In 1982, FAT FREDDY’S TIME GENERATOR and three other local bands of Canton Ticino (Southern Switzerland) produced an album titled TICINO MUSICA Vol. 2 as part of a trilogy to showcase young aspiring bands of that region. I’m extremely pleased to see that after 42 years, ALESSANDRO ZANOLI of RSI (Radiotelevisione Svizzera Italiana) has revisited that period and produced a podcast series to bring to life a time when local musicians and bands had few opportunities to show off their talents let alone immortalise them on records. As guitarist of Fat Freddy’s Time Generator I’m proud to have been part of that. To listen to the podcasts go to https://rsi.ch/s/2083641 (in Italian)
Zucchetta
I am proud to finally present the “restored” version of an electric guitar that has accompanied me in its various editions for a good part of my life.
I got my first electric guitar around 1970 as a birthday gift from my parents. It was a Fender copy by Ibanez with a white body and a maple neck. Many years later I swapped that guitar with a friend who had an identical model but the body had natural wood finish which I liked better. I eventually ordered an original Fender neck for a lot of money as I wanted the guitar to look cooler and more professional. My friend, an apprentice carpenter, promised to fit the neck with special screws so that it could easily be removed. In doing so he successfully managed to ruin the neck and our friendship. Nonetheless I continued to play that guitar on many occasions and even recorded a vinyl with it. (See post: “40 years Fat Fredy’s Time generator“). Eventually further down the timeline I lent that guitar to another friend who, by storing it in an extremely dry room, sealed the end of the precious Fender neck and its playability.
During my time in Japan (1984 – 1993) I bought various replacement parts (a new neck, a bridge, several pick guards and even Di Marzio pickups which are still boxed somewhere in the house) but during those years I never found either the time or inspiration to restore the guitar, most likely because I had bought other guitars in the meantime.
About three years ago I felt it was time to have another go at some restoration work. To begin with I applied orange paint to the body and somehow rebuilt the electronics but the guitar remained in pieces for yet another two years. This year I decided to take a short cut and buy a pre-soldered Fender pickguard so to finally finish this job of ages. Say hello to: “Zucchetta” (Italian for pumpkin, a fitting name I believe)
You might ask yourself how Zuchetta sounds after all those years … well, drop in sometime soon and find out 🙂
40 Years of Fat Fredy’s Time Generator!
I finally managed to convert the vinyl we recorded 40 years ago into a digital format. What an amazing and moving moment to hear songs I haven’t been able to listen to all this time and to remember the circumstances and fantastic people who contributed to these pieces. Thank you Paola, Giorgio and Stefano for having been part of this unforgettable moment of my life!
A plunge into the past
A student and friend of mine has recently had the opportunity to interview the great MICHAEL SCHENKER as part of his engagement with an online rock magazine called: VeroRocK.it.
When we discussed this upcoming interview in one of our lessons I realized that I had known this guitarist of international fame in my younger years when I lived in Hannover, Germany. My friend Raffaele was kind enough to mention my name towards the end of the interview and it seems that MICHAEL actually seemed to remember me. I’m absolutely honored! Here’s the link to the interview:
MICHAEL SCHENKER (MSG): a half century of immortality!
Fat Fredy’s Time Generator
…should have really been: “Fat Freddy’s Time Generator” as an homage to the underground comic character created by Gilbert Shelton. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabulous_Furry_Freak_Brothers#The_Freak_Brothers
It was also the name of the band I played in during the 1980’s. When I moved to Lugano, Switzerland due to the untimely passing of my dad I dearly wanted to show off my skills as a budding guitarist. With the help of my sister who acted as my interpreter because of my lousy Italian I auditioned – and got “hired” by a young band as lead guitarist.
The band had huge aspirations. We rented and renovated a large cellar that was to become our rehearsal studio, bought an array of professional equipment and started composing and rehearsing every day for hours. All that was missing at the time was a capable singer.
Stefano, our drummer, scouted some local music schools for a suitable voice and found Paola. However, styles couldn’t have been more contrasting. Paola wanted to sing Barbra Streisand, Giorgio the bassist loved Heavy Metal, Stefano was intrigued by complicated rhythms hence he practiced Rush, King Crimson and alike while I was rooted in blues and more mainstream rock like Deep Purple.
Despite these massive differences and the resulting endless discussions about the musical direction the band should take we did manage to compose a set of original songs that we successfully took on the road, playing numerous venues in the area and even appearing on an Italian TV show (honestly speaking, it was really a TV auction of Persian carpets with us as musical background filler, quite funny nonetheless).
The band’s moment of glory came when we were offered the collaboration on a sampler album of local rock/pop music. Studio time and production were all self financed and in turn we received 250 copies of an LP record titled: TICINO MUSICA VOL. 2 which we could sell at a price the market would carry.
Needless to say that sales never covered the investment costs but we had a blast selling our music to friends and family members. Unfortunately, that also marked the beginning of the end of the band. There were just too many musical differences that spoiled the brew and the band split up eventually.
Recently I heard about a revival of the music of that era and realized that I still have a few copies of the “famed” record in storage. Whoever might be interested in getting their hands on this ultra-rare piece of music history, just contact me under my email: malatom@gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do.
Here are a few shots of the cover and I will try to post some music of the LP as soon as I have been able to converted the vinyl to digital.
The stumble
I’ve just recorded a Gary Moore inspired version of Freddy King’s “The Stumble” and posted it on YouTube.
Here’s the link:
Enjoy 😉
Stefano’s Music
Many years ago and before moving to France, Stefano spent time in England. His objective was to get a foothold in the local music scene. During this time he also attended a course on composition and arrangement.
After his return from the UK he composed some pieces which I believe were meant to be used as a film score. I do not recall the exact story behind it but I do have preserved a few clips that he had sent me at the time. Here they are. Enjoy!
Dark Sands
Here’s another attempt at creating a soundtrack for an imaginary videoclip. The setting could be a journey through the sandy dunes of a dark wasteland… and no silver lining on the horizon, sorry
Don’t get me wrong – this piece does not reflect my state of mind. 😉 The whole idea actually came to life when I started fiddling around with an NI Reactor extension called “Space drone”, (for those who don’t know: that’s a software synthesizer) The intro and outro of the piece were created using the said extension.
It’s a wee bit long so if you find about eight minutes in your busy day listen in and (hopefully) enjoy!
2020 Horizons
Happy New Year! I’m about to start a new project. For now it has the working title 2020 HORIZONS. It is going to be a piece of music inspired by different landscapes: Sea-Woods-Sand-Ice. In addition there will be a fifth element yet to be determined. Below is an excerpt of a first trial. Enjoy!
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