Today (May 3) I failed to turn up to the Total Rock show – again! Naughty, naughty. Joel, the show host, replaced me with a random girl he ‘met’ through Twitter. His opinion is that following someone on Twitter gives a real in-depth insight to their personality and that after reading someone’s Tweets for about a month it is as if you ‘know’ them.

Now, I’m not sure how I feel about this, but I’ve decided that it seems an interesting enough theory to try out. So this Friday (May 7) we have ‘The Man Who Fell’ coming into the studio (www.twitter.com/themanwhofell).

I just find it bizarre that through one webpage you become  embroiled in someone’s stream of consciousness. He is a guy who seems to have no life other than his endless Tweets, (most of which I ignore) but his character I find fascinating, nonetheless. I don’t even know who this person is, or what his contribution to society is – but I am among the 4,494 people who know what he watches on TV, that he lives in London N19 and that he is currently testing out a bee-only diet. Who are these people?! ‘The Man Who Fell’ will be with us between 10am-12pm at www.totalrock.com. And if you’d like to follow me on Twitter, my page is www.twitter.com/annaphoebe.

So, I had some good news this week – I’ve been asked to join Roxy Music playing violin and keyboards for them for their string of dates over the summer. After auditioning for their musical director I got a call back to meet Bryan Ferry at his studio. In a room filled with pianos, synthesisers and keyboards, I got out my violin and played the solo from Out Of The Blue. I then played through a few classics like  Love Is The Drug, and then Out Of The Blue on keyboards before an impromptu recording session for one of his new tracks.

It’s always nerve wracking performing for someone who has had a glittering career  from before you were even born. Roxy Music is a band I grew up listening to – I remember being shocked at my parents’ vinyl copy of Country Life with the two semi-naked ladies on the front of it! I never imagined that, 20 years later, I’d be looking at the fine specimens of album artwork blown up in all their glory in Ferry’s studios.

The very next day I was standing behind three tiers of keyboards and synthesisers at my first rehearsal. I now have a little under a month to learn about 40 songs. which will be whittled down to the ultimate festival set. My columns for the foreseeable future may be a little short!

Apart from blasting out Roxy tunes on repeat (I’m sorry, neighbours!), last week I had about 50 people descend on my house on for a house gig. They’re organised by a truly great bunch of people (www.sofarsounds.com), who come and take over your living room, invite musicians and an audience and create a venue in the comfort of your own living room.

We started off in the garden and then squished into the front room – it  was quite bizarre having your house filled with people you have never  even met before, but luckily all the people invited are respectable beings – I think the worst thing that happened was someone trod in some undiscovered dogshit in the garden!

Speaking of dogs, today (May 4) Wallace The Dog is being taken to meet Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull); we’re heading out to the country to have lunch and introduce Wallace to Ian’s large animal collection. Hopefully he (Wallace, that is) will behave himself. You can go see Jethro Tull at the Royal Albert Hall on May 10, performing a special concert commemorating the 65^th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Unfortunately, I won’t be there – I’ll be doing a final rehearsal for my solo gig at Camden’s Underworld on May 11. It’ll be the first time I’ll be playing with a full band line-up!! Tickets are available at www.stargreen.com/tour?tour=26258

Right. Got to go and rehearse.

Inspiration Track Of The Week:
Roxy Music Love Is The Drug

www.annaphoebe.com

Another week has flown by! It’s Monday morning and I should be on Total Rock Radio (www.totalrock.com) right now with the lovely Joel Hajioff (my pet chinchilla from another lifetime). However, I am sitting in the kitchen in pyjamas with a big pot of extra-strong Lavazza coffee and a copy of the new Classic Rock magazine in front of me.

Yesterday was spent in Terminal Studios, London Bridge rehearsing for the Sonnet 155 shows – it is sounding phenomenal! Anyone interested in hearing what a rock band with strings, opera singers and Shakespearean actors sounds like: I urge you to book tickets! Find out more at www.sonnet155.com.

The shows are on Sundays May 2/9 in London. I love playing the music. It’s really exciting and full of dynamics – huge sounding and very dramatic! And I love playing with the cellist, Nick Holland – we’ve already decided we’re going to do a recording project together. He’s absolutely amazing – and he built his own electric cello! His sound ranges from the super-sweet lyrical melodies right up on the highest position of his highest string, down to the aggressive and violent riffs he produces with his bowing arm. Inspiring!

