Year: 2006

Posted on

Travelling musicians…

The current clamp-down on carry-on rules for planes is already bollocksing things up for lots of musicians such as these orchestral musicians, destined for the Edinburgh Festival and the Proms.

What a load of balls – are these laws making us safer, or just there to let us know how serious the threat is and make us oh-so-grateful to our loser government for protecting us from a possible attack.

Andrew Collins, whose blog is one of my current faves, highlights the vagueness of the current ‘news’ in this brilliant blog post. Have a read. Let’s see if anyone ends up in court.

And this post by Bruce Schneier highlights the utter uselessness of basing security measures on what the ‘terrorists’ have already planned. Here’s a couple of choice quotes –

None of the airplane security measures implemented because of 9/11 — no-fly lists, secondary screening, prohibitions against pocket knives and corkscrews — had anything to do with last week’s arrests. And they wouldn’t have prevented the planned attacks, had the terrorists not been arrested. A national ID card wouldn’t have made a difference, either.

and

Banning box cutters since 9/11, or taking off our shoes since Richard Reid, has not made us any safer. And a long-term prohibition against liquid carry-ons won’t make us safer, either. It’s not just that there are ways around the rules, it’s that focusing on tactics is a losing proposition.

It’s easy to defend against what the terrorists planned last time, but it’s shortsighted. If we spend billions fielding liquid-analysis machines in airports and the terrorists use solid explosives, we’ve wasted our money. If they target shopping malls, we’ve wasted our money. Focusing on tactics simply forces the terrorists to make a minor modification in their plans. There are too many targets — stadiums, schools, theaters, churches, the long line of densely packed people before airport security — and too many ways to kill people.

Security measures that require us to guess correctly don’t work, because invariably we will guess wrong. It’s not security, it’s security theater: measures designed to make us feel safer but not actually safer.

And meanwhile, thousands of travellers the world over are having their livelihoods screwed up by the legislation. I’m all for getting people to stop taking short-haul flights, but not just by fucking up their travel plans. That’s hardly an integrated transport policy!

But, it looks likely that I’ll be getting the train to Italy in October – with this inter-rail ticket it looks like I’ll be able to get a 22 day ticket for £295, which’ll get me all over France, Italy, Belgium and Holland, so I’ll need to get a ticket from London to Paris, and a ticket from Holland to Viersen just over the border in Germany (if I end up playing at the European Bass Day in Germany). Which will work out OK, financially, be better for the enviroment, give me plenty of time for reading books, transcribing tunes and relaxing, and will mean I can take two basses with me, without the fear that some loser at an airport is going to try to see if my basses bounce…

Posted on

'greatest bassists'??

Bass Guitar Magazine this month have a poll on the top 20 greatest players of all time. I was emailed to provide a list a while ago, and this is what a wrote – obviously they didn’t print it, as it was a) too long for a box-out and b) undermined the whole idea of such lists. But anyway, here were my thoughts…

Dear BGM,

here’s some thoughts – I haven’t been able to stick to your formula, cos I just can’t put players in an order like that – just doesn’t work with the way I see music at all. However, I thoughted I’d write a bit about a few people whose music has really moved me…

“While I couldn’t possibly put my favourite bassists in any kind of order, I’d definitely like to flag up a few whose music means a lot to me. Firstly, Michael Manring – not only is he the player than in my opinion has taken the physical playing of the instrument further than anyone else I know of, he’s a composer of some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard on any instrument. The bassness of it is irrelevant to the impact the music has, but hearing music that great just on bass is inspiring and makes me proud to play the same instrument. Tony Levin is another composer who writes great music with bass as his main writing tool. Whether playing in King Crimson, writing music for his own band, or doing sessions with myriad singer/songwriters around the world, his playing is always just right for the setting. Another big favourite of mine is Bernard Edwards – someone once referred to Chic as ‘The Beatles Of Disco’, but I think Bernard was more like the James Jamerson of disco – every note of every line I’ve ever heard by him is perfect. The timing, the sound, the feel and the note choice, absolutely spot on every time. At the opposite end of the musical spectrum, Mike Watt, formerly of punk legends The Minutemen and now with Iggy and The Stooges, is an outstanding bassist – adventurous, exciting, progressive playing, with a killer tone and more passion than a Jackie Collins novel. His three solo albums are all vital listening. And finally, Matthew Garrison – he already had a stellar jazz sideman career underway when he brought out his first solo album, but has proved to be just as good a composer, arranger and bandleader as he is a hired gun. Putting his incredible technical command of the instrument to the service of great compositions, both his solo studio albums thus far are chock full of some of the most marvellous bass playing I’ve heard in years.”

