Bill Nelson's Diary - August 2004

Saturday, 7th August 2004 -- Late  
No one could possible imagine how much effort is being put into this forthcoming 30 year celebration tour. It's been a mountain climb and a half. We're definitely getting there though, slowly but surely (and all those other cliche's that indicate progress against the odds.)

The concerts themselves, if all goes well, will look effortless and feel natural. The various stresses and strains will be invisible to the audience and most people will be hard pressed to see why this has been such a major struggle. That is how it should be...the conjurer's art is always invisible. All that will remain, once the political and practical dramas behind the scenes are over, is the magic. And it will be magic of the best kind, star-dusted and free of gravity, ecstatic and beyond easy quantification. If it is less than this, then it won't be for want of trying. I've worked on this project, for several months now, as if it were the last statement I would ever be allowed to make. The circumstances are as favourable as they are ever likely to be and soon it will be testing time. After all is said and done, it inevitably comes down to the simple equation of the band and the audience. What you see is what you get. Let's hope that the faithful will be rewarded and all the false gods put in their uneasy place.

There are some who might belittle the importance of this event... even if only in relation to my own expectations. How dare I assume that a concert like this should carry any importance at all? Well, you have no idea of how seriously I'm taking this. I am fully aware of the fight I have on my hands, to transform this series of 'gigs ' into a demonstration of how to bring this kind of material to the attention of a broader audience... despite the machinations an industry bent on an easy ride. This isn't difficult music, far from it...the material is just as accessible and warm as anything you're likely to find in the accessible and warm environment of pretty-poppy dreamland (or wherever). On the other hand...it's not quite as cut and dried as it appears. My goal, my real game, for as long as I can remember, has been to sneak odd and very personal ideas in through the back door. All that sixth-form, palpitating faux-anarchism so predictably trotted out by fashion Marxists for the benefit of adolescents in bed-sits, far, far away from home has proved itself to be just as media sensitive and desperate as any poor dupe in search of a starring role on 'Big Brother.' The arbiters of 'fringe' or contemporary alternative cultural taste are equally as corrupt and decadent as the very institutions they so enthusiastically declare war on. In fact, there is no war, just a mealy-mouthed resentment and a frustrated desire to join the ranks of the enemy. Come the revolution, and all that...

I'm bored shitless with the pathetic, self-referential miserablisms that pass as 'Avant Garde' these days, as I've stated frequently in these pages. The Avant Garde has become the new traditionalism, trumpeted by the children of Thatcher's woebegotten years of misrule. It's easy enough to say: "Down with Robbie Williams," (or whatever 'entertainment' we're supposed to be buying this week...), but harder for some of us to say, "And enough of Derek Bailey and AMM et al, and their dull, hair-shirted penitent offspring too..."  For all the self-styled dissenters' past attempts at waking up the masses (or even the half a dozen attendees of their gigs), they've been too easily seduced/co-opted by the pundits of Wire magazine and the arts council improv circuit to amount to anything more than another commodity dressed up in Avant glad rags. Cozy in there though isn't it? Safe and sound. Yes, I know this is an unfair criticism but it's the mood I'm in, gripped by, in fact, and I won't be denied my pint of vitriol. No apologies required.

I'm also, equally if not more so, sick to the teeth of the lazy, industry led, re-cycled crap that poses as cutting edge pop or rock music at the moment. A harsh opinion? Give me a fuckin' custard pie and we'll talk about 'harsh' later. Clowns and illusionists, the lot of 'em. Looking for ideas that don't dress themselves up in outmoded ideologies? Looking for something that feeds heart and soul and mind? Looking for something that provides a genuine alternative to coffee-table, yuppie conscripted, Ikea-style rebellion?  Looking for genuine substance and sustenance? Me too...
I wonder if this thing I'm involved in could provide a clue? Not an answer, maybe...but a genuine, worthwhile clue? Well who knows..." maybe the old man of the mountain knows, that's who..."
Lots done, lots more to do...insane, so much still to do...No one would understand or believe what is involved in this. Fear not...it is getting done, bit by bit by bit by bit. It's going to be wonderful, amazing.

Monday, 16 August 2004 -- 6.00 PM  
Some progress. I've just completed editing the third of the three videos that will accompany my three solo sets on the 'Be Bop Deluxe And Beyond' tour. I've spent an entire week on these. Even though this is time I can ill-afford right now, it certainly would have taken much longer if I hadn't utilised chunks of footage from previous videos ('Another Rabbit, Another Hat' and 'Dream Worlds That Really Exist' in particular). I have re-edited or re-treated parts of these earlier videograms to fit the three new solo performance sets and also added some unseen footage too but even this economical method has taken me a week to get all three videos into shape. A complex video 're-mix' project, in effect. Equally as much effort has gone into each concerts' visual design as to the music (though I've yet to deal with the band's fashion sense, or lack of it!). I hope that each venue will be up to the technical demands of projection as well as sound. This is all quite ambitious stuff and deserves to be seen and heard to its best advantage. The vision I have for this and the reality facing us at each venue may be completely at odds. Impossible to say what problems will face us when we arrive at each soundcheck although we're trying our best to pre-empt any drastic problems. Bearing in mind last year's scary surprise in Deal though, who can say?  I always aim at some sort of beautiful affirmation but am more often than not tripped up by a 'that's the best you're going to get' attitude. Dreams have the habit of being more potent than reality. Despite this, I hope that something of my passion and missionary zeal has managed to pass down the line to the 'shop floor' undiluted. We'll see...

