Best Thing About 2011...

The best thing about 2011 happened on, what was possibly the sunniest day of the year, June 4th... Helen and I got married at the very picturesque Lantallack in Cornwall.

We had a Civil Ceremony, a Celtic Blessing/Handfasting, good food, excellent music and great company. A fantastic day was had by us and all who attended.

Here's a few pics...

Xmas Vinyl

Lots of lovely Xmas vinyl this year.

First up, my parents-in-law gave me the most excellent Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow on 45rpm 180g heavy weight double vinyl.

My sister and bro-in-law gave me Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever, which even has a song about Zombie's on it Zombie Zoo.

My lovely wife, gave me an absolute classic album ... Mudhoney's Superfuzzbigmuff.  For those of you not in the know a Big Muff Pi ...is actually a guitar fuzz pedal made by Electro-Harmonix, here's the two from my pedal collection (Left: USA 1980 version, Right: Green Russian version)...

Even more mugs :)

Even more mugs :)

Lena Smith Band Xmas

Last night we had our first official Lena Smith Band Christmas. There was roast, alcohol, festivities, crackers, Christmas pud and great company. I even got to set the pud on fire! Horray for Christmas pyromania :)

First gig with the Lena Smith Band

This weekend we had our first gig with the Lena Smith Band at the James Street Vaults in Plymouth. It was great to see so many came out to support us.

The line-up up was:
Lena Smith - Vocals, Stage Piano
Trina McDougall - Vocals
Chloe Steer - Vocals
Stu Welsh - Guitar
Marcin Dubiel - Bass
Nathan Bawden - Drums

We were supported by Josie Boucharde who played a brilliant solo set.

The sound was done by Chris Moore and Sam Brian.

Here's the pics...

Glastonbury Tor

“The practice of art isn't to make a living.
It's to make your soul grow.” - Kurt Vonnegut

Mini Marchin' Drum

Bought this cool mini marching drum in Totnes today on an unusually sunny day for the 1st October.

Tree of Life

This is a painting I've been working on since we went to Glastonbury. I finished it today. It's been a good catharsis with all that's happened recently.

More Mugs

More music mugs :)

Music Mugs

The rapidly growing collection of Music Mugs...

Westcountry Record Fair

Just got back from the second Westcountry Record Fair [westcountryrecordfair.com] of 2011.

Hosted in the Lower Guildhall in Plymouth it's bargains galore on all sorts of genre but mostly 60's, 70's Rock, some Metal and loads of Blues and Jazz. There's even a stall of brand new releases on vinyl, although those can be pricey.

The sellers were a bit more sparse today, but all the regulars were there and we still managed to grab a some more bargains.

My haul: Cream - Disraeli Gears, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd - Relics,
Eric Clapton - Layla and The Byrds - Mr.Tambourine Man.

Helen's haul: Band on the Run, Supertramp - Indelibly Stamped, Clockwork Orange OST,
Kate Bush - The Whole Story, Kate Bush - Hounds of Love, Mama Cass - Mama's Big Ones,
Mamas and Papas - 20 Golden Hits, Simple Minds - Life In a Day
and The Best Of Rainbow

Charity Shop Finds

Couple of recent charity shop finds. The Specials and Adam & The Ants, Antmusic EP. Now I've got 'A Message to you Rudy' stuck in my head!

The Theory of Sound

Another vintage sound theory book for my collection. This one is from 1877! This paperback edition is a re-print from 1945.

Dead Weather - Hang You From The Heavens

Still adding to the Third Man Records collections. My copy of the Dead Weather's "Hang You From The Heavens" came last week.

Third Man Records

Today's purchase was The White Stripes 'Conquest', this is one record in a three vinyl set.

After the record arrived, I headed over to the Third Man Records [thirdmanrecords.com] web site to check out the other releases and was struck by the labels building/shop and their mission statement. The mission statement struck a chord with me because it's exactly the sort of thing I am aiming for with the combination of my studio, Beliefspace [beliefspacestudio.co.uk] and my label, Fiercely Independent Records [fiercelyindie.co.uk].


Third Man's Mission Statement:

"Third Man Records was originally founded by Jack White in Detroit in 2001. In March of 2009, a physical location was established in Nashville, TN. Third Man Records in it’s current state serves as record store, record label, live venue, and one stop production house with a rehearsal and photo studio, darkroom, and production office and distribution center. All of our records are produced by Jack White in his own Third Man Studio, then printed and pressed right here in Nashville. With our unique set-up we can have an artist recorded and photographed in one day and have records for sale in our store within weeks. In this way we are bringing a spontaneous and immediate aesthetic back into the record business."

More Vinyl

Last week I sold a piece of audio gear with the intention of purchasing a new piece of gear. Details on the Beliefspace Studio blog [beliefspacestudio.blogspot.com]. After I had made my sale and subsequent purchase I had a bit of capital left over which I used to buy some more vinyl.

I'm probably in a minority here but I've always been a big fan of Brendan Benson's song writing and Jack White's production, especially the way he uses a combination of modern effects and vintage recording equipment to forge a particular sound and my Raconteurs and White Stripes purchases don't disappoint in that respect.

Record Store Day

Today was Record Store Day [recordstoreday.co.uk] in the USA and the UK. This week I ordered a few 7" singles to celebrate the day and two arrived this morning Elbow 'Neat Little Rows' and Jane's Addiction 'Mountain Song'.

Also, one of our friends found a picture disc of The Beatles 'Sgt. Peppers' in their office which they brought over for me to test and grade for sale. It's a good copy, I think I'll be buying this one myself.

New Vinyl: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

My copy of the Foo Fighters new album 'Wasting Light' arrived this morning courtesy of HMV (I cancelled my previous Amazon pre-order as they were being total asses about their inability to fulfil pre-orders).

Beautifully presented on heavy weight vinyl. I put it on the record player and my initial reaction, was "Okay. This sounds a bit weird." Then Grohl's voice kicked in very slow and low and I quickly realised I was playing a 45rpm record at 33rpm! Which explains why it's presented on 2 discs. I'm guessing this is obtain a higher quality than 33rpm.

After changing the belt on my Project turnatble to the 45rpm setting, the album sounded more familiar (I've been having a sneek preview on the Foo's Soundcloud [soundcloud.com/foofighters] this week).


Produced by Butch Vig, Recorded in Grohl's garage on 2" analogue tape through an API 1608, mixed by Alan Moulder. This is the type of album that I would like to engineer myself.

The entire process of recording, mixing and mastering has been blogged by the band on twitter [twitter.com/foofighters] and yfrog [yfrog.com/user/foofighters/profile]. Providing an excellent insight into the processes involved, together with the usual Foo Fighter's comedy excerpts.

This is absolutely classic Foo Fighters.

Charity Shop Finds

There's now a Barnado's in Plymouth Armada Centre where Ham & Sewell used to be. They have a lot of vinyl in there, most of it is the usual stuff you find in charity shops but if you have twenty minutes or so to dig, there's some interesting records in that little lot. They also have masses of 7" singles but they would take another trip to dig through. Today, in ten minutes I found a few records for £1 each!

ZZ Top (pictured) 'ZZ Top's First Album'. I've seen a few copies of 'Eliminator' in charity shops and, indeed, that's where I got my copy from, but to find the other titles is rare.

Next up was a Chris Rea 'Road to Hell'. My Dad used to play this album in the car when I was a kid. It especially evokes memories of driving to the family caravan in Polzeath on a Saturday afternoon.


Finally, a copy of Ravel's orchestrated version of Mussorgsky 'Pictures at an Exhibition' performed by L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. This is almost mint, despite being from 1972 it looks like it's only been played a couple of times.