The low-down on (mostly original) songs from the CD ‘Too
Many Strings’ Song and tune composition and arrangement (except
songs 11 and 15), lyrics, instruments, vocals, recording, mixing, mastering
(Big
Ears Recording Studios) and cover concept by Marcus Sturrock.
On the front cover are the words ‘does anyone have a krumhorn?’ a
medieval instrument. The pun suggests that when going to a person’s
house for a jam (or as Norman Gunstan said to Frank Zappa, a jelly, the
American version of jam), you will more often find a guitar rather than
unusual instruments. ‘Too Many Strings’ is a multi-instrumental
album, although it is mostly solo six and seven steel string acooustic
guitar.
Life experiences such as some nasty injuries, living in an ashram from
14 years of age, musical therapy for the profoundly autistic etc, running ‘Big
Ears Recording Studios’, lecturing at Tafe, becoming a grandfather
at 47, an acrobat and musician in a circus, and many other events have
found their way through original lyrics and music onto this album.
Passion and feel don’t have to be lost to technique. Larry Carlton
is a good example of this. An inspiring influence. Thanks. The term ‘it’s
all about the music’ doesn’t always apply to me, sometimes
I get bored of playing and take a break. It seems to help me keep my
passion. I never want it to be just a job. When I’m bored of playing,
it’s still fun to play to a live audience. That too can sometimes
bring out the passion.
- Warps of Life: A pun on ‘Walks of life.’ Irish, Scottish,
Middle Eastern and African Jazz musical influences. It has some two
handed tapping and slapping. A mish mash? Maybe a marriage that works.
Chair
squeaks, guitar knocks, bumps and breath sounds have all been left
in this recording and some other tracks. This highlights the presence
of
the musician. A less clinical approach, also I move around a great
deal.
- You know and I know: Are they in love? After trying to hold the
relationship together, unbeknown to him she has already broken up
with him in her own mind, although deep down he knows he’s losing
her. Basic stuff yet a thread of common truth. One doesn’t realise
until the end of the song that he is begging to hold the relationship
together, pointing out all its good and cherishable aspects. The final
lyrics are ‘I can’t believe we’re through.’
- Surface Tension: As in Track 1 many of my musical influences have
come through. Even though it’s guitar, guitar and more guitar,
it varies in styles, a natural progression as I become bored easily.
It’s a privilege living in our society to become bored at all.
So many musical choices.
- Speaking with Hands: An old song of mine influenced by my first
instrument, drums. At school I started on marching drums.
- Lyrical Souls: Starts off a happy tune that merges into some dark
weird chords (a bit like life) into some walking jazz bass and back
to happy.
- Meaning of Waterfalls: The song flows.
- It’s a Miracle: Miracles? Sometimes I see breathing as a
miracle. Some spoken word in this song, not intended to be rap.
- Our Worlds: Clap and dance to this tune. Good fun.
- Psycho Safari: A multi-instrumental song, Psycho Safari is the
name of a Celtic jazz funk Middle Eastern Spanish influenced band I’ve
got together. At the age of 14 I moved into an Ashram partially abstaining
from playing music. Some years later, fresh out of the Ashram into
many different jobs, I started composing music, which many friends
commented would make a good movie sound track. The music was hardly
ever listened to as it was intended, just a composition. After composing
music and sound effects for circus, plays, TV and short film, I would
now love to compose movie scores, proving my friends correct. The song
reflects a Jack of many instruments, master of none, especially cello
for those celloists listening.
- Clock Hider: We awaken to the mind ticking over. I hide the clock
in the morning so my wife can continue to sleep on her days off from
her hectic research regime. Clocks and phones have no manners.
- Camera Shy: A tune composed while in hospital receiving (ooo)
a colonoscopy a small (inserted) optical fibre/camera.
- Haunt: A tune that began with a few chords given to me by Ron
Smeeton, a guitar/musician hero of mine when I was 19 and still today
32 years later.
- Slaap lekker meisje: Dutch for sleep well my girl.
