• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Bands & Projects
    • Marty Willson-Piper
    • Marty & Olivia
    • Noctorum
    • MOAT
    • Atlantæum Flood
    • Anekdoten
      • How I Joined Anekdoten
    • The Church
      • Sleeve Notes
    • All About Eve
  • Discography
  • Gear
  • Talking
  • Lyrics
    • SOLO ALBUMS
      • In Reflection
      • Art Attack
      • Rhyme
      • Spirit Level
      • Hanging Out In Heaven
      • Nightjar
    • NOCTORUM
      • Sparks Lane
      • Offer The Light
      • Honey Mink Forever
      • The Afterlife
    • MOAT
      • Moat
      • Poison Stream
    • Seeing Stars
  • Sleeve Notes
    • Of Skins And Heart
    • The Blurred Crusade
    • Seance
    • Heyday
    • Starfish
    • Gold Afternoon Fix
    • Priest = Aura
  • Bandcamp

Marty Willson-Piper

The official home of Marty Willson-Piper

  • News
  • Blog
  • Shows
  • Songwriting & Guitar Guidance
  • In Deep Music Archive
  • Contact

Mar 28 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

It’s light outside, it’s warm outside, it’s nearly 8 PM and the window is wide open. The summer is really here now. Two seagulls sit, still like ornaments, on a roof across the way. Below us in the building opposite the paint has peeled with years of neglect, a lady is hanging her washing. She’s straightening her young daughter’s jacket who is popping out onto the balcony in between playing video games, the computer desk is by the balcony door. There are other signs of life in this block of flats with its corrugated roof and ugly facade. More washing being hung, generally out of the window on a precarious line as is popular in these parts. The building gets the sun in the mid-afternoon and you often see residents sitting and enjoying it with a glass of wine. They can’t see the outside of their own building – it’s better to live in the ugly building looking over the beautiful one than the other way ‘round.

I didn’t make it out today as I had three sessions with Tony in Sydney, Brian in Florida and Doug in upstate New York. In between, there was the Sunday relaxing sports, England vs Albania, although it’s never relaxing watching England play. Spain vs Georgia and the snooker final Ronnie vs Robbo. Classic disaster, the ITV hub didn’t work so I missed the England game (they won 2-0) and had to watch the snooker after midnight, Ronnie was hammered. French was good, dinner was great, Deep Space 9 was ok. Life takes up so much time, you just have to plan every second especially when you’re older, you could wake up at 75 and have seen a lot of Netflix. The entertainment choices are so big, you can understand why old hobbies like stamp collecting have fallen by the wayside, who can compete with the visuals that today’s entertainment has created? From the balcony, I saw the lady’s daughter playing some crazy colourful game with bangs and crashes. It wouldn’t occur to her to pick up Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels or Voltaire’s Candide maybe she might like to listen to Dua Lipa or Beyoncé and that’s actually ok, she’s 9, she’s not going to be looking for Amon Düül’s Yeti album. It’s just that times have changed so much and to think that I didn’t have a computer or a mobile phone till I was way into my thirties, what a different life we have led – that’s Led Zeppelin not L.E.D.

As someone who likes to watch football, snooker and other sports sometimes, I wonder at the silent concentration and respect the audience has for the snooker players, it’s a sophisticated and skilful sport but so is music and when you think of those gigs where people talk through your sophisticated set, it’s frustrating. It’s obvious that some gigs are snooker competitions and others are football matches (I despair at the racist element) but then I despair at the lack of sportsmanship in the crowd. Today, nearly every time the Spanish players got the ball the Georgia crowd (yes there was a crowd) booed and whistled. If that’s how it’s going to be I don’t look forward to the crowds returning. Why can’t they be civilised as well as excited and supportive of their team, must they antagonise the opposition?

I wonder about fashion. We had ridiculous tight pants and colourful shirts, although I never really wore the paisley, on the cover of Heyday my shirt is more of a Western shirt. In the seventies, I had brush denim loons and a scoop neck T-shirt with flared sleeves and tassels. I started to worry when sports clothing became the hip music wear (they were probably worried about the tight pants). Baseball caps and introspective music don’t really go, tracksuits and Pink Floyd? Nike and The Beatles? But I bet there’s some sports clothing at an FKA Twigs gig but her music doesn’t sound very sporty to me. Every week all those people at sporting events, imagine if the crowd was as excited about the performance of the songs of their musical heroes as they are about the performance and the goals of their sports stars – so excited that they went to see them play every week, home and away. But for some reason when the team is bad the fans keep coming back, when the band is bad they rarely return.

Music today has been that old classic, Super Session with Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Stephen Stills. Those were the days.

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.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

  • spotify
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • youtube

Liking the blog?

Tour Dates

Instagram

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

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

📷 @argirgirl 

#paisleypark #prince
Load More… Follow on Instagram

Mailing List

In Deep Music Archive

Songwriting & Guitar Guidance with Marty Willson-Piper
ORDER HERE

"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

MARTY WILLSON-PIPER © 2023 - Front Page Images by Hajo Müller