Daniel Lanois: ROCKETS

rockets by daniel lanois

I always wanted a sort of renegade cd available at the merchandise stand and on the web site. After having accepted the invitation to do a few shows with Dave Matthews, on Jennifer Tipoulow and Adam Samuels encouragement, I decided that the timing was right to put together a CD. It is a combination of live and studio alternative takes. Jennifer did the packaging and Adam did an in house mastering, bypassing the usual complications of mastering. We then went straight to the factory and had them made up. Nice feeling of cottage industry.

POWER OF ONE
I recorded this one on my own. I wanted to try playing and singing into one microphone. So that's what I did. I set up a U47, real hot on the pre-amp and sat back from the mic about a foot and a half. The thumping of my foot is creating the ultra bass sound. I then overdubbed a back beat. I think it sounds great. I'd like to do more acoustic guitar and vocal recordings like this.

SWEET SOUL HONEY
This recording was done originally as an instrumental. Brian Blade on drums and me right next to him with my amp. There is a lot of guitar leakage into Brian's drum mics, giving it that open air sound. My friend Derrick Miller was hanging around and I asked him to beat this big old Indian drum along with Brian and I. Derrick started speeding up halfway and I got real mad. I then deliberately slowed the whole thing down by digging into my guitar in a knucklehead fashion. The performance from there on has kind of an angry twisted punk tone to it. I later wrote the words and overdubbed the vocal.

JJ LEAVES LA
This is one of my favourite pieces of music. Obviously played on my pedal steel guitar, it incorporates my sense of tradition with my sense of adventure. It is very much a pure form as it only has two ingredients, steel and drums. Recorded live in Dublin. Brian Blade on drums and Adam on the console.

SOMETIMES
I like the slow, sexy feeling of this version. Aaron Embry on piano, Daryl Johnson on bass, Jim Keltner on the drums. I overdubbed the steel, it has kind of a New Orleans feel about it.

ROCKETS
This is a live performance. Brian Blade and I. Recorded by Mark Howard. Adam did a bunch of edits. It's a kind of re-visit of the murder scene in the movie Slingblade.

DEVIL'S BED
This is from a live show in Dublin. I overdubbed a steel and a harmony vocal.

THE MAKER
This version of The Maker turned up during a rehearsal for my current tour. Our first stop being Joshua Tree. There was all this talk about that great 70's Gram Parsons era. Emphasis on melody, harmony and wholesome sounds. And so, we lowered the key of The Maker and did a sort of Gram Parsons version. Jim Wilson and Marcus Blake joined me on this one. Nice playing, nice harmony. I believe that it was the first take. Adam did a lovely recording and mix.

PANORAMA
Again myself and Brian Blade. I overdubbed my steel on top of a great Brian Blade performance. This piece of music is as close as I've come to Samuel Barber.

STORMY SKY
Mark Rothbaum who manages Willie Nelson always wanted Willie to record a version of Stormy Sky. When I was recording Willie's Teatro record we had a go at recording Stormy Sky. It did not make the Teatro record. When I recently re-visited the track I felt it had a lovely dance hall charm. I mixed it in such a way that Willie and I and Emmy do sort of a split vocal performance. Kind of like The Band did on some of their material. I've always been a fan of that philosophy. Malcolm Burn plays harmonium on this.

SPACE KAY
After taking a month away from recording I hooked up with Adam. Adam had done a new set up in the studio and we proceeded to jam to test it all out. We went into a version of Space Kay that had kind of a live feel about it. I've always liked that sensation when you're approaching a stadium and the band is already playing. That great sense of depth. This studio recording is kind of a mimic of that sensation.