Oy Fan! The Tide has moved!!

You'll beflushed away in 6 seconds in our new bay. If not, visit
http://www.tinytide.com
and update your bookmarks!! ;)

25 February 2009

Not Always Where I Need to Be

Mic is a strange drummer. He's got a strange relationship with time. He never miss a beat while playing, but keeps on being late each time we've got to me somewhere.

Ray is the owner and sound technician of Tam Tam Studio. Not only. He's the only person I know that managed to have Mic in time at a established hour. Nevertheless I was punctual as always. But in the wrong place! It took 20 minutes like an idiot on the road since Mic realized that maybe it was time to look for my position and show me the way to the studio. HALLELUJA!

"Sentence! Sentence! Can you hear me? Sentence!"

That was Ray from the other side of the glass of one of the recording rooms.

"Sentence?". What kind of code was that? What was supposed to mean? Was it a strange tec-word related to music field I didn't know?

"Ray? What's sentence?"
"Ah. Nothing. I use to call Mic Sentence because of his habit to criticize everything..."

I planned to recod all the drums for the 8 songs I needed in 2 nights. Mic was more optimistic than I was. He had to insist but... he was right! 7 out of 8! Now we lack only "Beachvolley Fields Forever" and as for the drums we're done!

Rehearsing hard showed its results, except for me while barking the WORST performance of ever (I am quite ill right now) of "Ginger Genie" (I hadn't done my homeworks!).

Well. Time for the others to pull on the socks and work it on.

22 February 2009

A Walk in the Spark

Non so quanti di voi sono arrivati a capirlo: questi giorni non sono stato molto bene (diciamo per niente). Sabato c'era un appuntamento importante. Ero completamente sfebbrato, e in teoria non avrebbe richiesto molto. Ma mal di schiena e alla testa mi hanno reso impossibile dorimre durante tutta la notte, e la cosa (oltre a portarmi ad un considerevole stato depressivo-paranoide) non aveva giovato alle due precedenti giornate con febbre mai inferiore ai 38,6°.

Anyway. Per me quello di sabato era davvero un appuntamento molto importante, tipo come per Locke riportare tutti i ragazzi dell'Oceanic 6 sull'Isola. E sappiamo che alla fine ci sarebbe riuscito anche a costo di presenziare in una bara!

Bene. Fotografo e tutti i personaggi dei Tiny Shaft ("YOUUU AAAAL EV'RYBODY!") hanno fatto di tutto per riuscire ad esserci per il rotto della cuffia riuscendo a usufruire dell'unica finestra aperta sull'arco delle misteriose coordinate spazio-temporali che ci avrebbero permesso di fare un servizio fotografico su misura tenendo conto dei seguenti fattori:

1) I ritardi di Mic
2) La mia improvvisa malattia
3) L'istrionica imprevedibilità dell'impegnatissimo fotografo Simone Tomaselli
4) L'avversione di Dendrix per le fotografie
5) La seccatura di presenziare alla luce del giorno
6) Manuel che si "infighetta" (o, per come la vede lui, si veste da funerale)

Citando Paul McCartney: Helter Skelter! Come le montagne russe. Gli imprevisti e le problematiche della prima ora vengono sostituite da altre nuove man mano che il giorno si avvicina, prima tra tutte la mia influenza, che speravo sinceramente si sarebbe dissolta, non dico subito, ma almeno per sabato.

Alla fine i nostri eroi ce l'hanno fatta. Al grido di "WE GOTTA GO BACK" abbiamo il nostro servizio fotografico a Ronta e - per il rotto della cuffia - a Febbraio. Nonostante i CINQUANTA minuti di ritardo di Mic, che si sveglia alla mia telefonata per scoprirsi smacchinato, rubare la giacca al padre e lo scooter al fratello, mentre Manuel cercava di tenere duro e non fare... la capra!

- CIAO DENDRIX! COME STAI!?!?
- NON MI TOCCARE
- Ma... anche Marinelli mi dice sempre cosi'!
- Evidentemente un motivo c'e'!

Davanti ad una macchietta del genere non ce la faccio più ad essere incazzato per il ritardo, e nononostante male alla schiena e alla testa mi metto a sorridere.

