Welcome to www.henryolsen.com - the official website of Henry Olsen.
You are Henry Olsen. Born Sunderland, 21st February 1963.
True.
I then lived in the North-East for over ten years. I'm very proud of my heritage. I wish that I still had the 'Geordie' accent to my speech. I have found that when I speak 'Geordie' I can express myself much more directly and honestly. I have a Geordie face,with the wrong voice coming out of my mouth,and it bothers me. I grew up in an age when a speech-accent of any kind was a hinderance. When I moved south, to the middle of England, I stuck out like a sore thumb, because of the sound of my voice. Being all of twelve years old, this was intolerable - I lost my native accent as soon as was possible.
With my Northumbrian accent, I felt like an alien, unintelligable, so different. Horrid, for a twelve-year-old!
You play all styles of music and are an 'eclectic' musician.
False.
It's taken me thirty-five years to discover that the music that I love to listen to is not neccessarily the music that I enjoy playing. For example, listening to the Motown bass-playing of James Jamerson never fails to excite me - I must have listened to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell a few thousand times; but if I had to play it as part of a band, I wouldn't enjoy it. I don't like to play 'in time' - I don't like 'locking' with the drums - I'm not interested in playing with a certain 'feel' or 'groove'. Same with the guitar - I like to play a note and then leave it for a while, you know - have a rest between notes!
...but crucially, I feel that I am a European musician, not a European musician who plays in an American or an African-American style.
I once made this point to George Clinton, during a studio session in Chicago's South-Side, one winters' day. He was used to hearing Bootsy Collins play his bass. Instead, he was listening to me, and was wildly waving his arms and clicking his fingers in the hope of getting me to sound funky and phat.
Phat chance, George. I walked off, feeling poorly and upset and leaving Clinton bemused and reaching for his address book.
I loathe playing to metronomic or strict tempi - I get bored with it. Imagine my difficulties playing bass to drum loops in the mid-90s.
You play 'Free Jazz'
False.
I am not concerned with 'freeing' myself from the constraints of tonality, conventional harmony or metrical rhythm, or equal-tempered tuning. I'm not worried about their historical and cultural effects on my music either. Whilst playing my guitar, I play whichever notes or groups of notes I prefer to play and at any time. So for example, if I want to play a C major chord in its 1st inversion, I will do so. This is not the approach or attitude that someone attempting to play free music should have, it seems to me.
My investigations into free music or free improvisation have shown, to me at any rate, that there are many limitations on the 'free' musicians, imposed mainly by critics and argumentative peers. Or, Free Music has become a style, which can be parodied or imitated by those cynical enough to do so. To my mind, a guitarist like Bireli Lagrene is expressing a freedom in music, much as Charlie Parker did with bebop. I would like to communicate this 'freedom' too.
Neither am I a 'spontaneous composer'. I don't think that there's any such thing. I play my guitar and make the music up as I go along. If this is 'improvisation' then so be it - it doesn't matter to me. Most of the music that I play comes from the sheer enjoyment of playing the guitar. I like the feel of the instrument buzzing against my chest and groin and the sensation of hitting the strings with the plectrum etc. Other than sex, it's the most physical activity that I have in my life - I abhor playing sport, although I like watching it on the TV.
It's true to say that the music that I play comes from jazz, but it also comes from Link Wray, Pete Towshend, Paul Weller, Brian James of The Damned - so many guitarists... and so many different styles of music.
What are you listening to at the moment?
I listen to a lot of soul music recordings from the 1960s and 70s like Donny Hathaway and Chairman Of The Board, Motown, Aretha Franklin and Stax. I like listening to the music sent to me by artists who want me to be a MySpace 'friend' - I've heard some truly awesome music from some of these people, which has really inspired me. The other music I favour is the Sinti/Romany music - Django Reinhardt, Bireli Lagrene and Florin Niculescu. Valse Musette is wonderful. The Hot Club recordings are essential! Also, I have always adored choral and vocal music - Palestrina, Allegri and Dowland. Hymn tunes are of great importance to me. Fred Pratt-Green was a great composer. Linton Kwesi Johnson's "Bass Culture" is my favourite album ever. I listen to his Greatest Hits compilation on Island Records at least once a month.The guitarist on those recordings is a guy called John Kpjaye - now that guy knows about time and space! I listen to rock music sometimes, and Chuck Berry records for the bass playing and Gram Parsons, for his voice. John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson. My daughter loves K.T.Tunstall, so I listen to those tunes more often than not, in the car.
... but no jazz ?
No, not really. Maybe I'll listen to "In A Silent Way" once in a while, but that's not 'Jazz' anyway. On the very rare occasions when I do reach for a Jazz CD, it will probably be on Atlantic, rather than Blue Note.
You used to be in Primal Scream.
True.
(Pause)
...well,I have nothing else to say about Primal Scream - sorry.
Why not?
It ... er, I ... I really like Primal Scream, these days.'Evil Heat' and 'Xtrmntr' are great records. I am a very big fan of a band that I used to be in! Not many fans can say that about their favourite band.
I don't believe you...
That's your problem, Jimmy.
You have written and performed music for Corporate films, Commercials, Short films ,Feature films, Radio and Television programmes.You are an expert computer programmer.
True.
....so as an artist you 'sold out' ?
