Biography
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The Recordings with Blindstone
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| 2003 Manifesto
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TrackList:
01. Wasted Days [4:23]
02. Temple Trippin' [3:33]
03. Somewhere [4:42]
04. Say It Ain't So [4:56]
05. Open Up Your Heart [4:59]
06. Unifunk (It's Time) [5:04]
07. Groovin' [4:00]
08. By Grabthar's Hammer [6:22]
09. Are You Experienced? [4:47]
10. Sleeping Alone [6:23]
11. Funkadelic Medley [4:49]
12. Dirty Love [3:29]
13. Gonna Be More Suspicious [6:06]
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The album was re-issued by Grooveyard Records in 2008, with new artwork and 3 bonus tracks, which were recorded during the Freedom's Calling sessions. |
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In general what do you think about your debut album?
Good question, although I have only positive feelings about it. That album has a very special place in my heart, as it's our first, and a true labor of love. When I hear it now, though, there are some things that i'd like to have done differently, but it shows where we were at the time. Our only album with Benjamin Hove on drums. He quit a few months after we released the album, right after a totally disastrous show. The show wasnt the reason, though. He wasnt totally comfortable with the genre, and he'd just gotten a new job, which demanded much of his time, so we split on good terms.
- Favourite Songs(and why)?
Temple Trippin' and By Grabthar's Hammer. Temple was the first thing we ever jammed, when we started up as Blindstone, and it is one of the songs I really enjoy playing live as well. Grabthar, because I feel we were successful at writing an OK rock-instrumental, with a really cool beat.
I'm pretty happy with Wasted Days as well, and I think we did Are You Experienced some justice too.
- Any anecdotes /special memories from the
recording sessions?
Well, the album was recorded REALLY fast. We were on a roll, as finally a label wanted to work with us. We got the call from Karma Music right before Christmas, 2002, and I think we were in the studio by early february. I believe all drums, bass and rhythm guitars, even a few solos, were done in 4 days. The sessions were great fun, and we worked very hard to get this thing to tape.
The funny thing is, I was in college at the time, studying to be a school teacher. I was supposed to write this really big, very important final paper at that time, in fact we had 4 or 5 weeks off to do this paper, but I went for recording and mixing Manifesto instead. In the end, I ended up writing the paper in 2 nights, and failed MISERABLY at the final test. That was the end of Teacher days...
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| 2008 Freedom's Calling
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TrackList:
01. Freedom's Calling [3:15]
02. Can't Be With You [3:48]
03. Fear [3:54]
04. Good Time [4:55]
05. She's So Pretty [4:10]
06. Sugar Room [5:12]
07. Waste a Little Time On Me [3:47]
08. I'd Quit [3:53]
09. Hang Onto My Love [4:16]
10. Had Enough [5:56]
11. Freedom's Calling (Slight Return) [15:43]
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In general what do you think about the album?
I'm pretty happy with it. I think we managed to get to the essence of the Blindstone sound and vibe on this one. It was a difficult record to do, though, as we kept running into obstacles during the recordings, and I ran into some personal stuff as well, which took up some time. Took a loooong time to get that album done.
Lance Lopez turned in a KILLER guest-performance on the cover of Frank Marino's Had Enough
Last, but certainly not least: we managed to persuade Anders to get back behind the drums, after a 6-year break. It was great to get to play with him again.
- Favourite Songs(and why)?
The title track has special meaning to me, as it's actually a pretty personal song, and I think it's a great opening track. Also Freedom's Calling (Slight Return) at the end of the disc, as I think it really brings a sense of closure to the disc.
I think Waste A Little Time On Me works really well, too, although I wasn't totally happy with the way i'd mixed it at the time.
Jesper wrote 3 songs on the album: Sugar Room, Good Time and Hang Onto My Love, and I think all 3 of them are awesome.
- Any anecdotes /special memories from the recording sessions?