Tomaselli - fattore Hurley - cambia arbitrariamente un paio di volte il luogo dell'incontro (che era tipo a 200mt da dove c'eravamo incontrati noi dei Tiny4). Il telefono (non avevamo a disposizione il satellitare di Naomi) non riesce a prendere il segnale. Il fotografo non riesce ad essere contattato. Temevo seriamente si fosse spazientito per il nostro inqualificabile ritardo (non dovuto a paradossi spazio-temporali). Mi infilo dentro al vicino Iper-Toys. L'intuizione era giusta: assenza di campo. Lo incontro li' dentro, intento a valutare con sguardo scientificamente attento un regalo per la figlia.

Si parte per Ronta. (altre poche centinaia di metri)

L'aggettivo della giornata è stato: "Interessante!"

"Questa foto potrebbe essere Interessante", "Questa sì che è venuta veramente Interessante!", questo commento ginecologico sembra evidentemente essere il top-of-the-trend tra gli artisti che stanno cavalcando la scena delle arti visuali d'avanguardia.

Mic era presissimo. Non fosse per quel velo di dubbio lasciato dal ritardo, pare evidente quanto fosse il più divertito e soddisfatto di potere dare libero sfogo ad ogni millimetro quadrato del suo lato superficiale spalmanodo ego ad ogni scatto da autentico poser professionista. Mi ha fatto piacere che alla fine sia stata una giornata divertente, a discapito di chi non trovava in un muro o un angolo di prato abbandonato tracce di magia (la magia, come ricorda il forografo, la facciamo noi, e comunque io credo fermamente in casi e circostanze, che - da bravo artista quale sono - dal mio punto di vista assumono un valore imprescindibile).

Così i momenti nascono da soli. Dall'albero guardaroba, le pose Clash, io e Mic e piano piano ce la facciamo a convincere anche gli altri a impantanarsi per la gloria di uno scatto all Sigur Ros, la gente di campagna che vedeva sti cretini in giacca e cravatta immobili nella campagna e ci passava davanti come se nulla fosse, il fotografo che si ritrae seduti sulle strisce pedonali e al mio "Guarda che passano le macchine" risponde "No no, quello non è un problema, l'importante è che ci sia la luce giusta".

Alla fine, a parte forse Manuel che doveva trattenere la... "capra", si è risolta una mattinata piacevole per tutti quanti. Non so come stiano Simone, Manuel e Mic. A me il mal di schiena è passato, ora in compenso Dendrix non sta bene e io sono il Fort Knox dei lingotti di mucosa!

Ma come per i ragazzi dell'Oceanic 6... direi che non solo era una cosa che dovevamo fare, ma che è valsa la pena fare. Se non altro per avere collezionato, oltre che dei banali scatti, dei bei momenti da ricordare di una soleggiata mattinata di Febbraio.

15 February 2009

The Kitty Is Back

Today I had to record pianos for "Scrambled Eggs" with Porlock. Or maybe carry on "Total Groupie" with the "Ummagumma" (given mysterious guest nickname).

Neither the options came to happen, so I brought on the recodings for the new "Kitty Jesus". It's magic, in my opinion. The song started like some bed-in hippies practicing "Give Peace A Chance", but it ended to be a great drunk sailors choir getting along through a "Yellow Submarine" kinda anthem.

Drums ok I suppose, since "The Piper" (given mysterious guest nickname) asked me how many panoramic microphones we used to record them! Guess I'll have to thanks Imogen Heap for that :)

24-25 Tiny are on the studio to record drums for "The Smiths And The Cure", "Tiny Trains", "February" and "The Psychopath At The Club". But I guess we'll have time for a little chat before then. Ta Ta.

14 February 2009

John Blues

Just got back from "Ummagumma" (that's a code name, as usual) studio. We tried to approach to the re-building of "Total Groupie". John took Clint (my acoustig guitar) and recorded a MARVELLOUS part. What surprised me the most he then had a fantastic drum session too, and the new "Total Groupie" still have a very radiophonic and modern brand new soul too! "Febrero" recordings just started and this is yet the second time that this miracle happens (and I can feel when it's happening one, I can recognise the sings). Positive vibes from "Ummagumma" studios. Thank you for the beer John!

10 February 2009

Clear Signal From Cesena

Today Manuel went down to Studio Sonda. We recorded (actually... HE recorded) bass and violin for "The Smiths and the Cure", "Road to Fairies" and "Scrambled Eggs".

Bass was a hard one to fit, but violins matched perfectly to "Road to Fairies" leaving me completely shocked! The recording was allright from the first take, and it suited perfectly to the Wildheart orchestration part too! Bravo Manuel!

Another one hard to believe was how sweet violin sounded on the new version of "Scrambled Eggs". It seemed a radio hit since the first notes! It was a good session indeed. Thank you Manuel.

