Get up! by Ben Harper

[Musigny]

Where did you record this album?

"We recorded it at The Carriage House – a small studio in Silverlake, CA. It's a great studio put together by an amazing bass player named Sheldon Gomberg. You know when you see pictures of the early Motown studios? I think he patterned it after that because it looks so much like the earliest Motown studio – just real humble, but with incredible equipment. Great preamps, a lot of tube gear and a beautiful 'board.

"Silver Lake is kind of the Brooklyn of California. There's a lot of heart and soul there. It's hipster not because it's full of people with money that want to be hip, it's hip because people want to be around a soulful environment. East LA is a good side of town."

There are some really great tones on the album, what guitar gear were you using?

"Oh man! We were using old 50s tweed Fender amps and we were using – I've gotta geek out on you a little bit... We pretty much set a rule that we couldn't use an amp or a guitar if it was any newer than a '65. I think a 70s Gibson Firebird may have made the cut, but that was the newest piece of kit that we used and it was from 71!

"Even the kit was this old, old Ludwig. It was this kind of Ringo-looking kit, it had the stripes up and down it and that was a late 50s/early 60s kit, for sure. It had an old snare drum and the cymbals looked like they'd got dug up from a shipwreck!"

on parle ici du dernier disque de Ben Harper, sorti en CD et en Vinyl. Je viens de commander la version vinyl, mais je n'ai pas encore eu l'occasion de l'écouter.
Je serais  intéressé à lire vos impressions sur les deux versions et notamment sur la question si l'une ou l'autre version capte "mieux" - ou de façon plus originelle - les sons issus des guitars et amplis vintage.

Le concert de Ben Harper au festival de Vienne est malheureusement déjà sold out, mais il retse des places à Nice...

au plaisir