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earthlab's blog
| Sunday, May 20th, 2007
Album Available Now....
The brand new concept album from Earth Lab entitled, 'ELEMENT' Cat. No. ELR 12, is NOW AVAILABLE direct from us.... Price £12 GBP Stirling. (Includes shipping)
Go to PayPal.com and deposit to account: earthlab@tiscali.co.uk
Leave your mailing address and we'll do the rest. Easy.
Posted By earthlab @ 6:02 PM | Comments: 0 |
| Sunday, May 20th, 2007
Jerry Richards with Space Ritual at The Shires Show, UK
20 May 2007
The Shires Show....
Category: Music
..... Just an update for Jerry's forthcoming date with Space Ritual at The Chopper Club's, 'Shires Show', for the weekend of June 8/9/10....
Location is:
The Shires Show, on the A41 at Ternhill, about 2 miles from Market Drayton, Shropshire, UK.
Friday night (8th June) sees The Hamsters headlining with their own distinctive blend of blues and rock.
Saturday bill includes:
Tequila Rocking Bird - a classic rock covers band.
The Swillers - classic rock boogie
The Jalapenos - crazy rock and roll. Baby.
Leatherat - if you like The Levellers, then you'll love this band.
Space Ritual - sci-fi music archetypes lay down serious sonic assault 'till the end of time. Man.
Ticket prices as follows:
£15.00 PREBOOKED
£20.00 ON THE GATE
£5.00 PER CAR
£10.00 PER CAMPER
£20.00 PER CAR WITH CARAVAN
£10.00 DAY TICKET (OFF SITE BY 9.00P.M.)
KIDS UNDER 12 FREE
OAPS FREE
Kids must be accompanied by an adult.
Backpatch clubs by prior arrangment only
The recent private party appearance in Essex for the club back patch membership was, evidently, really good, with the band having a great time at the party, relaxing after the show (SR played for almost 3 hours!) with club members in the hospitality tent 'till VERY late....
Jerry says that the vibe was almost akin to that of free festival: Really friendly and a lot of fun... No bad trips in sight (site)!
Check it out people...
All the best
The Lab Tech
Posted By earthlab @ 5:52 PM | Comments: 0 |
| Sunday, May 20th, 2007
New Review of ELEMENT CD from concreteweb.be
28 Apr 2007
New review of ELEMENT from concreteweb.be
Current mood: Dreaming on a sunny afternoon....
Category: Dreaming on a sunny afternoon.... Music
Howdy Folks....
Here's a new review from our VERY HEAVY frendz at concreteweb.be, an online zine for most things metal and harder....
Review copyright and courtesy of Peter (cosmicmasseur)..... Many thanks for this.....
Review as follows:
Band : Earth Lab
Title album : Element
Record label : Earth Lab Records
Distribution : Bertus
Release date : 2007
Review : CD
Although Element is Jerry Richards' first solo album, the UK guitarist is most widely known for his mid nineties membership of Hawkwind . The terranauts included on Earth Lab is bassist Winston Blissett (Massive Attack), drummer Jon Moss (Culture Club), synth player Alf Hardy (Sonic Boom's Spectrum), friends Chris Alridge (sax and flute), Robin Hill (drums, synth and percussion), Barry Jones (bass). Bandmates from Hawkwind also appear, including Simon House (violin), Steve Taylor (bass), Steve Swindells (vocals and keyboards) and Ron Tree (vocals),
At first listen my reaction was to stop listening and shove it aside. But the music sneaked up on me with each next spin and now I have come to like it a lot. The spacerock label does not seem to fit Element but it is good music so who cares for the correct label!
The music itself is a splendid mixture in a myriad of styles and incorporating influences from around the globe. This is exemplified in opening cut "Separation by Skin" which effortlessly blends an Eastern vibe with a heavier Western rock sound. On tracks like "Liquid Crystal Clear" and "Back Seat Angel" you can hear the deep bass beats that aren't too heavy, but inject a trip hop, mellow mood! "Digital Age" is a an up-tempo hawksong with a contagious beat.
