update

Hi Folks,

Just to say the MP3 single In The Noise has been delayed due to technical issues and my tendency to rip my tunes to bits and start again. Now the song will be released at the end of next week

I am putting down vocals right now and really enjoying working with Logic on my Mac, recording a complete piece for the first time. I have dozens of half finished songs in various stages of development but it is time to cease procrastination and get on with it all.

As I have been getting deeper into the technology of Logic Pro I see the restrictions and limitations of previous technology disappear with every passing day. I have been thrilled by the ease with which I have been able to progress what are probably some of the heaviest tracks I have ever made as well as some melodic songs.

I have only just finished the lyric for my song for Mick Farren, The Sound Don't come. This is a song I first played at The Borderline last time out. I seem to be writing some thing every other day and this is a new experience. There were years when I only wrote a couple of songs. Currently it works out at two a month plus sketchy ideas for songs.

I had a great week with Bob the bass player last week writing and arranging bass parts. We have a half dozen songs on the assembly line now and the best is still to come.

I will be heading out to Greece in March for a return visit to the very wonderful DRUG STORE in Athens. I'll be playing two dates on the 7th and 8th of March and then, hopefully  I will be heading out to Norway in May, for a FDPFAFDW gig and a spot of fishing Norge style.

I am really enjoying semi retirement and not worrying about what is next. I only play the dates that seem attractive to me though I never refuse a FDPFAFDW date. I am not in any rush to change my relaxed approach. I have spent too long taking the strain and feeling the stress for no good reason in the past. This said I do like being out there among the white lines and so I manage to get out and about as often as I can. Any excuse to plan a road trip. I'm off to look at some potential locations for shooting some video material for a couple of songs. I have a cutting list of shoots and a fair idea of where I am going with it. I also have a shiny new Canon 
EOS 600D.

The torrential rain that has been thrashing down for hours has stopped. The sun is shining and it is time for me to get myself together to head out with camera in hand. There are a couple of guitar effect pedals I am in interested in trying so if I come across them then tested they will be.

Time then, to get organised, put the recording on stand by and proceed to the next episode. All good. More later.

peace

the noise- prologue

in the noise

Noise like the sound of bright angels playing with machines, industrial trumpans, siren cry whale speak , like the wind howling towards land fall and love's urgent call like steam escaping in a heartbeat. Noise entwined in noise. Timbres of many dashing colours never still for a moment. Rushing and then falling in sheets of grinding metal then swinging through sweet tones, joining, combining into glorious cacophony.
Flip over in the huge wave like on a western shore. Roll in it like a fast porpoise, in my song filled dream. Lie back on the tones that weave and wind through the lateral line in real time, like rainfall pouring off a hillside. Tingling all over in the sonic landscape. Lost in the reverberations with ringing reflections bouncing madly off every surface. The phsyco-acoustic geometry of it all is wonderous and astounding. 
Feeling taken over in the sweet storm of noise, losing the well trod path to embark on a different way outside of usual. It feels good, re-assuring and safe. It reminds me of what draws us to the fire and to the beating drum and it is is eternal. It unites us. The sound of the crackling warm fire and the intrigue of the sound of a drum. Who is playing it and why? We go there with high expectation to share and to commune, by the fire with the drummer. 
A sweet note, like a Mongolian throat singer's invocation from the tundra, stands up in the noise to be counted by the hairs on the back of my neck. Falling but not asleep, only deep in the sway as I move to the rythm that is inside me.  It is the Near Sway that envelopes us all when we are happy and free. The Far Off Sway is out there and random. Some times it is safe but some times it is not. It is where risk resides and foolishness abides. It is also where, some times, greatness grows and the foolhardy become heroes in glorious vibration. 
I wonder if all the sound we make, every word and noise is recorded in a great united etheric sound library of infinite proportion. If so are remnants of our noisy being imprinted every where through time, for ages?  By the fire, around the drum eternally, living on in all the noise. Stand in quiet wilderness or at the center of a storm and you might hear it.



http://www.psychicscience.org/evp.aspx







peace

see you in 2014

Latest feel good news > Helene Donnelly (L) and Julie Bailey NHS whistle blowers are acknowledged in new years honours.

Another year draws to a close and it has been a satisfying and interesting year for me. It has been a great pleasure to have met so many of you and some of you on several occasions. I feel I have got to know many you via the fair days pay gigs. I have become so used to playing these shows for you I really don't know why I didn't do some thing about it earlier. I first had the idea years ago but there it is. Better late than never and so the fair days pay gigs will continue next year. Looks like there is one or two  in the pipe line already.

