Wishbone Ash Blog http://wishboneash.com/index.php/site/index/ en rich+apowell@samedis.com Copyright 2012 2012-01-30T15:43:52+00:00 German Machinations http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/german_machinations/ http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/german_machinations/#When:15:43Z Germany works like a well-oiled machine. It’s evident to anyone the moment one arrives at a German airport from overseas. The luggage carts (things of beauty themselves) glide across perfectly level granite or marble floors and there’s stainless steel everywhere. Things are built to last in these places, from the efficient lifts and escalators to the lowliest litter bin or even to the sugar shaker at the coffee kiosk, where a WMF pressure brewer dispenses a perfect cappuccino, into a perfect white porcelain (not paper) cup. Starbucks eat your heart out.

It’s January, it’s Wishbone Ash in Germany, I’m zu Hause. I’ve been coming here for over 40 years and know this country very well - the infrastructure, where the roads, cars and buildings all fit together as an integrated whole, as if designed by some higher intelligence. Autobahns where, as long as you stick to the rules, you can drive safely at 200 kms an hour in the fast lane because trucks will stay in the slower lane and not take to the roads at all on sundays.

My father was an engineer and taught me to appreciate when things worked well. He helped me make my first guitars, showing me how to work on the brass parts and not to over tighten screws and so on. I liked working with wood but his thing was metal and the greater precision of it. Knurling, chrome plating, threading, micrometers - I learned all these strange new words and skills from him. When I made my first bit of serious money, traveling the world and recording with Wishbone Ash, I bought a BMW car. He looked down his nose at that. Why not a British car - a Jaguar or something?

I’d leave it with him when I’d go on tour, because I knew he’d keep it running and would not be able to resist getting his hands on the thing. Sure enough, I’d come to collect it at the end of one of those endlessly long American tours and he’d be in his little workshop in the garage, glasses on the end of his nose, marveling over a wheel nut or the oil filler cap from the Beemer, as though they were gems or something. For him, it was a glimpse into an alien culture of metal forgers. He could really appreciate the attention to detail, which at that time, was fast slipping from the British car industry, one in which he’d worked for 25 years of his life, holding down the night shift, building and inspecting rear axles for Bedford trucks a division of General Motors.

So it was last night in Ludwigsburg, the city named after the family of the mad king himself, that we played at Scala, a converted cinema. A fantastic gig and very appreciative audience. The band was on fire. I knew it would be good, when the promoter and his staff greeted us at the door with a hand shake and curt nods of the head. We were escorted to a beautifully laid out, clean, dressing room, hot food, towels, leather couches, internet. This was going to be a good night, I thought - and so it was. Everyone was very pleased with the outcome, so much so that post-show, we were treated to a little tour of the old projection room from the former cinema in which we’d just played. Two giant German projection machines were still in situ. They’d been bought to this location, their final resting place by horse and cart, all the way from Berlin in 1954. This fact was unbelievable to us - a journey of 600 kilometres. Part of the building itself dated back some 300 years, starting life as a brewery (no surprise) and the newer part was built as an early cinema in 1910. Premieres were held in this place, featuring stars of the day like Marlene Dietrich. Our guides were very proud of it all and it was fascinating to see. They explained how the highly inflammable celluloid film had to be stored in bunkers outside the building and how the old projectionists would sound a little mechanical gong, still there and functioning, to let the patrons know that the film was about to start. Apparently in winter there would be no heating in the projection room and they’d have to wait for these huge machines to start their work, producing heat. After half an hour or so they could begin taking off their coats and getting comfortable up there in that little room.

I explained to them how we’d also once been taken round Bletchley Park in the UK where we saw one of the original Enigma code machines from the second world war, which the Brits captured and subsequently used to break all the German codes used for orders in the field and for the submarines etc. Times change. Now we are bringing British rock music with all its coded signals to grateful audiences here.

Of course all the early recordings made by Wishbone Ash were produced on serious German machines (well, Swiss actually - but you get the idea); Studer 8 track units - behemoths that each took 4 large men to move. We’d use Neumann or Sennheiser microphones, just the same as we use today in the studio. All these things were built to last and any of this kit would still work perfectly in today’s digital age - in many cases providing, to some folks’ ears, better results than today’s gear.

What is apparent to me, as I travel around Germany is that the culture here still invests in making machines with pride. Other countries do so as well but when the general culture at large, starts to devalue the basic need for these things and loses respect for the men and women who make them, things start to crumble. German technical colleges still turn out engineers and wood workers and the rest of die Volk here, appreciate it, that’s for sure. It’s not considered a ‘tradesman’ thing as if in a derogatory sense. Everyone is grateful and proud of these machines, produced by the country’s engineers because they enhance lives and hence are treated with respect. Cars are parked carefully. No German would thoughtlessly open a car door in a parking lot and smash it into his neighbors car - something I’ve seen and been a victim of, countless times in the States or the UK. There’s a reverence for these machines and the work of the artisan.

I see that Obama is trying to once again engender the idea in the States, that technical colleges and the pursuit of such a career might once again be worthy. Not a bad idea - I mean after all, do we really need so many lawyers, health professionals and politicians in our society? A liberal arts degree is fine and dandy but what about using education to innovate and make some good stuff - you know - cool bridges, correctly cambered roads with low energy lighting systems so that you can see while driving at night. Doors that work, locks that lock, windows built to last, drains that drain, efficient 21st century energy systems that don’t rely on outmoded fossil fuel technology, oh yes, and a decent pressure brewing unit for that perfect cup of latte macchiato.

Getting back to my father; after he retired he actually bought himself a German car, which floored me. That thing was his pride and joy. When he died, it came to me, and we used it for a further 10 years with the band, driving the band around Europe, where it saw out it’s final days back in the Fatherland. It was a BMW 5 series with a pretty small engine for the size of the car - a two litre, but we’d hammer along the autobahns in the early 1990s until the seats were worn out, as Bob Skeat can attest to. It got us out of many a scrape, as in the former East, spinning off roads in snow storms and suchlike. They never gritted the roads out there in those days. Now we charge around at impossible speeds in Mercedes Sprinter vans, converted with passenger seats and all the luxuries.

