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From: atavachron@morekypr
Subject: Atavachron Digest #8
To: Jeff Preston
Atavachron Digest - The Allan Holdsworth Discussion List
Volume 2, Number 8
Saturday, July 4th, 1992
TODAY'S TOPICS:
==============
Holdsworth's Musician's Clinic in Melbourne (Part 2 of 4)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[* Moderator's note: This is Part 2 of a 4-part transcript of the
musician's clinic held at __ in Melbourne, Australia on __ by Allan
Jimmy Johnson, Steve Hunt and Gary Husband. This was originally
received from Jim Trivellas on the indicated date in one text file;
I have split the transcript into four parts for sake of network
efficiency. -- J.P.]
-=O=-
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 03:46:11 +1000
From: jimt@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU
Subject: Holdsworth's Musician's Clinic in Melbourne (Part 2 of 4)
AU: With your compositions, you were saying earlier that you bring the basic
structure to the guys in the band, I've read that Jimmy has said that there
are many ways to harmonize your voicings.
AH: Well, there are, because that is the nature of the guitar, because,
generally speaking, you can never play more than four different notes at
once. I mean there are certain places on the guitar where you can play six
different notes, but generally all guitar chords consist of four notes,
and then the other ones are either doubles or duplicates, that is why when
you look at all the altered dominant chords there are on the guitar, it looks
like there's a lot just because they are only partial, and then you can use
any number of bass notes that will COMPLETELY change the harmony.
AU: So how much will you go through the playing process before you decide
which bass notes you prefer?
AH: Well usually I have a sort of a vague idea when I finish the piece,
and then I get together with Jimmy, and then he usually proceeds to out
something better than what I thought of, so that's how it goes. But that's
like that with all these guys, they all do that. No matter how I think the
tune is going to be, its always better when they have finished with it.
AU: So how long does this process take, from when you bring a new tune to
the guys, to where its finished.
AH: Well, not very long, in fact that new thing that we did (House of
Mirrors), Gary had never heard it until we got to Japan, and I ran through
it with Jimmy and gave the chords to Steve, and we just ran through it a few
times and we started playing it. Sometimes I change them after that, but
not very often, and they're usually minor changes. (Pause). Feel free to
ask the other chaps any questions.
AU: A question for a drummer. How did you find recording the last Level 42
album after playing with Allan? Was it a bit difficult, or just laying
down the basic tracks and that's it?
GH: It was just a bit different, yeah.
AU: But harder or...
GH: How do you determine harder? I don't know. I don't think it was any
harder, just a bit different. Isn't it? Its all music. (Pause). I think.
(Laughter from audience).
AU: What do you like to hear behind you in terms of harmonic movement, from
say, Steve, while you're soloing? Is he at liberty to change things?
AH: Yeah, I trust these guys completely, that's why I like to play with
these people, because when I hear Gary play the drums I really love how he
plays. Its crazy to see somebody that you like the way that they're playing
and proceed to change what they to to make it work with you, you know that
would be wrong, that's like asking your girlfriend to change her face, or for
me to change mine, you know, the way these guys play, I really like it, so
I know that when you give the chords to Steve or when he understands the
harmony, then he'll do cool things with it.
SH: We try to get him to tell us what to do but he won't.
AU: Have sounds and equipment become less important to you, compared to
the actual emotional feeling of improvising?
AH: Its a tough one. I mean, the music is the basic reason that you do
anything, but to me the equipment, you know, if I have to use something
to get a certain kind of sound, then it involves it. For example, Jimmy
uses the sound that comes out of the bass, and for him amplification is
kind of an afterthought, because the sound is always going to be there.
Whereas with me, I actually use the equipment to get the sound.
AU: I meant to say when you were playing with bands like UK, where there
were so many different sounds involved, its obvious that you're a lot
steadier with your sound in a structure like this. So I thought that
your sound has become less important than your actual improvising.
AH: No, I think I feel the same about now as I did then, its just that
the music was completely different and I wasn't responsible for all of it,
or very much of it.
AU: I read that Eddie van Halen said that he'd like to record with you. Is
there any chance of that happening?
AH: I don't know, I guess you'll have to ask Eddie.
AU: Do you prefer the guitar or the SynthAxe?
AH: I like them both for completely different reasons, and they both do
different things. If I was to use one and not the other, then I'd miss the
other. And when I play guitar for a while I kinda miss the SynthAxe.
AU: So why isn't it here?
AH: Coz we couldn't afford to bring it.
AU: I've read recently, that you've had a few problems with it in Japan, and
that the company has finished.
AH: Well, the company is still making them, but they've stopped actively
improving them or making any new changes to it, which they constantly did
before. When I first got mine, I was constantly getting new chips and things
for it, for improvements and software changes that they made. But they
couldn't sell it to anybody coz I was one of the few guys that actually
liked it, and obviously that doesn't sell it coz they could only sell them
to me, and obviously I'm not going to buy a lot of them (laughs).
AU: When you're putting together chord progressions, do you hear it all in
your head, or do you have certain concepts that you work on?
AH: No, sometimes I'll be thinking about something and go to the guitar and
work on it, but generally speaking I'm usually noodling on the guitar, and
If I find anything that I like then I'd just try and develop it from there.
AU: So you might play a chord and then try to find another one after that...
AH: I might, yeah..., its not a fixed way every time.
AU: You seem to use a lot of odd-times and changes very often.
AH: Not very often actually, there are odd-bars all over the place, but
nothing is usually locked into an odd time signature for a long time.
AU: How do you think about that when you're writing?
AH: Well that's just the way I hear it, I sort of hear things in one (meaning
1/1 time as opposed to say 3/4 time, or 5/8 time etc). (Laughter from
audience). So if a chord sounds like it needs to be longer then I'll just
make it longer. If it means that it will create an odd-bar, then that's what
happens to it. The music and sound dictates the time, I don't simply put
an odd bar in there because I want to put an odd-bar into the music.
I never do that.
AU: Do you have any problems communicating that to the other musicians?
AH: No. I just play it for them and they do it.
SH: We just have to decode it. (Laughs). And watch his foot.
AU: Did you ever try to do what many guitarists do and learn to play through
Jazz progressions?
AH: Well, I've tried to play over chord progressions.
AU: I meant over more traditional sort of structures.
AH: No, because I've wanted to become a good improviser, and I don't know,
I don't think I ever will be, but I want to be that's the goal. I'd like
to be able to play over anything no matter what it is. But I've never sat
down and played over Jazz standards becauses I've never had the desire to do
that. But I'd like to still be able to that. What I'd like to able to do is
to play over those changes and do something different, so it wouldn't come
out sounding like Bebop.
AU: Has imitation played any role in your learning process?
AH: What, Me imitating someone else?
AU: Yes.
AH: No, because I usually try not to do that. I'm inspired by a lot people,
but I try and just learn from what inspired me, rather than working out
how they did something.
AU: So you never spent much time learning solos from records?
AH: In the beginning I did, when I first started playing I tried to learn
solos, but I realised that it didn't do me any good, because all I'd do is
get good at playing someone else's solo, and I'd still wouldn't be able
to play one of my own that was worth shit. So I figured I needed to work on
finding out how construct solos for myself and what I wanted to hear, rather
than trying to figure out why someone else did something coz you'd never know
why they did it that way, its always like an illusion, and that's the
beautiful thing about it.
AU: Did you find that because of that attitude you progressed a lot quicker?
AH: I don't know. I mean, its hard for me to know if I'm making any
progress. I think I am, but I don't really know.
AU: So how are you dissatisfied with your playing now? You seem to be very
modest from what you've told us.
AH: Well I can't do what I want to do, that's it. (Laughs).
AU: So what's the gap between what you want to do and what you can do?
AH: That stays the same no matter what, because the more you become better
at doing what you were thinking two years ago, your head is two years ahead
of that again. So its like you're constantly chasing your own brain around.
(Laughter from audience). Which is OK by me.
