Genesis tribute band The Musical Box’ take on ‘The Lamb,’ and this writer returns to “New Times”
May 1, 2012
If the lack of music coverage on this blog about music and film has seemed apparent, that is because I have returned to freelancing at the two South Florida-based “New Times” publications. They pay, but they have exclusive control. They are also print, which still matters to many musicians, labels and venues, so I did get some good “gets,” the first being a phone conversation with the singer of the official Genesis cover band, the Musical Box, who are based in Montreal, Canada.
Though the mere mention of the name Genesis makes many flashback to Phil Collins and hits like “Invisible Touch,” to this writer, the true Genesis existed within the progressive rock scene of the early seventies with Peter Gabriel as theatrical frontman. The Musical Box specialize in that era of the band. Speaking to the band’s singer, Denis Gagné, it immediately became apparent that he too shares a special nostalgia for the early Gabriel-era Genesis. I spoke to Gagné ahead of the band’s South Florida debut to perform the band’s 1974 double album the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, scheduled for tomorrow.
As the Musical Box is the only Genesis tribute band officially sanctioned by Genesis, they were granted amazing access to the original Master tapes of the Lamb.
“Me and Sébastien [Lamothe, the band's co-founder] sat down at the Farm studio, at the board and played with the tracks,” said Gagné with a laugh. “So every texture that we were wondering, ‘What is going on here? we could hear, actually.”
It is a dense album both thematically and musically*. Even for Gagné, a long-time Genesis fan since the age of 10, in the late seventies, the Lamb, revealed more of its power as he grew more familiar with the music. “It’s a masterpiece. A lot of the songs that I used not to like … I’m a big fan of now, since we play them on stage … like ‘Back in New York City’ I used to not be a fan of because I used to think, ‘I can’t sing that. He’s screaming.’ For a singer, it’s not something you look forward to,” he said and laughed. “But then, when we played the song together, it’s such a strong riff and the whole feeling is really, really awesome. It changed my whole perspective of the song. It’s one of the songs I love to play and that I love to listen to, which was not the case when I was younger.”
Gagné said his band tries to do justice to Genesis as they performed the album back in the mid-seventies. They looked at photos and video clips, like the one below, which features part of “Back in NYC,” filmed in Bern, Switzerland in 1975:
Tickets are still available for the show. You can read more of my interview with Gagné in the original preview piece for the “Broward/Palm Beach New Times” by clicking on the publication’s logo here:
The article covers the significance of this era of Genesis and also what the Lamb is superficially about with some more quotes from Gagné. They also published a retrospective piece I wrote on the ever-changing look of Gabriel from song-to-song during his productive if underrated years in Genesis.There are many pictures and video clips, click on Gabriel’s mug below to jump to that article, entitled “Nicki Minaj of Prog: The Many Faces of Peter Gabriel’s Genesis Years”:
Edit: The “Broward/Palm Beach New Times” posted my review of the show here (disappointed no photog was there). Read it here.
*In the not too distant future I plan to write an appreciation to the subtleties of the album, so follow this blog for the appearance of that in the next few days.
Why Arcade Fire deserved that Grammy
February 14, 2011
Well, besides the fact this blog celebrates the Independent Ethos in music and occasionally film, it should come as no surprise to read my endorsement for Arcade Fire‘s Grammy win for album of the year. They are the only truly independent band on an independent label (Merge Records) to win the honor.
I had not planned to write about the Grammys at all, as it usually celebrates the contrived dreck that is pop music: from rock to disco. But the voters got my attention this morning.
Arcade Fire deserved the win for many reasons, and to those who call them “upsets” to crap like the music of Lady Antebelum, Lady Gaga and such: get some culture. They are true musicians making creative music with real instruments. Their energy live is unmatched and forgoes the distracting trappings of theatrics. Their music is creative while strongly rooted in rock (especially the progressive kind). Hence they have fans that span the ages from the current hipster youths, to respectable rock elders like David Bowie and Peter Gabriel.
So good for them. The Suburbs is a great album, as seen in my top 10 albums of 2010. OK, so it was not a personal fave of the year, as the exuberance of first hearing Arcade Fire via Funeral is a tough act to follow, but Arcade Fire are good enough to only measure against themselves. It’s all downhill from here. 
