Mario’s Stuff

I’m sorry for the late blog entry but I’ve been busy with a family visit and working on numerous recordings…

My Mother (Sue), sister (Raqui), brother-in-law (Noel) and nephew (Thomas) came to visit us for three weeks from England, they landed in Las Vegas on the evening of May 4th. They got over the jet-lag fairly quickly, then we took them on a tour of Nevada and neighboring California.

Las Vegas, Kelso Depot, Bonnie Springs & Nipton

My Mother Sue & my daughter Skye

Skye was very pleased and excited about her Nana’s visit, she got on exceptionally well with her cousin Thomas too :-) (Skye is 2 1/2, Thomas is aged 3.)

Skye & Thomas at Kelso Depot, Mojave National Preserve, CA

We first showed them some places that are all local to Las Vegas such as ‘The Strip’, Bonnie Springs & Red Rock Canyon.

Wild burro near Bonnie Springs, NV

Raqui & Thomas pulling the hangman’s lever at Bonnie Springs, NV

The restrooms at the Bonnie Springs restaurant :-)

Red Rock Canyon, NV

On the way back from Bonnie Springs, we drove through Red Rock Canyon. It was a beautiful day that ended with golden light and a spectacular desert sunset.

Bill’s Oasis Cafe, Nipton, CA

Those of you who follow the blog will know that Bill’s Oasis Cafe in Nipton, CA is where Shawna and I always liked to go when in the area to dine on Bill’s phenomenal gourmet burgers. Sadly, on this visit, we discovered that Bill had died of cancer the week before. Both Shawna and I were very saddened by this news as Bill was such a great character and very hospitable. Our sincere condolences go to his family and the people of Nipton. The Oasis Cafe will remain open, I spoke with a local woman who told me that she was going to run the cafe in Bill’s tradition and still serve his awesome burgers.

Desert cactus bloom, Nipton, CA

Skye, Sue and Thomas, Nipton railtracks, Nipton, CA

Los Angeles & Disneyland, CA

I drove the family to L.A. for a few days as it’s only a four hour drive from home. The traffic was unusually good in and around the Los Angeles area, we showed them some of the usual places; Hollywood, Beverley Hills, Santa Monica, Downtown, etc. The weather was a little cooler than Vegas, and the Pacific Ocean breeze was perfect.

Sue, Raqui & Noel in Hollywood, CA.

After visiting Los Angeles, we then moved on to Anaheim, CA where we spent a few days at Disneyland. Everyone had a great time, both children and adults alike. We stayed at the wonderful Candy Cane Inn which is next door to Disneyland and closer to the Theme Park than the Disneyland Hotels ;-)

Sue, Skye & Mickey, Disneyland, CA

The next day at Disneyland, we had breakfast with all the Disney characters. Skye and Thomas were in awe of it all, Thomas is obsessed with Mickey Mouse and spent all morning with him. The girls who play the characters have the patience of Saints, they were totally awesome with the kids and made the morning a very magical event. Skye still talks about it to this day :-)

Daisey Duck & Skye, Disneyland, CA. Daisey and Donald Duck are Skye’s favorite Disney characters, she was ecstatic when Daisy came and sat at the table with us! :-)

Minnie Mouse & Skye

Me & Stitch, Disneyland, CA

Skye snuggling Stitch

Skye was initially afraid of Stitch and cried when he came over to see her… The girl in the costume worked her butt off to befriend Skye, and her hard work paid off in the end ;-)

Toon Town City Hall, Disneyland, CA

Another view of Toon Town

Shawna & Skye, Disneyland, CA

Raqui & Skye on the carousel, Disneyland, CA

Sleepy Skye & Donald after a long day at Disneyland.

California Theme Park next to Disneyland, CA.

Death Valley & Hoover Dam

We drove out to Death Valley via Pahrump, NV. We stopped off first at Zabriskie Point, then made our way down to Furnace Creek and headed back home via Beatty and the ghost town of Rhyolite.

Sue at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, CA

Strange sculptures at Rhyolite, NV

The Hoover Dam always makes for an interesting day. Shawna and I were quite shocked at how much the water levels have dropped recently as you can see from this photograph.

Plaque at the Hoover Dam commemorating Dr. Elwood Mead, the namesake of Lake Mead.

The family enjoyed their visit and we enjoyed their company :-) They’ll be visiting again soon, in the meantime we’ll continue with our long-distance webcam chats!

The Trials Of Life…

 

I’ve had a few emails from fans asking about the new albums, in particular Shadows & Light.  I’m currently working on several recordings simultaneously, but due to my increasingly busy schedule and a demanding 2 year old daughter, I’m struggling to be honest!

 

Originally, Shadows & Light was going to be released around the late Summer this year, but we’ve changed the release date for Fall 2010. This is more realistic as there’s still the cover and artwork to complete plus the mixing and mastering. I also want to promote the album ahead of time as best I can, so the Fall schedule is ideal.

 

Distant Dreams will soon follow, probably more towards the end of the year. As with Shadows & Light, I’ve already got several songs finished, I just think that more time is needed to promote and plan plus it’s not a good idea to release two albums at the same time anyway.

