Despite having sort of trailed that I was going to write about a period of homelessness and sofa-hopping, I wanted to write about something different today. I can’t recall why but I’ve been remembering a time when I was doing quite a lot of gigs on my own and had gone in for the ‘glam rock‘ look. This was not as unexpected as a few people tried to make out at the time: my first ever rock and roll t-shirt had been a black one with the face of Marc Bolan transferred on, which I persuaded Mum to buy me when I was eight or nine years old. My father wanted to know “Why have you got that pouf on your chest?” so I wore it as much as possible, to annoy him. In fact I wore it so much that Bolan’s face eventually vanished from the shirt. So what I had was a black t-shirt, although I continued to refer to it as my ‘Bolan shirt’.

All those years later I was to be seen strumming and singing with red or purple hair, and dressed in spangly silver tops, glitter eye-shadow and a white fur coat. Well, I had a white one and a brown one (fake fur, I couldn’t wear the real thing), but I mostly wore the white one. On stage no-one really questions it; it’s part of rock and roll iconography, even if not many people are going in for it these days. A friend who had moved to the States saw me on my way to a gig one afternoon. He’d been in New York seven years and had picked up the accent very strongly. “Hey,” he called to me. “IS that you? I almost didn’t recognise you. You look weird.” Without missing a beat I replied “Yeah but you sound weird so what are we gonna do, eh?”

It may have been the same evening when I was heading back to my car, guitar and small amp in hand. I’d parked some distance from the venue and had to walk down a narrow alleyway to reach the car park. As I headed down into the darkening alley I spotted a group of seven or eight men walking towards me. They were Royal Marines: my town had a marine camp a few miles outside and all the civvies knew instinctively who the marines were, even when they weren’t in uniform. Something to do with the chiseled jaws, the huge biceps, and the jarhead haircuts, I guess. Anyway, there was I, dressed like a ladyboy, and here were eight of them coming towards me. “This is not going to go well,” I muttered to myself but kept on walking.

When they were only a couple of paces in front of me one of them said “Hey!” Now, I don’t know what it is in me but whenever I am faced with such situations, my mouth tends to act as though it is not as frightened as the rest of my body. So I replied “What?” in a surly voice. “Can you play that?” he asked, pointing at my guitar. “No, I just carry it around to look cool. What do you reckon?” I said, inwardly wishing I would shut the hell up. “No but can you though, mate?” he said. I nodded. “Play us a Beatles song then.” Considering I’d been expecting to be beaten within seconds, this almost caught me by surprise but I got my guitar out, sat down on the amp, and played them ‘Help’ or ‘I Feel Fine’. They all applauded and wanted another so I played something more contemporary (Paul Weller maybe) and they applauded again. The one who had spoken to me clapped me on the back and said I was great. Then they all dug into their pockets, handed me loads of coins, and wandered off into the night. I counted the money in my hand, it was over ten pounds! And there was me expecting the encounter to have ended with me lying down a lot and doing some bleeding.

As I said earlier, onstage no-one really questions the glam look. Well there was one occasion when I was going to the toilet during a break in a performance at a local bar, and I heard a girl say to her boyfriend, “Oh he’s really good.” To which the boyfriend replied “Bloody queer.” So of course when I got back onto the microphone for the second set I made a little announcement: “Ladies and gents, I understand that some of the men in the crowd are commenting on my sexuality. Well be afraid, be very afraid gentlemen, I am heterosexual and all your girlfriends fancy me.” I was onstage, so I got away with it. The magic protection of a guitar and a mic, eh?

One occasion I really was convinced thviolence was going to ensue occurred one night when I was out drinking with some friends, including my best friend Rob. I was in my white fur coat and make up. Altogether there were six of us but the other five dressed like normal people. Across the bar was a table of six or seven youngish guys, probably students, I thought. One of them looked at me and said ‘Pouf!’ I’d heard it all before, of course and my thinking about such insults was as follows. They’ve made a judgement about me, deciding that I am a homosexual. I am not a homosexual so their judgement is incorrect, therefore the insult fails. If I did happen to be a homosexual then their judgement is correct, in which case, what do they want, a medal? Again the insult fails. In other words, words are words are words. But Rob was feeling particularly determined that evening that we should be able to enjoy our night out without people throwing insults around. So he started staring at the guy who’d called me a pouf.

One of the students, but not the one Rob was staring at, came over and stood in front of Rob. It was at this point that I realised our friends had gone. Rob and I were alone in the bar, save for the six or seven people sending us hostile vibes. The new guy said “What’s your problem?” to Rob. “No problem,” said Rob. “But you’re staring at my mate.” “Yes, yes I am.” said Rob, who is nothing if not truthful. “So what’s the problem?” The guy’s voice was raising in pitch a little and the tension was mounting. If there had been a piano player in the bar, that would have been about the time he stopped playing. “No problem,” said Rob again. “BUT YOU’RE STARING AT MY MATE!” the insistent guy repeated. “Yes I am,” “SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?” “

Now I could tell from the look on Rob’s face that he was getting bored of this groundhog day style conversation so he decided to try and move things along to the inevitable violence which was brewing as there’s nothing worse than waiting for people to start punching you. “Why don’t you just fuck off?” he said to the guy. Face all purple and eyes wide as hell the guy demanded to know what Rob had just said. So Rob repeated his words, very slowly, punctuated every one of them with a little jab to the guy’s chest. Any second now the other students were going to leap from their chairs and start laying into the pair of us. I still had a drink in my hand and contemplated throwing it towards the first one that came my way. The one who had just been jabbed and told to fuck off finally found his voice again. “But, but, you’re staring at my mate.” Instantly the tension deflated. He was clearly not going to start the fight so his friends were not going to have to do the honourable thing and join in. He was, as Rob wasted no time in telling him, an arsehole. Even his mates were telling him to shut up and sit down by now. So he did, all abashed, and we finished our drinks and went to find out what had happened to our oh so brave friends.

