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Summing up 2015

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Some highlights from a lucky guy, thanks to all that was involved!

Pano of Arnestedet studio

Pano of Arnestedet studio

#TJUVSTART

The year started out with recording and mixing the sound for the first #tjuvstart video at the Flekkefjord kultursenter.


 The culture center opens this coming fall, and we are a group of volunteers that have created a series of videos to promote the coming center and to raise money in the process. so far 10 videos have been released I have recorded and mixed the sound on Ingrid Frøsland, Frisk Bris, Playboys, Bente Torgersen, Thale Log Skage and Myrulls videos.  you can watch them all here.

Here is the video we did with my daughter Thale and I:

Joe Rusi

I produced Joe Rusi first full length album, we recorded the album in New Orleans with some legendary musicians. You can read about the project  HERE

Reidar Larsen

Reidar Larsen , Sverre E. Henriksen and I working on Reidars album

Parallell with the Joe Rusi project, I was involved in writing and recording for the new reidar Larsen album, 3 of my song made it to the album and I play guitar on most of the tracks. The album is mainly recorded at Rediar Larsens studio in stavanger, but I also did the guitars for  the songs I wrote at my home studio. Producer for the album was Sverre Erik Henriksen. The Album was called "blåtonar fra bakrommet"  ( bluenotes from the backroom) and was released  in september. 

we did som nice gigs this summer with  Kongsberg Jazz festival as the pinnacle, The ad hoc project "Norwegian blues Caravan" did 2 gigs this summer, witch was great fun. NBC was Reidar Larsen and his band with Vidar Busk, Dr. Bekken, Hungry John, Daniel Eriksen and Rita Engedalen.

 

Peter Nordberg

Peter and I have worked together of and on since the late 1990´ , this year started with me adding guitar and Omnichord to what became his single, witch topped the indipendent radio charts in Sweden  for many weeks this year. I spent close to a week in new york city with him  in may writing songs together.

Ian Bruce & Flekkefjord sangforening

Im currently working on a a 3 song ep with Scottish singer Ian Bruce and the Choir Flekkefjord sangforening. 

Thomas Dybdahl

I did 2 guest appearances with Thomas Dybdahl his year. Live on national tv and at Stavanger concert hall.

Bande popular ... was a project that did not take of, but I have to mention it, because  the weekend we did work together resulted in some really nice demos

Bande popular : Audun Ramo, Bjørn Charles Dreyer, Signe Salvesen, Bruce Rasmussen and I

 

 

 

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Tracking Joe Rusi - at the Music Shed studios New Orleans

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Planing the sessions started september/october 2014,  first i had to find a studio.......

The studio I originally wanted to work in had closed  summer 2014 ( Piety Street) I wanted to work at piety street  based on the recordings that I liked that was recorded there. After  trawling the net I found out that some of the engineers and producers that used to work at Piety street, now worked at  the Music shed studios. I sent the studio an email and manager Ruby Rendrag was  very easy to work with,  When I explained what I was aiming for  she clearly understood .  

We arrived in new orleans late wednesday feb 18…. ash wednesday … Mardi Gras had ended and the city was litteret with beads and with the  full moon decending...

Musicians

 

John Gros, Keyboards /  Arne Skage , producer / Joe Rusi , Artist / Doug Belote, drums / George Porter Jr. bass

I had a list of musicians that I wanted to work with and the most important for me was to have the best possible bass/drummer combo aviailable.  On my shortlist was amongst others Doug Belote, a drummer I have had contact with of and on for over 10 years , ever since I bought his  loop cd, and who has risen to become one of the top names , and is sought after by artist like Sonny Landreth ,  Tedeschi /Trucks band, Jerry Douglas, Anders Osborne , Jon Cleary …( check out the Eric Clapton Crossroads festival 2010 video!)  

So when Ruby suggested Doug I contacted him straight away and he was keen to do it.

