• 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

Nov 23 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

One of the problems of living different hours to the accepted norm is construction. I don’t know what time these people get up in the morning but it’s not long after we go to bed. Luckily as heavy sleepers, you would need the digger or the crane that swings the giant ball to come through our bedroom window to wake us up. We have long tiring days like anybody else, it’s just that they start later and finish later and this isn’t always compatible with the construction timetable. Having said that by mid-morning when we have had some hours of sleep (or should I say when I have had some hours of sleep), I begin to notice the stirrings outside and although we are at the back of the house away from the road at the front of our building, it’s hardly quiet. Generally, at night it is quiet here, so quiet in fact that I play the sound of rain falling to quieten the deafening silence. But when the morning comes and the world wakes up, small channels open up in your unconscious state and you begin to hear, the cacophony of construction.

They’ve probably already been banging away from 7 or 8 AM but I start to hear it around 11 AM and what a horrible incessant noise it is. It’s an industrial drill banging into rock, a metal machine gun on stone and I can see the culprit, an orange vehicle a few gardens away at the back of the house screeching like an evil insect from the afterworld. So there it is pounding away in my head, I’m semi-delirious, making it extremely uncomfortable in dreamland and very hard to sleep deeply. Then at midday on the dot, it stops – it’s lunchtime. That gives me a chance to drift away again which I do if I’ve had a particularly late night. If I’ve been stirred beyond redemption, I just get up – Olivia doesn’t, she could sleep through the end of the world. But the problem in Porto is that there are so many houses and sites that are being renovated, there’s a good chance that one of those sites is going to be in earshot of your bedroom window. In fact, just beyond where the evil crane operates, there’s quite a large piece of ground that looks like it’s being prepared for major construction. We’ll see but unless I learn to sleep with the window closed (which actually only helps a bit) I could be stuck with either earplugs or putting up with the noise and I hate earplugs.

Also, that’s not the only morning noise, there’s the dreaded leaf blower. One of the worst problems of being in a touring band is getting back to your hotel really late at night and being woken in the morning by the leaf blower. Why do they exist? It’s not like they collect the leaves, they blow them to one side. Isn’t that much like sweeping the dust under the carpet? It’s just cosmetic and as if a tidy road in autumn is as wonderful as a road of leaves to kick through. Ok, if it’s slippy and causing accidents then I get it but if it’s because someone wants the street to look like their front room, then, please!

Music today was Juju (1981), the fourth Siouxsie and the Banshees album, the second with John McGeoch on guitar as a full member as it was for Budgie on the drums. Opening with Spellbound, careering simultaneously into the distance and towards you with driving rhythm guitar and arpeggios, memorable melodies from Siouxsie and distinctive bass from Severin locking in with McGeoch and Budgie. Into The Light has some of the most inventive and strange guitar lines. The second single Arabian Knights has something of a dodgy video although aren’t they all in the eighties, luckily we can listen to the music without the videos. More interesting guitars on Halloween but it’s always the chemistry that makes standout parts possible. I suppose no one has ever compared one of the great post-punk albums to the Liverpool football team but for every Salah, there’s a Trent Alexander-Arnold.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that if Kate Bush was the madwoman who escaped, Siouxsie sounds like the mad sister they still have locked up. The band, Budgie, Severin and McGeoch, posing as doctors are breaking her out of the asylum singing and playing Monitor during the getaway. Night Shift is the hiding till they call off the search. Sin In My Heart is the awakening again with some great McGeoch guitar parts. Always a fan of Head Cut, it sounds like an outtake from Eno’s Here Come The Warm Jets if Eno was a wild cat or a serious scary cartoon-free B-52s with a fantastic vocal performance. It’s art-rock, it must have been great live. Challenging, evocative and finishing with Voodoo Dolly, it gives Patti Smith a run for her money, a glorious screeching 7 minutes, I’ll be playing this to the construction workers at midnight when I find out where they live. What a great album.

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

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
Marty & Pablo! 📷 Rod MacQuarrie Marty & Pablo!

📷 Rod MacQuarrie
At last, a proper door stop. 📷 @judgeschamber At last, a proper door stop.

📷 @judgeschamber 

#grammysitting 👵
🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵 31 December - DALL 🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵

31 December - DALLAS
7 January - CELINA
12 January - HOUSTON
14 January - AUSTIN
15 January - SAN ANTONIO

With @salimnourallah and @joereyesmusic

More info here: https://mailchi.mp/e47ede06acd6/texas-acoustic-dates
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