26^th July 2010

Detroit Rock City

I just arrived back from just about the fastest US visit ever done. One show at the Fillmore in Detroit for Riverfest on Sat night, flew from London Thursday back Monday morning, A lesson in “the show must go on” with local crew and sound techs on hand, nobody could foresee the roof 100 feet above the monitor board giving way to water 10 mins before doors. That then made our lives a little tricky as we had yet to actually soundcheck and people were starting to come in. Luckily we had a sound guy and monitor engineer we had never met, let alone heard any of our music so chances of this trip being worthwhile were looking slimmer by the second. I guess at that point you make the call and we decided to just go for it. I’ll be honest, not the best show we’ve done, actually far from it, but the people who had come to see us were none the wiser that we hadn’t soundchecked and I had no monitors at all, luckily the constant pulse of a Tama rhythm watch gave me some solace, albeit not the most inspiring mix, and pretty hard to sing when you can’t hear a note your singing. Hence the title seemed apt for this one, as these kind of unforeseeable cockups are the unpolished truth of rock and roll.

In other news, I am in the studio tomorrow guesting on a track for a buddy of mine singer/songwriter Aaron short, with the rest of the week working on tracks for the new album. Damian and I will be in the studio early August finishing vocals and Mr Brook has been busy hitting drums. Now time for some artwork and design and we will be looking forward to finally unleashing this album on you all. Heading back out to Denver for Mile High Festival mid August with One Eskimo, but looks to be another in and out trip so we should have a good run of time at home to finish the album.

Notable mentions on the ipod at the moment are Pain of Salvations latest Road Salt One, I love these guys, can’t stop listening to this the title track is amazing. Meshuggah’s DVD Alive is nothing short of jaw dropping, just ridiculous, a must have. Porcupine Tree’s live blu ray Anesthatise  is also brilliant, very cool show. Bit pissed I was away over the weekend as High Voltage Festival was featuring Transatlantic  (with Steve Hackett joining) and Opeth.

More from the studio soon

pete

Monday July 19th 2010

With the Ozzy tour off to a great start, a 3 week break means I can jump back into my old seat playing keys and a bit of acoustic guitar with Will Young on 8 Country House / Festivals through July. Nice to be back with Will’s band for these shows and the great British weather is not disappointing us with plenty of wind and rain for these outdoor shows!
The show on Hampsted Heath from Saturday 17th July will be aired on Radio 2 , Thursday 22nd July 2010 at 8PM.

An in depth interview with Keyboard Magazine due out in November has video interview clips and tuition clips here;
http://keyboardmag.com/..article/117051
Some tips on how to play some Ozzy tunes on keys if you are inclined!

AW