- News
November 17, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
We played a show in Vancouver last night. Thanks to all of you who came out and stayed up late into the evening to catch the end of the show. I’ve got a blister on the index finger of my picking hand. I was working it a little hard last night. I’ve been really enjoying playing shows with the band. John Raham on drums , Tony Marriott on bass, Kevin Coles on guitar. I spent half the show dragging members of the opening acts up on stage to sing with me. So let me send a quick shout out to my dear friends Caleb from the Parlour Steps and Rebecca Ramone and Benny D. from Rebecca’s band. There was much playing of tambourine and hand clapping. We ended the night with a 1 am encore of Bob Dylan’s I shall be released, sung soulfully in 4 part harmony.” Any day now….. Any day now.. I shall be released!”
sho nuff we all will.
I got news a couple weeks ago that a friend of mine, James Taylor had died suddenly in a car crash on Highway 1 north of Hope B.C. James was the bass player in a band called the twisters. He was 33 years old and on his way to play a show in Prince Rupert. I don’t bring this up to sadden you my faithful readers. The news of James’ death did make me sad of course, it’s tragic and sad. But It also made me stop and think about how loosely attached we are to this world. Each and every one of us a fragile magical creature pinned to the earth and each other with little more than spider webs. I spent the week after James death calling all my friends and loved ones and letting them know I loved them. It’s our obligation in this life to be as joyful as we can be. I felt like I had to remind everyone. It made me feel like… NOW is the time. .. For whatever. For the things that matter to us…
I have a huge chalk board in my hallway. It’s about 14 feet long. Three days after James died I erased everything that was on it. Mostly there were to-do lists and phone numbers. Go to the bank. Call so and so, that kind of thing. I wiped the whole thing clean with a wet rag and in small blue letters in the middle of the board I wrote.. START NOW.
Much heart felt thanks for all the love and support I receive from all of you every day. Be kind to each other.
Peace,
Robert
November 2, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
What is with this day light savings business. I for one do not subscribe to it. it’s dark by 4:30 in the afternoon here in Vancouver. I’ve never really understood who benefits from this curious activity. If any of you faithful readers are farmers or postal workers or milk delivery people, can you please explain to me why we must take part in this. I wake up late everyday, but I don’t ask anyone to change there watches to fit my schedule.
I was out for a walk in the rain this afternoon. A common Vancouver activity. I was pretending that It was sunny.
The rain was hitting me in the eyes and making me blink hard. I didn’t have an umbrella. I’ve never really subscribed to those things either. I was saying to myself, “somewhere it’s very hot and sunny right now.” I pretended I was there, walking in the sunshine.
So much about life is perception. I practice changing my perspective to see if it changes the way I feel about things. Usually it does. Sure this sounds crazy to some of you. It probably sounds like I’m living in a world devoid of reality. This may be true, but it make me feel better, and it’s better than watching television. safer too. No disruptive commercials.
My friend caleb was showing me this cool new toy he received as a gift from a guy who works for Adbusters magazine. It’s a little gadget the size of a car alarm key. You push the button and it rolls through all the microwave frequencies used by television remotes. Any TV within 20 feet of this thing will turn off. You could have a lot of fun with this thing during hockey playoffs at the bar. I want one.
I picked up some rough mixes of a few of the songs we stated recording back in September. Johnny is doing a great job mixing them and making everything sound good. I can’t wait to share some of these with all of you.
till next time, be safe and well.
Robert
What I’m listen to right now: Classic Prince! “Sign Of The Times”
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October 6, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
hey gang,
I had a good time playing the show with Dan Bern last night. Dan is a crazy dude. thanks to all of you who showed up, and sat on the floor in front of the stage, campfire style. Made me wish I’d brought some marshmellows and a big fire with me.
my buddy Rob from Cordmag.com came down and took a few shots of the show. here’s my favourite.
Rebecca took this one of Dan and I after the show.
see ya,
Robert
October 3, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
I’m feeling a little low today. Not depressed or sad or even tired, just low. Some people go straight to the gas station when that low light comes on. There are others who know just how far they can ride on empty.
They tell you that you’re empty, but in my experience you can actually go pretty far with what you’ve got left.
I’m having a good day, really. I’m just recuperating from a week in the studio. It’s a lot of fun making and creating music in the studio, but concentrating that hard on one thing for 12 hours straight, 4 days in a row has left me blissed out and worn down.
These sessions were the beginning of a bit of a musical experiment I’m messing with. I’m really excited about the sounds we’ve gotten so far. I’m looking for a real classic sound on these recordings. I want the band to sound like a band playing live with all the charm and danger that comes with that. To that end we set everybody up in one room in the studio. We all played at the same time going take after take until we all felt that we had a good one.
This may sound obvious to those of you who don’t do a lot of recording. But truth be told most records today are recorded using multi-track recording and stacking a recording of the drummer on top of a recording the bass player did a week before, and then the guitar player comes in and plays along to that a week later.. and so on.