George Porter jr. has been a favourite bassist of mine since I first became aware of the meters in the early 1980-ies.  We had been facebook “friends” for about 4 years and so when I messaged him , he agreed to do the project.

I was very pleased with getting this rhythm section, Joe Rusis music  as I see it, mixes funky blues with soul, and theres probably not anyone better than George Porter Jr in that respect.

I had originaly thought that a upright bass would fit some of the songs but with George on board I didnt think any more about it.

I wanted a keyboardist in the  Professor Longhair/James Booker/Dr John tradition  ( turned out most keyboardplayers in NO are :)  ) and on Dougs suggestion I contacted John “papa” Gros , a guy I didnt know too much about exept for what I had seen on youtube etc.  It turned out it was a good call, what a guy! exelent player.

Next was horns: On Rubys suggestion i contacted Mark Mullins , bandleader of Bonerama and a much used arranger. after some negotiations we sent him demos for 4 songs . And he set us up with an exelent horn section consiting of him, Alonzo Bowens on tenor and Robert Campo on trumpet from Dr Johns band.

JR/ Robert Campo , trp/Alonzo Bowens ,sax/ Mark Mullins, trombone, arranger / AS

 

On Rubys suggestion  Leslie Blackshear Smith and Kiki Phillips was hired to do backup vocals on 4 songs. WOW!

JR/ Kiki Phillips/ Leslie Blackshear Smith

 

 

Monday morning prior to our trip, George  tells us his mother has died and is to be burried the following saturday ( our day 2) , I tell him not to worry about it , and with the help of Doug,  James Singleton, is contacted  and agrees to do the job.  I have been a fan of Singletons work for years Professor Longhair, James Booker, Johnny Adams.  Not a bad replacement at all…. AND  upright bass is back in the  project.

the sessions:

 

After a day of recouping from the long journey we started in the studio friday morning.  We arrived around 9:30  at the music shed studios on Euterpe street, no more the 4 blocks from where we where staying.  The Studio is built inside an old streetcar stable .  

 

We first meet Wes Fontenot who is engineering the sessions and Adam his assistant.

The Musicians arrive at 10  and the vibe is good from the get go. to set the tone for the session we start with 2  New Orleans songs Earl Kings “make a better world “ and Allen Toussaints “Play something sweet (brickyard blues)”  The drums are set up in a separat room , bass and keyboards are in the main room and Joe does guitar and scetch vocals in a booth.  I do some aditional slideguitar on 2 tracks from the control room.

 

We cut 6 songs friday..  catering is brought in : fresh jambalya and Fiji Water.

 

Doug drives us home after the session, and after a quick snack its of to bed. Due to Jetlag I wake up very early, when I check Facebook saturday at 7 am  Doug pops up: he has puked the whole night passed out on his bathroom floor (turns out to be a 24 hour stomach flu... NOT foodpoison )  . He is no shape to work in the studio but has left a message on Johnny Vidacovich’s phone …. Johnny V confirms one hour later and voila … suddenly we have Professor Longhair and James Bookers rhythm section on our record.

 

John Gros, Keyboard / Joe Rusi , Artist / Johnny Vidacovich, drums / James Singleton, upright bass

So day 2 starts with fresh faces, 2 substitutes, but a team that has played togheter for over 40 years, The  tone is as good as it was the first day and  we cut 5 songs saturday, as planed …. For lunch John Gros has brought in some delicious Boudin and sausage with brown sugar … jummy!  We finish early.

 

Sunday  the Hornsection comes in at noon and we dub 4 songs with Mark Mullis’ exelent arrangments.  The singers comes in at 4 and deliver stellar performance.


Professor Longhair , captured by Leslie B Smiths father, the legendary photographer Michael P Smith

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Joe Rusi in the crecent city

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I'm producing guitarist singer Joe Rusis debut solo album, right now I'm at the gate at Dulles airport waiting for our flight to New Orleans ..., follow this blog to see what happens next....  

