Bill Nelson's Diary - April 2004

Tuesday, 6th April 2004 -- 11:30 AM  
Working on the sleeve art for 'Custom Deluxe' with Dave Graham. Got the front and rear sleeve images sorted out but we're still experimenting with inner sleeve ideas. The front cover is particularly punchy and strong, a much more pop-culture look than the antique fantasy art of 'Dreamland To Starboard', as befits the two different moods of the albums. I've yet to master the 'Custom Deluxe' album though. I'll sit on the track listing just a while longer to make sure there are no changes to be made. Dave and I have given the front cover such a clearly defined and direct look that we now have to work particularly hard to bring the rest of the package into line with it. I'm sending more stuff over to Dave today for him to layout and add typography to suit.

I noticed some debate on the discussion board of my UK web site concerning the price of CD's in America. It seems that a couple of fans don't understand why imported British albums aren't as cheap as domestic US product and why I don't set up a manufacturing and distribution deal/facility in the US to serve the American market. I wasn't going to allow myself to be drawn into the discussion but perhaps it's worth me adding my own interpretation here.  

Alan Myers, via the UK web site, has tried to explain the economics involved, mainly the disparity between the US and UK economies, the high cost of manufacturing low production runs versus investment of time and talent at my end, etc, etc., and that manufacturing larger quantities overseas to sell at lower prices doesn't really increase sales figures.  All this is perfectly true and valid. In any case, I'm told that there have been only four complaints about CD prices in the US since I first began funding and releasing my albums without the auspices of a record company. I also understand that almost half of the quantity of 'Dreamland To Starboard' has been pre-ordered/sold to American fans within the first few days of it being announced, before it's even back from the pressing plant. This seems to indicate that the cost of buying an import album isn't too much of a problem for the majority of US fans.

My own additional take on this is that I don't particularly want to enter into manufacturing and distribution set ups overseas (or anywhere else for that matter), at this moment in time. It would complicate what is now a very direct and simple process, it would bring more people into the manufacturing and selling equation than I'm comfortable with, require extra master discs to be made and handed over to others to manufacture from, duplicate artwork masters to be made, extra documentation,  further accounting complexities and so on and so forth and, of course, it would slip further away from my own direct control. Suddenly, it starts to feel quite different from the way it feels now. I'm not willing to accept this additional risk, I'm afraid.  My past experience with these things, both here and abroad, has made me extremely wary of letting things drift out of my hands. Right now, I totally own, fund, and shape my output. I decide how many copies are manufactured and sold, I have transparent accounting and I can let loose with my creative urges. If I feel like spending extra on packaging I can do so (provided I can afford to). I need ask no-one else's opinion or permission. I take the risks and make the decisions. There are no record companies, distributors, overseas manufacturers, etc,  playing devious games with the end product.

There's a 'political' dimension to this too: I can completely ignore the rules of an industry that attempts to enforce such rules for its own interests, rather than those of the artist. Basically, I can fly in the face of accepted industry procedure and create and offer music on my own terms, as frequently or infrequently as the muse dictates. I'm free to make music that doesn't insult the intelligence of the people who listen to it, music that I hope has a long shelf-life and will continue to give pleasure for many years to come. It isn't a cynical ploy to feed the masses musical chewing-gum that loses its flavour after a few minutes (as is the way with so much of what's on offer in other quarters). I try to keep my music 'special', at least, as much as I am able.   Therefore, I'm very protective of what I do, more so now than ever in view of past experience. Should a situation arise where I am offered an opportunity to bring my work to a wider audience, I'd be happy to investigate it, but only if it could provide me with more security, a seriously media-savvy profile-boost to justify any extra costs to myself, and a substantial cash investment in my music making activities. (Which isn't going to happen, the industry being as timid and tepid as it is these days.) I've had so many empty promises along similar lines over the years that I'm absolutely weary and wary of new ones anyway. It's not as if I haven't given these things a chance in the past either...