Oh! Well, I had to do these jobs to pay the mortgage whilst my wife was giving birth to and looking after our babies. I made a lot of money, much more than I ever made as a 'pop-star'. And I was paid within twenty-eight days of submitting my invoice. Unheard of, in the music business. Most record companies and managers did everything they could to avoid paying me.
Actually,I learned a lot from doing this kind of work.
What did you learn?
I learned that I don't like scoring films. Through Primal Scream, I learned that I don't like being in bands. Through doing recording sessions, I learned that I didn't like doing sessions. Because I have played at Madison Square Garden, The L.A. Forum and the Superdome in New Orleans, I learned that I dislike playing at those kinds of venues. Only by being very skilled and knowledgeable with a computer and its music programme have I taken the decision to reject the computer as my chosen way of making music. In other words, I have 'arrived' at my favoured music by rejecting everything else that I have done, musically, with very few exceptions.
Derek Bailey is your biggest influence.
Hmmm. Well, 'False' is the answer that I have to give. Just about anyone I've ever heard play any kind of music on any instrument is an influence, so I can't single any one person out as my 'biggest' influence. But also 'True' - Bailey's music has been a very big influence on me. His biggest influence on me came when I was eleven or twelve years old. I read an article about him, in Guitar Magazine. This was in 1974. I read the article maybe twenty times and then stole it from the school library, so I could read it at home. I didn't get to hear a record of his until I was sixteen, when, rather bizarrely, I found a copy of one of his Incus L.P.s in a charity shop in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which was where I was living at the time. I still have a copy of that edition of the magazine in my bathroom and I still read it. I have recordings of me playing 'free' music in 1978, on a Fender Stratocaster. It sounds terrible... like aural acne or something.
More on Bailey, please!
I moved to London in 1987, with a Gibson ES175D and nothing else - I sold everything that I had so that I could have some money in my pocket, including a 1986 V64 Rickenbacker Jet-glo 12-string, which I sold to Martin Moscrop of A Certain Ratio. That was a great guitar - I played be-bop on it and sounded great! The day after I arrived, I went to a pub, in Clapham Common I think, to see Derek play. I was absolutely enthralled and approached him afterwards to shake his hand.
The next week, Easter Sunday, he played at the ICA in London with Cyro Baptiste. I was the only one in the audience. Bailey walked on to the stage, congratulated the audience (me) on knowing about the music, but then said that roadblocks were new to the genre. I was puzzled by this, but then he picked up his 175 and started. I was quite annoyed that Baptiste was playing. I'd seen him with Nana Vasconcelos' band the night before and he looked out of place, probably because he had replaced Trilok Gurtu in the band and nobody liked him, according to the bass player. Anyway, the gig was wonderful, despite Baptiste plopping away on some old water pipes played with flip-flops.
A week later, Bailey played at The King's Head in the Balls Pond Road and I was there to see him - he played solo that night, and it was at this gig that I decided that somehow and at sometime in my life I was going to play solo guitar. The next night, he played at a big room, upstairs in a pub in Hammersmith. On this night, another guitarist performed before Bailey, on a sanded-down SG. He played his guitar by wetting his right-hand in a bowl of water and then rubbing the body of the guitar to produce a very ambient and wonderful sound. He'd played with Elton Dean, I think he said. He was really paranoid about the door to the room being locked so that no-one would disturb him whilst he played. It was great, that night, but I was so lonely! ... didn't know a soul. That week must have been Company Week or some sort of festival, in London.
The last time I saw Bailey play was at MOMA in Oxford. My friend James Young lives there. We went to see the gig, which was Bailey and another guy who played baritone sax. I really wanted the sax player to go and have a drink and leave Derek to play solo - I know that's rude but I'm also being honest. After the gig, I went up to Bailey and said "Thankyou Mr Bailey, it was good to hear you play" and shook his hand. I noticed that he winced when I did. This was a trendy thing to do, at the time, but I could see pain in his eyes. I think he was seventy-four, then. He looked great, like a mature and graceful willow tree, dignified and strong. This was probably at the start of his motor-neurone disease, which might explain why his right hand was so painful. Later on, I heard his album ('To Play' ? ) where he announced that he couldn't hold a pick and was using his thumb.
He died one Christmas Day, I think.
I was bemused when, on the announcement of his death, the guitar press and the jazz guitar-glitterati united in their praise of 'one of the most influential guitarists of all time'. With the exception of Pat Metheny and Henry Kaiser, not one of the jazz guitar virtuosi or any of the popular Guitar Magazines had ever championed Bailey's playing and had ignored his music for decades.
Bailey's 'Ballads' album is wonderful. Atypical, but wonderful. That album is certainly very influential.
Paul Weller's guitar playing on 'In The City' is your major influence.
False !
(What is this obsession with my 'major' or 'biggest' influence?! )
Weller's guitar on 'Takin' My Love' from 'In The City' did make me feel amazing. I'd never heard such vibrant and energetic playing. Here's that word again - he sounded so 'free'! In 1977, I'd heard enough of Jimmy Page and Steve Howe, John Etheridge and the like. I decided that, after hearing Weller, I would be a guitarist no matter what. And I've kept that going.Thirty years later, I am still a guitarist. Paul Weller sold the guitar to me - so forceably that I had no choice but to buy it. I played with him a few times and tried to tell him this story one night, but when I did, he looked at me as though I'd just asked him to mow my front lawn. ...but I did try, Paul...
(smiles softly) ... okay, I'll play along. If I did have to name ONE influence on my guitar playing, it would be Roger Hawkins, the drummer.