The gig high light of 2013 for me has to be The Drug Store shows in Athens and I am looking forward to a return trip.  

The electric band stuff has been held up by illness and the vagaries of life but next month is crunch time. Time to stand and deliver. I do enjoy my trips back to Warwick as long as I don't have to visit Warwick town for a bit of shopping. It is the most disappointing place if you discount the historical interest.

Some how I seem to have been less active on the fishing front this year. Other interests take over slightly and I seem to have been busy or the weather has been against it. I do seem to be gently sliding into the mould of fair weather fisherman these days. I didn't get a bass this year though Wales always throws up a fish or two from the sea and I had a few perch and pike here and there and some fun with tiny ultralight gear in Weymouth in the summer.

I am writing a lot these days and endlessly sifting through ideas for the ones that might fly. So much to do. I spend an increasing amount of time in front of my  Mac book's screen developing the songs for the 2014 shows and album. 

The Condems continue to assert they are saving the world but it is unlikely that new planned cuts to services and resulting unemployment will assist in maintaining the upturn they are crowing about and unfortunately it is the poorest who are paying the price. I believe the recovery lauded by the Condems is built on sand. There is always a way to make the figures/data they have fit the avowed, political intent. No one was more adept at that than Blair. He still lurks on the world stage, in the background, like some gaunt and grim spectre waiting for apocalypse.

In 2013 we have discovered, it is official, to become a whistle blower is not a good life style choice.  Lots of sympathy but no legal protection and in some cases, no future in your line of work. Whistle blower Chelsea Manning was treated like a terrorist insurgent then jailed for years because she told the world about a US helicopter gun crew shooting civilians for fun. She also released documents, such as the manual of heavy handed protocols for dealing with the induction of alleged insurgents into residence at Guantanamo Bay, all of which the US government would like to have kept secret. They know decent Americans and Brits would be appalled at the low level ethos employed in so called anti terrorist practice.  After Edward Snowden's revelations Obama is desperately trying to placate US criticism of UK/US spying on "ordinary citizens". According to commentators, there is a growing awareness in the US that Obama only applies the laws he likes. Obama spouts about Mandela's achievements as though he could almost take credit for some of them yet Guantanamo Bay operates on a business as usual basis.

Among the large and growing world community of dispossessed, the refugees of Syria are hanging on in barely tolerable conditions on minimum rations in camps with out sanitation.  It is obvious their salvation is not part of the US foreign policy lead grand plan, what ever that is. It doesn't seem to be working any where in the world. It seems the big players only manage to make things worse. Start with ten radicalised insurgents. Kill half of them and some of their their civilian brothers and sisters in Pakistan with a wayward drone strike , now there are twenty new ones and an English Boy Soldier dies in Woolwich. It was shocking but was it so surprising? US lead foreign policy is out of control and with plans for imminent military pull out of Afghanistan, the so called War on Terror is failing.

Such is life in the modern world that some times the world can seem to be a dark and very depressing place where the obstacles to being happy seem insurmountable but it is also a very beautiful place to be and there are good people every where. I meet people all the time who do amazing selfless stuff. They are the ones who keep the standards high, save us from ourselves and yet it never seems to be enough. It's easy to see why some people give up and why others will not. Those who will not give up in the struggle to make a positive difference are the best of us but they are embattled and under pressure in the front lines.  In 2014 let's hope for more unity in the land from the grass roots and more participation from some of my generation who only watch.  

Mean while, is any one else sick of Supermarket and other's seasonal ads vying for your custom? Beautifully photographed images of tables heaving with every kind of food imaginable and then, the ads such as those from the perfume industry that just don't know what to do or say because their product is expensively  superficial and superfluous. Still they hope another bloated Christmas is on the cards.
This winter charities such as The Salvation Army are stretched to the limit and say demand has never been higher for years. Our prosperity in the UK cannot continue be measured, in part, by the Christmas take in the High Streets while 80,000 homeless children will be dependent on charity for any Christmas cheer they get this year. 

So I am not doing old school Christmas. I don't need or want presents. I am going to give to people who need it this year and I am not the only one. I know a good few people who will be doing some thing similar. Having said all of that, of course I get why people still do Christmas and for little kids its so special and cool. So, if you are having what I call an old school Christmas, have a good one and I hope 2014 is a great year for you and yours.

peace

p.s. from jan 21st 2014 check your mail box to see if you will be receiving a free MP3 single titled the noise. watch this space and your email inbox.

post cards to a prime minister and other things

The above post card sent to Harold Wilson, UK Prime Minister from some where in Germany a long time ago.

