First Axe: Christoph Götzen

August 22, 2022 Jocelyn Leave a comment

On our series called “First Axe”, we ask members of Tilted Axes to tell us their electric guitar origin stories. This time, we’re talking to guitarist and composer Christoph Götzen, who is based in Düsseldorf, Germany. He was raised on punk rock but studies and experiments with jazz composition.

Christoph is organizing a festival this week in honor of International Strange Music Day on August 24th.

Strange Music Festival runs for three days, August 24 to 26, and features a line up of DJ’s and bands at various locations around Düsseldorf.

Christoph says:

“The reason I got so attached to Strange Music Day and wanted to make it into some kind of festival was to bring people together. People who were like, listening to different music . And with the festival,I felt it’s a good way to do it because, mostly you will have more than one band.

So even if people only like one band, they’re most likely gonna listen to another that maybe isn’t their style of choice, but still, they will be there listening to it. And the term “strange” – I like to use it in a way just to open up and to experience different cultures of music.”

Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is an orchestra of guitarists and percussionists led by composer/performer Patrick Grant. They perform original music with mini-amps strapped over their shoulders, moving through public spaces in museums, parks and city streets. Its roster of musicians can change from performance to performance, city to city. Follow the group at @tiltedaxes.

First Axe: Howie Kenty

April 30, 2022 Jocelyn Leave a comment

On our series called “First Axe” we ask members of Tilted Axes to tell us their electric guitar origin stories. This time we’re talking to Howie Kenty, who’s a faculty member at Kaufman Music Center, where he teaches music tech, composition, and theory. But his early guitar days were marked by the sounds of grunge, cassette recordings and questionable taste in stage-wear.

Here’s one of Howie’s many projects, The Benzene Ring.

First Axe: Patrick Grant

April 28, 2022 Jocelyn Leave a comment

This time, on our series called First Axe – stories about first guitars – we’ll hear from the founder of Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars. That’s composer, performer and producer Patrick Grant. He’ll take us back to his teen years in Detroit for the brief but noisy life of his first department store axe.

“Tilted Axes” at the Alamo, Astor Place. Photo by Bob Krasner.

Be sure to check out upcoming performances and the rest of what Tilted Axes is up to at tiltedaxes.com. Follow @tiltedaxes on IG and Twitter or visit on Facebook.

Photos on this page by Bob Krasner.

First Axe: Elisa Corona Aguilar

April 24, 2022 Jocelyn Leave a comment

We’re back to bring you some new stories from the Tilted Axes circle of musicians. If you don’t know, Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is an orchestra of guitarists and percussionists led by composer/performer Patrick Grant. They perform original music with mini-amps strapped over their shoulders, moving through public spaces in museums, parks and city streets. Its roster of musicians can change from performance to performance, city to city. And you’re going to meet one of them right now in this series of episodes called “First Axe” – stories about first guitars.

Elisa Corona Aguilar is a writer, translator, composer and guitarist from Mexico City. As a kid, she felt left out when her brother got a guitar and she didn’t. In this episode, she tell us how she finally got her own instrument, and how it still influences the music she makes today.

Elisa has won several literary prizes and her most recent book is Doctor Vertigo and the Temptations of Imbalance and she’s translated Mingus & Mingus, the autobiography of Sue Graham Mingus and her life with Charles Mingus in Mexico. She’s been a member of Robert Fripp and the Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists, Music for Contemplation, the Contemporary Guitar Ensemble, Música y Letras at El Taller Latinoamericano de Nueva York, Tilted Axes: Music For Mobile Electric Guitars and the guitar duet Doble vida. She has a solo project called Sierpe and Other Stories, a series of compositions with electric guitar, loop, iPhone, music box, poetry and spoken word in different languages. She’s pursuing her PhD in music (NYU) and is a member of the prestigious National Endowment for Art Creators of Mexico (SNCA).

John Halo: Strings and Things

December 31, 2016 Jocelyn Leave a comment

On this episode, John Halo of the hard-rocking NYC quartet Downtown Equipment is here to work on his Les Paul Standard, while our host, Patrick Grant, changes the strings on an old friend, his sea-foam Fender Jaguar.

We’ll find out how many guitars John actually owns and how he names them, and of course, he and Patrick will boot up and plug in for a special year-end jam.

John handles guitars, composition and vocals in Downtown Equipment, and the band is working on a follow-up to their most recent EP, Calls for Chaos, which you can listen to right here:

By day, John molds young minds as a program coordinator in the New York City public school system. He creates courses and projects for junior high students in the science and the arts, from 3D printing to aeronautics to producing musicals. He also teaches a lot of math and music theory, which was the focus of his post-graduate studies.

This is our last episode of 2016! A huge shout-out to all of the guitarists who have joined us this year and a big thank you to all of you who have stuck around and listened to the show.

Happy New Year!

Sudeip Ghosh: Strings and Things

December 7, 2016 Jocelyn Leave a comment

This time on the Strings and Things podcast, super-shredder Sudeip Ghosh is here to change the strings on his Dean Zelinsky guitar while our host, Patrick Grant, works on his trusty Les Paul. Sudeip grew up playing and singing Indian classical music, but a chance encounter with a hard rock mixtape ignited his dreams of power chord glory.

