Neo-prog overload

It does get its fair share of bad press, but neo-prog was a part of the early years of my musical development - mainly because the other bands I liked at that time in the mid 80's (Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Rush and Yes mostly) were split up and/or in hibernation. If I wanted to hear live music with any sort of a challenge then bands like Pallas, Marillion, IQ, etc. were the only choice (bearing in mind that I was working through word-of-mouth and band links and had yet to venture as far off the commercial track as the likes of Zappa, Hammill, Harper and many more I subsequently discovered). So whilst I don't religiously buy every album by these bands in the music-hungry fashion I once did, I do keep an eye out for what they're up to and have bought the occasional disc on recommendation or from bargain shelves.

Having said that, this week has been a bit of a progfest for me. Last weekend I saw Pallas in Glasgow, sporting both current and former vocalists and making King Tut's rock. They played a fair chunk of the Atlantis suite from their classic Sentinel album with original vocalist Euan Lowson, and a selection of newer songs, mostly from their two most recent albums, with Alan Reed. In the past I have found Reed's stage presence to be a little uneasy, but he was very animated and had some amusing stage banter this time round - perhaps improving his 'game' to keep up with Lowson's semi-crazed antics, which might otherwise steal the show. I thought that Graeme Murray's bass sound seemed to have lost its characteristic sharp attack, and there were a couple of wobbly vocal harmonies, but in general it was a great show with plenty for Pallas fans old and new.

Before Pallas came on stage, we had another couple of blasts from the progressive past, in the form of Glasgow-based progsters Abel Ganz who also made use of two vocalists. Alan Reed, now of Pallas, was previously in Ganz and joined them for 'The Dead Zone', giving it an enthusiastic update for the new millennium. Also on vocals for the other two (long) songs of their set was Joe Cairney, formerly of Comedy of Errors - a Glasgow band who just started to bloom as the short-lived UK interest in prog (largely due to Marillion's success) was tailing off. He put in a strong performance on two new Ganz songs which made use of more traditional instrumentation (bazouki and flute) and suggests that their new album could be a bit of a treat. Apparently Joe is working with Ganz keyboard player Hew Montgomery on a stand-alone concept album called The Grand Tour, which should be worth checking out.

So - representatives from 3 of Scotland's main players in the progressive scene - just one to collect... Enter Planet Rock radio. They kicked off Fish's new tour with a free show in Edinburgh's Jam House. I last saw Fish almost twenty years ago when he was touring his first solo album and was able to fill the Playhouse. Changed days from the peak of Marillion's popularity, but having done the sound at the Jam House myself I was interested to hear how a pro would sound in what seems a pretty good venue. Unfortunately not too good - the mix was pretty muddy in places, and especially on the vocals, with even Fish clearly struggling to hear himself on his monitors. The band were a good deal more raw and rocky than the previous line-up I had seen (which really had a point to make in terms of being musical equals to Marillion following the split), and certainly suited the music and delivery to a tee. I would like to see him changing the format a bit - I think the songs are strong enough to stand up to being performed just by him and (guitarist) Frank Usher, as Peter Hammill does on a regular basis, and would allow Fish to concentrate on the emotion and delivery of the song. The material was mostly taken from his last Marillion album ('Clutching at Straws' - celebrating its 20th anniversay), with a few from his new album ('13th Star') and the rest of his solo career thrown in for good measure - the new material all sounded strong. One thing Fish has over most (in not all) other neo-prog frontmen is his natural showmanship - positively encouraging hecklers and engaging in lengthy periods of banter between songs, though sometimes it's difficult to tell whether he looks like he's going to hit someone or hug them!

So I'm all neo-progged up now. That should keep me going for another few years - back to the more esoteric music now...

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Technorati Tags: prog rock, neo-progressive, pallas, abel ganz, marillion, fish, comedy of errors, planet rock

Inverbegnac Regurgitated

I've been doing a lot of mixing of live recordings over the last few weeks, and needed a little break, so last night I messed around a bit with a couple of video editing programs to see which would be the best for the forthcoming Lunacy Board Subcommittee live video. Here's the result. A suitably daft video accompaniment to the 'Inverbegnac' advert.

Cheers!

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Technorati Tags: inverbegnac, advert, video, alcohol, drunk, dance

Tartan Heart (Belladrum) Festival

It has been a number of years since I last went to a music festival to experience the delights of multiple bands, dodgy catering and never-ending queues for toilets. My first such event was the Cropredy festival in 1987 which featured Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention and John Martyn amongst others, ran like clockwork and had record-breaking good weather - nothing I've been to since has measured up to that weekend, so how did Belladrum fare?

It has won awards for being the most family-friendly festival, amongst other things, and there were indeed stacks of activities for ankle-biters from puppet shows to storytelling and creative workshops. A very good selection of food stalls was on offer - from the traditional festival fare of burgers through to smoked salmon and stovies. The quality varied as much as the variety, as you'd expect, whilst the prices were uniformly high. Then there was the usual range of cash-in, boutique and generally peculiar shop stalls for those wishing to buy hats, wellies (essential), healing stones, etc. So far, so good, but most importantly... what of the music?

Friday

Nick Harper

We arrived slightly later than we had intended on the Friday, so by the time we had unloaded our gear into the tent (pre-pitched by Martin - what a star!), then found a copy of the 'Garden Times' (the mini-newspaper detailing running orders and events), we only managed to catch the end of Nick Harper's set. He played a monsterous version of his 'Love is Music' mutating epic, which grows more arms and legs and nods and winks every time I hear it played live. His singing was as strong as I've heard it, and guitar playing superb as ever - I just wished I could have heard more! The only downside was that the sound in the tent was pretty poor - almost as if the sound team underestimated the power that could come from one man with acoustic guitar - it seemed to be overdriving something in the system.

Peatbog Fairies

After a wander about we settled down to see the Peatbog Fairies over at the main stage - the only stage not covered due to the size of the arena. They have a mix of instruments from bagpipes and fiddle via horn section to standard rock guitar, bass and drums, and play a sort of high-octane ceilidh music intertwined with jazzy horn riffs and funky guitar solos - ideal for a festival audience in the Highlands, and it certainly got plenty of people up and jigging about. As a dance band they were great, but musically I found them fairly repetitive and lacking in dynamics, a fact which was not helped by a very poor mix which lost several instruments which were clearly supposed to be playing solos, and which had the bass so loud that we actually moved to the back of the arena because it was painful on the ears.

Alabama 3

The bass was still a bit on the heavy side during the Alabama 3 (or A3 in the US) set, but the mix was generally a bit better. They play a brand of country music with a strong flavour of modern dance music - I'm not familiar with the correct label, as this is a type of music that generally I try to avoid, but I'd guess house or acid or something like that. It works quite well, with three vocalists singing and rapping against each other, electronic noodlings warbling in the background and a pretty tight set of country/gospel/blues songs to carry along. An interesting and entertaining act with mock evangelical zeal and some nice cynical references to world politics.

The Magic Numbers

Having been disappointed by the poor sound of all the artists so far, I was pleasantly surprised by The Magic Numbers, for whom the mix was just right, with a strong, crisp (but not overpowering) bass and clear vocals. I wasn't expecting great things, as none of their songs that I've heard before particularly appealed to me, but I really enjoyed their set which had a great variety of songs, with lots of dynamic range and fun little time signature changes backed by that clear and busy bass and smooth harmonically-interesting backing vocals. A very polished performance which shone with humour and a sense of fun.

Saturday

James

Headliners for the Saturday night were James - one of those bands which, from back in my student days when they were big news, I always considered to be over-rated. Not bad, I just couldn't see why so many people thought they were SO good. Nothing I heard at Belladrum changed my opinion. The sound wasn't great, the songs uninspiring, and the early 'last number' seemed like a push for a second encore. I don't know if they got it - I left after the first one - as did many others, but there was no change in lighting or on-stage clearing-up activity, so I think they were expecting it. In all I was surprised to see they had as big a fanbase present as they did, but they were the least interesting of all the acts I saw on Saturday. They pulled a bunch of people out of the audience for one song (which seemed to repeat the same riff endlessly) to dance on stage, but made no attempt to interact with them once they were up there. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by Zappa's approach to audience participation, but I thought it was a pretty empty gesture.

