Commissions 4: Baron Taylor Street

Calamateur – Baron_Taylor_Street.mp3

(This track is the 4th from a new collection of songs entitled Commissions 2008-2009. The 1st one is here. The 2nd is here. The 3rd is here. I’ll be releasing more songs from it via this blog over the next few weeks.)

———————————-

In my previous post in this Commissions series, I wrote about the Inverness Streetscape project, and in particular the work DUFI and I did with the pupils from Cauldeen Primary School.

As well as recording The Bad Weather Song with the school-children, I also recorded them reading out haikus which they had written based around the theme of water and weather. These were to be incorporated into a second song which DUFI asked me to write.

Here are a few of the haikus:

“An ocean of water splashes
Waves of curly spray foam
Cold and wet“
Ryan

“Twirling and gently falling
From the grey cloudy sky
White soft snowflakes”
Lewis

“Tender sore heart
Pain-filled teardrop
Clearing sadness from your eye”
Lucy

“Hard cold solid
on wintry paths and roads
slippy frozen water“
Courtney H.

This last haiku was sand-blasted into Baron Taylor Street itself, as you can see here, and in the picture at the top of this post.

After I recorded the children reading their haikus at the school, I then drove to Baron Taylor Street itself and recorded several minutes worth of outdoor/ambient noise. Both of these recordings provided the basis of the song.

After adding drum loops, several synth sounds, piano, feedback and a sample of a sound-effect from my 3-year old son’s toy garage (!) and then pulling it all together in ProTools, I then came across these verses in Psalm 147:

He sends his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.

He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.

He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast?

He sends his word and melts them;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.

These are beautifully evocative verses, and when I read them I thought of the song I was working on straight away. The melody came to me instantly as well – hard to take credit for it really.

I’m really happy with the way the song has turned out, and thankfully so were DUFI.

I hope you like it….more on the way soon.

(Photos by Fin Macrae)

Collaborators 4: DUFI (a wee bit more)

Not long after writing my post about DUFI I received an email from them about their new project, which YOU can help them with.

Here’s what they had to say:

—————————————–

The National Portrait Gallery of Scotland will be hosting an exhibition later this year entitled Rough Cut Nation.

This unique multimedia project draws together a group of young artists from around Scotland to create a dramatic collaborative installation. For the Edinburgh Festival they will construct a remixed version of Scottish history as informed by street art and graffiti culture, painted, pasted and projected directly onto the walls of the Portrait Gallery.

The project updates William Hole’s original decorative mural scheme of 1889-1898, depicting important events from Scotland’s past. This new installation exploits the empty space produced by the Gallery’s current closure for redevelopment.

The original mural by William Hole portrays elements of Scottish history with strong religious and at times Protestant overtones.

As one of the artist duos involved, we are interested in exploring religious iconography and the use of Jesus as a moral or social catalyst within both Scottish history and contemporary culture.

With that in mind we would like to ask you three questions:

1. In one word, describe who was/is Jesus?
2. In one word, what does Jesus have to do with Scottish History?
3. What impact has Jesus had on Scotland past, present and future?

The answers that we collect from these questions will potentially form part of the final artwork, but will not be attributed to any one individual.
Thank you for your willingness to participate in this project, please send your answers to DUFI.JESUS@GMAIL.COM

DUFI ART | Guerrilla Art & Creativity
DUFI-ART.BLOGSPOT.COM

Collaborators 4: DUFI

(This is the 4th in a series of posts on people I’ve worked with recently. The 1st post is here, the 2nd here, the 3rd here).

DUFI are, in their own words,

‘The collaborative brainchild of graphic designer Al MacInnes and photographer Fin Macrae born from love for spray-paint, canned art and creativity. “Spray the word if the word’s worth spraying”.’

I’ve known Al & Fin for a few years and my life is much richer for it. They are both incredibly talented, generous people and, together and alone, produce amazing artwork.

Al designed the amazing artwork and digital booklet for my Jesus is for Losers album:

And Fin contributed these cracking photos:

Thanks guys!

Al MacInnes (graphic design): www.moose77.com

Fin Macrae (photography): www.finmacrae.com

DUFI: www.dufi-art.blogspot.com

Commissions 3 : I pity the fool that hates the rain!

Calamateur – The Bad Weather Song.mp3
(This track is the 3rd from a new collection of songs entitled Commissions 2008-2009. The 1st one is here. The 2nd is here. I’ll be releasing more songs from it via this blog over the next few weeks.)

———————————-

Last year I was asked by art-guerrilla duo DUFI to work with Cauldeen Primary School to produce a musical response to the street-text project that is part of the larger redevelopment of Inverness Old Town.

‘The Bad Weather Song’ was one of two songs that came out of my visit to the school – and it’s not the kind of thing you’ll have heard by me before!