2010 in review
January 3, 2011
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
Crunchy numbers
The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 20,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 4 fully loaded ships.
In 2010, there were 79 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 103 posts. There were 267 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 190mb. That’s about 5 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was April 30th with 412 views. The most popular post that day was From the archives: Tony Levin interview 2003, Part 1 of 3: on Peter Gabriel.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were forum.dvdtalk.com, dgmlive.com, ideensynthese.de, facebook.com, and squidoo.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for thin white duke, melanie gabriel, david bowie 2010, ben bridwell, and tony levin.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
From the archives: Tony Levin interview 2003, Part 1 of 3: on Peter Gabriel April 2010
2 comments
David Bowie’s Station to Station to be reissued in fancy 9-disc package July 2010
4 comments
Brian Eno and the Lovely Bones February 2010
12 comments
Advance copies for Bowie’s Station to Station features DVD-A August 2010
7 comments
From the archives: Tony Levin interview 2003, Part 2 of 3: on tour with Peter Gabriel April 2010
2 comments
Thanks to all for the support. I couldn’t have kept this blog without you! A special thanks to my wife Ana who pushed me to start this thing in the first place.
From the archives: Tony Levin interview 2003, Part 2 of 3: on tour with Peter Gabriel
April 30, 2010
Thanks to DGM Live (King Crimson’s website) for linking directly to these series of posts, my full-length interview with King Crimson bassist/Stick man and stalwart Peter Gabriel sideman Tony Levin. See my prior post for Part 1 of this 2003 interview with this innovative bassist. And so it is on with Part 2 of the interview, Levin on his time on the Up tour…
How long have you been on tour for the Up album?
We started rehearsals last August [2002]. We did warm-ups last September. We toured the States November, December. We toured Europe in April, May and now it’s June, and I think that’s going to be it, although you never know.
Why return to the US for a second tour?
I didn’t ask Peter. I don’t really know. I know it’s a different kind of show because we’re not doing big arenas, so we don’t have the huge stage above us and the thing built– although we are adding some different material, and we’re also using some different staging ideas of Peter’s. Actually, we haven’t done them all yet.
What’s this live show like compared to the last Up tour?
It sounds a lot better being outdoors with no ringing. The trouble with arenas is it’s good to see a special show, but the sound is awful. Here outdoors people are already commenting it sounds great. They can hear everything.
How’s the live presentation of this tour compared to the last Up tour?
Huh. . . (he sighs) Golly! You know, I’m typical of musicians. Once I’m on the tour I don’t really think about the last one, so it’s hard to think back. I think it’s similar in that there’s quite a bit of spectacle and the spectacle is mixed in a way that Pete is very good at, with real human elements, so the people in the audience don’t feel like they’re seeing some kind of circus. They feel involved in the show. They feel like he’s speaking to them directly. That’s partly because he’s in the middle of the arena and it’s part because both he and Robert Lepage, the show designer, are very good at keeping the show human and communicating well.
Beyond the addition of “No Way Out,” how has the set list changed?
We’ve added “Don’t Give Up.” Actually, I think it’s going to change from night to night, too. I know we rehearsed “Darkness,” but we haven’t done it and “Grieve” we rehearsed, but we didn’t do that. Give me a minute to run and get a set list while we’re talking. . .
What songs do you like to perform and why?
One that I enjoy the most is “Mercy Street,” but I don’t actually have a difficult bass part or a bass part that’s particularly up in front, but we do it in a very different way than we used to. We all sing on it. There used to be pretty minimal background vocals. Now it’s really quite a vocal song, and it’s just a very good moment. When we did it in the round stage some of us sat on the edges of the stage and revolved—Oh, WOW!
What’s going on?
Well, something pretty special, although not show-related unless I drink all this liquor that showed up behind stage. Good golly! That’s great. Someone sent back three bottles of Fernet Branca a very unusual drink that I particularly like…
So I’m still walking toward the set list. But anyway, so that’s the special thing, but now that we’re on the normal stage, of course we’re not revolving, but I’m pretty sure we’ll sit in the front. But anyways, it just works as a special moment in the show, and I particularly like that one. I like all of the pieces. There are none that I haven’t had a lot of fun doing.