Well, seeing that we were now on a label dedicated to the guitar (Grooveyard Records), we decided to give them as much guitar as humanly possible. “Too much! It should be too much!”, was our motto during the sessions. That's why many of the songs have 3 solos: intro, middle and outro, plus fills in the verses.... In hindsight, maybe it was just a little TOO too much, but what the hell!
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| 2010 Rise Above
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TrackList:
01. Rise Above [5:11]
02. Power Man [3:11]
03. Keep the Rock Alive [3:37]
04. Climbing Up the Ladder [6:15]
05. New Direction [5:00]
06. Horizontal Activ [4:03]
07. Sonic Motor King [4:05]
08. Wiser [4:09]
09. House Burning Down [5:40]
10. Beyond the Purple Sky [16:20]
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Your Latest and Greatest, feelings about the album?
REALLY happy with this one!!! I think it's our best yet, certainly in terms of material.
I also think it's the album that we've played the best on, both individually and as a group. I'm also really proud of the fact that we were able to have 2 really distinguished guests on the album: Ty Tabor of King's X, and Poul Halberg, both players that I highly admire and respect.
- Favourite Songs(and why)?
Rise Above, because I think it's a really nice, heavy rock track with a nice riff, and an INCREDIBLE solo by Ty Tabor!!
Keep The Rock Alive, because I really like the vibe of this track, and the way we played it.
House Burning Down, which I think turned out really nice, but which I was scared as hell to record. I have an almost religious relationship to the original Hendrix version, and it was one of the songs that i'd actually decided that i'd never touch. I didnt even know the chords! Also, i'm really proud of the fact that we managed to get Poul Halberg to guest on that track, plus his contribution is incredible!
Beyond The Purple Sky came out nice too, and it was a nice opportunity to stretch out a bit on the guitar.
I also really like the 2 tracks that Jesper wrote: New Direction and Sonic Motor King. Great Rock songs!!
- Any anecdotes /special memories from the recording sessions?
Well the last 2 days of cutting drums and bass were pretty crazy... Got drums down for 9 of the tracks in those 2 days, and bass for like 7 of them. The live-in-the-studio jam of Frank Marino' He's Calling was recorded at the very end of day 2. It was literally, Hey, wait! We have to do this too!!!, when we were ready to call it a night. We did 2 takes and the second was the keeper.
Also, the session with Poul Halberg was really special. I drove over to Copenhagen, to his studio, and he was super-cool, but also very serious about his contribution. A really relaxed, but focused day in the studio with one my heroes!
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George Clinton - 2005 - How Late Do U Have 2BB4UR Absent?
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And how about your appearance at the George Clinton album How Late Do U Have 2BB4UR Absent?
That came about in a pretty funny way. Jesper and I were in Los Angeles to do some recording with Jesper's brother-in-law, Dwayne “Dcat” Cornelius (some of those later came out on the album 1.0, which we released under the name Dcat & Da Bomb.
Dcat used to be in a band with George's son, TreyLewd, so him and George go way back. While we were in L.A., George suddenly called Dcat, and asked him to set up some studio time for him. We were there in the studio for a week, just hanging out, being flies on the wall and helping out with dragging equipment up and down the stairs, running to the store, etc. A couple of times we got invited to do some backing vocals, which we did. Then finally, the night before we were supposed to fly back to Denmark, we were asked to play. It was a really intense session, we worked really hard all night, just Dcat, Jesper and I, and George of course. He wanted to do a version of Whole Lotta Shakin', and he knew exactly how he wanted it to sound. We also did Let The Good Times Roll. He seemed really happy and enthusiastic about the solos I did, which blew me away, considering the guitar players he's had in his band over the years!!!
Anyway, it was a great, great experience and George is just the funniest person in the world, period! He had the whole studio (LOTS of people hanging out most nights!) in stitches for the whole week, firing jokes and funny wordplays all the time.
