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News

May 04 2018

Anekdoten Gigs 2018

I will be performing with angular Swedish Progressive Rock masters Anekdoten in 2018, starting at the beginning of June in Italy and playing two shows, one in Milan and one in Rome before heading to Bergen in Norway later that week. In August we will be at the beautiful Château de Villersexel in France and later in the year we will be in Scandinavia with a show confirmed at the prestigious Nordic Music Days festival in Helsinki. This will be the first appearance in Finland for Anekdoten in 12 years and we will be in serious historical company following in the footsteps of Edvard Grieg who performed at the first edition of Nordic Music Days 1888, Jean Sibelius appeared in 1919 and now it’s time for Anekdoten in 2018, 130 years after the first event.

Tickets: anekdoten.com/tourdates

 

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: News

May 04 2018

Spirit Level Record Store Day Photos

I hope everybody had a wonderful Record Store Day and got everything they wanted. I had to pay over the odds for David Sylvian’s Dead Bees On A Cake and ended up getting it twice in the frenzy of securing a copy. Many people told me they had found a copy of SPIRIT LEVEL – check out their photos:

Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper
Spirit Level Record Store Day Release by Marty Willson-Piper

If you’d like to be included in this gallery, send your photos to olivia@martywillson-piper.com

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: News

Mar 09 2018

US Tour 2018 – Gallery & Thank You’s

Live at the Cutting Room, New York City, 22/02/2018

Live at Colony, Woodstock, 20/02/2018 [Audio]

High As A Kite, San Francisco, 13/02/2018

Gig Gallery

Olivia Willson-Piper (violin) and Marty Willson-Piper at Barracuda, Austin - Photo: Michael Passman
Olivia Willson-Piper (violin) and Marty Willson-Piper, Highline, Seattle - Photo: Sophie Beck
Marty Willson-Piper, Olivia Willson-Piper, Don Piper at Genghis Cohen, Los Angeles - Photo: Sven Amsterdam
Olivia Willson-Piper (violin) and Marty Willson-Piper, Midtown Arts Center, Harrisburg - Photo: Steven Koontz
Olivia Willson-Piper (violin) and Marty Willson-Piper, Get Hip Recordings, Pittsburgh - Photo: Jeff Binczyk
Hannah Moorhead, Olivia Willson-Piper and Marty Willson-Piper, Get Hip Recordings, Pittsburgh - Photo: John Bechtold

THANK YOU to an amazing band:

Olivia Willson-Piper (Violin, Cellolin & Backing Vocals)
Don Piper (Acoustic Guitar & Backing Vocals)
Hannah Moorhead (Bass & Backing Vocals)
Patti Hood (Harp in Los Angeles)
Rory Mackenzie (Drums in Los Angeles)
Jonny Cragg (Drums in Seattle)

And everyone who made this tour possible:

John Bechtold
Trevor & Tricia Boyd
William Buras & Julie Bell Buras
Denny Burkes
Bucks Burnett
John Caldwell
John Cole & Mo Serrao Cole
Jonny Cragg, Cindy Howlett & Domino
Aram Delgado
Marc Geiger & Leilani Sarelle
Rachel Gutek
Dean Hunter
Steven Koontz
Steve Lang
Jeanne Laudon Stahlman
Patti & Mike Lindsey
Sarah Henry
Dare Mason
Salim Nourallah
Dennis “Spyder” Rhodes & Cynthia
Melani & Ed Rogers + TV GENERATION
Robert Rankin Walker
…among others…

Thanks to everyone for coming, singing along, spreading the word, being enthusiastic, contributing photos and videos and buying merch! Until next time!

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: News · Tagged: Acoustic Tour, Don Piper, Hannah Moorhead, Marty Willson-Piper, Olivia Willson-Piper

Mar 08 2018

RECORD STORE DAY 2018: Spirit Level on Vinyl!

Marty Willson-Piper Record Store Day Release 2018 Spirit Level

SPIRIT LEVEL ON VINYL!!!

As Record Store Day approaches we are excited to announce the imminent re-release on clear vinyl of Marty’s 1992 album SPIRIT LEVEL through SCHOOLKIDS RECORDS out of North Carolina.

Only previously available on CD and long deleted, the album comes with a gatefold sleeve and features lyrics and photographs taken from the original artwork (Photos by Håkan Lindell).

This super limited release of 500 copies can only be purchased at participating stores on April 21st, 2018 and only in the USA.