 

In between the above recordings, I’m working on two vocal based albums with singers John Pratt (Firefly/John Pratt Band) and Lee Small (Phenomena/Shy/Lee Small Band). At this moment in time there’s no definitive release date, we’re working on the albums on an ‘as and when’ basis. Whenever we have spare time we dedicate it to the projects. The album with John already has a title of Uncharted Waters and we’ve almost finished one of the songs called ‘Kyoto Belle’. As soon as there’s an update I’ll of course let you know and will also post a soundclip to give you an idea of how the project sounds.

 

As well as all the above, we moved house in December to a different area in Las Vegas, the studio was also relocated and took some time setting up and settling in. The scorpions, spiders and other bugs became too much of a problem at our old abode, plus the new house we’ve moved to is brand new and bigger.

 

The New Guitar!

 

I’ve had several emails from guitar fans enquiring about my new Siggery custom guitar. The guitar was delayed a little due to a supplier messing up a parts order, then the English snow blizzard earlier in the year caused some delays for other parts. But, the new guitar is finally here with me in the studio in Las Vegas, and let me tell you – it plays and sounds amazing…!!! Above is a photo of the new guitar, more will follow and I’ll get some video of me playing it online asap ;-)

 

My ’signature’ guitar is totally handmade and will retail at $2,095.00 (price includes a Gator flightcase). For all enquiries please contact Siggery Guitars on +1 1892 610073 or email mtsigg@aol.com

The guitar’s spec is as follows:

• Solid mahogany body with thin Koa veneered top and set mahogany neck
• Rosewood fingerboard (25″ scale) with 24 jumbo frets
• Grover 18:1 locking tuners
• Tunomatic bridge, strung through body
• Rio Grande pickups (handmade in Texas): ‘Barbeque Bucker’ in the bridge and ‘Buffalobucker’ in the neck
• One volume and one tone pot (with pull/push coil split), 3-way selector switch
• Transparent black nitro laquer finish (transparent crimson also available)

Please note that a waiting list will be in place for all orders. 

 

Bonnie Springs, NV

 

Just outside of Las Vegas, not far from Red Rock Canyon is a little place called Bonnie Springs located in ‘Old Nevada’. It’s an interesting place that preserves the old cowboy heritage around here. It’s a combination of a Wild West Town and zoo (rescue center), and despite the strange sounding combination, it’s a great place for all ages. Shawna and I took Skye there recently, she had a great time.

 

Opera House, Bonnie Springs

 

 

View of the Western Town

 

  

Shootin’ Gallery, Bonnie Springs

 

Bonnie Springs Chapel

 

General Store

 

Bonnie Springs Stamp Mill

 

Old Saddle, Bonnie Springs

 

Bison at Bonnie Springs, NV

 

Timberwolf at Bonnie Springs

 

After a good walk around, hot cherry pie served a la mode was a great choice in the Bonnie Springs diner ;-)

 

 

Dr. Sellot’s Snake Oil

 

Old Western Carriage

 

No cowboy town would be complete without ‘wanted’ posters…

 

‘Old Nevada or Bust’ Western Cart

 

Great view of the desert canyon on the way home. Las Vegas, NV

 

Skye had a great time, there was so much for her to see and do, she looked very pensive throughout the day!

 

Skye’s Karaoke Corner

 

Speaking of Skye (or ‘The Critter’ as we affectionately call her ;-), she’s started trying to entertain us in the evenings before she goes to bed, singing into a maraca as though it were a microphone! I’m going to make this a regular feature of the blog, as she makes up her own funny words, here’s the repertoire she came up with tonight:

 

1. Tuna the Dog

2. Stop Until You Eat Cake

3. No Sit Down to Ticky Ticky Ticky Tock

 

:-D

 

 The Beatles Remasters

 

I recently purchased The Beatles 2009 remasters box set, and was astonished at how good they sound. The clarity of the backing tracks on some of the songs is amazing, I can now hear more of the distant acoustic guitar layers (The Beatles were great at layering electric and acoustic guitars together) and there’s more separation of the tracks.

 

If you’re a Beatles fan, I would definitely recommend buying this box set, at times it’s like listening to the songs for the first time as they sound so fresh. George Harrison was one of my earliest influences, and I still dig a lot of stuff he played back then.

 

A friend of the family’s was lucky enough to see the Beatles live back in 1966. He also saw several rock and metal bands years later but said that the loudest band he ever saw was the Beatles…!

 

 

Pablo’s Wedding

 

My friend and bassist Paul ‘Pablo’ Stanney got married in Vegas in November to his wife Sophia. I was the best man at the wedding, while Skye provided the entertainment…

 

Pablo’s since relocated from England to Sophia’s native Canada (Vancouver), so he’s not as far from us anymore.

 

L to R: Shawna, Skye, Me & Pablo

 

El Niño

The strange weather front known as ‘El Niño’ reared it’s head again at the start of the year. Southern California was affected the worst, here in Vegas we just had a few heavy storms and misty days. 

