No computers, no phone (I am taking it but won’t answer!). Back on 18th of March….with a tan!

Got back from my yearly stint at Bath Spa University teaching for the International Guitar Foundation. A good time was had by all as usual and great to see some old faces and catch up.

Some great gigs were provided during the week by John Wheatcroft, Stanton Moore and old BIMM friend Guthrie Govan with the Fellowship. Here’s a couple of pics of the week. Looking forward to next time!

My class - Classic Rock!

Tutors eating a well deserved curry!

Guthrie and the Fellowship rip it up!

Jim Clarke, Guthrie Govan and Martin Goulding. Guitar heaven!

In other news apart from being snowed on a lot I’ve been learning Adobe After Effects and making some promos for my secret web project. Making good progress with it but knowing Photoshop animation already has really helped. VideoCopilot.com has been a real help learning After Effects and Andrew Kramer is a good coach.

Just got Stormdrum 2 for the studio rig and I’m loving it. The drum sounds are massive! Here’s a little orchestral demo I threw together while I was trying it out. It’s called Attack of the Dung Beetles as I couldn’t think of a better title! There’s a scary thought!

Till next time!

Infact that’s what the fine folk over at augasm.us do so you don’t have to! Came across this site a little while ago and if your into indie/alternative music with a slightly offbeat flavour this could be the site for you. I recommend checking it out!

So here we go….At

No5: Pendulum – In Silico

Great production and kickass drums! Two vital ingredients to a great record for me. This quasi Drum & Bass/Punk/Pop album has some great songwiting and arranging as well as being a really interesting and polished programming/production masterpiece! Did I mention the kickass beats!

The Other Side

No 4: Goldfrapp – Seventh Tree

Goldfrapp have always been a favorite of mine. The combination of Alison Goldfrapp’s smooth vocals and Will Gregory’s production and arranging are a match made in heaven. Nuff said!

Caravan Girl

No 3: Paul Gilbert – Silence followed by a Deafening Roar

Former Racer X and Mr Big guitarist Paul Gilbert returns without the singing and just does what he does best. Play amazing, over the top guitar! A lot more funky with some 70’s rock flavours this is a great guitar record. And a bloody nice chap with it!

Norwegian Cowbell

No 2: Wallis Bird – Spoons

Wallis Bird from Ireland plays guitar left-handed not because she’s left-handed but because she got all her fingers chopped off on her left hand ( she got them put back on! ). It doesn’t seem to have stopped her though as she’s one of the tightest acoustic rhythm guitarists I’ve heard in a while. That aside, she has the knack of writing really catchy songs and an awesome voice too! ‘Spoons’ is so infectious as an album with it’s mixture of folk and pop ( and even a hint of prog! ) it’s hard to stop listening to it! A breathe of fresh air! 5 Stars!!! Thanks Aurgasm!!!

Blossoms in the Street
Interview

No 1: Everything by The Bird and the Bee….ever!

When I first heard ‘Again & Again’ by The Bird and the Bee I thought it was the catchiest song I’d ever heard. I immediatly bought all their records and they’ve been on loop ever since. Consisting of Inara George ( I only found out after that Inara is the daughter of one of my all time heroes Lowell George from ‘Little Feat’ ) and pianist and producer Greg Kurstin. A totally magical mix of Jazz/Electro/Pop meets Burt Bacharach the Bird and the Bee just couldn’t be any cooler if they tried. Do yourself a favour and have a listen. If you like great pop music then the Bird and the Bee have it all!!!

Again & Again (2007)
Polite Dance Song
La La La

Honorable Mentions….

The Racontuers – Consolers of the Lonely

Jack White and co provide some kickass grooves and some of the best guitar sounds ever put to tape. He really is a very talented bloke!

Greg Howe – Sound Proof

Took a while to get into but now I’m there. Served as a reminder that you’ll never be as good as Greg Howe!

Brent and Randy Mason – Smoking Section

….Unless your Brent Mason! Nashvilles top session guitarist more than delivers with a mix of Western Swing/Country/Jazz and Blues. Totally baffling!!!

