billy peace by billy peace

Combining Mr. B. Dylan's recombinant, expressive & generative approach to a constant self reinterpretation of his performance ouevre (the method and philosophy of which are outlined in his book "chronicles vol. 2") with Chuck Berry's immortal axiom "You don't rehearse Rock & Roll" brings us to the surprisingly logical conclusion that is the debut record from Astral Travelling Sensation 'billy peace'. The first single "After the Cold Crush" , and the storm of an album that surrounds it, well, it may not be for everybody, but it for sure is for somebody, as the old time country wisdom would have it. This is a sound journey. It's a great headphone record but at the same time, let it be said that i personally guarantee some of the tracks will sound their absolute best way too loud in a well controlled camaro at high speed on a long open highway.

'billy peace' is comprised in its entirety of 'Certified 100% Freestyled' fresh content. Recording Producer W.A. Lewis approached each of the five improvisational sessions represented on this collection with no preconceptions about what the outcome might be, with no rehearsal or compositional preparation of any kind prior to the sessions. They just set up the microphones, cleaned the heads on the Otari MX-5050 8 track, and let billy peace receive the transmission. These transmissions were received via semi-standardized process: first the drum tracks were laid down, then on 1st guitar, 2nd guitar, vantage bass, and finally the vocals. The music was sculpted into place with the poise of a mountain goat leaping skyward amongst the vertiginous outcrops, higher and higher on a perilous mission to where only the sweetest and most ancient salt licks can be found: the flavour you only get when you roll with first take, every take, every time, every song.

So what does it sound like ? A fantastic fresh chargeup of 'Rock'; unique, soulful and at times totally unhinged. A timeless sonic pallette documents with clarity the billy peace letting it rip. Let me tell you one thing it DON'T sound like is a stack of your old man's dry bone garageband overdubs: billy peace is a multidimensional being from the hyper-cosmos and make no mistake, this is a LIVE performance. You might be the type that likes some earthly namechecks? You got it: billy peace circle the nexus of the velvets, neil young & crazy horse, GBV, stooges, iggy, bowie, daniel johnston, half japanese, with some wild vocal textures that at some highlight reel moments bring to mind klaus nomi or robert "lemon" plant, or that kid you used to know who lived down the street, after that time at the fair drinking way too much pop and cotton candy and inhaling from a canister of helium. Its not (and never would be accused of!) trying to BE those things, but its in on the culture taker, and most of the influence that isn't on its sleeve is smeared all over the album's face. Regarding the obvious Bowie allusions in the title and lyric of (track 3) Mr. Lewis is candid: "well I was really just trying to do my best, with what i had, to get into Visconti's snare sound on Low, up to and including the harmonizer on the snare. Thus, I had a Boss Supershifter tuned to the minor ii in G & inserted it into the 57 under the snare and so from there the bowie 'low' connection seemed too obvious to not fuck with, elephantine room, so to speak, and so I mentioned it to billy peace when he got to the session and he tapped into that right away ... He fucks with the fabric of time as a matter of course, of course, all on his own, ...you know, we know... We know you know, y'know? 'Such a wonderful person! But you know you've got problems.' "

And who can't relate to that?

*the only exception to this startling approach is the lead lyric vocal for the first single "after the cold crush". Says billy, "I just kept hearing that neil lyric line about the basement repeating in my head, and i tried and tried to codify the motifs I was hearing during my meditations, i was listening to the bed tracks of that one tune for hours on long hikes, pushing my body and mind out towards their limits while trying to get myself deeper inside the ideas suggested by that line and the feelings inherently present in the music. So I wrote a few things down, but I forgot to bring the paper in to the session, it ended up that I never looked at the paper again after i wrote it... the vocal take as recorded really didn't end up much like the way it was written at all!"

Tracklist

1.	Nowhere Fast	6:20

2.	After the Cold Crush	8:22

3.	Always Thrashing in the Same Bar	9:43

4.	Thanksgiving '91 (denisovan winter)	15:18

5.	taste the blood.	2:20

6.	suplex complex, part i	2:58

7.	the miles of a graveyard	8:19

8.	suplex complex, part i and i	13:02

9.	lonely shotgun	7:49

Credits

released February 9, 2022

performed by billy peace.

Produced by W.A. Lewis

special thanks to Moskos and Milchem for the use of the SM57 and AT2020, respectively! sweet one, guys, thanks a billion.

The 2 other microphones used were another SM57 and a shiny gold NEEWER NW-800 condensor. These were run into the Otari-MX5050 8 track via a rusty Mackie VLZ mixer.

Interruptions to the signal flow such as sound effect pedals, in-line compressors, and all other such flimflam chicanery were kept to a minimum at all times in order to preserve the transient fidelity and mature tonality of the instruments used. Similarly, the use of 'plug-ins' in the post analogue mixdown digital mastering process was kept to an absolute minimum, with only the HWMC Howie Weinberg Mastering Console plugin from Acustica Audio being used in the DAW for the final stages of the process.

Bless.

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