Por el miedo

 

Pajas mentales del rock

Soy muy fan del rock de los 70 y de grupos como Sleep que continuaron con ese sonido después. El otro día di con este artículo:
https://en.customboards.fi/blogs/articles/matamp-green-orange-and-stoner-rock

que no tiene desperdicio. Hago mi resumen para vagos y animo a buscar moralejas:

Mat Mathias era un técnico electrónico que se ganaba la vida reparando radios y televisores en los años 50 en el norte de Inglaterra. Cuando su jefe se jubiló, le traspasó el taller y Mat tuvo que contratar a un ayudante que casualment era músico. Éste animó a Mat a que le fabricara un ampli de guitarra.
Al parecer este primer ampli fue la envidia de los músicos locales y pronto Mat tenía varios pedidos de amplis.

Algunos años más tarde, en Londres, un tal Cliff Cooper estaba sacando todo el partido del "swinging London" de finales de los 60. Era un empresario de la noche y de la "movida juvenil". Tenía una marca: Orange, salas de ensayo, discotecas y quería sacar su propia línea de amplificadores. Pero los fabricantes habituales (Marshall, Hi-Watt, etc) no le daban bola.
Alguien le habló del taller de Mat Mathias y allá que se fue (cerca de Manchester) para pedirle que le fabricase los amplis bajo su marca Orange. A Mathias le pareció bien y empezaron a trabajar juntos en 1969. 

Esos primeros amplis Matamp con marca Orange ganaron fama pronto. Competían en calidad con los fabricantes ya consolidados. 

Black Sabbath.

Justo en ese momento Black Sabbath empezaban su carrera. Tenían una actuación para Beat Club en la tele alemana y como había backline en el estudio, se ahorraron cargar sus amplis. El backline eran amplis Matamp-Orange. Les gustaron tanto que decidieron comprarse unos. Esta actuación debió rular miles de veces en cintas vhs durante los siguientes 30 años. Y ahí entran

Black Sabbath con amplis Orange-Matamp

Sleep

Como fanáticos de Black Sabbath, estos músicos californianos conocen todo de sus ídolos. Y como la mayoría de músicos tenían la obsesión por encontrar el "santo grial" del sonido: el equipo que les ayude a sacar el sonido con el que sueñan.
En California no podían encontrar amplis Matamp-Orange que además nunca se habían producido a gran escala de forma regular y eficiente. Para colmo, Mat Mathias moría en el año 93 y el taller y el material que contenía fueron comprados por 

Jeff Lewis

Era un empresario local del mismo pueblo de Mat Mathias. Pensó que podía hacer un buen dinero aprovechando el interés que los amplis vintage estaban generando entre los jevis noventeros. Él no era técnico, así que contrató algunos trabajadores, montaron unos cuantos amplis con las piezas sueltas que ya tenían, los retapizaron en color verde y les cambiaron el nombre: de Orange a Green...Era el 94, Sleep estaban de gira por Europa y casi en peregrinación, fueron hasta el taller de Matamp y compraron todos esos amplis y algunos más que aún tenían que fabricarse.
Se dice que se dejaron entre 30 y 35 mil dolares en amplis Green Matamp. Con sus "nuevos juguetes" volvieron a California donde comenzarían a grabar

Dopesmoker

Justo habían firmado un contrato con London Records (compañia de entre otros, The Rolling Stones) y tenían un super-proyecto en mente: un disco "conceptual" de más de una hora de duración sin cortes, es decir, una sola canción de sesenta y tres minutos. El tema: una antigua tribu nómada de fumadores-comerciantes de jachís que viaja en caravana hacia Jerusalem. El título "Fumador de maría"...ahí lo llevas.

Las sesiones de grabación fueron largas, trabajosas y caras: duraron todo el verano de 1995. Los Green Matamp se mostraron muy poco fiables: se les fundían piezas cada poco, llamaban a la fábrica (recordad: en Inglaterra) y les toreaban. No les enviaban ni piezas de recambio ni los otros amplis que ya habían pagado...al final tuvieron que buscar un técnico local para ir reparando los amplis.

Cuando por fin terminan y muestran la grabación a la compañía, los ejecutivos se quedaron de piedra. No sabían ni por donde cogerlo. Exigieron que lo editaran para sacar cortes de "duración más comercial" y nada de llamarlo "Dopesmoker"...el grupo se negó en redondo y el álbum se quedó guardado.

Fueron unos años muy tensos para el grupo: ya arrastraban problemas con su anterior discográfica, ahora el conflicto con London Records, el sobrecoste del estudio de grabación y encima los amplis de sus sueños acabaron siendo una pesadilla. Con este panorama, Sleep deciden separarse en 1997.

Paradójicamente gracias a la popularidad de Sleep, los amplis Green Matamp se pusieron de moda entre los grupos del género. Incluso se abrió Matamp USA que bregó unos diez años con el taller inglés para mejorar la fiabilidad de los amplis...al final tuvieron que pasar de ellos y producir todo en América (bajo la marca Electric amps)...

Y ahora mis conclusiones:
-La imagen, la mística, los gurús y otras pajas mentales hacen que se compren productos que son una cagada.
-Matamp produjo amplis cojonudos mientras los hacía su diseñador original en su taller artesanal. Después llegó la producción comercial y la fama...y la calidad se volvió irregular: "reciclaban" piezas ya usadas, era habitual que los circuitos variasen dentro del mismo modelo y lote, muchos necesitaban ajustes pre-venta o fundían componentes con facilidad...y eso que hablamos de un producto de supuesto lujo.

Guitarras míticas

(Esta entrada no está completa, iré añadiendo historias cuando me parezca)
¿Tienes una guitarra con su propia historia? esas me interesan.
Cuento éstas malamente de memoria:

1- La guitarra romántica de Richard Bishop.