Occasionally, as a treat, we’ve rented Mercedes S class or E class cars and the great game is to see how fast you can actually drive one of these things. Once, while the band were all asleep, cocooned in the warmth of an S Class’s luxurious cabin, I took one of these beasts to 165mph - briefly. The car’s engine just loved it. Not even red lining the rev counter. Later - after a test drive in a Bentley Continental, at the factory in Crewe (courtesy of British super-fan Ben Reinhart - note the German name), the driver confided to me that the test guys at the company bought an S Class just to see what it was made of. This was while they were designing one of the new VW - owned ‘baby Bentleys’. The car was taken to the Scandinavian north, way up in Norway, and relentlessly flogged on the quiet roads up there, at top speeds for 2 weeks by the test crew. They were trying to break it. No joy. At the end of this exercise they bought the car back and booked it into a regular Mercedes service station in the UK. All the mechanic said was, “you boys look like you put this car through some pretty rough conditions”. It received a standard factory service and was returned as good as ever. The man at Bentley, was quietly appreciative of this fact.

Today, we have a day off. There’s a museum nearby dedicated to the work of Ferdinand Porshe. I might troll along there after I’ve taken care of scrubbing some shirt collars and partaken of one of those perfect cups of Cappuccino. Auf, auf, auf der Autobahn.

Bis Dann ~ A.P.

]]> 2012-01-30T15:43:52+00:00 Music Street Journal interview with Andy Powell http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/music_street_journal_interview_with_andy_powell/ http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/music_street_journal_interview_with_andy_powell/#When:18:45Z Music Street Journal interviewed Andy recently... Here's how it starts... (Photo courtesy of Peter Schmidt)

MSJ: Between Derek Lawrence and Tom Dowd, looking back, which sound do you prefer and why?

Derek did it for me. He was English, the same as us. He produced the first three records admirably, while being aided in no small part by Martin Birch's engineering. Martin had already engineered Fleetwood Mac and Deep Purple and would go on to handle Maiden and other hard rockers. Derek was very good at keeping the band egos in check, as well as getting the best out of our performances. He knew right off the bat, that it was all about the guitars but at the same time he worked for the harmonized vocal approach. Only the other day he called me and told me the same thing again, about the guitars, actually. It was great to hear from him after all these years. As far as the sound goes, British, at that time meant reverb, delay and anything that would give the feel of bigness / rock. American production then, was tight sounding, funky and dry. Their studios were like that and it was a continual battle to get ambience on the drums for example. That’s all changed now.

Tom produced some of the best records in popular music from the 20th century, but the times were changing. Tom worked well with UK artists who had a huge, almost sycophantic respect for American music. But with production, it was his way or the highway. He actually sent us for singing lessons. I didn't feel so bad about this though, because he'd done the same to Bette Midler. Lynyrd Skynyrd actually shelved a recording he'd done for them. Later they redid it without him.

In retrospect, we should have done the same with the ill-fated Locked In. On the other hand you can't knock Cream's Disraeli Gears (which Tom actually only engineered) or Rod Stewart’s Atlantic Crossing - although I preferred the latter’s work with the Faces, of course.

Click Here to read the rest

]]> Featured 2012-01-28T18:45:59+00:00 Good review http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/good_review/ http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/good_review/#When:06:13Z We did a fun photo session yesterday in Düsseldorf, Germany with ace photographer Stefan Gladow (pictured here). It was in a period setting and we dressed the part.

Here, though, I'm just sharing this review of Elegant Stealth http://www.69facesofrock.com/wishbone_ash_elegant_stealth_cd.html

~ A.P.

Just about every incarnation of Wishbone Ash was able to breathe some new life into the old beast. The last few albums had been spectacular, and this one just continues the path of great records. Apart from the hard core Wishbone Ash followers, very few people hear these albums, and it's a real shame when music this good slips away.

Wishbone Ash are of course one of the prime twin guitar bands, and the Powell-Manninen combination is just truly excellent. The songs are catchy, very technical, but there is a soul in what Wishbone Ash is doing! Andy Powell if of course the only original member at this point, but he is very true to his vision as to what Wishbone Ash should be. And the last few albums can compete with the most significant Wishbone Ash releases.

Much has to be said about the powerful rhythm section combined of Bob Skeat and Joe Crabtree, who provide a very solid base for the guitarist to shine. The beauty of this album is how every sound interplays with other sounds, making the whole a sonic harmony. Wishbone Ash delivers a great rock album.

"Elegant Stealth" is just exactly what the title indicates. The word elegant had been linked with the band for many years, it's no coincidence it finally represents one of its records. This set is meant to be heard as a whole, and as good as each track is, there is magic in hearing the entire album. And this comes from a band who used the albums to make musical statements over the last 40 years. Mark Kadzielawa

]]> 2012-01-17T06:13:11+00:00 All My Doubloons http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/all_my_doubloons/ http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/all_my_doubloons/#When:11:48Z I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year break. Ours was more eventful than usual. We took to the road trip (surprise, surprise) and had a real Southern holiday, spending time in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with my son’s family. Then we said our farewells and took a few quiet days on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington N.C., an interesting town I’d never visited before. Having lived in a small New England state for most of my adult life, the South is relatively unknown to me but I always enjoy visiting and increasingly, we get to learn more about it. The great thing is the weather. Most days were in the 60s and 70s so, to sit out on the porch on Christmas Day, in the sun, was sheer bliss.

Had some interestingly whimsical moments over Christmas. I was very happy just acting the goofy grandfather to my darling granddaughter Sophie Rose. Her current obsession is pirates and for some reason I figure into this since she discovered I have some gold teeth. The discovery was made while she was supposed to be listening to a bedtime story I was reading. First she asked where all my hair went.

Me, “It blew off in the wind”. Sophie, while looking into my mouth, “Are those cavities Grandad?” Me,” No, they are my my pirate teeth, now listen to the story”.

Anyway, later, no doubt making some connection in her young mind, while listening to the Wishbone Ash song Almighty Blues (which her father had been playing to her) she insisted on a different slant for the lyrics. In fact, according to her, the title and words to the song were actually All My Doubloons. I simply fell about on hearing this. Thinking further, it summed up song writing for me in a way. Sometimes songs do take on new meanings depending on the meanings the listener attaches to the the words. All My Doubloons takes it a little far but how many times, when listening to our songs or those of others, have you put your own words of meanings to them? I’ve done it often enough. In fact, during the recording of our recent song Big Issues, the engineer and I kept ourselves amused by retitling it “Bigger Shoes”.