Stores listed here: http://recordstoreday.com/Stores
http://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/9948

Spirit Level:

I Can’t Cry
Will I Start To Bleed 
Turn Away To The Stars 
Luscious Ghost 
Scandinavian Stare 
Can’t Ever Risk An Openness With You
Even Though You Are My Friend 
Adelle Yvonne 
The Saddest House In Stockholm
Kiss You To Death 
Melts My Heart

“SPIRIT LEVEL was recorded at Dream Machine Studio in Stockholm, Sweden, in the early nineties with trusty friend, Noctorum collaborator and producer Dare Mason. On the previous album Rhyme we took the tape recorder into a room, unpacked it and set it up as a temporary creative space. This time we went into a proper studio and were grateful for having a sofa and a kettle.”

“We befriended Stockholmer Anders Hernestam who plays drums with two of Sweden’s most well-known acts, Thåström and Weeping Willows. Anders also played with the more recent MOAT project (the collaboration with German-Swede Niko Röhlcke). Recently relocated, now Swedish resident, American ex-pat Michael Blair who had played with Elvis Costello, Lou Reed and Tom Waits also contributed drums along with bass sessioneer Matts Alsberg on I Can’t Cry. Other Swedish luminaries appear throughout the album, including Mats Ronnerstam on the rest of the bass and Martin Rössel on slide guitar on Even Though You Are My Friend.”

SPIRIT LEVEL is a more organic album than its predecessor and includes the atmospheric Scandinavian Stare, fan-favourite Luscious Ghost and the aforementioned I Can’t Cry (covered by the high-cheek-boned Charlie Sexton, presently Bob Dylan’s long time guitarist). A French setting for Adelle Yvonne and the gentle catharsis of Will I Start To Bleed, back to Scandinavia for The Saddest House In Stockholm and to warmer climes and the River Nile for Melts My Heart with its hypnotic primitive beat, exemplifying an eerie yet accessible beauty that pervades all of the songs on this captivating album.

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: News

Jan 09 2018

Impromptu Tucson-Piper

So we spontaneously played in Tucson on 7th January 2018:

“In their heyday, with chart topping hits like “Metropolis” and “Under the Milky Way,” Australian neo-psychedelic/dream poppers The Church became a staple during the MTV Era of the 1980s into the early ‘90s (when MTV actually played music videos back-to-back). Saturday, a small gathering of devotees were privileged to a rarified event. An intimate performance by Marty Willson-Piper (co-founding member of The Church) accompanied by his lovely bride Olivia Willson-Piper on violin. The newlyweds, on a cross country trek, made a stop in The Old Pueblo. The venue: The inviting living room of close friends. I must say, in this context, to hear Willson-Piper’s rich, resonant voice sing “Spark,” a song that he penned off of Starfish (Arista, 1988), while slashing away on twelve-string acoustic guitar was just too much to bear. Overstimulated neurotransmitters flooded my brain with epinephrine, unable to fully process the surreality and sheer awesomeness of the moment, resulting in a Cheshire cat grin that remained affixed long after the final chord rang out.” (Xavier Omar Otero)

“Truth is indeed stranger than fiction in this strange world of ours. Sometimes the impossible happens. Sometimes, unexpected treasures do, indeed land on your doorstep (literally).
Last Saturday evening, we were visited and charmed by a travelling minstrel and his beautiful bride. What followed was a night of enchantment, melody and magic that I will never forget. Thank you Marty and Olivia Willson-Piper for filling our home with your very special brand of ethereal, spellbinding, mellifluous wonder. It was as beautiful as it was surreal. 
To have followed the career of such an exceptional musician and to have held him in such high regard for so many decades, to watching in awe as he painted the air with mesmerizing, haunting melodies and poetry in the comfort of my own home, was a full circle, very personal experience for me. 
I met Marty the first time at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater backstage, after The Church (on their “Heyday” tour) had just opened for Echo & the Bunnymen. In those moments just after their performance, they informed my band at the time (Rex Estelle, Paul “Arki” Wolfe), that the following night they would be playing in our home town of Tucson at a place called “Nemo’s” (they meant Nino’s). Knowing that the boys would be in shock transitioning from a concert performance to nearly 50,000 people to a sardine can-sized watering hole that barely held 75 people with the assistance of a crowbar, we decided to jump in the car, fuel up and race back home to the Old Pueblo to meet them there to assist and show them around town (I was living in the Valley at that time with The Watch). We arrived at their sound check the following day at Nino’s, took them to lunch at the Blue Willow then shopping at Aardvark’s before their show, where Marty purchased the famous captains jacket he wore in the “Under the Milkyway” video. Thirty years later, he spent the evening at my house, delighting us all in my very living room. 
It’s not every day that we are given the opportunity to meet and spend quality time with our heroes. You will always be my favorite guitarist of all time, Marty. Your violin was heavenly, Olivia Willson-Piper. Congratulations to you both. I wish you both much prosperity and bliss!” (Dennis “Spyder” Rhodes)

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: News

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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.

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MARTY WILLSON-PIPER © 2023 - Front Page Images by Hajo Müller