[to be continued in Atavachron #9]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** End of Atavachron Digest ***
To have your posting distributed in the next issue of Atavachron,
send your posting to:
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Date: Sun, 05 Jul 92 18:00:04 EDT
From: atavachron@morekypr
Subject: Atavachron Digest #9
To: Jeff Preston
Atavachron Digest - The Allan Holdsworth Discussion List
Volume 2, Number 9
Sunday, July 5th, 1992
TODAY'S TOPICS:
===============
Holdsworth's Musician's Clinic in Melbourne (Part 3 of 4)
The Big News
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[* Moderator's note: This is Part 3 of a 4-part transcript of the
musician's clinic held at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Australia
on May 12th, 1990 by Allan, Jimmy Johnson, Steve Hunt and Gary
Husband. This was originally received from Jim Trivellas on the
indicated date in one text file; I have split the transcript into
four parts for sake of network efficiency. My apologies for the
filing error which caused Part 2 to go out without Jim's original
header, and my failure to insert the location and date into this
side note! -- J.P.]
-=O=-
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 92 03:46:11 +1000
From: jimt@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU
Subject: Holdsworth's Musician's Clinic in Melbourne (Part 3 of 4)
AU: So ideally what more would you want to able to do that you can't do
at this moment?
AH: Well, I know its not possible, because no matter what I could play, I
would always be able to hear more. If you've reached a point where you
couldn't hear any more, then you'd get another job. That's the ceiling on
it. Its what you can hear not what you can do. What you can do is just
the limitation of where you are at that point in time.
AU: When you solo over a set of changes, do you think in terms of key
centres, or to you basically react to the chord that you're hearing?
AH: When I play a tune I just analyze the chords and write down a little
chart for myself of what scales I think will work over which chords, and
then I just work from those.
AU: Do you react chord by chord, or do you follow key centres?
AH: It depends where it was and where its going. Sometimes it is chord by
chord, or sometimes you do something that goes through a bunch of chords.
And I try to change it all the time.
AU: So you may look at a chord and use a particular scale, and then realise
that the scale may work with the next three chords and use it over them?
AH: Well if it does, yeah! Usually it doesn't with these tunes.
AU: Do you ever get lost?
AH: Oh, yeah. Constantly.
AU: One of the boxes behind you, I tried to read the writing on it the other
night, does it say "Juice Extractor"?
AH: Yeah (laughs).
AU: What does that do? Does it make Orange Juice?
AH: Heh..., (Allan looks at his half-empty beer-glass next to his home made
Juice Extractor prototype) it fills my glass. (Laughter from audience).
Basically what it does is, it allows me to use any kind of guitar amplifier
like an old style tube head like a 50W Marshall, or in this case like this
little .50 Caliber Boogie, instead of using it like a preamp, coz I hate
preamp distortion, it sounds ratty and gnarly, not a nice sound, and most
people started using preamps because they wanted to use signal processing.
It was the only real easy way to do that, you use a preamp and then you put
some toys on it, but what this does is it takes the output from the overall
amplifier no matter what it is, like a 50W Marshall or something, and you
just plug it into the speaker output and it loads the amplifier as much like
a speaker as I could get it to do that, and then the other line-out I run
into the trend-set. That's it really, it allows you to use any kind of head
and interface it with signal processing stuff.
AU: On a tune like "Devil take The Hindmost" when you've got a vamp section
and then you go to the chords again, how do you know when to go back to the
chords? Do you just look at each other?
AH: Its kind of on the nod, when the guy has had enough. He just kind of
gives a nod and......., in that particular tune, yeah.
AU: Do you still play the violin?
AH: Oh no, I never really played violin, I waffled around on it. I waffled
around on many instruments just to see how they were, you know like saxophone
, clarinet, oboe, violin, viola, but I just like the instrument. I think if
I had started playing the instrument when I was a little kid I might have
been able to play it, I don't know. I like the instrument but it takes too
long to master, its a real tough instrument.
AU: But your guitar sound is sometimes like a violin, do you think that you
consciously go for that?
AH: In a way maybe, because the violin has the qualities that I like to hear,
because it is not a percussive instrument like a guitar, because like when
play saxophone you don't really tongue every note its a more flowing thing,
and that's what you can get out of a violin, so I guess somewhere in between
the two.
AU: Do you play the Chapman Stick?
AH: No. I have one, but I got it just before I got the SynthAxe, so when I
actually got the SynthAxe I bailed on it coz I was too engrossed in the
SynthAxe. I guess we'll try and play another tune.
Using his trusty Steinberger GL2T Allan and the band play a great
version of "Three-Sheets To The Wind". Phenomenal playing from
Jimmy on Bass and especially from Gary on Drums. With such a great
rhythm backdrop Allan and Steve proceed to tear the tune apart with
their solos. (Applause).
AU: Allan, from "Tokyo Dream", I wonder if you could play the main theme
from that and show us what you were doing on it?
AH: I don't know if I can remember it. (Allan plays the introduction
up-to and including the right hand tapping section). That's the first part.
I can't remember it all.
AU: Do you jam on loose structures, or no structures, I mean, do you get
together and jam.
AH: Yeah, we have a tune that we play on occasion called the "Zonan Zimmer",
and we just play it to see what happens.
AU: Do you want to do that for us now?
AH: I don't know?
SH: We could do that. Yeah.
AU (all of us): YEAH, YEAH.....
AU: Why don't you jam something new that you haven't done before? (Laughter
from the audience).
AH: Well, maybe we can learn it at the same time you mean? (More Laughter).
A new kind of telepathy.
AU: When you're practising at home, do you just try playing different things
over a certain chord, obviously you don't practise specific things.
AH: Well, sometimes I do practise specific things, things that I don't like
what I'm doing, and I just try figure out ways to learn and make it
so its better, and a bit of my practise is the same as what everybody else
does, you just try and find a way to make what ever it is that you do,
however bad or good that it is to make it better.
AU: How much do you practise?
AH: I didn't think I practised very much until I broke my finger, and then I
realised I did, because I'd keep walking into the room where I've got all
the equipment set up, and I found myself doing that about six or seven times
a day, and I'd get in there and I'd go "Oh, I can't do that".
So unconsciously I played a lot, but I don't play for long periods of time.
I play for 20-30 minutes and then I give up, and then go back at it later.
AU: How did you break your finger?
AH: Just chasing a hound out the back. I just slipped and caught my hand on
a table, and I guess I just landed on it wrong and it broke.
AU: I've noticed that you hardly ever bend any notes. Is that a conscious
thing, or is it a result of the way you play?
AH: No, its a conscious thing. I used to bend notes, but I don't do it any
more nor does it interest me any more. It used to in the old days
(Allan demonstrates his old string bending ways with a strange expression
on his face, and gets quite a few laughs from the audience). I used to
practise pretty hard to be able to bend notes with all my fingers. But I
don't do it any more. The only time I bend a is just little on the low
strings, and the high strings I just use a side-to-side bend coz I find it
more effective. You can stretch the note better that way, you can't do that
with a bend.
AU: Speaking of old days, you've played Gibsons and Fenders. After you
bought your first Steinberger, how did you find the differences between the
wooden guitars and the plastic one?
AH: Well, I sold all my early wooden guitars. Basically I didn't think I'd
like the Steinberger because I had experimented for a long time working with
wood, and I had worked with a number of different guitar companies coz I had
some specific ideas about what sounded good to me. I noticed that all the
very old guitars were about half the weight of the new ones, and they
always sounded a lot better, so I started there. And we made all the guitars
with really light-wood bodies, and most of them sounded pretty good, but
nobody could make two that were even close, you know, each guitar will be an
own entity to itself. Then I tried the Steinberger and I just loved the way
it felt, and also the most important thing was that I really like how it
sounded, so it kind of had everything, its easy to change the strings, its
a long scale guitar 25.5 inch scale, it just seemed like the only thing that
happened to guitar in the last 25 years. Everything else has just been a
copy of a Fender or a Gibson, and then when they started using the clamps it
would take you 3 hours to change the strings, and this Steinberger doesn't
drift out of tune.
