Hammondista

I just fixed a few keys on this beauty and it sounds...

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:55:33 +0100

I just fixed a few keys on this beauty and it sounds amazing.

I’ve always wanted to play David Bowie’s Memory of a Free Festival on a harmonium and now I have.

Apart from a few missing reeds at the top end it’s in remarkable shape. If the backplate isn’t fake, this instrument was made by Karl August Andersson in Stockholm some time between 1885 and 1922. I’m slightly dubious, partly because his other organs are ridiculously ornate and partly because I can’t imagine how it got from Stockholm to a bric-a-brac stall at the Binsey Village countryside fair.

57 Hammond players icons for Mac OS X

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:02:48 +0000

57 Hammond players icons for Mac OS X:

As good as it sounds. ICONS!

Listening back to Hammond takes in the studio with Little Fish

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:00:50 +0000

Listening back to Hammond takes in the studio with Little Fish

The full Hammond, piano, MicroKorg setup. We’re rehearsing...

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:14:33 +0100

The full Hammond, piano, MicroKorg setup. We’re rehearsing with Jont for his album launch gig. And I’m getting used to playing the double hander again…

On stage at Brixton Academy, with Evaline’s kit behind the...

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 19:12:03 +0100

On stage at Brixton Academy, with Evaline’s kit behind the Hammond and Placebo’s gear behind that.

Ready to soundcheck at Brixton Academy. This place holds 5,000....

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:57:48 +0100

Ready to soundcheck at Brixton Academy. This place holds 5,000. We’re supporting Placebo tonight. Last time we played here supporting Hole the Korg bass shook the room. I’ve got a good feeling about tonight.

On stage at the Wedgewood rooms with Little Fish. We had a load...

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:00:47 +0100

On stage at the Wedgewood rooms with Little Fish. We had a load of balloons on stage from Nez’s birthday and everyone was pretty hyper. Nez sets up his drums at the front, stage left, so I was up on the riser at the back. Should have worn the wizard outfit. There’s nothing like massive sleeves and starry coats on stage.

dogsrunningfree: The closest we got to Focus There’s...

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:35:11 +0100

dogsrunningfree:

The closest we got to Focus

There’s something beautifully prog about the chord progression to this bridge. Nick and Spence wrote the music while I was sleeping off a cold/hangover, so I imagine the major/minor twists and turns are mostly Nick’s:

Am  | Em  | G#  | C#  | Am  | Em  | G#  | C#  |  
C#m | B   | Bm  | F#m | C#m | B   | Bm  | F#m |

Dogs Running Free | Hammond

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:24:21 +0100

Dogs Running Free | Hammond:

I spent last weekend jamming with Spence and Nick for a musical project called Dogs Running Free. This link will show you all the photos and videos tagged “Hammond” (which is the interesting stuff, right?).

Little Fish playing Old Fashioned Morphine at the Drawingroom...

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:36:42 +0100

Little Fish playing Old Fashioned Morphine at the Drawingroom last night. It’s a new song (hence the music stand with lyrics!), but I think we nailed the vibe. It has a classic Velvet Underground-style feel to it, and it’s fun to play.

It’s rare (and useful for me) to hear the Hammond mixed this loud. I could hardly hear it on stage…

Richard’s open air gigs at the Drawingroom in Chesham are...

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 20:12:36 +0100

Richard’s open air gigs at the Drawingroom in Chesham are great. There’s plenty of wine and Richard serves everyone a mean chilli.

This time we’re doing a full band acoustic set. There are loads of dogs in the audience who whimper occasionally (as if they’re really enjoying a particular emotional moment of the song). I love gigs like this.

This is me playing Hammond with Little Fish at Reading festival....

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:29:25 +0100

This is me playing Hammond with Little Fish at Reading festival. We headlined the BBC Introducing stage, and the videos are awesome! Innuendo is probably the most obviously Hammond-featuring song we play.

