Submarine Port

Barstock has been a unique experience as I knew it would be having sampled David and Patricia’s hospitality a couple of times before, but I have to say that a part of me is looking forward to certain home comforts and to returning to normality; well, as normal as I get anyway. I need my own bed again, I want to see mum, and Ben and Tammy, and Raggy the cat. Maybe even see something of Andrew and Ema now they are engaged. Back to our own little communal meals, all sitting at the table for sausage and mash with onion gravy, endless cups of tea. My big, firm, multi-pillowed, spacious, cat adorned, and comfortable bed; with especial joy in the fact that the ceiling is not two inches in front of my nose. I’m kind of looking forward to getting back to the land of non-smoking too. It hasn’t been a problem for me, though I was vaguely worried that it might be after heart attack survivor Anndra succumbed at Nicestock, but I have found myself looking at the packets of cigarettes lying around and thinking, hmmm yes, I used to punctuate my day with those things. I’m pleased with myself that I managed not to evangelize about Carr’s ‘give up smoking’ book, because I always said I’d hate to be one of ‘those’ ex-smokers, but now, from the other side of the addiction fence I kind of realize where that comes from.

So, au revoir mes amis anciens et nouveaux. J’espère que nous retrouverons bientôt.

Yesterday some of the guys decided to record their version of the Dave Brubeck classic Take Five. The line-up was drums, bass, piano, guitar, and sax. Now, understand that there have been various people practicing this song for several days. We’ve heard it on guitar, we’ve heard it on saxophone, we’ve heard it on accordion, we’ve heard Sharon humming it as she goes about the kitchen. Do-da do-da dooo-da, do-da do-da dooo-da ad infinitum, indeed ad nauseum… So you’d think recording it would be a simple matter of sortng out the signals and mics needed, hitting the red button and playing it through one more time. Well, six hours later and they’re still trying. DC is ready to kill and the saxophonist is in severe danger of having to play his instrument through an orifice for which it was never intended. The disc on the recorder,which can hold up to 12 hours of 24 track recording, has an hour’s worth of six track left; DC pushed the red button and left it pushed just in case. At the close of play last night all the rhythm and backing tracks were done, but the sax player had yet to do a single successful take and poor old Mr Brubeck was spinning rapidly in his grave in 5/4 time.

During the afternoon I went with Claudia down to the house where she and Fabien live in order to help John out with the meal he was preparing. The setting is equally lovely though different to up here on the mountainside. They are right down in the valley with the river running along the bottom of the garden, so what they lack in views they make up for in access to cool clear refreshing water. In fact they have a couple of stone benches actually in the water which is, I should imagine, just about the perfect place to sit and drink wine on a blazing hot day.

John had taken quite a leisurely approach to cooking for 30+ people and, in around 10 hours, had basically made a lamb curry and a lot of facebook updates. There followed several hours of frantic chefly activity during which we made four large leek and tomato gratins and the biggest pot of rice and peas I have ever seen. I have to say though that the ten hour curry justified every second; the subtly spiced meat was so tender that it literally melted in the mouth. The accompanying dishes complimented it perfectly and, after racing back up the hill with the hot food in the back of Claudia’s car, ten hours of preparation was consumed in as many minutes.

It’s our last full day today and the last official day of Barstock. We fly back to the UK tomorrow and, although I am looking forward to stretching out in my own, large, comfortable bed after a week of sleeping in a tiny canvas coffin which laughingly describes itself as a tent, I am going to miss my friends old and new when I return from this time out of time to the ‘real’ world.

Tonight we were joined by Auro and Ali from India and Turkey respectively (though they both currently stay in France, just a few miles up the road). Ali plays something called a nez-flute. Not, as its name might suggest, played with the nose, but a lovely, mellow sounding, traditional Turkish wind instrument. Auro plays the tabla and the sitar – not at the same time obviously. He sat on a rug on the floor and played an evening raga which was in danger of making me float off over the mountains.