What ! Explain, please !
I met Roger when he and David Hood came to London to rehearse with Primal Scream, for the recording of 'Give Out But Don't Give Up', which was going to take place at Ardent Studios in Memphis. The then drummer of the Primals had been fired, so Tom Dowd, the new producer of the album decreed that Hawkins and Hood would be the rhythm section and so, as the bass player, I found myself surplus to requirements. I was deeply annoyed by this arrogant and callous gesture and even more annoyed by the other members of Primal Scream and their manager who didn't have the guts to tell me that I wasn't going to play on the album. Bobby Gillespie eventually stammered his way through an explanation, which was painful for him, I could see. He was so nice to me, really.
So, later in the week, Hawkins walked in and said hi to me (a bit nervously) and sat down behind the drum kit and started to play. Within three or four seconds, I was captivated. Maybe a minute later my mind seemed to be free of the anger, frustration and hatred that had welled up in me for the previous two weeks. His playing was like a scented summer breeze.
He is a drummer that can make his beats float in the air. He understands how to move the air BETWEEN the hits of the drums and cymbals. The air seemed to purr and writhe in my ears, tickling my lobes. And his bass drum was like a big inflatable cushion that lifted me gently off the ground. I have never again encountered such an artist, such a master. He was in his early 50s then, wearing a very loud, flimsy shirt and a huge billowing linen jacket. His jutting chin supported a constant smile... he was delightful.
I don't know... it's hard to describe, but what I do know is that I try to play guitar like Roger plays his drums.
It was a magical and totally enlightening experience and one that, today, I can replay in my mind so accurately. Maybe Tom Dowd was right, I couldn't have played with Roger, European musician that I am (although we did jam together and it was beautiful). And thinking about it now, it was this brief experience of Roger's playing that in that moment did 'divorce' me from the Primals and (eventually) put me on my own track. This is why I won't hear a bad word said against Primal Scream, because even though we had some rough times together, they made me into who I now am as a musician.
Finally,True or False - you like the music that you make.
True, I like playing it. But I never listen back to it. I hate having to listen back to it!
Can you tell us about your MaSh guitar?
Yes. It was made by master luthier Dave Dearnaley. He has a workshop in Splott, a suburb of Cardiff, Wales and he builds exceptional guitars. I also have one of his Swamp Monsters, in Olympic White, with a rosewood fingerboard. He maintains my guitars for me too. Huw Price introduced me to him in 2006 and I asked him to build the MaSh for me in April 2007.
It has a mahogany body with a spruce top and a one-piece Indian rosewood neck. The wood was reclaimed from an old bank in Merthyr, I believe! The tuners are Steinbergers and there is a Schertler microphone installed inside the guitar, fixed to the underside of the top just underneath the bridge on the treble side.The bridge is pinned to the top and is made of Indian rosewood.
I use Newtone Django strings and a 1992 Dugain rams-horn pick.
The guitar is a new design and is unique. What inspired its design?
I bought a Klein Electric Guitar in August 2006. This guitar was made for Bill Frisell by Steve Klein. When I first plugged in the guitar, I was astounded by the sound and the playability of the guitar. In January 2007, I was lucky enough to acquire another Klein Electric that had also belonged to Bill Frisell. This guitar was the best electric guitar that I had ever played. I had also bought a 1961 Gibson ES 125T, a non-cutaway model with a single P90 pickup. This guitar had a very 'angry' sound and was full of character. So, I asked Dave to build me a guitar that would take the best elements of the Klein guitars and the ES125T. I ordered the plans for a Klein Harp Guitar that was made by Steve Klein for Michael Hedges, from the Guild Of American Luthiers. We met at Huw Price's house in Cardiff one wet Sunday afternoon and took measurements from the Klein guitars, the 125T and my favourite 1962 Gibson ES 330 guitar.
The guitar was ready in September 2007.
Did Dave have a lot of input in the design?
It is his design! I just outlined a concept, an idea; but Dave brought the whole thing to life; ... and that guitar has a life of its own, let me tell you!
You love it !
Well, I have a tremendous respect for the guitar and yes, I have great affection for it too. Sometimes, I don't think of it as a guitar...
Explain...?
When I play a Fender guitar or a Gibson guitar, or a Gretsch or a Danelectro or a Burns guitar, I play a certain way i.e. I use the guitar as a messenger. When I play the MaSh, I become the messenger and the MaSh is the message. It is a very influential instrument. When I was a 'professional' player, I prided myself on being able to play consistently in any environment. My goal was also to sound like 'myself', regardless of the type of guitar that I was playing. These are both highly desirable achievements to most players.
I now try to be as affected as I can be, by the guitar and the playing environment. I've reversed my methods.
There are many sympathetic resonances and overtones in the MaSh.
Yes. These 'wolftones' are seen as undesirable in guitar design, particularly in acoustic models. The MaSh resonates in E which, as I use standard guitar tuning, can be very useful. Also,because of the geometry of the guitar, when plucked, the string length between the bridge and the tuner on the low E string sounds one octave up from the open string, but has a strange, haunting sound. I use this note frequently.
Do you practice? If so, what is your routine?
No, I don't practice at all and rarely pick up a guitar to play. If I do play at home, I play my 1962 ES 330 TD - I never play the MaSh until it's time for me to record. When I play the 330, I play Beatles songs and Wilko Johnson licks.
