Seeing A Star

Photo by JACK PASCO

One of the highlights of the recent Unison Bends album sessions in Brighton was getting out into the city after 10-hour days in the studio and checking out the local music scene.

A night out at the Greys pub proved revelatory. Four singer/songwriters were on the bill, and each of them was excellent: interesting songs, great voices and out-of-the-ordinary instrumentation.

But one stood out so far ahead of the others that it was almost unreal. Alex KP sings her truly original material accompanied by her own immaculate guitar and the beautiful playing of her cellist. But what stunned the place into complete attentive silence was her voice, an instrument of passion that leaps from sweet to gruffly bluesy in an instant or two.

She is in the same league as John Martyn and Joni Mitchell (while not being a copy of either one). In short: she is a star.

The Full Kit

Not more drum porn... but the view that I had for three days at the most excellent Metway Studios in Brighton which is owned by the Levellers.

I had the privilege of playing drums for the new album, Liquor And Iron, by Russ Payne and Unison Bends... and working with engineer Jake Rousham, whose CV includes the likes of Nick Cave, Fatboy Slim, Roger Daltrey and Wilko Johnson.

I think we made some great music... and yes, I did have the chance to set up and play the full kit – a pleasure that is so often denied in the small venues that we tend to play.

The Brighton sessions were memorable in many ways and I'll write more about this soon...

Porn Again

We've all done it. Drummers, that is. All looked longingly at those beautiful kits – often the ones that we can't quite afford and that we wouldn't have room to store anyway.

I already have the perfect kit for me: a DW Collector's Series in pure white (well, almost, give or take a few scrapes and scratches from gigging).

So why – when Wembley Music Centre emails me with pictures of all the latest DW kits to arrive at its London store – do I sit and start salivating over them? This is drum pornography, of course. We just like looking at pictures of these wonderful objects, even though we can't have them, and, in truth, we don't need them.

But if you're interested in percussion pornography, check out DW drum kits at the Wembley Music Centre. And if you actually want to own one of these great kits, hand-made in California, you'd better get on it. Prices for British buyers can only go up, thanks to all those good folk who voted for Brexit.

Meanwhile, Back At The Shack

I've realised that I'm often singing the praises of various rehearsal studios dotted about the UK but I haven't perhaps said enough to record my appreciation of the one nearest to me, in south London: Drumshack.

I have used Drumshack's rehearsal room more times than I can calculate, and it has been invaluable in keeping me playing and getting me ready for gigs and recordings.

Up until recently, it has to be said, it was in a dingy and slightly damp basement – but with an excellent full practice kit, including cymbals, sticks and even a double kick pedal.

Now, with the opening of a new additional shop over the road from its headquarters, Drumshack has a non-dingy, non-damp, non-basement practice room – and, still at £7 an hour, it's fantastic value.

Oh, and the Drumshack staff really do know their stuff when it comes to talking about gear – as they are all drummers. What else do you want?

Found In Translation

How do you find the words to encompass what it's like to be playing in a band? The mixture of continual hard work, hours of travel, dodgy accommodation and occasional moments of joy?

Difficult. But what must be a bit of automatic translation from French to English on the website of jazz guitarist Nitcho Reinhardt (yes, relation) seems to have done it perfectly. So, I hope Nitcho doesn't mind my reproducing it here...

"Our domain, it is the music necessarily, the repetitions (rehearsals), the recordings, the concerts, the musical oxen, the jazz... But also, the compositions, the improvisation, the smiles, the grimaces, the kilometers by car, the plane (Yes we put ourselves in it), the train, the luxurious hotels, the room (chamber) with a single bed for three, the accommodations (hostings) at the inhabitant, or sometimes in the car, the meals shared with the organizers, between artists, sanswichs if we have the good ticket, the autographs, the photographers, the bulbs at the end of fingers, fans, the admirers and the admirers, people who say that it is too strong, the applauses, the festivals... In brief, musician's life, rich in meetings and in exchanges! The life which! Then, wherever you are, whoever you are, if you share these values and what our music affects (touches) your heart, speak about us around you!"

Says it all...

Give Us A Break

The old joke about a drummer being someone who hangs around with musicians is not really that funny. And you'd think it would have been made obsolete by now, as a result of the remarkable musicianship of so many drummers in all fields of music.

But BBC online has just featured a report with the byline of business reporter Ed Butler that starts off: "The British musician and drummer Sudha Kheterpal..."

Is he insulting drummers deliberately? Or is he subconsciously or totally unknowingly simply revealing ignorance and prejudice?

For the record Sudha Kheterpal (who has played with Faithless, the Spice Girls and Kylie Minogue) has created a percussive device that also creates energy. Goodness! A successful drummer... and she has a brain! Whatever next?

Stiwdio Time

I've been away... I'm back...

There are not many real constants in life... but one seems to be the availability of a small room containing a large drumkit.

Taking a break in North Wales for a couple of weeks and with the prospect of a gig in Bristol at the end of the fortnight, I needed to practise. But where? I was on the island of Anglesey. Not exactly remote, but not exactly the centre of the musical universe either.

I need not have worried. Stiwdio was at hand (well, just over the water, in a village near Bangor).

I booked in and after quite a few three-point turns finally found my way into the back streets of Rachub and a little recording and rehearsal studio completely hidden away beneath an equally little house.

Three hours' playing made me a lot better equipped to play a gig two days' later... and, even on a near-perfect holiday, it also gave me, as always, some time and some freedom.

Thanks, Stiwdio.