ME AND BILLY GOULD, WASN'T THAT TIGHT, BUT WE WAS COOL

                                                       

I'm riding the train to hear my old mate Billy Gould play bass with his band Faith No More. I've known Billy for over 30 years. At the age of 19 I was the elder in our musical network, in late 70's L.A.  He was the youngest, still with 2 years to go in High School.

In some ways he was the coolest and most adventurous of us all. He was the only white kid in a band of black dudes, called The Animated. I was originally in a different band called Pending Spectrum that shared a guitarist with The Animated (Stew, later of The Negro Problem), but I started playing with The Animated when Pending Spectrum's bassist Jon E. Edwards fled the West Coast for Manhattan.



I wasn't that tight with Billy. We would see each other at rehearsals and gigs, and we would hang together as a group socially. We didn't do a lot of one on one bonding, but things were always cool with Billy. For a sixteen year old he was incredibly hip.

It was 1979, the time of Post Punk (though most of us in the US were so late on the bandwagon that many were still having their first taste of Punk).

Billy eventually graduated High School and left L.A. to study in Berkeley. I later left the States completely to dodge Reaganomics, and find out if it was true what I had heard about arty Europe.

Billy and I rarely saw each other, and just kept in touch through mutual friends.

By the time his band got big we had lost touch. Then in 1998  I phoned the Brixton Academy where Faith No More were playing, and left a message backstage, not expecting for it to reach him, or for him to be able to respond to it. 20 minutes later the phone rang.

After all these years Billy was still cool.

Gospel Porn

Gospel music and sex have been connected unwillingly from the beginning of the African American church’s history. The natural sensuality in the culture has always inadvertently seeped through that emotional music form, also referred to as spirituals.

If you have been to any of our gigs during the last year, you will know that we are exploring this link.

When I first wrote the song Can’t Get No Pussy, it was during a very happy but dry time in my life. It was a private joke that I enjoyed singing to myself. When I showed it to members of my Orchestra, they really thought it was a powerful song, and it has led us into this place of spiritual and sexual exploration.

The African American religious imagery we use, mixed with the urban mythical text and song forms, can be confusing if you are expecting something that fits into a pre-fabricated box.

From the Isaac Hayes influenced orchestrations, to the preacher pussy infused raps, the fantastic musicians and artists I am working with are creating a post-urban music experience that seems to speak to those who remember where soul music came from; those that want to feel the spiritual conviction of the Black church coupled with the carnal relevance of their life experience.

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Just 5 days till the tour and I'm excited about getting out of warm sunny London for a while and seeing ENGLAND! It isn’t so different from London, but it is totally different...

People come to London to work hard and play hard. Most don’t have serious intentions to spend their lives here. If you don’t have a need to be directly connected to the arts culture offered here, I find that you are likely to do the sensible thing eventually and move to a different place...

A place that isn’t so expensive, polluted, crime ridden and generally stressed out. Actually it seems to me there are not a lot of great bands that germinate from London or big cities like New York and LA. Most classic bands come from outside of these major music industry big cities because it is so hard to find time in London to do anything but pay bills...

So I am gonna give a sigh of relief as soon as we hit that M1 carriageway leading to the Northern lights. Away from a town were people appear to look like they are in a magazine or on smack. Peoples' complexions look clearer to me who live away from big cities...

But we will be going to some big cities. One big place I’ve never been is Scotland. We are playing Glasgow! That feels like a different country. Probably because it is...

First is Newcastle this Sunday Nov 14th at The Tyne. Sounds like an intimate pub like venue. I haven’t seen Newcastle for 20 years, and I have been told it’s gone from grimey industrial to modern metropolis! It used to be a deadly beautiful grey is my memory...

Then Glasgow at the Halt Bar Nov 15th. I feel like I know exactly how Scotland will smell - very psychedelic...

Then the big gig at Manchester’s Night & Day Nov 16th. This is Manchester’s hottest spot so we are excited about playing there...

Then to Liverpool at Melo Melo Nov 17th. I have family in Liverpool who I haven’t connected with in 5 years, and they say they are coming!

Then back South for The Gladstone in London on Nov 18th. This is truly coming home cause I live around the corner. It is the best music bar in the world!

A couple of days off and we are playing in Birmingham Nov 21st. We are playing at the Chaos Acoustic Club The Old Moseley Arms. We have played in Brum a few times, but never have I seen Moseley, which is supposed to be the hip part of town...

Then on Nov 22nd we finish in Oxford at Far From The Madding Crowd. A very cool town to finish in. And I think my daughter Naomi will be there...

Hope you will too.

Art x

You can find all the venue details and other info on the tour here. Most of the shows are free entry!

PINK TOES

Pink Toes, the musical theatre piece based around songs I have written, is a fragile masterpiece staring Alicia Cubells and written by David Ncube...

We are filming a 'secret' performance of it this Monday, November 8th in London at The 12 Bar Club on Denmark St WC2 8NL This will also be somewhat of a warm up gig for the coming DAVID GARSIDE/ART TERRY UK TOUR which begins on November 14th... http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148984358475404

I wrote in an earlier blog that the best songs often tend to be the sad ones. Pink Toes investigates this phenomenon via music and performance. Afro Dave Ncube’s insight into the music (which is mainly taken from the Anutha Kinda Brotha album) is poignant. His script follows a relationship and how it is disconnected and connected not only from and to the songs but what is actually surrounding us in our singular and shared relationships...

Pink Toes explores the dreams of couples, male and female, rich, not so rich and poor, sexual and non-sexual, sane and mentally ill, promiscuous and platonic, co-habiting and living apart, married and un-married, present, past and future...

It asks the question of us all - Can we find away to be together? Since this is what everyone secretly or openly truly wants...