Posted on

Comments off…

I’ve just switched the comments off, for a few days – the comment spam has just gone mad of late, from one particular source, so I’ve switched it off in the hope that the spambot will stop coming here… no idea if that’s how they work, but I’ll switch it back on in a few days and see what happens…. Failing that, I’ll have a chat with Sarda about preventing comment spam…

Posted on

Album review…

The new issue of Bass Guitar Magazine has a nice review of ‘Behind Every Word’ in it, written by Stuart Clayton. Here it is, reprinted for your pleasure –

“Behind Every Word is the fourth studio outing for acclaimed solo bassist Steve Lawson. With the intention of combing [I think that’s meant to be combining – steve] the ambient soundscapes of his previous efforts with a more structurally composed approach, Lawson had created a solo bass album that sounds… nothing like a solo bass album. The opening trafck, ‘Blue Planet’ offers up a silky smooth fretless groove which Steve punctuates with ghost notes in order to provide a rhythmic accompaniment. This line is them looped and becomes the foundation for the entire piece. Over it Steve adds piano like chordal parts, and a lilting ‘guitar’ solo. The diversity of sounds that Lawson coaxes from his bass and armory of gadgets is truly impressive here and indeed throughout the album. In fact, almost two minutes of ‘Jimmy James’ go by before anything that is recognizable as a bass guitar surfaces through the ambient, swelling sounds! Lawson has invited two guest musicians to join him on this record. Pedal steel guitar legend BJ COle guests on the track ‘Scott Peck’, his slide guitar playing being the perfect understated accompaniment to Steve’s chordal bass work. Julie McKee’s vocals add variety to the ‘One Step’, which in all honesty, at almost fifteen minutes in length is slightly over indulgent. Behind Every Word is unlike any solo bass album you will have heard before and is all the more fascinating because of it. I quickly forgot that it was a solo bass record and found myself enjoying it in the same way that I would enjoy a ‘chill-out’ album. It is in this way that Lawson has succeeded where many have failed – to make a solo bass record where the music truly comes first. Check it out – but keep your mind open.”

There you go – that’s rather nice. Clearly, I don’t think ‘One Step’ is over-indugent. I’m not even sure there is such a thing as ‘over-indulgence’, just good or bad music (and that was the shortest of the three takes that we did of the track! :o), but it’s nice to read. Thanks, Stuart!

Posted on

Home again…

Back home in North London now. It’s a quieter Giz-less place, and it’s now a bit more real that the little furry chap has gone. V. sad. The other fairly aged feline (tabby model) is very clingy at the moment, which is nice from a lots-of-cuddles point of view, but possibly suggests that he’s missing his ginger buddy…

The last gig on Saturday was great – our biggest audience, and a wonderful reaction from the crowd. I managed to dish out almost every flyer and poster we had (despite being handed a ‘hidden’ stack of flyers at 10pm!) and we played well, again. We didn’t really have an off-night, musically – Thursday was the least marvellous as I think we were both pretty tired by then but even then we played well.

So now I’m back, nursing my knackered knee, having had a mostly fantastic time at the Fringe, met some lovely people, caught up with lovely old friends, played some great fun cabaret shows, seen a few marvellous shows, flyered and postered like a mad thing, and done as much as I could to make the whole thing a success. Which it was. It could’ve been bigger, but with TSP coming back half-way through the week, and julie and her hubby for some reason not really believing in the usefulness of flyering, it was a tough one too. that many days pounding the streets of edinburgh, followed by setting up all the gear, packing down the gear, playing the late night shows was exhausting. But the music was fantastic – it’s a set I’m very proud of, and Julie’s got an amazing voice and sang the songs so well.

In some ways I wish I was still up there – I’ve never been to the Fringe just as a punter, and it’s clearly the single coolest place in the world to go for a holiday, except Greenbelt. I’d love to stay and hang out for a few days, but no time for that – bassists need to be taught, Recycle gigs need to be organised and promoted, Greenbelt needs to be prepared for, and my Italy trip in October needs sorting out… now more than ever, it’s looking like I’ll probably take the train, given that you can’t even take books on the plane (supposedly because you might decide to bored the passengers to death with a reading from Midnight’s Children?)