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Myrull Studiologg : Fase 3; pålegg

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Produksjonen har gått inn i påleggsfasen. Mandag kveld hadde jeg besøk av trekkspiller Johan Egdetveit  og  bouzoukispiller Dag Sindre Vagle som la igjen litt av seg selv på kuttet "trangt mellom fjell".

 

Dag S. Vagle

Dag S. Vagle

Johan Egdetveit  og bikkja

Johan Egdetveit  og bikkja

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Ny plate med Myrull

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Bekkestudios opptaksrigg under sist innspilling

På torsdag begynner vi innspillingen av kompene til den nye utgivelsen til Myrull.  Som sist bruker vi  WWW.bekkstudio.no sin mobile opptaksrigg og eminente lydmannn Eirik Bekkeheien på opptakene som skal foregå på Farsund resort mellom Farsund og Lyngdal.

Bandet består av :

Trond Augland på trommer

Kjell Martin Sirnes på slagverk

Ole Kelly Kvamme på basser

 

samt Myrullerne 

Vidar Arntsen på gitarer og sang

Rebekka Reimers på sang

 

Jeg har produsentrollen og spiller muligens litt ekstra gitar

 

låtene på det nye albummet er stort sett skrevet av de to sistnevnet.

Med oss vil vi og ha med oss  Simen Løvgren som vil filme og fotografere .

 

WWW.MYRULL.NO

 følg myrull på facebook

Hør forrige plate "LIV" på spotify

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2013 Redux

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Det var relativt stille på livefronten på vårparten, men desto mer musisering i studio . Hjemmestudioet mitt er oppdatert med bla. preamp fra Universal audio og nye høytalere fra Adam.

Joe Rusi:

Utover våren  ble jeg spurt av Joe Rusi om jeg kunne ta opp og mikse lyden til en videoinnspilling. Innspillingen ble spillt inn, mikset og gitt ut på under en måned som cd/dvd.

Svein Tang Wa: 

Videre hadde vi en runde i NRK studio i Stavanger med Svein Tang Wa og gjøkene ( Svein, Stein Inge Brækhus, Reidar Larsen. Johan Egdetveit, Tor Mathisrud /Øystein eldøy og Per Ravnås) på platen vi påbegynte i 2008(!)

Trekkspillterror

 Sommerens høydepunkt var muligens Wrightegaarden i Langesund hvor vi holdt konsert med bysbarna Daniel Eriksen og Vidar Busk , til stor begeistring.

 

 

Thale Log Skage :

På ettersommeren hadde jeg og gleden av å spille med min datter Thale på Fjellparkfestivalens miniscene.  i den anledning gjorde vi en demo som vi seinere på høsten slapp på soundcloud og fikk stor respons på .

 

Myrull:

Sammen med Myrull begynte vi på høsten å jobbe med låtene til forestående innspilling av album nr 2... som allerede har fått tittelen "stifinner"

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Tonereise: 

Ett prosjekt jeg har brukt mye tid på i høst har vært miks av Tonereise sin 4. plate. Tonereise er ett prosjekt basert rundt familien Vigdal fra Gaupne ,med bla medlemmer av Helldorado. de spiller en blanding av  gamle relgiøse folketoner og  roots/country/twang.

 

Jeg hadde besøk av 2 av vokalistene/gitaristen og bassisten og vi gjorde en tagning i hjemmestudioet mitt

Platen er til mastering hos www.mastertone.se  for øyeblikket og skal ut i løpet av 2014.

 

Hans A. Wassvik, Asbjørn Handeland og Dag Sindre Vagle

 Det ble endel Livespilling Med Reidar Larsen & the Storytellers utover høsten hvor  Blues in Hell i Stjørdal og Dark season bluesfestival på Svalbard var svært minneverdig . Samt at jeg syns det var stas å være vikar med mine gamle venner Rita og Frank Eriksen.

 det var i grove trekk musikkåret 2013... På tapete i 2014 kan nevnes ny plate med Reidar Larsen, Myrull, Svein Tang Wa m.m.... følg med

 

AS.

