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...
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.
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!
"Blow The Wind Southerly", a short film featuring David McAlmont, is currently being edited and will be available to view very soon. Watch this space!
The best bass guitar makers in the world.
Excellent hand-made strings from English manufacturer Malcolm Newton.
These pickups, from Spencer Mumford are the very best available. Made in Wales. This site is also the link for Dave Dearnaley of Dearnaley Guitars.
Dave Skowron makes my plectrums for me. The best I've ever used.
Luthier Steve Andersen is making a 7-string archtop guitar for me.
John G. Stewart deals in high-end archtop guitars.
http://www.myspace.com/henryolsen/
Dan Coggins was one-half of Lovetone and is a great pedal designer and musician
Robert Irizarry maintains this excellent site and provides invaluable information for guitarists interested in ergonomics.
Lamar Sorrento: a wonderful outsider-artist from Memphis, Tennessee
John at Foamtec designed the interior foam protection for my mobile recording studio
Jean-Charles Dugain makes the ergonomic ram's horn plectrums with which I play my MaSh guitar
Pete and Walter gave me great advice when buying my DPA IMK 4061 microphone
Beat Scene Magazine - a very interesting U.K. publication by Kevin Ring
Incus Records
Calton Cases - Keith Calton has made a case for the LANCS Guitar
Ocean Sounds Recordings - I will record here soon
Guitar and Bass Magazine - H.O. 6 page interview in August 2007 edition
Fretboard Journal - An excellent magazine for professional guitarists and players of all fretted instruments
Ardent Studios Memphis
Olsens Dental Practice