The results so far are amazingly soulful and funky. There’s some sounds of Al Green, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Coldplay, Donny Hathaway, Bob Marley… All the guys in the band pulled out some amazing performances and original ideas. Please be patient with me getting this music out to you. It’s all very much a work in progress. I’m just talking about it because, honestly I’m really excited by it.
Here are a few more pictures from the recording days.
Kevin white on Bass
John Raham on drums
Chris Gestrin on Hammond B3 and wurlitzer piano
Paul Rigby on guitar
Self portrait
September 26, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
Great day today.
picked up kevin at the airport and at about noon. we had all the powers converging on Ogre studios. we tore off a great version of “Know U at all”, first thing. There was a minor argurement over the differece between 82 beat per minute, and 84 beats per minute. It was eventually resolved. 82 was sexy and 84 was funky. we went with 83.
I’m pretty tired, so this will be short, but here’s a couple photos from today’s session.
Serious men hard at work. I think they’re talking about the the band Rush. (Kevin White on the left. Kevin Coles on the right)
Make no mistake this man is Dangerous!
(John Raham)
Kevin “Lady Killer” Coles
September 22, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
I got an ipod for my birthday back in July. I have some very generous friends. So now you can see me cruising around town with my white headphones and my little white music box just like all the other cool kids. I have to say that after having it for a couple months I’m pretty sure the ipod revolution is upon us. Apple doesn’t need me to advertise for them, they’re doing just fine on their own, But man I think this is the future of music. People are listening to wider and wider ranges and styles of music. Bands like Postal Service or Iron and Wine are becoming hugely popular without commercial radio play and without the help of big record labels. I hardly ever listen to the radio anymore. The music they play on most of the radio stations in Vancouver is of no interest to me anyway. I don’t need to hear the soft hits of the 80’s every day. There’s amazing music being made every day and it’s not being heard by your average radio listener. Cue the future!!! It has arrived!
I’ve subscribed to a few podcasts. Do you all know about podcasts? I’m no expert on these things, but in my layman’s language a podcast is an MP3 recording often of a radio show. You can subscribe to the show, through the itunes store or directly from a related website. Then whenever the producers of the podcast publish a new show whether it be daily, hourly, or monthly it’s automatically downloaded to your computer. You can then listen to it on your computer or if you have a portable mp3 player you can load it on there and listen to your favourite show on the go.
check out this website for a better description.
http://www.cbcradio3.com/podcast/about.html
I bring all of this up because the technical minds behind the Robert Wilson music website. Namely my pal Rob A. has told me we have the technology to start making and sending out podcasts right from my website. The idea will be that when I get around to it.. Let’s say once a month or so we’ll put up some recordings for you all to download and check out for free! These will be live recordings, songs in progress, maybe the odd interview or rants from yours truly. We should be able to take some requests from you out there in webland too. I’ll keep you all posted on our progress and I’ll try to make a big deal of it when we finally get the podcasts up and running for you all.
Let me know what you think of this idea. Is it something you’d be interested in checking out. Post your comments below.
I just purchased the new album from Seattle band Death Cab For Cutie I’m listening to it right now as I type this and I’m loving it.
till next time.
Robert
September 14, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
I have always marked my new years in September. It may be a hold over from my school days, but it has always made more sense to me than the traditional January new year. There is a pronounced change in the smell of the air and the natural world announces a change as well. So.. Happy new year to one and all.
September is a great time to start new projects. As you may have noticed in the news headline above. I’m starting work on my third record later this month. I’m really excited about this. We’re starting out with a round of demos. This will in time lead into the recording of the actual album. This first round is sort of a sketching phase. Joining me in the studio in a few weeks will be John Raham, Kevin White and Chris Gestrin.
I’m very much looking forward to working with these guys. John was the drummer on Be My Habit as well as the mixing engineer on the album. John is really one of my favourite people, apart from being one of the finest and most intuitive musicians I’ve ever played with. Hanging with John is like hanging with the Buddha with a back beat. diggggg!?
Kevin and I have been talking about hooking up this recording session for over 5 years. Kevin was the bass player in my band when I lived in San Francisco in the late 1990’s. Kevin is the real deal. He’s been playing the blues full time since he was old enough to hold the bass. He’s toured with Shelby Lynne and Chuck Prophet and played shows with Etta James and Billy Preston!!! I love Kevin because he is a living classic. He’s consistent. This is something goods to have in a bass player. Despite having toured the world and sampled a diverse variety of cultures and tastes, if you ask Kevin what he want to drink he’ll say “Pabst blue ribbon.” The same crap beer he’s been drinking since his teenage years in rural Massachusetts.
Chris Gestrin I don’t really know personally. We met years ago at a pot luck dinner at a mutual friends home and shared a home made bottle of wine together. I don’t know if Chris even remembers this. I know Chris primarily by reputation. He is a nationally recognized Jazz keyboardist having put out a number of his own recordings. Chris has worked with Canadian Hip Hop legends, Rascaz as well as K-os. In short the word on the street is that Chris is what Miles Davis would call with the most reverent of intentions, “a Mother fucker”
So you can see why I’m looking forward to getting into the studio. I’m eager to hear how these cats interpret the songs I’ve been collecting.
here’s what I’m listen to right now:
The Fruit Bats new record called “Spelled In Bones”
let me know what’s up with you, post a comment below.
peace to all,
Robert
September 5, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
Hello my friends,
Here’s a short report from the road for the labour day weekend.