Sophie is gradually getting the idea that I have a somewhat unusual job. She asked me on the phone, “So, how DO you rock & roll, grandad?” She’s heard the ancient term on some kids TV show and really did not know what it meant - just that I ‘did it’. The words grandad and rock & roll are so strange to hear in the same sentence, I can tell you that.

There’s a hint of a Southern accent in Sophie’s language these days and I love it. People use words differently in the South and sometimes it’s difficult to understand folks because the rhythm of their sentences hits you differently. On this trip,I could see people I met there, concentrating on my accent as well. The usual question these days is,” Are you Australian?” I then go into the whole story of how we (the Brits) shipped all the British criminals out there back in the day and that’s why they speak a kind of cockney English (Don’t tell an Aussie that)

Talking of accents and fun with language, I saw a great billboard while driving through Wilmington. It proclaimed the low-cost benefits of exercise at a local gym. “Pay Diddly for Your Squats” - I loved that. On another poster I saw an ad for formal wear. I really wanted to buy some clothing from Cape Fear Formal Wear, just for the label alone. It wasn’t to be though since there just aren’t that many formal occasions in rock & roll.

We wound up our stay in Wilmington and I’d recently been in touch with an old Wishbone tour manager and friend, Russell Sidelsky. He’d moved to Atlantic Beach Florida with his family, some years ago. He ran things for us when Wishbone first moved to America in the 70s. So on a whim, we decided to invite ourselves for New Years. I’m really glad we did because it was worth the 8 hour drive to go walking on the beach and eat oysters and sea food. New Years itself was celebrated twice. At 7.00 (Midnight GMT) we saw the New Year in with a Celtic meditation ceremony - a touch of the Druids in Florida - and then 5 hours later we were at the beach home of a wonderful female artist for yet more oysters (roasted this time). A tradition down there was the collection of all the neighborhood Christmas trees and a giant bonfire was set on the beach. Pine trees go up like rockets so it was pretty spectacular and I thought it was a nice touch that Susan Walters from TVs Vampire Diaries, made an appearance.

So now I’m back in chilly Connecticut, set to hit 8 deg. F. tonight, where I’m preparing for the upcoming European tour . We’ll kick off in Verviers, Belgium on January 11th. Guy Roberts just announced the resumption of AshCon in Chesterfield UK once more so hopefully there will be plenty of time to make plans for that PLUS we have the new Roadworks II CD ready for the road and for you to order online. Oh yes, and there are two Elegant Stealth T shirts currently in production for the upcoming tour. Finally; I just got word that there are some good things being said about us in this month’s Record Collector Magazine and also Total Guitar from the UK.

Myself and the band wish you all a happy, healthy and peaceful year for 2012 with great music and great times ahead.

~ A.P.

]]> 2012-01-07T11:48:14+00:00 Woody’s New Year’s Resolutions 1942 http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/woodys_new_years_resolutions_1942/ http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/woodys_new_years_resolutions_1942/#When:20:30Z This came from the American Songwriter Magazine via Aynsley Powell. I have to admit that it's hard to improve on Woody Guthrie's New Year's resolution list from 1942.

I particularly like Save Dough (yeah, right) and Make Up Your Mind. Stay Glad - now that's just perfect. Play and sing good. Says it all. Learn People Better. I mean...... Wake Up And Fight!!!! You have to be a warrior - right?

Hope you can read the words in the photo of Woody's book. Oh and check out the accompanying drawings. Folks took a little time over things back then. Gotta like that.

Happy New Year Everyone!

~ A.P.

]]> 2012-01-03T20:30:31+00:00 Happy Holidays! http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/happy_holidays1/ http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/happy_holidays1/#When:12:05Z To all our friends, fans, loved ones and business partners around the globe, we wish you all the very best at this time of year.

With a full date sheet, a great new album Elegant Stealth, and new projects on the horizon, we all have a lot to be thankful for in 2011 and a lot to look forward to in 2012. Most especially, we want to thank you all, our fans, mentors and faithful followers without who, we couldn't do what we do.

I'd personally like to especially thank the band and crew, Daniel, Holger, Simon, Zlatka, Scott and Harry, for their hard work and dedication and they'll in turn join me also in sending out  our blessings to those who have suffered nature's wrath in this year of incredibly heavy weather.  His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama recently visited Ishinomaki where the Japanese tsunami left such devastation. He bought great comfort to our friends and fans there. This is so much more than a band - these events show that we are a community joined by an invisible thread.

As far as the UK is concerned, our tour schedule has taken a bit of an economic bashing this year and confusion in the market has meant that we’ll all have to forego our customary spring tour. BUT we’ll be back in the autumn with a great tour and full-on AshCon at Chesterfield.

The USA, Brazil and Europe will hopefully all see some great road work from us all in the spring, despite ever greater obstacles to touring, like mandatory withholding taxes, higher travel costs and recession, recession, recession. Speaking of road work; volume II of the Roadworks series of live recordings is ready for you all and will be on sale during the upcoming Euro tour. It’s also available at our online store. Thanks to Aynsley Powell for helping out on that recording and Daniel Vetter who mixed it, Tom Greenwood who mastered it, as well as Guy Roberts for organising the funding and manufacture and Jon Case for his design work.

To all the folks that support us on the technical side (it's an increasingly technological age, after all) - big love to you all from myself and the band: Music Man guitars, Case guitars, Fender instruments, Analogman, Zildjian cymbals, D'Addario Strings, Gibson Guitars, the Bass Centre, Captured Live, AMS Neve, and our special thanks and thoughts go out to Kev and the Chilcott family at the moment, at Royale Guitars.

Our agents: Andy Nye, Steve Ozark, Patrik Mertens, Rudolf Heiniss and Döm. Our new record label Zyx Music and our long time label, Talking Elephant with whom we’re still great friends. Our publicists: Kate, Billy, Lee and Andy. Awesome job! Lastly, thanks to our publishers, Kassner Music Publishing for going the extra mile.