El tipo buscaba una guitarra pequeña para viajar con ella fácilmente. Estaba en alguna ciudad perdida de Europa central. Entró por casualidad en una vieja tienda y preguntó. No tenían nada que le sirviera. Cuando ya se iba, el tendero recordó que tenía una vieja guitarra en la trastienda. Le dijo que le siguiera.

Era una guitarra "romántica" del siglo XIX, probablemente alemana. Sin etiqueta del luthier. Richard la probó y quedó fascinado...como si el tiempo se alargará y se hiciera tangible. Preguntó por el precio y era mucho más de lo que podía permitirse...se fue de la tienda.
Solo en su habitación aquella noche no podía dejar de pensar en la guitarra. Estaba "hechizado"...
Volvió a la tienda varias veces solo para seguir tocándola...rascando de aquí, allá y gastando lo que no tenía, por fín junto el dinero y se la pudo llevar.
Meses más tarde en una habitación alicatada con bonitos azulejos, en una ciudad perdida de Marruecos:

2- La mexicana de Robbie Basho.

No conozco demasiado la música de Robbie Basho. Está aún en las puertas de mi mente. Puede que en cualquier momento futuro me obsesione con él como me ha pasado con otros. Reconozco las señales.

Aunque Basho es muy diferente, más excéntrico aún, kitsch a los ojos de otros. No engancha del tirón. Requiere tiempo. Tiene todo un mundo propio.

Y puede que sea uno de los artistas más humildes de esta lista. Apenas consiguió seguimiento ni ventas en vida. Solo en los últimos 15 años se ha creado una poco de "culto" sobre él, algo muy común con músicos fallecidos cuyas grabaciones no tuvieron repercusión. El mercadeo de reediciones ha sido de lo más rentable en los últimos 20 años en el mundillo discográfico. Hay sellos que se dedican casi por completo a "desenterrar" grabaciones.
Eso tiene un aspecto de saqueo que no puedo tragar...

De vuelta a las guitarras. Que se sepa, solo tuvo dos: una vieja guitarra de los años 30 que un amigo arregló, le regaló y que acabó destrozada y su centenaria guitarra mexicana de 12 cuerdas:

Se la compró a un marinero que acababa de volver de México. Éste la había comprado con la intención de aprender flamenco, estilo que no casa bien con las 12 cuerdas. Robbie le dió 200 dólares por ella, casi todo el dinero que había ahorrado trabajando en verano.
Eso supuso que no pudo entrar a la universidad ese curso por no tener un chavo...algo que me recuerda una historia propia distinta pero igual.
Robbie le quitó las cuerdas de nylon y le puso unas de acero. Cosa que unida a la edad de la guitarra puede explicar que no fuera demasiado cómoda de tocar. Pero vaya si le sacó partido.
La vida y obra de Robbie Basho da para mucho, vale la pena "investigar".

3- La tele de 4 cuerdas de Bill Orcutt.

No es música fácil. No es armónica y muchas veces no está compuesta. Al principio me sonaba a la rabia de un oficinista (programador) saliendo en forma de rasgueos locos. Bill Orcutt tocó en los 90 en un grupo raro e independiente que conocieron cuatro gatos: Harry Pussy, toda una cacharrería sonora.

Para mi es uno de esos músicos que siempre te enseñan algo, ya sea de cómo tocar, cómo no o cómo editar tu música.
Típico de sus guitarras: solo tienen 4 cuerdas: las tres agudas y la gorda. Cuando le han preguntado por qué, explica que la empezó con una guitarra que estaba siempre en el local y solo tenía esas cuatro cuerdas.

Lo que hace Bill Orcutt no es para mucha gente. Muchos le consideran una mierda, una estafa...yo creo que músicos tan raros y disonantes son valiosos. También a veces son la excusa perfecta para cuatro pringaos que solo quieren joder...
Otra cosa que me gusta de su vida es que dejó el mundillo de la música a final de los 90 cuando tenía 35 añazos, se mudó a la otra punta del país y cambió toda su vida. Digo esto porque no conozco a casi nadie que haya hecho algo así, sobre todo en un país donde si no has elegido como será el resto de tu vida durante la adolescencia, te conviertes en un desecho social...
Esto decía en un artículo para The Guardian:
"a 1997 tour with "people treading on eggshells" followed. Within weeks of it ending, Orcutt moved to California and began a career in software engineering that he still does full-time today. He was soon doing 100-hour weeks. "I got here during the dotcom boom, so there was an insane amount of work," he says. "I was 35, I had no health insurance, no savings, a terrible credit rating. So I was quite happy to be earning some money for the first time in my life. But it was a tremendous shift – I'd never had any job where you went to the same place and sat in the same seat."

Desde el 97 hasta el 2009 no sacó nada musical. En 2009 saca un disco grabado en casa con medios bastante lofi. Se titula "Una nueva forma de pagar viejas deudas" y es eso, una descarga de rabia y adrenalina sin filtrar, real y desde las tripas como debería ser toda la música.

4- La guitarra que John Fahey rompió

Era una Recording King Ray Whitley fabricada por Gibson para venta por catálogo de Montgomery Ward en 1939. Fahey la había conseguido cambiándola por su "Beacon and Day Señorita" (con la que grabó sus primeros discos en los '60).
Con la Recording king grabó el que se considera uno de sus mejores discos: Fare forward voyagers.
La Recording king tenía un sonido particular: las frecuencias medias muy destacadas, sin graves espectaculares pero con resonancia y cierto carácter nasal, cosa que no suele ser deseable, pero que en esta guitarra quedaba bien.
Su historia no es muy legendaria en realidad, aparte del gran sonido que tenía; al parecer Fahey la rompió durante una bronca. Unos dicen que estaba borracho, otros que tenía gripe. Unos que la golpeó de rabia contra una pared, otros que contra la cabeza de su novia...en fin...
Fahey regaló los restos de la guitarra a un luthier que los tuvo guardados por casi 20 años hasta que a la muerte de Fahey, decidieron reconstruirla como homenaje. Aquí toda la info:

https://www.johnfahey.com/RecordingKing.htm


Y aquí cómo sonaba:

restaurada

5- La Harmony empapelá de Jack White

De memoria, hace muchos años que leí esta historia!