It feels like we have been playing together for years! Hearing the famous ‘to be or not to be’ phrase from Hamlet spoken over a bed of weird string harmonics before rocking out into a full tune, with drummer Darrin Mooney (Primal Scream, UNKLE, Gary Moore) pummelling out his beats, with layers of operatic warbling on top… it’s totally mad and yet seems completely natural at the same time.

Totally mad and not so natural… Kiss. The responses from the band in the ‘Kiss For Questions’ feature in CR made me smile. The first time I saw Kiss live was in Berlin a couple of summers ago. Trans- Siberian Orchestra and Kiss share a lot of the same crew (actually for a few tours I have also shared Gene Simmons’ scissor lift), and I got invited to watch the show from the sound desk. I took my sister and a friend, and the three of us showed up wearing white shirts and denim hotpants; we were easy to spot in the crowd.

We shared a little cordoned off area with Sarah Brightman (who sat down the entire time looking pretty miserable/bored) and a bunch of guys from Anti-Flag. One guy caught my eye – mainly because I noticed he was being served Jack Daniel’s by a burly-looking guy dressed in a black Boss suit. I walked up to him and yelled in his ear: “You must be in a famous band if you have your own security guy serving you from your private stash of whiskey.” (I was half-joking… I assumed he was a local.)

Anyway, we exchanged pleasantries against the backdrop of lasers, platform boots and Kiss classics, and I helped myself to the fast-diminishing remains of JD. He seemed impressed to know that I was a member of Trans-Siberian Orchestra and I was duly impressed that he’d  heard of it… I asked him what kind of band he was in. His answer: “Oh, it’s small band called Rage Against The Machine.” WTF?! Ha ha!

I had been helping myself to Tom Morello’s whiskey, which I’d pretty much polished off. In fact, I don’t really remember much of my first ever Kiss show; the next day I woke up with a thumping headache, whiskey stains on my shorts and confetti all over my bedroom.

Apparently I’d been down at the front on the side of the stage with sister and friend dancing wildly (including busting out my backbend move) and stuffing the falling confetti into my bag and clothes. By all accounts it was provocative enough for Gene Simmons to keep stomping over to the side where we were dancing, motioning for us to come over to him. Thankfully, we had declined.

The second time I saw KISS was later that same summer at the Download Festival. I spent most of the time having flashbacks of the previous gig, but this time was conscious enough to savour the whole experience – including the firework-shooting guitar solo, the famous Simmons bass solo in full flight (with blood dripping off his disgustingly fascinating tongue) and of course the whole synchronised platform-stomping guitar-neck swinging dance moves. Awesome stuff.

Looking forward to the Wembley show in May, and this time I will review my Who’s Who in Rock ‘N’ Roll knowledge to avoid further embarrassing mistaken identities. And most importantly, I will avoid brown liquor.

Anyway – back to more wholesome topics. Have you seen Slash’s T-shirt on page 88 of Classic Rock? Who on earth would wear a shirt with ‘I LOVE MORMON P*SSY’ emblazoned across the front of it for a press shot?! And how on earth can I still find this man attractive even when he is wearing such a hideous item? I know my boyfriend could never get away with such a thing.

Speaking of weird creeps, quite random development on the whole potential stalker issue – turns out the guy who left the note through the door I mentioned recently was not the guy I spotted peering over the hedge with a mobile phone, but someone I know. He’s a producer/composer I’ve met several times through a band called Oi Va Voi I play in. But he had no idea that I’d moved round the corner from him, or that it was me he was listening to as he walked past. What a strange coincidence!

It does, of course, mean that the other man is still out there! So, if I start having nightmares of a peeping Tom (Morello) wearing Kiss make-up with gross un-PC T-shirts, you know I’ve been taking this column far too seriously. Right. It’s midday. The week has officially started and I need to get dressed.
Over and out.

AP

Inspiration Track Of The Week: Lynyrd Skynyrd Poison Whiskey

www.annaphoebe.com

First week in ages I haven’t had to make the trek to Heathrow Airport to get on a plane! This is London calling!

It’s Sunday evening and I’m sitting in the garden sipping a Greek coffee under a still-blue sky, surrounded by piles of cut up branches and dug up plants & weeds… with a faint whiff of undiscovered dog poo slightly tainting the air. Wallace (my 12-week old Kerry Blue Terrier) is at my feet chewing on an old lamb bone. Life is good!

This week reminded me of why I love living in London – from doing the metal/rock radio shows at TotalRock (www.totalrock.com), to seeing live jazz at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s in Soho, to experiencing the fantastic London Philharmonic Orchestra play Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall – it was a completely jumbled up random week.