All the tracks are lengthy pieces, 5 to 10 minutes, which evoke a variety of moods and atmospheres, and contain a mix of instrumental and vocal sections. The use of instruments such as the sax, violin and the flute also conjure up images of Pink Floyd, High Tide and Los Dug Dugs , an obscure Mexican seventies power trio.
Jerry Richards is not only a gifted player, but obviously a versatile guitarist as well, and this shines through in the material.
Element really showcases Richards' talents as a multi-dimensional composer. I hope he takes this set out on the road so I get the chance to hear these numbers live.
88/100
Cosmicmasseur.
Posted By earthlab @ 5:51 PM | Comments: 0 |
| Sunday, May 20th, 2007
22 Apr 2007 Jerry Richards with Space Ritual Live
22 Apr 2007
Jerry Richards and special guest Ron Tree with Space Ritual @ The Robin 2: 04/04/07
Current mood: creative
Category: Music
..... A report on the recent Space Ritual show at The Robin 2, Bilston, Wolverhampton, UK 04/04/07.....
... OK, so what do you do when your Thunder God temporarily falls off his cloud and is laid low by a Ratatosk of a virus....? (Hmmm.... Sure it wasn't just an over indulgence in Aldebaran ale? Ed.) You call for back up, that's what.
As some may have gathered, Nik Turner was ill and couldn't make this show, so former Hawkwind frontman and comrade at arms, Ron Tree was invited by Jerry to stand in for him....
The band arrived at the venue around 4 pm and after hale and hearty hello's began to assemble their arsenal of sonic assault.... Ron turned up, fashionably late, but right on time, just as their Weapons of a Musical Dimension had been fine tuned for maximum output through the venue's Pulsating Address system.
After a short interlude, a set list for the event was hastily devised.... In the absence of Nik Turner it was quickly determined that the show would feature songs and poems that Ron was already familiar with, so the material from the new Space Ritual album was put on the afterburner and Jerry, Ron and Terry Ollis began plotting the trajectory that the ship would follow for this very special musical excursion....
Set list included:
The Right Stuff
(Ground Control To Pilot... excerpt)
Brainstorm
Quark, Strangeness and Charm
D-Rider
10 Seconds Of Forever
Ejection
Steppenwolf
Spirit Of The Age
Sonic Attack
Master Of The Universe
Silver Machine
Musicnauts:
Angel (Dance)
Thomas Crimble (Keyboards & Vocal)
Terry Ollis (Drums)
Chris Purdon (Audio Generators)
Jerry Richards (Bass & Vocal)
Mick Slattery (Lead Guitar)
Ron Tree (Lead Vocal)
Plus guests Martin and Marek from Litmus, backing vocals for Right Stuff. Thanks chaps... Fabulous.
Lightshow by Simon 'Striking Lighting' and Gavin Lazer Light.
Control co-ordination by Dave 'The Guru' Roberts.
This was a truly majickal musical oddysey, with both band and an ecstatic packed audience firing on all thrusters for the duration of the show....
.... and a thrilling reunion for Ron and Jerry.... 'Conjuring chaos is always simple when Mr Tree is in the house...' said Jerry. 'We should do this more often. Everyone should take a trip with Ron Tree, at least once in their lives... Just be prepared for a few crazy curves and some very dangerous divergence inamongst the musical mayhem.'
Wish you were there?
... Well, the event was filmed, in part and with luck, more of the footage will appear in due course....
Stay tuned to radio Earth Lab for more news of Space Ritualism, coming to a sector near you, soon.....
... And check www.spaceritual.org for frequency updates...
News on Nik Turner is that he's on his way to full a full and fabulous recovery...
Can't keep a good Thunder Rider down for long.
Upload complete.
Signing off, for now...
Best to one and all
The Lab Tech
Posted By earthlab @ 5:45 PM | Comments: 0 |
| Sunday, May 20th, 2007
Jerry Richards interview with Music Street Journal
28 Mar 2007
Interview with Jerry Richards at Music Street Journal
Category: Music
Hi Folks,
There's an interview with former Hawkwind guitarist Jerry Richards over at musicstreetjournal.com
Jerry chats to Gary Hill, chief hack and founder of MSJ, our lovely friends from Chicago.