'Dearest Harold, Here we are in Germany again. Hope you received our last card. Hope you can put a block on Enoch [Powell]. We don't dig your politics, any ones, but power to the people of all colours. Best wishes Edgar Broughton Band' 

The above photo was sent to me by Brian Sexton. Don't ask me where he found it though I shall ask him. It is always strange when I am reminded of the things we did back then that I have no recollection of until i see the evidence ha ha! It occurs to me that it was possibly a very stoned idea to send a post card to Harold Wilson especially as Brian says the other side of the post card had a 3D picture of a topless woman. Not very politically correct today but it might have appealed to the beer and sandwiches P.M.

Back then we were rampaging polit rockers as described by German media branding and young Mick Farren was a UK Panther who wrote prolifically and also had a band.
I set out on Friday last for the Borderline club in the heart of The West end. Last time there was sad and bleak after Mick collapsed during his performance. We few who remained were mostly quiet or made hopeful, positive noises but it was all in vain. I stayed until there was nothing else to be said and no one I wanted to say any thing to. Out side, in the world, it was humid and the sky was full of warm rain. The air crackled.
I feel sure we all went home slightly stunned and feeling blue that humid night back in July. I remember how good that dank, Blade runner, dirty city air felt when I eventually took the stairs, up and out of the club. The audience had long gone and I stood in Charing Cross Road just breathing and feeling how good it is to be in this world, for all it's grimness and dark iniquities. The rain poured down and I stood watching the folks rushing by. Just to be there and to witness it all felt wonderful. It is amazing how some things that might have seemed mundane and routine only an hour before, can seem to have become wonderfully fresh.

So back in the room. A quick and easy sound check and then off to the dressing room with no coat hooks to hook up with Here And Now for the second time. They are a very nice crew who play some pretty out there toons that really deserve closer inspection.A really banging outfit with passion and imagination. All sorts going on here with weaving analog synthy stuff that reminds me of the days of the incredible EMS VC3 modular synthesiser and other psychedelic wonders.

Time to roll. The sound guy got me off to a good start with a lovely onstage sound and I enjoyed every minute of it. The audience was attentive and mostly seemed to get me so I guess the out front sound was cool too. I poured it all out and got lost in the noise for a while. It was kind of cathartic. I wanted to out some of my own demons this night along with those of the gig that never happened. It was fun and the audience were very nice to me. I elected to play some very new songs including my song for Mick [The Sound Don't Come] and a couple of old ones. The time passed and I was done and it was time for Here And Now. I watched the band for a while. I loved the physical experience of the Here And Now's bass player knocking some very tight, chunky bass lines out of the sub woofer of the p.a. system, a few feet from where I stood. Lovely!

Time to go. I started up the stairs once more into the West End night. Outside it felt good in the crisp November air and I was buzzing from the gig. 
Thanks to promoter Jim Driver for keeping the faith and battling against the odds. I think Mick would have dug it.

---------------

Last night I played Billy Blake's birthday bash at the Ivy House in Nunhead. It is a great idea to celebrate the great man of the people on his birthday. It was the usual off the wall happening with some quite extraordinary musical and poetic offerings of hugely varying types. Some of it was quite riveting. Absolutely Mad! 

I had another lovely time on stage with another warm and very appreciative Mad Pride audience.  Some people here have interesting and deeply moving things to say. Some struggle but they don't given up the fight easily. 
I headed off into the night and on to the night buses.  I love that part. Off the stage and into the world where I am immersed in the intrigue of the night people, the lights, the all night eateries, exotic 24/7 shops and the constant flow of people from all corners of the world. I was buzzing on a bus as we watched the world go by, as we passengers passed through the world. Brixton was still bubbling with thronging peoples and would be for some hours to come. This is a great city.

So I have played my last gig for this year. Now I am going to take some time to advance one or two top of my list projects for the next few months and get some work done on the electric project in Warwick. 

Some of my own personal high lights from 2013 happened at FDPFAFDW gigs as they have since I began playing them. One of my better ideas, I think. So Fair days pay for a fair days work gigs can be booked for 2014 from the 1st of January 2014.

peace



p.s. hi sue in brum. sorry you missed the borderline gig. hope you are recovering well from your recent op. x

mad with Billy

So it's nearly time for Billy's birthday and another cracking night out with the Mad pride squad. I always look forward to Mad pride gigs. Always interesting and entertaining. This one is free so be there and give your head a proper treat.
I'm playing the The Borderline on Friday so if you were at the last postponed gig or if you were not but you plan to make it on Friday then, I shall look forward to seeing you and hopefully we can out the demons from last time when poor old Mick Farren passed on.