 

Luxor in the Mist… I took this shot while driving down Tropicana Avenue early one morning, The Luxor Casino (pyramid) was obscured by thick mist. This same day the weather was very strange and by the afternoon a heavy storm had kicked in. Typically, the day ended with a beautiful Vegas sunset…

 

Unusual cloud formation during the calm before the storm…

 

Seconds before the storm hit…

 

The same area as in the previous photo, showing a typical Vegas Sunset just a few hours after the storm had passed over.

 

The Death of Music?

 

I’ve mentioned it before, but illegal downloads are increasing so it’s worth mentioning again…

 

My wife did some research a couple of weeks ago and discovered that over 32,000 illegal downloads of my album Entranced had been stolen via torrent sites and similar since it’s 2007 release date. Whilst I know it’s a tiny amount compared to some bands who are losing hundreds of thousands of sales to illegal downloads, at my level (appealing to mostly guitar fans within a niche genre) it’s affecting me greatly and is eventually going to prevent me from recording and releasing music in the future if it persists.

 

It takes quite some time to write, rehearse, record, mix and master an album. I can’t justify spending months in a studio to produce an album that doesn’t generate enough income. Although I love music and it’s my life’s work, I’m a professional musician and make a living from it. Many other people are in the same position, and there’s an air of apathy in the industry at the moment due to musicians (quite understandably) being unenthused with recording due to the lack of income generated from it.

 

Several record labels have closed/are closing down, blaming internet piracy. EMI is currently in debt for $460 million dollars and is allegedly rumoured to having to sell off its iconic Abbey Road studios. What a sad state of affairs… We mastered The Magician at Abbey Road back in ’91, it had such a great vibe to it and was full of musical history. Lion Music in Finland who have possibly released more guitar instrumental/neo-classical/prog music than anyone else have expressed their concerns through their article ‘Murder of Music’. This article, and several others written by some of Lion Music’s artists can be read here.

 

I will always continue to write and record music; it’s in my blood. But if the illegal downloads continue as they are doing, I may look at other musical avenues and stop releasing albums.

Happy Christmas and New Year!

Wishing you all a great Christmas and New Year! Thank you for all your support and enthusiasm for my music during 2009 :-)

Very best wishes

Mario

New Guitar

Marty (Siggery Guitars CEO) sent me a photo of my new guitar’s progress a few days ago, he was working on the transparent black finish at the time:

As you can see from the photo, the finish is looking amazing, it will be even better when it’s coated with glossy nitro lacquer…! Marty has also added the dot inlays to the fingerboard.

When the guitar gets here, we’ll photograph it from all angles and I’ll write a detailed blog entry about it with a video or two of me playing it :-)

Halloween

It’s that time of year again… How time flies… (see below) I can remember writing about last year’s Halloween in the old blog.

Although it’s not officially Halloween just yet, Shawna and I took Skye to the Clark County Museum in Henderson, NV as they’re running Halloween evenings for kids. Skye had a great time, her costume this year was a fairy outfit with wings (she’s obsessed with butterflies - or ‘flurflies’ as she calls them :-).

Skye and her costume

The county museum did a great job; all the kids enjoyed themselves, especially those engrossed in trick or treating on the museum’s ‘Heritage Street’ which contains several old houses that were rescued from old Las Vegas.

They held a costume contest for the kids, so I took Skye up onto the little stage area (above) whilst Shawna took photos. And before you ask; no, I didn’t wear my ‘Jaws’ t-shirt especially for Halloween! I didn’t even think about it until we were there and hoped people didn’t think I was dressed in quite possibly the most cheesy and laziest costume Halloween had ever seen…! :-D

Along the usually peaceful nature trail were several old exhibits including this prison cage (above) and the old faded truck (below).

The corner of Heritage Street at Halloween.

The museum’s old steam train decorated for Halloween.

At the main entrance was this cool display of giant tarantula spiders with heads and skulls…

A few days before we went to the museum, we took Skye to Ethel M’s Cactus Garden for a walk. They’d started to kit out the garden with an October theme (below).

Time…

Sometimes I can’t believe how time flies… I can remember when I was twenty years old and thinking “I wonder where I’ll be/what I’ll be doing when I’m forty?” And here I am twenty years later, asking the same question again, only next time I’ll be sixty…!

I can’t believe how fast Skye has grown. It only seems like a few days ago when I was holding her in one hand at the hospital on the day she was born. And yet here she is now, no longer a baby but a growing toddler who demands mine and Shawna’s attention 24/7! We went to a friend of Skye’s birthday party last week, and I think it was there that I realized how fast she’s grown and how time really does slip us by.

One of my favourite pieces of music of all time (forgive the pun) is Ennio Morricone’s haunting musical pocket watch theme from the Sergio Leone movie ‘For A Few Dollars More’ (1965). In the last scene where Colonel Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef) has the shoot-out with ‘El Indio’ (Gian Maria Volonte), the haunting little melody from ‘El Indio’s’ pocket watch (stolen from Mortimer’s sister) starts to play and is then made even more beautiful when the string arrangement drifts in…

Ennio Morricone’s ‘Musical Pocket Watch’, kindly posted on YouTube by another fan of the theme.