Cuando Jack White "solo era" un muchacho pajizo de un barrio pobre de Detroit, que compartía casa con un montón de hermanos, que había sacado la cama de su cuarto para meter una segunda batería (sí, dos baterías en su dormitorio) y dormía en un futón entre las baterías...entonces (mediados-finales de los 90), se buscaba la vida currando de tapicero (formó un grupo y sacó un disco con el que era su jefe).

Pues bien, un día su hermana le pide ayuda para llevar unos muebles a un almacén del ejército de salvación o tienda de beneficencia. Nuestro pajizo amigo se pegó parte del día acarreando cacharros. Como recompensa, su hermana le regala una guitarra (marca Kay) que había encontrado en la tienda. La guitarra en cuestión era una "hollowbody" (hueca) fabricada en los 50 en la factoría de Harmony en Chicago (probablemente).

No recuerdo por qué motivo Jack empapeló la guitarra. No recuerdo si fue algo estético o funcional (para que no se acoplara). El caso es que empezó a usarla con su nuevo grupo, que había montao con su novia Meghan. Un grupete bastante curioso que combinaban el punk, el blues, rollos estéticos de vanguardia y las habilidades tapiceras de nuestro amigo pajizo:

 mira el minuto 48 ;)

la guitarra y el amigo:

Kay era una marca de Harmony Chicago, creo

Las palabras del amigo sobre usar cacharros poco finos:

"If I had a brand new Les Paul that stayed perfectly in tune, and some solid state amp and all this digital equipment - that's just too much opportunity. I wanna go in with one beat-up amplifier, one drum set, a guitar that doesn't stay in tune and just work with that. I love putting myself in a box, putting restrictions down, and taking it from there."

6- La Tokai pintada de Robert Lawson

En sus propias palabras: Tokai Telecaster

I bought my Telecaster in I think early 1985.I was playing in a band with some guys I went to school with called Troyka. One day the Singer said he had met a guy who played keyboards who was looking to join a band. He came along to one of our rehearsals with a fancy Yahama keyboard and one of those 80s haircuts that was short at the front and long at the back .He was a good musician but not really what we were looking for .After the session we were talking and he told me he worked in a music shop in Bath. At this time I played a strat but wanted to change..two of the guitarists I liked at the time were Peter Buck of REM and Wilco Johnson of Dr.Feelgood both of whom played telecasters. The keyboard guy said he could get me a tele..not a Fender but a Tokai from the shop at a discount. The next Saturday I went to Bath and found him in the department where he worked .His job was to sell the new model of Yahama keyboards popular at that time..he used to play the opening riff of ´Take on me´by A-ha over and over all day long. He seemed a bit cagey when I asked him about the guitar .I had brought 150 pounds in cash with me..a lot of money at that time considering I was probably only making 3 pounds an hour working in a factory. He took the money and told me to wait outside the door of the shop .Ten minutes later he came out with the Tele and handed it to me .It had no case or paperwork and I didn´t ask any questions.

I went on to play in a lot of bands over the years and the Tele was my main guitar in all of them. I once fell off stage into the audience bashing my hand and getting the only applause of the night. The Tele stayed perfectly in tune. I lent it to anyone who needed a spare guitar for a gig or recording session so it was well played.

When I went to the USA in the late 90s I left it with a friend of mine who one day sprayed it silver which looked awful. When I got it back I painted it again..this time pale blue. Over the years the paint has peeled and worn away in places and I keep planning to do something about it..but I never do. Now it sits without strings in the bedroom..a happy reminder of a former life…who knows one day I might get a band together,restring it and plug it back in.

7- Mi japonesa de 40 euros

Ahora no recuerdo si fueron cuarenta o cuarenta y cinco...Era la época que todavía compraba cacharros. Me gustó enseguida su estética viejuna, de los 70, con algo de Ry Cooder.
Tenía algunas modificaciones para hacerla más tocable, eso me gustó: su anterior dueño la usaba. Tenía algunos roces de uso pero estaba sorprendentemente bien. Solo tuve que limpiarla y directa a bolos y grabaciones. Justo a tiempo para mi época de fuzzes diy, grabaciones garageras, Jay Reatard, Black Lips y desparrame general.
https://bambas.bandcamp.com/album/en-la-mente-del-gato

8- La guitarra "flexible" de aquel guiri de Coín, puro mito!

Conocí esa guitarra por referencia de un ex-compañero de grupo que lo mencionó de pasada durante un ensayo...me dejó alucinao con la historia, pero no supo darme muchos detalles. Cuento lo que recuerdo después de casi 20 años.

Mi compañero de grupo había estado en otro grupo en su pueblo. Un grupo bastante loco. El más loco de todos, el guitarrista: Un guiri mayor que los demás y que se había construido su propia guitarra con chatarra...con piezas de metal y supongo que madera que había encontrado tiradas. Me imagino que la electrónica la sacaría de otra guitarra...

Pedí detalles a mi compañero pero no se aclaraba mucho; me dijo que la guitarra era "flexible" ¿comorrll?!!

Que la parte principal de la guitarra estaba hecha de una pieza alargada de metal, que permitía cierta flexibilidad. Doblarse un poco y hacer sonidos sorprendentes (y él no lo decía como halago).

