Mick Clarke’s new album “Telegram” is released online on Friday September 16th.
You can listen to or download the full album from Soundcloud, Airplay Direct or Bandcamp.
Released Friday 16th September 2022. Digital release only. Available on all major platforms. Stream now on Spotify and follow for latest releases.
The album features 12 tracks of rocking blues, will also be released on Spotify, Apple and all other major platforms.
Bio: British blues guitarist Mick Clarke began his career with KILLING FLOOR, part of the British blues boom of the late 1960s and contemporaries of Free, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. The band backed Texas blues guitar star Freddie King and toured with legends Howlin’ Wolf and Otis Spann. The album “Killing Floor” was later listed as one of Classic Rock Magazine’s twenty top British blues albums of the time. In the 70s Mick’s band SALT built a strong following in the UK, playing at the Reading Festival 1977 and opening for Muddy Waters in London.
Telegram - the album
The Mick Clarke Band was formed in the early 80s and has toured in the UK, Europe, USA and India, where Mick was the winner of the “best international act” from artistaloud.com. Mick has appeared on numerous festivals with artists including Joe Bonamassa, Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher, and the Southern California Blues Society called him “One of the finest blues players to come out of England”.
www.mickclarke.com
Mick writes:
Here's my 'official' album release for 2022.. 12 tracks of rocking blues.
Most of these tracks have already been released online as singles. I call this the Charles Dickens method.. you might remember that he used to publish his books a chapter at a time. Well I suppose it diminished the impact when the whole books came out, but they haven't done too badly over time.
I find that this works for me in a variety of ways. As I currently produce all my new material working alone in my home studio and playing all the instruments, each track can take a while to put together. (Not always I might add). By the time I reach track number 6 I'm already bored to death with constantly checking on track number 1 to see if it still sounds OK. And what I really want to do is get the music out there so that people can hear it.
To me the golden age of records was right back in the 50s, when someone like Elvis Presley could go into Sun Studio, work all night on one song, (with a spare 5 minutes for the B side), get it on the radio by the end of the week and in people's hands the week after. I love the immediacy of that. I'm also extremely impatient, with a short attention span. I just like to get on with things, so in many ways the modern world with the home recording explosion and access to an immediate world streaming market is a return to those days.
In the studio I like to keep things organic - first takes as much as possible. Definitely no drum machines.. I use a few samples but most of the drumming is me on an old Ludwig snare and a rather spiffy Paiste Hi Hat. I tuned the drum when I bought it about 9 years and I refuse to touch it again. I occasionally tighten up the snare or screw things back on when they fall off. Bass is on a £69 'Has Guitar' which I bought for the 'Rambunctious' album in 2012. I do tune it, but hope never to have to change a string. Keyboards are all on my wife's Roland D500 which sounds great for piano or Hammond sound. Lou Martin used it on our album 'Happy Home'. Guitars are from my collection of Gibson, Epiphone, Fender, Squier, Danelectro, Harmony, Rosetti and De Armond.. and my all purpose £9.99 'Oxfam Special' electro acoustic. For amps I can choose between my original Watkins 6 watt, bought in 1963, or a nice Marshall type amp called a 'Bugero' which I run through a fancy studio quality speaker simulator. I record on an ancient digital workstation, but master the tracks in a different room using Cakewalk and some modern plug ins. I find every stage of the process fascinating and rewarding in its own way.
I originally conceived this collection as a 3 piece album - raw and dirty. I recorded a version of an Elmore James number which came out sounding like something from 1968.. Taste or early Killing Floor or something. But as I say - short attention span. I immediately wanted to do something completely different, and the album evolved into something else. The Elmore track got dropped for a while but it's back in now. Flawed but exciting.. where it all began.
And the cover photo was taken around that time. It probably doesn't reflect the finished album, but.. what the hell. It features my trusty Gibson SG 'Gnasher'. Well, Gnasher doesn't get out much these days so I thought it should get its photo taken. I don't think it even features on the album.. if I want a Gibson sound I usually use one of my Epiphone semi acoustics which record a lot easier than Gnasher.
Similarly, the title 'Telegram' came with the 3 piece concept. Short and sweet, like some of Rory's albums.. 'Deuce' or 'Tattoo'. Fortunately I quite like it, and it is the opening track of the album. Maybe Gnasher sending out a telegram saying - hey get me a gig! (Insert smile emoji). I have taken an extended break from live work, but actually I've really enjoyed it, and it's been some of my most productive time in the studio. Anyway I've no doubt I'll be back on a stage at some point - always open to the right offer.
So the album came together as an eclectic mix of tracks ranging from British Rock Blues to Chicago Blues and Americana. Full track breakdown in the next column. I've thoroughly enjoyed releasing the tracks one by one and watching the reaction. All seem to have been well received so far. The complete album will be available on September 16th, a week earlier than originally planned. (Impatient, remember)? and I've already got more new releases lined up for between then and Christmas. Well, in this hot summer Fabulous Rockfold Studio is always cool... what else is a poor boy to do?
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