Sudeip will tell us how a one-string acoustic and a scarcity of guitar magazines tested his determination, and how he’s come into his own as a metal guitarist, a film composer, and a Bollywood musician. As always, we’ll put the new guitar strings through their paces when Patrick and Sudeip plug in to record some rollicking riffs.

Let’s take this opportunity to check out some of Sudeip’s many musical projects. First off, he is the lead guitarist for the band Meaxic, a progressive rock/metal trio which also includes Jeet Suresh Paul on vocals and guitar, and John Stallings on drums. Here’s a video for their song, “Back On”:

Next up is Akramon, Sudeip’s instrumental project with band-mates Hirak Sen on lead/rhythm guitar, and Rishabh Natarajan on bass. The band’s name means “attack”, which describes their approach to taking metal styles and techniques and adding some Indian classical or eastern musical flavors. Here’s a piece from them called “Graviton”:

And here’s the great video for “Stay” which Sudeip talks about in the podcast. Manas & Sudeip is more of a rock/grunge project with Indian influences, and their new EP, The Remote Collaborations, is available on iTunes:

To find out more about what Sudeip is up to, find him on Facebook or visit his YouTube page for more music!

Strings and Things Episode 11 Trailer

November 22, 2016 Jocelyn Leave a comment

Computer programmer, film composer and supreme shredder Sudeip Ghosh joins us on the next Strings and Things podcast. He’ll be here to change the strings on his Dean Zelinsky guitar, while our host Patrick Grant works on his trusty black Les Paul. Sudeip will tell us how he discovered heavy metal while growing up in India, and we’ll hear how totally underwhelming his first guitar was.

This is the Strings and Things podcast, where guitarists come by to change their strings, swap some stories and play some music. Look us up on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and YouTube or visit our website at stringsandthingsshow.com.

Jeremy Nesse: Strings and Things

October 3, 2016 Jocelyn Leave a comment

Bass player Jeremy Nesse‘s initial reaction to seeing a Chapman Stick was one of surprise. “When I first saw it, I thought this looks like a board of wood from a picket fence or a two by four.”

Despite that first impression, Jeremy was inspired to add the 12-string tapping melodic bass to his arsenal of instruments by listening to Tony Levin‘s work with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel‘s solo albums. On this episode of Strings and Things, he relates to host Patrick Grant how his style of playing has developed over the years, from early childhood explorations of his Dad’s vast vinyl collection, through his years listening to British new wave and to his interests in progressive rock and world music.

tilted axes-4481 — photo by Erick Gonzales

Jeremy has recorded and performed with a variety of bands and ensembles, including Moving Picture Show in LA, Humble Lion, the punk rapper Hyro Da Hyro and High North. You can find him at ReverbNation or on his Facebook page.

And before you go, watch Jeremy play the Chapman Stick here:

Strings and Things Episode 10 Trailer

September 18, 2016 Jocelyn Leave a comment

On the next Strings and Things podcast, bass player Jeremy Nesse is on tap to tell us about the albums and musicians who inspired him to pick up the Chapman Stick, and he’ll describe the pitfalls of playing such an unusual instrument. We’ll find out how his Dad handed down his deep love of music…and why Jeremy’s own son hasn’t quite caught the musical bug just yet.

This is the Strings and Things podcast, where guitarists come by to change their strings, shoot the breeze and play some music. Look us up on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and YouTube or visit our website at stringsandthingsshow.com.

James Moore: Strings and Things

August 21, 2016 Jocelyn Leave a comment

Above photo by Isabelle Selby.

The podcast goes unplugged this week! Our host, Patrick Grant is in the front parlor with James Moore of the Dither Guitar Quartet. They’ve got National and Ovation acoustic guitars and they intend to use them. We’ll find out how James made it from the San Francisco Bay Area to the new music scene here in New York. He’ll tell us about the strange playing techniques he uses on his recent album of solo guitar music by John Zorn, and we’ll hear an exclusive rendition of a Chet Atkins ballad.

Dither is an electric guitar quartet that includes James, Taylor Levine, Joshua Lopes, and Gyan Riley. They specialize in an experimental mix of “composed music, improvisation, and electronic manipulation.” They’ve performed across the United States and overseas since forming in 2007, and produce a yearly festival of music and art called Extravaganza!.

As a multi-instrumentalist and composer, James juggles a number of musical projects aside from Dither, such as The Hands Free, an acoustic quartet, and a rock band called Forever House. He recently put out another album of violin and steel-string resonator guitar called Gertrudes, with Andie Springer. The pair formed their duo when they were on tour with playwright Richard Maxwell’s “Neutral Hero”.

The CD for James’ version of the guitar etudes by John Zorn called “Book of Heads” includes a film featuring the crazy techniques involved in the making of the album. Here’s a sample of what you’ll see on the DVD:

James Moore plays John Zorn: The Book of Heads, Etude 13 from steve taylor on Vimeo.

Find out more about James at his website: http://www.jamesmooreguitar.com/

The Strings and Things Show