Kharma 45

Back at the start of the day, before the daily rag was available and we knew where to go and who to see, we stumbled upon an unadvertised band Kharma 45 - good lively rock band, with an energy I'd imagine in an early U2, and a bit of a hint of their progressive influences. A unexpectedly good start to a day of great music, despite the rainclouds starting to empty overhead.

The Dangleberries

Next up for investigation, purely on the basis of their name, were The Dangleberries - another bagpipe-rock combo in a similar vein to the Peatbogs, but this time more of a pipe and drum band with a rock group tacked on. And with an altogether different remit. If Jack Black had lived in Scotland and learned the pipes, this is probably the sort of thing he'd come up with. Sabbath's "Paranoid" played on the bagpipes? "Roadhouse Blues" with a pipe and drum solo? Rock meets folk head-on and some sort of hybrid mutant music comes out. Not entirely successful all the time, but certainly a lot of fun. If you're going to do a cover version, then at least try and bring something new to the song - and the Danglers certainly do that!

Paul Steel

At this point we headed over to the 'Hothouse' tent to see String Driven Thing, but apparently the string driving the generator had snapped earlier in the day and the whole schedule for the tent was delayed. Another happy coincidence. Paul Steel was leading his band in his upbeat, quirky style, swirling his moptop around and jumping between keyboards and guitar with timing-perfect changes in style and tempo. Maybe I'm avoiding the radio too much, but I'm amazed that I hadn't come across them before - definitely one to watch.

Orkestra del Sol

Back to the other side of the festival arena to see Orkestre Del Sol - a wonderfully eccentric, but very well rehearsed brass ensemble playing great Eastern-European flavoured tunes with a great sense of humour and an engaging way of switching between band leaders. I could imagine this band doing great things with lots of Zappa's earlier instrumental music - great fun to watch and heart-warming, uplifting, crazy music.

Fake Bush

Slightly disappointing was the fact that Fake Bush was just one woman and a backing tape, rather than a full band, but she was very entertaining covering Bush songs from "Wuthering Heights" to "Breathing" (the latter done very well). A very visual act, half the enjoyment lies in seeing the moves and expressions familiar from KB videos and performances. She struggled with (or avoided) a few of the more awkward notes in the range, and some of the expressions were more like Fenella Fielding than Kate Bush, but this just added a bit of comedy to the mix which wasn't out of place. The only thing missing (minor, but an important part of the song) was the rifle sound in "Army Dreamers" which had been replaced in her backing track by a simple percussion sound - just not the same. Towards the end of the set there was a large influx of people into the tent to avoid the rain - I appreciate the need for shelter, but it was pretty damn rude to come in and talk all through the rest of the set - some of us did go to hear the music. FB carried on regardless of the pushing, shoving and noise and put on a great show. On leaving the tent it was apparent that the rain people had been trying so desperately to escape was no more than a standard Scottish shower - not some massive downpouring of biblical proportions. What a bunch of jessies.

String Driven Thing

Having only heard of String Driven Thing through their links to Van Der Graaf (Graham Smith played violin for both), I wasn't sure what to expect from them. What we got was a great old-school rock band with elements of folk and blues - no frills, no gimmicks, just good live music, played well. I hadn't really done much to find out more about them in the past, but certainly will now.

Misty In Roots

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend for me was just how much I enjoyed Misty In Roots. Whilst I don't think I've heard a Bob Marley track that I didn't enjoy, reggae has really never done much for me and I've steered clear of it in the past. That's probably got more to do with the likes of UB40 and their ilk, but at Belladrum I finally got to hear a reggae band good enough for me to 'get it'. Sat down near the stage to get the full trouser-flapping effect of the bass (though still not as loud as the previous night's Peatbog mix), it was a pleasure to let the laid-back rhythm carry me along. But these guys can rock too - some of the guitar solos by Kaziwayi wouldn't have been out of place on a Pink Floyd album, the horn section added all the right touches and the vocal harmonies were stunning. The chatty rhythm of the lead vocal (Poko) seemed very spontaneous until the backing vocals came in exactly on cue to reinforce the rhythm and showed just how tight these guys are. A great performance.

So hats off to the organisers of the festival - it really was a cracker.

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Technorati Tags: tartan heart, belladrum, festival, nick harper, peatbog fairies, alabama 3, magic numbers, james, kharma 45, dangleberries, paul steel, orkestra del sol, fake bush, string driven thing, misty in roots

The Survivors' Party (Live Theremin Frenzy)

It's been a long time since I've been on stage, and never as a 'solo' act, so it was with some trepidation that I set off on the road to Bushey (near Watford) for the 'Hands Off 2007' Theremin Symposium. Various people have posted reports of the main event, which was a great success, but of most interest in these pages is the little set I did on the Sunday night for the 'survivors' of the whole weekend. This came after a packed weekend of workshops, demonstrations and a truly wonderful concert by a variety of thereminists from around the World, so it could easily have been a total wash-out with everybody drained. I happen to think it all went rather well.

I rehearsed a batch of new Lunacy Board songs, along with a couple of old Deserters numbers - just me playing guitar and singing, using an old Linux PC running the 'Sooper Looper' software to set up sections of repeating chords to play solos (either guitar or theremin) over the top of. At some point prior to the event it occurred to me that it would make life a bit easier for me and a bit more interesting for the audience if I was to have some collaborators up on stage, so contacted a group of performers with the offer of the post of 'Stunt Thereminist' for The Lunacy Board Subcommittee. I received a couple of positive responses, so re-arranged my setlist to fit around their choices of song, and I was ready to go.

Nerves were absent as the performance drew near - probably just because the day had been so busy and I had barely time to think about the evening show. I got the stage more-or-less set up as soon as the main concert had finished, took half an hour to get refreshed, then returned to the stage to finish off. At which point I discovered that I had not brought a video cable for Sooper Looper. It can run quite happily without one, as I control it from a set of effects pedals, but should anything go amiss I would not be able to reset it or see what was wrong. Live and learn. The audience came into the room and chatted as I prepared for the first song.

To warm up my fingers and voice I kicked off with 'Morning Rolls' - a very short song with no instrumentals or frills. With that complete and with only a small fluffed chord change I invited Wilco Botermans to the stage. Previously in the weekend Wilco had demonstrated his theremin effects set-up which he controls using a specially wired glove to control parameters of a group of Moog 'Mooger Foogers', as well as the visually stunning 'Croix Sonore' - a unique instrument with similar properties to a theremin. For the purposes of his guest appearance he was using his TVox Tour theremin (the Russian-built instrument favoured by Lydia Kavina and Barbara Bucholz), and the Mooger Foogers, though without the glove controller.

We started off with 'The Unofficial National Anthem', followed with a very laid-back version of 'Requiem For A Head In A Field In Butler' - using Doug's original bass part which we improvised along to, and finished off with 'One Night In The Back Of A Fire Engine' complete with audience participation (cheesy, but fun). Wilco played a mix of melodic accompaniment and weird special effects which worked well - 'Requiem...' seemed to really benefit from this approach as far as I can recall. The concert was recorded in full, but I've only had a chance to hear a few snippets back.

Wilco left the stage and I played another short song - 'Jim Crow', then Hypnotique came up onto the stage. We played 'The Man In The Boat' followed by Lee Newe's 'The Woman In Red' - both fairly slow songs, to which Hypnotique added some legato cello-like theremin parts. Her solos on 'The Woman In Red' were particularly effective at bringing the sad nature of the song to the fore.

At some point during the previous song, the looper had stopped responding, so this stopped me doing the new multi-part song we've been working on, which needs several looped layers to work, so I called for another stunt thereminist and Terry Bowler came up to play on 'The Winning Smile' (a rare love song I wrote last year, which now also incorporates the music from 'Goodbye Mr. V.') and 'The Ballad of Serenity' (the only cover version I've tried, with lyrics which fit into the Lunacy Board remit). I finished off with one more guest thereminist, Captain Ants of 'The Jaw-Line of Julianne Moore', playing the somewhat rockier 'Fairytale Propaganda'.

It was good to finally get some of these songs out on stage, and great to be able to play them with a group of musicians from a range of backgrounds. I hope to get some video clips posted in the near-future from this.

