Capo Solo Bass "Star Floyd" Recorded in Ireland at Coffee Hill Studios
I first heard Pink Floyd at 14 years old, on a very early Sunday morning before going to a friend's First Communion and it was on MTV and the song was Machine. Needless to say when the flower shaped spaceship dropped off the animal robot and the supreme narrator welcomed their son to the machine, I was hooked. So it was only fitting that it was one of the first covers I learned on my weird capo tenor bass and I appreciated immediately that if people can understand the origins of a song, it will help them enjoy the journey into the bizarre. Fanfiction is the best way to explain doing a mashup of Machine and Us & Them by Pink Floyd while adding Star Wars quotes from The Imperial March and The Force Theme.
Recorded on Thu Jun 6th 2017 at Coffee Hill Studios in Ireland, after meeting the owner of Coffee Hill (Nick) the night before at a pub. Nick is a god on the camera and he can make a cup of coffee that will make you forget how many dozens of Guinness you had the night before.
I first heard Pink Floyd at 14 years old, on a very early Sunday morning before going to a friend's First Communion and it was on MTV and the song was Machine. Needless to say when the flower shaped spaceship dropped off the animal robot and the supreme narrator welcomed their son to the machine, I was hooked. So it was only fitting that it was one of the first covers I learned on my weird capo tenor bass and I appreciated immediately that if people can understand the origins of a song, it will help them enjoy the journey into the bizarre. Fanfiction is the best way to explain doing a mashup of Machine and Us & Them by Pink Floyd while adding Star Wars quotes from The Imperial March and The Force Theme.
Recorded on Thu Jun 6th 2017 at Coffee Hill Studios in Ireland, after meeting the owner of Coffee Hill (Nick) the night before at a pub. Nick is a god on the camera and he can make a cup of coffee that will make you forget how many dozens of Guinness you had the night before.
Capo Solo Bass "For What It's Worth" Recorded in Ireland at Coffee Hill Studios
I started to play this cover as a hope that the world could be a better place. This Buffalo Springfield song always pops up in a movie when it's all going wrong right before a new perspective appears. There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear. If we have a good viewpoint, remember to sigh and keep an open mind; maybe we will find our way.
Recorded on Thu Jun 6th 2017 at Coffee Hill Studios in Ireland, after meeting the owner of Coffee Hill (Nick) the night before at a pub. Nick is a god on the camera and he can make a cup of coffee that will make you forget how many dozens of Guinness you had the night before.
I started to play this cover as a hope that the world could be a better place. This Buffalo Springfield song always pops up in a movie when it's all going wrong right before a new perspective appears. There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear. If we have a good viewpoint, remember to sigh and keep an open mind; maybe we will find our way.
Recorded on Thu Jun 6th 2017 at Coffee Hill Studios in Ireland, after meeting the owner of Coffee Hill (Nick) the night before at a pub. Nick is a god on the camera and he can make a cup of coffee that will make you forget how many dozens of Guinness you had the night before.
Capo Solo Bass "Sitar Cigar Bar" an Odyssey Empowered by Pigtronix Strymon & Willcox Guitars
This original song called "Sitar Cigar Bar" has taken 20 years for me to write. The melody in the solo was the first part, but I wrote it for a friend's concept album that had the bold goal of relating the very different cycles of a washing machine to the complex facets of us as people. It was to be the engine of the soak cycle and played 2 octaves lower with drone notes through a gated reverse reverb under a psychedelic Gregorian chant. Cut to 15 years later and the next part was the hammor-on bass line under the drone of different higher strings with the same note. It took me forever to get my left hand to play the bass line while my right is doing a fast drone fest. But this part came alive when I ran it through a stereo pattern delay. Without having hindsight it took me for ever to find what best fits over this groove but when I played the soak cycle melody it was the right fit. I added the drum sounds and then more drum sounds untill it got to the point that this song is completely filled with an insane amount of playing and pedal work. It truly is the song that instills fear in me that I'll fall over while I play it live but gravity has not got me yet.