Paul Weller – Can you heal us (Holy man),
Walter Franco – Vela Aberta
Paul Davidson – Midnight Rider (Allman Bros Song)
Tim Maia – Que legal,
Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca – Manuela,
The Blues Busters – Here I´m come anda take me,
Mundo Livre S.A. – O mistério do samba ,
Chuck Berry – I´m talking ´bout you,
The Youngbloods - CC Rider ,
Lobão e Elza Soares – A voz da razão, ( – )
The Last shadow puppets – Black Plant,
Kings of Leon – Camaro,
Sociedade da Grã Ordem Kavernista – Eu não quero dizer nada ()

What do you do when you have a difficult, emotional problem that you need to sort out? Maybe you talk to your best mates, or ring your mum, pray to your deity of choice or consult the tarot or I Ching?

What they do, invariably,  on Holby City or Casualty is to go to work, and wait for a random stranger to utter some words of wisdom that, by happy coincidence cuts straight to the heart of the problem and resolves everything nicely. I call this (after the genius Chris Morris)  ”speaking your brains.”

Last night Linden’s long-lost daughter Holly turned up. Linden hadn’t seen Holly for nine years, not since her mother died. She’d been living with her grandparents, which Linden had thought at the time would be best, but obviously and understandably Holly didn’t agree and wanted to live with her dad and get to know him.

Well, we already know Linden a bit, and we know he’s an odd character, guarded and a bit angsty. Not what you’d call adaptable. Anyway, he didn’t think he could cope with a teenager in his life – until five minutes from the end, when a patient uttered the magic words about selflessness and thinking of others, and Linden had his Damascus moment, ran into the carpark (accompanied by Paul Weller singing ‘Wings of Speed‘ – it was a tearjerker, I tell you) and stopped the taxi from taking Holly away. Sniff.

Elsewhere, the Dr Mrs Griffin they were hoping for last week (Lola) has turned out to be everyone’s nightmare Dr Mrs Griffin, Thandie. Elliot is understandably wary of the woman who practically killed half her patients last time due to incompetence and accused him of racism, but she seems to have improved a bit and helped Dr Penny Valentine do a tricky procedure. Elliot had advised Dr Penny to be mentored by Joseph rather than Thandie. “Why settle for silver when you can have gold?” he said. My thoughts on Joseph exactly.

September 18th, 2009

Howdy.

A little while back we contributed Hangover Mix Tape #49 to the brainchild of bloggers Egocentric.

The aforementioned Ego’s, compile playlists from their friends and favorite bands, find the mp3’s and then post the virtual mix tapes on their blog.

Genius idea.

Here’s the read on us from the site and a link to our eclectic sore-head selection..!

Enjoy!

Disko

X

“Readers Wives choose the egocentric hangover mixtape no: 49

Apart from having a name which reminds me of my teens, before the time of internet when I had to jerk off to still pictures in magazines, Reader’s Wives have proven themselves good and noticeable enough (as the cliché goes) to make some wives around these here parts and lo and behold they’ve taken time from touring around Europe parts to come up with a dandy little mixtape.”

http://egoeccentric.blogspot.com/2009/01/readers-wives-choose-egoeccentric.html

Soundtrack :

“Tom Traubert’s Blues” – Tom Waits

“Coney Island Baby” – Lou Reed

“Oh Me” – Nirvana

“Rock Bottom Riser” – Smog

“It’s A Wonderful Life” – Sparklehorse

“Good Friday” – Why

“Pictures of You” – The Cure

“Our Way To Fall” – Yo La Tengo

“You Do Something To Me” - Paul Weller

“The Turning” – Oasis

You’re The Best Thing 

I could be discontent and chase the rainbows end
I might win much more but lose all that is mine
I could be a lot but I know I’m not
I’m content just with the riches that you bring

I might shoot to win and commit the sin
Of wanting more than I’ve already got
I could runaway but I’d rather stay
In the warmth of your smile lighting up my day
(the one that makes me say, heh)

‘Cause you’re the best thing that ever happened to me or my world
You’re the best thing that ever happened – so don’t go away

I might be a king and steal my peoples things
But I don’t go for that power crazy way
All that I could rule but I don’t check for fools
All that I need is to be left to live my way
(say listen what I say)

I could chase around for nothing to be found
But why look for something that is never there
I may get it wrong sometimes but I’ll come back in style
For I realise your love means more than anything
(the song you make me sing – yeah)

Perché sei la più bella cosa
che mai mi é capitata nel mio mondo
Tu sei la miglior cosa che mai mi é accaduta
perciò non andartene.

No matter where I roam
I will return to my English Rose
For no bonds can ever tempt me from she.

Paul Weller: English Rose

I was saying a week or so ago (here) that I believe the more we understand and appreciate a subject the better our photographs will be.  One of the reasons I’ve reached this conclusion is my experience out in the garden during the summer.  I enjoy photographing flowers, especially close-up macro shots, but find some flowers much easier to capture than others.  Regular readers will understand when I say I think I have the measure of poppies.  I find all stages of their life cycle both fascinating and visually beautiful, from the luxuriance of the petals through the somewhat architectural quality of newly revealed seedpods to the full, pregnant, woody and almost autumnal quality of those same seedpods just a few weeks later when they’re ready to scatter their seeds.

But capturing roses has presented quite a different set of challenges.  And much as I love them, I know from the results of my photography that there’s a long way to go before I understand them.  Trust me – I’ve taken a lot of bad photographs of roses!

This post features a rare image of a rose that I’m reasonably happy with.  It was growing just outside my front door and grabbed my attention because its colours made me think of a Tequila sunrise.  The image above is how it was in real life, and the three versions that follow are the results of my playing around with some filter effects. 

The ’smooth’ version below was the one I used for the Tequila SunRose digital collage.

This final version makes me think of Olde English Medieval manuscripts.