AU: Is that a standard Steinberger.
AH: No, the pickups are different. I just use the regular Seymour Duncan
pickups.
NOTE: The above statement isn't totally correct. Allan's GL2T Steinberger
is equipped with 2 Seymour Duncan AH-1B pickups (AH stands for Allan
Holdsworth oddly enough :) ), these are medium output mirror-image-coil
humbuckers developed for Allan, and they are available through your
Seymour Duncan Stockist. Also Allan's Steinberger is equipped with Jim
Dunlop 6000 fretwire (jumbo frets). As far as I know, these are the only
significant differences between the Standard GL2T and his guitar, (since
he uses high-impedance Seymour-Duncan passive pickups as opposed to low
impedance active EMG pickups which are standard on Steinbergers, he'd also
have high-impedance pots for his volume and tone controls. Note that Allan
has also replaced the black knobs with white Stratocaster-type knobs
which have numbers on them. This was presumably necessitated by the fact
that Allan likes to roll-off the high-end from his guitar rather than his
amp, so he probably wanted to be able to look at the tone control and see a
number thereby identifying whether the tone control has been accidentally
turned).
[to be concluded in Atavachron #10]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Jul 92 17:26:20 EDT
From: PRESTON@morekypr.bitnet
Subject: The Big News
Well, now for the big news that I've been hinting at for the last
couple of digests. Back on June 22nd, I got a call from Reed Sherman
at Restless Records, who was calling in response to my fax and the
voice mail message I'd left the week before. He went on to say he was
glad there were so many people interested in Allan's work (in re: the
list), and that they'd be glad to keep us abreast of new developments.
He then ran down the list of questions I'd asked about the upcoming
release, and said that Restless knew very little about it, except
that they *would* be releasing it... as soon as Allan brought it to
them. Other than that, he only knew that some of the executives had
heard one cut from it, and that the album will be titled _Wardencliff
Tower_ . When he got to the question about Restless acquiring _Road
Games_ , he would only say, "probably not," so I imagine Warner wants
too much money for it, or they just want to hang onto it for the time
being. There were a few other questions on there which Reed said he
didn't have any firm answers to, so (here's the shocker), he said he'd
put Allan in touch with me, and I could ask *him* what I wanted to
know. Wow. :)
I spoke with Allan on the phone last night (July 4th) for about
20 minutes or so. He seemed quite happy to talk with me, and he seemed
to be surprised that so many people were interested in actively
discussing his music. He said he was familiar with the concept of
e-mail, etc., and he wanted to thank all of us for trying to help
"spread the word". We then started discussing _Wardencliff Tower_ ,
which Allan explained, "All the tracks for it were finished last year,
but we had been on the road so much I hadn't had a proper chance to
do the mixdown." He went on to say that all the mixes are complete,
and the only thing holding up the release is where they are trying to
get a distribution deal worked out in Europe. He said he wanted that
to be in place before the North American release, because as he put
it, "If I give the album to Restless now, they'll have it on the
shelves in a matter of weeks. Then it will be harder to work with the
European distributors because it'll be showing up there as an import
and will be undercutting the market, so to speak." He expected to
have the details worked out with his new management very soon, and
said they were now shooting for an early October release date for
_Wardencliff Tower_ . He said, "I hope it's not too much of a
disappointment..." No way... :)
Who's on it? Well, Steve Hunt is back on keyboards throughout, as
is Jimmy Johnson on bass. For drummers, he has Chad Wackerman and Gary
Husband splitting up the majority of the work, and Vinnie Colaiuta
playing on one tune. All in all, no big surprises in the line-up.
I forgot to ask about Skuli Spherrisson (as well as a number of other
things... I'd meant to ask him how he felt about doing one of the
talk shows we'd talked about on the list, but my brain wasn't fully
in gear, I'd say). :)
We then started talking about Merlin, and how I got a little nervous
when I'd heard about the change in management. He said, "Awww, I had to
fire him (Davenport). Me and the guys had been over in Europe for six
weeks, and when we came back, he told us that after expenses, there
was no money left for the band. Well, he had done this to us before,
and the first time I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but this time
we (Allan and the band) asked to see the balance sheets. We couldn't
make any sense of any of it, so I decided it was time to look for
a better deal." He went on to say that his wife had just put a letter
in the mail to me with information about his new management, and
also contains the few dates they have confirmed for this fall -- I
will pass this along as soon as I get it, of course.
I asked him about the earthquakes that southern California went
through in the last week or so, and he said, "Yeah, we're all okay...
it really scared the kids, but it's a little unnerving. They keep
talking about the 'big one' that's going to hit any time now, and
it does put a scare into you when things start dropping off the walls
and what have you."
Other than that, I basically thanked him for his time, and asked him
if we might periodically chat like this, and he said that sounded great.
I hope you'll agree this is a great asset for the list, and I hope that
you folks will continue to pose some good questions to pass along to
Allan. This will be one great way to keep up with him without buying
every music magazine known to man! :)
Jeff Preston
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** End of Atavachron Digest ***
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send your posting to:
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preston@morekypr.morehead-st.edu
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Date: Tue, 07 Jul 92 05:00:05 EDT
From: atavachron@morekypr
Subject: Atavachron Digest #10
To: Jeff Preston
Atavachron Digest - The Allan Holdsworth Discussion List
Volume 2, Number 10
Tuesday, July 7th, 1992
TODAY'S TOPICS:
==============
Side-to-side bend?
Questions for Allan
Holdsworth's Musician's Clinic in Melbourne (part 4 of 4)
A letter from Mrs. Holdsworth
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 92 19:21:31 PDT
From: edju%phakt.usc.edu@usc.edu (Dr. Hannibal Lecter)
Subject: Side-to-side bend?
In part III of the Allan Holdswroth @ Australia transcript, Allan
mentioned that he doesn't bend anymore. Instead he plays "side-to-side bends."
Can somebody explain what exactly that technique is?
Eddie
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 92 19:34:48 PDT
From: edju%phakt.usc.edu@usc.edu (Dr. Hannibal Lecter)
Subject: Questions for Allan
Jeff, you were one of the lucky dudes (me included) to have talked with
Allan. Next time you talk on the phone, please ask him if he is aware of
Howard Shore's music, and if he will consider collaborating with Howard Shore.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Howard Shore's work, he works closely
with Canadian director David Croneberg, and have scored "The Fly," "Videodrome,"
"Dead Ringers," and "Naked Lunch." Another recent project included the score
for the academy award-winning "The Silence of the Lambs." On his most recent
project, "Naked Lunch," Howard Shore collaborated with saxphonist
Ornette Coleman and the resulting music went beyond the realms of incredible
music... the blend was simply exotic and outlandish. I am sure a collaboration
between Allan and Mr. Shore will give us something that we will never expect
from an Allan Holdsworth solo album.
Eddie
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[* Moderator's note: This is Part 4 of a 4-part transcript of the
musician's clinic held at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Australia
on May 12th, 1990 by Allan, Jimmy Johnson, Steve Hunt and Gary
Husband. This was originally received from Jim Trivellas on the
indicated date in one text file; I have split the transcript into
four parts for sake of network efficiency. -- J.P.]
-=O=-
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 92 03:46:11 +1000
From: jimt@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU
Subject: Holdsworth's Musician's Clinic in Melbourne (part 4 of 4)
AU: I just wondered if you'd mind playing some stuff without the rest of the
band, because some of it was getting lost in the mix.
AH: Well, I'm sorry about that.
AU: Allan, what gauge strings are you using?
AH: Eights (meaning the set that goes from 0.008 to 0.038 inches in
diameter).
AU: Are they the double-ball type, or are you using standard strings with a
special attachment?
AH: No, they are double-ball strings.
AU: Can you tell us about the blue double neck Steinberger?
AH: The double neck guitar? Yeah, that's basically a guitar the I brought
along, I don't like it very much, but its a necessary evil, because some of
the tunes that I did on the SynthAxe I tuned it like a violin, I tuned it in
fifths, so in order to play some of those pieces without a great deal of
mental rearranging I had a guitar made that had one neck tuned in fifths,
and one tuned regularly.
