My album track by track part 2

All about my album part two...... The Rules: 1 - All sounds to be produced by one acoustic guitar (hitting it, looping it, overdubbing it, volume swells etc) 2 - The songs to be recorded as close as possible to "Live" We did bend these rules as making a good record was the real point of the project (we added a few hand claps and some stomping on one song). I'm really pleased with the finished results. The album was recorded at Pinna Studios (a bloody great studio in East London) and mastered at Livingstone Studios (Wood Green). It was produced by Kevin Feazey and mastered by Sonny Simpson. Airships Another thrash metal/Sepultura inspired song for the chorus meets Friday Night In San Francisco for the verse, I tuned down to drop D for this one. Only played it live once - the rhythmic guitar banging at the start was put together by Kev in the studio. The section in the middle at half time can be done live with the DL4's half time feature and then overdubbed in harmony and then sped back up again. I like the solo at the end. Drama In The Coals The first song in odd timing something i love - inspired by the likes of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Fripp and The Beatles (loads on Strawberry fields). Its in 5/4 and drop d again although I play it in E live. The metal section in the middle reminds me of soungarden and the picking is kind of Radiohead/Crimson maybe? My favourite guitar solos on Echo are the ones on the heavy bit. The title comes from watching an open fire when i was a kid. Have a listen here on the player Thanks Matt Stevens www.mattstevensguitar.com

Faith No More to reform?

20.13 So according to Kerrang Faith No More are in talks to reform next year (nothing confirmed yet by the looks of it)- bloody great band. Went to see them on the Angel Dust tour with L7 - so good, best gig I ever went to and again a few years later. This is from the best movie soundtrack ever - Judgement night Also from the same soundtrack Helmet and House Of Pain - one of the best riffs ever, I love Page Hamiltons guitar playing his interest in Jazz and noise was a real inspiration to me. Love the way it breaks down halfway thru and House Of Pain come in. Take it easy Matt Stevens www.mattstevensguitar.com

My album out now!!

19.57 Right finally done: Blimey - Echo the album is now out - download via emusic, amazon or napster. Emusic is USA, Canada, Europe only. Napster is USA, Canada, UK and Europe. Amazon is US only as well. Hard to say that without giving it the hard sell(which isn't my intention). It's taken the best part of 2 years to get to this point! Kev Feazey(at Pinna) did a great job on the production and Sonny(at Livingstone) did a cracking job on the mastering. I'm very pleases with it. Itunes (Austrailia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States) and Rhapsody(USA) will be in the next few weeks, If anyone fancies reviewing it that on any of the above that would be awesome - if you enjoy it or hate it let me know - your feedback really means alot to me. If you fancy telling anyone that would be amazing as well. Have a listen for free here on the player on the right of this blog. Thanks Matt Stevens www.mattstevensguitar.com

Sigur Ros Alexander Palace

Mr S an I went to see Sigur Ros on Thursday at Alexander Palace. Great live they had an amazing light show with projections and smoke, rain and snow. Genius. This is the night we went Messing around with Photo Booth on my macbook: Quite Scary?

Toys

22.41 Brought something I shouldn't today - i'm too old to be buying toys: Finally admitted that the Echoplex outboard looper i got a few months back isn't for me - great thou it is. I've connected 2 line 6 dl4's - sounds great and i can do 2 loops at different times like a DJ or apply effects to either loop, brilliant. Nearly finished writing 6-7 new songs for album number 2 today although they still need work I'll play 2 or 3 at the next few gigs. They are Hello Mendoza: Kind of Dead Kennedys meets Flies In The Basement off my first album Blue Filter Portishead/Mahavishnu type thing with John Barry chords & Big Sky Bit Explosions In The Sky/Sigur Ros? Still working on Logic stuff - getting closer all the time... One last vital overdub: Matt