I also spent a couple of evenings practising with my new band members – they’re the musicians from a great band called Jurojin (you can check them out on www.myspace.com/jurojin). We had a few rehearsals in my living room – to prepare, we clear away the sofas, light candles on the mantelpiece, and spread a blanket on the floor for Sim the tabla player to sit on. There is something about the ritual of preparing the tablas that gives a serene and mystical energy to the room.  It’s amazing when you find musicians who you have a special connection with!

A couple of times there were people standing outside the front hedge listening to the music – one even filming it on his phone. It reminded me of when I lived in Turnpike Lane as a student, and there used to be a dodgy bloke who would spy on me and my boyfriend through the crack in my curtains. This time I think it was a purely innocent enjoyment of music, although it did feel a little weird being watched.

The band and I played our first gig on Friday at a tiny London venue called the Regal Room. Really lovely atmosphere! And even though this was the first gig we did together as a band, it felt great! There’s footage you can check out on www.youtube.com/annaphoebe.

Apart from music, this week has been dedicated to dog walking. I promise this column won’t turn into a rendition of Marley And Me, but I really have been introduced to a whole other world through Wallace. There’s this network of people who literally know each other by their dog’s names. In my local park they congregate around the bench in their fleeces with their flasks of tea, and discuss everything from the dreaded ‘V-E-T word’ to the best chewsticks to neighbourly gossip. By the second time I entered the park even the people I hadn’t met before knew Wallace by name, how long I’d had him, and that his dad had won at Crufts.

I always thought carrying a violin case was the ultimate in giving people a way to start a conversation, but walking a dog wins hands-down as the top conversation starter. Wallace didn’t let me down and was the perfect puppy in his full pedigree glory, until he took a shine to an old dog with a slipped disc and started relentlessly humping him. Embarrassing stuff.

Wallace is now happily dominating the rugby ball in the privacy of his own garden and I’m going to open up the new issue of Classic Rock magazine and stick on the much anticipated exclusive Slash CD. Perfect soundtrack to cooking Sunday dinner!

Inspiration Track of The Week: The Clash London Calling

www.annaphoebe.com

Elsewhere, those who have worked with The Progfather comment on each of his solo albums and Finnish superstar Tarja Turunen, a massive Gabriel fan, passes judgment on her favourite Gabriel album covers.

There’s a rare, brand new and highly revealing interview with former Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin, Camel’s Andy Latimer talks about his favourite Camel album, and there are also brand new interviews with Coheed & Cambria, No-Man, Astra, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Heather Findlay, Panic Room, Solstice, Twelfth Night, Moon Safari, IO Earth, Crimson Sky and Diagonal, plus your usual round-up of prog news and reviews.

There’s a free CD featuring over an hour of great new prog music from the likes of Karnataka, Mandalaband, Syzygy, Solstice and many more. It’s your ultimate prog package.

Join Editor Jerry Ewing and writer Philip Wilding on Total Rock (www.totalrock.com) today as well between noon-3pm where they’ll be playing a load of great prog tunes and will be joined by special guests Anna Phoebe (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) and Heather Findlay.

And finally, for those interested in taking up the mflow promotional offer, the unique Prog code is PROGRK01. mflow is a unique digital music service that encourages fans to recommend and share music in return for a percentage of any resulting sales. The service launches on April 15 but 1,000 Prog readers can use this code to be the first to use the site as part of the invitation-only pre-launch. The easy-to-install mflow application allows you to follow other users and build a network of trusted sources, discover new music, recommend music to others, browse, search and purchase music online. mflow launches with over one million tracks.

Enjoy.

With its usual lavish wallet featuring Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson in classic pose, the issue looks at the relationship between prog rock and folk music, with brand new interviews with Ian Anderson, Renaissance, Roy Harper, Pentangle, Comus and Mostly Autumn. There’s a look at the life and times of John Martyn too.

Elsewhere there’s an exclusive round-table Progressive Nation interview with Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy, Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt and Bigelf’s Damon Fox discussing the state of prog music today, and interviews with Oceansize, Within Temptation, Katatonia, 3, The Devil’s Blood and a seasonal look at Xmas prog tunes.

All this, plus a free 12-track CD featuring the likes of Transatlantic, Nosound, 3, Within Temptation, Big Big Train, Mostly Autumn and many more.

You’ll find all your progressive desires catered for in Classic Rock Presents Prog issue 5, on sale from tomorrow.

Ian Anderson (plus codpiece) on the wallet.

Prog Nation protagonists on the cover inside.