How rare are the occasions when the musical highlights come one upon the other day after day after day? It was a privilage to listen to Ali and Auro tonight, as it has been to listen to and participate in everything which has gone on this week. I’m conscious that tomorrow is saturday and that we leave on monday. The week has gone so fast and has accelerated noticably as the days have progressed. I’ve been trying to capture the essense of the event here, but it is, of course, quite impossible to even come close. I know these moments will live in my memory as vividly as they do for the previous ‘stocks’.

Again last night the tables were sagging under the weight of food. First came the ante-pasti dishes which Claudia had made, then an amazing lamb chilli with warm french bread. There was so much food that it was difficult to do it all justice. Mind you, we had a bloody good go. Even the wasps were joining in; flying up through the umbrella hole in the table to wrestle with crumbs of pastry from the quiche which were, in some cases, bigger than the wasp itself.

After the meal there was a bit of a sing-song during which I helped to re-imagine the Beatles by adding a bit of banjo, which did not please some of the purists. I also chipped in on other songs with some ukulele and eventually settled on congas. I avoided guitar because there were already so many talented players playing and my sore pinkie means that I can’t give of my best anyway.

I’ve been playing bass a bit today, which I can do in short-ish bursts. The song is one which Rob wrote last night after most people had gone to bed and is called Burn. Again I have to drop in a couple of bars of bass, but it should be fairly straight-forward to do. The other thing which happened later last night – told to me second hand because I had pussied out and gone to bed myself before mdnight – was that DC fell asleep in the control room (again), but was also talking in his sleep, issuing instructions to non-existent players in the live room over a mic which wasn’t even turned on. At one point, apparently, Lionel was singing a Pink Floyd number and Dave, in his sleep, joined in! Then he was asking for a cigarette from Sharon who he thought was in the live room. She was actually immediately behind him and when she nudged him to pass him the cigarette, he jumped up shouting ‘what the f….?’ because he thought she had teleported instantly next to him.

Dinner tonight is, I believe, the remainder of the lamb chilli. I look forward to doing it more justice tonight.

43°c outside today which is just so un-britishly hot that my poor temperate climate brain turns into something like melted strawberry ice-cream and ceases to function properly. I slept in the air-conditioned control room last night and I can’t believe that, when I first woke up, I was thinking it was too cold! Oh for a time machine! Along with the heat come these little black flies which land on any exposed skin. It’s not that they bite or anything, but they tickle and annoy. I have some insect repellent wipes, but the buzzy little bastards don’t sit still long enough for me to apply it. Hot sun combined with no breeze, augmented by hot women in little sun dresses or bikinis turn my brain into silly putty. Meanwhile the studio is pumping out some heavy duty rock putting me in mind of the mosh pits of yore and making me even hotter.

We put down most of the rhythm section of Accessory in the studio last night. I have to re-do about the last 16 bars of bass, but that should be pretty easy to drop in. The scratch tracks I heard last night sounded pretty good and I can’t wait to hear the finished article once DC has weaved his mixing and mastering magic on it.

Lamb chilli for dinner tonight which is not something I have ever tried, so looing forward to that too. Honestly i think if I never recorded note one in the studio I woud be more than content just to haven come for the rambling, leisurly, and loquacious meals. 32 people sitting down to dinner with all different conversations ranging up and down the table. Last night Sharon Le chef de Barstock made a lasagne which will live in legend for many years to come (just like the one at Nicestock four years ago has done). Truly not all the talent here is musical.

More pictures in the Barstock set on Flickr now if you fancy a look.

…Hang on, what happened? Where am I? The last thing I remember is falling in to a bottle of Chimay; it was either drink my way out or drown. Now it’s three days later and I don’t remember why I’m here or what I’m supposed to be doing. I now it had something to do with the hippies. Maybe it was befriend them? Learn an instrument? I certainly don’t feel like doing much more than sitting in the shade and relaxing, though that des seem to be the done thing here, so I should fit in well.