Now, I think it’s a gorgeous song, but do you ever get tired of playing “In Your Eyes”?
No. I don’t. Generally, on a really long—we used to tour for years, so when we’re on a really long tour you get tired of some of the material, that’s for sure. But not the really good pieces, and this tour’s all good pieces, plus we’re not touring for a couple of years, so I don’t think I’ll get tired of anything. OK, I’m on stage where my set list should be and it isn’t there! OK, we’re doing “Red Rain,” like we did. We’re doing “Secret World.” “Games Without Frontiers” we have added. We’re doing that. We didn’t do that in the regular tour. “Don’t Give Up” we’ve added. “Tower,” actually the full name is “The Tower That Ate People.” We’re doing that. We’re doing “Shock the Monkey.” “Come Talk to Me,” which on some shows we did and some we didn’t. Those are the new ones that we’re doing tonight, but by tomorrow or the next show, things could have changed. We could have added more newer pieces or newer or older pieces. We did rehearse quite a few.
Did you even do “Shock the Monkey” on the Us tour?
Oh, on the Us tour, yes. Last year we did it a couple of times but only a couple.
Hopefully you’ll do it when you come down to West Palm Beach.
Yeah! I think, unless we do something wrong, it’ll still be there. Unless we’ll do it badly. I’m looking forward to going there. It’ll be fun. I haven’t been in Florida for quite a while with Peter.
How do you think Melanie is working out?
Um, great. It’s a pleasure for us, not only having her sing and stuff, but I’ve known Melanie since she was a little girl, and, um, every band has a different energy depending on who’s in it and what they bring, and it’s great having a younger energy around and while we’re on the road. There are a number of things that are great. Also, she’s a great person, so it’s pretty neat having her.
Do you remember the day she was introduced to you as part of the band? What did you think?
That’s a good question, but I’m afraid I don’t remember. I’m sure you could get interesting answers to that from people, but I can’t remember when that was. I think I heard it before the tour that she would be doing it. Sorry, I don’t remember exactly.
Who’s the live drummer this time around?
Ged Lynch. He’s done a lot of work with Peter in the last few years, and I did know his playing because two years ago we did a show in Seattle, a WOMAD festival, with kind of the same line-up, in a way, and Jed was the drummer, so I know he’s a very good drummer.
He’s on the record too.
I think so. Playing both drums and percussion.
So what happened with Manu Katche?
Nothing happened to him. Just Peter chose to tour with Jed. I don’t know why, really.
Remember when you did World Diary? They were impromptu jam sessions in hotel rooms and stuff, right? Have you thought about using more current portable recording technology and doing another one?
I have thought about it. My first plan was to follow that up with two other albums in the same vein, going around the U.S. I particularly avoided U.S. musicians [on World Diary]. I wanted to do it around the world, but not in the U.S., and I thought it would be nice to travel around the U.S. in my Harley with just my bass on my back or the Stick and visit musicians and just do records in their town. So I was going to do that, but somewhere along the line I got busy with other ideas of what I might do for another album. Lately, I’m enjoying writing in a more compositional way, in a less collaborative way, where I pretty much write the song out completely and then bring in musicians, so I’m sure I’ll go back at some point to a collaborative kind of thing. Maybe go back to do that. It was fun, but I wouldn’t mind doing that again.
The interview continues…
Read Part 3 (on King Crimson and more)
Read Part 1 (on recording with Peter Gabriel)
After my recent lengthy review on Peter Gabriel’s new release, Scratch My Back, I started feeling a bit nostalgic about the old PG days. The last published piece I wrote about my all-time favorite progressive rock musician came around the time I met the man backstage after a show on the Up tour, in West Palm Beach, Florida. I got his autograph on the then new CD, and that was pretty much it. I kind of felt stupid talking to him for such an impromptu moment as he signed paper plates for these annoying Brazilian chicks and another fanboy who brought practically every PG album for him to sign– even Genesis’ the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I even offered Gabriel my service to hold his cup of tea as he signed the ephemera, but I still could not come up with much anything to say.