Por desgracia eso es todo lo que supo decirme y tampoco pudo pasarme grabaciones ni fotos. Sin embargo la historia tenía toda la pinta de ser cierta; por que surgió inesperadamente, por el desinterés del tipo al contarla, etc...y pregunto: ¿Inventó ese guiri un nuevo instrumento?

9- La guitarra del viejo "del reloj"

Debía ser 2014; cuando necesitaba algún cacharro musical hacía el recorrido de las tiendas de segunda mano y electrónica. Era entretenido y "educativo". 

Un día visitando una de segunda mano que había (¿hay?) en Martínez Maldonado, presencié una escena surrealista: un anciano flaco con ropa vieja y desconjuntada, barba de varios días, algo despistado y con una guitarra bajo el brazo estaba haciendo cola para la caja. Yo iba justo detrás.
En el mostrador, preguntó el precio de la guitarra (una barata), sacó un billete grande y pagó sin más. Ya se iba cuando vió que vendían relojes también. Señaló uno y se lo compró sin casi mediar palabra.

Aquello me dejo altamente desconcertado. No quiero caer en prejuicios, pero la situación descuadraba por todo: ¿por qué una guitarra y un reloj? ¿para qué? Aparentemente ese anciano desaliñado y flaco podía estar pasando apuros económicos y sin embargo compró dos cosas no "esenciales"...no supe más, pero aquella escena me impactó bastante. Hice una canción en su día:

https://vidaguerrilla.bandcamp.com/track/el-viejo-compr-una-guitarra-y-un-reloj










Próximamente:
10-La del padre de Daniel Bachmann

11-La guitarra de Robert Johnson en Reservation Blues 

(Sir) Richard Bishop sobre la música occidental

(De una entrevista a Perfect sound forever en 1999)

"But the problem is with Western music. Most of it has no soul! It's stagnant. The movement, or lack of movement, is predictable. Certain elements of jazz and other improvisational explorations might serve as an exception here, but still, there is so much canned shit out there that the money-spending populace will continue to eat it up because it's safe. They don't know any better and they're afraid of change or anything slightly different. People should never be afraid to stop breathing! They might learn something!

But it doesn't stop there. Even soul music has no soul. I was talking to James Brown backstage at a club in Tempe, Arizona in the mid-80s. It was a short, very informal discussion, and the subject of "soul" music came up. One of the few things I remember him saying was: "it's all in the feet, the heat is in the feet." That seemed to sum it all up for him. Now don't get me wrong, I have a great respect for James Brown, but to me that just smells bad. Eastern music, whether it's from the sub-Continent, Indochina, Japan, Indonesia, Mesopotamia, etc., has that strange, mystical surround-sound that is very open to atmospheric interpretation. It can tell stories without words, evoke images without pictures, and, it's much more fragrant. The same can be said about gypsy music as well as a ton of other stuff from other, non-Western horizons.

Traveling into various third-world regions has an indirect effect on some of the music we play, but that's not the main purpose of going there. There is so much more going on than music. It's always the magic and ritual that speaks the loudest without words of course!"

El rock fue

una fantasía de la era industrial

Interviú con Rob Lawson

A great chat with DIY man, poet, luthier, painter, musician Robert Lawson. His many projects are each one interesting and free. Blue text mine, plain text by Rob.
Yo can listen to Rob here:
https://robertlawson1.bandcamp.com/



 Are you?

Rob
yes...fire away

ok mate
when i listen to you several thoughts come. Example: do you see music as a game?

Rob

Well I don´t think about music in the usual way..at least not now.I´m not trying to create songs..more like chapters of an on-going boo. But I guess music is a game of sorts..or it should be!

yea
like re-gain the game aspect of everyting, something i think Bob Black wrote

Rob

When I was a kid I used to sing songs to myself that I made up...it made me very happy and i never felt much need to share them.

And when I first started playing guitar I had no-one to teach me so I just fucked around with it like it was a toy...20 years later i found out that is called Free-Improv!

hahahahaha

yea it is so weird when you find out there is "a name" for things you guess for yourself

Rob

And rules that didn´t exist before

yea

Rob

My first experience of improvising in public was when I got involved with a group of downs syndrome adults doing music therapy

A woman I met wanted someone to provide music for her (and the group) to dance to.She said just make something up when I asked what I should do..and that´s what I did.


and that's not easy

most musicians i know wouldn't have a clue

Rob

No, it was easy for me because i had nothing to compare it to..I hadn´t heard any experimental or inprovised music as such..apart from the Beatles and oddly enough a guitar freakout track on the first Chicago LP my friend owned.

great

Rob

I wquld have been in my late teens/early 20s before I heard all the stuff that inspired me later..Zappa,Sun Ra,Fahey,Bailey..all that stuff.It was pre-internet and hard to find unless you knew someone who was clued up.

yea, i have only reached those artist quite "late" and some of them still are a puzzle to me

Rob

Having said that I was listening to VU and bands like Sonic Youth in the mid 80s.I bought albums like Evol by them and Starsailor by Tim Buckley...

did you have friends that share that music?

Rob

It was all about knowing someone older and cool..I got into the Grateful Dead and Acid Rock by hanging out with friends of my uncles-

Yeah my friends would turn me onto stuff and I would do the same..early REM I discovered by accident which led to bands like Rain Parade,Let´s active and then SST Bands like Meat Puppets,Minutemen and Mission of Burma.Also in the late 80s there was a revival of interest in the 60s..Garage Rock,Psych and progressive stuff

where did you grow up?

Rob

I was born in Germany and lived there until my teens..moved to the UK in 83.

Dad was in the army

Brit army?

