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Apr 24 2022

TO WHERE I AM NOW

In a room with drums, bass, Mellotron, guitars and voices, the thrill of making a noise again, hitting chords as Pete hits the cymbals, grooving along to Jan Erik’s bass, whisked away on Anna Sofi’s Mellotron and weaving with Nicklas’s guitars. It must be an Anekdoten rehearsal. I don’t just play the guitar in Anekdoten, I also play percussion, maracas, tambourine and shaker but it’s really hard to practice the percussion at home. With guitar you can learn the chords, and get an idea of the arrangement but with percussion, there’s the physical aspect. How long can you keep on shaking that arm? Today I found out and discovered that all that fitness work has paid off. If you wanna shake in time for six minutes in an Anekdoten song, you’d better have spent eleven weeks in the gym and the pool.

The band arrived two hours after Nicklas and me, giving us more time to work on some songs. When Jan Erik arrived he brought his Les Paul which I will be using on certain songs (beware guitar nerd talk). In the Anekdoten set, apart from playing percussion and my Strat, I need another guitar because three songs have different tunings. When I detune the Strat for these tunings it doesn’t hold its tuning well, I presume it’s something to do with how the tremolo bar is set up with the bridge piece away from the body and only three springs (it’s not a problem in concert pitch). So I use the Les Paul for these songs, it doesn’t have a tremolo bar and stays in tune well, but, it is so goddamn heavy.

We will leave for Malmö in the south on Friday, play Göteborg (Gothenburg) on Saturday and Stockholm on Sunday. When the gigs are done we’ll stay two more days to see family and friends and head back to Porto (via Gatwick and another layover) on Wednesday. We’ve known about these gigs for some time and now they are here. Other shows were cancelled due to pandemic and war (Canada and Poland) but we have these three and we are happy to be back making a noise for us and for you.

Breakfast this morning was still at a reasonable time because it’s the weekend in hotel land and they serve breakfast till eleven (I’m not sure I’ll make it before nine-thirty tomorrow, Monday). At breakfast, I had a nice chat with Open Mike Eagle and Video Dave, two rappers who were playing a show in Stockholm. They were from Chicago but lived in LA. They were commenting on the strange Swedish beds and single quilts, practical from the Swedish point of view, then there’s the heated floor in the bathroom.

I haven’t had any time to walk around in Stockholm so far this trip, we arrived late, rehearsed early the next day but tomorrow it’s a 4 o’clock start. Olivia went walking today and tomorrow is off to Uppsala for a tattoo, that leaves me to wander till I get picked up. Tuesday we won’t be rehearsing because the lads and lassie work, have kids and at night Nicklas and his partner Sophie are going to see Tool, sold out. So I’m hoping I can meet my friend Jan. Jan took the pic for the MOAT album Poison Stream and the Hanging Out In Heaven vinyl reissue.

Music today has been Trettioåriga Kriget (30-year war) because Nicklas was playing their second album from 1975, krigssång (war song) in his car. Their debut album was released in 1974 and after five albums they broke up in 1981. In 2004 they reappeared and released another five albums up till 2021. What are they like? Have a listen.

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

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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 🎵

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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).

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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.

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

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🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵 31 December - DALL 🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵

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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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