- News
April 18, 2006
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
I stopped into my local guitar shop on Friday. You see I recently purchased a new electric guitar. Shocking I know. I’ve been playing acoustic guitar pretty much exclusively forever. But I’ve finally found an electric guitar I can love. I have to thank my friend Kevin Spencer for the break though. I met up with Kevin in Toronto last June. I was out there playing a music festival and Kevin was in town guitar teching for Daniel Langois. (Daniel has arguably the best sounding guitar tone on the planet.. What a beautiful show that was.. but I digress)
Walking down Queen street late one morning, I was explaining to Kevin that I’d never found an electric guitar that I could play with my heavy handed acoustic style. Kevin just gave me a nod and said ” I know the guitar for you. WE went into Steve’s music shop and my friend picked out a Gibson 335 for me and put it in my hands. Saying to me “Rob, this is your future”
The 335 is a big hollow body electric guitar, with two fancy “f” holes in the body. It’s got some weight to it and it plays a lot like an acoustic guitar. If you’ve ever seen BB king’s guitar “Lucille” you know what I’m talking about. I was pretty much instantly sold. I would have walked out of there with it in my possession if it weren’t for the $3000 price tag.
So fast forward almost a year…
2 weeks ago I took the plunge. I went down and bought myself an Epiphone Sheraton. It’s the Korean made version of the famous Gibson 335. Not quite as pricy but just as pretty. I’ve been sleeping the pretty girl ever since.. whoot whoot!!
But as some of you may realize.. an electric guitar is of little musical use unless you have something to plug it into. And so for the past few weeks I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect mate for my beloved guitar. I believe that the stars were with me because I walked into my favourite local guitar shop on Sunday. I was surprised to find the place open. It was Easter Sunday after all. Thankfully there is no Sabbath day for the rock! Jamie who works down there mentioned to me that he thought there was a rare 70’s tube amp coming into the store on consignment. By all accounts this was the bomb amplifier. A Garnet “session man” – made in the early seventies. ( I have a strong belief in things born in the early seventies.. Van Morrisons’s “Moon Dance” album, the best Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye tracks…ME.
So on Monday afternoon, after 2 hours worth of “Smoke On The Water” and “Stairway To Heaven” blasting out of the amp room at the music shop. I loaded my new amp into my Van. She weighs a hell of a lot but damn does she ever sound good. She sounds like the seventies.
So my friends you’ve been warned. There comes a time in a man’s life when he has to put away acoustic things and step into the world armed with the tools to rocks. That day has come for me.
Can I get an Amen!!
r.
April 10, 2006
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
I just got home from a great trip up to northern BC. I played a show in Kitimat that was a lot of fun. here are a couple of pictures from the trip. -R
March 3, 2006
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
I had a good time at the show last night. I was worried about the show because I’ve been fighting off a sore throat. The day before the show I was sounding a lot like Tom Waits after a big night out. I was hitting the hot lemon and ginger tea pretty strong, and I think it paid off.
It was great to meet the boys from Youth Group and Matt Pond PA. I started up the show at 9pm. I did a short set and made way for youth Group. The boys from down under were a few songs into their set when someone spilt a drink on the power supply for the sound board. The PA made an impressive BOOM! and suddenly all we were hearing was guitar amps and the acoustic sound of the drums. The band played on for a little bit but soon realized that the PA system wasn’t coming back to life any time soon. To their credit Youth Group came back out after a few minutes and played a few songs with the vocals coming through a guitar amp.
There was a big wait while the crew ran out to go find a replacement sound board. To their credit they managed to find a replacement and have it installed in under an hour.
Matt Pond PA was up next. They had to do a quick sound check live while we all waited for them to play. The poor kids in Matt Pond PA have had a trying tour this time out. They were telling me that they had their gear stolen at the begining of the tour followed by the van breaking down 4 times in as many days… And now their first Vancouver show was marred by a broken PA system. I was afraid that their spirits may have been broken too, but they decide to drink heavy and rock it all out instead. In the end they put on a solid but slightly cynical show. If the ceiling had fallen in on them while they played I don’t think they would have been surprised.
well.. at least I had a good time and the PA system sounded good while I was playing. tee hee hee..
I managed to swap record with both bands and I’ve been listen to them all day today. Both bands have put out really strong records. recently go check them out.
here are some photos I took at the show. Click on the images to see them larger.
– Robert
March 1, 2006
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
March 1, 2006
March 2nd 2006
House of Blues presents Robert Wilson , Matt Pond PA and Youth Group Live in concert at The Red Room 398 Richards St.
Doors 8pm, 9pm show
Tickets $13.50 available at Ticketmaster 604 280 4444 or online at www.hob.ca
January 19, 2006
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
I just got home from a quick jaunt down to Portland and back. I was shown a fine and gracious time by my American friends.
I spent the better part of a day hanging out in Powells book store on Burnside in Portland. I can easily say this is the best book store I’ve ever been in. It takes up most of a city block and it seems to act like a cultural hub for Portland. In an era of big box stores and the loss of little independent book stores all over North America it was encouraging to sit in the cafe inside Powells and watch the masses of people reading and interacting with each other. I left there weighed down with a bunch of books, notably : a biography of Sam Cook, called dream boogie, a music biz book called, “all you need to know about the music business”, a Paul Simon songbook, and a book on Buddhist meditation. I would have bought even more if my cell phone hadn’t gone off. I was invited to go for a hot tub and sauna at this really cool wellness centre up in North Portland. It was just the thing I was looking for after 4 days on the road.
