Romeo & Juliet

I put my own music on hold for a few days to get ready for a performance last Saturday night.
My wife's choir, Exultate Chamber Singers, had their annual fundraiser.  The theme was right up my alley:  London Calling, celebrating English music.
Most of our favourite music is British, so we spent a lot of time choosing which song we would play.  Both being huge David Bowie fans, we ran through a huge chunk of his catalogue.  Nothing felt right.  What about Pulp?  We tried Common People (my preference) and Disco 2000 (Kate's preference), before deciding on Romeo & Juliet by Dire Straits.  The song had a more varied dynamic, and seemed more suitable for the intended audience.  My skills are pretty far behind Mark Knopfler's, so it took some work to get it just right.  But I think we did.
I really enjoyed Andre Heywood's version of Your Song by Elton John.  I wish I could have given it more attention, but I was busy tuning my guitar in the back room as we were following him.

Kate did a fantastic job singing such a beautiful song.  And I had an added bonus:  This was the first time that my classic 1974 Fender Telecaster Custom got stage time.  I don't know why it has always taken second place to my other instruments - it's my favourite, with lots of personality and shaping from it's previous owner touring it for over 30 years.  But it was perfect for Romeo & Juliet, nothing else would give me that pretty, twangy, airy tone...

A few audience members told me afterwards that we should start performing more as a duo.  So that might be a future project...

Here's a photo from the performance:

And just to push it, here's a YouTube link to my favourite version of the song:

Revitalization

I just got back from New Orleans.
It was my first visit to the city, but won't be my last.  I LOVE it there!  The art, the friendliness, and the music EVERYWHERE.
I spent most of my days sitting on the Royal St sidewalk listening to incredible musicians busking.  It was incredibly inspiring.

One morning, out for a wander, I stopped to listen to a couple of street kids that were jamming on acoustic guitars.  We got talking about our tattoos, and they noticed the Bowie, Ferry, and Richards portraits inked on my forearm.  Then they offered me a guitar to bash away on.

My set included:
Romeo & Juliet by Dire Straits
Dead Flowers by The Rolling Stones
Unchained Melody by The Ritcheous Brothers
Burn, by me
This Dream, by me
I'm Alright by The Stereophonics
Heroes by David Bowie
Love Is The Drug by Roxy Music

I earned a fair bit of cash, but left it for them.  I was in town for fun, not work.  It really made me feel at home there, and I frequently saw those guys later in my visit.  I don't think they ever knew my name, and I didn't ask theirs.  They would just shout "Hey Moustache!" and wave whenever we crossed paths.


Coming back to Toronto, I was inspired to work on my own albums.  I have so many in the works...
Gravedigging For Two is written and demos recorded.
I also have another half-record written.
But I'm feeling the need to remix 2011's Love Isn't Enough collection.  I really like this batch of songs, but my home-mix isn't quite up to snuff.  And while John Jamieson and I mixed Your Heart And Mine, we noticed some consistent issues with my drum programming.  So I'll reprogram LIE's drumming before heading back to the studio.  That has also lead to redoing some overdubs...

Here's a clip from yesterday morning, where I am recording the lead guitar line from This Dream:





And for context, here's the original version:

Introducing The Uke

I buggered up my left hand a few weeks ago quite badly, and haven't been able to do much work on the new album.  I don't think it was anything major.  I spent a week or so doing the squeezy-squeezy thing on my hands, comparing the damaged left with the healthy right.  There was some swelling, but the bones didn't wiggle anywhere that they shouldn't.  Probably just some tendon damage.  So I've been letting it heal by itself - all a doctor would offer is "rest it" or "surgery."  Hopefully "rest it" is working.

I can play for an hour or so now before it starts to ache, so it IS healing.  It's just taking longer than it should because my other passion, sailing, has been putting a strain on it every time it starts to get better.


So here's a product endorsement and story to tide you over...

In June, I was at the Beaches Arts & Crafts festival with my wife.  Tired of the usual hand-made rugs, toys, and paintings, I leaped when I saw a small tent packed with ukuleles and banjos.
I ran over, talked to the luthier, and started plucking away on his wares.  I fell in love instantly, and came home $200 lighter with an amazing handmade Tenor Resonator Ukulele from Rosbilt*.
I've spent the summer playing it and getting used to the size and chords - ukes are new to me, but I'm a solid fan now.  If you're curious, check this guy out - Ross Stuart.  He makes some incredible instruments!   Mine has perfect intonation, sounds metallic yet strangely fragile and soft, it's a bit louder than standard wood ukuleles, and even after daily playing it only needs a minor tuning adjustment maybe once a week.

