An old friend died today, Pete Hardy, I hadn’t seen him for 30 years but my mate Spant back home in Liverpool told me today that he had passed. We hung together a lot and he played some primitive bass in our little amateur band, tearing up the front room with our guitars as we all fell in love with music. He was a year older than me and a bit of a scoundrel, haha, but I spent many days around at his parents’ house as he did around my parents’ house. He had a strange relationship with his father who he called Herman although I believe it wasn’t his name. We listened to Hawkwind and covered Lord Of Light calling ourselves Opal Butterfly, which we later discovered was the name of Lemmy’s pre-Hawkwind band. We went to loads of gigs at the Liverpool Stadium together and I remember he had a cool Afghan coat that seemed to be continuously doused in patchouli oil. RIP Pete.

It was hot in Texas although I saw little of the day, we were locked inside the studio with the guitars and the amps working on sessioneer NJ Brian’s second album. Although the first one is still being mixed and we have no release date or label, Brian has written half of his next concept album for the Valley of Salt project and wanted to get started whilst the ideas are fresh and time is available. He played some beautiful guitar today and not just because we saw Al Di Meola last night, Brian composes pieces that involve many guitar parts and we spend a lot of time getting tones and recording through a series of interesting amps in the studio, a Fender Deluxe with all the wrong innards, an old Gibson amp, a Bad Cat, a Fender Super Reverb, a Fender Champ, and a Vox. A Strat, a Rickenbacker, a Les Paul, and a Gretsch, happy days.

I spoke to sessioneer Fred today in Minneapolis and sessioneer Jed – in Minneapolis, the first two projects we have worked on this trip, exciting stuff as Fred has been working on vocals which we’ll be looking at next week. Jed will be getting the drum tracks from the Space Summit sessions which we will be working on into the autumn. When Jed left the studio after no sleep he was stranded at Dallas airport for nine hours. The day before I’d told him about Hawkwind’s Hall Of The Mountain Grill, today he told me it got him through the day as it did for me, Pete, and Dare in the mid-seventies.

It’s June 1st, only 180 days till Christmas as my birthday month becomes the next one which I hope I reach so I can see the In Deep Music Archive come to life. The renovations have started with rendering and they should start painting next week. I’ll keep you posted as they make progress down there and hopefully, we’ll have some pictures to share as they get going. The record fascination, the love of music and collecting all started with those jams we had at my parents’ house (small flat) with Pete and Dare, then with Gazzer who came to see us after three decades at the Thornton Hough show, one of two Liverpool gigs. Luckily I’m still hanging in there.

Music today has been Hawkwind’s Hall Of The Mountain Grill (1974), obviously.

Music Of The Daze

Just got back from seeing Al Di Meola and band at the Kessler Theater in Dallas. A virtuoso performance with two nylon string guitarists, Al and his clever mate whose name is nowhere to be seen online, and two ace percussionists who also remain nameless, not even on the website which seems odd for these highly talented individuals that make up the band. The quartet plays songs in the instrumental style of flamenco, jazz, and world music. Chords you’ve never seen, speed you can’t see, but with some humble stories in between about The Beatles. Speaking in a New Jersey accent about being too shy to speak to John Lennon and being in awe of McCartney when he accidentally rented a house next door – to work on interpretations of Beatles songs, he came across as rather down to Earth despite his lofty skills.

I always thought he was from Argentina, both the cover of his second album Elegant Gypsy (1977) and his constant interpretation of Astor Piazzolla’s material, so hearing him speak in a defined Jersey accent was amusing. I bought this album when it was released and it has been a firm favourite on my turntable ever since. It’s never a style that I attempted to play, wanted to play, or had the skills to play but I admired it from a distance. At the show, Di Meola told about the time when there were no mobile phones and computers and the hours a day he spent practising instead, yes, we noticed.

He played two Beatles songs from his album Across The Universe (2020) that I bought recently. Norwegian Wood and Because had vague connections to the actual songs, a melody somewhere in there bookmarked by more jazzy speed trips but although he’s easy to criticise when it comes to the indulgent complexity of his work, what seems like gratuitous noodling and chords so bizarre that they are on the edge of being discordant, you allow him the space (not that there’s much) to carve out what he hears in his head, you don’t have to go and see him or listen to his records if you prefer The Clash. What is most amazing for me about this music are the rhythms, again complex but irresistible and executed with a percussionist from Spain with a full kit of things to hit. Also, a girl who came backstage in Peru who apparently so blew his mind in a jam that he immediately invited her to join the band. The other guitar player who I think was from Argentina was as much a virtuoso as big Al.

The show was sold out and I was surprised to see so many people so interested in such complex music that at times reminded me of avant-garde classical composers as much as it did jazz. Of course, there was no one under 30, and mostly everyone was over 40. As a non-drinker, I always wonder about the people who get up and go and get another drink in the middle of a song, breaking the spell. It breaks my spell too being shaken out of the moment by someone trying to get past you. I want to be in the world of the music, not the audience, obviously, Al needs the audience to vibe off, especially on this, his first show of the tour, the atmosphere is important. No problem but it made me think about the non-smoking rule and how it must have angered smokers whilst having non-smokers cartwheeling out of the gym. I’m not wanting to ban alcohol from shows but I’m sure a lot of smokers appreciate smoking being banned almost as much as non-smokers. Can you imagine that smoking in restaurants was normal? It was normal even if you chose to go posh and expensive to order a delicacy served by a trained expert in gastronomic fayre, cooked by a magician, and to then have smoke blown in your face as you eat it.

