. I am so grateful and humbled that he offers his time in this manner. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone who admires anything from his enormous body of work. How often do you get to learn from somebody that inspired you in the first place? Amazing." (Ann S., CA, USA)

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there’s any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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