Janek Gwizdala and Bob Reynolds Band live in Leicester 27/03/2012
Solo recording artist and Mike Stern/Randy Brecker sideman Janek Gwizdala with with long time John Mayer band member Bob Reynolds both celebrate new album launches this month, and tour Europe to promote this new music.
Completing the band are legendary drummer/keyboard player Gary Husband on keys, and sensational newcomer to the music world Louie Palmer on drums.
Tickets and info are available here
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The Aristocrats
Last Thursday myself and guitar shredding friend were invited to see The Aristocrats play at the Robin 2 in Bilston (nr Wolverhampton) by the bands bass player Bryan Beller (@bryanbeller on that there twitter).
We were lucky enough to catch Bryan’s bass clinic where he spoke in detail and about groove, tone and the importance of being yourself in music. Bryan is a master of the low end and excellent educator who was captivating and motivating. He demonstrated some of the metal bass concepts from his recent DVD (which I will be adding to the bass resources for Leicester College students).
Bryan invited us to hang out for sound check which really demonstrated what an amazing group of musicians The Aristocrats are. Tech heavy shredding that actually sounds like music is no mean feat and these guys are at the top of their game.
The gig was a high octane performance, full of humour, fun, great grooves and awesome music. I came away from the evening truly inspired to practice more, that rarely happens these days.
A big thank you to Bryan, Guthrie and Marco for making us feel so welcome and a jaw dropping live show.
If you’ve not heard The Aristocrats I can highly recommend them. Check out http://www.the-aristocrats-band.com
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How to drop the ball with style
Sometimes life throws you a curve ball. For a fairly disorganised person I have developed a number of strategies for making sure I’m in the right place at the right time. Using calendars synced with my iPhone, iPad and Mac with cloud based reminders being sent to these devices and my work email system help me stay on target. A cloud based todo list and projects managed with Evernote also help keep me focused.
Multiple music projects, bands, dep gigs coupled with a hectic teaching schedule add to the mix. Some how I get most stuff done. However recently I nearly dropped the ball. I had managed to double book myself in two different cities on a Saturday evening. I was due to be at my sister and brother in laws joint 30th birthday celebrations in Derby and and a gig with Emily and the Martens at one of my favourite venues and former music hall the Malt Cross in Nottingham. User error on my part, a misunderstanding of when the gig was. As part of the Oxjam line up I had quite wrongly assumed that we would be playing late afternoon. This would leave plenty of time to stash my gear and head over to Derby. No idea why, but in my head it made sense. However in IRL the band were head lining the event, at the same time the party would be in full throw. Bugger.
Some careful time management helped, I can only imagine what I must of looked like to the rest of Nottingham as I ran down the road, gig bag over my shoulder and speaker cab on a luggage trolly behind me. Arriving at the venue with 5 minutes to spare I negotiated the audience, threw my gear on stage, tuned and plugged in. Forty minutes later I was breaking down my gear and about to sink a well deserved pint.
I did say nearly drop the ball……….
Btw love the pic above that I took when in Bristol a few months ago
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When do you just switch off?
During the last few years quite a bit has changed for me; becoming a father of two, a grown up job (if you can say that a job that consisists of talking about music and playing bass can ever be considered grown up) and a busy gigging schedual keep me on my toes. During this time I have also been studying towards my Level 5 teaching qualification and trying to make sense of how musicians can adopt new strategies to provide a sustainable income. All lots of fun, but it has also increased the amount of tech that I carry around with me. At one time an iPod and simple mobile phone was all I needed to keep me sane on the road. These days I carry a large amout of gadgets with me to gigs, sessions, teaching or just going to the park with the kids. My gobag looks its owned by a PC World salesman.
It could be me embracing my inner (or not so inner) geek, working more of the time or just being more organised about my workflow. What ever it is the need to be connected and to capture information for later use is compels me to carry all this stuff.
Right now I’m packing my gig bags for the week ahead. This week sees me doing my usual round of gigs, rehearsals, lectures and a recording session for a wonderful singer songwriter.
So this week my iPad and iPhone will rarely leave my side; be it checking emails, producing keynote presentations, listening to rough cuts or just for chilling with a film or twitter. Along for the ride will be an HD Kodak Flip style camera, my ace Cannon SX210, Zoom H2, iRig, Bluetooth keyboard and my recently purchased AKG 450 headphones.
What worries me is that when do I just switch off and be quiet? The constant barrage of emails, tweets, Facebook and other Web 2.0 fun along with the ability to consume any media 24/7 has resulted in me rarely switching off and ‘just being’.
And ‘just being’ is a very important thing indeed.
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It’s all about knowledge #graffiti
Just spent an amazing few days in the west country. One of the highlights of the trip was an afternoon looking at the awesome street art in Bristol. Every time I visit Bristol I take my point and shoot Cannon camera and explore a little. It’s such an inspirational place and my head is full of great idea to explore on my return.
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Warmoth bass build update
So finding parts used has been harder than expected. Last week I scored a set of gold ultralite tuners made by Hipshot. The quality of finish and machining is great and being gold will certainly off set the black overdie finish on the body of the bass.