A little later, we learned that he had added Bobby Womack to the track, on vocals, as well as Billy Preston on keyboards, so we began wondering if the track might actually come out some day. Well, lo and behold, it ended up on How Late Do U Have 2 B B 4 U R Absent? a few years later. How Late... was his first album in something like 9 years at that point.
George returned the favor a little later, and did some vocals on 2 tracks on the 1.0 album, as well as some unreleased stuff.
I've since had the pleasure of jamming with him and P-Funk onstage, on a couple of occasions, one of them being Roskilde Festival, here in Denmark.
But that was a great experience. A true highlight of my musical life!
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Blindstone related questions
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- How did you get together?
After Creamy Beaver folded, i was in many different bands (playing any style imaginable), but i stayed in touch with Jesper, and we used to get together jam, from time to time, doing the occasional gig as a power trio.
Eventually, i ended up in a band called Daybreak, a melodic pop/rock outfit . The original bass player switched to keyboards, and we asked Jesper to join on bass. The drummer in this band was Benjamin Hove. Daybreak eventually became pretty popular in our local area. We put out a 3-song CD-single, with all 3 three songs getting heavy airplay on local radio. It wasnt a band with a lot of room for guitar solos, though, and that could be sort of frustrating now and then. One fateful day, our singer was involved in a horrendous car-accident, and got seriously injured. He is really a bass player, but in Daybreak, he played guitar and sang. While recuperating from the accident, he apparently came to the conclusion that singing in Daybreak was no longer for him, and decided to join another band, on bass . The keyboard-player had been invited to join that band as well, so they both left, and Daybreak came to an end.
That's when I decided it was time to play some serious power trio rock again (which i hadnt really done for years at that point), and i asked Jesper and Benjamin to join me, and that's how Blindstone came around.
- Describe the sort of music, influences!
Well, Blindstone was (and is) a conscious effort to play and write music in the style that inspired me to play in the first place, i.e. Hendrix, Trower, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc. But we're also influenced by bands like King's X and Audioslave. Music with emphasis on big, blues-based unison riffs, and lots of jamming and solos.
It was really important to us, not to second-guess what others might want to hear (which we'd done to death in many other bands), but to play what we want to PLAY. That's basically what Blindstone is about.
- What is the meaning of the band's name, Blindstone?
Hehe... No idea! There was a time, while we were in Daybreak, where we considered changing that band's name. Jesper put together a list of suggestions, and one of the names he came up with was The Blindstones. For some reason that name stayed with me. When we started up this band, i said, ”Let's lose the ”The” and the ”-s”, and call it ”Blindstone”!”. Benjamin and Jesper agreed, so we went with that name.
- First Concert,with the Blindstone, where/when?
Our first gig was at a bar/venue in Thisted, called GATE 7. Hardly a spectacular gig, but a nice beginning.
- Which songs do you like performing live mostly and why?
Temple Trippin', By Grabthar's Hammer, can't get tired of those 2, although i have to REALLY concentrate on By Grabthar's Hammer, to make sure i dont get too sloppy. Freedom's Calling is fun to play. That heavy riff usually grabs people. Can't Be With You is also a lot of fun to play, but difficult to sing, as it has so many words. I have to really watch my breathing on that one (and remmeber the words!!!). But it's a great live song, a little faster than much of our other material. We usually open with Funkadelic Medley, one of the bonus tracks we did for the MANIFESTO re-issue. Again, it's that big riff.... It's a great feeling, when the sound is right, and the band is locked in together on one of those big heavy riffs!
We havent played that much of the Rise Above material live yet, but Keep The Rock Alive seems to work really well, although i have to be careful not to blow my voice on it. He's Calling is a great opportunity to really jam and stretch out.
- Any anecdotes/speciell memories from your Concerts with Blindstone?
Haha... nothing too crazy, i'm afraid. Except once, when a, shall we say, rather mature lady decided to bare the upper half of her body, and dance in a (i'm sure she thought) very sensuous way, right in front of me... I'm afraid it didnt have the desired effect...