Is this because you want to sound fresh, when you record?
Partly, but also because I don't like to think like a guitarist. In fact I'd go further by saying that I don't like to think like a musician any more. Of course,my technique on the guitar and my knowledge of music is ingrained now, indelibly inked into my conscious and unconscious mind, but it is important for me to attempt an unlearning of my learning,if I can put it that way.
What is the Schertler microphone?
Best thing to do is go to www.schertler.com. They are a Swiss firm and I believe that Stephan Schertler is a double-bass player, working in jazz. I use it because I can record outdoors and in noisy environments and it only picks up the sound of the guitar. It's a great sounding mic.
The MaSh is a prototype. Will you and Dave build another, better version?
I doubt it. Dave got the guitar right first time.I have shown him my plans for an 8-string guitar, which would be along similar lines to the MaSh, although the body shape is quite different. The neck would have fanned frets and it would be tuned low to high A, D, G, C, F, A, D, G. The money isn't there to build it at the moment, but I would like it to be built eventually.
The MaSh completely changed the way that I approach the playing of the guitar - it has been totally inspirational and has a unique voice. I think of it as the star of the show. This is why my "Walking With Angels" album is credited as 'MaSh Guitar And Henry Olsen'. I dread losing it, but it's so small that I can carry it with me at all times and it's small enough to take onto an aeroplane cabin.
Amazing!
Yeah, it's a very special instrument!
'Walking With Angels' is now available as a free MP3 download from www.henryolsen.com. You may also like to read another interview with Henry Olsen about the MaSh Guitar, at the 'Building The Ergonomic Guitar' website, run by Robert Irizarry.
Can you tell us about your Andersen 7-string guitar?
Yes. I call it the LANCS guitar, an acronym for Little Archie Non Cutaway Seven. I like that name because my Dad is from Lancaster U.K. and is a proud Lancastrian. I lived in the County of Lancashire for a few years, in 1973-76 and again in 1982-87 and these periods were very important to me as regards my musical development, so the name of the guitar is apt.
It was built by Steve Andersen, who is a luthier based in Seattle, USA. I first played the guitar on Christmas Day, 2008 at home in London.
The story of the guitar starts with Bill Frisell, who moved to Seattle in 1989. I believe that Bill had taken his Klein guitar to Steve and asked him to build an archtop that had similar proportions to the Klein. The result was the Little Archie guitar, which is a standard model in the Andersen line and which Bill helped design.
I own both of Bill's Kleins and after playing them a lot, I had Dave Dearnaley make the MaSh guitar for me in Summer 2007.The MaSh was designed to be an 'acoustic Klein' with a floating bridge and it was very successful. However, I wanted to have a 'traditional' archtop guitar too, hand-carved from solid woods. I asked Steve to build me an Archie but with 7 strings, (i.e. low B and then E A D G B E ), without cutaway, scratchplate or pickups.
The guitar features a European spruce top,with American maple sides and a one-piece maple back. The neck was carved from a single piece of American maple and the fingerboard is ebony. The tuners are made by Waverley and the brass tailpiece was hand-made by Steve. Scale length is 25.4" and with the fingerboard extension, there are 24 frets for the G, B and E strings.
I use Newtone strings and am currently experimenting with gauges and different materials, particularly for the 7th string. I will probably settle on a heavy set, with a 14 on top and a 58 on the bottom. The 7th string will probably be a 72. At the moment, I am favouring Phosphor-Bronze strings with a round core.
For this guitar, I am using Custom-made Red Bear picks, made by Dave Skowron at Red Bear Trading. They are slightly smaller than the 'Classic 2' picks are are of light gauge, with grip holes and a standard bevel.
To amplify the guitar, I use a DPA 4061 miniature microphone, attached beneath the soundhole. This leads to a Focusrite microphone pre-amp and then into the desk for live work or to my computer when I record.
Why did you omit the cutaway and the fret-position dots from the neck binding?
Steve had sent me some photographs of the top and the back before he had cut out the cutaway. I fired off an email to him to ask if he'd be interested in omitting the cut. He replied that he would... so it's as simple as that really. I had an idea that the symmetry of the top and back plates would help the sound, but the jury is still out on that one! I asked for the dots to be omitted because I relish the idea of conscious confusion when I'm playing. I've noticed that I rely heavily on fret markers when I play my other guitars. The idea was to keep the guitar design as simple as possible.
To be continued...
Introductory voices : Jon Ståle Ritland, Synnøve Prytz-Berset.
RECORDED APRIL 2010 IN 101 REYKJAVIK, ICELAND.
RECORDED BY HUW PRICE, JANUARY 2009. COVER PHOTO OF H.O. BY DANNY PRICE.
These MP3s are for domestic usage ONLY. Please contact me through this website for commercial licensing details and AIFF sales.
This was my first solo guitar album, recorded in April '08 in Delhi at Tarang Studios in the Patparganj District by Vinod Thapliyal. I used the MaSh guitar, which was recorded in stereo using a condenser mic (a Manley?) on the soundhole and another ( a Rode NT1, I think) pointing at the nut. The internal Schertler pickup was used too.
I was quite ill on the morning of the recording date, suffering from food poisoning and I was very tired and jet-lagged too. The drive from my hotel to the studio (a few miles) was a nightmare and when I arrived at the studio, I was an hour late because a cow had settled itself on the freeway and would not (and could not) be moved. I played for about ninety minutes and then stopped the session early as I didn't have the strength to play another note. I was worried about the journey back to the hotel.
