Westy’s Blog

23Jul2020Blog, News

Thinking On Your Own – Part 1

March 19th. The UK was going into lockdown with rising cases of Covid-19 being reported. The media frenzy at the time was on how people were panic-buying in the shops, with various photos and video footage of people stockpiling shopping trolleys full of toilet roll, pasta, bread, milk and other groceries, and in doing so, depriving the most vulnerable in our society.

I was angry at what I saw, and I felt I had to write a song about it. Sure, people were scared, none of us really knew how Covid was going to affect or change our lives. But, depriving others at a time of real need, was selfish and unnecessary. Global crises really show us how base and primitive the human race can still be.

It didn’t really matter to me that the song was probably just going to be labelled as ‘another from the glut of songs written in lockdown’; it was heartfelt, and I felt strongly about its message. I wanted to get across that, in isolation, we are still able to think of others and should be concentrating on them, not thinking on our own. It was asking people to consider: “Who else can I help?”

If, in listening to this song, it makes one person think again, and decide not to act selfishly, giving the more vulnerable person a chance – just for once – then it will have done it’s job.

I posted it on Facebook. I wasn’t sure what to expect really, but I asked people to like and share, and a few people did. Thank you to those who did, because what happened next was a complete surprise.

15Nov2019Blog, News

All Guitar Vero Contest, Part 3

Westy

Day 3 of our trip was a drive to El Cajon, near San Diego, and a visit to Taylor Guitars.

Kendall and Nikke picked us up at the hotel quite early, and it was a good two hour drive to El Cajon.

A personal highlight for me was just the music and the chat on that trip, in both directions. We talked about many things, Kendall knew a lot about the area, and pointed out many landmarks as he drove; and Nikke played us some really good music, across a variety of genres, quite a lot I wasn’t familiar with, and definitely stuff I will investigate later. We talked a lot about Vero too, and where they see things are going for this relatively new social network.

When we arrived at El Cajon, it was 10 degrees hotter than Santa Monica. Just getting out of the car hit you with a sheer wall of heat. I was very grateful that day for the car’s air conditioning. We’d arranged to meet Tim Godwin, another of the contest judges and artist (development) director at Taylor Guitars, for lunch. An interesting fact I learned about Tim is that he knew another Yorkshire Brit, and as he explained that he was singing in a Joe Cocker tribute band, aptly named (if you know Joe Cocker’s material) ‘Mad Dogs and an Englishman’, I realised at once he was talking about Jason Feddy, an ex-pat, now living in Laguna Beach, that my friends and I used to go and watch play regularly in Harrogate Blues Bar. Small world, innit?

A lovely touch to the welcome at Taylor Guitars, was to see my name on the notice board as we entered. Pete went to work setting up his camera, and filmed a great deal around the factory as the tour progressed. The tour runs across two buildings on the plot at El Cajon. Now and again, as we ventured outside to look at the raw wood store, and as we crossed between one building and another, we walked back into that wall of heat. Phew!

Our tour guide took us around the factory and explained every stage in the development of guitars, from the raw material, to the finished products. I will save the rest for a later post, when I get chance to show some of Pete’s video footage too, I hope. I understand that Taylor run these tours daily, so, I f you are ever visiting the San Diego area, and want to know more about Taylor, how they make guitars, their processes end-to-end, and their sustainability ethos, I would highly recommend this tour, and especially so, if you’re a Taylor Guitars geek like me (link here)*.

*Update – Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Taylor Guitars has been forced to suspend its tours for the time being. I hope this resumes soon.

The last stage of the tour was a look at the ‘Guitar Gallery’. Taylor actively invite guests to take guitars off the wall, and try out as many as they want. I have to say, I immediately fell in love with a PS14, and had a jam with Kendall, who’d got himself one of the other V-Series guitars to play. My choice was a beautiful instrument, lovely to play, and certainly one for the wish list!

A scenic trip back to Santa Monica and dinner with Nikke and Kendall en route made up yet another amazing day. Sadly, it was the end of our time with our hosts from Vero, though we had another couple of days to roam and explore L.A.. What superb hosts, and I feel mighty privileged to have had their exclusive company for such a time. A trip I will always treasure.