I have tried to write this song over and over. It took Alicia and David to bring it to life.

ORANGE TREE, RIVER PEOPLE, THE BLACK BOHEMIAN & SEX MADNESS!

Wow, looking at FRIZZ TV’s latest Episode brings back good memories of the last UK tour and really makes me look forward to the November UK Tour. Hope we can try some of the new songs that we have been working on in the recording studio...

We record at Gizzard Recording (www.gizzardrecording.net) which is an analogue tape studio. That means we don’t record digitally, instead we get that warm sound of tape that all those records had before computers started taking over...

You can really hear the difference. Ed Deegan is the engineer there, and he really knows what he’s doing. Raphael Mann is in the producer's chair, so we can’t loose...

We are actually recording 4 albums right now. I love writing songs, and have stopped counting how many I have in my drawer. So we have taken 30 of them that fitted in with the different albums' concepts...

There is the RIVER PEOPLE album, which I think is gonna be the most passionate of the 4 LP’s. It is all about people who live near water, and rivers in particular - which happens to include most cities. Isn’t it interesting that almost any major city you think of has a river in it...

The second LP we are doing is titled ORANGE TREE. The idea behind this record is to fill it with playful songs and beautiful childlike melodies. I love songs that contrast sweet melodies with profound often dark lyrics. This record is my personal favorite...

Then THE BLACK BOHEMIAN album deals with ideas and myths about culture- Black culture in particular. This album is the furthest along, and likely to be finished first...

But our next album will be the SEX MADNESS record. It will include the track most people say is their favorite of mine “Cant Get No P****”
It is due out in 2011. I hope the others can be released very soon as well...

A Song For You

Still. Were the Temptations the baddest or what?

I just watched a clip of Dennis Edwards singing Leon Russell's A Song For You. Dennis Edwards sang lead for the Temptations after David Ruffin left. And as great as Ruffin was, Dennis Edwards and co didn't let his departure stop them from making some awesome albums, including the psychedelic soul classics Cloud Nine, Puzzle People, Psychedelic Shack, and Masterpiece.

The last great album they made was titled A Song For You. It had Richard Street (who sang with the group before the were called the Temptations) taking leads on the eloquent song Firefly ("Even when I have to lie, I shouldn't have to lie, to make the world seem alright.") and the stylised signifying Hey Girl. Ultimate modern soul template.

But when Dennis Edwards takes back the mic to sing A Song For You. No one can touch him. He is the souliest Soul Brotha to have his feet on the planet. He takes a great sentimental ballad and flips it into a provocative declaration of heartfelt present moment manifestation. He brings the past to the present. He brings the future to the present. All time and space is in his rendition of this song.

But the greatest astoundment is the BV's (backing vocals). When the Temps themselves all pick up their mics you can't believe what you hear. You think this must be a record. No! They sound that great singing together live. It is not a record. The Temps pull out their experienced Doo Wop chops and hit us with harmonies so in tune that they climb out of your toes.

The band that accompanied them is super bad too. They smooth the ballad into a funk chill. Even though the recorded sound quality here isn't technically pristine, it still is there to bare witness to the Temptations phenomenon.

Ladies and Gentlemen. Treat yourself to this viewing and prepare to be hit with frank glory:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE18boJIVrY&feature=related

SOUL MEME

A meme is a unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures.

The British scientist Richard Dawkins coined the word "meme" in The Selfish Gene. Examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catch-phrases, beliefs (notably religious beliefs), clothing fashion, and the technology of building arches.

The sad songs are the best ones. This is often said. Whether we are talking about 'Yesterday', all the Burt Bacharach classics, 'Lilac Wine', Dylan's coveted tunes, there is an endless list of sad tracks that support the irony that a miserable subject can invoke a lovely joy. Sad songs tend to be the best. Seem to have the most profound sentiments. Or is this just a learned reaction? A belief? Something I picked up from my upbringing on classic Soul? Is this my Meme?

The Delfonics, Stylistics, Blue Magic, all come from the underrated producer Thom Bell. He specialised in Orchestrated Soul. But listening to it, you can hear it's other-worldliness. The arrangements are executed perfectly by some of the greatest musicians this planet has known. But all the lyrics are about Love that AIN'T happening like it could be.

James Brown screams in Love Pain, for the loss of his mother. Curtis recites line after line about "how should I tell her - that it's over now?". Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes give words to Teddy Pendergras such as "To Be True, is such a hard thing to do, it's hard when each time you look around, someones saying 'Hey you, you looking for something to do?'"

I love these songs, I woke up to those songs during the formative years of my life. They seduced me to life. To love, to the challenge of life and love. To sadness, because they made sadness seem so cool! So beautiful.

So now whenever I am in a relationship, where things are going good, I don't know what song to sing. I only feel passion for the sad songs!

Are we what our genes are? Or are we what we believe we are?

The David Garside song 'Mr Wise', is so profound, because he resolves it by saying "now I see myself through my own eyes". He seems to be saying we are what we believe we are.

And this is the thing, no matter how desperate or desolate the song's situation, you can still find some sense of redemption in the song. You can still find some sense in those classic soul songs that they, and you, can rise above the worst situation. If nowhere else, you can usually hear it in the bass drum's heart beat.

And nothing we know of, is worst than the loss of love.

June 12 we begin the 2010 Art Terry/David Garside UK Tour, at Matsu Gallery in London. It will be a very special performance that brings the spirit of those soul classics to life. NOT TO BE MISSED. NOT TO BE REPEATED.

Black Ivory sing "Man forsakes his love, and love escapes from man, like a spinning wheel spins, always beginning where it lands, searching for a melody where he might touch completely. Wo-ah-ah-o,  Love is a magic moment, Love has no sense of time..."