Like Paul Weller, I haven’t given up on my English Rose.  In case you don’t know, by the way, he’s singing about an English woman, not a flower.  ’English Rose’ is used to refer to the fair complexion of women native to England, and from this, to English women generally, just as the film Steel Magnolias referred to the women from Louisiana, the Magnolia state.  Maybe it’s this English Rose connection that makes me want to keep trying!  Whatever the reason, one of my goals as a photographer for next year is to come to understand better the roses that grace my garden!

• Warwick Avenue – Duffy
• Bubble gum years - Gomez
• Ballad of a thin man – Kula Shaker
• My timing is off – Eels
• Let me in – R.E.M.
• Moonchild - Chris Cornell
• You talk way too much – Strokes
• Leafy Mysteries – Paul Weller
• To be with you – Mr. Big
• It’s been a long time – Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes

Keb Darge teams up with Modfather. The Modfather himself Paul Weller is set to curate a new compilation of soul and R&B as part of the ‘Lost & Found’ series.
Paul Weller’s love of soul hardly needs any introduction. His 60s fixated group The Jam helped kickstart the Mod revival, often performing covers from the golden era of soul.

Peppering shows with hits such as ‘Heatwave‘ the band splintered in 1982, leading to the formation of The Style Council. Since then, Paul Weller’s career has gone in various directions but his love of soul persists.

Now the iconic singer is set to curate a compilation in the ‘Lost And Found’ series. Founded by the legendary soul DJ Keb Darge, the albums follow in the footsteps of his well regarded London club night.

Perhaps best known for founding the ‘Deep Funk’ genre with his night in Madame Jojos, Keb Darge has always stuck to his guns. Refusing to blend in with the crowd he has helped discover a colossal amount of rare soul.

Also a martial arts expert, Darge was once given the dream opportunity of gaining a residency in Tokyo. Now back in London, his ongoing ‘Lost And Found’ night specialises in early soul and rockin’ R&B.

A forthcoming compilation features one disc crafted by Keb Darge himself, before Paul Weller takes control for the second instalment.

Containing a number of rare soul curios, Keb Darge contributes some entertaining sleeve notes. “I first met Paul in a urinal… that’s true” he claims.

“His sister Nicky asked me to DJ at her boyfriend Russell’s birthday party. It was a small intimate venue which made pissing into a bucket whilst playing records impossible. Paul walked in as I was relieving myself and said he was enjoying the tunes.”

The double album, ‘Lost & Found; Real R’N'B & Soul’, will feature forgotten soul tracks from the ’50s and ’60s, and will be released on January 18 next year.

Darge has picked the songs on the ‘A’ side of the record, while Weller has chosen the tracks for the ‘B’ side.

Side A Tracklisting:
Keb Darge’s Choice
Big Mama Thornton – ‘They Call Me Big Mama’
The Brothers Of Soul – ‘Come On Back’
The Tempos – ‘(Countdown) Here I Come’
Epitome Of Sound – ‘You Don’t Love Me’
Daddy Cleanhead & The Chuck Higgins Band – ‘Something’s Going On In My Room’
The Casanova – ‘Two We Got To Keep On’
The Creations – ‘A Dream’
Elsie Wheat – ‘Tippin’
Sarah Dean With Freddie Mitchell Orchestra – ‘Long Lean Daddy’
Billy Fair & Orchestra – ‘I’ll Be True To You’
The Cadets – ‘I Want You’
Velma Cross & Her High Steppers – ‘I’ll Be Oh So Good’
Big T Tyler – ‘King Kong’
The Flirtations – ‘Stronger Than Her Love’
The Great Experience – ‘Don’t Forget To Remember’

Side B Tracklisting:
Paul Weller’s Choice
The Intruders – ‘Hang On In There’
Major Lance – ‘Rhythm’
Margie Joseph – ‘One More Chance’
Tammi Terrell – ‘All I Do Is Think About You’
The Dells – ‘Wear It On Your Face’
Bobby Bland – ‘Honey Child’
The Radiants – ‘Aint No Big Thing’
Albert King – ‘Crosscut Saw’
Jimmy Witherspoon – ‘Money Is Getting Cheaper’
Billy Watkins – ‘The Ice-Man’
Eddie Giles – ‘Losin’ Boy’
Emmitt Long – ‘Call Me’
Slim Harpo – ‘I Got Love If You Want It’

Here’s a new, revised version of one of the most popular posts in our Guitar Blog. If you missed it first time around, now it’s the perfect time to catch up with our complete Noel Gallagher gear guide,

Considering that Oasis are one of the biggest bands ever, and Noel such an influential guitarist, who inspired many kids to pick up a guitar since the band released its debut single “Supersonic”, it’s quite surprising that info about Noel Gallagher’s gear is so sketchy and incomplete – no extensive gear interviews, no clear photographs of his pedalboard, etc…so it was about time we had a good look into what he’s been using over the years!

The job is not made any easier by the fact that Noel is a true “gearhead”. He collects guitars, amps and pedals and it’s quite difficult to find out what he was using at any given time – his setup changed several times, and there might be some pedals listed here, for instance, that he may or may not have used live but maybe just in records.

But, all in all, this guide is definitely (maybe) quite accurate still, so enjoy!

Early Years – 1994:

If you want to have a similar setup to his early, pre- Definitely Maybe days, here’s what we recommend:

• Vintage V100 Cherry Sunburst
• Marshall MG15FX or Marshall MG50FX combo
• Vox AC-30, or Vox AC-15
• Boss RE-20 Space Echo pedal

Gear tip: the Vintage V100, is as good as the Standard Epiphone Les Paul, and made in the same factory! The Vintage Lemon Drop is probably BETTER than any Epiphone…faithful replica of Peter Green’s guitar. Green is one of Noel Gallagher favorite guitarists.

Pedal-wise, a trademark Noel Gallagher trick is to add delay on some guitar solos. So…get a delay pedal, it’s essential!

Like many skint, up-and-coming musicians who wanted to get some good affordable gear, his main guitar in the early years before the release of “Supersonic” was an Epiphone, the Les Paul Standard model, in cherry Sunburst. It might be the same one you see on the UK version of the “Supersonic” video.