I’ve also got to sort out some more solo gigs! I’ve had a new album come out, done a launch gig, but don’t have anything as yet planned for the UK – all this New Standard stuff has taken over, and I think it would be prudent for me to work on some more me-gigs for a while!

If you’ve just found this after coming to see us at the Fringe – thanks so much for coming, it was a real pleasure to play for you, and to meet some many lovely people in the audience. I’ll be back there next year for sure. Feel free to join the mailing list to keep up to date with goings on through the year… xx

Posted on

Fringe Friday.

Second last day, time to ratchet up the promo.

Miles walked – 174
Flyers handed out – 234,000, approx.
posters stuck up – 7,001
legs no longer functioning – 2 (rounded down to nearest whole number of legs).

Meeting lots of people around who had seen us play, either had come to the gig or seen us on one of the cabaret shows, which is nice – it’s always the case that if you do a one week show, you’re just picking up momentum when you leave. Next year, I’m doing three weeks, for sure.

So most of the day spent flyering. Went to meet the most lovely J for dinner, and bumped into Howard Jones’ marvellous guitarist Robin Boult on the way – Robin’s a fantastic musician and really lovely bloke, so I was delighted to get the chance to catch up and have a chat.

Dinner with J was equally delightful. She and Rev. G are two of my favouritest peoples, and part of what makes coming up to Scotland such fun. Everyone’s favourite sweary priest was off running a kids camp, no doubt teaching small children the art of ecclesiastical swearing, and TSP was back in London. So J and I headed to Henderson’s for much needed veggie marvellousness and chat.

From there, I hobbled on my by-now-completely-rubbish legs up to the famousSpiegeltent (famous?? Is that an official designation? Could I just start randomly referring to myself as ‘the famous steve lawson’? hmmm) to see Mich En Scene – a Belgian duo of accordianist/pianist Frederik Caelen, and singer Micheline Van Hautem. The show was the songs of Edith Piaf, Sarah Vaughn, Peggy Lee, Bjork, a few others and some originals, and was chock full of theatrical energy, humour and a strong sexual intrigue (which seems to be the defining characteristic of most cabaret, no? What made this ‘cabaret’ and not just ‘a gig?’ – methinks that sexy theatricality is the key…) – most of cabaret stuff I’ve seen here, and before, really didn’t do it for me. It seems like cabaret is where musicians go who can’t play well enough and comedians go who can’t tell good enough jokes to just do stand up. There are exceptions (The Midnight Carousel compere Dusty Limits has a big voice and did a gorgeous arrangement of Love For Sale, though the piano part was more conventional cabaret than it would have been in an ‘art’ gig.) But Mich En Scene were amazing. Definitely highly recommended.

it’s great, I haven’t seen a less than fab show this year – from Stephen Daltry before our run even started (who just got a fabulous review in Three Weeks, that really described his show to a t – go and see it!) through to Mich and Freddie, via Sue Perkins, The Allotment and Amy Lame. All great stuff.

If you’re around tonight, it’s big finale time – come to the show, bring your friends, and we’ll party like it’s 1985. :o)

thenewstandard.co.uk

Posted on

What happened?

Some something big involving planes has gone down while I’ve been flyering and offering two for one deals to French tourists and student theatre companies? How bizarre to be this isolated from the news – I know absolutely NOTHING of what’s happening, save for an overheard conversation yesterday. 10 planes? foiled terrorist attack?

Yeah, that’s all well and good, but you should check our version of ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ – that’s real news…

Posted on

Thursday at The Fringe.

Thursday began in fine style – we were booked to play at ‘Mervyn Stutter’s Pick Of the Fringe’ – a fantastic show that highlights the best of what’s on across the city. Julie had emailed them, and their lovely booking lady Trudy had come to the show on Tuesday and booked us.

That went superbly well – great reception from the audience, lots of promises that people would come along. Yay!

After that, it was flyering time. Lots of it. I think I gave out more flyers than on any day since Saturday. A busy time, for sure.