Other than that, I mostly remember how the gigs go down musically, and how the feeling was on stage.
I will say though, that opening for Walter Trout once, was something else. That was a very good show. Support gigs can sometimes be difficult,as the audience is not there to see you, but this one went really well. And Walter came out and met us, and said some really nice things about us, so that was great.
And i will actually mention the Rock At Sea gig too, as that one went down really well, and the audience was really receptive. It was our first show outside of Denmark, so we were actually pretty nervous! We were really happy with the nice reception we got there. Thank You!
Claes Hassel: I'm a Big Lover for Long, Heavy, Distorted, Wah-wah solos specially in the mould of the Hendrix/Trower style and I got it at the Rock At Sea gig. So I say, Thank You Blindstone!!
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Blindstone Links
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Martin Andersen interview Feb 2010
by Claes Hassel
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General Questions:
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| How did
you get into the music business?
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Both my parents are part-time musicians and music lovers in general, so I was exposed to a lot of different music, from a really early age. When my parents eventually divorced, they both ended up marrying part-time musicians, and both began playing in bands, so there was a lot of music, but also a lot of talk about music and band-stuff, around the house(s). Music was just a natural element in the households. I guess that factor served as an inspiration, but mostly I suppose that I just knew really early in my life that I wanted to make music, even before I decided on an instrument. (Much later, I was actually in a covers band with my dad and my stepmom for years. I still play the odd gig with them from time to time, if the opportunity presents itself.)
We (my dad, my stepmom, my sister, and I) actually put out an album together a few years ago, under the name ORION. It's called Nu Danser Stjerner, and consists of songs we wrote, based on the poetry of my dad's cousin, Knud Kappelgaard. We had a bunch of musicians helping us out with the backing, including Jesper and Benjamin.
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| What was your first music instrument?
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I started out on drums when I was 7, and got a small Pearl/Maxwin drumkit for my 8th birthday, but I switched to the guitar when I was 10. My first guitar was an older Aria stratocaster copy that I bought for the money I got from selling my drums. It actually wasn't a very good guitar, but I loved it, and it was MINE!!!
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| Who/What are your main influences?
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There are many, but my absolute main influence is Jimi Hendrix. It was upon hearing Hendrix's music (by way of the magnificent Jimi Hendrix Concerts-album) that I decided to switch from drums to guitar. I later got into a lot of other players as well, people like Joe Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robin Trower, Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Healey, John Norum, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen, Al Di Meola, Cacophony, Steve Vai, and many, many others. But Hendrix was the biggest influence. Still is, as a matter of fact...
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| List five
albums of the bands/artists that you like the most and why!
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Oh wow... I could make a thousand of those lists, without repeating one single title. Here's my Top 5 for the moment:
1. Jimi Hendrix Concerts. A collection of absolutely mindblowing live-performances. The reason I got into the guitar in the first place!
2: RealLive, by Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush. An incredible guitar-fest, from a true master!!! Frank Marino has been a big influence in later years.
3: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by Black Sabbath. Sabbath's trademark brutality and heaviness, but with added finesse from Rick Wakeman, here and there. A Classic! The title track has to be one of the coolest riffs, ever!
4: Dogman, by King's X. An incredible Power Trio album, by an incredible Power Trio. Great production by Brendan O'Brien too.
5: Soundtrack From Blade Runner, by Vangelis. Not a guitar in sight, but a very moving and atmospheric soundtrack, from my favorite movie.
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| What time was/is the most interesting for the rock music, in your opinion and why - 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or 00s?
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Hmm... I personally listen to a lot of music from the 60's and 70's, but every decade has had its interesting (and not so interesting) stuff, in my opinion.