I had a delightful time a week or so ago with a Fair Days Pay gig in Walsall and a private party in Lincoln. They were both birthday parties. The Walsall gig was at the very wonderfully appointed Black Country Arms which is a lovely old pub with real beer and a lovely atmosphere. Big ups to Chloe Anderton and family for putting it all together for dad John. Also a big up to The 58's Blues band who were ace. The second gig was in Lincoln for Kaz who was completely unaware of the plan to get her to a little church hall on a cold November night to meet and listen to me. It was the same in Walsall where John Anderton was also completely in the dark about arrangements for his 60th party. I love to see the surprise on folks faces when they realise I have come to play the minstrel for them.
I so enjoyed the Lincoln gig. The wooden floor and stone walls of the little church hall provided perfect acoustics for a completely unplugged gig. I was relaxed enough to run a few new ideas out and I was very satisfied with the results. I was fortunate to get the chance to chat with Terry Wellbourne, T.C. Lethbridge biographer and musician. Terry arranged the gig for his partners mum Kaz. Terry and I have said we would make some sounds together for a long time now and I hope it happens.

I am currently playing around with various pedals and gadgets to enhance the 2014 electric/acoustic show I am developing. I feel a little bit more of an electric vibe is imminent.

in the vibey Travel Lodge underground car park at 
Fort Dunlop in Birmingham

I had a very interesting evening on Friday past when I went to Rick Mantovani's studio to drop some pretty strange electric guitar utterances over some of his mega drone material. I had a great time but I suspect poor Rick will be ages sifting through and editing to pick out the parts that worked.

With out boring you with the wrinkly detail, I have been experiencing some of the not unexpected out comes of growing older. My ethos around growing old disgracefully has more than a little truth to it and probably more than you might expect. I am not sure this is of help. A sign of my times, and those of friends and colleagues, is that often when we meet we are almost biting our lips so that we shall not descend into a fully detailed litany of of our various ailments. I seem to have begun to visit hospital and my lovely doctor as often as I get into a fishing tackle or music shop these days. Still I fare quite well considering and so far, apart from a heart attack earlier this year, I am not doing so badly. Most recent episode and visit to A and E via 111, was a suspected detached retina in my left eye but it's not actually that. Oops! You see I am beginning to talk about the boring detail. Nothing too worrying though. 
The Internet plays a part in this. It is so easy to establish that ones inevitable demise is now imminent because digital doctor says so and that all the answers to desperate questions around my health always seem to point to the worst case scenario possible. I have scared myself stupid wading through reams of on line medical question and answer pages. Today I feel good and in good spirit. I am getting through a few important tasks which always makes me feel quite worthy. 
In London today the skies are grey. I fear it is about to get much colder out there so enjoy the relatively mild temperatures while you can. My bicycle leaning against the wall for days on end mocks me and my poverty stricken assertions that I will go for a ride soon.

That most despicable and plastic arcane ritual is about to descend on us all so I shall try to enjoy the days leading up to the woeful holiday of darkness and I shall ignore the ludicrous free market attempts to coerce me into joining in.


peace

snake pass dreaming

I have been mostly travelling since the beginning of September with three weeks in Wales, a week in Weymouth, a week on the East Anglian wet wilderness and a week in Wigan staying with my good friends Val and John Bradshaw. John is my northern road manager and both John and Val have been and are hugely supportive of my new adventures and projects in music. Even in the middle of settling in their new house they went to great lengths to support and assist me. The plan was to play for Gary's dad in Sheffield, a fair days pay gig on the 4th October that I had been looking forward to for some time. I met Gary and co at Tony and Helen's Fair days do, also in Sheffield. Their's was the second FDPFAFDW gig after John and Val's. Sunday was designated a chill day and I managed to get on a canal down the road and caught a feisty little Jack pike. It was nice chucking lures with John and my mate Aztec, the German Shepard. Her twin Inca died recently so it was a bit sad. I missed him cos we were tight. Enough said.

