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Mar 17 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Today was rehearsal day as we are doing an internet concert on Saturday for Fred, family, and friends (aka FFF) but first I got up and opened a window to discover another warm and beautiful day. I decided to take a walk to the farthest psychedelic supermarket so I could enjoy the bright blue sky and the feel of the sun on my skin. It’s also the best place to buy mangoes, dreams, and anecdotes. Olivia stayed behind and I marched out into the street, shorts, and T-shirt and a couple of empty bags longing to be filled. Jerome Froese sent me a track today that he’d been working on from our project, so I thought I’d call him on the way to discuss. As I walked I could feel the sun encircling my face like hot hands in gloves, it’s March but it’s Porto. Jerome answered the phone in Berlin and the first thing he told me was that it was snowing. Apparently, Portugal is the tenth most popular/visited country in the world, France being first, Spain second, Italy third – you can see the list here:

The Top 10 Most Visited Countries in Europe

60 million more people visited Spain than Portugal in 2019 which seems surprising as they share a similar geography. I was thinking today how cool it is to live in a place where other people go on holiday.

When I got back we went straight into rehearsals. Olivia had been warming up and after a sandwich we were at it, going down Fred’s song list and seeing what we could play, what we needed to learn, what we should try. I’m finding that in this duo format I can change the keys of the songs and play them in a different way. I have to make sure that the key works for Olivia on the violin but changing the capo position and key can give a song a whole new lease of life – plus I can reach the notes. The new MOAT songs are hard to play because more than half have Niko playing 6 string acoustic in weird tunings, I need to write more songs that sound weird but are easy to play. I don’t use effects when I play the duo shows, it’s just 12 string and voice, Olivia uses effects on some tracks but not in the intimate format, only when there’s a PA system where you can really hear delay or reverb across a room. It would be nice to tour this mellow set with drums, bass, a keyboard player, and second guitar and harmony singers, the songs would really suit it. You never know, one day.

I got on with my French and found myself actually understanding something deeper after 286 days, that is recognising something in the language that when I see it, I get a feeling for it, I can hear when a word is in the wrong place in a sentence. The only way to get it is to just keep at it, like music. Dinner today was the remains of two Olivia classics, I had the cauliflower soup and Olivia had the ramen, yes she mastered home-cooked ramen! We watched Deep Space 9, perfect short dinner family entertainment but some of the episodes are awful, others average but now and again you get a good one.

We got a message back from the landlord saying he’s going to find another way so we don’t have to move, Olivia has been doing the communicating and I’m sure he understood in the end that there’s no way that we could get a fair deal out of this, financially or otherwise. Honestly, we would have been happy to help but we can’t move into another flat with a new landlord, pay more rent and not like the flat. I hope this is an issue we don’t have to think about anymore, we’re trying to settle in here for a year, not be uprooted.

Music today came from one of my fave indie singer-songwriter/guitarists Mary Timony and two albums, Mountains (2000) and The Golden Dove (2002). If you don’t know who she is, I first heard about her from MTV’s 120 Minutes when she was in a band called Helium in the nineties. She had a brief tenure with Autoclave and Wild Flag with Carrie Brownstein from Sleater-Kinney and then some solo albums. Later she formed Ex Hex and there are other projects too. My favourite is The Golden Dove, her second solo album. It’s somehow progressive, somehow indie, and somehow 15th century and there’s something about her guitar playing. She has a degree in English literature from Boston University so she has evocative lyrics when she wants to. Read the In Deep Music Archive review from 2014 here:

11/1/14 – Mary Timony – The Golden Dove – 2002

It’s great – if you like this kind of thing.

Music 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.

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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

KEEP IN TOUCH: https://linktr.ee/mwillsonpiper

📷 @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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