XTC

[twangs]

I'm always happy to jump at the chance to praise XTC. I've been listening to them recently with special attention to Colon Moulding's bass playing. His bass playing, especially his fretless work, is so melodic and inventive. He's a big part of what makes that band one of the best... Sad to hear he's not really playing anymore... Please - someone tell me that's not true.

[henry5]

Yep, Andy's amazing. He's also very underrated as a guitarist. Dave of course was great, but Andy's skills are all over the last couple of XTC discs. On the subject of stage fright, I picked up a copy of an XTC biography while vacationing in Canada in the late 1990's. I had been having a terrible time because I felt strangely claustrophobic on the airline flight and had trouble sleeping and relaxing throughout the trip. While reading about Andy's anxiety issues, I began to suspect that I might be suffering from an anxiety disorder. When I got home, I went to a doctor who confirmed that workplace stress had caused me to develop a anxiety disorder. While I previously couldn't understand how a seemingly extroverted Andy could suddenly stop performing live, I now understand the kind of severe physical discomfort that can be caused by stress/anxiety. Although I'm much better now and no longer on medication, I have to be careful to avoid situations that can aggravate my condition.

Randy, what's the book called? I'd be interested to read that. I've always suffered from mild stagefright (if there's such a thing), but have found that it's got much worse as I've got older, probably exarcebated by the limited amount of gigs we get to play these days. I've played gigs in the past couple of years where it's actually a relief to get off stage, which isn't how it's supposed to be.

BTW, glad to hear you're much better now. Last year I was off work for a while due to anxiety caused by workplace stress and it was not fun.

[janglerocker]

The book is call "Chalkhills and Children" and is a pretty good read. I've got a copy around here somewhere. From what I remember Andy attributes much of his stage anxiety issues to the volume of meds he was on at the time. Definitely worth having in your library.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/071192 ... 12-7399168

[jingle_jangle]

Personally, the volume of meds in my library is a bit low at the moment...

[elysrand]

Personally, the volume of meds in my library is a bit low at the moment...

I never did THOSE kinds of meds (after college, at least). That would be one of the fastest ways of losing my license to practice medicine...

[paologregorio]

...the arrangement blows; it's a typical "Idol" style, bland, cliche' ridden arrangement, played by colourless, bland, generic studio musicans.

Let's not blame the musicians just yet...they are usually willing to give their all, and are at the mercy of the producer, who is at the mercy of the "artist" and [her] handlers...

Good point. I hadn't thought of that. It might stand to reason, as it probably sounds like a lot of other song arrangements that she's sung.

[jingle_jangle]

I think Mr. Moulding's given name is spelled "Colin". Woth that second "O", it's a distasteful body component...

[randyz]

Dan and Shaun: I've read two books on XTC. The first was 'Chalkhills and Children' (1996) by Chris Twomey. The second was the book I picked up during my vacation to British Columbia, 'XTC' (1998) by Neville Farmer. I believe it may be subtitled 'Song Stories' or 'Story Songs'. They're both listed on Amazon. While both books probably address Andy's stage fright, it was definitely the second book that I was reading when I started self-diagnosing my condition.

[twangs]

Of course you are right, Paul. The i and o are right next to each other on the keyboards, and my fat bass player fingers... well - a unfortunate typo to say the least...

[jingle_jangle]

You're right, Tony. If I was looking at my keyboard, I would have seen that it was a missed key (I make plenty of 'em) and not a typical mispelling of a name that's a bit unusual here in the US.

[janglerocker]

Recent interview with Andy about the song "This is Pop" from the White music album:

AP: Well, growing up a Beatles fan, I remember thinking of what symbolized Pop music to me, what was the start of the '60s -- in fact, the death of Queen Victoria! -- was the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night." That was the sound of her being stabbed in the back with an enormous sharpened Rickenbacker. "There! Queen Victoria's officially dead."

So, I took the opening chord, and thought, "I want to base my song on a giant, edited collage of 'Hard Day's Night'-ness." So I tried to write the whole song using as much of that opening chord in different places as I could -- in fact, even opening the song with that rather demonic chord. It's actually the "Hard Day's Night" chord with one note's difference. And the notes are -- should anyone out there wish to play it -- in ascending order, F, A, D, G, C, G-flat.

It would end on the high G if it were the "Hard Day's Night" chord. There are two schools of thought on that chord -- one school of thought says that it's as I've described it, and one school of thought says it's G, D, F, C, D, G.

But I took that chord, and I made the whole song out of it. I took it up to D, then down to B, then G, then up a semi-tone and turned it into a 7th -- to an A-flat 7th. So that's the whole song -- it opens on the one-note variation of the "Hard Day's Night" chord, then we have a bit of percussion, then that pattern. So I tried to make a new construction out of a sort of collage of that opening chord.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... =327632641

You can listen to "This is Pop" here:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... d=34883466

[brianeharmonjr]

Here's another Ric-filled XTC track:

[rickboy88]

My absolute favorite "modern" use of a Ric 12 string is Dave's Ric 12 string part on "Senses Working Overtime". This one is the youtube link posted by Brian on Oct. 27th. Classic! Notice how the lyrics state "church bells softly chime" and at the same time you here that 12 string chime.

Dave has a nice website (http://www.guitargonauts.com) where he used to have a story on each guitar each owned. I wish I'd saved off the pages, as I can't find it now. The 12 string used on "Senses..." was converted to a 6 string at some point, but I think Dave still had it around.

[brianeharmonjr]

Dave has a nice website (http://www.guitargonauts.com) where he used to have a story on each guitar each owned. I wish I'd saved off the pages, as I can't find it now. The 12 string used on "Senses..." was converted to a 6 string at some point, but I think Dave still had it around.

It's in the "Pick of the Month" Section. He has 5 different Rics on the list.

[rickboy88]

Great! I'm glad the guitar stories are still there. I think I read each one after finding the site 1 1/2 years ago or so. There is indeed a story on the Jetglo 360/12 used on "Senses...".