Monday we were to host Walter Kohl a writer from Austria who came to discuss a collaboration on a Faction involving yours truly. As well as being a life long fan, Walter is a very well respected writer in Austria so I was looking forward to meeting him very much. Tuesday was reserved for a meet with a guy in Wigan who has some great ideas around an alternative style gig which resonates with me perfectly at this time. We are planning a charity benefit gig involving a couple of other musicians. Details to follow but it's all in the brainstorming stage right now.

Saturday soon arrived and John and I set out towards Sheffield in his trusty BMW Rover. I always feel a little like I used to in the old EBB Range Rover, safe and secure. John had an idea of the route he would usually take but his super robot Sat Nav had other ideas and I am so glad it did. We left the thronging traffic on a section of motorway and drove out on the back roads, through lovely villages headed for the hills. My heart leapt as we rounded a corner and there was the sign SNAKE PASS. I had never been there before or if I had I was almost certainly asleep in the back of the EBB car. It's not a route a band on tour would take if a motorway was handy. Joy of joys! As we climbed the mountain out of Glossop I began to study the road from a lapsed cyclist's perspective. It's quite a climb that I would prefer to descend than ride up and I wondered if the descent into Sheffield might be the easier side to climb. Currently I have the first item on my so called bucket list and I intend to realise this next spring in the Tour de France climbs of France. 

The plan is to have John drive Ramblin' and me up a few climbs such as The Tourmalet, Ventoux and other notable climbs so that Ramblin' and myself can descend. Down hill for miles, LOVELY! As John drove me up Snake Pass I thought this might be a good rehearsal zone and decided I will do it after the winter snows, that close the pass, have abated. John seems up for almost any thing and is very encouraging as my eyes scan the climb. At the top the views are spectacular. The descent is twisting and quite technical with false flats and a few twisting hairpins that come out of no where fast as you pass the river Ashop and huge Ladybower reservoir on your right and head past the Rivelin dams along the river Rivelin. To ride or fish that would be the question ha ha!

Any way I decided the climb from the Glossop side would be easiest, how ever slowly I might go if I was to ride it, and the descent into Sheffield would be very fast and demanding. I could always drop in for a cuppa with my Sheffield FDPFAFDW mates.

Soon we arrived at Gary and Sally's home where we were warmly greeted and made very welcome.

birthday boy

My performance took place in the kitchen. I had such a great time. drinks in the interval, another set of songs, some very new, and then supper fit for a King never mind a minstrel such as I. What lovely, lovely people! We chatted about the state of the nation and lots of other cool stuff and I met little Ronnie again. I met him at Tony and Helens bash when he was tiny. We had a lovely chat and he had a strum on my guitar. He is the brightest little chap and a fan too. How cool is that and he's not yet four years old.

After some photos together John and I headed back towards Wigan. 

the "family"

We left with warm hearts and sweet memories of another lovely evening out in the north. It was dark as we climbed back up the Snake pass and I had remembered the road well. I knew when the top was coming  and as we crested the summit the view out over the valley towards Manchester was truly spectacular. I am determined to try to ride that road next year as soon as the weather is good and the road dry.

I fished the next day  and met up with Walter Kohl on Monday. He interviewed me for most of the afternoon. We found we had lots in common and most importantly discovered we have similar aims as far as art is concerned and so we spent a long time talking about writing. It is true that I should write more than talk about writing but the meeting gave us both insight into how we might proceed on a couple of projects.

We all went out for dinner later in the evening and then spent another couple of hours chatting. Next day John and I took Walter to Manchester airport and we said farewells and vowed to meet again soon. We headed to Wigan to discuss plans for the benefit gig and left with a good feeling. Mission accomplished.

I am about to begin two weeks rehearsal with the guys in Warwick and then I am off to a FDPFAFDW gig and a private party gig in Lincoln. I am very busy and having a great time.

I am also getting a few ideas together for a collaboration with Rick Mantovani. Some of you might remember seeing him when he toured with the EBB as Steve's drum tech.

As well as being an accomplished drummer in his own right, he has developed a very interesting music form based on drones and time stretched sound elements. Just my kind of thing. I just have to play some wacky guitar and try a few "no language lyrics" out on some of his pieces.

I haven't had any success finding an electronica person for the new band so the thinking is to find another musician who can also take on that role. If you might be interested the gig could be yours.

I'm working on a new show which will be a FDPFAFDW part 2 for 2014. I'll keep you posted.

You can see some of my new stuff at THE BORDERLINE on the 22nd of November. I promise, after what happened last time, with poor Mick Farren, it will be special. 

Check out THE PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY  at http://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk

All good stuff going on across the land. LET THE GAINS BEGIN!

peace