This record was very much a first attempt at playing unrehearsed, improvised music, although I had been interested in free music for many, many years.I did 'lose' myself in the music quite well, when I was playing, but I was always conscious of the recording studio and its connotations. The MaSh guitar was a wonderful companion and helped me to develop my 'Indian Voice' quite quickly. Vinod, the engineer said that my music was 'dangerous' and looked quite worried when I started to play. Nowadays, I wouldn't look for another's reaction, but at the time, my habit of seeking approval from 'the other side of the glass' in the studio control room was ingrained in my practice from my session-musician days.
Of all the memorable things I saw in Delhi, I'll never forget the child-beggars, some of whom were missing eyes and limbs. Looking at my two children (who are half-Indian), it was hard not to draw comparisons between the haves and the have-nots and harder still not to feel sad about the plight of these poor little sproggets and angry with a country which 'allows' such destitution. Whether or not this comes across in the music is unclear, but when I was playing, I could think of nothing else.
It was with this record that I launched www.henryolsen.com .The website has been a great success. By the way,the title came from my daughter who saw a tartan sari in a fashion shop in Connaught Place in Delhi. "Look, Daddy! A cowboy sari! ".
One day, whilst browsing through the 'Sacred Destinations' website, I noticed a link to the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Following the link to the museum's website, the 'Fallen Leaves' installation looked very interesting to me so I sent an email to the Director of the Museum and, three weeks later, was on a aeroplane to Berlin. This album was recorded and engineered by myself using my new Apple Macbook Pro running Logic Audio v.8, a Focusrite Saffire LE Firewire Preamp and a Rode NT4 stereo condenser microphone. Again, I used the MaSh guitar and its internal Schertler contact microphone.
I had been told to report to the museum at 9.30 a.m. and, after a security check, would be able to record until 10.00 a.m. (when the doors opened to the general public). I rang the front door bell at 9.24 a.m. but no-one answered. A burly policeman with a very large moustache appeared and started to shout at me in German. I couldn't understand what he was saying and I became quite flustered until a museum employee came to see what all the fuss was about and, after asking me (in English) what I was doing at the museum, led me inside and took me to the Fallen Leaves installation. I had just 18 minutes left to set up my equipment and make the record!
The kind lady who was supervising me allowed me to play until 10.06 a.m. and then I had to break down the gear and leave.
Then I headed for the Holocaust Memorial in Potzdammerplatz and recorded amongst the monoliths and encountering piss-taking Spanish students and little lads who, on instructions from their mothers, who were begging, were trying to steal my laptop and microphones. It was such fun and I played until I was told to move on by another large moustachio'd policeman, who was obviously itching to arrest me.
I like to stay in the cheapest hotels that I can find, when I'm on location. Small, clean rooms, decorated in cheap floral patterns without a television are the best. My Berlin hotel, in Stressmanstrasse was a classic. The room was tiny and dark, but scrubbed and honest - perfect. I recorded in the room with all the doors and windows open and played freely whist it rained and rained outside. I can work in all weathers, but the rain is particularly challenging, with all of my electrical gear exposed as it is to the elements.
I was delighted with this recording. The reverberant characteristics of the Fallen Leaves installation were magnificent. I spent a lot of time in Berlin in the mid-1980's, when the wall was still standing and had developed a fascination with the place. It's very different now but still enjoyable.
My third album took me to rural Glamorgan, Wales, where I recorded with my friend Huw Price at the controls. Huw has some beautiful vintage Neumann microphones and microphone pre-amps and is a first-rate sound engineer, so he seemed to be the right person to record my new Andersen Little Archie 7-string archtop guitar, which I had received just before Christmas 2008. We had been discussing where best to record the album, but when I arrived at Huw's house that day and heard the superb acoustics of his downstairs hallway, I decided then and there that this is where we should make the record.
The Andersen was very new to me then and I was constantly experimenting with different types and makes of strings and picks. I also played some guitars from Huw's collection - a Hofner Club 60 guitar through an old Vox AC10 amp, a very old Washburn parlour guitar and a Dearnley Taff Delta also through the AC10. Sometimes, picking up a strange and unfamiliar guitar and recording with it immediately can yield some very interesting results, but it has always been my intention to thoroughly explore a single guitar. At the time of writing, I am 'faithful' to my Andersen Archie.
The track "The Daughter Of The Lady From Ebbw Vale" came out very well indeed and was a turning-point for me in the development of this music.
I took my father into hospital for his second hip replacement and returning to his home, I set up a studio in his living room. I used a MOTU 896 interface into my Apple Macbook Pro and set up a Rode NT4 stereo condenser microphone for room ambience and my vintage AKG C28 condenser mic, which I had just purchased from Dan Coggins of Lovetone. I also used an old Rode NT2 which I used to record distant ambience. My plan was to record one long piece whilst moving between five different guitars.The guitars used were the Andersen Little Archie 7-string, the MaSh ergonomic acoustic guitar, an old Gibson Les Paul Special electric, a Dearnaley Swamp Monster electric, with trem. and a Jerry Jones Longhorn six-string bass guitar. I used my vintage Selmer Stadium amp for the Jerry Jones, my Selmer TV8 amp for the Swamp Monster and the TV8 and a Shin-ei fuzz box for the LP Special.
