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Nov 04 2020

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Olivia stayed up all night last night to watch the election progress, I had to go to bed as I had an early sesh with Rohan in Sydney at 10AM. Then it was that last day in the pool today, it was really sad because if this lockdown stops on December 2nd we intend to go to Portugal on December 3rd and who knows when we’ll be back. I’ve been there three times a week for 10 weeks and today I hit 30 miles, I see the smiling faces of staff all the time and those lifeguards might save my life one day! Perish the thought! From the pool to the studio and finishing off guitars and vocals on the Ahad album, we have a cellist coming on Saturday and then brass to figure and we’re done, ready to mix. Another one in the queue after MOAT’s Poison Stream and Space Summit’s Life This Way. We’ll be continuing with Arctic Lake on Saturday too and that reminds me I must check in with Jerome Froese. It sounds like I work and have worked on a lot of records, well I read today that session bassist Leland Sklar had played on 2,500 albums, I’ve got some catching up to do.

The shops are busy in the town today because tomorrow they will all be closed. The food stores are open but for one month we will be locked down. That’s a lot of time for people to drive themselves and each other crazy. But I wonder if this has just been a time of frustration, many people have discovered the joys of working from home instead of being made to go to the office, jammed onto the commuter train, sitting under fluorescent lights and doing it every single day. I read somewhere that people that work from home do more work than they would if they went to the office, interesting. The bosses are starting to realise that they could get the same work done in their business without the cost of the expensive office in the city. Everyone wins.

I had to go to the pound shop today because that’s the place I go to get the flat batteries for the little tuners that clip onto the end of the acoustic guitars. You might ask why would you want to buy batteries that are flat when they need to be charged to work? I’ll let you think about that one. So it was the last day of open shops and both Dare and I, otherwise distracted by the studio, forgot that we had to pick things up from the shops that will be closed for a month, Dare a hoover and me the assembly for the broken studio door handle. Both the shops we needed to go to closed early. Why would they do that? They’re not going to be open for weeks anyway. Surely they’d stay open later? It’s that crazy human thinking – as we’re not going to be here, let’s not be here as soon as possible, it won’t matter. Instead, we should try and stay open as long as we can so people can get what they need on the last day before closing for a month. Plus there would be more sales! Humans.

I also picked up some £1 CDs at the pound shop today when I was getting the ‘flat batteries’. You can hardly give CDs away these days. There were some CDs I have already but these were in better condition, as in the jewel cases weren’t broken and the CD looked perfect. Turin Brakes, The Bangles, The Strokes, Beck, The Cardigans, Moby, The Dandy Warhols, Mansun, Coldplay. Nothing groundbreaking although that Mansun album Attack Of The Grey Lantern is sadly overlooked. Three CDs arrived in the post today, Marianne Faithful’s Negative Capability, Sting’s 57th & 9th and Perry Farrell’s Satellite Party, all for peanuts.

So from today, we have to try and keep our heads together with the lockdowns, the stress of the US election, the stress of Brexit, moving house (for us) and keeping hopeful that life will return to some kind of normal. But then, I’m just talking about us, the privileged few, what about everybody else? I’ll leave you with this. Today Arnaud the Frenchman, who I see at the pool now and again, came up to me as we were all queuing to get in (last day, it was busy). He walked up to me and said I‘ve baked you a loaf of sourdough bread and handed me a brown paper bag. A reminder to be generous and to be kind for its own sake, thanks Arnaud, very cool.

Music today came from Alice Cooper when he was still good and the Billion Dollar Babies album (1973). It was the album after the big success of School’s Out and followed the hits with more hits like Rolf Kemp’s Hello Hooray which reached No.6 in the UK chart (but who is Rolf Kemp?). The song was originally recorded by Judy Collins on her album Who Knows Where The Time Goes (1968). It’s also the album with Elected which reached No.4 on the UK charts. Alice Cooper nerds will know that this song is actually a reworked version of the song Reflected from their debut album Pretties For You (1969).

Then there’s the title track which however incredulous it may sound, is a duet with Donovan! They must have been golfing friends. The track and the album in general has lots of great guitars courtesy of Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce from the Alice Cooper group as well as Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter who would play with Alice Cooper on later albums. Marc Bolan is also on there somewhere. The album was No.1 in the UK and the USA. There was also another single hit, No More Nice Guy, No.10 in the UK. All these singles reached the Top 30 in America.

Along with Neal Smith on bass and Dennis Dunaway on drums, this was a great band with the best hair you have ever seen. There were so many great albums in the seventies: School’s Out, Killer, Love It To Death, Easy Action and Muscle Of Love. There’s some worthy albums too although they are without the original band: Welcome To My Nightmare, Alice Cooper Goes To Hell and later, From The Inside, co-written with Bernie Taupin.

Billion Dollar Babies was named as a surprise reaction to these crazy freaks getting successful and the album came with a removable Billion Dollar Bill. If you wanted to scare your grandma, this was the band to do it, they made Sex Pistols look like The Carpenters. The last track on the album was a paean to necrophilia called I Love The Dead. Hey Mum and Dad, I know what I want for Christmas.

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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Rockin' the MOAT t-shirt next to the real deal! #m Rockin' the MOAT t-shirt next to the real deal! #moatband #poisonstream 🤘🏰

T-Shirt Design by Reid Wilson
Photo by @oliviaelektra 

#schoolkidsrecords #nikoröhlcke #wellscathedral
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.

📷 by @derektimbrell
Thanks to The Wernickis for a little glimpse into Thanks to The Wernickis for a little glimpse into their new New Mexico listening space 🌵 #nightjar #schoolkidsrecords
Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵 📷 @oliviaelek Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵

📷 @oliviaelektra 

#danelectro #danelectrobass #redeyerecords #pleasantrylane #pleasantrylanestudio
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 🎵

📷 @drewliophoto 

#galacticheadquarters #happinessarecordlabel #pleasantrylanestudio #salimnourallah #oliviawillsonpiper
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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📷 @salimnourallah 

#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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📷 @argirgirl 

#paisleypark #prince
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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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