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Technorati Tags: theremin, hands off, sooper looper, stunt, lunacy board, wilco botermans, hypnotique, captain ants, julianne moore, live

Going Live

This gig forms the grande finale of the theremin shindig I mentioned a while ago. I'll be part of the 'UK League of Thereminists' playing a few structured improvised pieces as part of a 'theremin orchestra'. There are a number of very good thereminists going to be attending, so well worth the money if you are in that neck of the woods this coming Sunday. Book soon, though, by clicking on the picture here.

More daunting for me will be the post-concert wind-down party, for which I'll be providing some of the music...

This will be the first time that the Lunacy Board material has been played live, albeit in a somewhat more spartan form than usual, as it will just be me playing guitar and singing with a looper and theremin to make things more interesting. The original plan was to use the yobstick as well, but I might limit this to just one or two songs due to the way the looper works, as the rhythm can become a bit too repetitive.

I have also dusted down a couple of old Deserters' numbers to include in the set, which will be fun, and for a few songs I will be joined by special guest stunt thereminists.

The whole event is being recorded and videotaped, so watch this space for more news early next week...

Electronics + Beer = Not Good

We had a bit of a crisis at our latest gig... The mixing desk made a rather loud bang and stopped working just before the start of the 2nd set. Everything was lit up, but not a whimper of sound came through. All was not lost and our back-up plan for just such an event came into action, but it was a pretty embarrassing, annoying and uncomfortable half-hour to get back into action. Now we can, with a small degree of certainty, put our finger on the culprit.

Beer.

Beer and pubs and music go hand in hand - without pubs and beer there would be a substantially smaller consumption of live music in the world. However, pouring beer into the mixing desk essential for presenting that music to the audience is not a wise plan, and a couple of clues (not least of which was the liquid seen pouring out of the desk earlier today) suggest that is exactly what happened.

Such are the risks of sitting the desk in the midst of the audience, especially in a fairly cramped venue.

Amazingly enough, after a spell drying out (rehab?), the desk seems to be performing as well as it did before - no noticeable difference, so our wallets can breathe easy for a while longer.

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Technorati Tags: mixing, beer, desk, gig, live

Best Batch Yet

Something I've never come across before for some reason is Captain Beefheart's "10 Commandments for Guitarists". I found this at the ever-informative Music Thing, though it appears on a few sites around the web. The annotations in italics are mine.

LISTEN TO THE BIRDS

That's where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere.
Which reminds me that I once wrote a piece of music on the old CX5m that was based on dozens of transcribed birdsongs - what the hell happened to that?

YOUR GUITAR IS NOT REALLY A GUITAR

Your guitar is a divining rod. Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you're good, you'll land a big one.

PRACTICE IN FRONT OF A BUSH

Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush doesn't shake, eat another piece of bread.
Strangely enough, I have done this, apart from the bit about the bread. Next time...

WALK WITH THE DEVIL

Old delta blues players referred to amplifiers as the "devil box." And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you're bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts demons and devils. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.
So what does a yobstick attract? Nearly Headless Nick?

IF YOU'RE GUILTY OF THINKING, YOU'RE OUT

If your brain is part of the process, you're missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.

NEVER POINT YOUR GUITAR AT ANYONE

Your instrument has more power than lightning. Just hit a big chord, then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.

ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CHURCH KEY

You must carry your key and use it when called upon. That's your part of the bargain. Like One String Sam. He was a Detroit street musician in the fifties who played a homemade instrument. His song "I Need A Hundred Dollars" is warm pie. Another church key holder is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf's guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty making you want to look up her dress to see how he's doing it.
I never leave home without mine.

DON'T WIPE THE SWEAT OFF YOUR INSTRUMENT

You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.

KEEP YOUR GUITAR IN A DARK PLACE

When you're not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don't play your guitar for more than a day, be sure to put a saucer of water in with it.
Mine does live in a cool, dark place, but usually gets left a half-cup of cold, black coffee - maybe water would be a better bet.

YOU GOTTA HAVE A HOOD FOR YOUR ENGINE

Wear a hat when you play and keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house the hot air can't escape. Even a lima bean has to have a wet paper towel around it to make it grow.
Well now, I used to have a hat - the "Silly-bugger-time hat" as it was known (actually a tweed deerstalker). I refuse to wear a baseball cap as a matter of principle, but may need to invest in something with a modicum of style to meet this rule.

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Technorati Tags: captain, beefheart, commandments, guitarist, practice, hat, guitar

Top 10 - My Synths

Inspired in part by Sonicstate's top 20 greatest synths and Matrixsynth's The Most Underrated Synths, here is my alternative. This is my top ten list of synths. Not the greatest by any margin, though there are some classics in there. Not the most historically interesting, though one or two certainly have their place in history. Just 10 synths that I've enjoyed using over the years, despite or even because of numerous obstacles they've thrown in the way. Most were end-of-line bargains or second-hand gems, but they've all served me well.

10 Yamaha FB01

For such a little unit this comes with one of the most comprehensive and awe-inspiring manuals complete with extensive MIDI implentation charts and sysex data. The sound out of this is not great - 4-operator FM is not going to win many prizes these days, or even in the days it was first launched. However it is 8-part multitimbral, which was pretty impressive at its launch, and it does work will for a filler. I usually use it for background layers of choirs, brass or synth strings.

9 Casio CZ1000

Casio didn't stay in the pro synth market for long, but the CZ series has endured. In theory it is a variant on FM synthesis, but in practice it is much easier to program and tends to sound a bit warmer, with some great synth bass sounds and a nice line in brass blasts. This is the full-sized keyboard version of the very popular CZ101. I don't use mine very often these days as it is a big keyboard to house for the sake of its 4-note polyphony, but it does get dug out every so often to bring its own charm to the occasional piece.

8 Yamaha PSS780

This is a pretty wretched FM workstation with mini-keys, built-in drum pads, sequencer, auto-accompaniment, effects and basic synthesis controls. It is generally pretty weedy sounding, with less oomph than half a FB01 on a bad day, and is really a home keyboard with pretensions of being a synth. However, it is multi-timbral and MIDI-controllable and when the sounds are layered up and a decent drum pattern programmed, it can sound okay. Add some real guitar and vocals and you might just pull it off. This was the first 'synth' I had that I could control via MIDI, and it more than doubled the range of sounds I had available at the time. For that I pay it my respect.

7 Akai S950

Akai were several generations of their legendary samplers on by the time I joined the fray with this 3rd-hand bargain. Only 12-bit sample quality, but with all the bells and whistles of the pro favourite S1000, the S950 was quickly pressed into service as an enhancement to the meagre drum sounds of the PSS780, allowing me to mix professionally recorded samples with yobstick, bucket and kalimba samples amongst others, adding more detail to drum parts. I never did manage to get hold of the SCSI disk interface for it, so to this day I have to load it up with several floppy disks, which puts me off using it as much as I might do.

6 Yamaha DX7

What need I say about the DX7. THE classic late 80's synth. Wonderful electric pianos and bells, wonderful evolving FM washes and great hammered percussion. It is a beast to program, but blessed with a bucketful of computer programs to make it easier, and my first synth was FM-based, so I was in familiar territory. The DX is still my master keyboard for controlling synths, though only occasionally do I use the on-board sounds - usually only for piano or pads. Mine is a mk1, with limited MIDI capabilities, annoyingly curtailed keyboard response and horrible membrane buttons, but it still has a great feel, is built like a tank and is easy to fall back on.

5 Kawai K4R

My first foray into Sample+Synthesis was with the K4r, the rackmount version of the K4. It took the place of the PSS780 as a general dogbody machine with a good collection of drum kits, 16-part multitimbral sound source and a selection of waveforms suitable for everthing from acoustic guitar to analogue lead synths with a filter section good enough to do it justice. I still use this regularly, and probably still could find new things to do with it.

4 Yamaha TX81Z

Another 4-operator Yamaha FM synth, but this one's a little bit special. First of all it has a significantly improved synthesis engine over the old FB01, with a wide range of waveforms to base sounds on. Secondly it has the ability to store micro-tunings for more experimental music. Thirdly it has good support for breath controllers, making it an ideal partner for my Casio digital wind controller (DH100). It also has a range of good software supporting editing, which is just as well since it has a DX7-like unfriendly editing system. Like the DX it is great for metallic sounds and crisp basses.