Peace, Love, and Chimay….Agent Orange Out.

Last night, well all day on and off, but particularly after dinner, I laughed and laughed until the tears rolled down my face. I wish I could remember even 1/16 of the comments which went around, but every few minutes the tables would erupt in laughter. Subjects spanned ranges broader than the mountains we are sitting in; backgammon, black metal and the culture of its Nordic adherents, gay porn, designer sunglasses, satanism, whisky, the morning habits of scottish husbands (with particular reference to wafting), food, and counting in the drummer.

David asked if there was ever a time in your life when you’d gone somewhere so apparently full of strangers, but felt so loved. I could honestly answer that I had done so three times in my life; Dijonstock, Nicestock, and now Barstock. Truly these have been unique and special times in a way which defies explanation; you simply have to be here and experience it.

All this and, today according to the plan, we will be making and recording some equally unforgettable music.

Tuesday already. Last night I was privilaged to lay down the first recorded track in the new studio. We did a version of Peggy Lee’s ‘Fever’ on which I led with the bass line while one of the German girls sang. The rest of the ‘band’ consisted of accordion, saxophone and a five piece scratch percussion section. The overall sound was, after a little rehearsal, pretty tight. Although the only thing actually recorded was the bass and, I think, the vocal, the arrangement is good and recording the other instruments should be a useful exercise in debugging the studio systems.

Dinner last night broke all attendance records with thirty people sitting down to barbequed choritzo, rice, fresh bread, and some superb local handmade goat’s cheese. It was getting on for midnight as we sat down, but I think I’m getting used to these later meals and it just felt like dinner time. After the meal came the recording, so it ended up as my latest night so far and it was gone 3am by the time I wandered off to my little tent. Even then I didn’t sleep right away and lay awake listening to a Cory Doctorow story on my iPod for a while. I heard the bells in Le Bar ringing 5am before I finally drifted off.

This slideshow will display the pictures I have uploaded to Flickr and tagged ‘Barstock’. It should pick up any new additions too,so check back to see updates.

Today was my day for making cables. Actually, today started as my day for a lie in, made possible by moving my tent in to the shade yesterday, so I didn’t roll out of bed (actually the only practical way to exit that tent) until 9am! I know, what decadence, expect civilization to collapse any time now. Then I watched the beginning of some . film on DVD with Nate, Lionel, and Marilyn, but i couldn’t concentrate on it; giving up TV seems to have that effect, I can’t just passively absorb entertainment any more, I very soon start to feel the need to take part and contribute. So, when my attention began to wander, I decided to go and have a nice shower, shave my head, and wash my towel. You have to get those three in the right order or there’s all sorts of potential for disaster. Finally, after all that, David set me up with the required tools, parts, and instructions to make up 4 XLR to XLR cables. It quite took me back to my days of wiring up industrial PA racks, especially the part where I kept burning myself on a hot soldering iron. Back in the day I could probably have knocked out the required cables in around half an hour. Today it took me a little over an hour and a half. Mind you i wasn’t rushing and stopped now and then to chat or drink more coffee or gaze at the mountains, which was not something which I ever had the chance to do in a windowless Bicester factory, well, except the coffee part… Four cables made and not once did I forget to put the sleeve or casing on before soldering the connections, which is an achievement in itself. The cales have yet to be tested, so I am holding off opening the champagne just yet.

Just before lunch John and David set off for Nice to pick up Sam and, a little later, Rob and Sharon from the airport. I had a text from John to say that Sam had arrived ok, but we have just heard that Rob and Sharon’s flight was delayed. Pat and I, she on the phone to the airport and me on the web, discovered at about the same moment, that the flight is approximately two hours late. It is, however, in the air now, so that should be a firm estimate.

It’s been a quiet sort of day so far, apart from the cicadas of course, as various people were either out at the beach, or ill in bed, or off on airport runs. I expect that will all change later however.