Recorded on Sat Jul 22nd 2017 in Monterey Virginia's Mill Gap Valley right outside of George Washington and Jefferson National Forest.
This original song called "Sitar Cigar Bar" has taken 20 years for me to write. The melody in the solo was the first part, but I wrote it for a friend's concept album that had the bold goal of relating the very different cycles of a washing machine to the complex facets of us as people. It was to be the engine of the soak cycle and played 2 octaves lower with drone notes through a gated reverse reverb under a psychedelic Gregorian chant. Cut to 15 years later and the next part was the hammor-on bass line under the drone of different higher strings with the same note. It took me forever to get my left hand to play the bass line while my right is doing a fast drone fest. But this part came alive when I ran it through a stereo pattern delay. Without having hindsight it took me for ever to find what best fits over this groove but when I played the soak cycle melody it was the right fit. I added the drum sounds and then more drum sounds untill it got to the point that this song is completely filled with an insane amount of playing and pedal work. It truly is the song that instills fear in me that I'll fall over while I play it live but gravity has not got me yet.
Recorded on Sat Jul 22nd 2017 in Monterey Virginia's Mill Gap Valley right outside of George Washington and Jefferson National Forest.
On Sat Dec 16th 2017 at the Hostel Fish in Denver Colorado I was at an open mic that was filled with travelers and it felt like a summit of musicians. We had cats from Texas, North Jersey, Florida & Philly. I heard a cover of this song that was played so intensely slow that it had intimacy in the awkwardness. So being intrigued with the idea & the song I drove my friends & myself nuts with hundreds of different versions over 2 months. One of my favorite notes was, "Maybe you shouldn't have a 10 minute intro that goes into a 2 minute song." But thank you to all the peeps that I drive crazy with all the different drafts of my songs.
Recorded on Wed Feb 14th 2018 in Doylestown Pennsylvania at the music venue Puck and filmed by John Smith with the bass audio recorded straight from the pedal board & the whistle ran through Mike Lightkep's remarkable sound system at Puck then recorded into John's camera.
Recorded on Wed Feb 14th 2018 in Doylestown Pennsylvania at the music venue Puck and filmed by John Smith with the bass audio recorded straight from the pedal board & the whistle ran through Mike Lightkep's remarkable sound system at Puck then recorded into John's camera.
Capo Solo Bass "Star Floyd" Recorded at Puck in Doylestown Pennsylvania
Sometimes I play just because I'm stressed out and need to loose myself in something trippy. The elegant washing of parts and snug lulls makes this song my creeper into my authentic self. The omage to Darkside of OZ is a simple thought of the need to get lost to find yourself. We plan to much on where we need to be and not enough on where we get to be taken. We see this theme everywhere; Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of OZ, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis and so many more. The execution or to put it into practice is so much bigger than the simple thought, but we should let our selves be opened to what or who finds us, it's just Us & Them here in this Machine.
Recorded on Wed Feb 14th 2018 in Doylestown Pennsylvania at the music venue Puck and filmed by John Smith with the bass audio recorded straight from the pedal board & the whistle ran through Mike Lightkep's remarkable sound system at Puck then recorded into John's camera.
Sometimes I play just because I'm stressed out and need to loose myself in something trippy. The elegant washing of parts and snug lulls makes this song my creeper into my authentic self. The omage to Darkside of OZ is a simple thought of the need to get lost to find yourself. We plan to much on where we need to be and not enough on where we get to be taken. We see this theme everywhere; Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of OZ, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis and so many more. The execution or to put it into practice is so much bigger than the simple thought, but we should let our selves be opened to what or who finds us, it's just Us & Them here in this Machine.
Recorded on Wed Feb 14th 2018 in Doylestown Pennsylvania at the music venue Puck and filmed by John Smith with the bass audio recorded straight from the pedal board & the whistle ran through Mike Lightkep's remarkable sound system at Puck then recorded into John's camera.