3 Moog Etherwave Pro

It's a theremin - does that count as a synth? I say yes. It's my list. It is the top of the range Moog theremin and a thing of beauty. Curved walnut surface with gleaming chrome knobs. It is has a nice linear playing range, classic preset tones and enough filter and tone controls to provide a wide range of sounds from pure voices to cutting sawtooth buzzes, as well as CV controls for controlling analogue synths like a theremin. It's my favourite of all the sound creating gadgets I have, but there are two more items that are currently in the lead for historic reasons.

2 Casio CSM10P

This is a tacky little black box with only 5 sounds - electric piano, piano, organ, harpsichord and vibes. I think it uses 12-bit samples - they're certainly not great quality. It is preset-only with no editing, being designed to plug in and expand a home keyboard. I have used it time and time again, especially the piano and vibes, and it always wins me over with its simplicity. Just select the sound and play. Nothing more to it. It does have pretty good polyphony, or at least good enough for my keyboard playing, and I find the sounds sit comfortably in a mix (though the pipe organ can be a bit overwhelming at times). It really shouldn't get used as much as it does, but I just can't help it. Try listening to Yet Another Granfalloon (pt1) for an example of it in action.

1 Yamaha CX5M

WHAT? Surely I'm joking? Well, no. I cut my electronic / MIDI / composing / keyboard teeth on this bizarre creature, and for all of its many, MANY faults, it holds a slightly rose-tinted place in my musical heart. When I had the opportunity to buy my first keyboard, some time after The Deserters were formed, I spent endless hours scrutinising music magazines for the best synth for me. I had a few front-runners, including the DX100 and CZ101 which had just come out, though I wasn't too keen on their small keys. Then the CX5M Music Computer came to the end of its commercial life and dropped significantly in price - I was able to pick up the equivalent in sound quality to a DX9, with in-built computer and sequencer for about the same as a CZ101. I pontificated for a while over this, even passing over the opportunity to pick up a Korg MS10 for 50 quid (ha ha, how very different things could have been had I gone down that route...), but eventually came to the conclusion that it was too good a deal to miss.

I wasn't aware that it couldn't be played from another MIDI keyboard, despite the presence of a MIDI in socket, so that blew the longevity of it out the water. The only useful sequencer for it at the time was the step sequencer which required some very tedious manual progamming. And the included keyboard was pretty pathetic. However, like so many limited things, these drawbacks just focused the use of the thing, and I soon got my head around FM synthesis using the built-in editor, complex harmonies and rhythms with the score composer sequencer, and drum programming by linking it up to a ZX Spectrum with "SpecDrum" fitted. So it was flawed, but it formed the musical base for a large number of Deserters tunes, try Phill Up the Glass to hear it in action, but most notably the 20-minute-plus instrumental extravaganza that was "Mick's Amazing Megamix". Unfortunately the only version of this recorded comes from a badly distorted tape - it has been converted into a more modern sequencer format so may eventually see the light of day using the TX81z to emulate the CX5 tones.

So that's the lot. Not to everyone's taste, and probably more biased in favour of a certain Japanese manufacturer than I would like, but impoverished gear junkies can't be choosers.

It Was 60 Years Ago Today

Forty whole years have passed since the world first heard "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". A pretty good innings for a piece of pop music, ephemeral as the genre usually is. It's not an album I even own (The White Album is the only beatles album I have on CD), but it does play a big part in Deserters' history.

Several songs from the album appear in the animated film "The Yellow Submarine", which was the inspiration to start the Deserters. Looking for a name, we started off with various derivatives of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" until it finally changed into "The Deserters". The Beatles were a fairly strong influence on us back in those days - probably more due to the eclectic range of styles shown on their later albums than anything else.

An Ancient and Distinguished Instrument

I came across a Yahoo group yesterday that I thought might be of interest (Novelty Music), and this morning heard back from founder member Paul Moore. Paul has a one-man-band and plays the 'Zob Stick' which, upon further investigation, turns out the be one of many names for what we know as the Yobstick.

Whilst I have heard of others playing similar stick-based instruments every so often, I had never heard of the name. I suspect the name 'Yobstick' may just be due to a mispronunciation of 'Zob Stick', but the instrument has also been called the 'Monkey Stick', 'Lagerphone', 'Freedom Boot' and many other names from around the world. In fact it has a history going back to asian shamans, and possibly beyond, where it was used as a symbol of power. I've stuck some more details about this up on the Deserters site, along with links to some related sites.

For me the most interesting of these is The Groanbox Boys - a London band who I had already heard about in the last couple of days as they just happen to feature Michael Ward-Bergman. He plays some superb accordian (yes, perhaps it seems like a contradiction of terms, but it is really VERY good) on Judge Smith's album, "The Full English".

The New Yobstick

At last, I finally got around to finishing the new yobstick. It's quite a departure from previous efforts - lots of natural wood and more emphasis on playability instead of durability. I've only played it for a short time tonight, but it feels great and sounds lovely (far better than a stick with a welly at one end and a load of bottle tops at the other should do!)

I'll stick some audio clips up once I've worked out how to mic the damn thing up. Imagine a drum kit that moves... I may need to get contact mics for it to work, but it is in effect three linked sound sources, so a single mic won't do it justice, and certainly wouldn't make it easy to be heard over electric instruments.

This picture of it makes it look somewhat scrawny, but looks aren't everything. I've set out the process I used to put it together over on the Deserters' page, under Instrumentography, so you can get a flavour for what is required to build one, and find out really interesting facts like "who makes the best bottletops for a yobstick?"

I've also been experimenting with some software called "SooperLooper", which turns a standard Linux PC into a long controllable delay loop. I've worked out how to get some control over it with my guitar effects pedal, to the extent of being able to play a series of chords, then bass, then solo over the top. Once I'm more familiar with it I'm hoping to be able to set up a rhythm with the yobstick and guitar, then play theremin over the top. Early days, but if I can get it working together and hit the timing spot on, then it could sound pretty good.

A Slight Detour

I'm a great believer in trying something new at least once, especially if it is something that will provide some new insight or approach to life or what we do in it. In a recent search for interesting sounds to use I came across sampleswap.org which is one of a number of websites dedicated to sharing samples - in this case everything from retro synths and orchestral instruments to foreign language dialog and farmyard sounds.

They have been running a competition for new electronic compositions, which is not something I've done for many years, preferring to work with at least some acoustic, hands-on (or off in the case of theremin) instruments. Listening to some of the tracks on the site only confirmed that this was pretty hard-core electronica - mostly not the sort of music I would listen to, let alone attempt (or wish) to play.

Sounds like a challenge.

So here you'll find the latest creation from The Lunacy Board. No lyrics. Lots of effects and electronic twiddles. Buckets of theremin. Not our usual fare, but what is usual for us?

Hands Off!

I don't usually like to plug things around here, but this is an event that I'm really looking forward to - a whole weekend of theremin fun and goodness. There's a great line up of concerts and events planned with big names from the theremin world. Click on the picture for more details.

Now It Can Be Told

Just back from a fortnight's holiday on the emerald isle, refreshed and renewed, to discover the passing of another great.

Kurt Vonnegut

Of the small group of writers I would categorise as my 'favourites', Kurt Vonnegut has always felt like the one whose writings were closest to my own feelings and thoughts. He has put into succinct words and touching stories concepts and concerns that I have had over the years in a down-to-earth, often conversational style which can be both amusing and disturbing in equal measures. To me he has always seemed the eternal optimistic pessimist - knowing the worst is likely to happen, but focusing on the best of mankind - that certain 'something' that brings hope that doom is not totally inevitable, or at least that some part of us might actually learn something from it. These are themes that have appeared in The Lunacy Board's material, from The Unofficial National Anthem onwards - that there is "some spark within" that may see us through the madness.

The new 'epic' we're working on covers the evolution of mankind - we ran through some of it a couple of weeks ago before I went off, and it's sounding good so far. It includes a section which was a tip-of-the-hat towards Mr Vonnegut's Galapagos, with the future human race (by then evolved into sea-living, flippered mammals) describing how our current actions are shaping us for the future. It is somehow appropriate that this part of the song should become our eulogy to Vonnegut as well as to the human race. As he wrote himself, so it goes.