We're still awaiting confirmation of a North East and also a Scotland venue. Considering that these two areas are traditionally very positive markets for me, you'd think that the agent and promoters would have had these concerts tied down before all others, but no...lack of incentive or lack of confidence on the 'bookers' part seems to be the problem. How sad, oh, ye of little faith! I hope they will get their act together soon as the tour's advertising promotion can't wait any longer and these two areas will miss out on the pre-publicity.  The music for my three solo sets has now been chosen and sequenced but the backing tracks have still to be mastered at Fairview. Having trouble getting hold of my pal John Spence to arrange time to do this though. Will keep trying. The music choices I've made for the solo set part of the concerts reflect the 'rock music' bias of the shows...at least as much as could be managed from my pool of instrumental performance pieces. One tune that will be common to all three sets is 'For Stuart.' This piece has rapidly become a favourite of many people and it would be churlish of me to leave it out. Two of the sets feature 'This Very Moment', which is a natural opener and one of my personal favourites. There are also three brand new pieces:  'Astronaut Blues,'  'Blackpool Pleasure Beach and the Road to Enlightenment,' and 'Jets Swoop Low Over Roses' which I've chosen from various other new possibilities. I've also decided to play 'Sexy Buddha', a piece only ever performed once in public before. What the audience will get to hear will depend upon which concert they attend. I will rotate the three sets, either in order or randomly, so that each concert will have a surprise element. The three videos will follow suit. Should be fun if I can remember all the arrangements! Luckily, there's a fair amount of improvisation involved in these instrumental pieces.

EMI records are getting geared up for the re-release of the Be Bop and Red Noise back catalogue, plus the new compilation album. One advantage of having EMI records do this is that their in-house press/publicity department will arrange some interviews for me with various national magazines and newspapers. A couple of these are rumoured to be upstream as I write, quite substantial pieces in publications that have a wide circulation, I'm told. (Although I'll not hold my breath until these things are confirmed...the music industry has a notorious habit of being more mouth than trousers in my experience.)  Nevertheless, all this should help publicize the tour, provided the copy hits the newsstands before the actual concerts kick in. As we're well into August, this may be cutting things a little too fine. After all, I've only been working on this tour since the start of the year. Wouldn't want them to rush anything. Still, any publicity, late or otherwise, is welcome. I really want all the hard work that people have put into setting up this event to be rewarded by full houses wherever we play...getting the word out to our potential audience is a big part of the battle. As important as web sites are, it's still the monthly glossies and the  daily newspapers that spread the word widest.

Other missions accomplished since the last diary entry are:  Photographs taken of myself for Sound-On-Sound's web site, also photo for Tascam of me using their brilliant 24 track digital porta-studio. The amazing thing about this machine is that 30 years ago I would have needed to go into Abbey Road to record an album on 24 tracks. Now, with Tascam's 2488, I can access that number of tracks on a device that will quite easily fit into a large shoulder bag and can be set up anywhere, from my lounge to a hotel room or even a garden or beach provided there's a power point. The 21st Century...don't you just love it?  I intend to use this brilliant piece of technology in various 'non-standard' recording environments next year. It will help me realise a long held dream of producing a true 'environment specific' album. Those more mature aficionados of my work may remember an interview I gave to the N.M.E. many years ago, in the '70's, when I discussed an idea I had about an environmental guitar album. The idea was spoofed the following week in an N.M.E cartoon strip called 'The Lone Groover.' (A kind of hip 'Lone Ranger' character, complete with mask and faithful Indian companion.) I still have a copy of that issue somewhere amongst my rapidly yellowing archives.

Pomona publishing contacted me about changing the cover of the 'Diary Of A Hyperdreamer' book. They felt that the earlier ideas I'd submitted, (one of which they've used on their web site), didn't connect with the diary contents enough. Well, I've given them the benefit of a doubt and supplied them with alternative images, based around their request for something nostalgic from my childhood. I'll await their rough layout of this before making a final judgment. I've had lots of positive feedback about the original design though. Let's see how things develop before I get too settled one way or another. I'm open to persuasion...  Also completed my drawing for the tour souvenir T-shirt. A line drawing of a head and a lyre. Text and tour dates still to be added. Should look good, white on black.