I set up all of these components and went to bed, leaving everything powered up and ready to record first thing in the morning. The session started minutes after I had awoken at 7.00 a.m. with me playing in my pyjamas, yawning and scratching, half-asleep. I deliberately didn't visit the bathroom before I went downstairs to start. Dad's operation was due to start at 7.05 a.m. so this was when I pressed the record button and started to play. Dad had told me all about the hip replacement procedure and I tried to be 'with him' as I imagined the progress of the operation as I played. That's him on the front cover of the album, playing the MaSh. The rear cover is a photograph of me playing my first ever 'jazz' gig at the Castlefield Art Gallery in Manchester,1985, with my Gibson ES175D guitar.
This album is interesting to me but it was hard to stay 'in the moment' because I kept wondering which guitar I should play next. Nevertheless, it was a worthy experiment, but this was the last time that I used multiple instruments on a single recording. It was also on this recording that I came to the (rather painful) conclusion that I don't much like playing electric guitars and amps.
This record was made in Oslo, Norway in three different locations: Takkenheimen Studio,'The Bunker' and on Akker Brygge, on the downtown waterfront. At Takkenheimen, the Andersen Archie was recorded using an old RCA 'Birdcage mic. pointing at the bridge of the guitar, a Josephson 'Steve Albini' model condenser over the soundhole, a Broyer large-diaphragm condenser mic collecting room ambience and my new DPA 4061 lavalier mic which was mounted in the soundhole of the guitar. On this location, I brought with me my new AKG 701 reference headphones, together with my Focusrite Saffire LE Firewire Preamp and my Mac laptop. At 'The Bunker', we used a Shure SM8 mic, a Brauner condenser for ambient sound and the DPA internal mic. At Akker Brygge, I used only the DPA internal mic.
I had wanted to record in Norway for years and jumped at the chance when my good and long-time friend Nick Terry invited me over there for a weekend in the Spring of 2009. Nick had been mixing a record in Oslo for Serena Maneesh, a band from Norway fronted by Emil Nicolaisen, whom I took to straight away when I met him - a wondeful man. I had a beautiful, tiny room just by the waterfront in a cheap little hotel which was so charming. Led by Nick and Emil, I recorded first at The Bunker, a large underground space owned by Madrugada, Norway's biggest band. This 'room' had the most incredible sound and I sat facing a corner and played and played - I couldn't stop. Then Nick and Emil took me to Emil's studio - Takkenheiman, a wonderful, small studio, full of vintage recording gear, underneath Norway's version of No.10 Downing St. The studio is built into a nuclear bunker, under the Parliament building. I was tired suddenly and played weakly and I hadn't put the laptop into record mode so none of the music was recorded. I was bothered by this and despite being invited to a lovely dinner with some very kind and friendly people, I was introspective and ruffled. And exhausted.
Next morning, Sunday, I walked down to the Akker Brygge waterfront at 6.00 a.m. and started to play, looking out over the water. Halfway through the recording, the church bells started to chime and I began to play a duet with them. Unfortunately, the DPA didn't 'hear' them as I had intended and the bells were very quiet on the stereo master recording. There was talk of recording in a mausoleum - Frode from Madrugada told me about this wonderful space - but I ran out of time ... I can only spend three days maximun away from home.
Later that day,I met up with Emil and Nick and went back to Taakenheimen to record again. I don't like to do this usually, to go back to an already-visited location, but I loved the studio so much that I wanted to get the space 'on record'. This time, I pressed the record button and lost myself completely in some of the most minimal music I've ever played. Then I dashed to the airport and flew back to my family. A very memorable weekend and some good recorded moments.
My Mother would stand me on the little beach in Cullercoats Bay, in the North-East of England and point out to sea. "Over there", she would say, "is the land of milk and honey. When you are old enough, get out of this dump and go and live there". 'There' was Norway. I am a mummy's boy; I ask my wife if we can move there at least twice a month but she always refuses. "It's too cold ", she says. She was brought up in a desert.
My neighbour, the poet and writer Berta Freistadt called me one Wednesday afternoon after she had returned from a short stay in hospital. She had been told that her cancer was terminal and that she had weeks to live. Her condition was made much worse by her advanced Parkinson's Disease. During the 'phone call, she asked me if I would like to bring my children to her garden to pick apples from her tree. We agreed that we would all go over to her house on Sunday morning and make her an apple pie with cinnamon and raisins - her favourite.
Berta died on the Saturday night. We never did get to pick the apples, or make her pie.
On being told of her death, I waited until her body had been taken from her house and then let myself into her kitchen, where I made this record. I do try to take myself out of my 'comfort zone' when I work - it's all part of the music, but this was something else. Her damp clothes were still drying over the Aga and there was fresh catfood in a bowl for Bluebell. Her downstairs deathbed was unmade and there was an opened carton of milk on the table. Then I saw a note written in terribly shaky handwriting, attached to her fridge by a magnet, to remind herself that the Olsens were coming to pick apples on Sunday morning ...
I had made a short recording of solo guitar four or five years before Cowboy Sari was recorded and I gave Berta a CD of the music.
"Give it a listen", I said, "and tell me ... er ...".
"I will", she said and closed the door quickly, a very private person who wasn't keen on the unexpected ringing of her doorbell.
A few days later, an email appeared in my Inbox. 'Only three tracks?' it began. 'Berta.' it ended.
Her encouragement was enough for me to continue with my solo playing, even when everyone else thought I'd lost my mind. When she died, it made me all the more determined to keep making my music. And I will ...
