The silence of a late night songwriter

A chord sequence, lodged in my mind. Words scattered across envelopes, A4 sheets, brown paper bags and in the pages of a Moleskine or two... 

It will come, it will save me... it must come, otherwise.

"From the grip of despair, to a state of grace, freewheeling from Meads to South Street... from Terminus Road to Cavendish Place... I'm running away from my mind"

6 Strings - Gretsch 6120EC

The Gretsch Eddie Cochran G6120 EC is a thing of rare beauty that plays as well as it looks. Whilst, as I"ve said before, I'm not Rockin', this guitar is too good to ignore.

Gretsch honours the legacy of rock 'n roll/rockabilly pioneer Eddie Cochran with this signature hollow body model, based on the distinctively modified guitar that ignited Cochran's highly influential and all too brief career.

Check out the rather excellent Darrel Higham talking in a far more knowledgeable way, than I could ever do, about this excellent guitar!

Day in the life of... (September 2020)

Onyx 

-- White crows arrive,

as the fret moves out.

The garden is yet to fall

to the clutch of the sea.

Grass stoached though.

An olympic white Fender

leans against the bookshelf.

Mustang ---

The notebooks red, filled

with black ink spider 

scrawl and sprawl. A long

black hair trapped

in the stapled pages. 

---- Tanned yet white,

long fingers stretch.

The songwriter looked down.

"Never can recall exactly

when this Onyx ring

came into our lives...

It changed everything"

Tea is ready, the fire is lit

and the whisky is 

just an hour away...

Stoach - To trample grass to mud (Sussex dialect).

The Butterfly House

An interview with...

Strings of Desire - #10

The Billy Childish Cadillac

It was whilst I was writing a blog post a couple or so years ago for 'The things that I miss etc...' that I pondered the availability of the most amazing guitar I'd ever seen. I've been a fan of the works of Billy Childish and his vast plethora of bands for a many a year and I became aware (specifically around the time of The Buff Medways) of an amazing red guitar that Billy would attack with unadulterated abandon. It looked like a cross between the sort of guitar that Bo Diddley championed and a 1950's futuristic space car. 

I had previously assumed that it was an old discontinued vintage number and I didn't even bother to really start looking. However, after a particularly wild night blasting out The Buffs on my Dansette, I decided to at least find out the name of it. 

It was of course - The Billy Childish Cadillac.

It transpired that whilst it was modelled on a couple of old guitars that apparently the body shape is loosely inspired by a photo on the back of a Bo Diddley album, the headstock shape came from an old Vox guitar Billy had lying around at the time. The body is covered in red leatherette with a white piping side trim. The effect is stunning. When combined with its lightweight, thin solid body the growling P-90's sound complimented by fantastic tremolo - it is truly a great guitar to play and to look at. 

Who makes such a fantastic instrument? Well, Fabian of Fab Guitars makes them, just across the channel in Oostende Belgium. A lovely guy, who makes beautiful guitars that sound as good as they look. Check them out here Fab Guitars - By the way, Fabian is only making 13 Cadillacs and a fair few of them have gone already...

Strings of Desire - #9

GIBSON ES-175 (ES75)

A big old jazz semi, the Gibson ES-175 (ES75) is such a beautiful looking guitar that some of the crimes against music committed on it can only be forgiven.

Originally aimed squarely at the decidedly hip jazz noodlers, it was co-opted by the more progressive end of the musical spectrum and forced into service to augment tales of druids, dragons and oceanic space mysteries late 60's early 70's.

However, those crimes have fallen under the statute of limitations and we can now all luxuriate in it's beauty and thrilling tone. Just check out 'High Land, Hard Rain' to hear Roddy Frame reclaim the 175 for us all!

About the Young Idea

I was delighted to be back, albeit briefly, in London and even more delighted to be able to pop into Somerset House to see the 'About the young idea exhibition' which chartered the rise, fall, rise and ultimate end of The Jam.

From the first glimpse of the stage set (Bingley Hall) to the dazzling array of Rickenbackers, posters, stage clothes etc I was transported back to the days that three blokes from Woking defined a way, a look, an attitude for a generation.

Life is timeless, days are long when you're young. Used to fall in love with everyone, any guitar and any bass drum...

