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Drum Travel Progress

It is very exciting that the Drum Travel project has reached its current state of completion. I collected the first double CDs last night, and a further batch will be ready today. These have been made with great care and expertise by Tom Askaroff at CMP studios. Sandeep`s design is looking brilliant, and universally the feedback to this has been awesome. Read more →

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Drum Travel

Forthcoming Album

Drum Travel is a project that seeks to celebrate the extensive power and diverse vocabulary of drums, and their ability to transport you on transformative journeys of various kinds. Whether they are supporting states of trance and meditation or propelling the heights of ecstatic dance, drums have always held the key to one of music’s most essential framework components – rhythm. Read more →

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Mutable Music

Mutable Music

Today sees the launch of my new album on the Starfield label

Mutable Music by James Asher and Simon Brewin. I first met Simon as a bass player/guitarist playing with keyboardist Big Al`s Boogie Woogie Trio. It was immediately clear to me that not only is he a very talented player, but a very flexible and varied one too. Over the past year we have been co-writing and it has been a delight to unpack some of those diverse layers of creativity I first sensed in his playing. Read more →

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New EP released – James Asher and Arthur Hull

In the Outer Mind

Today a new EP is released by James Asher and Arthur Hull. It`s called In the Outer Mind, and features 3 tracks. First up is the title track, followed by Emerald Equinox and Meeting the Circle. These tracks resulted from the week Arthur spent with James at Starfield Studios in October. The mood is upbeat, and after the cinematic but enigmatic In the Outer mind track, we move on to the Irish folky flavour of Emerald Equinox. Finally Meeting the Circle is a tour de force in offering the first virtual drumcircle track created by Arthur and James. 23 drums and 13 percussion elements make up this superbly crafted percussive extravaganza. Available now on itunes.

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Long Summer

It has made a very pleasant contrast to enjoy an extended and feelable summer. Though the nights are getting much more cool, the days still offer some enjoyable fine weather. A major contrast to last year. This image of the waterlily is what I see in the front garden pond, and always reminds me of a lotus.

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Drum Travel 4 – June 14th

We were lucky to have a visit from Carolina Maggio. Sandeep had met her at a party in London, and had been very struck by her warm and gutsy singing voice, and also her playing of a small fretted instrument called charango. We were able to get to enjoy both of these talents during the sessions on Friday. Carolina is also an artist and sometimes combines painting with musical performances, something with which we may be able to collaborate ourselves in the future. Mostly how this impacts on how it is to work with her is a great and flowing creativity, making it very easy for new ideas to shape up, and thereby making it a lot of fun. Here you can see Carolina playing her charango

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Drum Travel 4 – June 13th

On Thursday and Friday last week we held the recording sessions for the fourth phase of Drum Travel. This was very productive. On Thursday Sandeep did overdubs on shimedaiko, ghatam and bodhran and we got a got a new excellent groove going on the lower pitched ring drum he brought. We also straightened out quite a few details on some of the other tracks. Then on Thursday night, Sandeep joined me for a gig with Howlin` Blues at Chapter 12 winebar in Hailsham. It was fun to go into live playing mode after the focus and concentration in the studio.

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Weekend Visit

A week ago it was great to have a visit from the Slovenian singer songwriter Javor Vogelnik Skerlj – (that`as quite a mouthful for us Brits!). We had met each other at one of the Drum Mantra events in St Peter`s Church Vauxhall, and he had expressed in interest in drumming and songwriting. So I invited him down and we worked on recording `Standback` – a song of his which comes in two parts. Read more →

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Funky Guitar and Bass

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Simon Brewin visited the studio and added some blazing rhythmic guitar to some of the tracks for Drum Travel and also some excellent bass. The recent Daft Punk release `Get Lucky` has been an inspiration, especially in terms of being a return to the fun aspects of music that goes back a while. Nile Rodgers was the guitarist who was one of the innovators of the highly rhythmic and funky style of guitar playing that characterised the early hits by Chic, and also plays on the Daft Punk album and single. Looking forward very much to seeing Nile play live when he appears at the Love Supreme Festival on July 6th at Glynde, a local venue previously known for opera.

