Howdy!

If any of you have come to a Stormcellar gig or listened to a Stormcellar song you may have noticed that MJEB, besides singing is also a harp player. Not the kind of harp that Harpo Marx played (like with strings and you sit down to pluck magic from it and look all elegant as you do so). Like this:

 I mean the other kind of harp … the one that you have to blow into. For the life of me I can’t figure why they call it a harp - the former has no relation to the latter. The former requires grace and finesse. The later … well it requires breathing. And a tongue. And hands … optional if you’re Bob Dylan or Neil Young. Like this:

I do have a couple of favourite players … the late Al Wilson from Canned Heat is one. His playing on their version of Help Me is forceful:

and of course there’s Sonny Boy Williamson – a real showman …

As I was looking for a photo the other day I found this footage of MJEB warming up in one of the studios that we recorded The Curious Assembly and thought it’s worth sharing – the sound of Mike playing his harp through my amp:

And then there is this – we were at Goose Studios working on Hired Guns & Borrowed Glory (specifically Light in the Distance) and we were trying ideas out like putting the harp through some guitar effects … like this:

It didn't make the final mix but it's a great sound. Been wanting to share that for ages!

There you go – when a harp that isn’t a harp doesn’t sound like a harp neither but it sure sounds purty!

Cheers,

Rosie