It was a tough call wether to build the bass up out of unwanted bass parts. Using budget parts I could have brought the whole project in at under £200, but felt that if I was to want to use the bass that it would fall a long way form the quality I would normally want. Although the body shape is not to my taste I really want to build something that sounds good as well as looks the part.
As for gold hardware; it’s not what I would normally go for, but should look pimp when it’s done.
This morning I picked up a set of EMG passive pickups that have only been used a few times. I’m hopping that they give the classic EMG killer rock tone without the need for active electronics. All my other basses are active with a passive option (on a push pull switch) and my Sadowsky P bass spends it’s whole life in passive. If I change my mind I do have an on board preamp sat in a draw I could drop in.
As for the rest of the parts, I have resigned myself to the fact they will have to be new. No one has responded to my wanted ads for a gold Badass II or Gotoh 201. Also I want to use CTS pots and an Orange drop cap and these along with some speed knobs will have to sourced new. If I can bring in the whole project for £300 I’ll be happy (especially when the original owner paid £ 1788 for the original build to almost the same spec).
Next up is ordering the remaining parts and the build. Hopefully I’ll be building it a Nottingham Hackspace (@nottinhack on twitter) which is an amazing co-working space full of very clever lovely people.
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Noise Republic – Now is our Time
Recently I was given a copy of the debut album by Noise Republic. I was really pleased the guys had decided to release it. The surprise for me was that I had a performance credit!
Many years ago I played with a couple of the Noise Republic guys in a long term project. The result of using some down time at a local studio one night was a complete take of bass guitar and drums for a track that was at the time untitled. I forgot about the session and have never really thought about it again. That was up until guitar guru and Noise Republic 6 string slinger Ian Marshall popped a copy on my desk (we teach music at the same college btw).
The band have overdubbed lush layers of guitar and vocals on to the untitled rhythm section tracks and created the final song ‘Oprah’. Listening to finished album brought back so many good memories of playing with the guys. Here’s the album, its well worth a listen.
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Free Janek Gwizdala masterclass in Leicester 15th November
TC Electonic and Leicester College are proud to host a a free evening
with London born US based Bass player and record producer Janek
Gwizdala. Janek has been on the international music scene for over a decade,
touring as a band leader and working as musical director or sideman
with some of the most respected names in the industry. These include:
Randy Brecker, Hiram Bullock, Mike Stern, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim,
Pat Metheny, Marcus Miller, Dave Kikoski, Adam Rogers, Jojo Mayer,
V.V. Brown, Jem, Paul Shafer, Delta Goodrem, Gary Husband, Peter
Erskine, Wayne Krantz, and Mark Turner.
As a Fodera and TC Electronic endorsee, Janek will be demostrating and
discussing his technique and musical concepts. For tickets: http://janekgwizdala.eventbrite.co.uk/
with London born US based Bass player and record producer Janek
Gwizdala. Janek has been on the international music scene for over a decade,
touring as a band leader and working as musical director or sideman
with some of the most respected names in the industry. These include:
Randy Brecker, Hiram Bullock, Mike Stern, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim,
Pat Metheny, Marcus Miller, Dave Kikoski, Adam Rogers, Jojo Mayer,
V.V. Brown, Jem, Paul Shafer, Delta Goodrem, Gary Husband, Peter
Erskine, Wayne Krantz, and Mark Turner.
As a Fodera and TC Electronic endorsee, Janek will be demostrating and
discussing his technique and musical concepts. For tickets: http://janekgwizdala.eventbrite.co.uk/
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Warmoth Project bass build
Building a bass has been a long time ambition for me. Pretty much since I started playing it’s something that I’ve wanted to do. As I don’t have (and never will) the luthier woodworking skills required to build an instrument from scratch a ‘parts’ build seems obvious choice.
There are a number of organisations building necks and body’s for both hobbiests and professional builders in mind. One of the very best is Warmoth. They can build almost anything; from a basic ash P-bass to exotic wood extended range instruments with amazing finishes.
Building a bass using a body and neck from Warmoth isn’t a cheap option and cost vs re-sale value (self assembled instruments are always worth less than pro-built basses) has been one of the reasons I’ve not done it previously.
However, I’ve just picked up a neck and body on eBay for a bargain £122. It’s an explorer shape four string with a beautiful quilted maple top and overdie finish. It’s amazingly well built even if the shape is not to my personal taste (normally I lay Fender inspired Sadowsky basses), but at the price it was too good to pass up. The original cost of the neck and body was £1100 including taxes and shipping. The instrument had been built up using pro parts by a luthier in Bolton for a guy in Rugby. The recipient couldn’t get on with the lack of cut away to access the dusty end of the neck and stripped the bass of it’s hardware and electronics and had a new body and neck built. The total cost for the original bass was a few pounds short of £1800. Hopefully I’m going to pick up all the bits used to save some money. As for how much it’s going to cost who knows. What I can say is that I will only be using top shelf parts and building a stripped down passive rock machine;)
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Guerilla Bass 