We have a hard core group of amazing mentors like Leon, Guy, Steve, Simon, Christian, Bodo, Big Harry, Alan, Ian and many others of you who fix things for us wherever we are

Peace and Love to you all ~ A.P, Muddy, Joe and Bob.

]]> 2011-12-20T12:05:10+00:00 Joe creates the ultimate metronome for musicians http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/joe_creates_the_ultimate_metronome_for_musicians/ http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/joe_creates_the_ultimate_metronome_for_musicians/#When:00:53Z This is what I've been doing in our break from touring...

PolyNome : The Ultimate Metronome

There's a website that shows you what you can do with it : PolyNome.net

I'll be testing Bob and Muddy's timing when we get back on the road smile

J

]]> 2011-12-17T00:53:47+00:00 Boys and Their Toys http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/boys_and_their_toys/ http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/boys_and_their_toys/#When:13:27Z Writing a blog is a great cure for insomnia. It’s currently 3.00am and I should be exhausted with all the energy spent trying to keep warm today. We had yet another power cut where I live. This one lasted for 6 hours. It’s getting really old. The head of the Connecticut Light & Power utility resigned over his incompetence after the last 8 day outtage. I’m seeing an electrician tomorrow who will install a permanently wired-in generator for the house, for when the next emergency kicks in. Trouble is, there’s a 2 month waiting list for them. All my neighbors have the same idea. I’m telling you, the infrastructure is breaking down in the USA. It’s happening right before our very eyes! The state of Connecticut, with one of the wealthiest per capita incomes, makes more submarines, guns, helicopters and other weapons of war but we can’t even bury our power lines as they do in Europe in order to protect its citizens from a little wind or rain. It’s sad. Put America back to work! Give the people a First World power supply instead of a Third World one! Rant over.

Anyway, I snapped this shot of a wonderful old Indian motorbike while I was up at our local town recycling center. I turned around and there it was. By the way, I liked it when they used to call this place the town dump. The good ol’ boys that hang out here, they still call it the dump. Sometimes when I’ve got things to dispose of, I meet the occasional neighbor and we catch up with the news. Where we live is a rural location so there are neighbors you might not have caught up with in a year. Kids who get to work out their community service hours, for drunk driving or other issues, also ‘work the trash’ and I got talking to one young guy who noticed the old music stand I was throwing away. He asked if I was a musician. I said, “yes, I hope so”, and he told me that he was a classical violinist. More on that later.

Back to the motorbike: From the 1940s, this bike was renovated by the venerable gentleman who rode in on her. Note the ‘death changer’ gear shift. You gotta be a warrior to ride this 1200 cc beauty, which harks back to what I like to think was a much more innocent time in America, before it mutated into the military/industrial complex it is today. We take for granted the way things are now, in the aftermath of 3 wars and us going out there to fix the world’s woes. It wasn’t always this way. I read a great article in Vanity Fair magazine this week about, the start of that process and how it heralded in the age of secrecy and partisan paranoia that we ‘enjoy’ today - the new America. It’s by George F. Kennan. Check it out.http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/01/Todd-Purdum-on-National-Security I apologize. For those who could care less, I can be a bit of a politics geek.

It’s not all doom and gloom here on the east coast. I’ve been listening to a lot of music just lately. We still have an actual terrestrial local rock radio station round here called WFUV, staffed by a lot of the old jocks like Pete Fornatale and Scott Muni who used to work for WNEW FM, New York’s finest station, back in the 70s. These guys carry on the FM tradition but with more of a nod towards Americana and Indie bands these days. Anyway, I was telling Bob Skeat that one of the coolest bass lines on a new song is to be found on Wilco’s, Dawned on Me. I also like Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People for a killer chorus in a new song. I have no idea what it’s about but I cannot stop whistling this melody. In another vein, some months ago, Joe Crabtree had turned me on to Lewis Black when I was in England and I’ve become more familiar with his stuff lately. I love Stoned Part 1 by him. I’m addicted to Spotify and have been checking out all sorts of stuff there.

My days, in actuality, are also filled with running this small business (as it’s called, according to Wikipedia) Wishbone Ash. I do have down time but there’s always a good 6 or 8 hours of daily work keeping the band on the road. There have also been a lot of PR things going on which keeps us all busy. For something different, I’ve been doing a little road biking recently and also, a lot of yoga. I ride a Cannondale bike, which is a local company that has had global success. My local bike repairman tried to sell me a new $1500 drive train for my ride, saying the shifters on my handlebars were not repairable. So, I took it to the Bicycle Shop in Mount Kisco, NY and they said the oil in the shifters, had become all gunky and that all all the parts needed was a good cleaning with a solvent and blowing out with a compressed air gun. Estimated cost - around $50. I’m going there tomorrow for a proper bike fitting as well, since my bike is set up incorrectly, it seems. I have a feeling next spring will see me in the market for something more exotic on two wheels but in the meantime, I love my bike. I also love the new carbon graphite models that are out there. Mine has an aluminum frame. Cannondale actually has one that changes gears and operates the brakes by radio signal - no wires. It’s as light as a feather. There’s great technology in road bikes. http://www.cannondale.com/

Talking of boys and their toys, I’m about to sell one of my three prized Music Man Silhouette guitars. This one features a piezzo pick - up, like my Vs have. I love these guitars and you can hear how they sound if you check out the new Elegant Stealth CD. My solo on the song Can’t Go It Alone is pure Music Man. But I need to cull my collection a little. It’s getting out of hand. The metallic dove grey model that I‘m selling, has a vintage white pearloid scratch plate plus an awesome birdseye maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, locking Spurzel tuners and a very interesting addition called the Easy Mute trem which facilitates better muting of the bridge and leaves the trem arm always in the position you left it in http://www.easymute.freeserve.co.uk/easymute3.html It has two DiMarzio humbucking pick-ups plus a single coil in the middle enabling 5 distinctly different tones from full-on rich rock, to Strat like percussiveness. I’m also selling a Gibson Chet Atkins guitar like the one Dave Mathews and Sting used to use. It has cool pearl star inlays on the fret positions and a retro design.