AU: On "Home" from "Metal Fatigue", on the end of it you had some very
haunting swelling guitar sound, it sounded like it had a harmonizer there
set at an octave. How did you get that sound?
AH: Just by using two delays and a harmonizer.
AU: So the harmonized element was delayed as well?
AH: Yeah.
ME: You've said that you don't do any sweeping, how did you play the line, or
I should say the arpeggio, at the start of "City Nights"? Was that all
hammered-on?
AH: I play my arpeggios like, more than one note on a string. That's
basically the only way I can do it, so I just figure out fingerings that I
can use to play the arpeggios if I want to play them, you know I mean it
seems to be like a fashionable thing to play arpeggios now, coz when my
Dad was showing me things with arpeggios, he used to always say, these are
the things that you practise at home and don't let me catch you playing them
on the gig. (Laughs). But I guess everybody is doing that now. Hey, its
just whatever sounds good. But I can't sweep-pick to save my life. I just
had to figure out a different way to play those things for myself.
AU: The concepts that you use like the scales and chords, do you find them
just by experimenting, or from other players, or conventional means?
AH: No, I've worked them all out mathematically. I just do it all with
numbers. And then I write them all out, and I study them.
AU: So you take a certain scale and what do you do?
AH: I started with how many notes you ever want to put in scale. I tried
them all starting with four notes, but they were not very effective, but
I wrote them all out anyway, and say you wanted to take any eight note scale
you just take number one and keep that constant, and think of it as
chromatically, so you'd take 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9, and
so on, until you've come up with every possible permutation of eight notes
in one octave, and then you've them all, no matter what you want to call them
you've got them all there, and then I did the same thing with two octaves and
three octaves, and if you spread them over three octaves then they get really
wild. So I just write them out, and I've a catalogue of stuff at home that
would take me five lifetimes to even figure out half of what was going on in
there, but you just try to take from it the things that you think you can use
or use in the music that you want to play. Doing it with numbers is the long
way around and also it gives you a lot of shit that's absolutely unusable,
but at least they're written down somewhere.
The band now plays their jam tune, the "Zonan Zimmer", as they
promised earlier. The tune starts with same spacious chords
from Allan and occasional percussion-like work from Gary.
Suddenly a semi-steady beat emerges. Whilst it seems that
everything is slowly grinding to a halt, the tempo picks up.
By this time both Jimmy and Steve are adding their important
elements to the tune, and its time for Allan to take a solo.
The solo begins with some beautiful slow melodic phrases over
what seems like a sequence of sus4+7 chords and chords voiced with
the following notes (1 7 b5 5). Soon after that, Allan picks up
the solo's tempo and creates the tension-release effects by
tastefully weaving inside and outside the confines of the
progression. Then its Steve's turn. Hearing it back on tape
on could easily mistake it for Allan's SynthAxe playing. No
doubt Steve has been heavily influenced by Allan. Slowly the
tune slows down, and ends with some very free drumming from
Gary, and some spacious volume-pedal chord swells from Allan.
Throughout the whole tune Jimmy's bass lines seemed like a
continuous bass solo with the important quality of always keeping
the groove whilst constantly playing different lines.
AH: Do you have any more questions to ask the chaps?
AU: I wonder if Gary might explain the logic behind the tom setup, with the
large one in the middle and the smaller ones on the sides?
GH: Basically its like a letter "T" instead of one big curve, what it does
basically is to enable me to play at the high end of the set at both sides,
and it also opens up a lot of alternate sticking things where you can go
to the top of the set from either side. The cymbal setup reflects the same
sort of thing, with the only mainstay being the ride-cymbal being on the
right side coz I'm right-handed. Its interesting to me so I'm working with
it.
AU: What about the two snares?
GH: Well, that's not an original idea, that is again for the purpose of
variation.
AU: Do you use the same setup with Level 42?
GH: Yeah, I use it all the time.
AU: And in the studio?
GH: Exactly, yeah. Infact I first started using it in the studio. Heh,
I was a bit drunk you see, so... (Laughter from everyone). It seemed like
a good idea at the time.
AU: How do you approach the timing with Jimmy? How do you communicate?
AH: They just both know where it is (Laughs).
GH: It don't think I could really make it work with anyone else, the way it
kind of feels with Jimmy, it just kind of works. Its not one of those things
that you find very often, so I guess I'm very lucky. I don't know if Jimmy
would say the same thing.
JJ: Oh yeah.
AU: You've played with other bass players of varied styles, do you think it
will work with someone like say, Jeff Berlin, have you ever played with him?
GH: No, I can't play with Jeff Berlin at all. (Laughs). Its just one those
things that didn't work. We actually played together once with Jeff.
AU: Allan, what do you think about Australian Beer? (Laughter from audience).
AH: Well I like "Cooper's Ale", but it seems like a monopoly deal to me,
coz Carlton & United Breweries seem to brew everything, and they all taste
pretty similar to me.
AU: How is your brewery going?
AH: Well I haven't got one yet, that's just a dream.
AU: Do you think we'll see a day when we could buy "Holdsworth's Beer"?
(Laughter from audience).
AH: Well, probably not in Australia, since if I insist on it being the real
thing you wouldn't be able to transport it, coz it would just perish. But
one day somewhere I'll do it.
AU: Do you think you'll do it in America?
AH: I don't know, I think they might like to get into it in California
because there are lots of microbreweries opening out there now. So its
great.
AU: Do you ever think you'll come back here?
AH: I'd like to, that's why we kind of did this so that we could see if there
was anybody that would like to listen to the music coz we had no idea.
AU (Everyone): YEAH.
AH: We really appreciate that, and we'd like to thank you for that, that's
great.
AU: Did you manage to have a look at the country and get out and about?
AH: No, not much getting out and about. No, we've just been putzing around
during the day and we haven't done much sight seeing.
AU: Seen any Kangaroos yet? (Laughter from the audience).
AH: No. I hear they kick your ass if you see them, so.... (Laughs).
AU: You've got some in California anyway.
AH: Yeah? Well, I've never seen them there. (Laughs).
AU: Most other guitarists strum chords, but you never seem to do that.
AH: I've never really been a strummer. The only time that I ever did any
strumming was when I played in a top-40 band which I did for a long time.
But that was the only time, and as soon as I got out of that job I swore that
I'd never do it again and I never have (laughter from audience). It is just
the way I hear it. I don't hear that sort of thing for myself.
AU: Whereas most Jazz guitarists tend to play standard Jazz chords, your
harmonies tend to float a lot more.
AH: Yeah, I like that. I like the unresolved thing. To me they're not
unresolved enough.
AU: Do you still sing a bit yourself?
AH: Nein! I can't, its terrible.
AU: What about when you're drunk?
AH: Heh, I can't even sing when I'm drunk. (Laughs).
AU: What's your future project for this year?
AH: Well, I'd like to write music to do another album, and I guess we've
got some more gigs to do when we get back to California.
AU: Do you plan to work with anyone else besides your band in the future?
AH: No.
Well, we all know that a year later he played on the Level 42
album "Guaranteed", and also did a few gigs with them in England.
AU: How did you discover the musicians that you have in your band?
AH: Well, it is usually by word of mouth. Like with Gary, I remember
people telling me about this amazing drummer from Leeds, this young
kid at that time, and they were right. And we had a jam somewhere and I
loved it, it was great. So we started working together, and originally
the birth of the I.O.U. thing was just Gary and myself. We tried many
bass players but we couldn't really find anyone, coz at that time
everybody was trying to imitate Jaco (Pastorius) with the bald fingerboards,
and nobody could play it in tune. Everybody missed the point. They tried
to play like Jaco but they couldn't, they were only trying to get the sound.
So we found this guy Paul Carmichael who had chalkmarks on it, so that was
good. And we started out with that. I was singing originally and then I
bailed on that when Paul Williams joined the band, and then when we went
to the States Chad Wackerman played with us for a while and he introduced
me to Jimmy Johnson, and Jimmy came along to a rehearsal, and with the
next available opportunity he was there, and he's been there ever since
so I'm really happy, its great, my favourite bass player.