I was asked to write a blog about what I got up to for Public Art Scotland, which I’ve copied here:

calamateur at Cauldeen Primary School
When Fin Macrae of DUFI, one of the artist groups involved in the Inverness City Streetscape Project, phoned me up to ask me to do “something musical” with the kids at Cauldeen Primary School, my initial reaction was, to be honest, total fear.

“Work with children?!” I panicked. “Write a kids song?!”

Not, in my defence, that there’s anything wrong with children (I do have one after all, with two more on the way) but, given a choice between playing to a rowdy crowd in the Market Bar on a Saturday night and doing a musical workshop with children, I would take the former, thank you very much. “But”, I thought, “it’s a few weeks away, the money’s good…..I’m sure it’ll be fine…gulp”.

How wrong I was…as it wasn’t just fine, it was fantastic. The P.5 & 6’s at Cauldeen Primary are an amazing bunch – full of life and enthusiasm, bright, and pretty good singers to boot.

When it came to writing a song for the class to sing and perform, DUFI themselves provided a lot of the ideas. The drain covers being designed for Baron Taylor Street read: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just different kinds of weather.”

When Fin told me about it, I thought the phrase would make a great chorus and, knowing that the overall theme that DUFI had taken on board was based on weather and water, I thought it would be good to take 3 examples of wet weather and write a verse for each – snow, rain and hail.

Later on in the song you’ll hear the sound of some very heavy rain…. or at least you think you will have. Maybe the BBC Radiophonic Workshop should re-open, employing the Cauldeen P.5 & 6 class, as their job of re-creating the sound of wet weather with just their fingers, hands and feet is pretty incredible. The finishing touch on the song is a great organ part by Mark Hilditch, a fantastic keyboard player who I’ve played with for several years now.

Recording the song with the class was a total joy and, when I visited the school again two weeks later, they could remember the words and melody straight away, despite having not heard it since the day we recorded it – I told you these kids were bright. On that visit, I recorded the children individually, reading out some haiku’s they had written for DUFI a few weeks previously and also some silly phrases you’ll hear scattered throughout ‘The Bad Weather Song’. The recordings of their haiku’s will be used in another musical piece I’m currently writing – a more ambient, more typically Calamateur-esque track, it features the children’s voices as well as a recording I made later that same day in Baron Taylor Street of it’s everyday comings and goings.

Thanks to DUFI for this great opportunity and to the P.5 & 6 teacher & class at Cauldeen Primary for making it a lot of fun.

———————————-

More soon…..

(Photos by Fin Macrae)

Collaborators 3: Iain Hutchison

(This is the 3rd in a series of posts on people I’ve worked with recently. The first post is here, the second here).

Iain Hutchison is a musician, sound engineer, producer and one of the most talented, and nicest, people I’ve ever had the privilege to work with.

Iain mastered my Jesus is for Losers album a while back. When I then decided I wanted to re-mix the whole thing he listened to each new mix and gave me pointers along the way on how to improve it. He then mastered the album track-by-track, again, as I released the songs sporadically over a few months. Needless to say he’s a very patient man.

Iain runs his own recording studio, Glo-Worm, from his home in the west-end of Glasgow. He also works at Secret Music recording studios, where he’s worked with Capercaillie, James Grant, Eddie Reader and many other stalwarts of the Scottish folk scene.

He’s also got a couple of his own musical projects on the go, one of them being the band Torag, who put out a CD a couple of years ago which is lovely – have a listen here.

Iain also joined me on stage for my recent gig in Edinburgh, and I hope to play alongside him a lot more in the future.

So, if you’re looking for an experienced engineer, an imaginative producer and a genuinely talented musician to help you make your next record, I can’t recommend Iain enough – just go to www.glo-worm.com to find out more about his studio and to contact him.

Commissions 2: Iain Morrison remix

Iain Morrison – Folklore & Distant Creed (Calamateur remix).mp3
(This track is the second from a new collection of songs entitled Commissions 2008-2009. The first one is here. I’ll be releasing more songs from it via this blog over the next few weeks.)

————————————-

Iain Morrison is a hugely talented singer-songwriter based near Glasgow, but originally from the Isle of Lewis. He used to be in the band Poor Old Ben, then Crash My Model Car, and is now going solo.

I first met him at the wonderful Greenbelt Festival about 6 or 7 years ago. We’ve been mutual fans pretty much ever since.

When Iain was putting together his second album, ‘Skimming Stones… Sinking Boats’ he got in touch and asked if I would be up for remixing a song, originally taken from his first album, to go on his new one. I jumped at the chance and, after much editing, tweaking and general faffing about in ProTools, eventually finished the remix you can listen to at the top of this post.

I’m really happy with it and am looking forward to hearing Iain’s new album, which is being recorded by the immensely talented (and similarly named!) Iain Hutchison.

More soon…..

Collaborators 2: Mark Hilditch

Accompanying me on many a gig over the last few years has been Mark ‘Big Boss’ Hilditch. A great friend, a supremely talented musician and ‘the-man-with-no-ego’, Mark is the perfect man to make music with.