Noel’s early setup – click to enlarge!

Ampwise, Noel had a quite interesting setup:

A Roland Space Echo RE-201 into a  small Marshall Solid-State Combo and then into a Vox AC-30, as the photograph below, taken in January 1994 shows:

Noel loved, at the time, the crunchy sound of a good Marshall amp distortion, so he plugged it into the clean channel of a Vox AC-30…possibly a late 70s version with no reverb.

The Space Echo was probably used for the reverb and nice compression sound. Though, if he wasn’t using a Boss DD-3 at the time, then maybe the delay sounds you hear in tracks such as “Columbia” are the Space Echo.

In the first Oasis TV appearance, playing “Supersonic” (available on the Definitely Maybe DVD) Noel still had the Space Echo and Marshall, but the Vox AC-30 gave way to the WEM Dominator 25 watt tube Amp.

We have no info whether that setup was used in the studio for the “Definitely Maybe” sessions, but his live sound around this era (and then throughout the ‘Definitely Maybe’ promotional gigs) was great:

Really loud and distorted, a true “wall of noise” that was somewhere between the shoegaze noise Noel must’ve listened to a lot (and which was popular during the early 90’s) and the more classic rock sound he adopted later.

If you want to have a similar setup to his Definitely Maybe tour days, but you’re on a budget, here’s what we recommend:

• Tanglewood TSB59 ebony
• Marshall MG100HFX Head
• Vox V847 Wah
• Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer (classic! For a cheap alternative, try the TS-7 Tubescreamer – very good!)
• Boss DD-3 Delay

Noel with Les Paul and old WEM amp

After Definitely Maybe was released, Noel may have still kept the Epiphone Les Paul for a while, but he quickly moved to Gibson ones:

He could be seen using a Cherry Sunburst Gibson Les Paul (with open coil bridge pickup), and a black Gibson Les Paul Custom (first US tour, December UK gigs) which gained an “Oasis” sticker somewhere along the way.

And, of course, we can’t forget the beautiful late 70’s Epiphone Rivieras, in dark brown/ (really deep) Wine Red.

The late 70’s Epiphone Riviera that Noel and Bonehead used to play are quite different than the other Riviera models made before and since: they have humbuckers and stoptail bridges.

The original 60’s Rivieras (and the ones made up until recently) had frequensator tailpiece and mini-humbuckers. The Epiphone Riviera made in the early 90s are a mix of both: they had proper humbuckers but also the frequensator tailpiece.

Those late Epiphone Rivieras that Noel used are called MIJ (or Matsumoko) Rivieras, made in Japan from around 1978 to 1982.

Other Guitars: on the “Supersonic” single sleeve there are two guitars that Noel may have used in the studio but not live – a Gibson ES-335 (red) and a Rickenbacker Jetglo, either the 330 Jetglo or the 360 model.

Noel Gallagher has always loved Semi-Acoustic guitars, throughout his career, and altough he’s used many other types of guitar, we can safely say semi-acoustics represent the quintessential Oasis sound, thanks to their warm, full-bodied tone.

If you’re on a budget, try the Tanglewood TH502 – unbeatable value for money, truly excellent guitars. Again, they are as good as Epiphones.

Here’s some more pics:

Noel and his Les Paul Custom (left) and Epiphone Riviera

Amps:

His main amp appears to be a Marshall Stack then – Marshall JCM 900 100 watt head w/1960A & 1960B 4×12 cabinets.

FX Pedals:

By the end of 1994/ early 1995 (Live By The Sea DVD) Noel Gallagher’s pedalboard definitely had the following pedals:

• Vox V847 Wah
• Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer (classic! For a cheap alternative, try the TS-7 Tubescreamer – very good!)
• Boss DD-3 Delay

Some say he also had a Boss CS-3 Compressor and a Boss SD-2 Dual Overdrive. One of Noel’s favourite tricks was to use lots of delay and scratch his guitar strings with a metal slide…definitely one of the most fun things a guitarist can do onstage!

Some reports suggest that Noel only used the TS-9 for solos, relying on the Marshall distortion.

THE BIG TIME – What’s The Story (Morning Glory) To Knebworth, 1995-1996:

Noel’s setup changed little during this time, still sticking to his favourite guitars, amps and FX pedals from the previous tours. One notable addition to his pedalboard was a classic Boss PH-3 phaser pedal used for some psychedelic swirly sounds during live “jams” such as “I Am The Walrus” on the “There And Then” DVD.

In a promo photo released during the recording of “Some Might Say”, Noel is seen holding a Gibson Non-Reverse Firebird, awith an Orange stack in the background.

According to some sources Noel used 2 Orange Overdrive 120 heads w/2 4×12 cabinets, but a Marshall Stack was still a favourite.

On the credits of “What’s The Story (Morning Glory)” it also says that Noel used an e-bow.

And then there was…MAINE ROAD!

It was at Maine Road that Noel Gallagher debuted his most iconic guitar – the Epiphone Sheraton Union Jack

Some might say it’s a Epiphone Riviera, but they are wrong…the headstock gives the clue: it’s a 60’s Epiphone Sheraton alright. Unlike the new Sheratons, the 60s version looked very similar to the 60’s (and to the most recent) Riviera, as both featured frequensator tailpiece and mini-humbuckers. It was a present from then girlfriend Meg Matthews, and customized by a London luthier.

Maybe most of you realize this, but some might not: It’s worth noting that Noel Gallagher’s signature guitar, the Epiphone Supernova, is an entirely different thing from the Union Jack guitar he played at Maine Road, and we’ve found no evidence he’s ever played it. He just posed with it. The guitar – excellent as it is, by all accounts – is just an expensive piece of merchandise…and quite different than the original Union Jack guitar: the Supernova has stoptail bridge and humbuckers, as opposed to frequensator and mini-humbuckers, making it closer to the Epiphone Sheraton II or the 70s Epiphone Riviera.