- Intuition
Jam: As the title suggests I’m purely jamming. Letting go,
another part takes over.
- Jackie Coleman’s Reel/What a Wonderful World: Thanks Tony
McManus Shallow Waters: original
- Fe Fi Fo Funk: Get down and get back up again. A funky tune.
Canberra Times Story was published was 17 June 08. By Arne Sjostedt
Guitarist Marcus Sturrock has a penchant for keeping it real. Shying away
from the at times pretentious and manufactured side of the music industry,
he
refuses to be labelled, packed up and sold out. Instead, this gentleman
guitarist prefers to let his performance and passion speak for themselves. Sturrock has played and jammed with a virtual brag book of musicians, and
developed a reputation as being a wild and gifted performer. Artists
he shares one degree of separation from include Tony McManus, Darryl Braithwaite,
Angry Anderson, Vince Jones, Wendy Matthews, and keyboardist with the
likes
of Pink Floyd, Phil Collins and Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from
Mars, Robin Lumley.
Promoting two new albums Getting it Wronge and Too Many Strings, Canberra
will have the opportunity to see Sturrock in action Saturday night at the
Southern Cross Club.
Joining him will be vocalist Brooke Schiemer, singer song writer Nick Cornish
and multi instrumentalist Andrew Clermont. Director of the Golden
Fiddle
Awards, Clermont is three times National Flat-pick Champion, plays
with bands like Totally Gourdgeous and Dya Singh, and has won numerous
awards for banjo, mandolin and violin.
Saturday’s show will include everything from country to “swing, swing jazz, gypsy swing” and a little bit of blues. There’s some Middle Eastern sounds, says Sturrock, “lots of Celtic, a bit of Flamenco, and some nice funk with a bit of luck.” At the end of the night, the musicians will join each other for one big jam.
Having joined an ashram at the age of 14, with the rejection of materialism
and ego that goes along with much Eastern philosophy, Sturrock is reticent
to see himself as deserving the respect he has come to earn from audiences
both internationally and in Australia. “Being recognised, being respected, I’m split in two ways. I don’t like people resecting me because I’m a guitarist. I could be anything - they don’t know me personally.” He acknowledges, however, the thrill of live performance. “If you’re playing in front of 40,000 people, its like - ‘Good grief.’ It’s very illusory, it’s very fake in a lot of ways - but you can’t deny the fact, or I can’t, that you come out buzzing. You can’t take the smile off your face.”
Not content to stay in one place for too long, he says his music is hard
to put it in a box. “I get bored very easily, which is why I move on from one style of music to another. Even within my own repertoire as a guitarist.”
While boundaries don’t fit comfortably in his world, many of Sturrock’s tunes are highly structured and technical. “I would find it really hard to jam all night,” he says. Having come from a history of playing in groups like PJ Hooker and the Psyco Safari Band, Sturrock decided if he was going to play solo guitar well, he was going to work hard to stand out. “I thought I’ll have to get so good that lots of people will like me, but be still obtainable to the point where it was still melodic.”
He is also the first to recognise talent in others. “I know my limitations - I know when I sit next to somebody like Tony McManus - who plays one particular style of playing, a Cetic style, I sit there humbled.”
Sturrock tours roughly three months of the year, runs Big Ears Recording
Studio in Western Australia and works as a carer, providing musical therapy
to sufferers of profound Autism. After doing 15,000kms by car for this tour
alone, next month he takes off to tour Europe - stopping at Holland, Germany,
Italy, England, Scotland and Ireland. Not surprisingly, he was hard to pin
down when asked what he wanted to do next. “I ask myself what am I trying to do with life sometimes. Full stop. Music for me is a challenge on a lot of different levels.” It’s a challenge that has taken him away from his instrument many times. Returning, however, is as inevitable as it is a pleasure.
“When I get back to it it’s like arriving home. It‘s not just that I‘m playing guitar - I‘m
expressing myself in a way that I would like to.”
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