As much as I wanted to interview Gabriel for a piece in Goldmine during the release of Up, I was really there to meet Tony Levin face-to-face, as that is who the label offered for an interview, and I was quite cool with that. The opportunity to chat with Gabriel’s longest lasting band member gave me a great opportunity to glean some insight into their long-lasting relationship.
<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; font-style:italic;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> This interview was conducted via phone on June 6 and 8, 2003, while Peter Gabriel was starting up his second U.S. “Growing Up” tour on the West Coast. I believe the locations were San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively. Levin was very gracious about talking with me about his work with Gabriel since 1976, over the phone, during one of the tour stops leading up to the West Palm Beach show, where Levin secured me some nice seats and a backstage visit. He has been one of the nicest rock veterans I ever had the pleasure to interview, and I want to share my never-before published, full Q&A with him (Goldmine published an abridged version for their Prog rock issue from October 17, 2003).
This is Part One in a series of three blog postings that I have decided to break the interview up in, and it focuses on his work with Peter Gabriel in the studio. Part two will be all about playing live on the Up tour and related questions, and part three focuses mostly on his work with King Crimson and other tidbits he shared with me about his photography and acting. So, without further ado…
You’re probably the most consistent Peter Gabriel sideman. What keeps you coming back to work with him?
Well, first of all, I’ve done lots of different music projects. I’ve done a lot of touring and a lot of albums, but Peter’s consistently my favorite thing to do, so it’s not a matter of just me coming back. It’s actually—if I had to choose between Peter and anything else, I would choose Peter’s tours. The reason of that is a combination of them being really good music and really fun and Peter being a great guy, and so he kind of attracts good people, so it’s nice to be around, even in addition to the music being really great.
What are Gabriel’s recording sessions like? Did you have to be handy for 10 years straight for Up?
They’re different than anybody else’s, that’s for sure. First of all, I’m only involved in part of it. I come in early, when we’re doing what’s called the rhythm tracks, and Peter generally has an idea of the song, maybe not completely worked out, and we spend anywhere from a few weeks to a month doing an album worth of rhythm tracks. And then it goes through a process that really takes longer and longer each album. It takes years, and Peter fiddles with it and sometimes brings in other rhythm section elements and then, when the final product comes out, I’m as surprised to hear it as anybody else because it has very little to do with the version I heard in the beginning, and often I’m still on it . . . so it’s an interesting process really that Peter goes through. More than knowing what he wants at the beginning and going directly there is kind of a process that takes him quite a while, and I’m only involved in the early stage of it.
How do you feel about this, for your creative sake?
I’m fine. First of all, I’m very used to it. This started this way in, golly, 1976 (laughs). I should be used to it by now, and also I do a lot of albums that are done different ways, and what I focus on is bringing what I can musically to the project and really becoming a fan of the music and contributing from the bass-end of things. I don’t really get so bothered about the process itself and the way it’s going ‘cause that’s not really my domain, unless I’m the producer, which is pretty unusual.
How much direction does Gabriel give you when you play your bass parts?
It varies a lot. Sometimes he’ll have a bass idea that’s pretty good, and I’ll just do it, and sometimes it’s an idea that I’ll modify and make more bass-player-like, and sometimes it’s an idea that I’ll kind of go against, and I’ll try something different and sometimes we’ll compromise. Sometimes, in the end, we’ll go back to his own idea. Sometimes he likes what I do completely from the first note and just says, “I love that, keep doing that.” It really varies quite a bit. I certainly am open to his suggestions because, like many people who are musical and who aren’t bass players, he gets ideas that a bass player wouldn’t normally think of, and I like to use him as an inspiration for coming up with unusual parts. But I also—for me as a bass player, the part has to have some kind of bass-ness to it. I don’t know really how to describe that in words, but if it doesn’t really move my body in a certain way, then I’m not as happy with it as I’d like to be, so I keep kind of moving towards the part that just kind of organically works for me.
Is that bass opening for “Don’t Remember” yours?
