A life of constant movement with decades spent on the road or at sea --much of it before mobiles phones and the internet-- means that I lost track of many people and projects along the way.
I am eternally grateful for the friendship, drive, patience and professionalism of those who ensured that these projects saw the light of day.
Mercury Rising
Cast Adrift
Camels & Dragons
RECOLLECTiON
15 songs from the three releases remixed for the digital age.
Mercury Rising was recorded in Vancouver BC, at BeatCarver Studio by Wayne Adams, producer and drummer/percussionist extraordinaire for the likes of Geoff Berner and Zolty Cracker, mention a few. The production theme was somewhat of a homage to the West Coast's vibrant indie music scene of the 80/90's --focusing on the songs and using as little superfluous production as possible.
Recorded over a period of time that saw me leave the west coast and Canada numerous times, amazingly Wayne managed to keep track of it all. During this span we brought in various musicians, most notably the didgeridoo player Vince Sanregret (Hollowed Sound). He was slated to play on one or two tracks, but ended up playing all over the project.
The art work was done by Dragana Bozickovic and is meant to reflect, both, the bare-bones spirit of the project, and the fact that I was releasing a new project after a fairly lengthy absence from the studio. To further tie the project to the spirit of the west coast, it was drawn using ancient 'magical' building dimensions/formulas.
Cast Adrift was recorded at Middle of the Lake studio in Middenmeer (NL) by Kees Blaauw. Kees is somewhat of an electronics wizard who, by some accounts, started turning speakers into microphones as a child and has never stopped experimenting since. Middenmeer is a small village where my mother was born and, not surprisingly, this became somewhat of a family project
Driven by Kees and my cousin, life-long friend and super bassist Ruud Scholten. Kees and Ruud managed to pilfer a who-is-who of Noord Holland's music scene, getting them to drop in and lend a hand . The project was envisioned as an alchemical wedding between the loose rough groove of North America's indie scenes and the technical proficiency possessed by so many of Europe's musicians. The bulk of the project was pulled off during a couple of free weeks in between the end of a European tour and the start of a trans-Atlantic sailing voyage.
The art work was done by myself and reflects my sense of wonder at the beauty and magic of life's possibilities. The title reflects the reality that most of life's blessings are a double edged sword.
Camels & Dragons was recorded, produced and engineered by Keith Retson Spalding at Titan Sound Recording in Sherwood Park/Edmonton (Can). At the time I was heavily involved with Alberta's amazing music/arts/festival scene. This allowed me to bring in some excellent musicians from the area, like Dave Wright (Jerusalem Ridge) and Dale Ladouceur.
The art work was done by artist Anne Watson. The original work came in a stunning 3D format, which should be seen and held to truly grasp. The work calls upon the title track which, in turn, is a musical interpretation of 'The Three Metamorphosis of the Spirit' by F. Nietzsche.
Since this was my first 'pro studio' project the main aim was getting some tried and trusted songs onto tape while not wasting to much studio time; yes it was tape, 2 inch as a matter of fact, so any screw-up would be costly and require some delicate editing/splicing.