Almost every time I've been persuaded to allow my work to fall into the hands of others, whether it be big corporate record companies or 'well meaning' independently operated outfits, it inevitably leads to frustration, exploitation, distrust and trouble. I'm still trying to get to the bottom of the Lenin Imports debacle, to give one example (and there are others besides). At the risk of sounding 'bolshy', I have no desire to relinquish control of my work to anyone at this point in time. I'm trying to function as an 'artist' in the traditional meaning of the word: I create, not for a marketplace or consumer/industry led machine, but for certain ideals and musical values I feel committed to, regardless of their commercial viability. This does not necessarily mean reaching less people, but it certainly rules out letting go of the ownership and control of my work just for the sake of increasing my audience figures. A dubious possibility in view of market tastes anyway. I'm perfectly resigned, at this point in time, to accept the downside of such a situation. Of course I'd like more financial success, fame,  recognition or whatever, but not at a cost to my personal vision (whatever that may be...). At rock bottom, I want to be able to survive by making music and therefore be able to make more and more of it. There are other alternatives to my lone wolf approach, I admit, and many people still think the independent companies offer a viable alternative. Unfortunately, I'm just as wary of the independent route as I am of the majors. The independent pond is equally as infested with sharks as the corporate ocean. My advice to other artists tempted into these situations is: resist or at least be very careful.  Own your own work as much as possible and don't let it fall into the clutches of the unknown. The less people between artist and audience the better. Idealistic? Yes...unworkable? Well, yes and no. It all depends.

Enough...it's enough to drive me nuts. I'm going back to my 'Custom Deluxe' sleeve art. Creating the music and its packaging are the sanest aspects of this job, all the rest is smoke and mirrors. Italy trip coming up at the end of this month and I'm far from prepared. I have to assemble a half-hour set for the three day guitar trade show that I'm performing at in Soave. I need to rehearse with the material and arrange for equipment transportation too... No guitar tech or sound engineer with me on this trip, unfortunately...It's a 'sing-for-your-supper' affair and therefore no fee to pay for crew. I'll be carting my own stuff around and setting up, tackling down. Wish I felt more physically up to the task. It's a younger man's game, I'm afraid. The playing is enough of a challenge without the equipment burdens.  Hopefully the few days in Italy after the event is over will compensate for the stress. Should get me out of this room for a few days though and that can't be bad. Can it?

Wednesday, 14th April 2004 -- 8:35 PM  

Continuing to work on the Nelsonica 04  fan convention album, which is definitely going to be called 'Wah-Wah Galaxy.' I seem to have even more tracks available than I originally thought and it's hard deciding what to put on it and what to leave off. It looks like it will be 14 or 15 tracks long this year. All  material I'm pleased with too. A jam-packed album on a par with any of this year's best releases from my studio. Considering that the 'Astral Motel' fan convention album recently brought over one hundred and thirty pounds at auction and had only 8 tracks on it, what will be the future value of this one?  Amazing really and not a little absurd.

The autumn tour is still hanging in thin air...very thin at the moment as the agent still hasn't confirmed any venues or dates despite constant promises to do so. This is causing problems for me as I need to be putting things into action now if everything is to be ready in time for the autumn. It's really annoying and not a little embarrassing. I can't tell my musicians what's happening, organise a possible recording session for a band oriented album,  choose a concert set list,  set up rehearsals, etc, etc... It's totally frustrating and quite unprofessional. I hope they pull their finger out soon or it will all be too late. Sometimes I despair at the sheer waste of opportunities at the 'business end' of the music business. You wouldn't want these people in charge of any situation where your health or life might be at risk, that's for sure. With me and music though, it just about amounts to the same thing.

My Italian trip looming large on the horizon and still, yes still I haven't lifted a finger to prepare for it...no set list chosen nor backing tracks mastered, no clothes cleaned and pressed ready for packing, no cameras loaded and ready to go... I can't even remember where my passport is. I really have to stop the creative process until this practical task is out of the way. The albums I've been working on these last few months have practically sucked me dry, although the blasted ideas keep on coming. Remorseless, really. The dryness is physical, a kind of exhaustion. I'm sort of sick with it all. But not sick of it, by any means.