Rob

Yes..Dad was a tank mechanic

okey, it sure was a great ambient for music

the '80s were more avantagarde and free

Rob

I think the 60s and early 70s were the best era for a lot of avante and improv music

One of the problems of 80s music for me was the terrible production.Gated snares,cheap reverb on everthing

yea

Rob

Compare early Zappa with his 80s stuff

i was thinking of bands like Einsturzende neubaten, Caspar Brotzmann massaker, Fura dels baus

but i see your point

Rob

They were very much on the fringes back then.Good stuff.I liked some industrial music before it turned all Goth...

i don't wanna gossip too much

but it seems you have had an interesting life

have you travel much?

Rob

Well I grew up in Germany, lived in England and Scotland and then went to the US in the 90s (twice).I would like to see more places but as a musician rather than a tourist.

yea, i know

it's one of the things i really miss: travel as musician

Rob

I was luck to be able to make a living as a musician in the US.Here and now it´s almost impossible if you want to play non-mainstream stuff.

well, even if you play mainstream stuff

Rob

Thats true!

i think is better to go fully wild hahaha

impromptu performances

Rob

Well the Underground is the future I think

trying to hook with local musicians

Rob

Yes keep things at a local level and network with other likeminded people.

I was just reading a book about punk in the DDR in the 80s and they had the right idea

And it´s good to know what you don´t want to do

it seems too far away right now but, everything passes

Rob

Of course..those Punks were a great example..Th Stasi were hassling them right up to the end of the DDR but they carried on..often at great cost

And the sort of music we make doesnt have a sell by date..it´s not tied to a fashion

Rob's bedroom rig

yea i guess there is no rules

Rob

Just the ones you make for yourself

i like to think we are not underground

but something even lower hahahahaha

undercover underground


Rob

Beneath the underground..like Bob Blacks book

great ! didn't know it

Rob

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1206475.Beneath_The_Underground
It´s a great book..imspired me a lot along with Cassette Mythos which was my introduction to the cassette underground.

about the "free improv" scene, do you think there are drags?

Rob

Drags?

bummers

Rob

All music scenes are the same more or less

Rob

I think the best thing about the Free Improv scene is that there is so little money to be made it keeps people honest

Of course i have met some people who acted like they were better or more serious than others..but thankfully not many

and that lead me to the next question: how is it being a rural promoter of a unique fest ? does it lead to stress?

Rob

Ha! No not much stress because I try to keep it simple.

Rob

If I tried to make it bigger and put more promotion or look for a sponsor then suddenly I would have lots of ¨professional´ bands/artists asking to play and expecting to be paid to travel and perform.Since I have no budget at all apart from providing lots of booze that isn´t a problem.

hey! i didn't know about the booze, that's the deal!

hahahah

i love the geist of the Riogordo fest

Well, you mentioned you had a career in music in the US, what style did you play?

Rob

At first Country and western with my friend Mark Byrd and his family and later I toured with a singer-songwriter called Matt Miller.

Matt came and visited me years ago and we played a gig in Riogordo

Rob

I used to do solo gigs there..only local people came and i was doing all kinds of crazy stuff...

about what year?

Rob envió Hoy a las 12:48

2002 up to 2005 more or less..I recorded every gig on minidisc.

It was before we formed the RFO

how the RFO got together?

Rob

Long story!

hahah

Rob

Here goes..I used to go to a record shop in Malaga called Discos Pat

near the central market

Rob

One day I bought a CD by a band called Snakegrinder and the shredded field mice

Very obscure early 70s jam band

I contacted the bass player to find out more about them

He told me he had a friend who played guitar who was moving to Spain

That was Joel Knispel who I started the group with

We joined up with Alain Pinero (on 10 string Warr Guitar) and javier denis on sax

For a while that was the core group but a lot of people came and went

Then we got Antonio dobon in on double bass and Javier left (he wanted paying gigs)

I played drums because no one else would!

Finally my friend jerome tagher bacame the drummer and I switched to melodica and percussion and later dulcimer

pretty nice! do you all live nearby?

Rob with Vague

Rob 

No unfortunately!

Joel lives in Benalmadena and the other guys in Malaga. Jerome lives down near Velez.. We used to get together to play and record and sometimes gig.

The good thing about Free Improv is that you just set up and play..no rehearsals or planning...we have a chemestry after so many years working together and we all listen to each other and give each other space

yea, that's pretty difficult to achieve

Rob

it shouldn´t be!

Ego is a problem with some people

to be honest i could happily sit in the audience for half of one of our gigs and just listen to the rest of them

yea, i know what you mean. I have always had the intuition that it's better to play for the whole song, to make it a whole thing, than to play each one with a different goal

Rob

serve the song

or the music

yea

Rob

and knowing when to do nothing is important.

In another sense of doing nothing..I quit music for a while.

I spent 5 years writing poetry..one book a month and then a year painting.

It was building the dulcimers that got me back into playing again..before that I barely touched the guitar.

I tend to work in cycles and have big projects on the go

didn't you find the muse for playing guitar?

Rob

I played for such a long time..from my early teens to my 40s I ran out of things to say and began repeating myself...

I had a studio set up in the old house and recorded a lot of stuff...260 CDs of music..I did the artwork,ran copies off,sent them off...it became a job but a job that cost me money rather than paying me anything!

I did that for so long..one album a week..playing all the parts (badly) drums,keyboards.bass and guitar...it was fun and then it wasnt...

And now with the dulcimers I take my time..play and record when I want to and keep it all simple...

did you have any goal in mind with all those cd's?

or was it just a creative pulse?

Rob

Fame and fortune?