.... Find out more about the Earth Lab leaders thoughts regarding the dead, (No, not The Grateful Dead.) Hawkwind, Cliff Richard (Is this right? Ed.), The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, the music business and, of course, Earth Lab here:
Earth Lab interview
Plus: Those of you in the the Bilston area of Wolverhampton, UK, can catch Jerry at The Robin 2, next Wednesday April 4th, where he'll be playing bass with Nik Turner's Space Ritual...... Bass-tastic, pop pickers.... Not half.
Support is from the fabulous Litmus.
Be there'd, or be squared, as Barney used to say.
That's it....
Gotta stay cool.......
Best to one and all
The Lab Tech
Posted By earthlab @ 5:42 PM | Comments: 0 |
| Monday, May 29th, 2006
THE EXPERIMENT BEGINS HERE.......
Well, well, well.....
Earth Lab. A curious beast, really. A repository for some of our more exotic audio experiments. Dunno how these things come about. Maybe I figured it was simply time to put together a new recording project and make some groovy tunes to chill to; or maybe it was simply getting together with some old friends and writng music for fun.
It's been a while coming, but it seems, finally, to be taking on a shape. Some of it, of it's own making. Which we like!
The idea for this album has been rolling around in my brain for a while, now. Essentially, a concept, revolving around (pun intended) the little blue planet which we all inhabit. All of the pieces on the album are predicated on the fundamental constituents of our existence, here on Earth, hence the work is split into four movements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water, (plus, bonus track Quintessence, the elusive fifth element) providing the framework for the CD's premise and thus bestowing it's title: ELEMENT.
It all seemed rather simple at the outset: groovy concept, fundamental constituents, funky astronomical data, etc. But exactly who do you get involved in a project like this, in order to pull it all together? I figured that, once the basics of the musical direction had been established, I'd have to 'pull on the old school tie' and rope a few likely suspects into the equation. (Or was that, a few equations in to throw it a few shapes?)
First into the pot was an obvious choice, really: former Hawkwind frontman and old friend, Ron Tree. Just the kind of fellow to have involved if you need plenty of twisted narrative and diabolical diatribe. Ron was delighted to come and participate, providing substance and searing song craft to three tunes: Track 1, 'Separation By Skin', a little bit of 'politic real' with a scorching attack on the kind of xenophobian propaganda that our 'glorious leaders' are peddling these days. Track 2, 'Eight & One', a gentle little 'numerical nursery rhyme', where it's all about the math. (Relax, no blackboards involved: we're doing the calculations for you.) Finally, Ron sings on track 5, 'Digital Age', an Orwellian, (but NOT Luddite), view of our rapidly expanding technological world. I've always thought that Ron has the perfect amount of 'sneer' for this type of subject matter and he certainly succeeds in delivering the diatribe with this little slice of distopian digitalia. Pure simple rock and roll.
Next up on my list of co-conspirators had to be the illustrious Steve Swindells, former Hawkwind keyboard player and writer of the band's 'hit' (with a bullet) record, 'Shot Down In The Night' from 1979.
I met Steve briefly for the Hawkestra reunion show at Brixton Academy, South London, a few years ago. However, due to the fairly chaotic nature of that whole affair, I didn't really get to know him until we played together at the follow up show that Nik Turner organised at the Astoria, in London, a little while later. That was a great night, with lots of former Hawkwind personnell and guest musicians taking part. Probably a lot more in keeping with the original aims of the Hawkwind experience from the early 1970's. Very loud, piledriver playing from all concerned, encouraged by a genuine sense of cameraderie, emanating, in no small part from the old dragon lord, himself, Nik Turner. (I know certain sections of the Hawk community criticise Nik's sax playing; rest assured, he does too!: but he certainly knows how to put on a good show and entertain an audience. Those who have seen it, will know.) Anyway, Steve and I got on really well and he invited me to play on some stuff he was writing and recording at the time. He'd drafted Jon Moss from Culture Club, in to play drums and Winston Blissett from Massive Attack, in on bass duties, to go and record a load of songs at Christchurch Studios, in Bristol. All this material was pretty much what I'd call soul/porn/funk (whatever the fuck that is) kinda groove and we had a blast recording there. Currently, there are 3 albums for this project, called DanMingo (formerly 'Emoticon') in the can. Looking for a deal and a hot producer....... Resume's to this site, if you fancy a go!