Two favourites of mine from 'Wah-Wah Galaxy' (listening to a draft assembly as I type these words), are: 'Old Weirdlola' and 'Nothing Is The New Something.' I wonder how many people who listen to my music have the patience or the nous to keep up with all this? Increasingly, it weeds out the men from the boys, the women from the girls and the gods from the goons. If it doesn't, I'll just have to get more devious with it until it does. As the years go by, the vehicle becomes sleeker, faster, more refined and therefore less visible to slow moving observers. Maybe I should make it more like an old bus to accommodate more passengers. As if...

Sunday, 18 April 2004 -- 6:46 PM  
Working on the set choices for my rapidly approaching Italian guitar trade fair performance. Not the easiest set to decide upon, mainly as the audience will be made up of people who probably don't listen to the kind of music I make in the first place, people who are probably expecting something much more quantifiable in guitar-formulaic terms.  The weird thing about this is that I'm still considered by many people to be first and foremost a guitarist, with all the stereotypical connotations that particular label implies. This is a familiar and comfortable tag for those well-meaning folks who pathologically define the instrument in terms of late 'sixties, early 'seventies 'axe heroics'. In fact, such narrow definitions (which I trust I don't have to explain to my readers here...God knows I've complained about such restrictions often enough in the past), still permeate the current rock music scene with its sad reliance on all things retro and mock 'authentic.' (This even extends to the tired old debate about analogue versus digital, tubes versus modeling amps, stomp boxes versus processors, etc. As if we had to choose only one camp or the other. Well, isn't it a multiverse out there? Can't we have it all?)

 When I began to sort through my solo performance backing tracks in preparation for Italy, I realised that, with the possible exception of 'Moon Rocket Highway' and 'For Stuart' , my live performance pieces are way outside the remit of the usual rock guitar crowd. There are no obvious guitarist-pleasing tunes here, no 'by the book' measurements of technical prowess or demonstrations of fretboard athleticism. No signifiers of hours spent in my bedroom studying harmony, scales, theory, home-perms and bomber jacket design. In fact, almost everything I have created within the format makes little or no attempt to connect to the fraternity of guitar obsessives whatsoever. Now, this may be perceived as a bad thing by those of a more orthodox disposition but, in pure music terms, it's a revealing indication of how far I've traveled over the years. In fact, pieces such as 'Moon Rocket Highway', now around 20 years old and blatantly rockist (at least compared to other guitar pieces of mine), still sound somehow a tad more modern and 'outsider' than most contemporary rock guitar music...which is ironic, as I definitely view pieces such as these as belonging to my more deliberately 'old-fashioned', mainstream work.

Nevertheless, the Italian situation is this: a guitar trade show open to the public...many of the people there will be guitar shop owners and staff, guitar manufacturers and company salesmen plus members of the public who are drawn towards such events. No disrespect but, aren't I in danger of being considered a freak?  A non-guitarist guitarist? Where is the flash? The fretboard pyrotechnics, the tapping, the wailing, the speed-demonics, the legs apart, swing-your-bollocks, rock n' roll gypsy, prog-genius, blow-dried, hairy-chested, out-of-my-way, spurting spunkiness of it all?  Well, don't ask me, I haven't got a fuckin' clue. Far too male dominated/biased for me. Too locker-room stinky-poo. I'm more of a low-lights,  scented candles and massage oil kind of guy. Well...the ladies like that, don't ya know.

Despite my love of the outsider ethic, I have to admit to being somewhat worried about my reception...how  will my autumn mist-enshrouded noodlings be perceived alongside the rutting grunt of the more demonstrative players. There's no flamboyance about what I do, no six-string histrionics. It's reasonably (and intentionally), thoughtful, painterly stuff, almost testosterone free, more feminine than macho, perhaps androgynous in the broadest sense of the term. As I've tried to explain in the past, bringing a rock guitar player's sensibilities to my party will only result in disappointment. If, however, you enjoy visual art, books, films, poetry and some of the more obscure corners of  popular and not-so-popular culture, you might find something to engage with. Guitar music for people with bookshelves. As good a definition as any. I will have to maintain my faith in the face of indifference, I suspect.