8 February 2009

T-Roll



What a nice little gig. It's easy to say that after the storm has gone! First thing I heard once I put all the instruments down to La Vigna pavement was that oh-they-had-forgotten but there was a jazz trio playing during the same night. Is there any Monthy Python fan watching this blog? When something absurd is already happening you gotta get ready for something even creazier. Nobody's expecting the Spanish Inquisition. We were already struggling with thented ampli and things struggling to fit all the equipments of the two band in the small (quotation finger mode on) stage when this crazy bongo-guy came along with the hudge percussions I've ever got in touch with.

"I had it", I told Dendrix. And I started to plug-off Chuck, Osamushi, the microphone and all the effects. "I'll only sing with the naked voice and my acoustic guitar", as I ended to plug both into the bass-ambli of the jazz trio after their performance.

Mic seemed quite serene. "Mic, in case you didn't noticed it, we took off quite everything from the stage!". You had the point once again, Dendrix!

But - surprise surprise - everything was fine! We had a great show and people really liked the performance! A lot of friends came along to see us, and we all were very excited by the gig, as we tried to pull our best out from that night, letting all our energy and soul flew out from each song!

Mic had a little problem with his drumset, and I started to pay "Do Mean It's A mess", that the band never heard before. Guess Dendrix didn't knew if I was jocking or if I was really intentioned to carry on the song till the end. But I did, and Manuel was so genious to following me with his bass. Bravo Manuel!

They even asked for two encores! We went for "S♥L" and a "The Psychopath At The Club" reprise, while I felt happy to leave my guitar behind to run up and down the stage up to where the mic cable allowed me to go.

At the end of the show we all run to a Brit-Pop party in a nearby venue. The jazz-trio drummer came nearby to express is enthusiasm for the show.

- Your band is great! Who writes the song?
- Me...
- Unbelievable! They're great!
- Thanks
- Your band recalls me a lot another great band... the.... the...

And I was thinking: "Tell it! Tell it! David Bowie? T-Rex? Suede!?"

- FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHER OF INVENTION!

The Mother? Well... guest it's a lot better than Tokyo Hotel, I suppose!

Here's some pics of the night.

And here's some videos...

Tiny Tide - February
Tiny Tide - Go Ego Go (Lacrosse Cover)
Tiny Tide - Ginger Genie

(Thanks to Sonia for the shooting)

5 February 2009

Who's that band?

"Febrero" the album is finally taking place. And I'm very happy about this, since I'm deeping into the composition of "TenneT" the second album.

The end of february will see the recordings for our fist "drums studio sessions". We'll try to record "The Smiths and the cure" (the last track missing for the release of Tiny second EP), "February" (guess it will be complicated), "The Psychopath At The Club" and "Tiny Trains".

End of february? Cant' wait! That's why I pushed on the pedal and I asked to some friends of mine... to start collaborating :)

Since I don't wanna spoil any surprise, I will address to them referring to Pink Floyd Abums' titles. :)

"The Piper at the gates of down" will take care of editing and mixing. Since I really love his songs, I asked The Piper to get involved on a song too. It happened the song we're woking on is "Scrambled Eggs". Well: I got impressed! He asket to start from the drums and the voice of the first demo. One hour and an half after I sent him what he needed, whithout me telling him any chord or BPM, he recorded a brand new "Scrambled Eggs 2.0" programming new drums and recoding marvellous bass and guitar lines along with a very Strawberryfildish keyboards. A GENIUS!!

MOREOVER. Another friend of mine, let's say "A Saurcerful of secrets", has listened to the song. He liked it, and he was so cool to agree doing some choirs and parts for SE2.0. SACERFUL... YOU'RE GREAT! Saucerful is the best Italian voice of our indie scene, and I will be so proud of any help I'll got from him!

MORE MOREOVER next week I should start working on "Total Groupie" with - let's say -
The Ummagumma, hoping that Atom Heart Mother will still agree being in for a duet on that song and Meddle is beginning to work on "Silver Star".

MORE MORE MOREOVER: I took Osamushi The Tiny Synth to last Tiny Tide Rehearsals. Everyone enjoyed playing with him, as we tried "the tiny new toy" (that's how Dendrix use to call him) on "Scrambled Eggs", "S♥L" and - in particoular - "Joanie don't you worrie".

So excited 'bout everything. Hope we'll be albe to show you our best. Till then, all you can catch are our best regards.