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Custom Overdubs

Sometimes music tracks call for overdubs of a very specific kind and they need tailored accordingly. Working on a jazz track recently with bass player/guitarist Simon Brewin, we felt a need to add some live cymbals and snare drum played with brushes. This proved be an ideal added component and really brought the track to a pleasing sense of completion. Though there are commonly accepted ways of recording, it`s always a good idea to listen and be open to what may be missing in the way of elements, and add these accordingly.

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Brothers in Rhythm

It was great to have a chance to meet up with old friend and creative collaborator Sivamani recently in London. As he was performing during the Alchemy Festival, he was in the UK briefly. Sandeep Raval was also there and it was brilliant for the three of us to be reunited. The enclosed photo captures the moment. Sivamani has a huge profile in India, being an extraordinary and highly charismatic showman. He also has a significant worldwide following. We recorded an album together in 2001 called Drums on Fire. During the last Commonwealth Games there I heard one of the tracks – Hangfire – being played in the stadium as a preamble to the sporting events.

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Drum Travel Progress

The recording work and development of the Drum Travel project with Sandeep Raval has been progressing very well. One of the latest tracks to evolve is called Darabuk Dub. In the photo below you can see the recording of darabuk and dumbek. Sandeep`s awesome playing technique, evolved originally from his training as a tabla player, works extremely well on these two Middle Eastern percussion instruments. The track itself has a very infectious upbeat quality. Yesterday it was further enhanced by some spectacular bass playing by Simon Brewin, who also added some brilliant funk rhythm guitar. The Drum Travel project continues to grow from strength to strength!

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Earthy Flavours

Feet in the Soil

Some of the collaborators in creativity along the way have been very striking. One such is the extraordinary Rory Baxter from Australia, who I met originally as the talented graphic designer for Aura-Soma, but also an excellent and original musician, playing didgeridoo and djembe. Wishing to explore possibilities with a new drum he had been given for a birthday, we recorded a piece called Pemulwuy. This would become the first track of Feet in the Soil, the album released in 1995, and to date my bestseller. Read more →

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Exploring World Music

Globalarium

World music and its breadth of expression intrigued me and this led me to my first album in this area – Globalarium in 1993. Musical collaborations with the likes of Joji Hirota (Real World), and Hossam Ramzy (Arc Music) enriched the mix. The musical direction was diverse, but resonated enthusiasm at the idea of combining the rich qualities of these cultural sources in a free form celebration. By this time Music West had folded, and out of several interested labels I selected Silverwave, based in Colorado. Read more →

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Hammered Dulcimer at 3rd Drum Mantra

Last Saturday at St Peter`s church in Vauxhall, London was the the third Drum Mantra event in which I have taken part. As well as playing drums, I had also brought my hammered dulcimer.  This instrument has an extraordinary sound which was actually picked up quite well by the microphones with its thirty six resonant strings, which as can be imagined takes a while to tune up. This particular instrument was made by Tim Manning – a great crafter of instruments from Somerset, England. The addition of some excellent djembe playing made for some dynamic rhythmical exchanges and there were some exciting moments.

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The lineup for last Saturday`s performance

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The equipment used, with the hammerd dulcimer front on the left

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A closeup of the dulcimer

 

 

 

 

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Programming and Playing Drums

In this photo Sandeep Raval is programming the Maschine Drum as part of our Drum Tavel project. Drum programming is a fascinating area (see Wikipedia for a description of drum machines). First of all in the way of creating guide tracks against which you later play it offers a form of scaffolding for the rhythm. Also because the nature and variety of drum samples that are available is so completely vast, there are astonishing possibilities available within that. Considering the right feel and tempo for a track, it provides the ideal tool. How does the groove feel if we notch it up a bit? Can it go halftime for a while, and for how long? Read more →

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Howlin` Blues – 4 gigs over Easter Weekend

There was a succession of gigs for Howlin` Blues, which all seemed to go very well. The Cinqueports in Seaford was a cheering start where it was great to see the landlord dancing behind the bar – always a good sign! Then on Saturday morning we performed at the Underground Theatre in Eastbourne to a capacity crowd, most of whom had never seen us before , so the enthused response was very encouraging. That evening as we were all ready to hang up our guns, we got a call asking us to dep at the Hailsham Club for a band whose van had broken down. Initially the evening seemed a little slow to take off, but come the second half the dancefloor was buzzing, and it turned out to be a very fun evening. Then on Sunday we concluded with a brilliant and lively afternoon at the Garden Bar in Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne. This was the first time we had played here, but were assured by the manager we would be back.

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