Recorded on the Andersen Archie with the internal DPA 4061 mic. My new Calton case for the guitar was a great purchase.
Made in August '09, on my son's 4th birthday, in Disneyland Paris, this was a fun record to make because of the cat-and-mouse games I played with the security staff there. It was very hot and a lot of people were curious as to what I was doing, but no-one came near to talk or to argue/rant/smile etc. The security guards were too snobby to move me on. Perhaps if I was Sting they may have had me arrested. Obviously,I just wasn't important enough...
This was a quickly-made album, recorded in just one morning, over a number of different locations within Disneyland. I was interested in the relationship between my cynicism for the place and my children's pop-eyed wonderment at the spectacle of the theme-park, particularly as they watched the night-time finale/parade. I concluded that they were happy, so I was happy. My son, Shadi, introduces the record. I usually do this as a tribute to Prince Buster records.
This record was made in Belgium in two WW1 cemeteries. The first, 'Caesar's Nose' is near Ypres and the second, which didn't appear to have a name is in Mont Noir, right on the Belgian/French border. The Andersen Archie now had the DPA mic. installed in a different position, velcro'd to the inside-back of the guitar and pointing up and out towards the soundhole, rather than pointing across the soundhole, as it had been before. Also,a Schertler contact mic. had been installed in the body under the bridge. Some of this album was recorded with an Edirol R44 Field-recorder, which I had purchased because my Macbook Pro was NOT designed to be used in the snow and rain! I also used a Rode NT4 to collect stereo ambience.
This album was made under harsh conditions. It was raining hard sometimes and the wind was whip-cold. The Andersen did not respond well to the chilly winds: like me, it seizes up in cold weather, but we got through it somehow.
I usually make these trips on my own, but on this one, my friend, the writer and broadcaster Tom Blass was with me. Tom took the shots which were used for the front and back covers of the album and I think he captured the misery of the Caesar's Nose Cemetery. This burial site was originally in No-Mans' Land between the English and German fronts. It was a very sad place in the wind and the rain and it got to me. Whilst playing, I imagined my own son being sent to these killing fields and 'falling' - dying in agony, choking to death, face down in the shit and the mud, dead finally, in a rainy field in Flanders. And for what.
By the time we had arrived at the Mont Noir location, the sun had come out and I rejoiced in the beautiful little walled garden in which those poor soldiers are buried, playing to their gravestones, which quickly became my silent audience.
The sheer amount of gravestones in some of these cemeteries is awesome and shocking. I can recommend this experience to anyone, at any time.
A note about my outdoor clothes: I choose my working clothes carefully. I wear Meindl walking boots, lightweight waterproof hiking trousers and I swear by my Rab Generator softshell smock, which is featherlight and amazingly warm and windproof. As I become more ambitious in my choice of locations, my clothing will become more and more important, particularly when I start to camp at remote (and very cold) locations all over the world. I also choose my recording equipment very carefully to minimize weight but to maximize sound-quality. I try to produce audiophile-quality recordings - no easy thing in adverse weather conditions.
This record was made in a disused studio very close to where I live in London. I had noticed on a previous visit to the studio that the recording room was very quiet indeed i.e. it excluded most external ambient noise and that, as a result, I could hear my tinnitus loud and clear. Tinnitus is a horrible thing to have to live with. Mine was caused by a Primal Scream gig in Nagoya, Japan in 1990 just after I had had my ears de-waxed. The onstage sound at the gig was terrifyingly loud. I woke up in my hotel room later that night and realised that the ringing in my ears wasn't going to go away (it usually did). Twenty years later, I have come to accept the condition somewhat, but it's still scary and it's here to stay. Tinnitus can make me much more sensitive to loud or persistent noise and the ringing in my ears can get much worse when I'm stressed or when I drink alcohol. As soon as I walked into the studio that day, my 20 year-old tinnitus made itself very apparent.
I used the Andersen Archie with the DPA 4061 and the Schertler contact mic which, at this time, was mounted outside the guitar on the top by the bridge. My Rode NT4 mic was used to record the room ambience. Unusually, I plugged the Schertler into my Silverface Fender Princeton Reverb amp and managed to coax the guitar and amp into feedback. Amazingly,the feedback was at exactly the same pitch as the ringing in my right ear, which is the worst affected.The music came very naturally and I was very glad to externalize my tinnitus through my guitar. Through the making of this recording, I also realised how upset I am about having tinnitus. Never again will I be able to experience silence. However, I was also relieved that I had been able to turn a negative into a positive. As a result, I'm very proud of this record.
This record, made in Reykjavik, Iceland in April 2010 was made all the more interesting by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. As I touched down at Keflavik Airport at 5.00 a.m., after a lousy and badly-delayed flight out of London, the authorities closed all the airspace over Iceland and the UK, so my first thought upon arriving at Keflavik was "how am I going to get back home?"
I had two full days to record - a luxury. Day one was spent scouting for locations and sleeping off the crappy journey and I recorded on day two, using my new binaural microphone system with my Edirol R44 field-recorder. I also used the internal DPA 4061 mic and the Schertler contact mic, both of which are installed inside my Andersen Little Archie LANCS guitar. The binaural system consists of two miniature omni-directional microphones which are clipped onto each side of my reading glasses, just in front of my ears.They record very life-like ambience and give the listener a very good impression of my surroundings when I record.