Talking of technology and instruments; I heard a great piece on National Public Radio the other morning. As I was telling my new violinist friend at the dump, apparently this CAT machine operator at one of the local hospitals, was also a violinist and had taken his Stradivarius into work for some practice in between shifts. How he got to own one of these insane instruments is any one’s guess. Only recently, one went at auction for $16,000,000! Anyway, he’d laid his presumably much cheaper model, down next to the scanning machine, while helping a patient. Later the thought occurred to him; “why not scan the violin?” He did so and passed the info onto a friend who happened to built CADD machines. These things, Computer Aided Design and Drafting machines, are used to literally design machines to make other things. To cut a long story short, this machine that his friend developed was able to carve out an exact replica of the the Strad, even replicating the original wood density (info obtained from the CAT scanner). The result as heard on the radio, was as near-as-dammit the tone and timbre of a real Antonio Stradivarius violin. This blew my mind. Can you imagine being able to copy the sound of these classic instruments for a fraction of the cost in the future? Now that’s technology. We could have real clones of the Jimmy Hendrix Stratocaster, Stevie Ray Vaughan Strat or even the Andy Powell mid 60s classic V for real, right in your hands. All you’d have to do then, is learn to play it. Once this this was mastered, the thing would be guaranteed to deliver the exact tone of one these classic instruments.

Simple, eh?

~ A.P. PS. Interested in the Music Man guitar or the Gibson Chet Atkins model? Contact me by PM ( ashhq) from our forum page.

]]> 2011-12-13T13:27:06+00:00 Elegant Stealth review http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/elegant_stealth_review/ http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/elegant_stealth_review/#When:17:05Z Here's a pretty cool review of our latest CD in case you are wondering about obtaining a copy.

http://www.muzikreviews.com/reviews.php?ID=1934

Wishbone Ash Elegant Stealth

I guess an Elegant Stealth would be a butterfly now wouldn’t it? Don’t be deceived by the mellow pastels and the image on the cover of the new Wishbone Ash album. Inside what you will find is 12 tracks packed with the classic rocking Wishbone Ash sound.

What I have found uplifting about this band on a consistent basis is that they have never come across as a bunch of guys trying to relive their past, hang onto it and then live off their back catalog with countless resissues and best of collections. Andy Powell and the band have remained renewed and vital for a very long time. The longtime founding member has kept the same group intact for a few years now and it has paid off. The youngster Joe Crabtree (drums), the precise Muddy Manninen (guitar) and the animated in step Bob Skeat (bass) have found a solid groove and show no signs of slowing down. Elegant Stealth *keeps the Wishbone Ash patented sound in place and Andy sounds as strong as ever fronting the band. Having seen the band perform live over the summer was proof positive for this long time fan that this band is a relevant and exciting act. There is not a lot that is progressive about this band anymore, what you hear is for the most part is a classic rock blues influenced sound with soaring harmonies and dueling guitars that rival any active band that is playing out or recording today. The opening track (see the cool accompanying video) “Reason To Believe” is a pedal to the metal rocker that only this band can produce. If you are familiar with their sound you will understand exactly what I am talking about. There is not a weak link on the recording; it is stellar from beginning to end. The subject matter is very familiar, much of it covers relationships and love and all its complications. The music and lyrics has always gone hand in hand for Wishbone Ash regardless of the lineup, as long as Mr. Powell is at the helm they will sound as you would expect and that is good thing. That is not to say that they do not mix it up musically. The rockers, like the opener and “Big Issues,” offers up a thumping rhythm section leading the way into some extended scalding hot blues-rock licks (the track runs over 7 minutes) or the instrumental gem “Mud-Slick,” where the dueling guitars and a whirling dervish organ sweep you away and keep the strong momentum going throughout the entire listen. There are many different sounds and textures that are carefully painted on their diverse musical canvas. Take track 7 for instance, “Heavy Weather,” is one of the most complex and fascinating tracks on the recording, showcasing the excellent musicality this talented group of musicians have at their command. If any of the older fans are looking for the prog rock from earlier albums like *Argusand such they will find it all in full bloom on this long player (6:38). It is a real show stopper and will certainly become a favorite at their shows very quickly no doubt. There is nothing not to like here, every track is 100% Wishbone Ash at their very best. This band is like a fine wine that just keeps getting better with age and this is one of their strongest studio releases in years. *Key Tracks: Reason To Believe. Heavy Weather, Mud-Slick

* Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck-Founder MuzikReviews.com December 6, 2011 ©MuzikReviews.com http://www.muzikreviews.com/

]]> 2011-12-08T17:05:16+00:00 Classic Rock Revisited Interview with Andy http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/classic_rock_revisited_interview_with_andy/ http://wishboneash.com/blog/post/classic_rock_revisited_interview_with_andy/#When:21:48Z http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/)

Andy Powell and Wishbone Ash have delivered big time with their latest release, titled Elegant Stealth. The album is a return for the band to their trademark twin guitar leads and songs that are both musically impressive and lyrically deep. Wishbone Ash have created an album that stands easily amongst the best they have ever made.

The band, which has been ongoing since 1969, is led by Powell, who is the only original member. That said, the current lineup of the group is most impressive. The band members are well versed in all styles of music and are not afraid to show off their chops. Wishbone Ash fans will receive this album with open arms and tout it as one of their best.

Read on as we discuss the new music in-depth, as well as some of the high points of Andy’s amazing career. Learn how the twin guitars came to be, how Andy decided upon playing a Gibson Flying V and a murder that occurred over a hotdog.

　

Jeb: Classic Rock Revisited has been around since 1999 and I am ashamed to say that this is the first time I have interviewed you. I feel terrible we have not shown you more support but I am so glad I am talking to you know because the new album is fantastic.

Andy: That’s okay, we appreciate it. I have seen the site; it is great.

Jeb: Thank you. I love the new album. This is some good shit!

Andy: That’s really great, man, you’ve made my day.

Jeb: It is not a throwback to the old sound but, Andy, there is a lot, and I mean a lot, of guitar solos.

Andy: On this one, we’ve paid attention to what the fans are saying. We are a live act and we open up in a live arena and we extend things a bit. We decided that we should do that on the record as well. We let it roll; there is nothing too contrived with the guitar solos, it is from the hip.

