Great Tassie Summertime Music!

The perfect tunes for acclimatisation, cultural assimilation and curbing ones heart strings.

BTW this is my Dad’s cassette that he originally purchased back in 1970, it still sounds strong

Home Sweet Home (back on home turf)

My Dad and I playing with Blu in the Paddock

Blu (left) and M (right)

M (left) and Blu (right)

As my last day here in San Francisco draws to a close and I pack up my belongings and wonderful collection of various electronic goods I’ve collected here over three months some truly great memories come flooding back of things that took place. Some highlights include:

• The Blue Angels (seriously as I was suffering jet lag I woke to these guys screaming across the sky and for a moment thought I was in a war zone)
• My first USA show ever @ The Razor Compound (put on by the fine guys @ Different Dentist aka Mike and crew)
• Sunny Octobers/Novembers spent traversing the Golden Gate Bridge.
• Living/Recording/Working @ 24th/Sanchez (Jen, Noel, Billy)
• Seeing Violent Soho slay @ The Fillmore, SF w/ Dinosaur Jr.
• Hanging in NYC @ Violent Soho HQ (a city of endless action, sleep is futile!).
• Playing @ Monkey Town HQ, NYC.
• Seeing Sonic Youth in NYC (and meeting Kim Gordon).
• Seeing Growing and Fuck Buttons in a squat warehouse in NYC.
• Meeting many different friends from all over the World in SF, NYC, LA (truly fun/random times).
• Meeting a long-lost friend in NYC (Brooklyn) completely randomly.
• A blistering Improv. Noise performance by ‘Josh Lang’ absolutely slayed (@ The Flowershop) and put himself firmly in the top 5 performances that I witnessed in 2009.
• Hanging in LA (much the same as NYC but 50,000,000 time more spread out, yes you need a car).
• Jamming/Recording/Living @ 1814 Illinois St (aka Pier 80, Scott, Nick, Coby)
• Seeing the most amazing sunset I’ve ever witnessed on Venice Beach with J
• Hanging/Shooting with C.Willits

there’s so much more I could write but instead I’m going to head off and enjoy my last hours in SF….but really a big THANKS to everyone far and wide that made this US trip truly memorable!

Obligatory out of the window Plane shots ;)

You’re Busted, HIGHWAY PATROL PULL OVER

US Tour Bus/Car (how can anyone not love Amercian Muscle)

Driving

Things are kind of cold here in San Francisco (it’s was officially winter the other week), well not that cold but colder than weather I’ve had to endure for any length of time in the past few years. Fortunately I have had the use of Scott Arford’s finely equiped studio for the past week (and some more next week).

After some hefty mixing sessions (well actually it’s easy to spend 12hrs a day in this studio because it’s the warmest place in the house) I took to investigating a few devices laying around.

One device is the beautiful DBX 118 (analog compressor/enhancer)

Essentially a device to allow people back in the 70′s and early 80′s to run their record players through to beef them up, compress the signal and enhance it’s stereo imaging, in a modern studio it makes for an amazing change to digital manipulation, bringing a warm/lush tonal quality like nothing I’ve heard before.

The other great box I found is a Sansui Reverberation Amplifier RA-500 (analog spring reverb)

This provides insanely colourful arrays of depth.

Of course I’ve quickly come to like these two devices and am eagerly searching for them on ebay ;)

I’m back in San Francisco and have just 2-weeks in the USA remaining. I’m going to squeeze a bunch of stuff in to these 2-weeks including more tech. development, work of both my solo albums and future AXXONN releases and a trip to LA for some sight seeing.

I’ve also moved into a new place for my last days right on the bay edge of San Francisco and next door to Pier 80.

The view from my studio

Just when I thought that the best times of 2009 were behind me, bang! NEW YORK CITY pops up and provides me with two VERY amazing weeks!

Thanks to Violent Soho (and to their lovely wives), Henery, Janeva, Rhiannon, D, Sonia, Ra, Dana and the host of other people who I hung out with, awesome people = awesome times!!