The 60’s Epiphone Sheraton quickly became one of Noel’s favourite guitars, and could be seen at several gigs – not the Union Jack, but a sunburst model

Sadly discontinued, the Epiphone John Lee Hooker Signature Sheraton I (not the commonly found Sheraton II) looked exactly like Noel’s. Some sites say Noel Gallagher played one – he might, but not before 2000, when the guitar was released. So the guitar we see him playing at 1996 gigs – including Knebworth – must be an older model.

FROM THE BE HERE NOW “WILDERNESS YEARS” to FAMILIAR TO MILLIONS (2000):

Where Did It All Go Wrong? After the halcyon days of Knebworth, all of a sudden Oasis were not cool anymore in the eyes of many, despite their still huge popularity, and one of the reasons was “Be Here Now”, the drug-fuelled Britpop opus and nail in its coffin.

But, on a guitar point of view, no one can complain – Noel Gallagher sounded wilder and louder than ever!

He was using some fuzz pedal for the first time, a Coloursound Tone Bender. The Coloursound myspace page lists him as one of the clients. Great pedal, dearly priced. (For cheaper options, the Boss FZ-5 and the Electro-Harmonix Double Muff are great for vintage gritty tones like the Tone Bender)

He still used his Epi Sheraton a lot, but during the “Be Here Now” tour his main guitar seemed to be the Gibson Silver Florentine (Les Paul Semi-Acoustic):

Of course, he famously appeared with a Gibson Flying V on the “Do Y’r Know What I Mean” video, and posed with a Blue Fender Jaguar, but posterity has not registered whether he played them on records or gigs:

AND THEN COMES “Go Let It Out” and “Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants” (2000) and here’s a very accurate list of pedals Noel Gallagher used, in the Jools Holland Oasis special, in 2000 on BBC:

• Vox V847 Wah
• Boss HR-2 Harmoniser
• Ibanez Tubescreamer TS-9
• Boss LS-2 Line Selector
• Sib Echodrive
• Boss RV-3 Digital Delay/Reverb (now discontinued, replaced by the Boss RV-5)
• Way Huge Aqua Puss Delay
• Hughes&Ketner Rotosphere

The Hughes & Kettner pedal is an excellent “Leslie Speaker” simulator, used in tracks such as “Who feels Love?”

Noel Gallagher also began using Rickenbacker guitars…including a white Rickenbacker 330 which used to belong to Paul Weller, and used when The Jam performed “Beat Surrender” on Top Of The Pops! Weller is a good friend of Noel and gave the guitar as a present.

Rickenbacker 330 (left) and Fender Telecaster (paisley)

But his main Rickenbacker was a 330 Mapleglo…beautiful guitar…used for “Go Let It Out” and “Who Feels Love”:

FROM 2000 TO NOW – NOEL GALLAGHER’S CURRENT SETUP:

Guitar-wise, Noels current favourite is a Gibson ES-355 with Bigsby, in Cherry. This is NOT an ES-345 as reported in some sites. However…Noel also has a Gibson ES-345! But it’s a non-bigsby model, also in cherry

Noel and his ES-355 (left) and ES-345. The 345 has no Bigsby and no diamond inlay.

Also, another favourite guitar is the Gibson Trini Lopez, as seen on the video for “Lyla”.

Noel also uses the El Dorado guitar straps.

He can also be seen with a Les Paul, as well as the occasional Telecaster. And here’ sa few pics for you:

Above: Fender 60s Telecaster, White…a new one is quite affordable!

His pedalboard/rack / amps have ballooned so much, it’s quite hard to keep track of what’s his current gear and how it all works! We managed to find info on two similar but different recent setups, which as far as we can see are almost 100% accurate!

One surprising thing is that his main amp now is the little (but great) Fender Blues Junior!

Click on the images to resize:

We can see (almost) clearly that he now uses a Dunlop Crybaby 535Q Wah, still uses an TS-9 Tubescreamer, has a Danelectro Dan-Echo delay, a discontinued Boss PN-2 tremolo/pan, and still used the LS-2, Echodrive and Rotosphere pedals. According to the scheme, the LS-2 is used to bypass a Line 6 rack delay, which can indeed be seen in the pictures.

The other rack-mounted gear include a Korg DTR-1 Tuner (now surpassed by the DTR-1000), TC Electronics 2290 delay, compressor, Furman PL8 Power Supply, signal splitter and noise redction boxes…

His main amp sound are 2 Blues Jrs run through THD Hotplates into Marshall 4×12s (with Celestion G-12’s) There are two heads too: a vintage Vox AC-50 head, and also an Orange head…some mention OTR-120 but could also be a different Orange one. Other amps mentioned as being used by Noel are Clark Beaufort Combo and Clark Tyger Combo, but we found no more details about it, so we’re not sure!

So far so good, but we found more recent (2007) pictures which seem to update the info above a bit!

Huge new Pedalboard, maybe some MIDI controls for the racks as well? Who knows. Between the TS-9 and the Wah there’s a new pedal, dark purple, which fits with the boutique Analogman King Of Tone. According to their website “In spring 2004 Noel Gallagher from Oasis got one and is using it a lot along with his mini bicomp and Boss DD-6 with high cut mod”. We can see that the Dan-Echo is gone and there’s a Boss delay there…so it must be the Boss DD-6 as mentioned by Analog Man!

Like Gem Archer, now Noel uses a Line 6 DL-4 pedal, widely regarded as the best delay available, used by 9 out of 10 rock stars, apparently!

The SIB Echodrive, Boss PN-2 and LS-2 Line Selector remain.