Strings of desire - #7

Wilko Johnson's Fender Telecaster

Decked out in the colours of Anarchy, Wilko's famous Black & Red ("so the men won't see the blood") Telecaster is one of the most iconic guitars in British musical history. The Tele allied to Wilko's unique stab attack attack attack style is responsible for one of the most vibrant and urgent sounds ever committed to vinyl. So, it is fantastic to hear that Fender are looking to issue Wilko signature version in the near future.

Here's hoping that Fender can get it into production sooner rather later for rather sad but obvious reasons.

A fitting tribute to the King of Canvey and a true RnB guitar legend! 

Poll Results - Best British Guitarist

1 = Bert Jansch
1 = Davy Graham
1 = Johnny Marr
1 = Graham Coxon
1 = Pete Townsend
1 = John Martyn
1 = Nick Drake

Strings of Desire - #6

The six strings that drew blood - Rowland S. Howard's Jaguar.

Guitar thug blew into town
His eyes like wheels spinnin' round
Jerkin-off at every sound
Layin' all his crosses down
O yeah
He got Six Strings
The Six Strings that drew blood
The bar is full of Holy-Joes
A Holy-hole-a-whole-aria
Around the neck of our consumptive rose
Is the root of all his sorrows
O yeah
He got Six Strings
Six Strings that drew blood
A Holy-hole-a-whole-aria
Six Strings that drew blood
In the bathroom under cover
He turns on one tap to discover
He's smashed his teeth out on the other
Well he look in the mirror and say
Don't fuck me brother
Cause I got Six Strings
Six Strings that drew blood
Numbin' the runt of reputation they call rat fame
Top-E as a tourniquet
A low tune whistles across his grave
Forever the master and the slave of his Six Strings
A Holy-hole-a-whole-aria
Six Strings that drew blood.

(c) Nick Cave/The Birthday Party

Strings of Desire - #5

George Harrison 12 String Rickenbacker 360/v12

Quite simply one of the most stylish of guitars ever. Brought to notice by 'The Quiet One' (GH not I.D.S.) the 360 was at the forefront of the west coast sound epitomised by The Byrds. It's chiming jingly-jangly sound made it one of the most loved and sort after guitars of that (and indeed every) decade, since.
Cue song...

It's been a hard day's night,
and I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night,
I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you
I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright...

Strings of Desire - #4

Guild M-20 Acoustic

Good enough for Nick Drake, good enough for us all!

Don’t you have a word
to show what may be done
Have you never heard
a way to find the sun
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Won’t you come and say
If you know the way to blue

Have you seen the land living by the breeze
Can you understand a light among the trees
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Tell us all today
If you know the way to blue?

Look through time and find your rhyme
Tell us what you find
We will wait
At your gate
Hoping like the blind

Can you now recall all that you have known
Will you never fall
When the light has flown
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Won’t you come and say
If you know the way to blue?

Bert Jansch (1943-2011) RIP

It is with great sadness that I heard today of the passing of Bert Jansch, a leading figure in the British folk revival of the 60s and one of the most respected musicians of his generation, he died of cancer aged 67.

Bert was a founding member of Pentangle, he also renowned as a guitar virtuoso and was sometimes hailed as a British Bob Dylan.

Neil Young said: "With deep regret Pegi and I acknowledge the passing of Bert Jansch. Pegi and I were lucky to play with him on all of our shows for the last couple of years. He is a hero of mine, one of my greatest influences. Bert was one of the all-time great acoustic guitarists and singer songwriters. Our sincerest sympathies to his soul mate Loren. We love you Bert."

Born in Glasgow on 3 November 1943, Jansch released 23 solo albums, the last of which, The Black Swan (2006), featured collaborations with Beth Orton and Devendra Banhart.

He was the recipient of two lifetime achievement prizes at the BBC Folk awards – one for his solo achievements in 2001 and the other, in 2007, as a member of Pentangle. The band reformed in 2008.

In June 2009, he discovered he had a golf ball-size tumour on one of his lungs following what was at first a routine visit to the dentist. Following treatment, he went on to co-headline a US tour with Young. Jansch had recently been forced to cancel a live show in Edinburgh due to ill health and was living in a hospice in north London at the time of his death.