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| Your dream band (living or dead ;), who would they be, vocal/bass/drums/keyboard/lead guitar/rhythm guitar/producer? |
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Doug Pinnick and Chaka Khan on vocals
Jimi Hendrix on guitar
Robert Fripp on Soundscape Guitar
Tony Franklin on bass
John Bonham on drums
Bernie Worrell on keyboards
Eddie Krame producing the band
George Clinton producing the vocals.
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| Of the songs that you have composed, which of them are your favourites?
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I'd say probably
Temple Trippin' and By Grabthar's Hammer from MANIFESTO,
Freedom's Calling (both versions) and Waste A Little Time On Me from FREEDOM'S CALLING, and
Rise above, Keep The Rock Alive and Beyond The Purple Sky from RISE ABOVE.
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| What kind of equipment/gear are you using on the road and in the studio?
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I use pretty much the same stuff live and in the studio, although I often record direct, without an amp, in the studio.
My main guitars are: a Fender Stratocaster with Schaller humbucker pickups and Warmoth neck, a Gibson Flying V, A Gibson SG Special, and an Ibanez RG-1527 seven-string guitar.
I use Dunlop (CryBaby wah, Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz) Boss (SD-1 Super Overdrive, GT-3 processor, DD-20 Giga Delay) and Sonic Groove (Booster, PhaseOVibe) effects, and my amplifier is a re-issue Fender Bassman with 4 Jensen 10” speakers. I sometimes play in stereo, where I use a Fender Hot Rod DeVille amplifier in addition to the Bassman.
I'm actually thinking about going back to Marshall amps again, after around 10 years of using Fender amps. Haven't been completely happy with the Bassman lately, especially not since I borrowed a Marshall TSL 100 at the Rock At Sea gig that we recently did. That amp positively ROCKED!!!
Claes Hassel: I agree with you 100%, your gig at the Rock At Sea ROCKED!
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| What are you doing for a living?
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I'm not able to make a comfortable living from playing this type of music, so I have a full-time job beside the music. All 3 of us do, in fact. And I try to spend as much time as possible with my wife and kids.
Finally, I have 6 months of school left, then I'll be a certified psychotherapist.
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| What are you currently up to?
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Well, we just put out our 3rd album , RISE ABOVE, so right now we're busy trying to promote that, and seeing if we can get some gigs up and running (we'd love to come back and play in Sweden, by the way!!!). We also have a secret project lined up with Grooveyard Records, and we may begin looking at that pretty soon. (Stay tuned for info on that one!)
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Martin Andersen related questions:
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The Beginning
Your first band, name and when did it began??
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I was 12 when I started my first band, in 1987, I suppose. We were called Mirea, and were a Power trio (although we didnt know that word at the time), playing mostly Hendrix songs. My friends Laust Mortensen and Johannes Torpe were on bass and drums respectively. Laust was 11 at the time, I think, and Johannes was 13.
I dont think Laust plays anymore, but Johannes is a professional musician, among many other things. He has the popular danish electronica/dance project Enur, together with his brother Rune.
Mirea pretty soon evolved into Syrehaven, another trio with Laust and our friend Jeppe Sohn. Jeppe, like me, played both drums and guitar, so we would take turns behind the drumkit, playing a set each on drums. That was a pretty crazy band! I remember we had to rehearse for a pretty big (we thought at the time), local festival one summer, and couldnt get hold of a drumkit, so we just used a metal ladder as a drumkit for the rehearsals....!
But Syrehaven was the band where I discovered that a little pocket money could actually be made from playing. In fact that happened at the gig where we had rehearsed with the ladder as a drumkit. The guy who had hired us for the festival came up and said, “follow me, and we'll get you guys your money”. We said, “Money, what Money? We're getting money too? Wow!”. Up until then, the thought had simply never occurred to me that money was any part of the game...
The first really “serious” band that I was in, was probably AMM, which I joined when I was 16. We won 2nd place in a youth song contest on nationwide TV, in 1991. That was a pretty big deal at the time, and it got us a bit of attention for a moment. The funny thing was that we were really the only hard rock act on the show. All the other bands were more pop/rock, with really sensitive love songs and stuff. We came on and were loud as hell, with a song about a farmer and his rather dubious relationship with a cow... We'd only sent in the song as a joke, but out of 500 or so entries, we ended up winning second place. Crazy.