Keen not to become merely tourists, Pete and I had plans for the remaining two days. Especially as Pete had a camera with him, we decided to make a music video, really as it seemed appropriate, as well as documenting the trip. We used Uber cars on the first day, but this was still a bit time-restrictive. On day two we hired a car, and made much more progress and covered more miles, heading off into the valleys where it was more picturesque. Again, you might get a clue from the photos, where we went. All to be revealed on video at some stage…. very soon I hope !

Lastly, there are so many people to thank: Nikke and Kendall, our amazing hosts at Vero; Tim Godwin and the staff at Taylor Guitars; Norman Harris, Michael Lemmo, Nick Dias, and the rest of the staff at Norman’s Rare Guitars; Mark Rivett and Dylan at the All Guitar Network; plus the ever-helpful and friendly staff at the Wyndham Hotel, Santa Monica On the Pier. Last but not least, my good buddy Pete Bennett, of Bigworld Productions, whose knowledge and good company were so invaluable, and our partners Claire and Alison, who keenly organised us both via FaceTime at strange times of the day and night.

Fondest memories made.

Sat on the sofa at Norman's Rare Guitars, with Michael Lemmo

11Nov2019Blog, News

All Guitar Vero Contest, Part 2

Westy

As my poor wife Claire was unable to come on this trip (long story), my friend Pete, who we were staying with in France at the time, was free. As he’s also an independent film-maker, he kindly offered to document the trip.

I didn’t sleep much on the flight across to Los Angeles. Aircraft seats are just not comfortable, despite the ability to electronically dim the windows on a 787. We landed at LAX around 3:30 pm, spent a little bit of time getting through passport checks, and then some more time, waiting for a driver to appear, who I think was waiting the wrong side of the airport, and then we were on our way.

The Wyndham Santa Monica is literally a minute’s walk from Santa Monica pier. A lovely spot. Nikke and Kendall from Vero had arranged to meet us, and just give us a little guided walking tour of the Pier, and the surrounding area. Then they suggested we stop and have a bite to eat and a beer at one of the restaurants on the roadside facing the beach, where we got to know each other, and watched the sunset behind the roadside palm trees. Then Kendall and Nikke left us to ur own devices for the evening, as we wanted to explore a bit further, and stave off the jet lag at least until bedtime, where we hoped we might sleep better, ready for our trip to Norman’s the following day.

Anyway, despite all good intentions, and a good strategy to combat the jet lag, I think I had about 3 hours sleep. The body clock is a complicated system, and this had thoroughly messed up my circadian rhythm. Pete on the other hand, having been in New York a few weeks prior to this, and much more used to travelling than me, had had a better night. We walked up to Santa Monica boulevard and grabbed a pavement-side breakfast. Coffee was the most important wake-me-up component.

Kendall and Nikke picked us up at the hotel and Kendall drove us down to Ventura Boulevard, Tarzana, where the famous Norman’s Rare Guitars store is situated.

Norm’s, as it’s now affectionately called, was established in the mid 70s by Norman Harris, who made his name as a musician forging connections with guitarists through the buying and selling of rare and highly sought after guitars. His store has been frequented by many A-list guitarists, including Joe Bonamassa, T-Bone Burnett, Slash, Mike Campbell, Joe Walsh, and the late Tom Petty, to name but a few, and Norman himself is now considered to be one of the guitar industry’s foremost experts on vintage guitars. A few years ago, Norman’s Rare Guitars launched its own YouTube channel, and now has a following of well over 380,000 subscribers, myself included, broadcasting their featured guitars of the day, with resident and guest performers who turn up to play these amazing and interesting guitars, acoustic and electric, giving the store such a refreshing and unique perspective on the world of guitars, and upon the LA guitar scene as well.

Next door to the left of Norman’s Rare Guitars, is the more recently launched All Guitar Network, another project of Norm’s, and the perfect partner to the store, in that it has access to the store’s guitar collection, but it also is taking the subject of guitars to a whole new level.

Hosted and co-ordinated by musician and composer Mark Rivett, AGN has a greater focus on learning, it is establishing itself as the go-to channel for guitar news, views, tutorials, and features with guest musicians, such as Joe Bonamassa, Tim Pierce, Josh Smith and David Becker, as well as the resident store musicians and presenters: Michael Lemmo, Nick Dias and Norman himself, who are also a focal part of the AGN network too.