Those he influenced included Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Graham Coxon, Donovan, Bernard Butler and Paul Simon. According to fellow guitarist Johnny Marr: "He completely reinvented guitar playing and set a standard that is still unequalled today … without Bert Jansch, rock music as it developed in the 60s and 70s would have been very different."

Jansch told The Guardian last year: "I'm not one for showing off. But I guess my guitar-playing sticks out."

He was a true virtuoso, a major influence on my more recent musical tastes and will be greatly missed.

Strings of Desire - #3

Johnny Marr's White on white Fender Jaguar

I could have chosen almost any one of Johnny Marr's guitars from his first album Rickenbacker, his 'The Queen is Dead' green Telecaster or his 'How Soon is Now' Epiphone Casino. However, in the end I couldn't resist his current axe du jour, the fantastic white on white Jaguar that he used as his main guitar with The Cribs.

Having been fortunate enough to see him in action up close with the Jarman boys on their last tour of 'Straya. I was blown away by the tone, feel and of course style of the Jaguar. Fender are due to produce a Johnny Marr signature Jag in January 2012, which if their attention to detail matches Johnny's will be an absolute must for any self respecting guitar stylist!

Strings of Desire - #2

Rickenbacker 330

Despite not being able to play it when I bought it, this is the first proper guitar I ever owned. The classic Rickenbacker 330, made famous by Messrs Weller, Marr, Townsend et al.

If you want a trebly jangly feedback enducing experience, then look no further. especially when twinned with the VOX AC30.

Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you the perfect Zap! Wham! Kerpow! Mod guitar!!!

1,2,3,4...

Strings of Desire - #1

The Graham Coxon Fender Telecaster

Exhilerating, innovative and very talented. Graham Coxon is one of the best guitarists to come out of Britain.

His solo work and Blur back catalogue are testimony to his ear for a vibrant mix of melody and discord. The majority of his finest work has been written on a Fender Telecaster. And for that reason alone...


...I want one!

Music Shop Hell

Enter a music shop these days and the first thing that will happen is this… After a respectful period of time to acclimatise to the well lit environs and pleasant low volume clatter, tinkle & hum of assorted instruments being respectfully put through their paces, you’ll be greeted by a helpful shop assistant asking if you were ok or if they can give you any advice. Which leads one to immediately raise the not unrealistic question in one’s own mind; what sort of tomfoolery, skulduggery and out and out weird buggery is this?

I don’t expect my general health or well-being to be in anyway an item of concern for the patch bearded, heavily tatted beanpole sales ‘consultant’. Nor am I in anyway expecting any sort of advice from him on anything. Have I stumbled into MacDonalds for music? Is this the KFC of Rock?

When I go into a music store I expect the following five things to be present without fail.

1 – A deafening wall of sound to be emanating from the back of the shop, where the three shop assistants are storming through a set of quite ludicrously precise King Crimson covers.

2 – A small but uncompromisingly menacing coterie of girl friends and leather clad proto Hells Angels are listening with one ear whilst rolling up the largest doobie to have been constructed since Jimi rolled a whopper at Monterey (Please insert your own ‘maan!’ exclamation at this point).

3 – The overpowering stench of stale cigarettes, Lynx (for gits) and burnt rizlas mingling with the smell of damp carpet and overflowing toilet.

4 – A wall covered with flying V’s and Gibson Les Pauls, another wall packed with studded straps and skull ‘n cross bone motif gig bags and one wall with a broken glass cabinet propped in front of it featuring a till, an entry level Kays Kiddiecaster (sans strings/neck/pickups) lying underneath a sheaf of unpaid invoices and an ashtray made out of the remains of a melted wah-wah pedal.

5 – A small stand featuring sheet music, balsa wood acoustic guitars recorders & melodicas.

Nothing else!

I don’t expect help, information, a wide array of mint condition Rickenbackers, Gretschs & Fender Jaguars to choose from! I expect to be ignored, sneered at, ripped off and dismissed. So, I am starting a ‘campaign for the return to arsey music/persecution shops with obligatory longhaired stroppy muso shop assistants who belittle you at every turn!

CRAMPS begin here!