http://www.neilclark.com/index.htmlNeilClark.com NEWS!enneil@neilclark.comCopyright 2010 Neil Clark2010-03-06T09:53:32-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:17:41 -0500neil@neilclark.comNone2010-03-06T09:53:32-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-44http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-44
Spoonman: Shades of Roy Buchanan in this one. Slightly more straight down the centre type playing. Guitar solos melodically throughout. Technically probably features some of the fastest playing I’ve recorded but it fits with what I have in mind and the feeling I hope to get across. Emphasis on feel. It’s not a technical omp.

Naja Naja: Started off as loop piece. I retained the interesting sounding, massively treated guitar loop but built more of a futuristic blues around it.

Homme Du Monde: features nylon strung with a bit of a latin feel, lead ukulele, rock lead guitar and loops. This one has it all ;-)

How’s That Rock n Roll: not rock n roll. A tone piece in no particular key.

Yukimi ( japanese for watching snow fall): A lovely pastime and a lovely piece I think.

Amsterdam Morning: Short vignette. The Dam is gezellig in the morning.

Teasoot: A repeated arpeggio played at the 12th fret with open strings as well is maintained in this AAA type cycle before exploding in the final third.

Next week will make final touches and maybe some rough masters to listen to during March break. I’m happily back on schedule.
]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2010-02-27T15:11:10-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-43http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-43
I’ll Tell Her Myself is a three act, acoustic/electric tonal blues. Quite cinematic with a haunting quality. It explores the same territory as Four Lane Road and Pretty Horses from Sundogs but takes it a shade further.

If I Don’t Come Back is a groove based piece featuring lead guitar over a Jah Wobbleish repeated bass figure with a lot of drum and percussion programming. I state the themes then begin to work into the harmony with the different tones and patches I’m currently employing, including a really cool ring-modulator sound that is very angular but sits perfectly in the track. Big modal piece of almost five minutes duration.

KuDam Incident - a nostalgic three minutes built around a shifting Amin6/9 to Cmin6/9 harmony over which an A blues if melody is played. Backwards guitar solos the breaks.

Julie Montag is in a similar vein. An eight bar chord cycle of 11s and minor sevens is played on two interlocking arpeggios, repeated and developed with the melody played on a wide tremolo guitar. A short 2 minute + vignette of a piece.

Next progress report next weekend......
]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2010-02-23T00:47:46-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-42http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-42neil@neilclark.comNone2010-02-17T23:09:44-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-39http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-39
What does this album sound like? It’s kind of future blues, post rock, post jazz, ambient americana. Ha ha. I’m excited - it’s been a satisfying process and it’s emerging from it’s virtual mass pretty much as I’d imagined it !]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2010-01-23T12:00:49-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-38http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-38

It was great that in Japan you could get cigarettes called Hope and Peace. Ah, them were the days!! I wonder if they still make them? Hope, as I recall, was a very strong but good tasting ciggie. ]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2010-01-17T16:49:59-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-36http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-36
Fortunate Son - Creedence
Soul Of America - Ian Hunter
Vigilante Man - Woody Guthrie/Ry Cooder
Ohio - CSNY
Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt
East Hastings - Godspeed You Black Emperor
Give Peace A Chance - John Lennon
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next - Manic Street Preachers
Cortez The Killer - Neil Young
What's Going On? - Marvin Gaye
Fight The Power/Fear Of A Black Planet - Public Enemy
Amerika v6.0 (The Best We Can Do) - Steve Earle
Hurricane - Bob Dylan
This Is England - The Clash
The Vancouver National Anthem - Matthew Good

]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2010-01-15T18:35:49-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-35http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-35'Can a song change the world? A Generation ago we believed it might, but music's revolutionary spirit went quiet way before time was called on the 20th century. Another decade on, Paul Morley still laments the passing of the protest song.'......

A brilliant and provocative article that reminds me why Paul Morley was essential reading for us new-wavers in the UK (and elsewhere) who waited expectantly for the NME every week. He says it better than me but I've touched on this topic recently. Time for us all to wake up from our sleep walking.

The article is here. It's in the PRS members magazine. This link is to the digital edition. Just type in page 26 at the bottom.]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2010-01-11T11:04:48-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/jan-2010#unique-entry-id-34http://www.neilclark.com/files/jan-2010#unique-entry-id-34
Topically the New York Times online today has a good article on the reopening of the Sarajevo - Belgrade rail link now running the first trains between the cities in 18 years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/world/europe/11train.html?ref=world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sarajevo

Here is the book in Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Cellist-Sarajevo-Steven-Galloway/dp/0307397033]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2010-01-06T21:20:49-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/jan-2010#unique-entry-id-33http://www.neilclark.com/files/jan-2010#unique-entry-id-33

View from a floor mattress at dawn on the second of January.]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2010-01-06T12:03:36-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/jan-2010#unique-entry-id-32http://www.neilclark.com/files/jan-2010#unique-entry-id-32
I found the earlier sections relating to his upbringing in Liverpool (and post-war Britain) in the '50's particularly interesting - Liverpool and Glasgow being such culturally similar cities. I was given my first 45, She Loves You when I was 5, and was taken to see Hard Days Night when I was 7. Northern life was better after the Beatles. The soundtrack of a nation in renewal. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Monty Python, 1968, Tariq Ali, Revolution#9, Working Class Heros, fuck yeh!