A week before I left for Iceland, my daughter drew a picture for me and told me that I should put it in my guitar case and look at it whenever I felt lonely.The title of the picture was "Family Love In Reykjavik".
My first location was a small lake right in the middle of Reykjavik called Lake Torvein. This is where all the small children come with their mummies and daddies to feed the ducks and the geese. I played a duet with the geese whilst watching the young families and I began to miss my children and get more worried about when I was going to see them again as the flying ban was total and didn't look like being lifted anytime soon. By the end of this segment of the recording, I was in tears and gulping big sobs but was very comforted by the fact that none of the onlookers seemed unduly concerned about my presence and seemed pleased by my musical attempts.
Perhaps my favourite part of the record is the recording I made in the bathroom of my hotel room. I had two hours to kill before I began my eight-hour journey to Akureryi airport in the north from where I would (hopefully) fly to Glasgow. The cold water tap in the bathroom dripped incessantly, a ticking clock, reminding me that I had time on my hands and that I was far from home. I was utterly miserable and very lonely so I tried to play how I felt, accompanied by the dripping tap. I can hear my frustration coming out in the music as I beat on my guitar. The Andersen is scarred for life after enduring this recording.
Iceland is a magical place and I want to go back there soon. Next time, I will take my wife and children.
These recordings were made between 18-20th February 2011 in Helsinki, Finland. My hotel room was another wonderful example of a cheap downtown room with a tiny bathroom and old radiators thickened with years of cheap paint. The outside temperature in Helsinki was -29 °C when I arrived late at night and on the Friday morning, I rushed to the Stockmann department store to buy warm clothes, just as Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) does when he arrives in Helsinki, in the 'Billion Dollar Brain' movie, directed by Ken Russell. This film has been one of my favourites for a long time and the score by Richard Rodney Bennett is superb. I quote the main theme throughout the album.
This was a difficult record to make, not least because of the extremely cold conditions outdoors. Walking around Helsinki was no mean feat either, covered as the pavements were with at least an inch of black ice.
During the recordings made on an icebreaking boat in the Gulf of Finland, I suddenly realised that the little finger of my right hand had actually frozen to the top of my guitar. I became quite frightened. There is a photograph of me making this particular recording in the photo gallery. Nearly three months later, my little finger is still quite numb to touch. Cold air is very dangerous and I now have great respect for sub-zero temperatures. When working, I noticed that I was quite slow in my movements and worse, the freezing conditions effected a mental depression in me very quickly. I really had to push myself to get anything done, as I would have preferred to stay in my hotel room, drink hot milky coffee and keep warm. As I did not wear gloves when playing, holding a plectrum and striking and fretting the frozen strings of the guitar was sometimes very painful indeed.
The title of this album, 'Sisu' means 'Guts' in Finnish and I believe that the Finns are very gutsy people, to be able to live and be happy in such a cold place.
This recording was made in a small cabin in Natvika, near Älesund in Norway, on 31st August 2011, a few days after the car-bomb detonated in Oslo and the murders took place on Utøya.
I heard the news on BBC TV and was stunned - the Government Building, which was shattered by the blast, is where I had made my first Norwegian record ("North By North East") in the basement. My friend Emil Nikolaisen's studio is right behind the building. Immediately, I called Emil. He answered.
"Thank God you are safe", I said. He was very shaken and told me that something was going on on Utøya but he didn't know exactly what. "It's war", he said.
In this recording, I tried to play how this conversation with Emil sounded and then how I felt afterwards.
Klein Electric Guitars #022 and #104 were formerly owned by Bill Frisell, as were the American Standard Telecaster and the Japanese Re-issue Jazzmaster. Klein #104 is the guitar used by Frisell on 'Nashville', and 'Good Dog Happy Man' and many other recordings. Klein #022 was the guitar that Bill used on his album 'Have A Little Faith', one of my favourite records.
The Fender Jazz Bass was given to me by Fender Guitars as a gift, for me to play on the Primal Scream World Tour of 1994/5. It is my main bass guitar and has been used by me on hundreds of recordings and gigs.
The Fender Precision Bass was given to me by Beth Orton after my Fodera Imperial VI Bass was stolen in Nashville, whilst on her Autumn 1997 North American tour. This Fodera was replaced by the Anthony Jackson Signature Model. The Imperial Bass has never surfaced. There is a substantial reward for any information that might lead to the recovery of this guitar. Please contact my website.
The Harmony 'De Luxe' archtop was sold to me by the actress Dame Thora Hird for five new pence, in 1973.
The 1962 Gibson ES 330 TDC is the guitar that I always play at home. It has the fastest action of any guitar that I have ever played.
The 1977 Fender Stratocaster was my first 'proper' guitar,bought by me, aged sixteen, in 1979. Originally finished in 'Antigua', it has been through many refinishes, but finally, I treated it to a Dave Dearnaley refin.
The Jerry Jones Bass 6 was first played by me on the 'Dixie Narco' E.P. by Primal Scream,in 1991. It was bought for me, in 1999 in Memphis Tn. by my fiancee, later my wife Hooria. Formerly owned by the producer Joe Hardy.
The MaSh acoustic guitar was made by Dave Dearnaley in 1997. It was with this guitar that I recorded 'Cowboy Sari'.
The Lovetone effects pedals shown are now highly desirable amongst collectors. I was one of Lovetone's first customers - the Brown Source pedal shows serial no. #0001!