Sitting on the couch one weekend morning watching TV, I started plucking away absentmindedly on the uke.  An interesting melody came out, and my focus instantly changed to the instrument.  I rushed down to my studio and powered everything up.
I didn't want to bother setting up a microphone for the ukulele, so I decided to play it on an electric guitar.  Just get the damn thing recorded before it's forgotten!  30 minutes later I had a basic drum track programmed and a full song arranged.  Still, I wasn't ready to leave it alone.
While listening over and over to the song, I reached for the harmonica I had sitting on the mixing desk.  Virtually instantly a counter-melody came out of the instrument that, again, I had to get down on tape before it disappeared.  Again, no mic.  So I set up a synthesizer and played it on the keys.
And listened to it over and over and over.
The song was too good to leave alone, so I finally set up the mic and sang whatever came to mind.
Less than 3 hours from when I first plucked that melody from the uke, I had a full song written:  drums, bass, guitar/uke, harmonica/synth, and vocals.  Just wild...

I love the song, it's one of my strongest.  And it'll wait in line for the project after the one currently in production, to give it a little time to "mature."  One of the things I love about it is that it was written on 2 instruments I'm not particularly adept with, ukulele and harmonica, but built itself into beauty.  And yes, the uke will be on the record, it's just too cool to omit.

God, sometimes I just love music.

*and for the record, I have no professional interest in Rosbilt.  Ross (can I call him that?) has no idea that I'm writing this, and likely doesn't remember me at all.  But CHEERS to him!

Overload

A couple of weeks ago, I started working on the recordings that will become my next album. For all ten songs, the drum tracks have been programmed. I’ll wait until the actual recordings are complete before running them through the synth (Toontrack’s Superior Drummer) and rendering them to audio. Just in case I want to make changes as the other instruments shape the songs…

I’ve been practicing the bass-lines, as these will be the next parts recorded.

And here lies my dilemma: The new album has been written. They are ten songs, with fully written and edited lyrics, arranged and organized as I want them. But since starting the “final” drum programming, I’ve written another SIX GOOD SONGS! This is unprecedented for me. My normal practice has been to write 10 that I’m proud of, and throw them on a disc. As it stands these should wait for the 2013 project. But I don’t want to put them on the backburner.

Should I:
a) Record the new album with the planned ten songs and leave the new six for later?
b) Record all sixteen songs and choose the best ten?
c) Record all sixteen songs and sell as a sixteen-song album?
d) Put all sixteen on the backburner and work on the album of cover songs that I can’t legally release anyway but has some pretty cool arrangements?

Studio Update, and Another LIE

This was a great long weekend.
I managed to set up my studio. Unfortunately it needs some work. The blue cinderblocks look great, but the sound bounces right off them. I knew it would be a problem, but didn’t know how much until yesterday. I was laying down an acoustic guitar track, so I had a microphone set up in front of the Gibson’s soundhole. It’s a small guitar, and has a thin, whispy sound. That’s exactly what I wanted for the song. I sat down, adjusted all the levels, and recorded the slide-guitar track.
When I listened to the playback, there was a deep, boomy reverberation. The sound was bouncing off the walls, and overpowering the microphone. It made the signal unusable. It was really frustrating – that was a tough guitar solo to play cleanly, and it took a lot of practice to get it right.
A few hours later, I realized that I could get an equally-cool sound from one of my Telecasters. And I could run it directly into the PC, so the echo wouldn’t affect the sound. Ten minutes later it was done. Then I listened to the song a dozen times, thrilled with the way it’s building.

This isn’t a new song either. I was sitting on the sofa watching TV one night, plucking away on the above-noted Gibson acoustic (we keep it in the living room, for emergency access). I absent-mindedly plucked one of the guitar licks from “Love Isn’t Enough,” but at a really slow tempo. Suddenly I realized that this song would work well in a new genre. I rushed down to the studio, programmed a basic drum pattern, and very quickly laid down bass, guitar, and vocal “scratch takes” before I could forget what I had in mind.
I’ve built on it now, but it’s a sparse and lonely take on LIE. I can’t wait to polish and release it online (once the studio echo is resolved).

Found: Fender 12-string!

Over the last few weeks, I have been moving my home (and recording studio).
Everything is still dismantled, and of course this is when i'm having my flood of ideas - right when i can't make a quick musical sketch of them. I have lots of scribbled notes like "change 3rd line of Kill Me to The finish was always my favourite part," "Am brkdown in Crazy - cut out everything but rhythm guitar" and things like that. Hopefully i'll remember what i'm talking about when everything is set up again...

