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Jun 30 2022

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Today we had our first taste of violin. It was sweet, and to make the violin taste sweet you really need some skills. I tried it once, that little fretboard, fretless, curved, played with a bow that you have to learn how to hold and keep it level, the instrument held under the chin, light, fragile, I made it sound like a strangled cat in a steel shredding factory, luckily I have Olivia.

Multi-tracking the violin is an interesting task as you try to find the notes that help you create a string section (without actually having a string section), different notes, harmonies, and octaves on different tracks, it sounds wonderful when you get it right. We started the day with that before moving on to vocals on one of the last backing tracks that we have been working on. It’s a strange one, I’ve sung the whole song on a low octave and today I’m going to sing the whole song an octave higher. Then we see what we have and decide whether the sections should have alternate (for example) high and low vocals or whether they should be sung in unison. That’s making records, figuring these things out.

On the subject of making records, I had another strange dream last night which when I woke up I immediately remembered. There was a venue, old black rooms, a disco starting, a lot of teenagers dancing but the house lights were still on as if it was just getting going and soon the lights would be going off…but not yet for some reason? At some point, I walked out of the room and when I walked back in, the doors leading to the disco had changed and when you went through them they led you into a different room than before.

This is where the mysteries of dreams come to the fore. In the studio today I’d told DC who was recording my vocals about a song I had written with Chris Bailey, Passing Strange on the Nothing Is Straight In My House album that I made with The Saints in The Netherlands in 2005. I’d told him about this from the vocal booth and in my dream, Chris was on the other side of a window, like a vocal booth, but not really (haha, that’s dreams). Oddly I was doing the recording (I’m not an engineer). Even worse I was recording him on some TV remote control type device, I pressed a button and it recorded on button 1. The guitar was already down and when I pressed 1, it seems that I recorded over the guitar, which is impossible because he would have been hearing it to sing to. I realised the guitar was gone and Chris was impatiently beyond the window telling me he had to capture the song’s essence while it was fresh. Dare was in the room with me and I was asking him how to record on a second track. What a confusion of images and experiences. Sadly I can’t remember the song that Chris was singing, and sadly Chris is no longer with us.

Music today was The Doors‘ L.A. Woman (1971) because Olivia and I bought the T-shirts.

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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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
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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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