No it was what I call THE WORK..it what you do that defines you and makes you complete but also hungry to do more.I would finish one CD and feel high for a little while but that would wear off and I would start again

I think you enter a zone when you are playing improv..almost a religious experience..it all falls together

Rob

It was the same when I was a little kid..I would sit in the living room and my mother would put an LP on and I would sit there without moving and fall into the music..then she would come back and put it on again and i could sit for hours like that..totally lost in the music..didn´t matter what..my two favorites were the soundtrack to West side story and the 2001 soundtrack...

Rob

Intoxicated by sound I guess..drunk on sound

Young Rob with sitar

yea, it's a great way of putting it...i think of sound like physical modes

that you can work out

Rob

can you imagine being 4 years old and listening to the 2001 A space odity soundtrack on repeat...

hahahaha

Rob

Zappa said he sculpted air with his solos...

yea, indeed

i meant to ask you this before: any knowledge to share with struggling musicians?

Rob

The struggle is the most important part

Rob

Value yourself and identify yourself as an artist or musician..professional and amateur mean nothing it what you create that has importance

Rob

Also document everything you do as well as you can afford to...

Rob

It may take a long time for your work to be recognized by others.

Rob

Don´t compare yourself with others who seem to be more sucessful..It just leads to a sense of defeat.

Don´t expect the people around you to be interested in your work..most people don´t care...look for the ones who do

Rob

Network,exchange music,encourage others..become part of an alternative world you want to live in...but also be realistic

Rob

making a living wage as a creative person is very hard.I have only done it for short periods of time.Always have a back up plan on a more pragmatic level..keep your back catalogue available and up to date.always take CDs and Tapes to gigs to sell/trade.Always have copies on your person in case you meet someone who might be useful to know...

great advices!

Rob

hopefully!

i think there is lotta knowledge in your words

Rob

You would be suprised at the amount of people I have meet over the years who never kept copies of their music or recorded their gigs or showed up without anything to sell...

man i gotta leave now...

Rob

Cool...thanks very much its been great fun! Keep on creating...

Hi! here again! do you want to answer those questions i have left?

Rob

Sure..fire away

thanks! how do you see the balance between the city and the campo?

Rob

Well...I have lived here in Riogordo for nearly 20 years so I am very much a campesino in a way but I do enjoy cities. I find i can´t spend too much time in London or Edinburgh when I go back to visit without beginning to feel out of place. It´s like time flows faster in cities...lots of activity but also a lot of shallow things becoming important as well.

Rob

I have got used to my year having a spanish structure rather than an english one...by this I mean all the major events here..Semana santa, The Paso (in Riogordo), San juan, The feria in August...these are all community occasions...not about buying stuff...about belonging to something bigger. This is missing in the UK...Christmas and Easter for example are just holidays for most people. Not that I am religious but I enjoy all the processions and dressing up. It makes for a more colourful society with a history...

that's quite shocking and known at the same time for me

i have felt a bit of despair from people of the city (living myself in what was a pueblo)

Rob

Like discos pat that i mentioned earlier...it was the only record shop in Malaga that stocked good music. It was also a great place to hang out even if you didn't buy anything...having spaces where you can meet people, cultural spaces are very important. Malaga had Casa invisible where we first played and now Polivalente...but not much else. Even london only has a handful of venues that promote improv/underground music like Cafe Oto. There are clubs put on by people I know in the improv scene but they dont make money and very few people know about them...

Agree

Rob

In a way if you do what you and i have done...organise your own house concerts or put on a small festival the rewards are much greater...you feel like you have created a little bit of history

and if you document it as well in years to come you can say...´Look what we did back then...without permission, without a budget.

Well mate, maybe i hold some grudges but after years of promoting things in my "pueblo base" i have to say that city musicians are not fond of coming to the "agro"

Rob

really?

some of the best gigs i ever played were in small out of the way places to people who were not hip and cool...

i have had some "cultural differences" he-he with that. I finally understood that they weren't in the same page

Rob

one of my dreams is to get a group of people together..musicians,poets,dancers and play in the smallest towns...places with just one bar in the middle of nowhere and see what happens...

that's so nice, i have dreamed of similar things and even had one weird tour planned

three years ago but my car and the "General Winter" got in the way

hahahahhaha

i got to the conclusion that i wasn't asking for permissions or trying to be "hired" in bars

Rob

I think it´s still possible..just have to contact all the town halls and promote it as a cultural event

Or just turn up and go for it...

Cringe

I worked on a cultural circuit paid by the regional government 20 years ago

Rob

How did that work out?

there was good money in it

badly spent

Rob

We had a yearly festival here paid for by the junta...circus,string quartets,etc.

the only reason the local council took the artist was they "were given the order to" and everything for free

Rob

I got hired once to do a duo gig with a drummer friend of mine..they paid us 300 euros!

That only happened once!

Exactly

Rob

Culture as medicine. Another story

those two years working in the official side of culture were enough for me, i ended pretty burn out
but even that way, i hold more grudges to bar owners

Rob

I understand. When they set up a jazz club in soho in malaga the RFO played there

RFo didn´t get paid because all the previous bands charged too much...including our ex-sax player!

Have you seen the film about CBGBs?

No

Rob

Basically what its like to run a bar with live music

Of course this bar became famous but it was always a shithole

I was lucky here in riogordo because the woman who ran Pub molino was cool.I asked her if i could play once a month and she said yes.

she never complained about the music

I would like to start something like that again

There is an english bar here that has live music

so who knows?

Pub Mollino

i only had a similar deal once, but that bar was dangerous mate, a real den

Rob

Tell me more!

i still don't know how i got free and clean out of there,

very long story, it was a bar in a industrial zone ,

i believe they wanted live music just as a cover

Rob

were you in a band or solo?

