Just to get you all used to the idea I’ll be out on the road again – very soon! I thought I’d start a blog and do a quick rundown of the first few exciting months of this year.
We started 2009 with Bob’s lovely sister and family in New Zealand … we’d been there the whole of December and were thrilled that Bob’s daughter and son-in-law, Jo and Mike, were able to join us for Christmas. Needless-to-
say we had a fantastic time. On New Year’s Eve Bob and I went on a dolphin boat trip … simply awe inspiring!While Jo and Mike flew back to the UK, Bob and I headed for Los Angeles, visiting Palm Springs the first few days we arrived, before moving to a town house owned by friends right in the middle of West Hollywood, sandwiched between Sunset and Santa Monica Boulevards a great place and a brilliant location!
We were in Los Angeles for most of January – escaping the cold and grey back home – and it was an exceptionally warm month! We spent a fair bit of time with Davy Knowles -of Back Door Slam- ironing out the last few organisational details in order to make his/their second album … much more of which later!
I finished off a song I started with Christy DeHaven back on the Isle of Man in November (no one could accuse me of being prolific!) entitled “Get Up!” a really fun track with a deep and heartfelt message. Also started a “story” song with Davy … his delightful guitar work and my vocal meanderings – still a song in embryo but with great promise.
We were home on the Isle of Man towards the end of January for what felt like a very short month. A week on the mainland catching up with family and friends there and several meetings with music-company bigwigs for Bob. All to the tune of wind rain and snow! Yikes! It was great to be home all the same.
Then after an unexpected call from John Haxby
http://www.haxby.net asking if I’d be available to perform at Knaresborough’s Frazer Theatre in June, I somehow managed to cobble together a whole slew of dates! I’ll be starting rehearsals with Rob Cross who’s accepted the position of musical genius for the duration! http://www.myspace.com/robertmichaelcross I’m very excited about it all.
Dave and Christy from Running Media travelled with Bob and I back to LA at the end of February. Before we left I was able to go to the Purcell Rooms on the South Bank and watch one of Barb Jungr’s wonderful shows http://www.barbjungr.com/ – the theme for which was Songs of War and Peace – and was totally blown away with her vision and elegant performance … it was a beautiful and moving experience and I couldn’t be more proud of her.
When Bob and I had left LA Davy was about to start the process of recording and … when we returned … he was nearly done! He has co-produced the album with Peter Frampton! The connection was made after a successful writing session with Peter back in November and by some wonderful quirk of Fate he was not only available but also very excited to take up the role.
A Day in the (LA) Life of Davy K from Davy Knowles on Vimeo.
Dave and Christy wanted to video as much of the process as possible while they were there and to that end, set about filming Davy et al at various locations in and around the LA area and in situ at Frank Rozella’s delightful studio in Sherman Oaks. Christy and I also had the thrill of singing backing vocals on a George Harrison cover “Hear Me Lord” with Peter Frampton himself!We are now officially called the Framptonettes – although we may have forgotten to tell Peter! I used to have a poster of him on my teenage wall!!!!
http://www.frampton.com/
There was time also for Davy and I to spontaneously figure out an acoustic duet version of John Martyn’s classic song “Sweet Little Mystery”- the seeds for which were sewn back at a BDS gig last summer in New York … it’s our tribute to a troubled but very talented soul …
which Dave Armstrong and our good friend Jordan Harriman kindly captured – warts ‘n’all- on film! Ah … the Hollywood glitz and glamour is finally rubbing off!"Sweet Little Mystery" (J.Martyn) with Davy Knowles from Christine Collister on Vimeo.
Some of the fun and memorable things we did while Dave and Christy were with us were: watching Slumdog Millionaire (me for the second time!) and Coroline in 3D – both amazing films. Wandering the dizzy heights of the Griffiths Observatory and watching the presentation in the planetarium: The Story of The Night Sky – awe-inspiring. Visiting Paradise Cove – aptly named. Generally enjoying the company of good friends, fine wine and delicious food under a warm and sunny sky. My gratitude is unbounded!
There were a few last minute touches to add to Davy’s record by the time Dave and Christy were flying home. I was invited to sing on several more tracks … an honour and a privilege. On one track “Amber’s Song” I hummed along with Davy on the choruses and … one of those hums ended up looking like this!
This is the audio picture of the hum as I sang it …
I have no comment to make other than a raised eyebrow and a question mark hanging in mid air … oh yeh!and a twinkle in my eye!
Once the over-dubs were finished it was time to organise the mixing sessions. Life can be very strange n’est pas? And although other arrangements had been made … circumstances were such that they became null and void … and then … opportunities arose that far out-weighed the original scenario. Am I being obtuse!? Yep!
The up-shot being that Bob Clearmountain was able to take up the baton and mix the album immediately! http://www.mixthis.com/ Amazing. Bob (BTBF!) and I were there for the first few exciting mixes and though Peter Frampton was physically in Cincinnati, by some wonderful Apple Mac gizmo – iChat – he was also able to be - as-it-were - there too!
Bob and I flew off to New Zealand leaving a very happy and overly excited Davy Knowles in Bob and Betty Clearmountain’s wonderful care. Yet another piece of “luck” fell into place a few days later when Peter F was able to procure the services of another legendary record maker: Bob Ludwig, who mastered the album in New York State a week later.
http://www.gatewaymastering.com/mastering.asp. Wow … Davy has some powerful friends on his side. The album’s called “Coming Up For Air” and will be available to download this May and in cd some time in June. Go out and buy it! It’s a brilliant piece of work … and I’m on too! Hurrah.