As the All Guitar Vero Contest is a partnership prize of Vero, Norman’s, the All Guitar Network, and Taylor Guitars, there’s a lot of people behind this for me to thank. Anyway, the prize involved me picking up my new signed Taylor 717 Grand Pacific Builder’s Edition Guitar, and so we called in to AGN first to meet Mark, where he introduced me to the guitar, though the formal presentation was to be next door at Norman’s. I was immediately struck by the quality of the case itself.

I had a little time to open it up, revealing the guitar in all it’s glory. Signed by many, including the Contest judges Tim Pierce and Michael Lemmo, I was keen to take it out and examine it further. But the waiting area at AGN wasn’t the place, besides, they were keen to shoot the presentation and a little ‘jam session’ with Michael before the store opened at 11. So, we all ventured next door. Tim Pierce, I was sad to hear, wasn’t able to make it, so it was just going to be Michael and me.

I’m 6 feet tall, but Michael is about 6ft 3” or 4”. My son Tom is 6’ 5”, so I’m getting used to this younger generation getting progressively taller. Fortunately we were sat on the famous sofa at Norman’s, so I don’t look too short on the video that Dylan shot from the All Guitar Network. Rather than detune and play the winning piece, I opted for standard tuning, and another song: “Watching The Rain’, so typically English for the scorching heat of L.A.:

{video}

Maybe it was the sheer over-tiredness, but I really didn’t feel at all nervous. Listening back, I’m not only pleased with my own performance, but I’m still impressed by the talent of Michael Lemmo, that he could listen once to me playing a couple of verses and choruses, and then pull off a complete accompaniment like that. Awesome!

Next off, we went next door, for me to be interviewed by Mark for the AGN channel. I pre-warned Mark of my tendency to suffer from the “Dreaded Erms”, or hesitation, on camera, and I must say that, like Michael, he put me completely at ease, though you’ll see there are a number of jump-cuts in the interview. I really haven’t mastered talking on camera yet, and I really do prefer a script. They did a superb edit on it though, I think. They really did make me look almost a natural… Great work, guys!

Vero – True Social

Norman’s Rare Guitars

All Guitar Network

Taylor Guitars

28Sep2019Blog, News

All Guitar Vero Contest, Part 1

Westy

I joined the Vero network back in late January/early February as I saw KT Tunstall announce the first #VeroGreatGuitarGiveaway contest, and I thought I might give it a shot. I then got ridiculously busy with other work, and the contest – and the networking – just got put on hold.

I have been following Norman’s Rare Guitars for a good while, more than a year if not two, as I follow quite a number of musicians and creatives now on YouTube, and other channels too. One cannot learn about musicianship, performance and the music business alone, and it’s worth finding inspiration from people you like on YouTube, as well as other social media.

I could devote an entire blog (or two) just to the people I follow, and why, but that’s for another time. Suffice it to say that Norm’s ‘Guitar of the Day’ features had become regular viewing for me, and particularly the very talented presenters were already familiar: Michael Lemmo, Jen (behind the camera), Todd, Nick, and of course, Norman Harris himself, plus guest players that over time have included: Joe Bonamassa, session-man Tim Pierce, actor and guitarist Frank Stallone (Sylvester’s brother), Marc Mann and Steve Postell, to name but a handful.

So when I saw Norman’s Rare Guitars announcing a second #AllGuitarVeroContest, with Tim Pierce (another YouTuber that I follow) and Michael Lemmo as judges, I have to say it awakened my interest again. As I’m already a fan of Taylor Guitars, the main prize of a Taylor 717 Grand Pacific was really appealing, as well as the four runner up prizes of Taylor Academy Series guitars too. The entry: a one-minute guitar piece of my own composition, seemed do-able, and I thought I might stand a chance of winning maybe a runner-up prize, but I’m no flashy lead guitarist, so I didn’t expect much, more a chance of making a few new friends on Vero if it caught someone’s ears.