Next, please

First of all, "Xenochronous Requiem For A Head Laying In A Field In Butler" was used to open this week's Spellbound show, with host David Vesel commenting on the unlikelihood of chart success if Casey Kasem can't even pronounce the title. That's a relief, then.

I've finished mixing all the music from our last session. Most of it is just for our own use as demo reference for future practices, but there were also some new instrumental pieces for use in the Stockholm soundtrack. One of them is available for download over at The Lunacy Board site. It is based around a simple evolving, echoing guitar riff, with synth textures, found sound samples (including some yobstick) and a meandering rhythm backing.

The big one

We're working towards a new extended piece to fit in with the repetoire we've already built up. Since we first started this project, we've been throwing ideas around towards a longer song which touches on a few topics we feel are linked around the area of evolution, mankind's journey and definitions of good and evil. I've recently come up with an idea to link these topics within a narrative setting that has the potential to be our 'big number'.

It's still in the early stages, so I can't give too much away, but the aim is to have a piece that both covers the topics of interest and also lets us demonstrate all the aspects of what we are as a band. It will have an evolving instrumentation, so we'll start off with two instruments at the start of the piece and swap around between guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, theremin and whatever else we come up with. The sections of the song will deal with different characters and reflect that in the instruments chosen and the style of the section. This will let us cover everything from ambient soundscapes and avant garde rock to upbeat pop or country and western - anything is fair game. It's going to take a while to put together and get it working fluidly, but we'll start on it at the next session and hopefully will have a clip or two to post on the web site in the not-too-distant future.

Xenochrony

One of Zappa's favourite tricks around the "Joe's Garage" era and beyond was the practice he called "xenochrony" or "strange synchronisation". This involved him taking a piece of music (often a studio backing track) and overdubbing it with a totally unrelated (usually a live guitar solo) track from a completely different song. After some fiddling about, the result was a melody that would play what appeared to be insanely complex polyrhythms over the top of the new song. It's something I've always wanted to have a shot at, but lacked the source material to work with.

Then I came across a beautiful bass solo written by Doug Boucher over on his MySpace page. It's called "Requiem For A Head Laying In A Field In Butler" and is dedicated to the very wonderful Mike Keneally. I really enjoyed the piece and tried playing some haunting theremin over the top, some of which came together quite nicely, and other parts of which were less successful. I then tried putting the piece together with some of Sean's drumming for (I think) The Winning Smile - two unrelated bits of music coming together to form something new altogether. To this new hybrid track I set about playing guitar and theremin, with pretty good results. There are places where the bass and drums drift apart to give a very laid back feeling, and others where they synchronise exactly, including some where the drums and bass reach a crescendo at the same time before gently tailing off.

As usual, you can find the track over at The Lunacy Board site.

Moving Along...

We've had two more LB sessions recently; one short acoustic practice throwing ideas for songs around and a long and productive studio-based session. In the first of these we considered some ideas for possible inclusion in any live set we may do in the future. We have a fair bit of work ahead of us to get to the position where we'd feel ready to do a live gig, but it is a possibility that we might consider a short support slot at some point.

Our current feeling is that we would feature our own material, but have a few cover versions on hand to whip out according to the audience - e.g. for a dedicated progressive audience we might include a Jethro Tull or Rush cover, but for a more general audience we'd maybe think about something that has had some more airplay like Gabriel, The Who or Marillion, though still keeping within the progressive genre, more or less. We'll probably try out a range of possible covers over the next few practices we have, but don't want to get too bogged down in them when we have new material to play with.

The studio session was VERY productive, lasting all day and covering a total of 5 new songs, 1 old song, some more soundtrack work and Stockholm dialogue.

We started with The Man in the Boat, which is an old song of mine from years ago that we've stripped down and rebuilt. It deals with the temptation to play it safe and end up missing out on actually living life. It is a bit more downbeat the The Unofficial National Anthem, with an extended instrumental section in the middle which has a bit of a Pink Floyd feel to it. At the moment we've only done drums, guitar and vocals, but the structure is coming together well - we just need to practice it some more before committing it to a proper recording as there are some switches in the dynamics of the song that need to be tightened up.

We then moved onto Fairytale Propaganda which is a brand new song I've been working on over the last couple of months. It asks the question "what would fairytales be about 500 years later, if the characters written about were living now?", casting a critical eye over the less than noble way our 'fairytale' characters of the present day conduct themselves. The song builds slowly from a quiet instrumental introduction into our most outright rock song to date.

After these two fairly long songs we switched over to do some improvisational music with a view to including parts in the Stockholm soundtrack. Starting with a drum and bass backing we layered various solos, textures and effects over the top using guitar, keyboard and samples (including an old sample of the yobstick I came across). The results were much more avant-garde than our previous improvised music, closer to Zappa than anything else we've tried. It will need a fair bit of editing to make some of the layers work together, but there is definitely some unusual and interesting music in there.

After a bite to eat and a blether, it was back to work on some shorter songs, kicking off with Morning Rolls, which is a short song about bereavement (or traditional Scottish fare at the most literal reading of the lyric). It came together quite well with just vocal and guitar, though it is still in its early days and may change a bit in time.

The Parallel Curve was next up. This is a song about careers and insanity that doesn't really have any music yet, so we tried a few things out, mainly around a march-like rhythm and slide ebow guitar - kind of a rising and falling pulse over which the lyrics were half-sung, half-spoken. The idea being to have a number of non-fixed pitch instruments including the theremin and slide guitar and bass all providing a constantly shifting backing. Parts of this worked well, though some verses simply didn't come together properly, so it will need further work. The version we worked on was significantly different from my original demo attempt, and I suspect it will change as much again in future iterations.

A quick run through of Jim Crow was next - we tried this a while ago and it mutated from a choppy, almost Buddy Holly, style into a more laid back doo-wop number. This time around we went straight into the doo-wop and after a couple of false starts it was a nice bit of fun. I have some ideas for additional verses for it (it currently only has two which are repeated), and we need to agree on the backing 'oohs' and 'aahs' to make the vocals rock-solid as they need to be for this style of music.

The final song of the day was one I wrote for my better half earlier this year, called The Winning Smile. It's a happy little number about the power of a smile in a World with too few. I originally recorded it as an acoustic piece with just guitar and vocal, but we tried it as a full-on power ballad and it worked a treat.

To finish the day off we recorded a big chunk of Stockholm dialogue which I'll be working through over the next few weeks. The first part of the film (of the three episodes we have split it into) has been 'filmed' and is ready for dialogue and music to be added, so progress is good and it looks like we could have the first part ready for viewing in a month or two.

So, a good day all round, with plenty of things to take forward. I'll be putting a bit of the soundtrack work up on the website within the week, so keep an ear out for that.

Radio Killed the Video Star

We've had some very positive feedback about "The Unofficial National Anthem" from a few sources now, which has been quite encouraging, comparing the song, or parts of it, to Syd Barrett, Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, Can, Jethro Tull and others. The song has recently been played on the Spellbound radio programme, which will be available as a downloadable mp3 within a week. It is also likely to appear on a compilation CD in the near future - details to follow shortly, I hope.

Work is progressing slowly but surely on "Stockholm", both in terms of the visual side (with animated scenes progressing well - almost 20% complete) and the audio. We have a growing collection of soundtrack material to choose from, ranging from our first ever recording session through to the latest pieces, and will be putting some short selections up on The Lunacy Board website. The first piece is already there, a 2 minute piece of improvised instrumental music reminiscent of Meddle-era Pink Floyd.

Finally, for the moment, we also have a dedicated forum area over at Melos' Prog Bazaar, so drop in any time and let us know what you think about the band, the music, the weather or anything else.

Lunacy Launch

Happy New Year!

The Lunacy Board have now officially launched, with our first track "The Unofficial National Anthem" being available for download from our website at www.lunacyboard.com.

The song is an unusually upbeat number featuring a fairly standard rock base (drums, bass, guitars), layered vocals, a little theremin and a spot of organ. It is probably the most accessible music we've attempted so far, though there are enough weird things going on to appeal to more warped tastes (such as my own).

The new website will be our base of operations for the foreseeable future. As well as musical offerings, we'll be providing various other creative outpourings including poetry, prose and videos. As a small taster I've put on a test demo of a scene from our forthcoming drama "Stockholm" - watch out for more little nuggets in the future.