AU: With the comment about Jaco, how do you feel about people imitating you?
Do you think that they miss the point?
AH: Usually, yeah. Most people do, I think. Because by the nature of it,
these people miss where its been and where its going, they only see a small
section of it, and everybody is going to see a different bit of it, but
never the whole thing. When I hear people imitate me, it makes me
want to change, which is great, I just go "Oh shit, that must be really
shallow", (laughter from the audience) so I say "I'd better stop doing that"
and change my playing.
AU: I heard a rumour that you were doing an album with Frank Gambale.
AH: Oh yeah, we did. It was a really fast album of fusion tunes. Because
they didn't have time to write anything, so we just went in there and played
a bunch of fusion standards. It was good though, Frank is great.
AU: What's the album called.
AH: Its called the Mark Varney Project, coz he's the guy who owns the record
company (everyone laughs). It was recorded really badly, but there's some
good playing on it.... (pause) from the other guys. (laughter from the
audience).
I'd like to thank you again on behalf of Gary Husband, Jimmy Johnson, Steve
Hunt, and myself. So thanks a lot. (Applause from the audience).
[end of transcript]
-=O=-
[*Moderator's note (again): I just wanted to thank Jim for taking
the time and trouble to type all this in for us -- I know he's
been very busy with his own band lately, and this certainly wasn't
knocked off in an afternoon. Thanks again, Jim! -- J.P.]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 07 Jul 92 04:19:28 EDT
From: PRESTON@morekypr.bitnet
Subject: A letter from Mrs. Holdsworth
I received the letter from Claire Holdsworth today (Allan's wife).
Although Allan had mentioned something on the phone about the letter
that I wrote to him (via Merlin) last fall that essentially described
the proposed list (Atavachron) and networking in general, the letter
that Claire is responding to here is the fax I sent to Restless on
June 16th or 17th (which seems appropriate, since that's the last
thing I've sent). The questions I posed to Restless in that fax
that Claire addresses here were:
1. What can you tell us about the upcoming release?
2. Is Restless persuing the rights to _Road Games_ with a CD
reissue in mind?
3. What was the reference about a "TV taping" on the last touring
itinerary (I had never gotten a straight answer from Merlin
about this... they always said "we'll have more news about
that at a later date...")?
4. Would Allan be agreeable to a brief phone interview for the
Atavachron list (and the network community-at-large)?
5. Can you pass along information regarding Allan's new management
as soon as it becomes available?
Below is the full text of the letter Claire sent in response to
the above questions:
-=O=-
Vista, Ca.
July 3rd, 1992
Dear Jeff,
Your letter to Restless Records was sent directly to Allan, so I
will answer the questions for him. Thank you for your interest, and for
spreading the word! Allan would greatly appreciate a wider audience.
1. The new album "Wardenclyffe Tower" should be released in October.
The musicians who played on it were:
Jimmy Johnson, bass Steve Hunt, keyboards
Chad Wackerman, drums Gary Husband, drums
Vinnie Colaiuta, drums Naomi Starr, vocals
2. Allan would love to reissue "Road Games" but Warners will only sell
it at an exorbitant price.
3. The tv taping may have referred to an instructional video for REH
Video that Allan is currently working on. At the present time there
are some technical difficulties, but if these are resolved the video
should be released in the next couple of months.
4. Allan would be glad to do a phone interview when the album is
released.
5. The new management company is:
Mr. Akira Yada
Arrow Field Productions Inc.
14206 Leadwell St.
Van Nuys, CA 91405
Tel: 818-988-0756
Fax: 818-988-1246
Thank you again for your interest and concern. Perhaps you could keep us
informed as to the reactions you receive via the bulletin board.
Sincerely,
(signed)
Claire Holdsworth
-=O=-
As you can see, there are some new items in the letter that I
didn't get when I spoke to Allan Saturday (namely, the instructional
video, and the spelling of "Wardenclyffe"... gee, I wonder what
the background is on that title? Any takers?).
Jeff Preston
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Date: Thu, 09 Jul 92 04:00:05 EDT
From: atavachron@morekypr
Subject: Atavachron Digest #11
To: Jeff Preston
Atavachron Digest - The Allan Holdsworth Discussion List
Volume 2, Number 11
Thursday, July 9th, 1992
TODAY'S TOPICS:
==============
Allan: The UK perspective
Re: Side-to-side bend?
Dennis Miller address / local booking?
TAB for NON-BREWED CONDIMENT (Intro section)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Jul 92 14:32:21 +0100
From: Jason B Julyan
Subject: Allan: The UK perspective
I thought I'd contribute my experience of being an Allan H. fan in the UK.
First, trying to find *any* CD (except Secrets) is like looking for water
in the desert. I first heard of Allan in about '85 when I started playing
guitar, in an interview in the british Guitarist magazine. I was interested
mainly by his attitude to improvisation - I myself have always made a
concious effort *not* to learn *any* music by someone else. This is a big
problem when someone says, "Play me something" and hands me a guitar - a
long stream of improvised arpeggios and scale runs rarely impresses...
Anyway, a few days after reading the review I found a copy of U.K. in a
local music store - what it was doing there I'll never know. I was hooked,
but my search for other CD's was initially thwarted. The next CD I got
was Secrets after seeing an Allan gig about a year later. About 6 months
after that I picked up I.O.U and in the last 6 months I've aquired Metal
Fatigue and Silent Will. Note that these CD's cost around 15-18 pounds
(so, what $30-40?) and we're talking a total stock of one CD, even in
Tower Records/HMV/Virgin in the West End of London (one of these is/was
the largest record store in the world...)
On a similar point, the gig I saw was back in '90 and attended by a rather
'normal' jazz crowd - mainly middle aged, few obvious musician types. Allan
certainly has a diverse audience in Bristol, UK!
Put these two together and what do you get? A willing, diverse UK audience
who have been *totally* starved of any recorded output. Of the list of
titles supplied by this group, only Secrets could be said to be widely
available. I understand that Allan is as appalled by this situation as I
am broke at trying to circumvent it. Well, all I can say Allan is - push
hard for a euro deal on the new release, but if you think a US release
would undermine it by a flood of imports then you've very much mistaken.
It goes without saying that if anyone knows a shop in the UK where I could
find a reliable source of Allan's material then I'd like to hear from them.
I'd dearly love to get a copy of Sand at the very least.
TTFN, Jason.
Jason Julyan md91jbj@brunel.ac.uk | Brunel University
Microelectronics Postgraduate | Uxbridge, LONDON. UK.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 08 Jul 92 03:36:47 +1000
From: jimt@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU
Subject: Re: Side-to-side bend?
>Date: Sun, 5 Jul 92 19:21:31 PDT
>From: edju%phakt.usc.edu@usc.edu (Dr. Hannibal Lecter)
>Subject: Side-to-side bend?
>
> In part III of the Allan Holdswroth @ Australia transcript, Allan
>mentioned that he doesn't bend anymore. Instead he plays "side-to-side bends."
>Can somebody explain what exactly that technique is?
> Eddie
Allan uses the side-to-side bend on the plain (ie. non-wound strings, namely
strings 1-3). The side-to-side bend is the type of thing that violinists
use. Guitarists usually achieve the vibrato effect by making a note go
slightly sharp (by bending the string upwards and/or downwards) and they then
let it return to normal pitch. If this is done properly it achieves a vibrato
effect.
What Allan usually does, is to kinda pivot his finger on its tip, in a
sideways motion (ie along the length of a string). He also does this with
some chords. However, it is interesting to note that when he does it on a single
note, then he only lets that particular finger touch the fingerboard (whereas
most players who use the up-down bend usually have other fingers "supporting"
the bend).
If this is a bit confusing, then ask a violinist to demonstrate their vibrato
technique. (Or wait for that Allan Holdsworth instructional video :) ).
