Camel Tour March 2014

 The tour that almost never was got off to a mercifully fine start at the fabulous, legendary Paradiso in Amsterdam yesterday. Due to a sudden unforeseen complication to our keyboard meister Guy LeBlanc's health (details and a message from Guy can be read here) we were almost thinking the unthinkable thought of cancelling the whole thing until our dear friend Ton Scherpenzeel made himself a hero and a champion mensch in our eyes by agreeing to step in at the last minute and save the day, rearranging recording dates for his band, Kayak, to have the pleasure of hurtling around Europe in a bus with all of us. Circumstances dictated that Ton could only join us for two days rehearsal beforehand. Even more circumstances dictated that the only full day would be interrupted by a four hour power cut. Ah well, these things are sent to try us. But Ton took it all in his calm Dutch stride and we all breathed a sigh of relief when the first gig went so well.

Camel at the Paradiso

big thing in the street in Eindhoven

Tonight we are in Eindhoven in the south of Holland in the wonderful Muzikgebeouw concert hall. by coincidence today is also Karnevale day. Outside the streets are vibrating with the beats of exotic oompahdisco music and many Dutch people walking around in increasingly unsteady fashion dressed in all manner of alarming fancy dress. It remains to be seen what our audience will be wearing.

Anyway I'm looking forward to playing once more with my two brand-new MTD basses.

and my excellent Taurus bass amp and cabs

Tomorrow Gent!

Hope to post more if I have a moment....

That Was The Year That Was

Well, it sometimes seems that it's the negative of this blog's title that is in the ascendant. But what can you do? Despite, or even because of, hiring a team of gnomes on minimum wage to assist in the menial work to which they are traditionally accustomed but, in practice, generally averse, I still never seem to get around to updating this important public service - aka my blog - to the public at large.

minimum wage gnomes (available for hire - will work for beer)

In fact, it all seems to move at a snail's pace - which reminds me of the story of the snail who was mugged by a tortoise. Asked if he could identify his assailant, the snail said, "I don't know, it all happened so fast".
But here I am, using a dwindling window of opportunity as hastily as I can to make a quick review of 2013.

It was certainly a busy year, starting in an animal-hide tent in the Sahara Desert recording the excellent band of Touareg and Wodaabe musicians from Niger, Etran Finatawa. Photos of the sessions can be seen on this blog page here.

 I mixed the tracks back at Wild End Studio, a high-quality recording and mixing facility masquerading as a small log cabin nestled in a peaceful valley in North Wales.

Travelling back from the sands of the Sahara to the snows of Snowdonia was an interesting contrast.

Snows of Snowdonia

 The resulting album, "The Sahara Sessions" was released in June by the World Music Network label. And you could, if you were so inclined, read all about it and even sample and download it, here!

Much of the summer was spent at Wild End Studio recording and mixing an album for the Welsh folk-rock-trip-hop combo, 9Bach featuring the soulfully ethereal voice of Lisa Jen Brown who, together with husband, guitarist Martin Hoyland, writes dark tales rooted in the seething subconcious of Welsh traditional ballads, set against a subtly unfolding sonic landscape, both brazenly edgy and smoothly opulent, starting from tinkling glockenspiel or droning harmonium and layered over with slabs of electric guitar, harp filigrees and the throb of drums and bass.
Well, that's my opinion anyway. If that sounds interesting to you, the album will be released in Spring this year by Real World Records, officially approved by Peter Gabriel himself. Here's the band's website: http://www.9bach.com/
and here's the great promo pic of Lisa taking a mallet to a boulder in Snowdonia while Martin holds her shoes, as any gentleman would.

And then it was September and off to the above-mentioned Mr Gabriel's Real World Studios in Box, Wiltshire, to begin rehearsals for the long-awaited by many, (including me), Camel Tour. Four weeks rehearsal was deemed necessary to limber up and get the juices flowing again before we could undertake our two-week tour. As it turns out, I personally thought we were ready after the first two weeks, but what the hey, it was fun to be hanging out and playing every day with Andrew, Guy, Denis and Jason. I did manage to post a few thoughts and photos here on this blog - see links at right or just scroll down, whatever takes your fancy.

To celebrate the tour and the 15th Anniversary of my album "An Outcast of the Islands", I re-released it, remastered and restored to its original running order in a nice new cardboard gatefold sleeve with some new explanatory sleevenotes from myself. You can buy it here: http://www.colinbass.com/#/shop/4568144919/An-Outcast-of-the-Islands/3312501
and I will be most thankful.

"But what of a new release?" say many people to me. Well, since the Camel tour , I've been working with composer/keyboarder/Fender Rhodes specialist, Daniel Biro, on a new set of tunes for a new album. More information will be forthcoming, when we deem it to be grown-up enough to leave home and go into the world.

Meanwhile, there's the upcoming part 2 of the Camel - Snow Goose Tour in March 2014.

 
And the dates are:

Sunday 2nd  -    Paradiso, Amsterdam, Holland
Monday 3rd  -   Muziekgebouw, Eindhoven, Holland
Tuesday 4th  -  Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium
Thursday 6th - Filharmonie, Filderstadt/Stuttgart, Germany
Friday 7th  -    Theater am Tanzbrunnen, Köln, Germany
Sunday 9th  -   City Hall, Sheffield, UK
Monday 10th - Town Hall, Birmingham, UK
Tuesday 11th - Corn Exchange, Cambridge, UK
Thursday 13th - Paar Hall, Warrington, UK
Sunday 16th - Aula Magna, Lisbon, Portugal
Monday 17th - Teatro Nuevo Apolo, Madrid, Spain
Tuesday 18th - Barts Theater, Barcelona, Spain
Thursday 20th - Hiroshima, Turin, Italy
Friday 21st -    Teatro Comunale, Vincenza, Italy


After which, I will say farewell until the next blog, wishing us all a Safe, Healthy, Creative and Happy New Year with the hope that 2014 will bring more Peace, Love, Harmony and Understanding to our troubled world.

Cheers!

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