I was as fascinated with this theme when I was four years old as I am now at age forty. Musically, it has a great melody and haunting quality about it, but combined with Leone’s cinematic vision, the scene from which it’s taken from (not shown in the above video) captures timelessness perfectly. (Incidentally, Ennio Morricone is one of my favourite soundtrack composers for his use of melody).

I remember growing up in Spain and seeing vast plains and agave plants, ‘For A Few Dollars More’ was filmed in Spain near Almeria in Andalucia, and the shoot-out scene also shows these simlar plains and plants. The golden Spanish sunlight in the late afternoon illuminates Leone’s canvas, and the scene itself is both melancholic yet intense. I’ve loved this movie since my early childhood, and every time I watch it (two puns!) I realize just how quickly time goes by…

New Guitar!

Marty Siggery, the main luthier at Siggery Guitars has been working hard on my new custom guitar, I’ve attached a photo below to show it’s progress.

The new guitar!

The guitar has an SG body style, and is made of solid mahogany with a very thin Koa veneer for cosmetic purposes (as shown in the image). It has a 24 fret set neck (no binding) with dot inlays, rosewood fingerboard with 16″ radius, jumbo frets and 25″ scale length, two nickel covered humbuckers (Rio Grande pickups), a ‘Barbeque Bucker’ in the bridge and a ‘Buffalobucker’ in the neck, one volume, one push/pull tone with coil tap, 3 way selector switch, jack input on side of body, locking 18:1 tuners, tunomatic bridge and strung through body. It will be sprayed transparent black by Marty at the workshop. I can’t wait… ;-)

NV & CA Wildfires

A couple of weeks ago we had some pretty severe wildfires in the Nevada/California areas. August usually produces wildfires, and this year was no exception. Sadly, several brave firefighters lost their lives struggling to bring the fire to a halt :-( The fires were eventually calmed by the Fire Departments.

The wildfires were in mostly California, but eventually crept into the Nevada border. In the evening, Las Vegas smelled like a bonfire, with the strong smell of burning wood permeating through the warm night air. The following day the roads and sidewalks were covered in a layer of ash, our front patio included.

Mount Charleston, NV

One of our favorite local places is Nevada’s Mount Charleston. When the weather gets really hot here, Mount Charleston is the perfect retreat as the weather is considerably cooler at the top of the mountain than it is in the Vegas valley. Last week was like this as we drove to the mountain and visited it’s lower and upper lodges. The weather in Vegas at the time was 105F, and as we drove higher, the weather was a stormy 56F at the Upper Lodge.

The stormy weather at Mount Charleston.

We first stopped off at the Lower Lodge with the intention of getting coffee and a snack, but the bad weather had caused a power cut, so the snack bar was closed. Skye enjoyed sitting in a carved tree in the lobby though :-D

 

Skye sat in the carved tree at Mt. Charleston’s Lower Lodge.

We made a quick dash back to the truck to get out of the pouring rain, and continued driving up the mountain. Just past Kyle Canyon the storm’s lightening had hit a tree causing it to fall into the road, so I had to get out and push it’s charred remains to the roadside.

When we finally arrived at the Upper Lodge, I was soaking wet and ready for a hot coffee. We shared a pizza and I played with Skye, drawing pictures on a napkin :-)

Me & Skye at Upper Lodge deciding what to order…

Me & Skye drawing.

Funny Pics

We went to a local store Shawna and I affectionately refer to as ‘the ghetto store’ a few days ago, and there in the parking section was this cholo car… I just had to photograph it with my cell phone for the blog :-D

Cholo Car!

In our local Walmart store last night, we saw a clown slowly wandering around the aisles pushing a shopping cart… It reminded me of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead so I took a (blurred) photo discretely with my cell phone :-)

Walmart Clown…!?

Bug Update

We’ve been lucky so far to have not had any further scorpion/spider incidents in or around the house, let’s hope it stays that way…

We’ve had a few of the nicer bugs visit though, a large moth and several Praying Mantis’.

This large moth was approximately 4 inches in length and had a wing span of around 8 inches.

Always alert and other-worldly, this green Praying Mantis spent the night on our front patio. We also get sand colored Mantis’ here in the desert.

R.I.P. Les Paul

It was with great sadness that I yesterday learned of the death of the legendary Les Paul. One of the electric guitar’s greatest pioneers and innovator of multitrack recording techniques, Les died yesterday due to complications from pneumonia at the age of 94. He will be missed by everyone in the guitar and music world. There’s little point in me elaborating on his life as anyone who knows anything about guitars knows who Les Paul was and what he achieved in his lifetime. A very sad loss.