For the next 3 weeks Bob and I enjoyed a brilliant time on the North Island of
New Zealand. We spent the first week in and around the Bay of Islands … utterly breath-taking.
From there we drove down through the Coramandel Ranges, finally heading to Mount Maunganui and Bob’s family once more. While we there this time we celebrated Easter (well the eating of chocolate at any rate!) and Ken’s 88th birthday! He’s an inspiration to us all. Also this time Phil, Yuri and little Koto were able to join us – they’re Chris and Ken’s youngest son and his gorgeous family.
We returned to LA April 18th – arriving 7 hours before we left! Don’t ask … maths was never my strong point. In the 10 days we had before coming home, we tried to catch up with as many friends as possible but Bob, bless him managed to get food poisoning the first night back and was laid low for 3 or 4 days. Which left me to go to see Davy support, Jeff Beck at the El Rey Theatre LA, on my own. Ah … do you feel sorry for me? Nah … didn’t think so.
Davy had been the opening act for Mr Beck for his US tour the past 2 weeks and this was 1 of 3 shows I was able to get to. Davy was great of course though by this point … having played acoustically the whole tour … he was itching to strap on his Les Paul Gold Top and crank it up all the way up to 11! He grabbed the mainly male (90%?!) audience all the same and definitely garnered more fans.
There were 2 surprise appearances at the end of Mr Beck’s set in LA … luckily I was primed for them and manoeuvred myself into a great position to witness first … Rod Stewart! He sang “People Get Ready” and “Ain’t Superstitious” which he introduced as being 41 years since they originally recorded it! Wow … he sounded wonderful and … did I mention that … yes I think he’s sexy! More so now than way back then! When he sauntered onto stage the entire room erupted. It was a great moment. The second surprise and the final song of the night was Joss Stone singing Sly and the Family Stone’s “I Want To Take You Higher” … and she did! She sounded and looked amazing. I was whooping and cheering as loud as the rest of the audience.
Though Bob and I were both there the following night to see Davy, we weren’t able to stay for Jeff Beck’s set and so missed John Mayer! However … he came into the theatre as we were leaving so … I was inches away from him! I’m a huge fan of “Continuum” and just love his live DVD “Where The Light Shines”.
The following day we drove up to San Francisco for the final show at the wonderfully refurbished Fox theatre http://www.historigraphics.com/fox/default.shtml. Another great night for Davy and the chance for me to sit and talk with John Murray and John Eckstrom , organisers of the charity show for Haitt Ashbury Free Clinics the following night, where both Davy and I performed.
The charity concert consisted of a 20 minute set from myself, where John Ekstrom played bass on “Boulder to Birmingham” and the Davy joined us for “Sweet Little Mystery” … it was a joy for me on so many levels.
Davy then did a brilliant acoustic set before he and I both joined the wonderful singer/songwriter Bonnie Hayes (keyboards and vocals) http://bonniehayes.com/ her brother, drummer Kevin Hayes along side bassist Karl Sevareid – both long time members of the Robert Cray band - http://www.robertcray.com – for a ridiculously exciting romp through a few rock and blues numbers … mostly written by Bonnie and Kevin. Songs like: Back Door Slam (the song Davy took the name for his band from!), Love Letter (which Bonnie Raitt made famous on her “Nick of Time” album) and Phone Booth, now a Robert Cray classic. They let me rock out on a wonderfully up-beat version of “Love Me Like A Man” which went by far too quickly for me … more of this please! I musically oohed and ahhed at moments but mainly grinned from ear to ear throughout the set. It was most definitely good for me!
The final portion of the night was given over to Narada Michael Walden – check out his credentials! http://www.naradamichaelwalden.com/ playing wild drums for a free-form Jimi Hendrix tribute set with John Ekstrom on bass and Davy on equally wild electric guitar and vocals … thrown in at the deep end with no rehearsals whatsoever! And swimming admirably up-stream! It was one hell of a ride.
The Haitt Ashbury Free Clinics http://www.hafci.org/ set up in the mid 1970s by John Ekstrom, are an amazing charitable Trust that support and do vital work for the underprivileged and down-at-heel members of San Franciscan society. It was a privilege to be asked to take part in this extraordinary concert and I hope to be able to take part in more fund/profile-raising events in the future.
A big, big thank you to Laura Kudritzki of Muse Studios http://www.musephotostudio.com/ for the brilliant photos!We drove back to LA the next day, saying au revoir to Davy who was on his way to Seattle to rehearse his new band for the up-coming tour in June http://davyknowles.com/ it’s going to be mega!
We had little time left before coming home but managed to see our good friends the Nebens and Slamers up in Northridge one evening. While Mike Slamer- http://www.myspace.com/mikeslamer - and I got together to finish our 3rd song: “Edge of The World”, the day before we flew. Phew! No mix as yet but when there is I'll let you know
We’ve been back a few weeks now and I’ve already started the rehearsing process with Rob Cross in Cardiff. It’s all beginning to come together. I’m really excited to be going out on tour again, with a different musical approach and a whole load of new songs … I hope you’re all excited too!
Thanks as ever for stopping by. Do come to a show and say hello … I always love to meet people at gigs … feed back always welcome too!
Take care and see you out there soon!
Much love
Christine XX ;-)
PS: Check out my twittering too: http://twitter.com/ccsings