One day in 1988 during a break between songs when the Commotions were rehearsing in Nomis in West London this guy put his head round the door and said, 'alright lads' in a familiar sort of way - it was Macca. He said a couple of nice things and then he was gone. I think Linda had put him up to it. They were in Nomis with Robert Plant for some reason. Quite made the day that, Paul sticking his head round the door and saying hi, then meeting the lovely Linda and Mr Plant. Thanks Mac...and John, George and Ringo. In the end the love you get IS equal to the love you make. - ps I know it's actually 'take']]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-12-30T22:34:13-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/dec-2009#unique-entry-id-31http://www.neilclark.com/files/dec-2009#unique-entry-id-31
]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2010-01-22T18:19:00-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-28http://www.neilclark.com/index.html#unique-entry-id-28Duke Ellington, Bill Frisell, Jimi Hendrix, Wayne Krantz, Marc Ribot, Steve Reich, Cassandra Wilson, Philip Glass, David Tronso, Richard Thompson, Marc Johnson, Can, Marianne Faithfull, James Jamerson, Jah Wobble, Bob Dylan, Pentangle, Pete Erskine, Joey Baron, Ambrose Pottie, Keith Carlock, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Henry Lowther, Bill Evans, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Jan Garbarek, Arvo Part, TV On The Radio, Tortoise, Talking Heads, Pere Ubu, Deerhoof, The Go-Betweens, Talk Talk, Talking Heads

WRITERS:
Conrad McCarthy, Bill Bryson, George Orwell, Voltaire, Monica Ali, Bruce Chatwin, Michael Ondaatje, Granta, James Joyce, TS Elliot

ACTORS:
Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Edward Norton, Gael Garcia Bernal, Karl Malden, Franka Potente, Jennifer Connelly, Susan Sarandon






]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-12-07T10:07:53-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/dec-2009#unique-entry-id-25http://www.neilclark.com/files/dec-2009#unique-entry-id-25
The three days were very festive, great meals - Mother India Cafe (still the best Indian food that I've eaten anywhere) and Asian Style with our mentor from the Commotions days, the ever generous, Billy Sloan. We also had a few minor booze ups but everyone kept it under control. Saw my old mate Dougie Kelso as well. A bit of heart-warmer all round really. Great performances from Capercaillie and the immensely talented King Creosote. We weren't told that we'd be following Mott The Hoople doing All The Young Dudes full anthem style though. That was amazing to witness and terrifying to follow but I think we did OK. Ian Hunter is a top bloke and still a terrific working writer.

A couple of photos from the rehearsals...

]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-11-20T09:52:35-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/nov-2009#unique-entry-id-24http://www.neilclark.com/files/nov-2009#unique-entry-id-24
Neil Clark Is My Guru is here.

Lloyd Cole Is My Guru is here.]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-11-07T14:43:47-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/nov-2009#unique-entry-id-21http://www.neilclark.com/files/nov-2009#unique-entry-id-21Transcriptions page.]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-10-07T09:37:30-04:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/oct-2009#unique-entry-id-18http://www.neilclark.com/files/oct-2009#unique-entry-id-18
Matthew's stand got me thinking I should listen to some of his new work. He has a new album out called, ironically, 'Vancouver'. After a quick listen to the previews I bought it on iTunes. I hate making these kind of comments but I feel motivated nevertheless to say that this is the best and deepest collection of atmospheric rock I've heard in a long, long time - Canadian or not, and let's face it there has been some high quality work coming out of these shores lately. Have a listen. I find it to be a beautiful and searching piece of work.

The Matthew Good site
]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-10-06T23:56:28-04:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/oct-2009#unique-entry-id-17http://www.neilclark.com/files/oct-2009#unique-entry-id-17transcriptions page.
Cut Me Down, Patience, Sentimental Fool and Speedboat.]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-09-27T14:39:31-04:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/sep-2009#unique-entry-id-13http://www.neilclark.com/files/sep-2009#unique-entry-id-13
15watt valve/tube 1x12 amplifiers/combos:
This size of amplifier is IMO the ideal. The sweetspot - around 4 to 6 or 7 on the volume - is loud enough for club gigs and you can still get good tube saturation and tone in the house without stripping the paint from your walls. Even at 1 or 2 these amps all sound good. You can use a booster pedal to thicken up the sound a touch if required. I use two of these amps in a stereo which is always an option for more volume. Plus, if you're using delays, you get that lovely stereo spread. They also all have 12inch speakers. It's definitely possible to get good tone from a 10inch speaker and plenty of classic combos have used that size of speaker successfully - I personally prefer the 12". I feel that 10's can get a bit 'nasally' sound. Below that to 8 and then 6" speaker combos you're going to need a speaker out to a 12" cabinet to achieve an open tone. Or at the very least upgrading the 8" speaker to a more expensive and better Weber or Jensen.