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip – Angles

Left field british Electro/Hip Hop. Totally mental but really inventive production and lyrics. Stand out track ‘Look for the Woman’

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip Look For The X-Factor Hilarious…!!!

I was asked to do some arranging on the Johnny Borrell ( Razorlight ) track ‘Carrickfurgus’ which was in the demo stage at the time. Nick had the files which were in a pretty basic state with some loops and a vocal track and a rough sketch of the chords.

We eventually decided to re-record the entire track and just keep the vocal and ended up co-producing the track together. Nick took care of the engineering and mixing duties and I arranged the music and eventually ended up playing or programming all the instrumentation!

The whole thing was done in one day from start to finish in Studio 2 at Air.

It was only the fact I saw the track in my inbox that I remembered it. I went on iTunes and sure enough there it was. The album features tracks from KT Tunstall, Yusif Islam, Hot Chip, The Go! Team and Will.i.am to name a few. It’s called Amazon Tribe – Songs for Survival and is available from all good music retailers.

On a guitar note, I used my fantastic Atkin ‘Dreadnought’ for the acoustics ( and percussion! ) and my Telecaster though an old Vox AC30 with a Custom Audio Electronics boost pedal by MXR for the electrics.

Go out and buy it, it’s for a good cause! Did I mention we all did it for free!

I was great to sit around and talk about guitar to a bunch of guitar heads as it’s something I don’t get to do all that often. Still too busy to teach now…which is great!

Here’s me back when I was teaching. As you can see I really loved it!!!!

Carleen Anderson was also there giving a vocal masterclass too. She’s about the only musician I’ve ever been a bit starstruck with as I just think she’s bloody amazing!

Now I think about it I might do some practice!

The whole thing was in aid of the NSPCC which is a great cause. It’s apparently the first time that there has been this sort of musical extravaganza at a catwalk show so it was cool to be involved. The music varied from South American rap, classical, rock and funk. The whole thing was conducted by top man Mark Stephenson. All in all a fun night.

It was attended by lots of famous people ( yawn! ) including Claudia Schiffer, the Jagger mob and I think I even saw Nigel from Eastenders ( from back in the day )!

Here’s a pic of with some of the band. From left to right: Ana Paula Aranjo, Fernanda Bussinger, Gabriel Currington ( composer ), me, Martin Goulding, Bellatrix, Alyusha Chagrin.

When David Arnold said, “Fancy playing some guitar on the new Bond film?”. I said, “Yes please!”.

My main contribution is to the ‘Boat chase’ scene which is pretty rocked out. The idea was to double up the orchestral parts David had written to generally beef things up. Lots of tempo changes, time signitures, low tunings and double tracking later it was done. Finally last week I went to the mix and it sounds massive!!!! Can’t wait to see it in a cinema!

I got this picture off a blog. Apparently that’s their boat in the background! Random!!!

Many thanks and much respect to David for giving me a chance to do this. Also Rob Playford and Steve Hilton who work with David on the scores. It really doesn’t get much bigger or cooler than working on a Bond film. It’s part of cinema history and probably the first thing I learn’t on the guitar.

To top it it all off on Saturday night I went along to the recording of the theme tune for the credits. Written by Monty Norman it has to be one of the most recognisable pieces of music ever and being in the room while a 76 piece orchestra played it was totally overwhelming.

All in all probably one of the best musical experiences so far!!!

‘The Quantum of Solice’ is out in cinemas November 2008. Go see it!

Needless to say I’m absolutely shattered. I took the ‘Extreme Rock’ class with sixteen students with fast fingers and loud amps!!! Good lord!! For our final performance we played ‘The Trooper’ by Iron Maiden and ‘Crazy Train’ by Ozzy Osbourne. It was awesome. They worked really hard and melted some faces with some great solos.

Couldn’t have done it without a great staff. Here’s a pic of me and fellow tutors having a well earned beer. From left to right. Me, Daniel Johnson (Level 1 guitar), Andy Moore (Level 2 guitar), Cath Stephens (Vocals), Jamie McCredie (Level 3 guitar)..Missing are Mathew Browell (Bass) and Ian Halford (Drums).

Everyone worked really hard and made it a great week for the kids. Now I need to sleep!!!