I can’t wait to get back down to Portland again soon. I have a love for industrial architecture. I have a thing for cranes and bridges in particular, and Portland is “the city of bridges”
here are a few pictures from my adventures.
R
January 3, 2006
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
Happy New Year all a ya’ll,
I hope you all had a safe and joyous time. I spent New Years Eve playing my first ever Hip Hop show. Everybody has to have a first time right? I was invited down to play guitar with Kyprios. Kyp is an amazing MC from Vancouver. He also raps with a group called Sweatshop Union. I met Kyprios at a soul jam I was playing last week at the Railway club. His brother Kevin plays guitar in my band sometimes.
We got together during the day on the 31st and I did my best to learn 6 of his songs in time for the show that night. It was just him rapping and me playing acoustic guitar and singing back ups so there wasn’t much to hide behind.
The show was at a big party downtown in this office tower. It was a bit of a crazy scene. They had 300 people squeezed into a space big enough to hold 250. It was wicked fun to play with Kyprios. The man is crazy talented. We through out a bunch of freestyle jams with me building loops on my pedals and him freestyling over top. Totally off the cuff and super fun.
Hip hop has such amazing energy. It’s an art form that really pushes out at the audience as opposed to inviting the audience in. It’s aggressive in a really positive way. We had the place grooving and moving with just the guitar holding down the beat and the rhythm of the words.
We played a brand new song of mine too and Kyprios did a big freestyle chorus in the middle. I’ll be hitting him up to get into the studio and record it with me when it comes time to put the track down.
I’ll try to keep you posted if we end up doing more shows together.
see you all soon
Robert
check out kyprios and Sweatshop Union
http://www.kyprios.com/
http://www.sweatshopunion.com/
December 20, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
Happy holidays my friends,
I’m packing up the van and heading over to my mom’s house tomorrow morning. I’ll be chilling out reading books and eating vast amounts of food for the next week. I hope wherever you are this year that you feel blessed and loved.
For those of us up here in Canada tomorrow marks the turning point in the return of the sunshine and daylight. The days will begin to get longer after that. Now that’s something I can believe in celebrating.
Thanks to all of you kind souls who’ve sent cheques in to support the creation of the new record. We’ll be back in the studio in the new year to continue our work.
I’ve started work on another west coast tour for the new year. I’ll be in Portland OR. Jan 14th and 15th. And I’m hoping to find myself in sunny California in March. If anyone is interested in hosting a house concert for me in the new Year let me know and we’ll hook it up.
Bests of the season to all of you, and thanks so much for all your love and encouragement this past year.
Robert
November 28, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
The show on Sunday was so much fun. It was nice to see some familiar faces out in the crowd eating the tasty breakfasts and swaying to the gospel music. It was a real treat to share the stage and sing along with the assembled talent. Thanks to The Be Good Tanya’s, Po’Girl, and Bocephus King
I want to give a quick shout out to our man Caleb running sound and Mediaco and Woodhouse and Associates for donating the PA system. We raised close to $900.00 for the food bank, while having a great time.
For those of you who missed the show here is a list of the songs I played:
People Get Ready – Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions
Loves Gonna Walk Out On Me – Toots and the Maytals
The Cross – Prince
Feeling Good – Nina Simone
Long Time Coming – Sam Cooke
The Way Things Are – Robert Wilson
And here are a few pictures from the show.
cheers,
Robert
November 22, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
Last night was great… I was hanging at the Commodore Ballroom with Stars. They put on a great show to a sold out audience. Were any of you there? Yes that was me rocking the maracas on stage for the encore song. Ya’ll didn’t know I had maraca skills did you? Thanks to Torq, Steve and all of Stars for a great night.
R.
November 22, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
I’ve had a crazy couple of days. I was down in Seattle again this past weekend. I’ve been spending a lot of time down there recently. It’s a great town with lots of music happening. I went down to have a few meetings, but as it turned out my good friend Steve was in town for the weekend as well.
Steve plays guitar in a band from Montreal called Stars. They make beautiful music as well as being wonderful people. Stars were playing the final 2 nights of a 6 week tour opening up for Death Cab for Cutie. They were playing at the Paramount theatre in Seattle. This is an amazing old theatre that’s recently been renovated. It probably has about 2500 seats. It’s a nice place to see a show.
I went to the show both Friday and Saturday night. It was so great to see my pals in Stars rocking the big room. I had a chance to hang out with both bands after the shows and I have to say the guys in Death Cab are amazingly sweet and down to earth people. I met Ben Gibbard’s parents too, they were very cool. I had a great conversation with Chris Walla the guitar player and producer for Death Cab. I’m working on convincing him to produce my new CD. How cool would that be? He’s selling a Gibson 335 guitar that I’d love to buy off him too.. So if anyone out there wants to donate to the Wilson guitar fund let me know.
here are some pics from the weekend.
please… Enjoy!!!!
(L)Stars on stage. (R) Steve Ramsey
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