Jeb: Let’s talk about some of the new songs. I really enjoy “Reason to Believe.” You have the twin leads on there that I never get tired of hearing.

Andy: I wouldn’t be still doing this if it didn’t still excite me. When we first hit upon the twin lead thing it was instant ear candy and it has remained that way. We try to vary the ways we use it. Sometimes we integrate the harmony deeper within the structure of the songs than we used to when we first started out; it is a little more sophisticated.

A couple of years ago, we started some writing sessions in an old manor house in Normandy, France. We videoed the actual writing sessions like a fly on the wall type of thing.

Jeb: Are you talking about the DVD?

Andy: Yes, I am glad you’ve seen it. You can see that “Reason to Believe” started out as a bit of a jam on the DVD. Bob Skeat, our bass player, who is not a person who has come up with many lyrics for the band, although he is an integral part of the writing process, came up with that line, “Reason to Believe.” To me, that sums up who we are as a band. We play all over the place and it takes a lot of faith to do this. That statement sums it all up for us. A dear friend of mine, Ian Harris, wrote the lyrics. It is a really good opener for the album, as it is very upbeat.

Jeb: The one that follows it isn’t too shabby. Lyrically “Warm Tears” is pretty deep.

Andy: All of the songs come from a real experience. That one comes from the heart and is triggered from real life. I put that one second on the album because the solos on that one, as you say, ain’t too shabby [laughter.] When Wishbone Ash gets going we really fly. That track, the guitar soloing, we go back and forth and it really flies. We captured it nicely on the recording.

Jeb: “Man with No Name” has great lyrics and great solos as well. I think the fans are going to go nuts over that song.

Andy: The thing I like about that one is that the song is based around a 12-string acoustic guitar, so it is really written in a rock way as it builds. The drumming on that is awesome; Joe Crabtree did a great job on that track. The song structure is really great and the lyrics are really interesting. I was listening to it today and I thought that the lyrics are really a metaphor for all politicians. We are all slaves to these people who come on the TV and tell us what they are going to do for us. I didn’t start out thinking of the lyrics in that way, but when I was watching CNN, and I thought of them in the context of how the world is falling down around us, and all these politicians keep running their mouths, I saw the metaphor for that in our song. A listener can really put meanings that are applicable to you to lyrics that perhaps the songwriter didn’t even intend. I am really proud of that song.

Jeb: You said something that is very true. Wishbone Ash fans do that to your songs; we make our own meanings to them. It is neat to hear you do that to one of your own songs.

Andy: I’m a fan of music. I purposely didn’t listen to this album for about three weeks. Just the last couple of days I have been recently listening to it in the background, like a person might be listening to it while they are working. I wanted to see if there was enough interesting stuff going on that it would grab you even if you were just listening to it in the background. I have to say, and I don’t always say this about albums, but, yeah, we did some good work there. I try to put a different hat on and try to listen to it as a fan. After the recording and writing of the songs, you’re so close to it and you have really rammed it into the ground. You’ve worked on every little factor on it from the songwriting, the playing, the mixing and the editing and you’ve got to take a break and get away from it, which is what I did.

Jeb: I love the groove to one of the songs…

Andy: “Migrant Worker” is the grooviest track, is that it?

Jeb: Actually, I’m talking about “Heavy Weather.”

Andy: We kind of went with a Pink Floyd mindset on that one. We wanted a pulsating, insistent groove on that. You can see us jamming on that one on the DVD we were talking about. We started the jam around a bass guitar riff. We are known for developing songs from a slow groove to a more syncopated thing. “Heavy Weather” does that and it is an extended arrangement. I wrote the lyric on that one because, as you know, we have had crazy weather this year. I used the idea of “Heavy Weather” as a metaphor of a relationship and bringing kids up. I’m an immigrant from the UK and I have lived in the USA for 27 years or something. I’ve never had a year like this. I was walking around my property clearing things up from Hurricane Irene a few months ago, and then we had the earthquake and a nor'easter. I’ve never seen anything like this.

Jeb: Talk about “Migrant Worker.” I don’t think that is a typical Wishbone Ash song.

Andy: You’re right. We started out as an English band and we (Brits) just don’t swing like American bands do. “Migrant Worker” does swing, though. We really pulled it off. You’ve got one guitar player (Muddy) playing a wah-wah funk like thing and then I come in behind him on the old vintage Telecaster; everything locks together. The lyric is dear to my heart as I am a migrant worker. I leave home and go to foreign countries and we earn our bread. In other terms, it is really talking about the kinds of things we can all relate too. When you walk out in your neighborhood you see migrant workers everywhere. Do Americans do any real work anymore?

I am a migrant worker who moves from state to state, so this is not a put down at all; it’s more of a statement of how we now have a global economy and this is how we work. We are moving around and hustling our butts off. Any musician can relate to that.

Jeb: I feel funny even saying this as you’ve had such a long career but I this one really is great. It’s not Argus but it stands up next to any album you’ve put out in your past. I think it has to do with the current lineup of this band.

Andy: It’s great to hear you say that because we feel it. We have all been secretly winking at each other saying that we really did some good work on this album. Its early days yet, as you are one of the first people to actually review it and talk to me about it. I am quietly excited about this because I haven’t had this conversation with anyone. The people that I’ve played the album for have been giving me big smiles and thumbs up.

Jeb: You are the last man standing from the original Wishbone Ash.

Andy: Yes, I am the last man standing.

Jeb: I have talked about this with my friend Mick Box, of Uriah Heep, who is in the same position. With band members coming and going, how do you know you’ve got the right men for the job?

Andy: To be a bandleader, you’ve got to be a bit of a pragmatist. Mick Box is like me, as he says 'never say die'. There are things that can cloud your opinions. There are times when you want to change directions, or you know you have to do something about this person, or that person.