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Siggery Guitars

As you may already know from the press releases and the ‘news’ page on the main website, I’m now playing Siggery Guitars made by my old friend Marty Siggery. Marty played bass on The Magician album back in 1991 and had a magic touch with guitars as far back as I can remember. He became renowned on the guitar circuit during the 80’s and 90’s for his expert set-ups and mods, and has since blossomed into a killer guitar builder… Rather than have me tell you how good his guitars are, just check out the reviews in guitar magazines… ;-)

Marty is currently building me two custom solid body electric guitars. They’re both made out of mahogany with Koa veneered tops (mostly for cosmetic purposes), with an SG syle body shape, set mahogany neck, 24 fret fingerboard and 25″ scale length. The pickups will be Rio Grande’s  ’Barbeque Bucker’ in the bridge and ‘Buffalo Bucker’ in the neck. The guitars will have one volume and one coil-tappable tone pot with a three way toggle switch. The input jack will be on the guitar’s edge rather than the face. One will be in transparent black, the other in transparent crimson. As soon as they arrive here, I’ll photograph them and post photos in the blog :-)

The reason why I’ve opted for an SG body style is for nostalgia purposes and it’s practicality. I had a Gibson SG Special when I was about 12 years old and made a big mistake in trading it in for a different guitar a couple of years later… :-/ I like the SG’s comfortable design and easy access to the upper fretboard, I have one at home that I play a lot. Marty’s hand-crafted custom version will be awesome, I can’t wait to play it…!

Passport Photo

My UK passport expired late last month, so I had the boring and tedious task of renewing it via the British Embassy in the U.S. Other than the renewal paperwork and basic instructions online through their website, the British Embassy didn’t provide much information, other than when the package was ready I had to send it to them in Washington, D.C. Here in America, U.S. passport photos are 2″ x 2″, a standard size and available just about anywhere. But for a UK passport, the photo has to be 45mm in height and 35mm in width, a format that isn’t common in this country…

So… I went to all the obvious places to try and get a photograph, I actually wasted an entire afternoon going from store to store only to be told the same thing, that they only catered for the U.S. 2″ x 2″ format. As a last resort, we passed by a Walgreens pharmacy and Shawna told me to try inside as they did passport photos there. To my surprise and joy, the guy in the Walgreens photo department knew exactly what I was talking about and showed me their photo software which has a specific ‘UK Passport’ process. He took the photo with a digital camera, and the software did the rest, producing two perfect UK passport photos!

So, for any British ex-pats living in America, when you need to renew your passport, just go straight to Walgreens for the photos! I don’t know why the British Embassy doesn’t have this information on it’s website, it would have saved me many hours of frustration… When my daughter Skye needed 2″ x 2″ photos for her first U.S. passport whilst we were living in England, the American Embassy provided several local photographer’s details on it’s website making the process very simple. Maybe the British Embassy should follow suit…

My 40th Birthday!

It was that time of year again… the 7th of August. I’ve never been too bothered about birthdays, as I’ve always believed that we’re as old as we feel. My birthday this year was spoilt by a heavy cold, all Shawna’s plans were ruined as my mild cold took a turn for the worse on the 7th… We’ll do all the things we’d planned next week, my cold is finally starting to fade…

Shadows & Light

My new solo album Shadows & Light is going well, some of the songs are now very close to completion and soundclips will be added to the main website nearer to the release date. The track listing will be announced on the main site’s News & Events page soon.

Fishman’s Aura Imaging

My main nylon string guitar (made of Koa wood) was sent off to Fishman’s Headquarters in Massachussetts last week, they’re installing their amazing Infinity Matrix undersaddle pickup into it, and also creating brand new custom Aura images from the guitar itself in their studio, they’re then installing the radical Fishman Aura Imaging Pre-Amp into the guitar with the custom auras programmed into it. The Aura technology is simply superb, and I can’t wait for the guitar to get back to MidnightCafe Studios so I can play around with it! I’ll be using this guitar for my upcoming acoustic guitar instrumental album, Distant Dreams.

Fishman’s Chris De Maria is going to photograph the guitar in it’s various stages of completion, so check back soon as I’ll show the pics here in the blog!

New Old Haircut

I was looking back at some photos of me from a few weeks ago and I decided that I didn’t like my long hair anymore, I thought it looked dated on me. I had very long hair during the 80’s and early 90’s when long hair was ‘in’ within the rock/metal scene, and couldn’t wait to cut it as I never really liked it as it was a pain to maintain, so I had it cut back to the way I’ve had it for the last few years, shorter and kind of spiky on the top.

Me, June 9th 2009 with one of my guitars and new old hairstyle!

Route 66

We drove into Nipton, CA last week via Route 66, the weather was warm and Skye enjoyed walking around the Hotel Nipton. Our walk was cut a little short as there were quite a few tarantula hawk wasps and yellow jacket wasps in the hotel’s cactus garden.

Me & Skye at the Hotel Nipton, CA.

The road surface at Route 66 near Nipton was badly affected by flash floods a couple of years ago, the tarmac became badly cracked and was recently filled in. I think they’ll resurface the entire road soon, it’s a shame as the old road looked very cool and had a vintage vibe about it. There are some photos of Route 66 from a few years ago in the main gallery.

After visiting Nipton, we did our usual drive down the Joshua Tree Highway in the Mojave National Reserve to Cottonwood Cove, NV and Lake Mohave. We stopped by my favourite joshua trees for a photo with Skye, but the sound of a large adult rattlesnake’s warning was a little too close for comfort so we quickly moved on!

Me & Skye at Cottonwood Cove, NV.

