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June 27, 2008
EVERGREEN VIDEO SHOOT
It’s a quickie from me cos my call time is 10.00am again today but I wanted to put these pics up from yesterdays video shoot. We are working on the ‘Evergreen’ video which will accompany the release of a Billy Morrison EP later on this year – and yesterday was day one of the shoot. I was stunned when I arrived on set. Director Michael Shelton (who directed Basement Jack – the horror/slasher movie I am in) had set up a crew of 22 people in a green screen studio and it was a hive of activity when I pulled up. Wardrobe, make up, grips, gaffers, DP’s, AD’s……the place looked like a fucking Bruce Willis movie set, not a humble little music video!! He had pulled out all the stops, and before I knew it I was whisked off into hair and make up for another day of “hurry up and wait”!
My new songwriting partner Patrick Cornell, and Matt Sorum and his wonderful girl Ace (from the Darling Stilettos) were also making appearances in the video, as a sleazy porn king, a billionaire Texas oil baron and a hot businesswoman respectively!! The concept of the video is pretty cool, and it will be a completely green screen video (which means ALL the background will be CGI – put in via computer later on!!) The song makes a statement about ecological issues in a way that is pretty plain – basically we are screwing up our own planet and we all (me included) don’t really seem to be too aware of that. But slowly our awareness in growing and we are, in fact, capable of salvaging and nurturing our home if we pay attention and make some right choices. So that’s what I am up to right now – we shot some cool B-Roll as well, so the promise of a V-Blog (including some Las Vegas and New Jersey clips as well) looms in the background yet again. If only I could actually find time to edit that stuff together!!! Oh well, I am having a blast so you’ll just have to be patient.
Oh and while I remember – this coming Saturday is a live Camp Freddy Radio broadcast from the Sunset Strip Music Festival. Basically they are gonna let us do the show from the side of Sunset Blvd and give us a few radio mics!! So expect some ‘roving reporter’ style radio from us. After the show, we will be playing three or four acoustic songs – its NOT a full on gig as some people are talking about, but we will be doing a few songs…..if we remember to take guitars with us! Have a great day. I’m off to work.
Peace
Billy
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Posted by vivelerock at 08:12 AM | Comments (10)
June 22, 2008
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
So here I am, sitting in my hotel room in Nashville on a hot and humid Sunday morning. I’ve already done an hour of cardio, the pot of coffee is empty (time for a refill), I’ve watched the last episode of Dexter Season 2 (fucking awesome by the way)…..and our lobby call isn’t until 3.00pm!! So I naturally turn to my online community – and a few answers to your questions. I’ll do a review of the Gibson Jam that we did yesterday when I get back to LA cos I have a few nice pics but can’t get em out of the camera right now. So it makes sense to bust out a few answers right now and write a review of the weekend in a day or so. What I will say is that it was a lot of fun, REALLY hot, and we all got nice guitars!! We also all missed our compadre in arms, Mr Dave Navarro. He’s on vacation, so he didn’t make this trip – hope yer chillin’ my friend!
SO….lets see now…..Beth asks about more Camp Freddy residencies. Well, I think its safe to say that the success of the first one pretty much guarantees that we will do it again. But ‘When’ is another matter! One of the band, on hearing a discussion about a potential second residency (who shall remaion nameless!) simply said….”fucking hell, that first one nearly killed me!”
Kate – there are a few shows being lined up, but the LA one looks like its August 1st at the House Of Blues again. We have done that X-Games show for the last three years and I believe its on our calendar again for 2008. But don’t quote me!
Ambersonian – Didn’t bother going to see The Happening after reading more than a few terrible reviews. That shouldn’t stop me seeing a film, as most music reviewers get it so wrong that the bad reviews are usually the albums I like!! I should apply the same logic – but I decided it was a DVD or a Netflix and not a movie theater movie. I did, however, watch The Number 23 on the plane out here and thought it was great! Carey rocked the psychosis thing perfectly!
JD asks how I cope with hanging out in a dressing room with some ‘partying’ going on. Its EASY!! When I used to get loaded, the term ‘Partying’ was just not one you would have used to describe it. I never ‘Partyed’ in my life…..I got wasted, fucked up, overdosed and homeless!! So its pretty easy to remember that and not get sucked in. It doesn’t really bother me what other people do.
Danni asks me to describe myself in three words. This is actually a really great question. Took a little thinking about. I decided that Billy Morrison is …..FULL OF GRATITUDE.
