Billy Morrison: ACOUSTICS GALORE

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May 18, 2007

ACOUSTICS GALORE

The acoustic evening over at Gibson last night was a really fun time. Lots of people came out, and I even took my folks!! We all had a good night, and Rob, Ricky and myself played three songs – Loaded, Shine and Ziggy Stardust – which all seemed to go down wonderfully. It was interesting playing Loaded acoustically….I am pleased with the arrangement we did, and quite honestly we could and should do this again. I like the whole ‘unplugged’ vibe, so maybe we will do a few ‘guerilla style’ acoustic events during the tour. Anyway, it was nice to get out with the guys and do something, and a big thank you to Nicole, as well as Gibson Guitars, for putting on such a great evening. Oh yeah, and the Camp Teddy boys were outside and gave me a copy of ….. their ALBUM!! Well done guys – it sounds great. Now we really should get to finishing the FREDDY one, right??!! And with that I am going to move straight into questions ………

Fred – Ah yes, the Ibanez RG series!! Well, I do own a couple, and I bust them out occasionally in the studio, but as far as a live show? …..all Les Pauls these days. Although Rob Patterson, our touring guitarist, is endorsed by Ibanez and plays a nice white Iceman shape guitar.

Jess – Wow! New Zealand, huh? I have no idea if the album will be released there – although I would love to think so!! It’ll probably be an import situation for you, so make sure your local store knows that you want it.

Colin – Yep. As previously reported, we will be playing all 24 Ozzfest shows.

Merc – Ha Ha!! Jen most certainly does NOT come on tour with me!! She is WAY too clued in to do that!! She’s seen exactly how boring, dull and mind numbing a tour can be, so she just flys out to a few choice, fun cities to come and visit for a few days. I can’t imagine that spending more than a couple of days on a bus with all that male testosterone floating around would be at ALL appealing!!

Bratty – Hmmm, well I would say that I would love to perform with Trent Reznor or Adam Ant. Both would ‘float my boat’, so to speak. The one person who has influenced my career the most? – probably Steve Jones, with his tone, the white Les Paul, and his Fuck You attitude!!

Max – OK, well I didn’t choose LA, it kinda chose me. I didn’t decide to leave the UK and then figure out where I was going. It was a case of getting out of England and coming home to LA – I have always felt more at home here than anywhere else in the world. And I have absolutely no expectations AT ALL for the Circus Diablo album!! My only hope was for it to be released, and that is happening on July 3rd. I can TRULY say that I will be a happy man on that day. I don’t care what it sells, how many ‘units’ it shifts ….. ALL that bullshit is exactly what brings bands to their knees. Good Luck to it, I say, and hope that it brings a smile or two to a few people.

Sue – Technically, you could send the files electronically after they are mastered. But the best quality file is produced from the Mastering Session and CD’s are given to the band at the end of the day. The plant needs a physical CD to begin their process of making the CD’s that you get in the stores. They are not just duplicated blanks like we do on our computers. So seeing as at some stage, someone would have to actually ‘MAKE’ a master CD for the plant, its best that WE actually do it during mastering …… and that’s why we end up with a physical product that needs FedExing.

Spencer – Really? I know we have the tracks set so that they cant be downloaded, but I thought people could set them as tracks to be played on their profiles. Am I wrong? I will look into it.

Justin – I haven’t heard of Gallows, but your description makes me wanna check em out. Google It Google It Google It …… I’m on it – thanks for the tip.

Claire – I haven’t made a film about my life. I made a five minute trailor cos it seemed like a fun thing to do. EVENTUALLY, I would like to make a documentary, because I love the medium of film, and love the creativity and processing that is possible with it. That doesn’t mean I wont also write a book!! Who knows – I like doing it all. There’s just not enough hours in the day!!

HJ – Yes I did attend the Musicares Event this year. I was talking about it on last Saturdays CFR – and yes, the Dave Gahan thing was a big highlight. The whole evening was a fantastic success and I had a great time. Like you say – congrats to Chris and Jeff.

Mike B – Well, you could write to Gibson and tell them they should produce the Camp Freddy guitar!! Or you could order one to be completely custom made at the Custom Shop (but you should let your bank manager know first – it would be VERY pricey!!). The ones I have (and Dave Navarro has one as well) are all one off’s, made for the band exclusively.

K – Setlists for Diablo are pretty much a case of ……Ozzfest – play the best 7 songs we have. Club Dates – play ALL the songs we have, plus a few covers!! Camp Freddy? That’s a different animal – I do the setlists based on who the guests are, and what we all know and what will sound the best.

So there you have it – questions asked and answers given. Just how I like it. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and I will be back next week – maybe we can do some V-Blogging from the Diablo rehearsals. Don’t forget that Dave and I will be up to our usual tricks on Saturday evening – 6.00pm on Indie 103.1FM or www.indie1031.fm - See you lot soon.

Peace

Billy

(CLOSED)

Posted by vivelerock at May 18, 2007 07:34 AM

Comments

Wow, up and at em early this morning! Thanks for all the info. Cool pic.

Posted by: beth at May 18, 2007 07:53 AM

Can I tell you....that is one BAD ASS picture!
I would love to hear a stripped down verison of "Loaded"!!

Were you able to catch any of Dave's Spread Entertainment last night before your event? It was good, a few glitches but went pretty well for the first show!

Tonight. Velvet Revolver. Starland Sayreville NJ. It's gonna be a blast!