Palm at Cottonwood Cove, NV.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

We drove out to Echo Bay a couple of days ago, the sky was stormy and brooding across the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Shawna and I took a few photos en-route of the lake area, Lake Mead is one of our favourite places and very close to where we live.

Stormy sky over Lake Mead National Recreation Area, NV.

Dark shadows by Redstone, Lake Mead.

Rocks at Redstone lit by the sun through the dark clouds.

Rock formation, Lake Mead.

More shadows and light over the desert.

Virga in the sky as the rain evaporates in the desert heat before it hits the ground.

Cell phone photo of palm trees at Echo Bay at twilight.

Another cell phone pic as we drove away from Echo Bay and into the night…

FedEx Nigeria!

Shawna had another funny spam email from Nigeria, this time the Nigerians were claiming to be from ‘FedEx Nigeria’ (!?) and claimed they had a package waiting for us in Nigeria that contained a bank draft to the value of $800,000.00! :-D They wanted $305 as a ‘holding fee’ then they’d send the bogus package…

The email’s subject line read:  Subject: YOU HAVE A PACKAGE WITH FEDEX COURIER NIGERIA !!! We immediately started laughing… :-D Not quite as funny as the email we had from ‘Dr. Fred Mike’ in Nigeria (see the earlier blog entry), but still pretty ludicrous and amusing :-)

These people are complete fuckwits aren’t they? They didn’t even try to hide the fact that they’re notorious Nigerian conmen - FedEx Nigeria???!!!!! Hilarious! I really hope people out there don’t fall for this nonsense. It beggars belief really, but always gives us a good laugh when a particularly funny email gets through :-)

Uncle G’s Visit

Graham, Me & Skye at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, NV (5/15/09)

Uncle G (Graham Bonnet) came to visit us last week, we had a great time driving out to a few local places of interest and we also worked on some new songs for the Savage Paradise project.

“DAY-O!” Graham being Graham… ;-) Testing out the echo at Red Stone, Lake Mead (05/17/09)

Amongst other places, we visited the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (see above pics) and went to Echo Bay for lunch. Shawna had her little camera with her and took a bunch of great photos :-) On Monday the 18th I drove along the Nevada and California state line and into the Mojave Desert along the Joshua Tree Highway and showed Graham the little town of Nipton and then Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mohave (yes, it’s spelled with an ‘h’!) The temperature at Cottonwood Cove was 118 F with a warm wind.

Thirsty Skye drinking watermelon juice. Echo Bay, Lake Mead, (05/17/09)

Graham went back to L.A. yesterday, and that same evening my friend and bassist Paul ‘Pablo’ Stanney arrived in Vegas for a visit from the UK.

Shadows & Light

As well as the Savage Paradise album, I’m also hard at work on my new solo guitar instrumental album Shadows & Light and will be announcing soon the track titles and running order. I’m very pleased with the way it’s sounding so far, and it will further benefit from Pablo’s (Paul Stanney) bass lines and Kev’s (Kev Taylor) drums. There will be three special bonus tracks on the CD of vocal versions of three of the songs. Each song will have a different singer, the singers are Graham Bonnet (Rainbow/MSG/Alcatrazz), Lee Small (Shy/Phenomena/Lee Small Band) and John Pratt (Firefly). I’ll keep you posted on the album’s progress.

Bug Update

There’s actually nothing to report!! Hopefully it will stay this way… (touch wood)… we’ve already had our share of scorpions and spiders…

There are a few harmless lizards that live around our house, I managed to photograph one on the patio wall a few days ago with my cell phone (below).  They’re about 6 inches long and very fast…!

A desert lizard on our patio wall.

The weather’s getting warmer now, it was 109 F yesterday, and pretty soon the cicadas will be making their loud weird noise outside. We usually get praying mantis’ on the patio during the Summer months, but they’re harmless and good at keeping other insects at bay.

With a bit of luck, there won’t be another bug update for a while…

In the last blog entry I said I’d talk a little about technique as I’m asked a lot about the subject. I’d like to start off by saying that I don’t give guitar lessons, but if you catch up with me at a gig or clinic I’m usually more than happy to run through a few licks/ideas and offer any advice I’m able to.

 

Before I begin to talk about technique, I’d like it known that technique alone does nothing for me. I don’t find it remotely interesting to hear someone playing as fast as they can, nor weaving in and out of as many modes as possible. Neither of these constitutes great musicianship in my eye. Music for me is an emotional affair, I like music to stir my soul in one way or another, from an adrenaline rush to a deep spiritual high that send chills down my spine.

 

Speed

 

Whilst it’s undoubtedly great fun to play fast, speed out of context is pointless and silly. The obsession with speed seems to be peculiar to the electric guitar and the ‘shred’ genre as I don’t know of any other musicians; ie pianists, classical guitarists, saxophonists, cellists, etc. who are concerned with playing as fast as they can all the time. I know that Nicolo Paganini, the Romantic period violinist was renowned for his blinding speed, but – it was also well documented that he was capable of making his audience cry with his slower emotive playing.