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MYRULL: LIV (2012)

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MYRULL: LIV

Produced by Arne R. Skage Jr. for myrullmusikk/ www.skage.com Mixed by John Whynot , @ the palm door studio, Culver City California
Bodhi mixed by Arne R. Skage jr. @ Arnestedet studio, Flekkefjord Mastred by Scott hull @ masterdisk NYC recording by Eirik Bekkeheien / www.Bekkstudio.no @ Farsund resort, add. recording @ Arnestedet, Flekkefjord


Vidar Arntsen - guitars & Rebecca Reimers - vocals

with
Arne Skage - additional guitars, pedalsteel + +
John Lilja - double bass
Trond Augland - drums
Kjell Martin Sirnes - percussion
Stene Osmundsen - drums
BJ Cole - pedal steel
Arve Henriksen - trumpet
Peter Nordberg - vocals
Helene Bøksle vocals
John Whynot - organ & wurlitzer
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Myrull update - Mixing and overdubs - BJ Cole & Arve Henriksen

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Mixing process is comming along fine, Im very pleased with the way John Whynot  twiddle the knobs, since last time I wrote about the project , two seriously great musicians have contributed  to the album.

First of all legendary Steel guitarist BJ Cole added his Klein 12 string steel guitar to the song "Heim i natt"

Sting described BJ Cole as the best pedal steel player in the world.

In a career stretching back to the mid-Sixties BJs recording credits read like a Who's Who of rock music, to name a few: Elton John, Marc Bolan, Sting, Robbie Williams, REM, Bjork, Jerry Lee Lewis, Shania Twain, The Verve, Depeche Mode, Beck, Elvis Costello, Deacon Blue, David Gilmour, David Gray, Groove Armada, Emmyloo Harris, Jools Holland, KD Lang, Moody Blues, Pet Shop Boys, Robert Plant, Squeeze, The Stranglers, Scott Walker.

BJ has carved a reputation as the supreme innovator with his instrument, a unique talent in adapting and pushing the pedal steel across numerous genres of music.

 

 

 Also we are proud to have  world class trumpeter and ECM recording artist Arve Henriksen on the album

He has worked with many musicians familiar to ECM listeners, including Jon Balke (with whose Magnetic North Orchestra he has played extensively), Anders Jormin, Edward Vesala, Jon Christensen, Marilyn Mazur, Audun Kleive, Nils Petter Molvær, Misha Alperin, Arkady Shilkloper, Arild Andersen, Stian Carstensen, Dhafer Youssef, Hope Sanduval, the Cikada String Quartet, The Source and more. He has played in many different contexts, bands and projects, ranging from working with koto player Satsuki Odamura, to the rock band Motorpsycho via numerous free improvising groups with Ernst Reisiger, Sten Sandell, Peter Friis-Nilsen, Terje Isungset, Marc Ducret ,Karl Seglem et cetera. Today he is working with Supersilent, Christian Wallumrod Ensemble and Trygve Seim Ensemble.

 

 

http://WWW.BJCOLE.CO.UK

http://WWW.ARVEHENRIKSEN.NO

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First Myrull single released

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Myrull is a  duo that I am currently producing. Their first single was released digitaly this week, and can be downloaded from sites such as  Cdbaby.com, Itunes , Amazon.com and  many other places.

 

The song features Vidar Arntsen on guitars & Rebecca Reimers on vocals backed by Stene Osmundsen of The september When and Ingenting fame on drums and session ace John Lilja on double bass. Me on Lapsteel   and Helene Bøksle on background vocals. Its engineered by Me, Eirik Bekkehei and Sindre Hotveit and Mastered by the legendary Scott Hull at masterdisk New York city.

 

Myrull: Bodhi - Single
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Session with Myrull done

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Vidar Arntsen, Stene Osmundsen, Rebecca Reimers, John Lilja

Recorded 2 tracks with Myrull at Bekkstudio today, overdubs at arnestedet pending