We can’t see them on the photographs, but some sites state that Noel has purcahsed the Crowther Hotcake pedal and the Pete Cornish SS2. The Pete Cornish website states that Noel purchased a custom SS2 fuzz pedal in 2005…

As for his amps…the setup is almost the same…except there’s no Orange head to be seen, just one Blues Junior, a Fender head into a Fender Cab (on top of a Marshall cab). There’s also a Line 6 Pod Pro (now surpassed by the Pod XT Pro model)

This picture shows the current amp setup of Noel Gallagher (click to resize)

Getting The Noel Gallaghet Current Tone:

Getting a basic Noel-like setup won’t be that expensive, really. Go for a Fender Blues Junior, into a Marshall MG412 cab, which is not as good as the more expensive Marshall cabs, but should do the Job if you want to keep things cheap – this setup would cost just a bit more than a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, for instance! The Blues Junior is a fantastic little amp, especially when you select the “fat” mode – nice crunchy tube tone…into a cab, it usually sounds amazing.

So do that, and get some of the usual Noel Gallagher pedals…starting with the TS-9 Tubescreamer, of course, and use a semi-acoustic guitar. Way to go!

And, finally, here’s a few more pictures of Oasis and Noel Gallagher’s gear so you can have a nose and se if you can find out anything else!

Click on thumbnails:

NOEL GALLAGHER ACOUSTIC GUITARS:

We decided to leave them for the end. As a typical singer-songwriter, Noel is never far apart from a good acoustic guitar. His favourite is and will always be an Epiphone EJ-200 or, as of late, the Gibson J-200, both sunburst…as you can see in several photos.

List of acoustic Guitars:

• Gibson J-45 Acoustic
• Gibson L-200 Acoustic
• Epiphone Custom EJ-200 Acoustic
• Epiphone Frontier Acoustic

Apart from Gibson and Epiphone, the only other brand Noel has used quite a bit has been Takamine, who make some really nice guitars…View Takamine

• Takamine EF-325SRC Acoustic
• Takamine FD -460SC Acoustic
• Takamine EG 335 12-string Acoustic
• Takamine NV360S Acoustic

Also used a Guild 12-String, as shown on “Sad Song” live at Jools Holland (“Definitely Maybe” DVD)

EXCLUSIVE OASIS INSIDER INFO:

A “Guitar Player Blog” reader, Lloyd, got in touch with us, with some first hand info we’d like to share with you. A friend managed to get some really good pics of Noel’s and Gem’s pedalbaords. And here’s what could be seen. Thank you for the info, Lloyd!

“I am having a litlle bit of trouble making a copy of the photographs at the minute, from the images i can see that noel has:

Boss Chromatic tuner, Dunlop Cry Baby Wah, Mr. Echo stomp box (the first one, not the mr. echo plus!), Tubescreamer TS-9, The Boss DD-3 delay pedal…well, he has 3 of them in his current set-up!!! There is a stomp box that was made up by his head roadie and guitar-tech Jason Rhodes for which i have no idea of its purpose, Boss PN-2 Trem/pan, LS-2 Echodrive, There is one more pedal that i dont know what it is, its a grey pedal with a similiar shape to the boss pedals but with a more rounded front. The pictures were taken just after a soundcheck whilst onstage, positioned in-between the two floor monitors is another Echodrive which is not connected up at all, however i have been informed that he does sometimes use them both. There is no sign at all of a line selector however the way the system has been set up neither Noel or Gem actually press the actual pedals there are small rounded chrome buttons each lebelled with the type of effect that it is connected up to, so there may be a line selector especially built in to the system. Gem has: Boss Chromatic tuner, Vox Wah-Wah, Pro-Co Rat Distortion Pedal, Boss Tremolo TR-2, Boss DD-3 delay, Boss RV-3 digital reverb/delay (now Boss RV-5) Boss AC-2 acoustic simulator (now replaced by the Boss AC-3) Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler, I hope that this email has been a lot of help to you and wish you all the best with your site, if you ever need anymore help or info jus drop us an email.”

The Boss PN-2 Tremolo/ Pan is a classic and quite collectible pedal, also used by people such as Graham Coxon (Blur) and Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine). You can still find it on eBay if you’re lucky, or, if you want to save some bucks, you could get the Behringer copy, the TP300 Ultra Tremolo/ Pan. Either way – you’ll need two amps to mak ethe most out of it.

Other Gear:

According to some websites, Noel uses Shure Beta 57A mics for his vocals, Ernie Balls 46-10 strings, and Dunlop .88mm picks.

The most recent studio photograph of Oasis (shot during the recording of “Dig Out Your Soul”) appears to show an old Boss CE-1 Chorus somewhere, too…but we couldn’t see clearly what was most of the gear, apart from the usual Vox Amps (AC50?), Line 6 DL4…

OASIS CANADA 2008 TOUR – GEAR INFO!

New Info! Some pics seem to reveal that Noel is using Hiwatt speaker cabs with his Fender Blues Junior, now!

Oasis live, Toronto 2008

We hope you enjoyed this guide! We’ll keep updating it whenever we find new info.

Click here to see all Oasis/ Noel Gallagher products that can be found at Dolphin!

Read News:

Click here to view all Oasis-related news at Dolphin

Buy Safe with UK’s Award-winning Music retailer

Amy Winehouse is joined by Paul Weller, Jools Holland with his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, in a performance of I Heard It Through The Grapevine.

Do you miss The Jam? Do you pine for a band that blends English soul, workingman punk and a dash of pub laced power pop? A streetwise sense of purpose reminiscent of The Clash, but not at the expense of the melody? Then you should check out The Lieutenants.

Guitarist and lead singer Adrian Symcox penned the six tracks on their eponymous EP, and if his vocal on the leadoff track “Burning the Backwoods” doesn’t make you think of Paul Weller, I guarantee you the fluid basslines of Tom Branch will evoke fond memories of Bruce Foxton. Branch is all over the neck like a snake, and his dominant pulse is the backbone of the band’s thick urban sound. You might be thinking U.K. like I did, but the band is based in Los Angeles. Looks like a personnel change has taken place; Jason LaRocca and Joey LaRocca of The Briggs played on the EP but Phil Robles (guitar) and Jordan Bryant (drums) are listed as band members on the website.