I think it’s just mine. It’s a Stick part. It’s this unusual instrument, the Stick, where I can play bass parts that have bigger jumps than on a normal bass and a little bit of a different timbre– much more attack than a normal bass, so that was a typical stick part of mine. But other parts. . . “Sledgehammer” was my part, on a fretless bass, but “Don’t Give Up” was a part that really he worked out on a drum machine, but it kind of almost had pitches, so he played me this drum machine part, and I said, “Well, that’s a great bass part. Let me just put the notes that work to that,” so, really, in a way it was three-quarters his part.
What about the beginning of “No Way Out,” on the new record?
“No Way Out” has three different basses on it. That’s a good example of why I don’t know what the record’s going to sound like till it’s done. One of them is mine, playing an electric up-right bass, but then two other basses, with different players [Danny Thompson on Double Bass and Gabriel on Arpeggiated Bass] were added later. I’m the beginning of the three. I’m not sure which is the guy that comes in first. I forget. It’s been so long since I did the track. But I know I have an issue when we play that live—and I’m about to play that live for the first time tonight—about which of those three parts to pick out to play.
How did you first get into playing the Chapman Stick? What lead you to it? When was that?
When I first heard about it, which was about 1975. I heard there was this instrument you play by hammer technique, and then it’s kind of like a bass but different, and it appealed to me because I like unusual music and unusual instruments, so I got it right away, and I’ve been playing it ever since.
And you didn’t play it at all on the first Peter Gabriel album, right?
I brought it to those sessions. It was pretty new, and I actually showed it to the producer [Bob Ezrin], and he had me put it away. He didn’t even want to even hear it. I do remember that. But I played it on the tour of that album for one piece called “Moribund the Burgermiester.” I remember playing it a lot on that tour, and on the second album I was playing it pretty exclusively.
What gave you the idea for the funk fingers?
It’s a long story, but I can tell it quickly. It started from a piece of Peter Gabriel’s called “Big Time” where on that album, So, I asked Jerry Morrota to play with his drumsticks on the bass while I fingered it, seemed like a good idea. And then a year later, when I was doing the touring I was trying to play that part with just a drumstick in my hand. I had to practice it a lot, and, as usual, just like now, I was practicing and Peter Gabriel walked by me and said, “Why don’t you figure out some way to attach two sticks to your fingers,” so that’s what that was. His idea really, and then we fooled around, my bass tech and I, really for a year with different size sticks and different lengths and things like that till I finally got so I liked it. Then I called them “funk fingers” just for the fun of it. It ended up on this tour I was playing them quite a bit. For most pieces I’m playing the funk fingers.
And what’s the advantage of playing with them?
They’re more percussive. That simple. There are a lot of disadvantages. It’s hard to hit the right string. I had to practice a lot with them to get used to them, but once I’m used to them it’s very percussive, which for some things it’s really good. I wouldn’t play them on every piece.
So, I heard Peter’s on to the next album, have you done any work on it?
I’ve heard that too (laughs). I know nothing about it. I know we did a lot of tracks for the last album, so there are plenty of spares, but I know nothing about it. You would think being on the road that we talk about that stuff, but actually we don’t. I don’t know what’s coming next for him. I know that he’d like to release another album before another six years go by.
In the press kit it says that it’s supposedly called I/O, and he’s set to release it in a year and a half or something like that.
Oh, really? Well, there you go, as usual you know more than me. I’m usually the last to find out about these things, but then sometimes what you hear isn’t going to happen anyways, so…
The interview continues…
Read Part 2 (on touring with Peter Gabriel)
Read Part 3 (on King Crimson and more)
After my recent lengthy review on Peter Gabriel’s new release, Scratch My Back, I started feeling a bit nostalgic about the old PG days. The last published piece I wrote about my all-time favorite progressive rock musician came around the time I met the man backstage after a show on the Up tour, in West Palm Beach, Florida. I got his autograph on the then new CD, and that was pretty much it. I kind of felt stupid talking to him for such an impromptu moment as he signed paper plates for these annoying Brazilian chicks and another fanboy who brought practically every PG album for him to sign– even Genesis’ the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I even offered Gabriel my service to hold his cup of tea as he signed the ephemera, but I still could not come up with much anything to say.
