Dave Mattacks Snares
Photo Credit: Lars Nelson
New England / December '05

** Gig List Updated: April 19th, 2006 **

 
Good day everyone!
 
I trust this finds you all in good health. I thought it best to get a little news/update out before the holidays  -  once they're upon us, as my friend Sandy Denny wrote/sang "Who knows where the time goes"...
 
Starting with a recent look behind me... I have to tell you how enjoyable my recent Euro' trip was with Grey DeLisle...we started in Amsterdam & apart from an incident filled two day trip to London (I'll save the details on that one for my face-to-face meetings with you!), the Holland & Belgium dates were all great fun...kudos to Yamaha for supplying a good set of drums for the entire tour thereby avoiding the dreaded "drums-du-jour"...

After the final Brussels date, I flew to London then drove to Devon to see family (my wonderful Mother, Sister & Brother-in-law)...right after that came two drum master-classes/clinics, one in Oxfordshire (thanks to Gary Marshall) & one @ London's Royal Academy of Music (thanks to Neil Percy & Paul Clarvis)...home after that to Boston  -  & while I'm on the subject of teaching, thanks also to Mark Wessel @ Berklee College of Music here in Boston...Mark contacted me to do another master-class on drum tuning & cymbal selection for the recording studio for his students in the school's studio A...a good turn-out as I expunged for three hours plus...

By the way, I'm occasionally asked by players "do you give private lessons" ?   Yes & I'm happy to do so   -  contact me through this site to discuss...
 
I should remind you of a few CD's I'm on - either in part or whole - that are now available...I've likely mentioned these before but feel  they're worth 'plugging' again...FYI, [*] means you can probably catch me playing with these folks in the New England area...& I recommend Google if you're looking for more info' on these people : 

[*] Four Piece Suit' s "Spirito"  /   Teddy Thompson's "Separate Ways"  /  [*] Paul Ahlstrand's "The Sunday Hang"  /  Grey DeLisle's "Iron Flowers"  /   Dan Coleron's "Par Avion"  /  Liz Carlisle's "Five Star Day" / Thom Enright's "Intoxicated"  /   [*]  John Troy's "Just When I Thought I Was Done"  /  Digney Fignus' "Trouble On The Levee" ....... & last but not least [it's finally available!] -  Troy Mattacks & Brown "Live from Captain Carlos'"...this has turned out rather well I'm pleased to tell you, & is definitely top of my "buy-this-one-please" list...exquisitely recorded & mixed by Huck Bennert (of "Super Genius" & "Chip Taylor / Carrie Rodriguez" fame), this deeply fab documentation of our fun three-piece band is available from www.johntroy.com & the odd well-informed outlet -  I hope you enjoy it...
Dave Mattacks Snares
Photo Credit: Jim Primmer

 
Other stuff: when Richard & Danny-no-relation-Thompson came to Boston in late October, I was pleased to join them for the second half of their set (on bass drum, snare & one cymbal)...& thought a fan's subsequent remark about the birth of a new format "the acoustic power trio" was pretty much on the money...a terrific evening...

Over the past few weeks, I've been sporadically doing keyboard & percussion overdubs on tracks for the new "Super Genius"  CD & am happy to report that (a) it's sounding great & (b) it will likely see light of day in the spring  -  as usual, watch this space...

Though it's a ways off, the 24 stringed behemoth that is "Feast of Fiddles" is looking at a very full spring UK tour  -  friends in Blighty can keep up with the news via www.feastoffiddles.com...

Now the part you've all been waiting for (ahem) - the entertainment section.  Catching my ears & eyes include - [TV] "Family Guy", "Extras", "Waking the Dead"  - [Films] "Crash","Motorcycle Diaries","Curse of the Were Rabbit", "Merchant of Venice" (w' Pacino) -  [CD's] Thomasz Stanko's "Suspended Night", Johnny 'Bowtie' Barstow's "A Bowtie Christmas & More", "Dylan's 'No Direction Home' - sound-track to the Scorsese Documentary" - [Book] "Don't Get Too Comfortable" by David Rakoff .

Finally: thanks to good friend Barnes Newberry, I recently re-discovered a discography done on me for a magazine...it runs (approx.) from the early 70's through to the mid '80's & I'm very pleased to let you know that though it stops there, my career didn't...it's reproduced at the bottom of my Discography section, here on my website...

Dave Mattacks Snares
Left-to-right: Marvin Etzioni (Mandolin/Piano], Grey DeLisle [Vocals/Autoharp], DM , Murray Hammond [Bass Gtr./Vocals]
Photo Credit: Lars Nelson

 
That's all this time  -  my very best wishes for a healthy & enjoyable holiday season & I hope I see you soon...
DM

PS: There's one question I'm asked more than any other, so here's the reply to save (some of) you some time: "It was great working with Nick Drake  -  he was very shy but very talented".  ...I hope that helps!
DM