As one might surmise from song titles like “Down At The Revolution” and “The Church of Lesser Saints”, the songs rip against commercialism, apathy and the mind-numbing after-effects of trying to fit in where you don’t belong. The lyrical power is supported by the tension in the music, a quality that is consistent no matter what the pace of the song. But the musical highlight is undoubtedly the closer, “Keep On Moving”, a mash-up between anthemic BritPunk and the propulsion of a Stax or Motown track (the underlying rhythm is a direct descendant of “I Can’t Turn You Loose”).

I’m not saying this is a brilliant release, but there’s a lot to like here. Having heard an earlier version of some of the tracks, I think the band is moving in a good direction. I’m anxious to hear their full statement, but for now this very reasonably priced EP is available at their website and vendors like CD Baby.

The Lieutenants website

The Lieutenants on MySpace

Promo video of “Cemetery Life”

El jueves por la mañana estaremos Fer y yo camino de Londres. Como no creo que pueda actualizar el blog hasta el próximo lunes (seguiré actualizando por Twitter (adolf_ITO) y Facebook), os dejo para estos días de parada técnica una nueva recopilación.

En esta ocasión me apetecían temas lentos y no me he fijado especialmente en el estilo (ha quedado muy ecléctica), sino que me he dejado llevar, enlazando una canción tras otra. Como novedades, el Star Power de Sonic Youth en una nueva versión acústica y el Space Oddity de David Bowie en italiano (lo había incluido en otra recopilación, pero en esta ocasión está remasterizado digitalmente –el otro archivo es una transferencia directa de un LP antiguo–). Por lo demás, muchos temás clásicos, algunas versiones y, sobre todo, canciones a las que suelo recurrir con cierta asiduidad. Espero que la disfrutéis.

Haz clic en la imagen para descargar la recopilación.

Los cantantes y grupos que he seleccionado en esta ocasión son David Bowie, Sonic Youth, Arcade Fire, Lambchop, Suede, Pixies, Cocteau Twins, Paul Weller, John Butler Trio, Bright Eyes, Cowboy Junkies con John Prine, Elton John, Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash, Frank Black, Five For Fighting, John Hiatt, Cyndi Lauper con The Minus 5 y Aztec Camera.

AQUÍ tenéis el listado de temas.

P.D.: La foto que he utilizado de portada es un detalle de una escultura de la Alte Nationalgalerie de Berlín.

We’ve been playing “To Be Someone” and “That’s Entertainment” for quite sometime now during gigs using an acoustic guitar. When the opportunity for a tribute night presented itself, it was time once again to brush off the dust my electric guitar is collecting.

But first, little backgrounder.

———-

The Jam (from left to right: Paul Weller, Rick Buckler, and Bruce Foxton)

The Jam were an English rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. While they shared the “angry young men” outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore neatly tailored suits rather than ripped clothes and incorporated a number of mainstream 1960s rock influences rather than rejecting them, placing The Jam at the forefront of the mod revival movement.

They had eighteen consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their breakup in 1982, including four number one hits. As of 2007, “That’s Entertainment” and “Just Who Is the 5 O’Clock Hero?” remained the best-selling import singles of all time in the UK. They released one live album and six studio albums, the last of which, The Gift, hit number one on the UK album charts. When the group split up, their first 15 singles were re-released and all placed within the top 100.

The band drew upon a variety of stylistic influences over the course of their career, including 1960s beat music, soul, rhythm and blues and psychedelic rock, as well as 1970s punk rock, pop punk and new wave. The trio was known for its melodic pop songs, its distinctly English flavour and its mod image. The band launched the career of Paul Weller, who went on to form The Style Council and later had a successful solo career. Weller wrote and sang most of The Jam’s original compositions, and he played lead guitar, using a Rickenbacker. Bruce Foxton provided backing vocals and prominent basslines, which were the foundation of many of the band’s songs, including the hits “Down in the Tube Station at Midnight“, “The Eton Rifles“, “Going Underground” and “Town Called Malice“. (source: Wikipedia)

———-

The POP Shoppe! made this event possible one Thursday night on the 18th of June inviting acts like The Bernadettes, The Gentle Isolation, Patience Dear Juggernaut and Kate Torralba. You can read more about it Here and enjoy the videos below.

To Be Someone – the very first Jam song we rehearsed and performed during the early days of The Camerawalls. I can clearly relate to the lyrics that goes: “To be someone must be a wonderful thing… And the bread I spend – it’s like my fame – it’s quickly diminished… But didn’t we have a nice time.”

That’s Entertainment – a staple song in our set. Never fails to give us the kick we need.

The Butterfly Collector – reminds me of our song “Lord Of The Flies” with the words “there’s tarts and whores but you’re much more / you’re a different kind cause you want their mind / and you just don’t care cause you’ve got no pride / it’s just the face on your pillow case  that thrills you.”

Town Called Malice – we didn’t expect to pull this out live.  It was rather difficult but a whole lotta fun! A crowd favorite.

The Jam will always be a great inspiration to the three of us lyric-wise and sound-wise. Bursting with energy and insightful writings from a sagacious old bloke — Paul Weller.

Tribute nights in Manila abounds and even became a fad for a time being by mini production outfits in choice venues. The POP Shoppe! joined in the bandwagon by organizing a few of our own enthusiastic theme nights that hollers the name of great musicians like The Beatles, The Jam, The Smiths and even Blur.

After a night of rummaging through a big bag of mini v8s of live footages with Law and Antonette, we decided to share these fantastic moments of music and drunken hours beginning with the modfather himself — Paul Weller.

—————–

Paul Weller (born John William Weller on 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter.