All in all, it was a great show by a surprisingly humorous and humble man with spectacular talent. Apparently, Chick Corea called him at short notice to join Return to Forever when he was just 17 after hearing a tape, his first gig, Carnegie Hall, his dad asked who is Chuck Corea and his mamma signed autographs as Al’s Mom.

Music today has been Al Di Meola’s Across The Universe (2020), his second Beatles tribute album after All Your Life (2013). Because is on the first album, Norwegian Wood is on the second album.

Music Of The Daze

On the way to the studio today I found myself at the coffee shop talking to Michael who is part of the Psychedelic Robot show. “Psychedelic Robot is an immersive, 360º visual storytelling experience with interactive exhibits”. At the end of the conversation, another man came up to me and asked me how I could be wearing shoes and socks in this weather. It seemed like a rather banal question, not quite as interesting as psychedelic robots. I told him I’m in an air-conditioned studio all day, he seemed satisfied with that answer. My point about sharing this is that it’s America, it’s really easy to talk to people in a casual way. A man pushing a bike asking odd questions or a corporate managing director, the bloke from the valet parking or the Seven Eleven, the woman in the Bentley, or the man in the McClaren, Americans will give you the time of day.

We had to rerecord some acoustics when we arrived in the studio as we noticed there was quite a loud buzz on one of the channels. Brian actually played the parts better, probably because it was earlier in the day, rather than late at night. We went on to one 12-string acoustic part and then nylon string before getting into the electric guitars. We had John’s sixties Fender Super Reverb and Kevin’s Bad Cat amp, Brian’s Archer pedal on the pedalboard, his 1966/67 Rickenbacker 6-string, and the Ibanez UE 405. What could go wrong?

I was actually feeling a little under the weather today, I never quite got going but that’s ok because Brian did and I figured out some musical parts in his songs that needed looking at and he played a mixture of arpeggios, chords, and solo parts. Brian’s music is quite complicated and consequently, it has to be played well otherwise it would sound messy, so it takes some time to record, plus there are a lot of guitar parts. It’s a fascinating journey making records. When you think about sitting on your bed with an acoustic guitar and an idea and the stages you have to go through to get to a finished album, it takes a lot of skilled people, a lot of time, a lot of investment.

The moon was bright tonight, not full, maybe not even half but it shone brightly in the sky. I always see planes flying by and tonight a helicopter which sounds extremely scary, being in a helicopter at night. Olivia went to Guitar Center to return a string from her expensive set as there was an issue, they gave her 25% back, from there to a luthier who made it work after all. Later on, before we left, with the moon shining into the room, she had a quick spurt of bowing that attracted the attention of the next-door neighbours who demanded more lit up from the heavens.

Music today is sticking with the quintessential American album, Don McLean’s American Pie (1971). It features the famous title track and one of Olivia’s favourite songs, Vincent. I once went to his house and met his wife because my bassist Hannah’s mum was working with her on some photography. It was a mansion in Maine. This song came out as a seven-inch single and because it had so many verses Side 1 faded out, you flipped it and Side 2 faded in. Those Were The Days, wait, that’s Mary Hopkin.

Music Of The Daze

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

Today was the first day of sessioneer NJ Brian’s Valley of Salt project and the commencement of his second album whilst the first one is still being mixed. It was a bit of a late start as Brian wasn’t landing till late morning and had to make his way from Dallas airport (which is miles away) in an Uber, get all his gear in a car, get to the hotel, pick up a hire car in town and then make it to the studio. So we had some time before he arrived which meant I could watch Everton survive whilst Leicester and Leeds didn’t. It also meant that we could see our friend William who arrived from Houston with a very special item, a dark blue Rickenbacker 370 12-string which I’ll be using with Salim in June, more on that guitar as we head towards our goal in the In Deep Music Archive – Phase 2 and think about Phase 3 at the beginning of next year.

On the way to the studio, we saw a sixties Ferrari 250 GT, a beautiful piece of auto design, it just made all the other posh cars in the posh car park look less stylish. With the top down on a hot day in Texas, it might have been more suited to the French Riviera and Gina Lollobrigida who as it happens died in January this year at the age of 95. I can only imagine her stories from the Ferraris of her heyday.

A friend of John’s and Jason’s, Andrea, a masseuse came to visit from St. Louis as she was doing a special course here in Dallas. She offered her hands and I volunteered, never saying no to a massage from a professional. I’m sure she sorted something out, including my ocular nerve issue, the massage gave me an aura and it seems that it might be caused by a muscle in my neck that needed treatment.

Brian arrived, William left, and John and Kevin stepped in and out of the engineering seat, Sarah observed, I did what I do and we found ourselves with three and nearly four drum tracks before we left. The last one being a tricky timing issue for which Brian is famous. In the end, it was solved and we left Jason and Kevin to finish off as Brian who had been up since 4 AM was falling into the darkness.

Music today has randomly been the first Fox album (1975) that featured two UK hits pre-S-S-S-Single Bed (1976), Only You Can (No. 3) and Imagine Me Imagine You (No. 15). S-S-S-Single Bed reached No. 4 in the UK and No. 1 in Australia. The band was the brainchild of producer/songwriter Kenny Young (aka Shalom Giskan) who had written Under The Boardwalk with Arthur “Yummy Yummy Yummy” Resnick for The Drifters. He also wrote Come Back and Shake Me (No. 3 in the UK in 1969) for Clodagh Rodgers and with Ben Yarley, Captain Of Your Ship for Reparata and the Delrons, a No. 13 in the UK in 1968. Australian singer Noosha Fox (aka, Susan Traynor) originally in the band Wooden Horse, was the secret weapon.

Music Of The Daze