Posted by: Robin (Peebs) at May 18, 2007 08:29 AM

It was nice seeing you last night. I had a great time last night it was a very very fun evening. well i bought tickets for the roxy. That will be rad!!!!!!!! Im glad you liked the cd. and glad you had a great show. The dime bag show was off the hook great show!!!!!!! john 5 is fucking amazing playing the national anthem with his teeth!!!! the night was pretty crazy. when they played Walk at the last song everyone went crazy. It was a pretty damn good show. i am Graduating High school in like 2 weeks ahh! well gotta get going i will see you soon

Alec

Posted by: alec from camp teddy at May 18, 2007 12:33 PM

Alec

Posted by: alec from camp teddy at May 18, 2007 12:33 PM

Thanks for the info on Gibson. It seems as though anythng that isn't made for mass production (Joe Perry, Zakk Wylde, Slash, etc.) are all priced for millionaires. I came pretty close to buying the Zakk Wylde LP Custom a few years back but I opted to go with a new car.

Speaking of guitars, is there a specific way you set-up your Les Pauls for tone ala Morrison? Different string gauge for lower tunings, tone nobs all the way up or all the way down for certain parts, or is it pretty basic "off the shelf" set-up for you?

Have an awesome weekend!

Posted by: Mike at May 18, 2007 02:35 PM

Billy,
"It's a bittersweet symphony...this life."
And I can play this for you on my flute:
[Kate Bush featuring Eric Clapton]
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/k/kate+bush/and+so+is+love_20077249.html

Posted by: Francesca (Ghost) at May 19, 2007 09:06 AM

new Queens of the Stone Age album is sounding fucking class!

Posted by: Max at May 19, 2007 10:57 AM

Tracks listened to during OTAFEST, a celebration of anime:
1. Welcome to the Black Parade--My Chemical Romance
2. Tearjerker--Chili Peppers
3. Sweet Sacrifice--Evanescence
4. Wildflower--The Cult
5. Whole Lotta Love--Led Zeppelin
6. Tango Shoes--Bif Naked
7. Not Enough--Our Lady Peace
8. Never Too Late--Three Days Grace
9. Goodbye to Romance--Ozzy
10. Freak on a Leash--Korn

Posted by: Francesca (Ghost) at May 19, 2007 02:34 PM

Nice, it works now!

What a rad posts.. Congrats to everyone like yourself and Camp Teddy, that's awesome.

Posted by: Spencer at May 19, 2007 07:31 PM

Billy,
I sent you a pic of me with one of my guitars.
I'm not wearing anything.
P.S. GO SENATORS GO!!!!!

Posted by: Francesca (Ghost) at May 20, 2007 10:44 AM

A question that I've always wondered, how did you and Dave become friends?

Posted by: Max at May 21, 2007 11:03 AM

billy what do song do you try to avoid putting on your set list for CF if there are any?

Posted by: Paul at May 22, 2007 05:02 AM

Hiya!
This is a question for you Billy: What is taboo now, that wasn't in the 80's?
We're playing around with that one over on my space..thanks to Mr. J Hawkins bringing it up.
It's like one of those things, you keep thinking about when you supposed to be doing something else.

Hugs xxxx

Posted by: ylais at May 22, 2007 07:26 AM

Hey Billy,

Great camp freddy radio this week, i admire you guys for what you are doing for independant and unsigned artists..... your getting the ball rolling, we just need to keep it going and start making the change that all bands/artists need at this moment in time.

Make sure you get over here to the UK soon with Circus Diablo, or camp freddy! Be cool to see you guys play over here!

Have a good week!

Posted by: Claire at May 22, 2007 07:29 AM

Me again! Yea, when I start writing again..that's it, can't stop me!!!
Sweet video Billy. Loved seeing the insides.
And Loaded sounds great acoustic.
I know it's a great song because it's growing on me, I liked it right away, I like it better each time I hear it. See that's a good thing.

Miss you! Sorry haven't been around as much.

Posted by: ylais at May 22, 2007 07:37 AM

Billy, another question, about you this time.
I was just reading an interview with Marco Pirroni from last year, and he was saying something about he just wanted to be like David Bowie. (something like that. if i understood it correctly. it's over on the punk77 website) Did you have someone that you wanted to be? A musician that is!
(And I bet I could have just said Marco, and we know who we're talking about.)
Lisa
xxxx

Posted by: ylais at May 22, 2007 07:40 AM

Billy Billy Billy....just read about the Knitting Factory!!! I can not even explain how EXCITED I am!!

Just tell us what we need to do promotion wise and we're on it!

And tonight we have VR at Nokia!!!!!!!

Posted by: Robin (Peebs) at May 22, 2007 07:50 AM

tonight i have sitting in front of the tv again on the agenda. must check my filofax. oh look. it's tv and more tv. i'm booked solid. :P

Posted by: ylais at May 22, 2007 07:53 AM

Lisa you'll be there with us in spirit ;-)

Posted by: Robin (Peebs) at May 22, 2007 08:51 AM

After hearing half a dozen other people whinging about various things, I decided that pining away is rather lame. It's for losers, I suppose. He's not worth it, nor is anyone else. Then I threw the disk and manuscript in the garbage. At least I didn't "hover over a piano." (It was a flute.)
Meet my Yamaha. I call it "Geddy Lee".
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=25437953&albumId=0
Love you, Billy. You're awesome.

Posted by: Francesca (Ghost) at May 22, 2007 07:07 PM