I’m in love with Cherry Wainer. I don’t think...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:23:56 +0100

I’m in love with Cherry Wainer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a freaky performance. She rocks the Hammond, and delivers these weird grins every once in a while. Amazing.

eternautismos:

Cherry Wainer & Don Storer - Peter Gunn

I’d never heard of Cherry Wainer before, so I did a bit of research. There’s not much to go on (no Wikipedia page!), but there are a couple of other YouTube videos (from the same show by the look of it). One of them has Cherry playing a super-swung version of A Taste Of Honey. I know the Beatles version of the song from Please Please Me, because my brother and I used to think it was hilarious when we were kids and played it all the time. If you don’t know the Beatles version, listen to it first:

Then check out Cherry’s magic version. It may well blow your mind. And if you can’t hear the bass, get some headphones on. She’s playing that with her feet.

I need to find out more about this Cherry character. And I need to figure out how she gets that Hammond sound. Beautiful. ;)

Introducing the Hammond to Leeds festival. Little Fish headlined...

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:29:30 +0100

Introducing the Hammond to Leeds festival. Little Fish headlined the BBC Introducing stage and we had a great gig, mostly because of the super-friendly crowd. ;)

BBC Hammond Organ 70th Birthday special (via analoghell) A...

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:35:21 +0100

BBC Hammond Organ 70th Birthday special (via analoghell)

A 10-minute documentary the BBC showed to celebrate 70 years of the Hammond. If you’re really into your organs, this is probably a bit lightweight for you, but I can’t get enough of Jon Lord talking about his Hammond sound.

What organ? ;)

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:00:49 +0100

What organ? ;)

Backstage at the Little Fish in-store gig at Rapture in Witney....

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:32:01 +0100

Backstage at the Little Fish in-store gig at Rapture in Witney. Remember CDs?!

Juju had a new song she wanted to record, and all my amps and...

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:58:19 +0100

Juju had a new song she wanted to record, and all my amps and stuff were on loan to a friend, so I played the Hammond on my iPad. It’s not too difficult, and sounds pretty cool in this sort of recording setup. It’s also extremely convenient.

The app is called C3B3 Pocket Organ, and is the best thing ever. I’ll post some screenshots of the settings I used later for the geeks. ;)

Little Fish - You’d Better Tell God (acoustic kitchen version) (via JujuNez)

Sideman

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:37:13 +0100

I was reading Danny Barnes’ great blog post How To Make A Living Playing Music (which I recommend you read at least once a month if you’re serious about being a musician) and I picked up on the part where he talks about hiring sidemen:

you may not want to hire sidemen that get too worked up about money, it can be hard to make these folks happy. also when it comes to hiring musicians, you may have to live with them at arm’s length for a long time and be involved with them about emotional issues like money and life problems and stuff. you may want a person that’s easy to get along with even if they are a little less sharp musically. of course getting both is best, but if you have to take one or the other, take the one you get along with a little better.

It’s good advice, certainly, but that’s not what struck me. It was his use of the word sideman. Not session musician or band member. Sideman. I stopped and thought, “That’s me. I’m a sideman.”

A sideman sounds like someone who takes a certain pride in their job. A craftsperson who combines technical skill and musicianship with a willingness to play the supporting rôle, an enabler, a catalyst, a facilitator. I like the sound of that. As a Hammondista, that’s pretty much what I do musically too. I play parts that support and enhance the performance of the star players.

On the way to a recording session with Jont a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about how it’s important to accept yourself for what you are instead of always comparing yourself to others. I’m always thinking about how relatively crap I am as an artist (I can barely sing, I write silly songs, I rarely push myself to get gigs or record anything) and I ignore my ability to walk into a studio and create technically accomplished, sensitive and original piano and Hammond parts for a dozen songs I’ve barely heard before without blinking. I need to remember that I’m actually a pretty good sideman, and that it doesn’t matter that I’m not a good singer or violinist or astronaut or whatever.

Little Fish Hammond poses - Juju, me, Chris and Mitch. It takes...

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 22:15:03 +0100

Little Fish Hammond poses - Juju, me, Chris and Mitch. It takes a lot of practice to achieve the perfect Hammond face. ;)