It all seemed perfectly natural for Steve to get involved in the Earth Lab project and thus it was made so.... Steve's unique vocal talents can be heard on four of the songs from 'ELEMENT', for which he wrote the lyric and he also plays keyboards and horn parts on one song called 'Thin Air'. (From the 'Air' suite, naturally!)
The metaphysical attribute for the album has been arrived at in a little song called, 'Back Seat Angel'. Initially, this was a drums and bass groove (No, not Drum'n'bass) that I'd had hanging around in my 'songs to do' file and I was looking for something to pull it into perspective vocal-wise and give it some kind of direction. One day, I was trawling around the internet, listening to a Public Service Broadcast station in America, when I heard this batty woman going on about seeing angels in the back seat of her car. Naturally, I pressed the record button on my mini disc player and stashed it away.
I later played the tune, with the new 'angel' dialogue in place to Steve Swindells and he immediately came up with the haunting lyric for the song. It was written there and then. I realised that it was perfect subject matter for a space on the then, formative Earth Lab album, addressing the inherent spiritual needs that we humans seem to require. Blissett and Moss heard the number and volunteered themselves for bass and drum parts, respectively.
Their performances are really quite transcendental.
Simon House...... Hmmm..... Now there's a name to conjure with. Hawkwind fans will know him from his time with the band in their halcyon days during the mid 1970's.
Initially playing with a psychedelic early '70's band called High Tide, Mr. House (for it is he) has also worked with Mike Oldfield, David Bowie, (Station To Station album etc.) and new wave/jazz/electro types, Japan, to name a few. I got to know Simon a little on our financially ill fated, but artistically fabulous tour as members of Hawkwind, down under, in New Zealand and Australia, back in 2000. He's a lovely chap and possibly the best musician I've ever had the privilege of working alongside.
He plays on the opening track of the new album and also on track 7, 'Liquid Crystal Clear'. Pagan(ini) (sic) violin, all the way.
Bedrock components of this project have been my long time friend and former co Tubilah Dog founder member, Alf Hardy along with an old pal, drummer, Robin Hill.
Alf and I haven't worked together on one of our projects since we did the 'Paradogs: Foul Play At The Earth Lab' album for Voiceprint Records in the late 1990's. He's been quite busy for some time working with Crokodile Tears, fronted by the incomparable Chris Sidwell (kind of Bonzo's meets Python's, punk/folk/jazz/electronica rock music. That description doesn't do it justice at all. You need to buy their new album, 'Gullible's Travels, on Dodgy Ticket Records: www.crocodiletears.info Go on...... Do it. You'll love it.) and also with up and coming UK band 'The Rips'. Watch out for them. Alf is a fantastic engineer (and synth soundscaper extraordinaire) and has captured some fine performances for the Earth Lab album, details of which will be found on the CD artwork, along with who did what, on which track etc.
Robin Hill and I have worked together on a few bits and bobs over the years and he was a totally natural choice for drums for the new material. Always coming up with a beat or rhythm that is hard to pin down, but utterly apposite for any musical piece. (No, it's not jazz. Well... Not as we know it.)
All in all, this is an album that will fascinate those that are familiar with all of the 'name' musicians involved and also one that will surprise and entertain those that thought old hippies never die, they just smell a bit funny.
Remember: If you don't buy it, you'll never know.
Enough for now. More blogs and rants from time to time. Enjoy MySpace, it seems like a lot of fun.
More details of the Earth Lab CD ELEMENT will appear, here, shortly....... A bientot..... Jerry Richards
Posted By earthlab @ 11:29 PM | Comments: 3 |
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