Wishing you all the best for 2007, with The Lunacy Board providing the soundtrack!

Festive Goodies

Back in the mists of time (1985) the Deserters produced a short run of magazines for those following our music at the time. They featured interviews with members of the band, articles about the music and anything else that happened to be of interest at the time. I've recently come across scans of them and for your pleasure they are now available for download from the Deserters site at www.the-deserters.co.uk. Some of the references may be a bit obscure, but reading through the biography page first should be all that's necessary to acquaint you with the players. Some of the humour is also firmly on the juvenile side, mostly influenced by "Monty Python" and "The Young Ones", but there are some gems in there, too. So cast your mind back to the mid 80's and enjoy a trip through Deserters' history...

I haven't forgotten about the new track - watch this space over the next few days. I'm working on the 3rd (and hopefully final) mix at the moment.

December Will Be Magic Again

We've managed to squeeze in a last Lunacy Board session before the end of the year, and I'm pleased to say that it was a bit of a blinder. Having had a few sessions now to settle into what we're doing and where we're going, we now have the luxury of just setting up and getting on with the business (and fun) of making some new music. First of all we kicked off with a second recording of 'The Unofficial National Anthem', which has been significantly extended since our first attempt a couple of months ago - this time around it has a wider dynamic range and a wider spectrum of sounds as well as heading more towards the progressive genre than the first version. The result is a fairly large number of sonic layers which I'll be editing and mixing down over the course of the next week or so to form our first public release.

We then followed this up with a first run through 'The Man In The Boat', which I haven't even finished writing yet. I've been working on it with just voice and acoustic guitar, so it was great to hear it come alive with drums and electric guitar. It's still pretty unpolished, with only a guide vocal (which was VERY ropey) and no bass or other accompaniment, but has given us a good starting point to work from.

Finally, we also tried a quick run-through of 'Jim Crow' which is at an even more embryonic stage - just a few choruses exist as I threw away the original verses. As I've been writing it, this song had a kind of Buddy Holly feel to it, with choppy acoustic chords and a fairly standard harmonic structure, but as we played the first chorus slowly through it picked up a swing rhythm, and backing vocals, resulting in a wonderful and most unexpected doo-wop style. Given the subject nature, or at least one aspect of it, this seems quite fitting, and hopefully we can pull it off when the rest of the song is written around it.

Hopefully my next post here will be to reveal our work to date. Stay tuned!

Welcome Mr. Wheezy

Since the days of the Green Shed Studios and the big Farfisa organ we had there, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the sound of the organ. Nothing else sounds like a proper pipe organ being played well in a cathedral and echoing round the space, filling the audio spectrum with trouser-flapping bass and angelic overtones. And the latest addition to my sonic arsenal fits the bill - it sounds nothing like that, but perhaps a bit more like an asthmatic monk playing an accordion in a public toilet.

Introducing the J. Busilacchio electric reed organ - it's a keyboard in a suitcase, includes 4 legs which screw in to the bottom and an on/off switch. Turn it on and a fan starts pumping a cool breeze across your fingers and you're ready to go. It has a great sound - effectively it's a harmonium without the bellows, or a horizonal accordion. The air gets pumped over metal reeds which results in a rich sound a bit like a pipe organ with a bad cold - not as bold or clear, but with a dignified, if slightly dishevelled, air. It's defintely more Ivor Cutler than Van der Graaf Generator, but that's certainly no bad thing. It sits quite well with theremin, so I may create something to feature the two together.

There's really not a lot of information available about these - they do crop up fairly regularly in online auctions, along with similar items by other manufacturers. I've seen them described as dating from the 40's, which I find a little hard to believe, as they have more of a 60's feel to them. They're also known as Chord Organs, due to the panel of accordion-like chord buttons to the left of the keyboard, though this tends to lump them in with some pretty ugly-looking plastic things with plastic reeds which really are not in the same league. If anyone has more information about the history of these critters, let me know.

UPDATE

I've done some more digging around, and discovered various different versions of the organ. I've put details on a new page on the Deserters site, here.

Note to eBay sellers: You are welcome to use the details about Busilacchio/Lorenzo organs from this page on the condition that you include a link to this page (http://www.the-deserters.co.uk/inst_organs.html) on your listing so that your potential buyers have access to all the information.

Scots, Sports and Raw Spirit

Hold onto your hats - this is a long one...

Tourist Tat

I've followed two generations of family working in various parts of the Scottish tourist industry and have therefore been thoroughly steeped for years in views of garish tartans, shortbread of various shapes, endless piper dolls, Nessies, clan memorabilia and spurtles (damn, but I love that word!). Billy Connolly once said something along the lines that "we're the only people in the World who actually believe all that tourist crap IS our culture", which is either a sad reflection on the commercialisation of our culture to the extent that it has become a pale imitation of itself, or an endorsement of the scottish ability to take ourselves too seriously, but with good humour.

Our culture is, of course, something of a moveable feast, as most are in these global village days, with influences from all over the World making themselves known, but even locally we have a reasonably large population of second and third generation immigrant communities who are combining their culture with our own - changing both in the process. Such is the nature of art - it thrives on collaboration and cross-pollination, despite the best efforts of critics and big business to categorise and rationalise it.

Useful Sports

I don't like football. There are probably about 5 males in Scotland who don't like football, which always strikes me as amusing that a country so bad at something can have such a love of it. It's perhaps the national sense of humour at play again - we like underdogs, so let's go crazy about a sport that we're inherently useless at. If there's one thing we're good at (and this applies to the whole of the UK), it's inventing games. We've invented loads of games - golf, rugby, football, cricket, the list goes on. Then we tell the World about them, win for the first couple of years and they thrash us. Soundly.

I do wonder about the origins of sports, and why some should be more popular than others. Running, hurdles, javelin, high jump, skiing - these all make some sense, being throwbacks to our days as hunters or foragers, but football/basketball/hockey/rugby/polo? They're all basically the same game with variations on the ball, goals or method of movement, and go back to ancient Greece (or earlier, for all I know) when they used the head of the previous losing team captain, but what is the significance of sticking a ball in a goal? Lost on me, for sure.

As for the game of golf - where to start? Cross-country snooker. Waste of a good walk. Pick your favourite insult. Golf is just weird, through and through. From the Rupert the Bear outfits through to the electric golf carts for the people too lazy to walk a couple of hundred metres between holes, it is a strange parallel universe. People come to Scotland from all over the World to play golf - we have (according to those in the know) some of the best courses in the World.

But here's the thing - no matter how stunning the landscape around the course, the course itself is identical to every other course in the world. Okay, the layout is different, the holes are further apart or whatever, but they have to be more or less similar in the same way that all football pitches are rectangular with a goal at each end. Arguably the most famous course is the Old Course at St Andrews, set beside a wonderful beach with the town watching over and the constantly changing sea scenting the air. It's very flat and sandy, and golf courses the World over have modelled themselves on this, which is all very well, but just because it sits in the landscape of the Fife coast very comfortably doesn't mean the same automatically applied elsewhere - a fact which doesn't seem to have registered with golf course designers. For example, millions were spent on landscaping a vast swathe of Loch Lomondside to turn it into a flat, bright green carpet covered in sand pits. Loch Lomond is a freshwater loch. It doesn't have perfect yellow sand. It has rugged hillsides of brown bracken, pale grasses and purple heathers - not flat, near-luminous green manicured lawns.

Please, if you're going to dedicate an unhealthy proportion of the country's first national park to the rich and stupid, would it be too much to ask to at least keep it in sympathy with the surrounding area? The local people struggle with endless forms of planning permission to make the slightest change to their house, but big money golf can come along and plant a monstrous eyesore in the middle of one of the country's most beautiful locations and for some reason (money, obviously) that's fine. And who decided that golf courses had to be placed in beautiful locations - you don't see football stadia or racetracks in the middle of picturesque countryside? End of rant.

One thing that can be said of golf is that it seems to be all-encompassing. The obscenely rich who play at Loch Lomond pay thousands for the privilege to do so, but take a trip through Glasgow and you'll see shell-suited youths en-route to their local course with golf club in one hand and carry-out in the other.