Regards, Jim.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Trivellas.
Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering.
School of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering.
The University of Melbourne, Parkville 3052, Victoria, Australia.
|
|
| Telephone: +61 3 3446663
***** Email: jimt@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au
_______*************_______
_|_____*****************_____|_
_|_|_____*****************_____|_|_ "Hello, is that the front desk?"
| | ________*************________ | | Allan Holdsworth
| | ***** | |
| The SPID |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 08 Jul 92 19:36:24 EDT
From: PRESTON@morekypr.bitnet
Subject: Dennis Miller address / local booking?
Since we now know that _Wardenclyffe Tower_ should be released
in October, perhaps now would be an excellent time to start writing
those letters to The Dennis Miller Show (for those of us who were
planning on doing so) about getting Allan on as a musical guest.
I plan to ask Mr. Yada (Allan's new manager) if he can provide us
with a contact name on the program, but until then, here is the
address which Lynn Rardin provided a few weeks ago:
The Dennis Miller Show
P.O. Box 4150
Hollywood, CA 90078
Mentioning Chad Wackerman in the letters may also be of help,
since it may cause some staffer to ask him, "Hey, what's up with
this Holdsworth cat?" :)
Another thing to consider, since Allan and Co. are in the process
of putting together a touring itinerary for September (especially for
anyone who is reading Atavachron from a university's computer system):
If you would be interested in getting Allan to play locally, you might
want to talk with the local Student Activities people, and maybe give
them Mr. Yada's address and phone numbers and a short bio sheet (I can
provide both on request). Another angle to try would be to call the
nearest jazz radio station, college station or NPR station, and ask
them for possible venues that might be interested in booking Allan.
Hey, if you know of any adventuresome clubs in your area, you might
ask for a word with the manager... whatever works. I *do* know what a
drag it is to have to drive 3 hours to see a good show, so just think
of these as "Mr. Atoz's Helpful Hints for Music Activists"... :)
What a wild week *this* has been...
Jeff Preston
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 09 Jul 92 02:45:45 +1000
From: jimt@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU
Subject: TAB for NON-BREWED CONDIMENT (Intro section)
The following is a tablature transcription of the Introductory section, of
one of my favourite Allan Holdsworth tunes. "Non-Brewed Condiment", the
first tune from the album "Atavachron". I transcribed the notes of the intro
a couple of months ago, using a dual speed 4-track recorder. I recorded it
at high speed, and played it back at half-speed, thereby slowing the tune
down, but also lowering everything down by an octave. This pitch lowering
effect makes it quite difficult to identify some of the low notes, since they
sound rather ghostly (its times like this that I wish I had an Eventide
harmonizer, since I could pitch shift the output up by an octave and
get the tune at concert pitch at half the speed!). What does this mean?
Well, it means that a note or two maybe questionable, although when I play
it at 80% of the actual tempo it sounds OK to me.
Now all I have to do is to get the guys from my band to play this tune :).
"NON-BREWED CONDIMENT"
(Intro Section Only)
Allan Holdsworth
Transcribed by Jim Trivellas
Sustain LH
1----------||----------------------------------------------------------------
2----------||------------------------------10^15^13---------------8^13^8-----
3----------||*------------------7^12----------------12^10--------------------
4----------||*-------5^10------------12^15-----------------------------------
5------8---||-------------10^12---------------------------10^8^10------------
6----------||---8^10---------------------------------------------------------
LH LH LH LH
1----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2-----------------------6^10^6^8---------------------------------------------
3--------------------------------7^10^7^5------------------------------------
4-----------------------------------------8^10^5^7---------------------------
5-----------10^8~7^8^10-----------------------------8^10^8^5-----------------
6------------------------------------------------------------8^6-------------
LH LH LH LH Sustain
1--------------8^10^13^10^8--------------------------------------------------
2-------6^8^11--------------10^8^6-----------------------6^8^10--------------
3----------------------------------7^5^3-----------5^7^9---------------7-----
4----------------------------------------5^3---------------------------------
5--------------------------------------------5^3^5---------------------------
6----------------------------------------------------------------------------
________ ________
| 1. | 2.
| | To Solo
1---------------------------------------|-13-10--||-|-13-12-10---------------
2-------10^8^6---8-13-10---10^8^6--8-13----------||--------------------------
3--------------7---------7--------7-------------*||--------------------------
4-----------------------------------------------*||--------------------------
5------------------------------------------------||--------------------------
6------------------------------------------------||--------------------------
NOTE: The ^ symbol indicates a hammer-on or a pull-off
The ~ symbol indicates a slide
The LH symbol indicates a left-hand hammer-on
Otherwise the notes are picked
Note that these are the fingerings that I find comfortable. I'm used to
minimal picking, extensive left-hand hammer-ons and pull-offs (ie the
Legato approach), and wide left-hand stretches. It is easy for me to play
it in this way because that is the way that I play. Hence, feel free to
experiment with different fingerings to facilitate your playing style and
technique. I tried about three different fingerings, but they required some
crafty picking which I wasn't able to do at the required tempo (the actual
recording is rather fast), so I kept on changing them until I arrived at
this particular fingering which employs some wide-ish stretches and some
string skiping. However, I'd say that Holdsworth's fingerings will be
very similar to the ones that I've chosen, since he is also a minimal picker
and uses hammer-ons, pull-offs, and wide stretches, extensively. (The wide
stretches are a necessary evil of the minimalist picking approach, it all
depends what you find easier, stretching or picking).
Having said that, I must admit that it is a particularly difficult section to
play at the actual tempo that Allan does it in. I can currently play it at
80-85% of the actual tempo, but I'm confident that I'd get it happening at
full speed fairly soon, since I only worked out this fingering a couple of
days ago. That is, I haven't got the muscle memory thing happening perfectly
as yet, so I can't relax and play it on automatic pilot :).
Oh yes, I almost forgot. Allan plays this section with his guitar tuned
like a violin (ie in fifths). The above fingerings are for a standard
tuning only. That is why when he played this tune live he used the double
neck Steinberger, playing the intro on the bottom neck (tuned in fifths),
and playing his solo on the top neck (standard tuning). He didn't have
to worry about this with the SynthAxe, since he could recall different
programs for different tunings. Also, if you listen carefully to the
recording, this intro section is double tracked on guitar and SynthAxe.
However, I don't feel that the tune is more difficult on a guitar with a
standard tuning. Holdsworth said that he needed the neck tuned in fifths
so that he could play the tune "without a lot a mental re-arranging". To me
that means that since he already knows how to play this tune damn well on
a non-standard tuning, then why should he bother re-learning it for the
standard tuning.
Anyway, this may keep some of you Holdsworth freaks busy for a little while
:).
ENJOY!
Regards, Jim.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Trivellas.
Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering.
School of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering.
The University of Melbourne, Parkville 3052, Victoria, Australia.
|
|
| Telephone: +61 3 3446663
***** Email: jimt@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au
_______*************_______
_|_____*****************_____|_
_|_|_____*****************_____|_|_ "Hello, is that the front desk?"
| | ________*************________ | | Allan Holdsworth
| | ***** | |
| The SPID |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** End of Atavachron Digest ***
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send your posting to:
atavachron@morekypr.morehead-st.edu
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Date: Thu, 16 Jul 92 05:30:18 EDT
From: atavachron@morekypr
Subject: Atavachron Digest #12
To: Jeff Preston
Atavachron Digest - The Allan Holdsworth Discussion List
Volume 2, Number 12
Thursday, July 16th, 1992
TODAY'S TOPICS:
==============
An idea for Allan's birthday
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 92 05048:12 EDT
From: PRESTON@morekypr.bitnet
Subject: An idea for Allan's birthday
Sorry to put out a one-posting digest (from myself, nonetheless),
but time is growing short if we want to do this in time, so...
A few of us here on the list have been exchanging some ideas
behind the scenes about the possibility of sending Allan something
for his upcoming birthday (August 6th), and it looks like we have
a plan to put into action now.