As much as I wanted to interview Gabriel for a piece in Goldmine during the release of Up, I was really there to meet Tony Levin face-to-face, as that is who the label offered for an interview, and I was quite cool with that. The opportunity to chat with Gabriel’s longest lasting band member gave me a great opportunity to glean some insight into their long-lasting relationship.
Levin was very gracious about talking with me about his work with Gabriel since 1976, over the phone, during one of the tour stops leading up to the West Palm Beach show, where Levin secured me some nice seats and a backstage visit. He has been one of the nicest rock veterans I ever had the pleasure to interview, and I want to share my never-before published, full Q&A with him (Goldmine published an abridged version for their Prog rock issue from October 17, 2003).
This is Part One in a series of three blog postings that I have decided to break the interview up in, and it focuses on his work with Peter Gabriel in the studio. Part two will be all about playing live on the Up tour and related questions, and part three focuses mostly on his work with King Crimson and other tidbits he shared with me about his photography and acting. So, without further ado…
You’re probably the most consistent Peter Gabriel sideman. What keeps you coming back to work with him?
Well, first of all, I’ve done lots of different music projects. I’ve done a lot of touring and a lot of albums, but Peter’s consistently my favorite thing to do, so it’s not a matter of just me coming back. It’s actually—if I had to choose between Peter and anything else, I would choose Peter’s tours. The reason of that is a combination of them being really good music and really fun and Peter being a great guy, and so he kind of attracts good people, so it’s nice to be around, even in addition to the music being really great.
What are Gabriel’s recording sessions like? Did you have to be handy for 10 years straight for Up?
They’re different than anybody else’s, that’s for sure. First of all, I’m only involved in part of it. I come in early, when we’re doing what’s called the rhythm tracks, and Peter generally has an idea of the song, maybe not completely worked out, and we spend anywhere from a few weeks to a month doing an album worth of rhythm tracks. And then it goes through a process that really takes longer and longer each album. It takes years, and Peter fiddles with it and sometimes brings in other rhythm section elements and then, when the final product comes out, I’m as surprised to hear it as anybody else because it has very little to do with the version I heard in the beginning, and often I’m still on it . . . so it’s an interesting process really that Peter goes through. More than knowing what he wants at the beginning and going directly there is kind of a process that takes him quite a while, and I’m only involved in the early stage of it.
How do you feel about this, for your creative sake?
I’m fine. First of all, I’m very used to it. This started this way in, golly, 1976. (snicker). I should be used to it by now, and also I do a lot of albums that are done different ways, and what I focus on is bringing what I can musically to the project and really becoming a fan of the music and contributing from the bass-end of things. I don’t really get so bothered about the process itself and the way it’s going ‘cause that’s not really my domain, unless I’m the producer, which is pretty unusual.
How much direction does Gabriel give you when you play your bass parts?
It varies a lot. Sometimes he’ll have a bass idea that’s pretty good, and I’ll just do it, and sometimes it’s an idea that I’ll modify and make more bass-player-like, and sometimes it’s an idea that I’ll kind of go against, and I’ll try something different and sometimes we’ll compromise. Sometimes, in the end, we’ll go back to his own idea. Sometimes he likes what I do completely from the first note and just says, “I love that, keep doing that.” It really varies quite a bit. I certainly am open to his suggestions because, like many people who are musical and who aren’t bass players, he gets ideas that a bass player wouldn’t normally think of, and I like to use him as an inspiration for coming up with unusual parts. But I also—for me as a bass player, the part has to have some kind of bass-ness to it. I don’t know really how to describe that in words, but if it doesn’t really move my body in a certain way, then I’m not as happy with it as I’d like to be, so I keep kind of moving towards the part that just kind of organically works for me.
Is that bass opening for “Don’t Remember” yours?
I think it’s just mine. It’s a Stick part. It’s this unusual instrument, the Stick, where I can play bass parts that have bigger jumps than on a normal bass and a little bit of a different timbre– much more attack than a normal bass, so that was a typical stick part of mine. But other parts. . . “Sledgehammer” was my part, on a fretless bass, but “Don’t Give Up” was a part that really he worked out on a drum machine, but it kind of almost had pitches, so he played me this drum machine part, and I said, “Well, that’s a great bass part. Let me just put the notes that work to that,” so, really, in a way it was three-quarters his part.