One surprise was clearing out the big closet next to my recording desk in the old home. I grabbed what I thought was an empty soft-shell guitar case. It was heavier than expected, and I found my Fender acoustic 12-string guitar! It had been hidden away in the closet for years, and I'd totally forgotten that I owned it. And I'm sure it'll come in handy on one or two new songs.

Hopefully I can get the new studio set up in the next week or two and get to work!

Cool Again

A couple of weeks ago, I helped out a friend and had a great time doing it.

An extremely talented pianist, he now wants to learn how to play the guitar. He knew enough to spend a reasonable amount of money for a quality instrument, but didn't know what attributes he wanted. So, he asked me to accompany him. Whatever instrument I liked best in his price range, he would buy it. Great for me, I get all the pleasure of shopping but without the cost!

I knew the best options off the bat, so when the salesgirl approached I noted requirements for a built-in preamp and dreadnaught-style body. I played quite a few guitars, and we narrowed the options down to two really nice Tanglewood guitars. I'd never heard of them before, but they're pretty awesome.  My next acoustic might just be the same one we bought for my friend.

Checking the resonance and intonation, I was playing chords that involved droning open strings along with frets up at the high end of the neck. For some reason, I started playing "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by Iggy & The Stooges. An old punk classic.

Suddenly our salesgirl, replete with pompadour and shitty rockabilly tats, got excited. This old fart with grey in his moustache and a Blackberry on his hip… was hip! She gave me "props" for "rocking some acoustic Iggy."

For the brief moment that I held some long-lost cred, I encouraged her to buy "Please Kill Me," by Legs McNeil - a compilation of fantastic interviews with 1970s punk legends.

That "cool" feeling kept me going for a few days.

Happy Christmas

I'll be spending the holiday weekend holed up with The Wife for our first Christmas as a married couple. Sleeping in, big greasy breakfasts (hopefully), gifts, etc...
I'm hoping to get a day in the studio again this coming week, to do a few edits and re-takes. Just clean up the recordings a little before starting to mix.

So Happy Christmas/ Kwanza/ Hanukkah, whatever you celebrate. And if you don't celebrate, then enjoy the time off, overtime pay, and/or Boxing Day sales.

Telecaster Love

Last weekend I recorded all the guitar tracks for Lies & Speculation. It was my favourite part of the recording so far, but that’s not surprising. Aside from the fact that I’ve been a guitarist for over 2 decades now, 9 of the 10 songs were written on the guitar. For me, because of my familiarity with the songs and the instrument, recording the guitar was easy and fun.
The acoustic guitar parts were all done with my Takamine. It has a great full, somber sound. Even though I have 7 or 8 electric guitars, I only used two: My 1974 Fender Telecaster Custom, and my 1991 Fender Telecaster Standard.

I’ve had a love affair with Telecasters since first hearing the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards’ primary sound relies mainly on the Tele. Because of that, once it looked like I was going to keep up my music lessons, my parents bought me one for Christmas (1991).

Other than the obvious importance of the Tele’s SONIC QUALITIES, I love the way they look. Especially as they age. The maple neck on Fender guitars age really nicely. I love that as you play them, the finish wears off and the wood starts to erode. It looks really cool, shapes how you play the instrument, and gives each guitar unique qualities – almost a personality.

On Saturday morning, preparing for the 2-day endurance run (10 songs, averaging 3-8 guitar tracks per song), I changed the strings on both guitars. I had to stop and admire the ’91 Tele’s neck – it’s starting to erode:




My ’74 has a lot of head start. Not only is it 17 years older, but has spent most of it’s life in a working, touring band.




Hopefully the ’91 Tele will catch up. I really do love these guitars – after stringing each one I played it for a half hour or so, reveling in the feel and sound.

Guitars – A love story

I received my first guitar for Christmas when I was 14. A low-end acoustic, it still managed to spark my interest. For my birthday 4 months later*, I was given a cheap electric model. That was enough to get me into lessons, and learning songs like The Stones’ “Miss You” and AC/DC’s “Hells Bells.”

I saved my pennies, and on Thanksgiving Monday 1991, my Dad drove me and 4 friends around Lake Ontario. The purpose: to stop at Rochester NY’s famed House Of Guitars, picking up a Fender Telecaster. This sole instrument would propel me in my goal of becoming Keith Richards.