Forming bands, and managing bands, which I do with Wishbone Ash, I hope I am getting a bit more disconcerting and better at it. Luck also plays a part in it. I am very lucky to be working with the guys who are now in the band. On a musical level, they each bring something to the table. In Wishbone Ash, it is very important to have that happen. Even with our drummer Joe, who is only thirty, you can tell he has listened to, and learned, music from all eras. I am not just talking rock music. You have to bring knowledge of jazz to the table and other genres as well. We can sit around in a coffee shop, as a band, and talk about all kinds of music from all genres, which can be very intimidating for someone who has not really done their homework. All the guys in Wishbone Ash know their music, whether it be jazz, rock, blues or you name it.

Jeb: What you said reminds me of another song on the new album, which is “Searching for Satellites.”

Andy: We went out on a bit of a limb on that one, vocally. I became the vocalist by default, really. I always sang some in the band but I could rely on others to sing as well, in the old days. I knew that one was one that I would have to feel. It is a slow tempo song and we really went for it. I always imagined the gospel choir on that one. You have to have the balls to sing a song like that and I think I did it. A couple of albums ago, I wouldn’t have stuck my neck out and sung on a song like that.

I think that is one for the fans, as it is really a lot like an anthem. I have been told by people that they could hear this song at the end of a movie; it really has that kind of feel to it. I love that song, actually. I think the way we arranged it made it come out really well. Sometimes, as a rock band, you can go into that sentimental vibe on a song and you can blow it, but I think we felt that one and we got along fine on that track.

Jeb: That was the working title of the album at one time, wasn’t it?

Andy: At one time it was, as it was one of the first songs we worked with. I don’t think we all thought it would end up the actual name of the album but for a long time we did refer to it as that.

Jeb: Elegant Stealth is the title to the album and it is a very different title. What does it mean to you?

Andy: Elegant Stealth is where we find ourselves as a band. Wishbone Ash had their greatest amount of success in the 1970’s. When I was 22 years old I had more success than I could have ever dreamed of having. We had a ten year long period where we did well in America, Europe and Japan. Now, a lot of people see us as a cult band in a lot of areas. We have become very refined in what we do; we are very slick. I think that is the ‘elegant’ side of the title. The ‘stealth’ thing comes because we don’t get a lot of coverage from the media. You started out this interview by saying how you had never covered us on your website. That’s fine but in a way, I’m kind of digging that because I’ve got nothing to prove to myself, and the band has done everything, really. What we can afford to do these days is live a very rock star style life but do it very much under the radar. We do what we do well, we get around the planet and we put out DVDs and CDs but you’ve got to search for it, hence the name.

Originally, I wanted to do a very rock kind of sleeve and we were looking at pictures of stealth bombers and things. I was working with this young designer and he said, “No, no, no, look at it another way: Butterflies.” I was like, “Butterflies? That is not nearly rock enough.” He came up with the design and he explained to me the way he saw it. He took the idea of elegant stealth and a butterfly sums it up perfectly. They just fly around and sometimes one will just come up to you and land on your shoulder and you will go, “Wow, how amazing is that.” I thought it was a great metaphor for the band. I’m very comfortable in our skin right now, as a band. It has been a long haul. We get around in a stealth manner and, hopefully, we do it in an elegant manner.

Jeb: I looked at live pictures of you on your website today and you were smiling in all of them.

Andy: Where that comes from is from working. I am not sweating the small stuff. Writers have to keep active and I am doing that, which is a wonderful thing. I like to keep busy and get down in the dirt and meet the fan base because they are the ones that make it all happen. It is such a joy to get out there. These days you can get a lot closer to the fans than you used to be able to because there are no pretensions anymore. You meet some wonderful people out there.

Jeb: I have heard that you made your first electric guitar. Is that true?

Andy: I made a couple of guitars and I made them on the dining room table. The first few years Wishbone was in existence I played a homemade guitar. We were poor. In the late ‘60’s it was hard to even buy good gear. We take it for granted these days that you can go out and buy a Fender guitar. We were making our amplifiers and our guitars. I think that is where the passion and commitment to it all comes from. When you fixate on a guitar at age 13 it is very powerful mojo but when you make the thing then it is something else.

My son went to Africa and started drumming with people there. He said one of the prerequisites to being a drummer that plays drums for the tribe, which is a big honor, is to, when you ‘re like seven years old, go out and kill the antelope so you can get the skin for your drumhead. You chop down the right kind of tree and hollow the tree out and set that skin over the trunk and then, and only then, can you take on the position of learning how to play drums. He said when he was there studying drumming, he’s a pretty good drummer, he was a Berklee school drummer at that time, who had a scholarship from Zildijan…he said when he was learning these African rudiments, and he would get it wrong, these kids, who were seven, eight and nine, were beating the rhythms into his back. I thought about that and I realized that if you’re a guitar player and you want to know how the bloody thing works, then the best thing to do is to make one. I feel blessed and fortunate that I went down that road, as even now I love hanging out with guitar makers.

Jeb: You play many types of guitars but you are most famous for playing a Flying V. Why the V?

Andy: When I made enough money to buy a new guitar, I bought two V’s. It wasn’t a popular guitar; it was a dog, really. Fender had come out with the cool guitars with the cool names like Stratocaster. Gibson was really struggling to come up with something to compete with them. I went to a music store in London and there were two of them, which had been imported from the States, both were still in their packing cases and they were from 1966 or 1967. This was 1972, they were brand new guitars that had never been played. I picked one of them up and I was a really skinny kid back in those days. In English terms, I was about eight and a half stones, which translates to about 120 pounds. I picked up this guitar, which was huge compared to my size and I loved the way it looked. When I started playing it, I was really taken with it, as it had so much vibrancy to it. The Flying V’s really have a unique sound, as they have a lot of wood in the body.
I bought (one of) the guitars and started playing it onstage. It was quite unwieldy but being so angular myself, I sort of wrapped myself around it. Basically, I kind of became one with the guitar. I used to balance the thing on my knee and it became part of the onstage mojo. I’ve played many different guitars over the years but the V is the one that I’ve always come back to.

Jeb: Talk about the twin lead sound that Wishbone Ash did. You had the Allman Brothers at the same time as you. Later you had Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden doing it but Wishbone Ash was different. Do you take credit for being the first band to specialize in harmony, twin lead guitar playing?