Hardly any life at all, away from music and books and tour preparations but managed to pick my son Elliot up from Manchester airport last week when he returned from a holiday in France, lucky man. I can't even find time for a holiday in Blackpool, despite writing a new instrumental about the value of Blackpool Pleasure Beach as a springboard in the search for enlightenment. All that tired old '80's yuppie guff about trips to India and the Far East to find the magic answer, such a waste of time. There's a zen moment awaiting any genuine seeker at the end of Blackpool's central pier during the weeks of the annual illuminations. I'm opening an ashram there next year for anyone interested. Swami Bill hits the button every time. A toffee apple and a fluffy bunny for every lucky winner. I thaynk yeow!!  No, that's not a spelling mistake, my dear American pals, but a reference to the late Arthur Askey, British music hall, stage, TV and film comedian and unintentional master of the 'crazy wisdom' method of awakening. Also someone who's stage act I witnessed at the end of Blackpool pier when I was knee high to a dandelion. If you haven't heard Arthur's 'Bee Song' you haven't lived. I also saw the now over sentimentalised partnership of Eric Morcambe and Ernie Wise at the same theatre in the late 'fifties. Also the 'Morton Frazer Harmonica Gang' (just as surreal as it sounds), Mike and Bernie Winters, all the old combinations of inanity and insanity. Bloody wonderful it was too.

A truly earth-shattering partnership would have been free-music guitarist Derek Bailey partnered with Arthur Askey....Guitar and silly monologue perhaps? Coffee table avantists may look gormless and aghast at the suggestion (gormenghast?), but it's not anywhere near as absurd as it seems. Despite my mock, neo-jaded tirade against the nouveau avant-gardists in my previous diary entry, I'm much more inclined towards these unusual creative juxtapositions than I let on. Particularly if they involve concepts such as 'Music Halls,' 'Circuses,' 'Parades,' 'Calliopes,' 'Piers,' Fairgrounds' and the like. I'm more than partial to the idea of welding electricity to steam , marrying frivolity to despair, pitting the intellect against inanity (and giving the inane more than a head start).  Sublimity is more easily come by than you'd think these days...it's only the truly fantastical that evades the arts. everyone seems to be intent on po-faced artistic 'legitimacy' or superficial, dumbed-down, acceptability to think outside the box. But, hey, you've all met my hobby horse before haven't you? Back in your box, Dobbin.

Still haven't begun to learn the 20 songs I've set for the band's performance. Nor had the time to do so, although I have copied them all to CD-r and sent to the other Lost Satellites to learn. When our three weeks of rehearsals kick in at the end of this month, I'll probably be the only clueless member of the band. Wouldn't be the first time.  Weather uncomfortably humid still but not nearly enough sunshine. Makes no difference, I'm confined to quarters anyway so it would be of no benefit to me. Worked all weekend in my little room whilst Emiko sat in the garden with a good book. Lucky girl.  

Once again, writing these words obstructs more important things. Is the pen  mightier than the guitar?  Anyway, I recall that, during my early days at art school, my English literature teacher told me I should consider a career as an author. He suggested writing radio plays and sending them to the BBC. That I still cultivate an avarice for exotic looking guitars whilst dreaming these willfully woozy words (on a reasonably regular basis) attests to my continuing desire to have it all. I'm like that, really. A greedy bugger. Nobody's perfect.

Friday, 27th August 2004 -- 9:05 PM  
A reasonably sunny, warm day after weeks of cloudy, grey, wet weather. One of the rainiest summers on record apparently. Not that it has mattered too much to me, stuck inside working away at my computer screen. I've been receiving several dozen emails each day, all dealing with various facets of the rapidly approaching 'Be Bop Deluxe And Beyond' tour. The paperwork, planning and general organisational duties have taken up a great deal of my time, many of them requiring careful thought and some research before answering. A tremendous amount of communication going on between myself and the other tour 'departments.'  Lots of technical problems to resolve, equipment queries, insurance of same, repairing of several items, new bits and pieces to buy...it's a long and involved list.  The tour programme is almost ready for the final design layout work but still a few things to add. I sourced some more album sleeve artwork for Paul Gilby to scan to include with the discography. He needed high resolution copies and the web site ones were not up to scratch so Paul is working with the original sleeves. This is going to be a high quality programme, lots of heavy-weight pages in glossy full colour, plenty to read and look at plus a breakdown of the actual performance events of the concert. Photographs of the band will be taken on the second day of our rehearsals and will go into the programme too.