The 1991 Fender Telecaster (with current modifications):

I bought this guitar in 1991 for $300. New models are almost twice the price.
I upgraded the pickups twice. The first was to put Heavy Metal-type pickups in, unfortunately due to my tastes of the time. A couple of years ago I replaced them with a Fender Texas Special in the bridge, and a Fender Gold Dual-Lace Sensor in the neck. I also replaced the bridge ($1 on ebay) and the tuning keys. I actually had to cut the pickguard to fit the new bridge, but didn't have a saw. If you look slightly behind the centre of the guitar, you can see the wobbly edge of the white, that I cut with A DRILL. When you don't have the right tool, use a drill. Really, only the body and neck are original. And there’s a really cool Skull pin glued into the body, which I bought at the X-Pensive Winos’ Massey Hall show in 1992.
This guitar was my primary instrument from 1991 on. I used to to smash a padlock (dent on the upper front of the body). When I played with Lovejoy in 2000, I performed with them 9 days after meeting and hearing them for the first time. I played so much learning the set, that my finger split while onstage, smearing blood all down the neck.
It has 18 years of extensive wear, eroding my favourite places on the neck. Like water running through a stream, the fretboard has slight indents where it’s most used. This subconsciously directs fingers to specific notes and patterns.

When I was 15, at the height of my Rolling Stones/ Keith Richards obsession, I saw a poster of him with a 1972 Fender Telecaster Custom. It was the most beautiful guitar I had ever seen, and I swore then that I would own one. It’s a classic model, and highly prized. Given the value and rarity, I decided that I’d accept either a 1972 model (first year produced), a 1974 model (my birth year), or a 1973 (because it’s in-between). A 1975 would be worthless to me.

In late 2008, I suddenly came into an unexpected few thousand dollars. After 19 years, I still hadn’t been able to afford my Holy Grail of Guitars. So I quickly went on Ebay and found a model better than I’d ever expected:

The 1974 Fender Telecaster Custom, with a factory-installed Bigsby tremolo system:

The Bigsby isn’t rare in and of itself. But they were usually added after the purchase. Mine has the Fender ‘F’ logo instead of the Bigsby script. Rarer. And the body wasn’t drilled through for strings, like the after-market installs were. The only part of this guitar not original is the bridge pickup, which someone replaced with a Seymour Duncan model. I plan on buying a Fender ’74 pickup, to put it back to 100%.

This guitar has been played by other people for 35 years. It is road-worn. It has a soul, a presence. The fretboard has been eroded by others’ personal tastes, routing my fingers to new and unexpected phrases. These notes and positions are NOT usually my favourites. This actually caused conflict when I first played the guitar, it felt decidedly uncomfortable. I resolved it by locking my ’91 in the closet for 6 months playing nothing but the ’74. It worked, and the 1974 Telecaster Custom is my (musical) dream-come-true.

I do love the history of my guitar – it suits me perfectly. The Ebay seller gave me the name of it’s previous owner, and I google-searched him. Here’s a pic of my instrument with it’s other lover. This pic is wonderful, and I hope to be able to live up to it’s Dead-Elvis past.

This 1974 Tele Custom had a huge impact on the production of Overture. It’s the only electric guitar on the entire album. I wanted to make the songs sound the way the guitar looks, if that makes sense to anyone else.

Hope you enjoyed this history/guitar-geek ramble.


* do the math, it’s coming up soon!

Crack

Three years ago, I bought an amazing Takamine acoustic guitar on Ebay. Got an amazing deal too, about $600 off the MRSP, as it was a 'factory second'. That implies that there was some sort of imperfection, anything from a blemish in the woodgrain finish to the headstock falling off and being glued back on.
A couple of years ago, a friend was playing it and noticed a hairline crack in the finish. It was so small that I'd never noticed it before. That was probably what qualified it as a 'second'. No biggie, it still looked and sounded perfect.

Last night Toronto had one of the worst storms I can remember. I watched the black clouds race across the entire horizon in about 3 minutes, my patio furniture was smashing against the railings, and I saw half the city lose power.
I had been watching the TV and stopped strumming the Takamine to set it on the couch beside me. As the storm raced in, the air pressure must have changed. I heard a loud CRACK coming from the far side of the couch. I saw the hairline crack suddenly quadruple in size.

Tomorrow I'm bringing it to Capsule Music for a repair estimate. I may have left it too late, but even if I have to pay a few hundred dollars it'll still be cheaper than if I'd paid full price. But if anyone can fix it, it'll be Capsule...