What about the beginning of “No Way Out,” on the new record?
“No Way Out” has three different basses on it. That’s a good example of why I don’t know what the record’s going to sound like till it’s done. One of them is mine, playing an electric up-right bass, but then two other basses, with different players [Danny Thompson on Double Bass and Gabriel on Arpeggiated Bass] were added later. I’m the beginning of the three. I’m not sure which is the guy that comes in first. I forget. It’s been so long since I did the track. But I know I have an issue when we play that live—and I’m about to play that live for the first time tonight—about which of those three parts to pick out to play.
How did you first get into playing the Chapman Stick? What lead you to it? When was that?
When I first heard about it, which was about 1975. I heard there was this instrument you play by hammer technique, and then it’s kind of like a bass but different, and it appealed to me because I like unusual music and unusual instruments, so I got it right away, and I’ve been playing it ever since.
And you didn’t play it at all on the first Peter Gabriel album, right?
I brought it to those sessions. It was pretty new, and I actually showed it to the producer [Bob Ezrin], and he had me put it away. He didn’t even want to even hear it. I do remember that. But I played it on the tour of that album for one piece called “Moribund the Burgermiester.” I remember playing it a lot on that tour, and on the second album I was playing it pretty exclusively.
What gave you the idea for the funk fingers?
It’s a long story, but I can tell it quickly. It started from a piece of Peter Gabriel’s called “Big Time” where on that album, So, I asked Jerry Morrota to play with his drumsticks on the bass while I fingered it, seemed like a good idea. And then a year later, when I was doing the touring I was trying to play that part with just a drumstick in my hand. I had to practice it a lot, and, as usual, just like now, I was practicing and Peter Gabriel walked by me and said, “Why don’t you figure out some way to attach two sticks to your fingers,” so that’s what that was. His idea really, and then we fooled around, my bass tech and I, really for a year with different size sticks and different lengths and things like that till I finally got so I liked it. Then I called them “funk fingers” just for the fun of it. It ended up on this tour I was playing them quite a bit. For most pieces I’m playing the funk fingers.
And what’s the advantage of playing with them?
They’re more percussive. That simple. There are a lot of disadvantages. It’s hard to hit the right string. I had to practice a lot with them to get used to them, but once I’m used to them it’s very percussive, which for some things it’s really good. I wouldn’t play them on every piece.
So, I heard Peter’s on to the next album, have you done any work on it?
I’ve heard that too (laughs). I know nothing about it. I know we did a lot of tracks for the last album, so there are plenty of spares, but I know nothing about it. You would think being on the road that we talk about that stuff, but actually we don’t. I don’t know what’s coming next for him. I know that he’d like to release another album before another six years go by.
Iin the press kit it says that it’s supposedly called I/O, and he’s set to release it in a year and a half or something like that.
Oh, really? Well, there you go, as usual you know more than me. I’m usually the last to find out about these things, but then sometimes what you hear isn’t going to happen anyways, so. . .
In anticipation of new Vampire Weekend album…
November 26, 2009
Vampire Weekend have a new video. This time for the second promotable track from their upcoming full-length Contra (due out Jan. 12). Watch it here:
Their first single was “Horchata,” and they once had a free mp3 download of the track on their website. Now the same video above dominates their site (a large file that may load slow on some computers, so the link above moves best). You can still download the “Horchata” mp3 at We All Want Someone to Shout For. Check it out, here, with lyrics included.
I’m still kicking myself for missing them at the Gleason Center in Miami Beach during their last tour. I had not given their debut album a proper chance at the time. All the critics couldn’t stop talking about their African roots music, which grated my sensibilities while listening to the album via Napster. The influence really is not as pronounced as most critics might have you think (although they sing “Peter Gabriel” in their track ”Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” that doesn’t mean it sounds like “Biko.”*). Needless to say, the album later grew on me and I picked up the vinyl at Sweat Records. Here’s to hoping they return to South Florida for their second album!
*By the way, you can hear Peter Gabriel’s version of the song here (thanks again, Will). It’s a collaboration with Hot Chip.