Highland Games

For the first 17 or so years of my life we spent a day each year at the local highland games - usually Luss, or occasionally the spectacle of Dunoon with its massed pipe bands. In recent years these have become the stomping ground of the "World's Strongest Man" competitors, keeping up their profiles and earning a few bob in between pulling trains with their teeth or lifting boulders with their nostril hair, but back in the day these would have been local strong men, usually from the surrounding farms.

The games include various stalls, displays of highland dance and a number of sporting events. The events range from standards like flat races and shot putt, to hill races (who can get to the top of the nearest mountain and back the quickest), hammer throwing and the old favourite, tossing the caber. For those not familar with this event, it is probably even more phallic than it sounds - in a nutshell you have to pick up a long log and throw it up and through 180 degrees in the air, or as Iain Banks puts it; "...some thick-necked twat in a skirt trying to outwit a telegraph pole..." I always enjoyed watching these events, and felt they were a pretty good way for farm workers to show off the muscles they'd built up over the years, with reasonably unique sports aimed at their skills.

One event always seemed at odds with the rest, and I suspect probably owed more to "It's a Knockout" than traditional scottish competition. It involved teams of two, one of whom would push, and the other sit in, a wheelbarrow. The barrow occupant would hold a long pole which would have to be inserted into a hole on a contraption housing a bucket of water, under which the barrow had to pass. Should the aim be off, then the team would be soaked (which was almost always the outcome), otherwise they would pass into the next round. I suppose this is really a less dangerous variant of mediaevil jousting, but don't know what relevance it may have had to highland life.

Raw Spirit

This whole article was inspired by the Iain Banks' line above which I've been chuckling about all day. It comes from his fairly recent non-fiction book "Raw Spirit" which is a sort of hybrid between travelogue, autobiography and whisky-tasting guide. I've never read any sort of travel book, partly on the basis that I'd just be jealous of the places people travel to, partly because I wouldn't necessarily be interested in the sort of things the writer would, but mainly because I find them about as appealing as a slushy romance novel or a guide to cross-stitch - just not my thing.

However, this book is written by one of my favourite authors who has written some wonderful contemporary fiction (much of it based in Scotland), and is probably second only to Frank Herbert in the SciFi genre. It covers Scotland, so no need to be envious of exotic locations. It offers up history, information and assessments of various single malts without being pompous or technical. And finally, it contains lots of amusing Banksian anecdotes to bring life to the locations he visits. To bring us back to the the issue of Scottish culture I'll end with another apt quote; "...music of extreme Heederum-Hawderum-ness that's patently been dredged from the very lowest, most crud-encrusted sump of the great festering bilge tank that is Scottish Cliché MacMusic from Bonnie Glen Grotesquo." So, if you want a guide to either Scotland or whisky by someone who lives and loves both, has a wry sense of humour and a knack for storytelling, as well as an appreciation of decent music, I'd recommend it.

All Stand, Please

We had a good Lunacy Board session last weekend - first time using the new studio set-up, which worked out pretty well, though we didn't exactly put it all through its paces.

Sean brought a few ideas for lyrics and music, which we mulled over and mangled into the skeleton of a song. I think we managed to capture the intent of the original text, but the music went off in its own direction, as often happens. What we thought would be a deep and meaningful anti-anthem became a perfectly formed 3-minute pop tune, albeit with deeper than the average lyrics.

The piece ("The Unofficial National Anthem") features Sean on vocals and drums and yours truly on guitar and bass, which was all recorded fairly painlessly with a couple of back-up takes just in case. The result was very pleasing, and positively catchy, if a little ragged around the edges. We're planning on doing some rehearsal of it before the next session to tighten it up before re-recording, as well as trying something more suited to our musical roots in a Can / Robert Wyatt style.

Playing in the Air

I've been giving some more thought to the whole idea of a public performance on theremin, should I ever be in the position to do so. As I mentioned previously, I don't think a guest spot with the band will work (unless they go somewhere with a big enough stage), which leaves me with 3 options. I could just play solo, with no accompaniment, I could have a pre-recorded accompaniment (or maybe guitar player), or I could use delay loops. I quite like the idea of the last option, having seen how well it can work in practice. I'd probably set up a backing loop on acoustic guitar, then play a theremin bassline over the top, followed by the melody.

So, that's all very well, but what could I play?

Tempting though a freeform improvisation would be, I don't know that it would go down very well with an audience who've paid to see a covers band, so that got me thinking. Our next public gig is December, and there are some festive tunes which should sound pretty good on the theremin. I tried some out today - a mixture of popular Christmas tunes like White Christmas, Rudolph, etc. along with some traditional carols - Silent Night is particularly effective on theremin.

Here's the thing. I tried 'Walking in the Air' - the theme from 'The Snowman' - which is a song that really gets my hackles up. I don't know why, but it always seems to conjure up in my mind the sugary, sickly, commercial worst of what the Christmas season has become. To paraphrase Roy Harper "I've not read the book (or seen the film), so I cannot recite", but it just grates on me for reasons I cannot explain. It may be a lovely, touching story about one boy's love for a talking ice-pop, but that music has put me off it for life. HOWEVER... What a perfect piece of music for theremin. It's in the right register, it's fairly ethereal, it's fun to play, and it's not Aled bloody Jones.

The band do a great version of Squiggle's (or whatever he's calling himself nowadays) 'Kiss'. I have never liked Prince (as was), or any of his musical output - he always seemed like he was trying to be the best bits of Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson and Johnny Guitar Watson and ending up being the worst excesses of all of them. Maybe I'm being unfair, but he had his chance with me and blew it. Maybe I'd like him more if he wasn't so hyped - I do tend to automatically put up barriers to hype, hence my similar dislike of REM, INXS, Simply Red; the list goes on. The point is that despite not liking the song 'Kiss' (including the self-mocking, good-humored Tom Jones version), the first time the band tried it out they completely rocked its socks off. In fact it is one of my favourite songs they do. Somehow or other it just fits, and similarly, somehow or other that awful Snowman tune just comes to life on the theremin.

Or maybe it's just me?

Flux Sake

I've had a fairly hectic few weeks between various gigs, changing jobs and increasing family taxi services.

Another two live sound gigs - one very cool show in a barn as part of a party/barbequeue/dance/shindig event, and another more local gig which was almost a sell-out. We've also almost sold out a gig in December, and may have a slot in a big charity bash in the new year, so keeping busy on that front. Proceeds from a previous gig went to purchase our own PA system which is loud, clear and a significant improvement on the previous system. I've done a couple of multitrack live recordings of the band, with the aim being to put together a demo for future promotion and possibly even a live CD for the punters to buy.

There have been a couple of suggestions that I might join them on-stage for a song, playing theremin, which would be fun. I don't know how practical it would be however, since the venues we've played so far have been too crowded on stage for any sort of theremin playing (which needs a couple of metres space to avoid interference with the antennae). Another problem is monitoring what I'd be playing in the midst of a live-band - unlike any other instrument which can be played to some extent without hearing the outcome, the theremin HAS to be heard by the performer just to keep on pitch. I would need a dedicated monitor for this, preferably at ear-height, so the practicalities may well outweigh the desire to do a guest spot. I've tried to do more practice with a view to maybe doing a piece or two as warm-up for the band, having the stage to myself and possibly using a delay pedal or similar to accompany myself, but I don't think my theremin playing is just quite ready for public performance yet.

I've also been to see Pamelia Kurstin playing live last week, which was inspirational. She is one of the few masters of the theremin, and plays it with a combination of delay pedals and effects to produce densely-layered, almost orchestral sounds. Opening for her were an avant-garde trio of cello, guitar and monosynth which didn't really do much for me, and IME - a solo artist using guitar, location recordings, chimes and various gadgets to build up a very slowly evolving, atmospheric sound on the border between music and sound-sculpture. Not a type of music I normally listen to very often, but it did prompt me to dig out Czukay and Sylvian's 'Flux and Mutability', which is probably the closest thing in my music collection.

Between listening to these ambient pieces and playing around with delay loops on the theremin, I'm feeling the creative juices flowing again, which is good, as we have a Lunacy Board session coming up this weekend. As well as the usual improvised jams we've had in the past, we also have a little project which may or may not bear fruit, but offers us both a specific focus and potential for an instant audience. More details about the success or otherwise of that to follow.