 

Before learning to play fast, it’s very important to learn all the basics that are sadly neglected by some players. Tone, string control, vibrato, rhythm and finesse are lacking in many of the solos I get asked to listen to. I’ve heard countless solos by guitarists who can alternate pick a scale at speed and sweep arpeggio shapes, but this is then usually let down with uncontrolled vibrato, or out of pitch string bends, poor tone, bad rhythm playing on the backing track, etc. It’s always wise to learn to walk before running.

 

Rhythm

 

Often overlooked by guitarists focusing on soloing techniques, rhythm is one of the most important aspects of guitar playing and music in general for that matter. I hear many demos from aspiring instrumental guitarists who give little thought to rhythm, their rhythm guitar playing is usually surprisingly basic with just a few power chords here and there, and they have little sense of rhythm and timing whilst soloing. Practice your rhythm playing and listen to players and music with great rhythm and groove.

 

Style

 

When you reach a certain level with your ability, you should start to hear your own style and sound developing. I don’t believe style is something that can be pre-planned, it just kind of happens on its own.

 

Perhaps the worst thing a guitarist can do is copy note for note solos and ideas from other guitarists without adapting them slightly. There are many players out there who sound like a mish-mash of several other players, and they have no particular style of their own. It’s perfectly ok to have a favorite guitarist, but don’t copy him/her in a parrot fashion or else you’ll just end up sounding like a cheap imitation of them.

 

‘Neo-Classicism’

 

Other common questions I get asked are about the neo-classical guitar style as I’m often associated with the genre. Although my own guitar style contains some elements of neo-classicism, I would say that my style is more a hybrid of rock, blues, fusion, flamenco and neo-classical.

 

Harmonic minor scales played at speed and diminished arpeggios do not constitute true ‘neo-classicism’, but if this were so, then Django Reinhardt, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucia, and many other jazz and flamenco guitarists could be regarded as pioneers of this guitar style and were playing like this way before anyone in the rock world was. The fast picking of scales and arpeggios has long existed within the jazz and flamenco genres, check out some of the albums I listed in the previous blog entry below.

 

Whilst there are several styles within the genre, the most common neo-classical sound and style is played by guitarists who have taken elements of Ritchie Blackmore’s and Uli John Roth’s styles (but just played faster) along with some of Bach’s more basic ideas, and who focus mostly on the Baroque sound and harmonic minor scales. I agree with many that this particular sound has now become tedious and repetitious, and I think this neo-classical style should move on.

 

If you’re interested in neo-classical instrumental rock guitar music, then my advice would be to listen to as many composers as you can, and not necessarily just violin based music. You don’t have to focus purely on composers from the Baroque period either, I personally prefer the late Classical and Romantic periods.

 

I’ve listed below some of the classical music (in no particular order of importance) that most influenced me when I was young: 

1. Paganini – Caprice 16 in G Minor
2. Paganini – Concerto No. 5 in A Minor (Finale - Andantino quasi Allegretto)
3. Schubert – Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major (Allegro)
4. Dvorak – Serenade For Strings in E Major (Tempo Di Valse)
5. Beethoven – Concerto for Violin & Orchestra in D Major (Rondo – Allegro)
6. J.S. Bach – Double Violin Concerto in D Minor (Vivace)
7. Massanet – Meditation from Thais
8. Sibelius – Valse Triste
9. Allegri – Miserere Mei, Deus
10. Mozart – Piano Concerto 25 in C Major (1st Movement)

My last piece of advice on this subject is that if you want to develop a neo-classical style, I would recommend you experiment with classical elements and try and come up with something fresh. There are far more possibilities within the neo-classical genre than just the key of E minor, harmonic minor scales, pedal point licks and a diminished arpeggio ;-)

I’m asked a lot by learner guitarists through my website and MySpace page about guitars, amps and guitar music that influenced me when I was young, and also for advice on technique and guitar playing in general (which I’ll cover in the next blog entry).  I’ll try and answer the most commonly asked questions…

Guitars

There’s a lot of misinformation, nonsense and snobbery surrounding musical equipment in general, but especially so for guitars. Just because something costs more doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. We all know that an expensive guitar and amp in the wrong hands will sound like shit, yet a cheaper guitar and amp in the right hands will sound fine. I’m often asked to recommend guitars and amps to players, but skill, experience, playing style and of course personal opinion are important factors to consider when buying equipment. It would be unwise for a novice player to spend $4,000 on a new guitar, as a professional grade instrument won’t magically improve someone’s playing and technique (or tone for that matter). However, I totally understand and respect the idea that it’s also nice to be the proud owner of something of value and beauty regardless of skill level.

Other than your skill level, the first thing to consider when buying a new guitar is what the guitar will be used for. It would be pointless investing in a high output dual humbucking guitar with a whammy bar if you intended playing folk music, just as it would be a bad choice to choose a guitar with single coil pickups if you planned on playing ’shred’ techniques. Think of the style of guitar that would be best suited to your requirements then go try a few.