Jay mentions the Ian Curtis/Joy Division movie control. I was never the worlds biggest Joy Division fan, although I did see them play and I did appreciate their effect on the scene and loved a few songs. The movie was just fantastic!! It was made by a friend of mine, and I got to present Sam Riley with an award earlier in the year at one of those shindigs we have in LA. Wonderful movie. And yes – The Pistols were a huge influence on those guys.
Robin asks how I cope with the multitasking that I do – and that again is a good question. I am pretty good at juggling 10 different projects at once, but I am not very good at dealing with stress! So I do end up working from 7.00am to midnight in an effort to get everything done!! Not great for keeping your wife in the loop, or rejuvenating your mind, body and spirit!! So I am actively trying to work on letting a few things fall through the cracks and NOT worrying about them. Hard for me but I am trying!!
That’s all I got for you guys right now – I gotta get my bags packed and eat something. I’ll be back in a day or so with a ‘Gibson All Star Jam Session’ review and some pics. Podcast is up (I'm gonna call him Speedy Paul cos its in my in-box about an hour after we broadcast the show!!!) See you lot then.
Billy
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Posted by vivelerock at 09:55 AM | Comments (9)
June 15, 2008
DESERT DELIGHT
Its been a week or so since I got on here and posted, and I finally find myself on this sunny Sunday afternoon, in the desert (yet again! I know I come here a LOT!! But it really is a quiet, relaxing vibe – its good for me to take a breath every now and then.) with a bit of time to chill out, visit my sites and update a thing or two. Which reminds me – the hard copy STIMULATOR album is now completely sold out. If you wanna hear the record, you can still grab the digital download from I-Tunes. Thanks to all of you that supported the cause and bought the record. It was a complete success and because of that I intend to continue that model with the next release (Evergreen EP).
So - Last week was split between East and West cost. Much thanks goes out to the cast and crew of “The Perfect Age Of Rock N Roll” - the movie that I was doing in Jersey. I am honored to have been asked to be in it, and had a real fun time playing the drug dealer, Fashion Jones. Peter Fonda, Kevin Zeggers, Jason Ritter and Taryn Manning were all on set while I was out there, and I think I did an ok job. My screen time is short, but hopefully memorable! And either way, it was a blast just to be involved. The pic is of me with Kevin before he shot his ‘I’m a fabulous rock star’ scene ….and he NAILED it!!!
I played a brand new Billy Morrison track called “Be Yourself” on yesterdays Camp Freddy Radio. I was holding on to the tracks that will be part of the release later in the year, but me and Matt Sorum were hanging out, chilling and playing new music and I just felt comfortable playing the song. Hope you guys were listening and hope you enjoyed what you heard. Matt and I decided I am fully in my Britpop phase now! As usual, thanks to our resident insomniac, Paul, the Podcast is up on the Podcasts page. The more observant among you will also see some new banners cropping up around this site – another regular of ours, Mr European Edwin (I have nicknames for you ALL!!) has been slaving away over a hot FLASH program and supplying me with some nice work. He is currently working on a new, much needed Gallery page. Lets see what he comes up with….
I am off to Nashville at the end of this coming week to play at a Gibson event – part of the Summer NAMM festivities, the wonderful people at the Gibson Custom Shop asked me to put together a few friends and come jam for a while – so that’s what we are doing. More details to come, but I do know that we’ll be cruising the NAMM show on that Saturday afternoon, so if you are around, come say hi! (And thanks Wendy for the wonderful pic! I cropped it but you can still tell its 100% WendyBird!) And I can also tell you that Camp Freddy Radio will be broadcasting live from the Sunset Strip Music Festival on Saturday 28th June – we will be down by the old Tower Records on Sunset, and will probably be doing a bit of an impromptu acoustic jam during the afternoon. We have no details on this one but I know we are doing it, so just roll up and check it out.
Rumors of a Freddy show or two in July are surfacing – not sure where or when, but the ‘people’ are working on a thing or two, so stay tuned and keep it right here at www.billymorrison.net. The pic I have used is from the Ross Halfin session we did at the Roxy. I messed with it a bit just because its fun!! Hope ya don’t mind, Ross!! I know I also have a ton of cool video from all the recent goings on – but it takes time to edit together. And as fast as I log it all into the computer, some other trip comes up and I leave town again! I’ll get around to it eventually. In the meantime, why don’t I do some Q+A – knock me down with yer questions…..I can handle it!! Until next time – Happy Fathers Day to anyone that cares – I am gonna post this and hit the movies – maybe The Hulk? Or maybe The Happening? Not sure, but what I do know is that the TV series “Dexter” RULES!! Watching that one on my I-Phone in the gym every day and loving it. Alright, I am waffling now…..see ya.