Farfisa Frenzy

For some reason, perhaps Google have recently updated their index, there has been a large jump in visits to the blog here, 90% of which are from a Google Images search on Farfisa. The post from April this year Makkie's Rhythm included a picture of a Farfisa organ, which is now appearing as 4th in a google search. All very nice, but apologies to anyone searching for information about Farfisa organs here - I don't have any!

Well, okay, here's some background about the one we used... It came from some club or other and was on its last legs when it arrived at the Green Shed for us to use. It had a solid veneer of nicotine mottled with beer and grew progressively smellier as it warmed up with use. I don't know what model it is - I did a bit of research recently for more information, but came up with very little, but it had a built-in rhythm section (as used in the aforementioned track) and tape recorder. It also supposedly had a Leslie cabinet built in, but the switch to turn it on did nothing. At the time none of us had any idea what a Leslie was, sowe didn't realise what we were missing, or even how we could go about fixing it to get that unique sound. Oh well. At the time we did think it was an incredibly cheesy addition to our instrumental ranks, but it served us well whilst it lasted.

Unfortunately, one day it just died in a shower of sparks and our association was almost over. I did manage to salvage the rhythm unit from it and get it operating as a stand-alone analogue drum machine of sorts. It was not programmable, but you could jam two or three rhythm type buttons down together to create new composite and quite dense mega-rhythms, which was pretty nifty. I don't know what happened to that part of it, though - I can only assume it was 'lost' in a house move.

Home at Last!

My musical meanderings now have a proper home - my little studio is up and running!

I finished building the frame and shelving over the weekend. I'm no joiner, but it all seems very sturdy, if not exactly a thing of great beauty. It has taken the best part of 2 days to get all the cables and gear in site and connected up. There are still some tweaks to go in order to have everything running smoothly, but I'm at least able to get a sound out of everything, which is much more than I've been able to do for the last few years.

I'll be running it all on three computers - the good old faithful Atari ST for controlling keyboards and any forays into the world of algorithmic music, my regular PC for running virtual instruments, which I've never really got to grips with beyond the odd demo here and there, and a bargain basement (under £1) old PC for actually recording everything. It was great to get back to the ST with its simple-to-use and crash-free environment after years of using PCs, but weird to be back on a little 12 inch screen instead of this 19 inch monster. Hopefully this arrangement will give me the best of all worlds, as I'm not convinced this PC is really up to handling all chores on its own.

Give me a couple of days and I should come up with something new to post on the site...

The Green Shed Googlewhack

Every so often I'll check to see how people are arriving at the blog or the main Deserters site. There's usually a fair mix between people looking for the band specifically and 'accidental' visits by people looking for information on military desertion or fire engines. Every so often there's a little gem that makes me smile - somebody does a search for 'what does eximious mean?', for example. The latest was for 'greenshed, progressive rock' from Yahoo japan.

When I did a search on this myself, this blog was the only entry (a Googlewhack, I believe?), so I dug around for anything else about 'green shed' that could be remotely related to progressive rock. Not a thing could I find. So the question is; is there somebody over in Japan creating prog rock under the name 'Greenshed', or was this a return visitor to the site who's enduring image of the band is of us recording in a green shed? Who knows (or cares)?

Studio Progress...?

One month later and things are starting to come together. Hopefully.

Studio Bordet (or whatever it will be called) is on the road to construction - it has power, light and walls. The next step is building a frame to hold PC, keyboard, mixing desk and various other bits of musical gear. With the addition of plasterboard, sound insulation and flooring there is just under 2m² of useful floorspace, which is even less than I had hoped for, but should still provide enough space to have a usable setup and be able to play bass or guitar in the room. Playing the theremin in there will definitely not work, though, due to lack of space, so I'll still need to cart it around the house depending on whether I'm practicing or recording.

I did a recording recently for the local band using my new multi-input interface which worked out really well (apart from running out of disk space), but having listened to the mix I initially put together it has become painfully clear that I need a decent set of monitoring speakers. I have a good set of headphones, but mixing on 'phones is never a good idea, so I try to get a reasonable sound using them, then switch to my PC speakers, which are pretty good quality for a PC, but still far from HiFi. The mix I ended up with sounded pretty good on the PC, great on the 'phones, but unfortunately lousy in the car or through the little box we have in the kitchen. I knew the day would come when I'd have to fork out for decent speakers - it's one of the things you really can't skimp on (like microphones) to get a good sound, but it's not as exciting as the wonderful wealth of fancy studio toys available. So... Some research, testing and budget-balancing later, I've finally bought a new set of speakers, and the winners are... Tannoy Reveals.

Revealing

I got a pair at a good price from good old eBay, and they're sitting in their box waiting to become centrepieces of the new studio, such as it is. Apart from the great balance between sound quality, tonal range and price, they have a couple of other 'feelgood' bonuses. The Tannoy factory is about an hour's drive from here, so supporting local business is good. I went on a fantastic guided tour there back in my early days of getting interested in sound engineering and have two lasting memories. Firstly, getting to spend a few minutes in their anechoic chamber - a really weird feeling having NO echoes at all, and particularly disorientating when they shut off the lights (to complete darkness) and you realise how much of your balance is dictated by audio and visual cues. Secondly was getting a demo of their top-of-the-range speaker systems at full tilt - revealing a level of detail in the music that I simply hadn't heard through normal speakers.

Plus, what's good enough for Mr Keneally is good enough for me!

In other news - I have finished my theremin/ebow remix and look forward to hearing the final album - details to follow soon, I hope. I ended up submitting two versions - one with vocals and another without - on subsequent listenings the vocal-free version is more pleasing to the ear!

Bordet the Builder (Can he mix it?)

Recording

I've been doing a remix of a short piece of instrumental music for an on-line acquaintence and kindred spirit (theremin player and electronic gadget abuser) over the last week or two. It's pretty much finished now, but I came up with a set of lyrics to the piece which I've been trying in vain to fit into the music. I've got the rhythm sorted, but can't seem to sing notes which fit in. This may be because the music isn't in a great key for my voice, or it may just be that my voice isn't fitting the music. I suspect the latter. It will be finished this week - one way or another. Not my greatest work, but it does have lots of ebow, some mandolin, and my first recorded theremin, albeit as a part of a wash of sound.

New Toys

I've managed to pick up a decent multi-input audio card for my PC at a good price from eBay. It will let me record up to 8 tracks simultaneously in high quality sound, which will be great for Lunacy board stuff, letting us swap instruments around (as we do) without worrying about changing connections, as well as allowing recording of a whole band at once.

Studio

Since starting this blog, any musical activities, apart from theremin and acoustic guitar, have required some digging around in boxes. I haven't had a dedicated music space to focus my writing, playing or recording, and that hasn't helped get things done as it's a hassle to set things up for the sake of a single song. I'm pleased that due to some changes going on around Chez Bordet, I will be getting a small studio. Whilst this won't be anything to give Abbey Road or Realworld any sleepless nights, and there really won't be room for cat-swinging, it will give me enough space to set up my recording gear and instruments in a more creative environment, ready for me to use whenever the muse starts tweaking those creative juices. It will still be a couple of months away before it is complete, but work has started and I hope it will be ready to go by the end of the summer.

Where did June go?

It seems like a couple of days ago that I last posted here, but looking at the date it turns out to be almost a month. So what on earth have I been doing?

To start with, the local band I'm doing sound engineer duties for had their first gig in the local pub - great turnout, with all tickets sold, and about 100 people in the audience. They went down really well - the vocalist really captured the crowd - he's a true entertainer in ways that are lost to a lot of live acts these days. They ended out cutting some of the slower songs out, as so many people were up and dancing, which is a good sign. Several parties expressed an interest in future bookings, so all in all a great result.

The sound was generally pretty good, though I was a bit too close to the band to get a good handle on the balance without squeezing through the audience, plus a buzz developed in the second set, which now appears to have been due to a speaker dying. Proceeds from the first gig will therefore be going towards a new PA system...

Not much on the Lunacy Board front either, due to circumstances out of our control, though I have gone through the recordings we made at the last session and started to work on some of the best bits.

Finally, I'm doing a bit of work on a collaborative track which is still under wraps, but hopefully should turn out to be interesting. More news on this soon - within the next week or two.