They were my times of promoter

i put up like 200 gigs in 10 years

Rob

Wow!

it was crazy

Rob

So you have a interesting past too!

i was working 4 jobs at once in those years

i have always been in and out at once i guess

i 'm glad i did it, but i wouldn't repeat

Rob

I know what you mean, I enjoyed playing country and western but after six months of playing every night I went a bit crazy

hahahaha

Rob

Thats the problem when the thing you are passionate about becomes just a job

Having said that I would love to be able to play hundreds of solo gigs with just my dulcimers

My last gig was at your place and was one of the best ones I have ever played

muchas gracias! we'd like to have you every month if it was possible

Rob

I would love to do the same here

that day, my younger friend said: "it's a pity that few people showed up" but i'd sign for that every time

Rob

I think small acoustic base gigs are the future

surely! i agree and bizarrely we have reached another question: what's your take on the future of live music?

Rob

Im not sure

I think a lot of people will need to scale down their operations.

I have a frriend who is a sound engineer and he hasn't worked for a year now.

For us I don´t think much will change...if anything we will do better if people want to see live music at a local level.

With brexit a lot of UK bands will find it harder to tour europe, but for example myself I could just get on a plane and go play a gig in london very easily.

Dulcimer at home

Diego enseña

 aprende

 https://youtu.be/saMoJR8r4Tg?t=746

David Graeber sobre trabajos de mierda

 ¿Es tu trabajo inútil? David Graeber on Capitalism’s Endless Busywork

In his new book, the anarchist and anthropologist looks at why almost 40 percent of us think our jobs are meaningless.

We have an irrational economy that makes people work eight hours whether or not there’s anything to do. Can you have a surer sign of a stupid economic system than one in which the prospect of getting rid of onerous labor is considered a problem? Any rational economic system would redistribute the necessary work in a reasonable way and everybody would work less.

David Grae­ber had a hypoth­e­sis. The anthro­pol­o­gist grew up work­ing-class in New York, and while his schol­ar­ship gar­nered acco­lades, he’s nev­er felt at home in the world of acad­e­mia. From his time as a pro­fes­sor at Yale (end­ed pre­ma­ture­ly, he believes, due to his anar­chist activism) to his cur­rent gig at the Lon­don School of Eco­nom­ics, he kept run­ning into pro­fes­sion­al man­agers who didn’t seem to do much. Over drinks, some con­fessed they actu­al­ly didn’t do much; they spent a few hours a week work­ing and the rest brows­ing cat memes.

Grae­ber devel­oped a sus­pi­cion that this was rather com­mon and, in 2013, wrote an essayfor Strike! mag­a­zine, ​“On the Phe­nom­e­non of Bull­shit Jobs.” It was just a hypoth­e­sis — halfway a joke — but the piece was trans­lat­ed into at least a dozen lan­guages and reprint­ed all over the inter­net, where it elicit­ed floods of com­ments from peo­ple say­ing: ​“I have a bull­shit job.”

A sub­se­quent YouGov sur­vey found that 37per­cent of British work­ers believe their job makes no ​“mean­ing­ful con­tri­bu­tion to the world” — more than Grae­ber expect­ed. So, he dug deep­er, solic­it­ing tes­ti­mo­ni­als and research­ing the polit­i­cal, cul­tur­al and eco­nom­ic struc­tures that encour­age mil­lions of peo­ple to effec­tive­ly waste 40 hours a week. The result is Bull­shit Jobs: A The­o­ry, a play­ful and provoca­tive take on what he calls ​“a scar across our col­lec­tive soul.” In These Times spoke to Grae­ber about the jobs prob­lem, its caus­es and the future of capitalism.

How did you deter­mine what counts as a ​“bull­shit job”?

DG: I’m not going to tell any­one who thinks their job is mean­ing­ful and impor­tant that it isn’t. Peo­ple weren’t say­ing, ​“I mar­ket self­ie sticks, self­ie sticks are stu­pid, that’s a bull­shit job.” They assumed that, if some­one actu­al­ly wants some­thing, then it’s not bull­shit. They weren’t judg­men­tal about con­sumer taste.

A bull­shit job is a job that the per­son doing it believes is point­less, and if the job didn’t exist it would either make no dif­fer­ence what­so­ev­er or it would make the world a bet­ter place.

The exis­tence of bull­shit jobs seems to cut against the idea that cap­i­tal­ism is effi­cient and squeezes labor. 

DG: Cap­i­tal­ism treats blue-col­lar and white-col­lar wage earn­ers dif­fer­ent­ly than salary earn­ers. Since the 1980s, any­body who has a non-bull­shit job, who is doing actu­al work, has seen their work down­sized, sped up and Taylorized.

Simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, cap­i­tal­ism has pro­duced end­less bull­shit white-col­lar jobs, which are designed to make you iden­ti­fy with the sen­si­bil­i­ties of man­agers. I call this man­age­r­i­al feu­dal­ism, where­by they keep adding more and more and more lev­els of inter­me­di­ary exec­u­tives. If you’re an exec­u­tive you need to have an assis­tant or else you’re not impor­tant, so they hire these flunkies. It has to do with pow­er, really.

It screws up the cre­ative indus­tries. Movies have sev­en dif­fer­ent lev­els of exec­u­tives, who all have these com­pli­cat­ed titles. They all fuck with the script and every­thing turns into mush. Peo­ple point out this is why movies are so bad now.

In uni­ver­si­ties, you have this man­age­r­i­al class that’s tak­en over from the pro­fes­sors. They don’t know what the hell pro­fes­sors do. The more dis­tant the man­agers are from what they’re man­ag­ing, the more num­bers they need because they don’t under­stand teach­ing them­selves, and as a result we pro­fes­sors have to spend a larg­er and larg­er per­cent­age of our time trans­lat­ing our activ­i­ties into these quan­ti­ta­tive terms that they set out.

