Studio stories: The Missing Guitar
I’d just finished a recording session and the producer says “while you’re here can you do a quick guitar track on this song for me?” We listen to the song and decide that a Fender […]
Martin’s Blog
Studio stories: The Singer
When you’re booked for a studio session often you don’t meet the featured artist until you arrive at the session. In this case the sessions were over a few days. The first few days were […]
Studio stories: The Overdub
Back in the 1990s when I was doing quite a few recording sessions as a guitar player some interesting situations and requests would arise. One day I received a call from a producer who wanted […]
About the Makua Beach video
The Makua Beach video was shot on location at Makua Beach (hence the song title) in Hawaii by master underwater videographer Ray Hollowell in 2011. We wanted to capture the feel of Hawaii in both […]
New Video: End of Summer from Going to Kaleponi
This is a drive down West Coast Hwy, Perth, Western Australia. Starting just north of Hillarys Boat Harbour and heading south, ending with sunset at Cottesloe Beach. Growing up in Perth, especially in the 80s […]
Mentals in New Zealand
Last weekend I travelled with Mental As Anything to New Zealand’s south island to play a gig at the Snapafest Festival. This was in Nelson, which is known for its fishing industry. At Wellington airport […]
China, Part 3 – the gig
Read: Part 1 & Part 2 After an afternoon sound check to acclimatize ourselves with the hire gear we would be using that night, it’s back to our hotel room for a little rest before dinner. We […]
China, Part 2 – the guitar
Read: Part 1 & Part 3 When I found out that a gig in Beijing, China was in the works I thought, how can I play this gig without taking any music gear at all. No guitar, pedals, […]
China, part 1
Four plane flights, one gig. I travelled to Beijing, China with Mental As Anything to play a charity gig. The gig was at The Sofitel, as was our accommodation. It took me a minute to get […]
The Original Fender Stratocaster
I’m of the opinion that the design of the Fender Stratocaster guitar was 100% correct from the very first released production models in mid 1954. I have an original ’54 (May) Strat and it sounds […]