Previously, I had posted short clips of a new song in progress: ‘Whispers of Home’, onto Instagram, and showed its progress from simple ‘noodled’ idea to recorded song, called: ‘Anatomy of a New Song’, and so I knew the end-sequence could fit nicely into just under a minute. I recorded it in one take on the 20th June, and submitted it off to Vero, and their competition partners the All Guitar Network, Taylor Guitars, and Norm’s, with a little tongue-in-cheek intro, from ‘Westy’s Cabin’ (my garage-studio really). And then got busy again…

As one or two of you readers might know, my wife Claire and I have a strange hobby (to some, anyway) in that we fly hot air balloons. In particular, once the Summer season begins we can be away quite a bit, in particular late-July-early-August time we head off to France for our favourite mass European gathering of flying ‘loonies in Chambley, Lorraine region, officially now the largest line-up and launch of hot-air balloons in the World.

We had just completed our ten-day tour of Chambley and were visiting friends elsewhere in France, when, by chance, I had interrupted sleep one night (after one too many cognacs…), and was sat up in bed at 3am looking at my phone messages. Lucky that I did, because one of them was a chat text from Nikke at Vero, saying that I had won the All Guitar Vero Contest, and that she had been trying to contact me!

Because I was in rural France at the time, I hadn’t even seen that I was being considered, and had already been posted on one of the preliminary ‘Judges Favorites’ videos. So the first thing I saw was the announcement of the winner:

and the winner is…….???

1Jul2019Blog, News

Playing Live Again

Westy

It’s so nice to be getting out again after so long. I can’t express how much my upper arm injury had limited my goals, and, although I could just switch emphasis and concentrate on other stuff, having to protect the arm really did put a dampener on my enthusiasm.

That said, it’s easy to fall into bad habits. Although the arm has been recovering for a while now, it was easy to tell myself to “protect the arm, protect the arm!” as an excuse to not go back to playing regularly too early.

Anyway – it was time… blow off the cobwebs, and get back out into the unsuspecting world.

My first plan was to aim to play at least once a week… somewhere.

Straight off the bat I have the offer of a gig from Scott Doonican of The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican at the Old School House in Barnsley. Good on yer, mate, and thank you. It’s now been pushed back till January due to a scheduling issue on our original date, but I’m looking forward to it.

Then I literally went onto the Open Mic Finder site (link) and made a list of all the nearby open mics, and made contact by email/facebook.

Next, I contacted a total unknown… A venue known simply as Small Seeds, in Huddersfield. I did wait a few days to get a response from the email, but they were very encouraging. They invite all musicians locally, as well as poets, to come on down and play/read their material at the aptly titled Acoustic Club every Tuesday evening after 9pm.

It’s a lovely spot, very rustic looking stage, and there’s no mics or amplification, so this REALLY IS acoustic only. The nice thing too is they provide an acoustic guitar for those who simply want to turn up and play; and there’s an upright piano there as well if you want to play that too.

Next up I contacted Pete Long, whom I’d met through Andrew when he ran the Acoustic Circus open mics at the Taproom in Batley. He’s moved on from the Taproom, and is now hosting Acoustic Circus open mics once monthly from the West End pub in Gomersal. He also runs another Acoustic Circus Session once a month in St Mary’s Church in Gomersall too.

Pete himself is a really good guitarist and songwriter by the way, just check out VanRay on Spotify or iTunes…

Anyway – as soon as I made contact, Pete offered me a half-hour guest slot at the West End. This kinda threw me in the deep end, but I was glad of it. It blew out the cobwebs and got me thinking about a set again, rather than just the usual two or three odd songs that you get to do at a ‘normal’ open mic.

One thing I have realised though: playing ‘Whispers of Home’ with its drop tuning is a difficult song to put in the set, wherever you put it. I’ve tried retuning the guitar mid-set, and, unless you’re a good raconteur whilst you’re re-tuning, you’re asking a lot of patience from the audience whilst you mess about. The only alternative is to swap guitars. Here’s where my poor old EKO E20 lets me down, as the old Barcus Berry piezo bridge pickup I fitted 25+ years ago really isn’t up to it any more. Feedback from the audience is that it just wasn’t as good sounding as my Taylor 214. So – at some point, to do this justice, I’m going to need to change the E20 for something better, or just get better at re-tuning the 214 mid-set.