Hello from Southampton in the UK!

The Black Light

New member
Hi all, I hope everyone is well?

I'm a musician based in Southampton in the UK, with 30 years or so of experience of playing classical piano & prog(ish) guitar rock music. Looking forward to doing some posting!

Cheers,
Martin
 

John Watt

Member
Martin! I'm a Canadian lead-guitarist vocalist with most of my playing behind me.
After my inventive electric guitar (oh yeah, that's just the beginning of me liking me)
made me visit most of the big music forums in the English language, and in India too,
Magle.dk is the only music forum I visit, and I always log in, ready to comment.

Looks to me like you're here for the same thing.
I could call myself classical, jazz, country, but more than anything,
I saw Jimi Hendrix in 1969 and dropped out of high school for a steel factory job,
ordering a 50 watt Marshall head with the 8x10 cabinet, buying a 1964 Fender Stratocaster,
with effects.
That's a strange vibe for me now, playing a Strat when Jimi was alive, and seeing him,
and then seeing him become someone I don't recognize.

You know the gear is what you hear.
Keyboards? My fantasy set-up? An acoustic grand piano to sit in front of,
with an 88 keyboard synth on top, a Korg Hammond B3 simulator, from the late 70's,
a clavinet that does other things,
and being close to Buffalo, New York, an ordinary trip for shoppers and musicians,
I'd have to have a Moog synthesizer, where they first started, trying my first in 1971.

Of course, that doesn't take into account two facing stacks of keyboards,
so you can reach out sideways to play and dance in front of the audience.
I know some guys who went through a whole tour using just one or two fingers.
They're the ones who get me to admit I never really learned the songs.

There's so much about Southampton that's historic that I'd like to ask about,
but I'm exerting myself to, not just be self-editing, but trying to figure out when,
nuffs' e-nuff!
I've got a lot of photos built up here, so I'll use some. Here's Lake Erie.

That's the most amount of ice that's out there along Lake Erie.
Obviously it's not frozen. No cars ice fishing, no snowmobiles.
And this is Point Abino, before the lake turns into the Niagara River,
a huge point with the only lighthouse along the lake.

That's my big thing for a long time, pulling all-nighters,
and bike-hiking around the Niagara Peninsula.
I can pay $5 for an over twenty mile regional bus ride to Niagara Falls,
when I won't ride on busy roads to another city by day,
and start along the Parkway with all the paths and recreational trails.
That's me playing with the only bassist I ever worked with,
who played left-handed, up-side down like me, Paul Weaver.
That's another long... left and right hand experience.


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John Watt

Member
I spent a concert evening with Mitchell Froome and Tchad Blake.
Mitchells' wife, Suzanne Vega, was headlining with a friend of mine as an opening act.
You might have met him.

I was thinking about your "prog", progressive rock comment,
but I'm a North American saturated by America.
What can you call prog rock,
if King Crimson was promoted as an acid rock band?
Patrick Moraz, Yes, "Gates of Delirium", beautiful.
Paul Youngs' Dino Paladino and Ian Drurys' bassist, innovative.
Deep Purple, I met in 1971, setting many arena rock templates.
I was playing and singing Speed King on an acoustic guitar the other day.
Don't worry, I had Straplocks on.

What kind of pickup do you have at the end of your neck?
Fretting fingers want to know.
 

The Black Light

New member
Many thanks for the comments. Wow, that's a barrage of information! I have to confess I'm new to forums in general, but I've been signing up with a few to trawl for rock music recommendations, as well as trying to share some music I made which is currently being heard by about 5 people on an planet populated by 7 billion or so.

Thanks for the photos; some nice shots there!

I wouldn't say I was interested in classic prog, my 'sound' is something more akin to pop rock spliced with proggy elements (lengthier tracks, unusual arrangements, irregular time signatures, etc). Think Radiohead, Mew, Oceansize, Pure Reason Revolution, etc.

Pickups: a pair of humbuckers on the Les Paul & a couple of single coils on the Telecaster. They're the ones that came with the guitars when I bought them! Can't say anything more interesting about them than that I'm afraid. I've never been interested in the technical stuff. I'm a song-writer, that's my joy. I couldn't really give a crap what's producing the music; I'd use a set of soiled toilet rolls if they'd do the job.
 

John Watt

Member
If you found those soiled toilet rolls at the back of the Niagara Convention Center,
after the first Elvis come-back gig, they'd be a real collectable.

I've got a huge song-writing problem, here in the pop-rock and country world.
I can write a song, and I'm jamming them out, all day long,
but I keep thinking that Gershwin or Ellington should be doing them.
No one else is.
 
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