You would think that some­body would raise an objec­tion to this. It’s quite remark­able actu­al­ly how you have some­thing that’s such a glar­ing con­tra­dic­tion in the basic ide­ol­o­gy of cap­i­tal­ism and nobody talks about it.

Why else have bull­shit jobs been increasing? 

DG: There is this rise-of-the-robots log­ic, this fear that grad­u­al­ly tech­nol­o­gy is going to throw more and more peo­ple out of work. Peo­ple say, ​“Look, it hasn’t happened.” 

I think it did hap­pen, but they made up these imag­i­nary jobs to keep us work­ing any­way, because we have an irra­tional econ­o­my that makes peo­ple work eight hours whether or not there’s any­thing to do. Can you have a sur­er sign of a stu­pid eco­nom­ic sys­tem than one in which the prospect of get­ting rid of oner­ous labor is con­sid­ered a prob­lem? Any ratio­nal eco­nom­ic sys­tem would redis­trib­ute the nec­es­sary work in a rea­son­able way and every­body would work less.

It’s strik­ing how much peo­ple report hat­ing their bull­shit job. 

DG: They’re mis­er­able! Two or three peo­ple said they kind of like their bull­shit jobs, but the over­whelm­ing major­i­ty, they’re sick all the time. They talk about depres­sion, they talk about com­plex ill­ness­es, psy­cho­log­i­cal and phys­i­cal and immune prob­lems that all clear­ly have to do with ten­sion and anx­i­ety and depression.

And also they’re mean to each oth­er. They scream at each oth­er. The more mean­ing­less the work, the more peo­ple suf­fer doing it and the worse they treat each other.

Does this unhap­pi­ness indi­cate some­thing more fundamental? 

DG: Psy­chol­o­gist Karl Groos used this phrase, and it always struck me, ​“the plea­sure of being a cause.” When chil­dren first real­ize that when they knock some­thing over, they can do it again in the same way and it will have the same result, there is a kind of pure joy and hap­pi­ness. This becomes the basis of your sense of agency and sense of self for the rest of your life.

When you deprive chil­dren of that agency, they almost feel cata­ton­ic. That shows we are crea­tures who need projects of trans­form­ing the world around us. If we can’t do that, we hard­ly exist.

So this the­o­ry of human nature pro­mul­gat­ed by econ­o­mists and right-wing politi­cians that peo­ple basi­cal­ly want some­thing for noth­ing — that if you just give them mon­ey they’re going to laze around and watch TV and get drunk all day — it’s not true.

What are some of the ways out?
DG: I’ve been work­ing with peo­ple who’ve become big advo­cates for a uni­ver­sal basic income. It’s not the only solu­tion, but it con­forms with my polit­i­cal instincts. Peo­ple think that is odd because I’m an anar­chist. Why would I want a pol­i­cy where the gov­ern­ment would just give peo­ple mon­ey? Isn’t that giv­ing pow­er to the gov­ern­ment? I say, no.

A basic income would be the per­fect left­ist antibu­reau­crat­ic pol­i­cy. It would not only reduce the num­ber of bureau­crats, but it would get rid of the worst of them, the annoy­ing ones who decide whether you’re real­ly poor enough to deserve this, or whether you’re real­ly mar­ried to that per­son or whether you real­ly live in that room. 

Besides, they’re unhap­py, those intru­sive bureau­crats about whom you won­der, ​“How can they live with them­selves?” Well a lot of them can’t. Those guys would be off the hook. They could go form a rock band or restore antique fur­ni­ture or do some­thing nice.

What drew you to explore bull­shit jobs? 

DG: I have tend­ed to focus on the ide­o­log­i­cal strong points of the oth­er side. That’s what my book Debt: The First 5,000 Years came out of— most peo­ple think that peo­ple who owe mon­ey and don’t pay it back are bad. With bull­shit jobs, there is the idea that if you’re not work­ing hard at some­thing you don’t enjoy, then you’re a bad per­son and don’t deserve pub­lic relief. Those deeply root­ed beliefs are the strongest weapons cap­i­tal­ism has.

The anthropologist’s role is to take things that seem nat­ur­al and point out that they’re not, that they’re social con­structs and that we could eas­i­ly do things anoth­er way. It’s inher­ent­ly liberating.

Your expla­na­tion sug­gest cap­i­tal­ism is a less total­iz­ing sys­tem than some might think. 

DG: It’s rapid­ly trans­form­ing into some­thing that might not even be cap­i­tal­ism, though it might be just as bad. When we think of some­thing as total­iz­ing, we assume that to get from one total­iz­ing thing to anoth­er you need some kind of fun­da­men­tal break. But his­tor­i­cal change tends to be some­what grad­ual and com­pli­cat­ed. At what point does the oth­er stuff mixed in with cap­i­tal­ism mean it’s not even cap­i­tal­ism anymore?

I remem­ber hav­ing this argu­ment with con­ven­tion­al Marx­ists about the tran­si­tion from feu­dal­ism to cap­i­tal­ism. Okay, say that cap­i­tal­ism start­ed around1500. And the Marx­ists insist that cap­i­tal­ism is orga­nized around wage labor. But wage labor was mar­gin­al until the indus­tri­al rev­o­lu­tion, around 1750. How can you say that wage labor is cen­tral to cap­i­tal­ism if, for 250 years, it was a tiny element? 

And of course the Marx­ist will say, ​“Well you’re not think­ing dialec­ti­cal­ly. From 1500 to 1750, peo­ple were in a process that was going to lead to wage labor, they just didn’t real­ize it yet.” And I real­ized, wait a minute, if that’s the case, how do we know that we are even in cap­i­tal­ism now? Maybe we are already 100 years into a process lead­ing us to some­thing and we don’t even know what it is. By that log­ic, cap­i­tal­ism could have end­ed in like 1950, and we’ll only ful­ly know what replaced it in 2175.