I had a show booked on Blakley Island. This is an amazing little island in the San Juans just off of Seattle. I had a show there on the Saturday night. We got up there on Friday night and managed to go hiking, canoeing, cliff jumping and swimming in the afternoon before the show. Sure beats an office job, I’ll tell you that much. I played this cute little pub and met some great folks at the show. After the show I plugged my ipod into the PA system and pulled out the old school Michael Jackson tracks. The place turned into a dance party and I DJ’ed for a couple hours. Wicked fun. Serious shout outs to Todd, Jeff, Alicia, Rebecca and the Seattle girls for making the trip so much fun.
here’s a pic from just before the show:
Photo: Rebecca Wittwer
Sunday and Monday I spent in Seattle. Monday we went out to the Bumbershoot music festival. We cruised around and checked out some good bands. It’s a great festival. We saw the Decemberists in the big arena. These guys and Gals are one of my new favourite bands, and it was cool to see them in playing in such a big place. Here’s a pic of the band.
we stuck around for Dashboard Confessional. They weren’t really my thing but the kids sure loved them. Here’s a pic of me doing my bad white guy dance. Note the look of shock on my friend Rebecca’s face. Some dances are too powerful for public display!
We went to see my friends the Be Good Tanyas. That’s my man John Raham on the drums.
This kid loves drums… And so do I.
I hope you’re all well and good,
cheers
Robert.
August 19, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
I Left home yesterday for a quick trip over to Vancouver Island for a couple shows this weekend. The ferry ride was brilliant. The sun was setting behind the mountains of Vancouver Island and the Georgia straight was lit up like a golden orange. I held off the temptation to eat bad ferry food with the promise of a home cooked meal and a good glass of wine at my buddy Jorg’s house waiting for me in Naniamo.
I’m playing outside tonight in a beautiful garden that will be lit up with candles and twinkle lights. It should be nice. My friend Jorg is a circus performer and he’s coming by the show tonight. We’re going to work out a bit of a show together for the big finale.
I can feel the end of summer approaching and I’m making it my business to pull every last bit of life out of the season before it’s done and the rains returns.
enjoy yourselves,
Robert
August 11, 2005
posted in Robert Wilson news Blog
I had a great time last Friday night. Thanks to everyone who came out and everyone who came up and said hello to me after the show. I always love playing the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. Standing on that stage you can’t help but be aware of the history of the place. Duke Ellington, James Brown, Tom Waits, U2, The Clash, The White Stripes, Lyle lovett, Wilco… I could go on all day long listing the great musicians who have stood on that stage over the years. I always feel honoured to be there.
Aimee’s fans were great to play to, real supportive from the fist song on. Aimee’s band were all super friendly as well. I snuck a few back stage pictures during Aimee’s set. Here they are for your viewing pleasure.
I was opening a beer bottle backstage after the show. Using a bottle opener (it was a European beer that shall remain unnamed) the top of the bottle broke as I was opening it and I cut the middle finger on my right hand pretty badly. I’m standing there trying to stop the bleeding using a roll of toilet paper when Aimee’s drummer comes up to say “hey.” I’m dripping blood all over the place, and doing my best to still come off as being somewhat cool. “Hey great show” I say in a conversational tone. “What? This?” I say in reference to the blood running down my elbow and onto the floor. “Oh it’s nothing, I’m cool… Really”
For those of you interested, the finger is now healing up just fine and I don’t expect any lasting injury, apart from my pride.
I had a short conversation with Aimee after the show… Here’s the proof. I was hoping she might be convinced to marry me but sadly I have to say that it’s not looking good for me. She is however very sweet and just as lovely and intense as you might imagine her to be.
Legendary songwriter, John Prine, was playing a show up the street from the Commodore. Doing the opening set over there was a guy named Amos Lee. In the past year he’s opened up for Norah Jones, Bob Dylan, John Prine and who knows who else. He writes great songs. So after his show he came over to see Aimee and I play. We all ended up hanging out after the show. We went out for late night pizza at Gigi’s on Boadway. Julian Coryell (Aimee’s guitar player), Amos Lee, Tamara Nile (who was singing with me), Benjamin Keith (my merch man supreme), Silvana (from the band Pacifica), the one and only rock and roll Roy Yen and the lovely Bobbi. Wicked fun all around. Amos and Julian managed to sing us the theme songs for a dozen or so 80’s TV shows. Does any one else know all the words to the “Growing Pains” theme song.
Here’s a picture of Julian:
And here’s me and Amos:
All told it, was a really great night.
I woke up the next morning far too early to the sound of someone knocking on my door. I open the door all blurry eyed to receive a note from my landlord that they’re raising my rent… And all I can think is “I’m moving on up… to the east side… To a de-ee-lux apartment in the sky!”
Life is sweet people, don’t forget to notice.
Cheers,
Robert
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