The idea is twofold -- the first involves everyone sending their
signatures on a plain white piece of paper, so that they can be
scanned and converted into digital images, and printed onto an
appropriate card. The second part is strictly optional, and
involves sending a small contribution so that we can send Allan
a case of some fine malt beverage.
Luigi Perrotta has kindly offered the use of his credit card to
do the ordering, and Tom O'Toole has suggested Grolsh as the beer
to buy, since that's what Tom remembers him drinking after a show
not too long ago (sorry folks, we tried to locate some Tetley's,
but to no avail... besides, as one of our newest subscribers said
to me, "it has to be drawn through a sparkler head to do it justice,
anyway."). The beer will be ordered from a Van Nuys liquor store,
and although we haven't worked out the details yet, it will
probably come to around $45 to $60 by the time the delivery charge
is added in (the price estimate is based -- probably erratically --
on what Grolsh costs here in Kentucky, which is ~$5.50 per 4-pack,
on average). I've promised to make up for whatever shortfall might
occur, but since I'm not a rich man, I'm asking anyone who has the
means and thinks this is a nice gesture to contribute $3 or $4 *if*
you can afford it. If not, don't worry about it, but please *do*
send your signature in if you'd like it included on the card... the
whole idea is to send this from the Atavachron list, so the more
signatures, the better.
Okay, WHERE TO SEND EVERYTHING: The signatures and any contributions
should be sent to me, at the following address:
Jeff Preston
UPO Box 1272
Morehead State University
Morehead, KY 40351
For people contributing funds, make the checks payable to me or to
Luigi Perrotta, either one, in U.S. funds, please. In the event of any
overage (which I don't anticipate), we'll set that aside for next
year, unless we hear a better plan. :)
For anyone overseas who thinks it's questionable as to whether their
signature would arrive in time to get on the card, if you have access
to a scanner and can convert a scanned image of it to .GIF, .TIFF, .PCX,
..BMP or GEM/IMG formats and send them UUENCODEd to me, there's a good
chance I can get it on the card.
Well, time is short (21 days) -- I hope to get some signatures in
the mail from you folks soon!
Jeff Preston
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Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 03:30:05 EDT
From: atavachron@morekypr
Subject: Atavachron Digest #13
To: Jeff Preston
Atavachron Digest - The Allan Holdsworth Discussion List
Volume 2, Number 13
Tuesday, July 21st, 1992
TODAY'S TOPICS:
==============
Allan's tour
A lack of CDs in the U.K.?
Oh well
Atavachron: Open 24 hours a day for your convenience
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 92 14:20:59 EDT
From: ouij%triples@Triples.Math.McGill.CA (Luigi Perrotta)
Subject: Allan's tour
*
Spoke with Akira Yada.
the tour is taking shape.
they are doing 35 shows in
30 days from minneapolis to florida.
They will not be doing canada since
due to the visa problems with the
bassist and the drummer (one is british
and I don't know what skuli is).
They are doing the bottom line
the 25th and 26th of September in NY.
So, jeff I guess if you ask late next week,
perhaps he will give you the entire tour list
(which is not yet finalized)
Ouij
--
ouij@math.mcgill.ca
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 92 17:56:22 EDT
From: PRESTON@morekypr.bitnet
Subject: A lack of CDs in the U.K.?
>Date: Tue, 7 Jul 92 14:32:21 +0100
>From: Jason B Julyan
>Subject: Allan: The UK perspective
>I thought I'd contribute my experience of being an Allan H. fan in the UK.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts... we have a few subscribers in
the U.K., but none are terribly active posters here, and I wasn't aware
there was such a shortage of Holdsworth's material over there.
[...]
> Note that these CD's cost around 15-18 pounds
>(so, what $30-40?) and we're talking a total stock of one CD, even in
>Tower Records/HMV/Virgin in the West End of London (one of these is/was
>the largest record store in the world...)
Not being anywhere near something you could reasonably call a CD
store, I can certainly sympathize with the difficulties in finding
the titles you want... but those *prices*! Yow!! That's a major
wallet burner. Read on...
>Put these two together and what do you get? A willing, diverse UK audience
>who have been *totally* starved of any recorded output. Of the list of
>titles supplied by this group, only Secrets could be said to be widely
>available. I understand that Allan is as appalled by this situation as I
>am broke at trying to circumvent it. Well, all I can say Allan is - push
>hard for a euro deal on the new release, but if you think a US release
>would undermine it by a flood of imports then you've very much mistaken.
Yes, I'm sure he's quite disappointed at the situation you describe.
I think what he is more concerned with in the case of _Wardenclyffe
Tower_ is that the European distributors will have the *perception*
that an earlier North American release will hurt European domestic
sales. In the case of an artist like Allan Holdsworth, I can see why
that is the case, since he obviously has a small, but intensely
devoted audience. That translates into "all the European fans will
pay double for the U.S. import as soon as they find out about it,"
in the minds of the distributors, or so I am guessing.
I wonder if it might be worth your time to check into a U.S. mail
order house... it might be a lot cheaper than you can get at Tower.
I know Noteworthy Music in New Hampshire advertises the fact that they
carry an international catalog. I don't know what the prices would
look like, not having seen this catalog, but the catalog itself is
$5.00 (in U.S. funds, no doubt) and is available from:
Noteworthy Music, Inc.
17 Airport Road
Nashua, NH 03063
USA
Standard disclaimer. I like their service and their prices, and the
selection is pretty good. They have all of Holdsworth's Enigma/Restless
catalog so far, as well as the CD reissue of _Velvet Darkness_ . Also,
they carry both of the (highly recommended) Bruford CDs with Holdsworth
(_Feels Good To Me_ and _One of a Kind_), and Gong's _Gazeuse!_ , too.
Hope this helps!
Jeff Preston
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 92 09:55:23 EDT
From: David_Lane.LOTUS@CRD.lotus.com
Subject: Oh well
I guess the plans to petition the Dennis Miller show
to have Holdsworth appear on his show can be scrapped.
The show has been cancelled.
- - -
Dave Lane
Lotus Development Corp.
Ignore reply address.
Please use: dlane@ldbvax.lotus.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 02:47:12 EDT
From: PRESTON@morekypr.bitnet
Subject: Atavachron: Open 24 hours a day for your convenience
Hello again, sports fans...
Just wanted to touch base with everyone, since we've had quite a
flood of new subscribers coming in here lately, and I want to make sure
no one thinks we've closed up shop here. Relax -- it always gets slow
in July. :) So, just how many have signed on recently? Since July
6th, would you believe (drum roll) 28 new people? That's swelled the
ranks by nearly a *third*. The grand total (for those of you keeping
score at home) now stands at 91 subscribers in 7 countries. Wow. :)
Now on to other important issues...
Allan's birthday stuff: Today I received 4 signatures in the mail,
and right now the "birthday fund" stands at $15.00. Major thanks! If you
can, please try to get your signature sent in by August 1st if you're
interested in participating, so we'll have time to get it on the card,
and get the card in the mail on time. As for the beer, I'm still looking
for a source in Van Nuys that fills the bill. If you missed the last
Atavachron digest detailing this, and are interested, please send me some
e-mail (real soon!) and I'll send you the info.
Miscellaneous: I don't think I mentioned this here, but Allan got
another mention in the pages of the August issue of Musician magazine.
This time, it was Al DiMeola who brought him up, in the context of
the difficulty of finding this kind of innovative contemporary jazz
on the airwaves today. The article is very good, although as many
rec.music.bluenote readers have pointed out, it's a bit late for a
call-to-arms on the issue. :)
I happened to wander into the campus library today (gee, how'd that
happen?), and sat down in front of one of the periodicals databases on
CD-ROM for a minute, and came up with a few hits on Mr. Holdsworth.