I've advised the various band members about their stage clothes...my concept for their performance attire is simple, 'minimal' and hopefully practical. They all seem to have taken the time and care to go out and buy something to fit my guidelines. There's dedication for you.   Rehearsals are literally days away now but, despite their proximity, I've yet to find time to do my own homework on the 21 songs and11 instrumental pieces that I'm supposed to have memorised. Too busy doing other things essential to the presentation of the concerts. Media interviews are a priority at the moment and will probably continue to be so, at least for a short while. Just done a small Q+A for 'Uncut' magazine. I'll need to take an afternoon out of my rehearsal schedule to hook up with various local radio stations in the cities/towns that we'll be performing in. These will take the form of a BBC nationwide radio type of thing, probably originating from Leeds but sent around the country. Interviews coming up with 'Total Guitar' magazine and 'Classic Rock' magazine too... Also 'The Independent' and 'The Observer' I'm told.  The immanent publication and preparation of my 'Diary Of A Hyperdreamer' book has continued to eat up a great deal of my time. I was sent the 1^st proof  manuscript last week, to read through and check for mistakes. Not that there was much hope of completing such a mammoth task whilst so much else was demanding my attention. I only managed to work through 85 pages, making numerous corrections, before having to return the manuscript to the publishers for typesetting and indexing. I posted it back, special delivery, today. It is around 650 pages long after editing. (It's BIG!)  It will look fine though, really nice fonts, some illustrations and so on, a special foreword, notes from Emiko and Elle and Elliot...and a preface.  ALSO a NEW cover which  puts a different slant on the book. Should be available in time for the tour and it will be in bookshops too, as well as at the concerts.

The two new tour albums are back from the manufacturers and ready for release at the shows, as is the Nelsonica fan convention album ('though this will only be available at Nelsonica '04).  I've created a new tour t-shirt design and a new guitar pick design. The latter on flourescent green plastic. Plectrums from Mars. All available at the concerts but in limited numbers.  I've also assembled and mastered my three solo performance sets (backing tracks) at Fairview Studios with John Spence, (including three new pieces and the previously only ever heard once performance of 'Sexy Buddha').  I've assembled background music for the audience's entry and exit at the concerts, assembled the music that will bring the band on stage, made special sound effects discs for two of the songs in the band's set, prepared all the video sections and visual backdrop images, devised a brand new exclusive club ('The Bill Nelson Art Fellowship') for aficionados of my work (details to appear in the concert programme), and so on and so forth.

Bought a very nice Oswald Boateng suit to wear on stage at the London and (possibly) at the Leeds concerts. For fashion fans, my designers of choice on the tour will be Oswald Boateng, Paul Smith, Nicole Farhi, Adolfo Dominguez, Cerruti, Margaret Howell and Georgio Armani...I may be playing predominately 'rock' music this time around but a born stylist is always mindful of his wardrobe. So there, Byron Furry, eat your heart out!.. BN minces away down the catwalk of his dreams whilst a wind-up gramophone playing a luminous green 78 disc of Roxy Music's 'Virginia Plain' grinds to a  halt as the clockwork runs out...(Actually, 'Virginia Plain' is a damn fine piece of rock art in my opinion, regardless of the tobacco industry's protests about copyright. Then again, you're never alone with a 'Strand.' This is probably getting a bit too esoteric for younger readers of this diary, Still, the old men understand. Being a mere youngster, I haven't got a clue.)

Back to tour stuff:  I also bought a Voodoolab four-way amp switcher pedal to switch between my planned on stage guitar amplification set ups (which will involve a very complex rig on this tour: three digital processors with three floorboard controllers, a looper, a delay modeller, a digital combo amp with dedicated floor controller, an analogue amp plus fuzz box, chorus and delay pedals and a guitar synth unit). Oh, and at least seven guitars, possibly more, AND my full size, four octave set of marimbas. Bearing in mind that all of this is going to occupy stage space alongside a seven piece band with all their individual equipment set ups, plus an 8 foot screen, video projection gear, video synthesisers and associated items, well...  the technical and transportation considerations are going to be complex and demanding to say the least. Let's hope we can fit all this stuff onto the stages at the various venues we've been given to perform in. I have heard, through the 'grapevine' so to speak, that the advance ticket sales for the shows are going really well...I'm tempted to think that the demand for seats will outstrip the physical availability. Well, as I mentioned in an earlier diary entry, this is a one-off project and it is unlikely to ever happen again.  Basically, it's a 'see it now or miss it forever' event. Exciting times.

Well, here it comes, final preparations looming and 21 solid days of rehearsal room hell ahead of us. I'm far from ready for it, feeling exhausted already to be honest, tired before I've even begun. Lost almost the whole year to this thing, one way or another. Very demanding. Nevertheless, we'll get there, get it done and to great effect if my sense of purpose and will holds out. Where there's a will, there's a way and all that. Anyway, a few months down the line from here, I'm going to be wishing I could do it all over again. Now, how does that song go? Wish I hadn't sold my Wurlitzer Piano to Steve Cobby of Fila Brazilia all those years ago.

on to September 2004

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