Whilst having a moan, here's another:  Top Of The Pops. I unfortunately caught this programme whilst having dinner the other night. (An occasional by product of the news finishing early on Friday evenings.) Well, what can I say?  One can only feel pity and sadness for a generation raised on such blatant buffoonery. The words 'shallow, dull, insipid, disposable and anonymous' spring to mind. It certainly doesn't get any better does it?  More fool me for still expecting popular music to deliver the revolution into our homes though.

In direct contrast, I watched the DVD of the 'Concert For George' (once again) and, even though the musicians taking part are of  the 'old fart' category and haven't produced anything I would consider buying now for several years, there was enough sincerity, genuine god-given talent and human/ humane compassion on show to make Top Of The Pops look like an amatuer Karaoke contest. Eric Clapton (who provided a template for so many of my generation of guitarists back in the 1960's), displayed real dignity, sensitivity and great humility whilst performing George Harrison's songs with tremendous respect and loving care. For this concert alone, he regained his position in my pantheon of heroes. Joe Brown's rendition of the old standard 'I'll See You In My Dreams', sung to ukelele accompaniment at the finale still touches me deeply every time I view it. Call me sentimental, I don't care.   An interview with Eric Clapton in a recent Guitar Player magazine article (the American magazine), revealed an interesting fact. Apparently, Eric made an album of guitar and loop/sample groove tracks recently, under an assumed name. In the interview, Eric says that he did this because he thought that someone should put a guitar instrumental thing together with a 'drum 'n' bass, jungle' music approach. He does, however, acknowledge that Jeff Beck did it before him. I wonder whether someone should point him in the direction of 'Practically Wired' and 'After The Satellite Sings?' Both these pre-dated Jeff Beck's excursion into these realms by some years. 'Pink Buddha Blues' would probably make an easy connection with Eric's past and future.

A rainy Sunday and I have better things to do than type these words. I have to find something to play in Italy that might go with the spandex pants I've bought for the occasion.  

Thursday, 22nd April 2004 -- 6 PM  
Just returned from Fairview studio where I've been assembling a CD of the backing tracks I intend to use for my Italian performances. I've included two brand new compositions and have mastered them with John Spence. The other numbers are taken from my 'Romance Of Sustain' tour concerts. I'm only supposed to be playing for 30 minutes at each show (three shows over three days), but my set actually runs to around 47 minutes. Hope this won't cause problems with the other musicians who are allocated half an hour each. Trouble is, my pieces are quite long and to build up a variety and proper flow of music, I need to play nine numbers. This works out at about 47 minutes so...

1. This Very Moment
2. Avanti  (New Piece)
3. It Just Doesn't Rain Like It Used To
4. Gloria Mundae
5. Cresta  (Another New Piece)
6. Transoceanic
7. Appolinaire
8. For Stuart
9. Moon Rocket Highway

Should there be need for a tenth number, I'll improvise a loop piece using the Boss loop station and Line 6 delay modeller.

I now need to set up my stage equipment rig here at home and work through the set to refresh myself on the pedal pushing, not to mention how to connect the whole system together properly. I've come to rely on Dave's guitar-tech skills these last few months but will have to look after all the technical requirements myself in Italy. I hope there's someone capable on the out-front mixing desk. I hope there IS an out-front mixing desk...  There's only a short time left for me to rehearse and prepare equipment. Tomorrow (Friday), I'll try to spend the whole day running through the set.