Once, when the Commotions were playing in Edinburgh, we were visited backstage by Frank Gallagher - a Scot who living in N.Y. got the job of Talking Heads soundman. He told us he'd been listening and that we were too loud on stage. 'Use smaller combos for better tone and rely on them plus your onstage wedges and sidefills for your stage sound' he said. He was right of course.


Traynor YCV20
1x12 combo. 2xEL84s and 3x12AXs. Made right here in Toronto but available worldwide. I own the silver version of this and changed the stock budget Celestion speaker to a better Celestion Greenback. This and a change of tubes to JJ's brought the amp to life. Says it's two channel but most players just use the lovely sounding clean channel and get their lead tone from their pedals. The version pictured here is the one still made. It has the Greenback as stock. The silver version can be picked up, often quite cheaply ($300-350 CDN) used.

Crate V15
1x12 combo. 2xEL84s and 2x12AXs. Crate in their infinite wisdom have stopped making this but if you can find one used with the ToneTubby Hempcore speaker as stock snap it up. I can't recommend the newer tube combos that Crate are making they look a bit cheap and have been getting mixed reviews. These are made in St Louis and say so on the back. Really good sounding, well made, single channel combo. Pretty good reverb as well. A bit of a tone machine. Should be around the same price as the Traynor used. I also own this.

Orange Tiny Terror
1x12 combo. 2xEL84s and 2x12AXs. I don't own this but but a friend, Alisdair, has the head version and it's really good. I would safely assume the combo version is also. Similar in scope to the previous two amps but with the addition of a 7 or 15 watt switch which is a very useful feature. You won't see many used. In the $700 range new.

Vox AC15
1x12 combo. 2xEL84s and 2x12AXs. Famous combo. Now made in China with no ill effects. The cheaper version with the wharfdale speaker is actually fine - and a lot cheaper than the version with the Alnico Blue - you could buy that version and swap out the wharfdale for a Celestion Greenback.]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-10-06T14:13:27-04:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/oct-2009#unique-entry-id-12http://www.neilclark.com/files/oct-2009#unique-entry-id-12
Jon King of Gang of Four says.....

...... "The limits are only ever self imposed . I've always thought that the most powerful word you can say is 'no', but there seems to be an incredible reluctance to rock the boat now. For a lot of indie or so called left field music, the radicalism is often only in being either obscure or loud or both: loudness being a cheap signifier for rebellion and obscurity for being interesting or mysterious, like wearing sunglasses at nighttime. But loudness and pretentious cleverness can't be the point. We live in a fucked-up world where we internalise everything, thinking it's all about ourselves, and the world becomes a mad parade. We censor ourselves or get self righteous about peripheral issues because it's convenient to do so and we can let ourselves off the big lies we sleep with every night. For example, it's incredible how almost no musicians will take on a big subject like the Iraq War, whereas, during the Vietnam War era, all of pop, even people like Kenny Rodgers with his great - Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town - alongside Edwin Starr and Marvin Gaye and The Byrds etc - would have a view. Rock and pop don't get engaged in that way today. Gang Of Four songs like I Love A Man In Uniform, which was banned by the BBC during the Falklands conflict, or Ether work because they move people on a physical and musical and mental level. And they're funny, too. That is, if you like laughing."

The entire article is HERE just expand the bio link.]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-10-06T15:47:57-04:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/oct-2009#unique-entry-id-9http://www.neilclark.com/files/oct-2009#unique-entry-id-9Transcriptions page]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-08-25T16:43:58-04:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/aug-2009#unique-entry-id-5http://www.neilclark.com/files/aug-2009#unique-entry-id-5HERE.]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-08-21T00:28:19-04:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/aug-2009#unique-entry-id-3http://www.neilclark.com/files/aug-2009#unique-entry-id-3neil@neilclark.comNone2009-08-21T00:26:05-04:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/aug-2009#unique-entry-id-1http://www.neilclark.com/files/aug-2009#unique-entry-id-1CD of SUNDOGS! ]]>neil@neilclark.comNone2009-11-20T15:24:55-05:00http://www.neilclark.com/files/nov-2009#unique-entry-id-0http://www.neilclark.com/files/nov-2009#unique-entry-id-0
If you want to do face to face the lessons are in my home studio in Toronto. I want to expand the number students I have slightly.
So if you'd like to support and get some coaching from a working musician drop me an email.

For those of you who may be interested but unable, by dint of a few thousand miles or less, to make it here I'm also looking at using Skype video or iChat video as a remote teaching tool. If you would like to try this please contact me.

All rates are $35CDN per hour.

Here is a link to a report that Tim Ellis in Melbourne wrote on the Lloyd Cole forum about an amp consultation I did for him recently.
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