In December we played at the Little Temple for Timothy Young's CD release. He just finished a great album called "Gravitational Lensing" that I co produced featuring tim on guitars, Nate Wood on drums and me on bass. Greg Burk from the LA Times was there and wrote this great piece.
Just heard that Bruno Mars album "Doo Wops and Hooligans" has been nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year. I am psyched to be a part of that album, co writing the track "The Other Side".
I'm honored to learn that I have been mentioned in the Downbeat Readers Poll in the category for Electric Bass in the December issue. It is such an honor and very humbling and undeserved. Also, great to hear that Kneebody is in the list for Jazz Group and Adam Benjamin is on for Electric Keyboard.
I recently learned that two albums I am a part of are currently number one and two on the Italian charts at the moment. The first is by my boss and friend Luciano Ligabue. It's the recording of the concert we played this summer at Campovolo. Also, number two (and number one currently in Argentinia and Latin American Billboard charts) "Inedito" by Laura Pausini. I played on the song "Inedito" with Gianna Nannini as well as the song "Ognuno ha la sua matita". Both were produced by Corrado Rustici.
Been recording with Matt Chamberlain for his new record "Company 23" that is coming out soon. Been recording and producing my friend Mike Prasad's album. Michael Urbano and Timothy Young will be a part of that album. Co produced Timothy Young's CD "Gravitational Lensing" (with Nate Wood on drums). Recently recorded and wrote with Australian singer Kimbra. Recorded recently with singer Curtis Stigers for producer Larry Klein. Recording with De La Soul.
Kneebody recently played a sold out 3 night run of shows at the Blue Whale in LA. These shows were so much fun. Night 3 of the residency was documented by Alex Chaloff. We sifted through the amazing footage that he shot that night and all of the clips are now viewable on youtube. Here's a link to all of them. Also here's a clip of us playing my song Victory Lap:
Been in the studio a bunch lately. Working on stuff for Matt Chamberlain's new album. He wrote some gritty music. Super fun. Also was in the studio with De La Soul. They are some of my favorite artists ever. I've been a fan of theirs since '88. It was an honor to work with them. Looks like there will be more coming up soon. Aso been working with an amazing singer named Kimbra. Aslo producing music by my old friend Mike Prasad. We hope to finish songs that we started earlier this month in Berkeley. There will be tracks soon....
Hello hello hello,
I'm writing because Kneebody has a rare 3 night run coming up in LA starting tomorrow night. We'll also be going toEurope and will have more shows throughout the rest of the year. Here's the info:
-LOS ANGELES:
3 NIGHT RESIDENCY AT BLUE WHALE
OCTOBER 14th, 15th, 16th
8pm to 12am (two sets)
Facebook Event Page: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152000901555907
Online Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/201128
MINORS ALLOWED W/GUARDIAN
-EUROPE: OCTOBER TOUR
26TH - PRAGUE, CZ - JAZZ DOCK
27TH - DRESDEN, GERMANY - JAZZ CLUB TONNE
28TH - MUNICH, GERMANY - UNTERFART
29TH - GENEVA, CH - AMR
30TH - MURI, CH - MUSIG IM OSCHEN
-ARIZONA: RHYTHM ROOM
NOVEMBER 15TH, 8PM TO 11PM
-SAN FRANCISCO: VIRACOCHA
NOVEMBER 17TH, 8PM TO 11PM
Online Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/198139
Facebook Event Page: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=264420776911834
The last month I have been recording my album in North Hollywood at Pete Min's studio. Jay Bellerose has been playing drums and Tim Young has been by to play on some songs. It's been so much fun. I've been on the other side of recording albums for a while now. I've brought some of my songs in to be recorded by bands I'm in or have submitted songs for other artists to record but this is a whole new thing. It's a real pleasure and honor to work with such great people. I have a totally new perspective as to what it is that I do. I'm psyched to get it finished.... I'll post some clips soon...