In the morning, I’d dropped into a junk shop on Dalry Road, where I’d seen a Mama Cass album for £2 in the window, and given that Amy Lame’s show that TSP and I saw last weekend was called ‘Amy Lame’s Mama Cass Family Singers’, I bought it and dropped it off to Amy after her show, who was delighted.

My dodgy knee was feeling pretty bad by about 7 o’clock so I went and bought a ticket for Sue Perkins stand up show – I’m a HUGE fan of Sue, whether solo or in the double act with Mel; their Saturday morning show on Radio London rivals Danny Baker for the greatest radio I’ve ever heard. She’s clearly supremely intelligent and a great observer of the world, and the show was indeed both very funny and acutely observed. She finished on a really poignant note about her grandmother – great way to end a comedy show. Definitely worth going to see.

I nearly missed the gig, as I thought she was on at the Pleasance Dome but was on at the Pleasance Courtyard – not an easy journey to make in 6 minutes on a buggered knee. Ow.

After that, it was back to flyering for a while, then down to the venue for soundcheck and gig.

Another lovely night – similar numbers to last night, so pretty good, but really need a couple of big nights tonight and tomorrow to make some sensible money on this trip.

The Lot is SUCH a great venue – for those of you in and around Edinburgh, you really ought to get on their mailing list, as they book some really top class jazz stuff (I’ve mentioned before that Theo has played there with his quartet) – it’s really lovely, and the food in the restaurant downstairs is top notch. I’m really hoping to come back to the same place next year. Great space, great people, and it’s run as a charity funding venture. What could be better?

After our show, Julie and I were back doing the Midnight Carousel in C Central, compered by Dusty Limits – again, we went down a storm, got an encore, and gave out lots of flyers to many promises that people will come along… Edinburgh promises – not worth the flyers they’re printed on, but we can but hope. :o)

So Today is a usual Edinburgh day – shitloads of flyering and postering during the day, dinner with the lovely J (lovely G is away, sadly, and TSP back in London, so it’s just lovely J and I meeting for clandestine munchies in Henderson’s). Then going to see a beautiful show in The Speigeltent – a Belgian voice and accordian duo, that I’ve completely forgotten the name of, but who are just fabulous, and played at Mervyn Stutter too. Then the show.

Two night’s left – come and see us!

thenewstandard.co.uk

Posted on

That's More Like It!

Right, that was a much better audience size. Back on track now.

After a day spent flyering, postering and eating interesting food in funky cafes, a fine gig. Not only that, but we got an encore. Much fun.

We changed tack today – decided to offer some 2 for 1 offers to entice in a bigger crowd. Lots of very eager sounding people on the royal mile, and out and about. Also lots of people recognising me from all over the place – MySpace, Bass Day UK, The Radio (they didn’t recognise me by seeing me from the radio – that would just be silly – but when they saw my name, then said ‘aha! I heard you on Late Junction last week’). All over the place.

Likewise, a straw poll of those at the gig showed they came from all different paths – flyers, posters, friends’ recommendations, me sneakily recommending the gig to people who’ve come into the venue for information about something completely different, people reading the Fringe programme…

Both of which show that you can’t do either/or with promotion of any kind. We’re all looking for the short cut, the one thing that will expand our audience, give us fame fortune and a full house every night. But it doesn’t exist. It’s all cumulative. People who’ve seen your name in the programme might only think to come to the show if they then get given a flyer. People who’ve heard you on the radio might only visit your website after they see you at the fringe. People who’ve checked out your myspace page might be more inclined to buy a CD once they’ve seen you in person.

Talking of seeing people in person, I bumped into my old boss today – Howard Jones. You may or may not know that I toured playing bass for Howard in 1999. It was a fantastic experience, playing really great songs with a really lovely band. He was a real treat to work with. I haven’t seen him in years, but he’s up here doing a show, that sadly clashes with mine so I won’t get to see it, but he’s great live, and I’d have loved to have got along. Still, ’twas a delight to catch up with him, and I’ll have to get to one of the gigs on his Autumn tour.

Tomorrow’s a busy day – we’re doing Mervyn Stutter’s Pick Of The Fringe at lunch time, then our gig at night, and then The Midnight Carousel again at 1am… In between, much flyering, postering cajoling and coercing of lovely people to come and check out the show.

thenewstandard.co.uk

© 2008 Steve Lawson and developed by Pretentia. | login

Top