That Was the Tour That Was

Camel at Harrogate 19.10.13

Goodness me, so Fulda turned out nice again. Spoke to many charming people after the show. It seems the audience was mainly comprised of people who had travelled many miles to see us. Australia, Canada, Turkey, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, France... the mind boggles. Thanks to all who

Camel - last day

And so to the last three dates:

Bochum Christuskirche was indeed a church. And proved the most challenging in terms of sound. Plenty of brick and glass to get all those high frequency reflections rattling all over the place. Our master sound engineer Mike “Bunny” Warren did his usual sterling job and the sold-out crowd enjoyed it immensely, as did we.

On to Mannheim for a contrasting venue of a rock club in an old rope factory. Concrete and brick

Camel tour part 3

 click on photos to enlarge...

on the bus

Saturday 26th October,  Amsterdam: the Rabozaal is part of the new complex built between the old Melkweg and the Shouwburg concert hall. I remember the old Melkweg. First time I played there was circa 1974. Opposite the stage was a large raised platform covered with old Oriental rugs where music lovers would lie and smoke joints while you played. Things were more relaxed then. 

Photo: Wim Brouwers

Saturday night, the Rabozaal was packed solid with the first standing audience of the tour. It does

Camel Tour Day 7 (I think)

Somewhere in Groningen

Good show at Salisbury. We're getting better and more fluent as we go. Overnight on the bus to the small town of Verviers in Belgium. Roused out of bunk at 6.30 to get on the ferry. Still, we had a nice

Camel Tour Day 3

Show #2 - Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall - photo: Shane Carlson

Awaking in the rock'n'roll bus to a rainy morning in Manchester. Really enjoyed the show in

Camel Tour 2013

  click on photos to enlarge

 

Camel in Harrogate Royal Hall - photo by Brendan Eyre

 Very nice start to the tour last night in the charmingly salubrious surroundings of the Royal Hall in 

New 15th Anniversary Reissue of "An Outcast of the Islands"

  New 15th Anniversary Reissue of "An Outcast of the Islands"

To celebrate the upcoming Camel tour I've organised a limited edition CD reissue of my "Outcast of the Islands" album. It comes in a nice cardboard gatefold wallet with an 8-page booklet. It restores the running order of the original album and I've written some sleeve notes. It's only available from www.colinbass.com at the amazingly friendly price of £6 (plus postage). Buy now and enjoy at your leisure!

   

Wild End Studio news

 Wild End Studio is located in a peaceful valley on the Snowdonia borders in North Wales. It's an  inspiring space for songwriting, overdubbing and mixing and is equipped with high-quality digital recording and mixing facilities. Since its inception at the beginning of this year I have mixed the new album from Etran Finatawa, "The Sahara Sessions", which has been receiving some excellent reviews following its release in May on the World Music Network label, and I'm currently mixing the new album by the Welsh folk-rockers, 9Bach. See the music page at www.colinbass.com for information on previous productions.

I'm open for all enquiries for production and mixing projects or bass guitar overdubs on your songs, please contact mail(at)colinbass.com
Material can be delivered and returned online through Dropbox or any other file delivery service of your choice. Prices negotiable. Equipment list available. Enquiries welcome.

Studio

Piano Corner

Spring comes to the valleys 2

Chattering birds, murmuring sheep, muttering chickens, the rippling stream, the sun-dappled hills, the clear, clean air... worth the wait.

Spring Comes to the Valleys

The clocks go forward to British Summer Time. The weather goes back to Arctic Winter Time.

Ancient 3 Mustaphas 3 Photos Unearthed

I have been sent a hitherto unknown to me batch of photos showing views of a performance by the 3 Mustaphas 3 group, taken in Koblenz; Germany. I don't know exactly which tour or when - I would guess 1987 mainly because of the place of honour on the stage of the famed Purple Fridge of Mustapha and Sammy, the hallowed stuffed sheep of Uncle, who was so dear to him that after his demise (Sammy's that is) we had him turned into a robust multi-purpose object and transported him around the great cities of Europe until one day Expensive Mustapha took him out for a walk and, in a momentary bout of befuddlement, lost him. Maybe it was at the bus shelter, we don't know. But still he lives on in mummification in our hearts. And so do the great tales of Old Mehmed. Mustapha always remembers, for we will never forget the day we lost our memory.
Thank you to Mr Klaus Brettschneider of Saarbrücken for sending these captured moments of great happiness.

L-r: Expen$ive, Hijaz, Sabah Habas, Houzam

Camel Live 2013

Camel to play Barbican, London - October 28th 2013

Yes, I'm looking forward to getting together with Andrew Latimer and old compadres Denis Clement, Guy LeBlanc and Jan Schelhaas for this gig. We'll be performing all of The Snow Goose album (in it's entirety, as we used to say in the old days) and there will still be room for some other things - we'll be sifting through all the possibilities in the coming months.
Tickets may be available here apparently.

And news just in...
October 25th - Osterpoort, Groningen, The Netherlands
October 26th - Rabozaal, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Sahara Sessions

Recording Etran Finatawa in Niger, January 2013

The studio in the desert

January 6th - off to Niger to record a new album with Etran Finatawa, the band of Tuareg and Wodaabe musicians that I had the pleasure of working with on their previous album Tarkit Tajje, which we recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studio in England during one of their European tours. This time they wanted to do something that would symbolize the recurrent theme of many of their songs: the disappearance of the nomadic way of life that spawned their cultures. So it was decided to venture out of Niamey, the capital of Niger where they live and return to the desert and record in a tent that they erected specially for the purpose.
Here's some photos showing how it's done!

1. Find the only tree on the plain

2. Unload the studio equipment and kitchen utilities