Even more remarkable was the fact that our library actually *had* all
of the articles which were indicated! Needless to say, I took the
liberty of committing these to ASCII, just in case the library is hit
by a tornado (hey, backups, backups, backups!). :) I'm thinking
about sending these to other sites for even greater safe-keeping
(especially if the traffic on the list stays this lethargic). ;)
For those of you not subscribed to Discipline (the King Crimson
digest) or Notes From The Edge (the Yes discussion list), you missed
out on a fantastic interview with Bill Bruford, conducted by none
other than Atavachron-subscriber Anil Prasad. Very impressive work,
Anil! Keep up the great work.
Well, that's all from the home office this time 'round. It's YOUR
turn to press the funny little keys -- just DO it! ;)
Jeff Preston (blowing the dust off the "Maytag repairman" nickname)
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Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 03:00:02 EDT
From: atavachron@morekypr
Subject: Atavachron Digest #14
To: Jeff Preston
Atavachron Digest - The Allan Holdsworth Discussion List
Volume 2, Number 14
Monday, July 27th, 1992
TODAY'S TOPICS:
==============
Deja Gazeuse!
*unknown*
Down Beat Blindfold Test w/John Scofield
Allan Holdsworth with Level 42
Birthday beer update
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 12:53:53 +0100
From: Jason B Julyan
Subject: Deja Gazeuse!
OK, I picked up Gong's Gazeuse! the other day (strangely my small local record
shop had almost the full Gong catalogue - I presume it's on a British label?).
I was quite enjoying it when on of the Holdsworth tracks came on (Shadows...)
and, blow me down if it wasnt that number which is on Velvet Darkness and
is also the melody from The Things You See...! The recording is dated 1976
so that means it predates Velvet doesnt it?
I also detected more than a hint of one of the acoustic tracks from Velvet in
the background of the final track! Hey, Allan's getting as bad as Yngwie
Malmsteen here (tracks from his 1983 Birth of the Sun Rehersals have appeared
on all his subsequent albums!).
Just thought you might be interested...
TTFN, Jason
Jason Julyan md91jbj@brunel.ac.uk | Brunel University
Microelectronics Postgraduate | Uxbridge, MIDDX. UK
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 09:38:26 PDT
From: freedman@mprgate.mpr.ca (Elliot Freedman)
Subject: *unknown*
Damn. This probably isn't the place to rant about Canada's immigration policy.
But, you would not think that getting an Icelandic bass player and British
drummer into Vancouver for two nights to play some music would be all that
threatening to the "hamburger-flipping" Canadian economy.
Ouij, if you got any further insight from Allan's manager about "MapleLeaf"
music protectionism, please drop me a line (freedman@mprgate.mpr.ca).
I'm going to try to figure this one out via the Coastal Jazz & Blues Society
who put John Abercrombie in a beautiful, ex-church, for-listeners-only, music
venue... and Holdsworth in a beer-profits, make us&Allan wait until 22:00,
make him take a beer-profits 30 minute break, bar.
Oh, Canada... I'll enjoy driving to Seattle to see Allan.
Whew, pardon the raving.
Elliot E. Freedman
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 02:03:40 EDT
From: PRESTON@morekypr.bitnet
Subject: Down Beat Blindfold Test w/John Scofield
As I mentioned in the last digest, I happened to be digging around
in the library the other day and came up with a few references listed
for Allan Holdsworth in one of the periodicals databases. This was one
of the references cited, and I thought it was interesting enough to
share with the list.
For anyone unfamiliar with the Blindfold Test column, it's a monthly
feature where the columnist (whose name I've forgotten) plays about six
musical selections for an artist without telling them who the performers
are, and then gets their reaction to the tunes. There is usually at
least one attempt to "stump" the artist doing the listening.
Here, John Scofield hears "Devil Take The Hindmost" from Holdsworth's
_Metal Fatigue_ LP, in the May 1988 Blindfold Test column.
-=O=-
John Scofield responds:
"Allan Holdsworth? It's hard to tell nowadays because there's a lot
of people out there imitating him, but I didn't think anybody had done
it this good. I think Allan is a technical innovator on the instrument,
without a doubt. It's just beautiful what he can do with the guitar.
It's the natural evolution of light action, easy-to-play guitars
amplified loudly with certain effects on it. Just the opposite extreme
from what Jimmy Raney was playing on (a reference to to an earlier
selection --J.P.). And I've been starting to hear other people playing
out of this bag but there's a certain edge to what Allan plays, a
certain chance-taking bravado that I like. And not just the speed stuff.
There's a certain beauty to his tone just when he plays chords. There's
a deepness to his sound that comes from the reverb he chooses and from
the way he hits the strings. He's remarkable."
-=O=-
In a way, it's hard to tell if Scofield is being completely
complimentary in what he has to say here. The comments about the
"easy-to-play guitars amplified loudly with certain effects" and
"the reverb he chooses" makes me wonder if he isn't trying to
knock a little of the shine off the praise his words are trying
to convey. If I were able to respond here, I'm sure I'd ask Mr.
Scofield to listen to "Mirelle" from Gong's _Gazeuse!_ , which
features Holdsworth on acoustic guitar, or perhaps something from
the John Stevens CD, _Touching On_ , where he abandons his
trademark guitar sound in favor of a more traditional jazz tone.
After seeing Scofield mentioning hearing other players playing
"out of this bag," and also after hearing comments in the guitar
magazines about the "Allan Holdsworth school of guitar," etc., I
am curious: What other players have you folks heard that have been
seemingly influenced by Holdsworth's playing? The only ones I can
honestly think of right off are Frank Gambale and Scott Henderson.
Can anyone else add to that?
Jeff Preston
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 19:21:58 PDT
From: pvallado%sdcc13.UCSD.EDU@Sdsc.BITnet (Paolo Valladolid )
Subject: Allan Holdsworth with Level 42
I recently bought Level 42's new album, Guaranteed, to check out Holdworth
in a pop context. For those of you wondering what he was doing with Level 42,
Allan was brought in as a temporary replacement for guitarist Allan Murphy,
who recently passed away. I think it was Level 42 drummer Gary Husband, formerly
of IOU, who was responsible for Holdsworth's joining the group for a tour and
this recording ( Allan even appears in a group photo! ).
At any rate, I found Holdworth's lead guitar lines and the groups somewhat
teeny-bopper oriented lyrics to be an outrageously funny combination. I was
bursting with laughter listening to Holdsworth's blazing solos behind bassist/
vocalist Mark King's voice crooning romantically. I don't mean to offend any
Level 42 fans out there, but that's just my impression.
Dominic Miller was the other guitarist credited. No solos from him ( all the
guitar solos were unmistakeably Allan's ), but solid rhythm and textural work.
Husband's playing shows surprising restraint; his drumming is solid, but
hardly the free-form playing he displayed on Allan's albums. He takes a couple
of keyboard solos on this albums.
These were just ramblings. While Guaranteed may not satisfy those of us who
prefer more progressive music, it is worth checking out just to hear Holdsworth
while awaiting his next album ( there's more of him on Side 2 of the album.
Paolo Valladolid
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 03:10:48 EDT
From: PRESTON@morekypr.bitnet
Subject: Birthday beer update
The response so far on sending the birthday gift to Allan has been
very good -- I now have 9 signatures for the card, and a couple on the
way (as forewarned via e-mail). We also have $24.00 in contributions,
and again a hearty "thanks!" to those who have sent in so far... I
think this'll be a nice gesture on behalf of the list.
Just in case anyone missed it, the address to send your signature
(and *optional*, small contribution to the gift fund) is:
Jeff Preston
UPO Box 1272
Morehead State University
Morehead, KY 40351
I think I'll set a cutoff date on the signatures for the card at
Saturday, August 1st, since I really need to get the card in the mail
by Monday morning if we're to get it to California by the 6th. So, if
you're interested in getting your signature on the card, send it in
*now*, and remember, if you can scan it, UUENCODE it and e-mail it
here, I can probably convert and scale it properly, if you don't think
you could get here via surface mail in time.
If I don't get a letter from Akira Yada by early this week, I'll
probably call to see if I can get those tour dates... if no one beats
me to it (gee, guys, my phone bill is taking a pounding!). ;)
Jeff Preston
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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All comments made here are the views of the individual
contributors.