In his previous guise as leader of rave/dance outfit Big Boss, you might have seen him looking a bit more like this:

————————————

To say Mark is a keen cyclist would be a huge understatement. His idea of fun is to get up at 6am on a Saturday and go for a 60-mile bike ride. (My idea of fun is to lie on the couch and watch as much of a DVD box-set as I can in one day).

One day Mark was cycling to work and, half-way down a very steep hill, his handlebars snapped off. Unable to stop, he had 2 choices – either keep going down the hill and very likely fall off his bike at great speed onto the hard tarmac, or,  come off the road onto the grassy verge and hope the bike slows down and he has a softer landing.

He chose the latter option and came flying off his bike, landing on his head. When he stood up he realised something wasn’t quite right and, being a doctor, figured he must have injured himself in some way.

So does he call an ambulance? Does he call his wife or a friend to come get him? No, he does his best to fix his bike, gets back on it and cycles the rest of the way to the hospital where he works. After some tests, he’s told he has broken his neck.

So as not to worry anyone, he waited until the end of the day before phoning his wife to tell her and when I went to visit him at home I didn’t heard him complain once.

The man is a legend.

Oh, he also played on several tracks from my Jesus is for Losers album, and kindly lent me his VERY cool Korg MS-20:

I used this to make the cool old analogue sounds on  Jesus, Jesus’ Hands and Jesus, I.

Commissions 1: Street Text Slab

Calamateur – Inhabit.mp3
(This track is the first from a new collection of songs entitled Commissions 2008-2009. I’ll be releasing more songs from it via this blog over the next few weeks.)

————————————-

A couple of years ago, the local art-guerrilla types known as DUFI were asked to be involved in the redevelopment of the Old Town part of Inverness.

They designed several slabs and drain covers, all of which display water-themed messages. The messages were gathered from several sources, including local artists, writers, musicians & school-children.

I was asked to contribute to the project and see if I could come up with a text to be put on a slab. The text I suggested was a lyric from one of the first songs I ever put out – ‘Inhabit’ from my White Light Unknown/Inhabit 7″ single. You can download ‘Inhabit’ using the link at the top of this post.

DUFI kindly decided to use my lyrics, which have now been sand-blasted into a slab and laid outside the Rendezvous Cafe in Church Street. Here’s a picture of it:

As you can see, the weather was suitably (and typically) wet when I took the photo. I think it looks pretty great though.

I’m really proud of being part of this project and find it incredibly cool that I’ve had my lyrics permanently inscribed into the streets of Inverness.

Collaborators 1: Steve Lawson

You might have heard this quote before:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

(I always thought it was Nelson Mandela who said this but after googling the quote I found out it was written by someone called Marianne Williamson)

Anyway…..

When I decided I wanted to write a blog about Steve Lawson, this was the quote that came to my mind.

Steve is an immensely talented individual who is one of the most creative, intelligent and innovative people I know. He’s a bass player who plays solo much of the time using looping, effects and a myriad of pedals to make some of the most beautiful music you’ll ever hear. He’s also a bass teacher and one of the leading thinkers in the music industry today, especially when it comes to social media, the internet and the effects they are having on musicians, songwriters and record labels.

I’ve known Steve since 1992 and I’ve always been inspired his ability to ‘let his own light shine’ and ‘give other people permission to do the same‘. Whatever Steve learns and discovers, he’s always keen to share it with others and encourage people to become better at what they do.

With particular regard to my Jesus is for Losers album, I recorded the whole album using this:

A Roland U-8 USB Digital Studio which was given to me by Steve. It introduced me (rather belatedly!) to the world of PC recording and I doubt I would have recorded the album without it. It’s now a pretty dated piece of hardware (as is the Cakewalk software that came with it) but it was new to me and made it possible for me to do far more than I would have been able to do with my old equipment. Thanks Steve!

If you’re a songwriter, musician or are involved in the music industry in any way you could do far worse than suscribe to Steve’s blog here and follow him on twitter here.

If you want to hear his music you can buy his latest solo album here or if you want to start small I’d download this song.

Steve and I recorded an album together a while ago (of which I’m incredibly proud) which you can download from CDBaby,  iTunes or Steve’s online shop.

Commissions & Collaborators

I’ve been thinking about what I want to blog about over the next wee while and two subjects come to mind:

Commissions and Collaborators

Over the last year and a half I’ve been commissioned to write and record a number of songs/remixes – some of which haven’t really seen the light of day yet. So I’ll be writing a few posts explaining more about them, with links to the tracks so you can listen while you read…

…I like the word commissioned – it sounds so much more important than just being ‘asked’ doesn’t it?

And collaborators……I’ve worked with some great people recently who have helped me put my Jesus is for Losers album out, so I’m going to write a bit about those folk as well.

More soon……