Saturday I have to travel over to Elland to get my hair cut at Steve's salon. Sunday is packing the equipment and cleaning guitars day as Brendan Croker (who is also performing), is collecting my gear on Monday in his large 4-wheel drive vehicle to drive it all over to Music Ground where it will be loaded into the Music Ground shop's van along with the guitars that they are selling at the Italian trade show. This will all go over to Italy by sea. Then, next Thursday, I drive to Stanstead airport with Music Ground owner Rick Harrison and he and I and our wives fly to Italy. The following three days (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) I perform every evening, then Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday is at leisure. A trip to Venice, Verona and Lake Como. (Maybe I'll see the ghost of Perry.) Video-camcorder and Digital camera at the ready. Grab it all, take it home, put it through the machinery and filter it all back. More movies for music.

I'm packing all my best 'decadent aesthete' clothing, linen suits, panama hat, walking cane etc...must act the part as I wander around Venice, fulfill a little fantasy. I've never been there before but have wanted to visit since I was a boy. Only been to Italy twice previously: once for an avant-garde music festival in Bari and once to Rome to perform a collaborative concert with my good friend Harold Budd. I expressed my worries about the trip to Harold a few weeks ago but he reminded me that there's no such thing as a bad trip to Italy. I'm far more familiar with France, particularly the Cote D' Azur which feels like my spiritual home in some ways. Had I not been such a stubborn, awkward, anti-show biz boy, I might have earned enough money to buy a retirement home in Villefranche by now, like all those up-supermarket pop-stars such as U2 and Elton John.

Never mind, it's not all doom and gloom:  If I'm lucky, one of these days I might be able to invest in a holiday caravan in Skipsea on Yorkshire's windswept East coast. Then again...  Anyway, in Italy, the hardest thing will be staying away from the promised free-flowing wine until the performances are over. Gone are the days when I could imbibe a glass or two before going on stage. Nowadays I prefer to play without the foggy ego-boost of Dutch courage. Face the audience head on, no safety net, no riot shield. Then obliterate it all afterwards, spouting poetry, proclaiming the new philosophy, glass in one hand,  the other hand caressing the nearest beautiful Italian art-babe (probably Emiko...Japanese, but just as appropriate), whilst across the table uncomprehending rock guitar players and dealers glance at each other in horror. Ha!! Fret not, my little rock 'n' rollers, the spirit of a more glorious and surreal age is alive and well and living under my hat. AVANTI!!

Tuesday, 27th April 2004 -- 9:30 AM  
Have to drive over to Fairview studio today to get another backing track master CD for my Italian performances. When I rehearsed with the one I made last Thursday, one of the tracks, 'It Just Doesn't Rain Like It Used To' had a pitch problem. John Spence and I adjusted this last week by putting the track through  pitch-correction software but, when I ran the piece at home, it was still out of tune. A mystery this as I'd not had problems with the track previously and all the other pieces I'm working with seem fine. It's essential that all the tracks are concert pitch so that my live guitar playing is in tune with the pre-recorded foundations. For now, I've asked John to make up a new master CD-r, eliminating the 'Rain' track from the running order altogether. My set was a little longer than required anyway so one track less won't hurt.

My guitars and equipment were collected yesterday and will soon be driven over to Italy along with Music Ground's wares. The company are selling some vintage instruments at the Soave Guitar Fair. Hope mine don't get mixed up with theirs and get sold before I get there...I've labeled them clearly enough!

Emi and I fly from Stanstead to Verona on Thursday evening but will be leaving home late morning to get to the airport.  A reasonably short flight, I think, just a couple of hours. Flying is still not my favourite pastime. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are performing days (as I've mentioned in a previous diary entry), then three days of Venice, Verona and Lake Como before returning home. Hope the weather will be good. It's overcast and raining cats and dogs here at the moment. Emi and I desperately trying to cut back on our baggage. An impossibility as we always take more than we need due to our love of clothes. We've both been style afficionado's since we were teenagers. Old habits die hard and all that. Whenever we go away with other people, they look at the amount of luggage we carry in horror. I kind of envy those who can travel with just a Boston Bag packed with half-a-dozen t-shirts, one jacket and a pair of jeans. I always need choices, something for every eventuality, sun or rain, dress up or dress down. The tools of a man who likes to appear in control of his environment and his public image perhaps? Or just a passion for beautiful clothes? A bit of both, I suspect.

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