Starting with the very successful punk-rock band The Jam (1976-1982), Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council (1983-1989). In 1991 he re-established himself as a successful solo artist, and continues to remain a respected singer, lyricist and guitarist, a fact reaffirmed by his recent awarding of the 2009 BRIT award for ‘Best Male Solo Artist’. He has remained a national rather than an international star, which may be unsurprising considering much of his songwriting  is rooted in British culture. He is also the principal figure of the 1970s Mod revival and is often referred to as the Modfather. (source: Wikipedia)

—————-

The Butterfly Collectors - A Night of Paul Weller Classics

It was an inevitable choice. I am a big fan of The Jam ever since I heard Morrissey’s gloomy version of That’s Entertainment. And over the years I was introduced little by little to Weller’s crooning and evolution. The event happened four months ago but watching the footages gave us an enormous sense of well-being for something you don’t hear quite often that only a scattering of music aficionados can relate to.

The event title was taken from one of The Jam’s B-side song titles.  As positive as it may sound “The Butterfly Collector,” penned by Weller, speaks of amorality and abuse. Something very socially relevant with the ‘butterflies’ amongst us directly related to unscrupulous politics and the entertainment industry as a whole.

Needless to say it was a fun intimate jam and we are grateful to all the bands that lovingly participated and the appreciative audience which made it far more memorable. Below is a video clip summary of what transpired.

(Video song sequence: Come To Milton Keynes – The Gentle Isolation, You’re The Best Thing – Kate Torralba & Cameron Aquino, From The Floorboards Up – Turbo Goth, David Watts – The Bernadettes, Start! – The Camerawalls)

Here’s a complete list of Paul Weller tunes covered during the night (some songs contain links to a full live video):

Come To Milton Keynes (The Style Council) – The Gentle Isolation
From The Floorboards Up (Paul Weller) – Turbo Goth
David Watts (The Jam) – The Bernadettes
You’re The Best Thing (The Style Council) – Kate Torralba & Cameron Aquino
Start! – Patience Dear Juggernaut
My Ever Changing Moods (The Style Council) – Patience Dear Juggernaut
Shout To The Top (The Style Council) – Patience Dear Juggernaut
Start! (The Jam) – The Camerawalls
Town Called Malice (The Jam) – The Camerawalls
The Butterfly Collector (The Jam) – The Camerawalls
To Be Someone (The Jam) – The Camerawalls
That’s Entertainment (The Jam) – The Camerawalls
From The Floorboards Up (Paul Weller) – The Camerawalls

In this past Sunday’s (October 4th) edition of the UK newspaper The Observer, Bruce Foxton, the bassist with The Jam (pictured above in 1982), looked back on the end of the group in the newspaper’s Flashback feature. Foxton spoke of the pressures on the band, particularly on songwriter Paul Weller, and how the band came to an end:

“Earlier that year, when we were on tour in Japan, it was clear that Paul was unhappy. Rick [Buckler, drums] and myself felt we all needed a break. It had been a hectic six years or so and there was a lot of pressure on Paul in particular, with the songwriting. When we got back in the UK, Paul called a meeting. He just said he wanted to leave the band.

“We tried to talk him round, said: ‘Take as long as you need off,’ but he’d made up his mind. We had no idea what direction he was going to go in but when he came out with The Style Council, it made more sense to me. I thought, ‘OK, maybe you made the right decision,’ because at that point I wouldn’t have gone in that direction. Possibly he knew that.”

Foxton also discussed The Jam’s farewell tour in 1982:

“The farewell tour was very emotional. It was a while before I was talked round to have one last fling, and do it for the fans. They were among the best gigs we ever did, but off stage it was totally different. We still met fans after the show, as we’d always done, but their only question was, why? And at that point there was nothing to say but ‘I don’t know.’ I did feel we had more in us as The Jam. That we wouldn’t have become an embarrassment.”

After many years of not speaking to each other, Foxton and Paul Weller have renewed their friendship. Foxton said:

“Paul and I have been on good terms again for a few years now. My wife passed away recently and he’s been amazing. The friendship has been renewed and music aside, that’s all I ever wanted. That means more to me than any reformation.”

To read the article, click here.

Foxton has been playing in recent years with From The Jam along with The Jam’s drummer Rick Buckler. They perform the music of The Jam. Buckler recently announced that he is leaving the band. Foxton is reportedly going to play on Paul Weller’s next solo album.

To listen to The Jam’s final single, “Beat Surrender,” click below:

Play Going Underground by The Jam [links to last.fm]

London Tube: Mind The Gap

Most of my regular readers will know I was recently in Boston – we were visiting one of my wife’s schooltime friends and celebrating her son’s birthday. For our own son, who has just turned one, it was his first ‘big’ city trip and did he see a whole new and exciting (but exhausting) world out there! Naturally, we took ‘The T’ to travel into the city, and this brought back memories for me of previous cities underground mass transit systems that I have traveled on. New York City has the steamy subway, Paris has it’s stinky metro, Buffalo has it’s I-really-am-a-big-city Metro Rail, and London has the original Tube. What each of them needs is a theme song, to bring together the drones of commuters into one harmonious group. My solution? The Jam’s “Going Underground”, released in 1980 and written by Jam founding member Paul Weller.

And where does the Boston T rank among my small list of moley travelling solutions? Well, it beats Paris, and NYC, but there are a lot of updates needed in it’s infrastructure. London needed the 2012 Olympics to kick it’s Underground into a much needed phase of improvements, but is there enough interest in Boston to accomplish something similar!?

It’s been a busy week, with working and some other events that I’ll discuss as this week goes along.  I have had a lovely soundtrack to it all.

1. Genesis – And Then There Were Three (Atlantic 1978)
2. Genesis – Invisible Touch (DVD)
3. Thrushes – Sun Come Undone (Birdnote 2006)
4. Fugazi – In on the Kill Taker (Dischord 1993)
5. Paul Weller – Heavy Soul (Island 1997)
6. Buffalo Springfield -box set, disc 4
7. Tears for Fears -Mothers Talk 12″ (Mercury 1985)
8. Destroyer – Bay of Pigs 12″ (Merge 2009)
9. The Church – Uninvited, Like the Clouds (Cooking Vinyl 2006)
10. Hammock – Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow (Darla 2008)

Look for a wild episode of Radio Free Raytown on Friday…