My album track by track

All about my album part one...... The Rules: 1 - All sounds to be produced by one acoustic guitar (hitting it, looping it, overdubbing it, volume swells etc) 2 - The songs to be recorded as close as possible to "Live" We did bend these rules as making a good record was the real point of the project (we added a few hand claps and some stomping on one song). I'm really pleased with the finished results. The album was recorded at Pinna Studios (a bloody great studio in East London) and mastered at Livingstone Studios (Wood Green). It was produced by Kevin Feazey and mastered by Sonny Simpson. Burning Bandstands This is the first song we recorded in early 2007. We recorded the parts piece by piece into Pro Tools then stacked them to simulate how i play them live. For the intro I was thinking of eighties Thrash Metal acts such as Metallica(the middle of One from And Justice For All), Kreator and Sepultura. The end section guitars are 4 parts stacked in harmony based on arpeggios of Bmsus4 and D9 over the Bm/D7/E first Inv/Em first Inv. This song comes from a song i used to play with a band called Trinovantes about 4 years ago and has been played live at every gig I've done. This is Burning Bandstands live at Spratton Gathering: Matt Stevens www.mattstevensguitar.com

Mitch Mitchell

Hendrix Class - sadly Mitch Mitchell passed away yesterday - brilliant drummer, paved the way for Billy Cobham etc I posted my album to listen to on my blog yesterday and got a bloody great reaction. Really means alot after 18 months of work. Your feedback really helps and inspires. Have listen to Echo, my album here on the widget - Tomorrow i'll start writing about where the tracks came from and how they were recorded. Thanks Matt Stevens www.mattstevensguitar.com

Hear my album NOW

My debut album in full all ten tracks to listen to on my site mattstevensguitar it will be available to buy very soon. All sounds produced using only a guitar and 2 pedals. Produced by Kevin Feazey at Pinna Productions. All songs written by M Stevens copyright 2007 Echo is available in a few weeks from, (just join the mailing list to find out when) through: Rhapsody - US Only eMusic - United States, Canada, Europe Amazon - US Only Napster - United States, Canada, United Kingdom, European Union iTunes Worldwide - Austrailia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States Let me know what you think good or bad. All sounds produced by banging, looping, hitting, strumming one (broken) acoustic guitar - no other sounds where used(apart from some hand claps and stomping).

Domino Du

11.36 Spent today watching too much tom baker era Doctor Who - genius and working on a new Song called "Hey Mendoza". I'm planning on getting some vocals on this one(not by me!) Domino art part 1(by Mrs S): Really enjoying this at the moment - I was reading about them online. If you're Husker Du fan these are really impressive - they are from Minneapolis and are big Mould/Hart fans This is Husker Du (america's greatest ever rock band), in case you haven't heard them: I remember hearing them as a teenager and couldn't believe any band could be this good. Bob moulds guitar playing is amazing. Matt Stevens www.mattstevensguitar.com

Fireworks

23.34 Great weekend but a massive hangover - went to Rushden to watch the fireworks and eat bread - I've been off it for 3 weeks(my new Diet). My friend John is making Cider: Went for an impressive curry and listened to loads of old prog. Some fireworks photos: Rushden St Marys Church: Back to London to work on more programmed drum beats for some new songs - Logic is bloody great. Matt Stevens www.mattstevensguitar.com

Squarepusher

23.08 Nice to see the end of the Bush era - looks good for the future of the US. This is great... Very cool bass playing and genius programming. His new album is called Just a Souvenir and Its the second best album of the year after Portishead I reckon. Kind of Jazz/Rock/Prog?Drum and Bass with some really melodic bits and some bits virging on US hardcore with added vocoder. I've spent most of the last week messing around with Logic Audio on my laptop working out beats and synth bass lines for some new songs. Still keeping it fairly minimal I've got about half the second album written now and Echo isn't even out yet (next few weeks via itunes/emusic). I'm probably going to start using the laptop with programmed stuff live next year in addition to the solo guitar stuff and get someone playing live bass. Matt Stevens www.mattstevensguitar.com