The guitar’s build quality and wood are very important to how the guitar will play and sound. Mahogany is my preferred wood for guitars as I like it’s fat tone and singing voice, but there are guitars made from many different kinds of woods and combinations to suit. A popular combination is mahogany with a maple top, producing a brighter tone than just all mahogany (I personally prefer guitars made from all-mahogany). Some guitars are made of Alder, others from Basswood (my least preferred), there’s also Maple, Koa, Sapele, etc.

Pickups are very important too, and should usually be replaced on cheaper guitars as they will make all the difference in tone and noise levels. There are many options to choose from; higher output pickups are better suited to hard rock/metal/punk/shred, whilst medium output pickups are good for rock/blues/pop, etc. Humbuckers produce a fatter, thicker sound and are the best choice for overdriven sounds and clean jazz tones, whilst single coil pickups give a lighter and thinner sound, and are best suited to cleaner tones and pop, blues and softer rock styles. ‘Stacked’ humbuckers are available for single coil based guitars, but I personally prefer regular humbuckers to play modern rock guitar and ’shred’ techniques, plus a humbucker can easily be coil tapped to use as a single coil anyway.

I’m also often asked why I prefer set necks or thru-necks over bolt-on necks. My reasons are that I like the smooth, even sustain and resonance from set/thru-necks and the almost heeless feel to the upper frets. I also believe the theory that fewer joints and hardware produce better tone and stability. Bolt-on necks just feel cheap to me, and I don’t like some of the heel plate neck joints found on some guitars.

Guitars cost anything between $100 to thousands, obviously, a $100 guitar will play and sound in a manner to reflect it’s price tag, and very cheap guitars are a false economy as you’ll probably want to replace and upgrade almost immediately. You should shop around and try out different guitars and brands, there are some fine instruments out there around the $500 mark, add to this the cost of a pickup upgrade (if required) and you could own a pretty good guitar for around $700. However, a realistic price range for a quality, professional grade guitar is between $1,000 - $4,000, but there are bargains to be found and some great guitars are sometimes available for less. As a rule, the more you spend, the better the guitar’s wood and appointments will be.

Amplifiers

The same principle of best isn’t necessarily the most expensive with guitars also applies to amplifiers. If you’re a bedroom guitarist, you wouldn’t really need a 100W stack. Likewise, taking a 15W combo amp to a thrash metal rehearsal would be rather silly too. Again, look at your needs and style and then choose your amp carefully.

I personally use all-tube amplifiers. I’ve never liked solid-state amps and think that amp modelling/simulation technology is still very much in it’s infancy. A real tube amp behaves and reacts in a specific way to the guitar’s dynamics, and produces a distinctive warm, smooth overdriven tone.

In the studio, I usually play all my clean guitar sounds through the mixing desk, but all my overdriven guitars are played through close mic’d tube amps. My personal amp choice is relatively simple; I use a small 30W tube combo amp for recording, and larger 100W tube heads with 4 x 12 cabinets for live work. I use the amp’s overdrive gain on full, with a distortion pedal to boost the signal if required. A compressor/sustainer pedal is placed before the distortion unit to smooth out the signal.

As with guitars, amps are available in many different price ranges, the only way to choose one is to play through several until you find one you’re happy with. Other than the obvious tone, things to look for are build quality, amount of channels (two or more are best) and reliability.

Guitar Albums

I grew up listening to all kinds of music and was influenced by all kinds of styles and players. Although I was also influenced by several composers, I’ve listed below the guitar based albums that most influenced my playing when I was young:

(In no particular order):

1. Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy (1977)
2. Al Di Meola - Splendido Hotel (1980)
3. Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco de Lucia - Friday Night in San Francisco (1980)
4. Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco de Lucia - Passion, Grace & Fire (1983)
5. Paco de Lucia -  El Duende Flamenco de Paco de Lucia (1972)
6. Django Reinhardt - The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt (1954)
7. Van Halen - Van Halen I (1978)
8. Van Halen - Van Halen II (1979)
9. Scorpions - Lovedrive (1979)
10. Scorpions - Blackout (1982)

Bug Update

The weather’s getting warmer here in the Nevada desert, so our bug guy came to the house last thursday and did his routine insecticide spraying inside and out. We haven’t had another scorpion incident since the last one, but we know that this doesn’t mean anything as last year proved…

I photographed a spider on our patio wall a few days ago, it looks like one similar to the spider I photographed a few weeks ago with a weird skinny abdomen, big body and long legs. I’m normally quite good at identifying the bugs but I don’t know what kind of spider this is. It was quite large, measuring approximately five inches in length.

Immediately after the bug guy’s spraying we usually get a sudden influx of insects, but this is normal as the bugs come out of their hiding places to move on.

The strange spider on our patio wall.

Echo Bay

The weather’s getting warmer, it’s been around 96F this week so we took Skye to Echo Bay again to feed the Koi carp. This time, we cunningly didn’t take popcorn for the fish, only bread; and Skye threw the bread pieces into the water without trying to eat them all like the last time :-)

Me (with the sun blinding me) & Skye at Echo Bay yesterday

Carrying Skye on my shoulders, one of her favorite things :-)

Funny Videos

I was sent the below funny video clips of British comedy duo Mitchell & Webb, and I thought I’d share them with you :-)