I'm also excited to have Timpthy Young's album out and available. Last summer Tim, Nate Wood and I recorded ten songs in one day at Zac Rae's studio in Burbank. The result was a kick ass record that I am so proud to be a part of. I co wrote a few of the songs and one of my songs made the cut. I got to co produce it with Tim. Also, the great Husky Huskoulds mixed and mastered it. It's looking for a home now label wise but I'm confident that it will make it somewhere because it's really really great. Tim is the man and it's high time that more people know about him.
In june, along with some friends I was a part of a photo shoot with Rhianna for Glamour magazine. The photo I was in is in the September issue. Here's a behind the scenes video clip of the shoot:
Hey Folks, Hello from Italy. I've been here for the last couple weeks with Luciano Ligabue rehearsing for a big ass show. It's my take on it all. My American two cents. This is a huge concert that he has been organizing for a while. His only show of the summer and it's going to be for 120,000 people. That's a big ass show. The stage is big. It's in an airfield outside of Reggio Emilia. The city of Reggio has around 110k people and the population is doubling for a day tomorrow. Anyhow, it has been a lot of fun getting ready for it. He's doing a big retrospective of his career with musicians he's played with over the years are all joining him. Good times. Here's a little video of me in my broken Italian talking about it all... All the other musicians did this too...
The last three weeks I've been here in LA doing assorted recording sessions and some gigs. Some of my favorite playing I've been doing has continued to be at the Tuesday night Rotary Room club at the Little Temple in Silverlake. My friends Keefus and Jade have been hosting this night for a while and it has continued to be an awesome spot to hear music, play and for me refresh my outlook towards Los Angeles as a city to live and play music in. There are so many collaborators, musicians and otherwise working to make the night a success. It's been really special and I've felt lucky to be a part of it. The last three weeks I've been playing with John Gold. He recorded an album a little while back that was co produced by my good friend Scott Seiver. It's called "A Flower in Your Head". This month the album was released by Vagrant records and the last few Tuesdays at the Rotary Room have been chances for John to get his thing going and play. Last night was the last of the three I was a part of . The band was Scott Seiver on drums, Timothy Young on guitar, Chris Joyner on piano, Gabe Noel on cello and John singing. Here we are playing John's song "Skyscraper" from the first Thursday:
I'm at the airport in LA getting ready to fly to Calgary and then head to Banff for the week. I'm there with Kneebody as faculty in residence as a part of the Banff Center Music Department.
Last Wednesday I played duo with Colin Hay at Largo. It was such a huge huge pleasure. I haven't played with Col since I was able to go with him to Australia last year. He's been supporting his latest album "Gathering Mercury" for the last six months or so. It is such an awesome album. Lot's of personal songs. It is so inspiring. He is one of my favorite songwriters and people. Anyhow, he had just gotten off of 7 weeks touring solo when I played with him. He's a touring machine. His voice and guitar playing were so gigantic and it was amazing to play with him. Before we met at soundcheck in the early evening, he had been at CBS taping this performance at the Craig Ferguson show. He's playing "Send Somebody" from the new album:
Hi there. It's Thursday and I'm getting ready to leave for a Kneebody Europe tour. Here are the dates. It's the usual last minute packing. Everything is everywhere. Now it's even more hectic and 100 times more fun with my daughter Emilia smiling up at me while I try. Here's a recent video of her laughing hilarously at my sorry Gypsy Kings impersonation:
Getting ready for the tour... last night I spent a few hours screen printing t shirts to have to sell on the road. It's a lot of fun to do. My friend Lisa from the Echo Park Film Center used to do them for us but after a while, she got too busy and said that I could do it myself. She referred me to a store called Mclogan, downtown. This place is great. Screen printing pros. I bought the neccesary equipment, ink, squeegie, screen cleaner, a couple of clamps and got to work in the back yard making shirts.
Here are some photos of last nights work:
Emilia was lying on a towel in the yard and Ang was taking the photos. A good time!! Now we're heading to Italy, Austria and France and we'll have something from Los Angeles to sell.
