Renovations have started at The Archive so thank you to everyone who has contributed to making this happen, I will be in touch when I find myself not in the studio between 12 and 16 hours a day. If you contribute or if you have already contributed could you please send Olivia your address (olivia@martywillson-piper.com)? We have cameras in The Archive and we can see Brad the builder wandering around, as he starts to render walls and paint. It’s still a few weeks till we return so he has plenty of time to make some progress with South American colours on the end of his brush.

Today we finished the drums on the Valley of Salt project and we started with the acoustic guitars. We’re getting the cake base down before we start adding the icing. But David, our bass player for this project, isn’t available till next week so we are recording against the demo bass which I had Brian execute accurately whilst doing the demos. I knew beforehand that David’s availability was patchy but we definitely want him for this project so we’re finding ways to add him later. The days of recording the band all at once are long gone, so we’ll be doing just that on the next project with sessioneer Rajan in a couple of weeks.

I’ve been looking at finding a large-body semi-acoustic electric guitar here in America, something cheaper than I could ever find in Europe but still of a decent quality and a type of instrument that I don’t have. Out of the blue, I found a second-hand Gretsch for $389, a bargain price so I bought it and it’s being delivered here soon. I also need a guitar to play with Salim for the Texas gigs where I’m guesting with his band. As the magical Joe Reyes is playing too, I’ll have lots of free range to play along with the Rickenbacker 370 that William brought over the other day and the Gretsch for the six-string electric songs, my first time playing a Gretsch on stage, should it work.

A squirrel all tails and fluff ran up the fence and just sat there staring at us before eventually running off at lightning speed with perfect balance. I wish I could do that, it made me think of tightrope walkers. Who wakes up and says today I’m going to walk on a single line between two skyscrapers? On August 7th, 1974 French aerialist Phillipe Petit walked between the twin towers, it was dubbed the artistic crime of the century. This from Wikipedia: “The towers were still under construction and had not yet been fully occupied. He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire, during which he walked, danced, lay down on the wire, and saluted watchers from a kneeling position. Office workers, construction crews, and policemen cheered him on”.

On that note music today has been Supertramp’s classic album Crime Of The Century (1974). Not for people who like guitars and low voices but an album of memorable tunes, interesting instrumental passages, dynamic arrangements, and memorable lyrics.

Music Of The Daze