Andy: In a way, I do. We’ve influenced bands. What made us different was that we were English. We discovered the Allmans when we came to America and we were put on the same bill as they were. They were more of a southern thing whereas we approached it from an English, folk, blues background. The thing that set us apart from bands like Lizzy and Maiden was that the bass guitar was the third component. You may not have always been aware of that. We often had the bass moving in a counterpoint from the guitars, which would give it added ear candy.

The Allmans and Lizzy would stick with thirds where we would go fourths and fifths. We were a bit more adventurous than they were and that gave our sound a little more flavor.

I would say that as soon as we hit on this harmonizing thing as a group we really couldn’t get enough of it. We were treating the guitars like a horn section, in a way. We didn’t write it out on sheet music; we were composing on the fly. We would work it out and then work with each other. One of the first songs we wrote was “Blind Eye” and if you listen to the riff in that, it is a horn section. For example, when Keith Richards wrote “Satisfaction” he always imagined the main riff was a horn line. A lot of English bands were loving the stuff coming out from the States with the horns but they didn’t have the money to carry around a permanent horn section with them so they would do these lines on guitars.

Jeb: Did Ritchie Blackmore help Wishbone Ash get a record deal?

Andy: In a roundabout way he did. One of the early gigs we got was supporting Deep Purple. One day I was setting my gear up while he was sound-checking. He would play a riff and I would cheekily copy the riff. We started this “Dueling Banjo’s” thing. He looked over his shoulder like, “Who the hell is this guy?” He came out and watched our show. Afterwards, he came up and said, “You guys were great. Do you have a recording deal because you should have one.” He gave us the name of the producer Derek Lawrence, who produced their first single, “Hush.” We called Derek and he hooked us up with Decca, who became MCA. The next thing we knew we were signing with the label out of LA, which was unheard of in those days. We had an American manager who really wanted us to be an international act.

Jeb: Are you talking about Miles Copeland?

Andy: Yes, Miles Copland, who went on to manage the Police and REM. We were probably his first act that he ever signed.

One of the first acts we opened for on tour was another Decca act called the Who, which was very cool. We went straight into stadium rock. MCA tuned out to be a very good label for us. We went to Atlantic for a couple of years but then returned to MCA.

Jeb: Are you still dealing with the “other” Wishbone Ash, with Martin Turner in it?

Andy: Firstly, we don’t ever refer to that band as “the other Wishbone Ash,” I will have to stop you dead in your tracks. We don’t refer to them as that because Wishbone Ash never broke up. We have been together since 1969. There are bands like us, though. Look at Uriah Heep, who you mentioned before, or Jethro Tull. Mick Abrahams was Jethro Tull’s first guitar player. He played only on one album. If Mick were to suddenly call his band Mick Abraham’s Jethro Tull then people would think that was really cheesy.

In my book, you may have done some wonderful work in the band but you left. The band has changed over the years. Some former band members have come out of the woodwork, and have not been in the band for nearly twenty years and have decided to use that designation and it has created some confusion. I’ve got nothing against former band members going out and playing the band’s music and doing whatever they are going to do but there is a bit of cynicism in it when you confuse people in that way. It is not the way it went down.

Jeb: It really takes music away from what music is supposed to be.

Andy: It is very draining and you end up talking to lawyers and trademark and copyright people, all of which is very anti music. I am so pleased that I’ve been able to surmount it and be able to get on with the job at hand, which is creating Elegant Stealth. Most people know what the deal is and that the band has been an ongoing entity and that we’re still on the circuit. I don’t like to get too involved in it but it can get a bit debilitating.

Jeb: If the DVD, that we talked about earlier, doesn’t show that Andy Powell and Wishbone Ash are not in it for the right reasons then you’re blind.

Andy: It’s a real band. When you’ve got three cameras on you 24/7 then you can’t get away from it. You will notice in the first few shots, we all look a little bit nervous as we had never been through anything like that. After a few hours, you start to get into it and you forget that the cameras are there. Those French filmmakers don’t let you get away with much. If you look at the French tradition of documentary making, they want to see it all. They won’t shy away from showing you your worst side. Overall, once I got into the flavor of it, I must say that it was great and it is all there, warts and all, and it is as honest as you can get. You can see me working out chord progressions and barking out orders. You can see, on the DVD, that we are just pulling music out of the air in real time. It is a legacy that I can pass on to my kids. When I’m gone they can look at this DVD and say, “So that’s how the old bastard did it.”

Jeb: Did you really see a fan get shot to death in a concert?

Andy: One of our very first dates in Texas was playing an open-aired show and sure enough there was some kind of an altercation between a guy and one of the vendors on the perimeter of the open-air show we were playing. It wasn’t a huge show but there were a couple of thousand people there. All of a sudden, we see an entire section of the crowd just move away from this one area really fast. We didn’t hear the actual shot but apparently there was an altercation. Believe it or not, I think it was about a hotdog. It was pretty shocking. We really only learned the real circumstances about it after the show. Months later, we put pen to paper and wrote a tribute to the situation, which we called “Rock n Roll Widow.” That was ‘Welcome to America’ as it was one of our first events. We were really in the Wild West.

Jeb: Wishbone Ash fans love it when music is discovered from the past that has never been released. You’ve had this happen a few times over the years. I have to ask, is there a Holy Grail for Wishbone Ash fans still in the vault?

Andy: There are a couple of stashes of tapes that were recorded around the most successful album we ever did, which is the Live Dates album. A lot of people don’t realize that we sold more copies of that album than we did of Argus.

There were not a lot of live albums out at the time. You had the Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore and you had Live at Leeds by the Who. Live Dates was done with the Rolling Stones mobile. It was one of the biggest at the time. Later on, Peter Frampton came out with his successful live album but back then it was a small field concerning live albums.

One of these days I’m going to get out the twenty four tracks and have a listen to them. There could be some gems in there for sure.

Jeb: Last one: When does Elegant Stealth come out and where can fans buy it?

Andy: It comes out November 25th and it will be on Amazon.com and it should be in all the usual outlets. We will have it for sale at www.wishboneash.com which should be your first port of call. The best thing to do is to check with the website.

Jeb: Am I wishing too much to hope Wishbone Ash will do a major USA tour?

Andy: We are going to tour starting in April of 2012. We are going to tour the entire United States. If you see us touring then come along and say hello. I would love the chance to meet you.
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