After that band split up, I got involved with a band called Creamy Beaver (yes, I know....), which was a dream come true, as i'd really wanted to play with the bass player and the drummer for a long time. Their names? Jesper Bunk and Anders Hvidtfeldt...
Well Jesper and I had actually been jamming together before that, in another band(In fact, Jesper and I have been playing together, pretty much continuously, since 1991, in all kinds of bands and projects), but I just fell completely in love with the way that Anders and Jesper played together, which they had done for quite a while at that point, in another band.
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| The Music, the sort of music?..Influences?
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In Mirea we mostly played (or tried to play) Hendrix songs, but a little later, we also tried our hand at a few originals. Those were instrumentals, as none of us really felt comfortable writing lyrics, and basically we just wanted to jam anyway. That went for both “Mirea” and “Syrehaven”.
AMM also started out pretty much along those Power Trio lines (but also influenced by bands like Living Colour, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc), but we soon added a really good keyboard player, and went more in a direction a la Faith No More and stuff like that. A little more “progressive”, if you will.
Creamy Beaver started as a full on hard rock/funk project, heavily rooted in The Red Hot Chili Peppers and bands like that. Later, we went into a more “alternative” vibe, and completely lost our way... We split up, and Anders quit playing altogether, for the time being, at least...
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| What was the intention with the bands?
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The intentions with Mirea were just basically to hang out and jam, have fun and make a huge noise. But we always had bigger ambitions in the back of our minds. As long as I can remember, i've wanted to make records, and play in front of people. As we were really young, we didnt know how to go about those things, and we didnt have the abilities anyway.
In AMM we were pretty ambitious, and tried to get deals and stuff, but none materialised and in the end we split up, as we could no longer agree on the direction..
Creamy Beaver was a REALLY ambitious band, where we tried to go all the way. Nothing really happened in the end, though.
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Other related questions:
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- About the song By Grabthar's Hammer and the songtrack from Blade Runner(by Vangelis) it seems to me that you have an interest in Science Fiction!
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For me, Claes Hassel, Science Fiction is one of my interests and my Top 5 SF Movies/series is:
1. Blade Runner
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Star Wars
4. Fifth Element
5. Alien/Galaxy Quest/Starship Troopers/ and others...
Martin Andersen: Yes, i'm a big sci fi-head!!!
I like reading sci fi too, and my favorite author is Arthur C. Clarke, my favorite novel being either "Rendezvous With Rama" (also dig the sequels which he wrote with Gentry Lee) or "The Songs Of Distant Earth". I really like Isaac Asimov's "Foundation"-series as well, and Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars"-trilogy, and many others. I've laughed long and hard over Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"-books as well.
As for movies/tv series:
1: Blade Runner
2: Star Trek (mostly "The Next Generation" and "Deep Space 9" series, and the movies featuring the original cast. As for "Next Generation", i much prefer the tv episodes to the movies)
3: The "Alien" movies (esp. 1 and 2), not necessarily counting the "Alien vs Predator" movies, although they're ok fun.
4: Babylon 5.
5: 2001: A Space Odyssey + 2010 .
I immensely enjoyed the first 3 Star Wars movies as well, along with The Fifth Element, etc. In fact, there's nothing on your list that i dislike, although i havent watched a whole lot of Battlestar Galactica, neither the old or the new series.
I absolutely LOVE Galaxy Quest!!! I think it's just about the funniest film i've ever seen, and a spot-on spoof of the whole Star Trek fandom phenomenon, but done with a lot of respect and love for Star Trek.
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Many
Thanks to Martin Andersen, Blindstone for
this interview!
By Grabthar's Hammer
Never give up, never surrender!
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