Peace
Billy
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Posted by vivelerock at 05:34 PM | Comments (15)
June 06, 2008
HIGHLIGHTS
I finally turned the studio computer on and threw together a few highlights for you before I leave town. Today I am running about getting a few errands taken care of and throwing some clothes into a bag - the flight to Vegas is at 10.00am tomorrow!! I am taking the cameras so a little Pistols action will be in order, as will some "On Set" movie making madness from the East Coast. The CFR tomorrow has been taped so tune in at 6.00pm for some Sorum/Navarro action. The post below has some pretty cool links to press and stuff, so be sure to click on any of the capitalized grey text and enjoy! Also the Podcast is up as per usual - Big Up UK Paul!!
STOP PRESS: Straight off the set of "The Perfect Age Of Rock And Roll", currently being shot in the blistering heat of New Jersey, here is a first look at my cameo character - Mr Fashion Jones, drug dealer extrordinaire!! - relaxing off set with one of the stars of the movie, Jason Ritter, and the director Scott D Rosenbaum. Nice mars bar, Mr Jones.
Peace
Billy
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Posted by vivelerock at 11:31 AM | Comments (10)
June 03, 2008
JUNE JAMBOREE!
I actually still haven't stopped since the last show at The Roxy - we had a photoshoot all day on Saturday (I did get a couple of clips from that on my camera so if it works I'll post em on You Tube), followed by the radio show, yesterday was full of meetings, and somehow, someone scheduled a call time today of 7.30am!!! Who DOES that??? So here I am guzzling coffee before heading out into the early morning LA haze. Regular readers will remember my "Life Less Ordinary" project...well, we are doing some work on that today. I did hear rumors that Thursday is a full on, no holds barred day off - had one of those on Sunday....it was awesome! I went to see Indiana Jones (which I thought was great - totally my kind of film, and Harrison really IS Indy). I'll do Iron Man on Thursday if the "Day Off" rumor turns out to be true. Oh, and there is a new interview up over at Crusher Magazine in the "Features" section - CLICK HERE TO READ THE CRUSHER MAGAZINE INTERVIEW, and click on the FEATURES button.
This month is also very busy for me, with Las Vegas, Nashville and two New Jersey/New York trips. All good fun stuff. A little Sex Pistols action in Vegas, some music in Nashville, and some movie making over on the East Coast. I even have what I believe to be my FIRST MENTION IN VARIETY MAGAZINE _ HAHA!!! Check out the pic from the last East Coast trip - the Hilfiger Sessions In The Round! At the end of the month I shoot the video to Evergreen here in Los Angeles as well, so June is pretty much blocked out. As my darling wife is still really busy, its probably best that I keep my head down and let her get on with what she has to do - both of our eyes are set firmly on August (and some time together on a beach/under the water). The Pistols also just announced a show at Hammersmith in London which seems suitably enticing!!
I will get the V-Blog together. You know I will. TONS of great footage....I just need to find the time to edit it all. But it will happen. Look at it this way - when you are least expecting it, some choice Freddy footage will surface and you can all revisit the wonderful world of Camp Freddy!! I did at least manage to get another MODERN GUITARS journal entry done. CLICK HERE FOR THE MODERN GUITARS JOURNAL. And lastly a quick question from Jay - he asks about other musicians using your own gear (or you using other peoples gear). Good question mate - and although I do love my guitars, they are only guitars! I dont think anyone would damage them deliberately so I dont worry about it. I am blessed to have enough to loan them to people at shows! Duffy, Jonesy or Cantrell (the usual "borrowers") are all totally respectful, as I would be borrowing their shit. Which answers the second part of your question! Without doubt, recording the guitars to God Save The Queen (for the eventual Camp Freddy album) through the actual amps owned by Steve Jones, was pretty fucking awesome!! OK. Thats it. Podcast is up as usual. I gotta jet - take it easy people.
Peace.
Billy
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Posted by vivelerock at 06:56 AM | Comments (6)