Beautiful autumn views from up here in Montenero d’Orcia
We all had a blast playing a packed-out show at #ramblinrootsfestival @tivolivredenburg #Utrecht tonight. Great room, great venue, super-professional crew, killer sound, great crowd. It’s shows like these that make everything worth it. Loved it, 10/10 would rock again.
HELLO CLEVELAND! @vanessa_peters and the #Electrofonics have landed at @tivolivredenburg for the #ramblinrootsfestival and we are ready to rock! We might even play Stonehenge, idk.
Seven years ago this week @vanessa_peters and I met up with the Danish folk group The Sentimentals to record an album together in a beautiful farmhouse in the lush, verdant Danish countryside.
The album was created improvisationally with minimum production. Vanessa would show the band a song, the band would jam on it for 20 minutes or so to nail down the structure and feel, then we’d record two or three takes before moving on to the next song. Perfection was eschewed in favor of spontaneity: performances were ad-hoc, mic bleed was a feature not a bug, and accidents were merely proof that humans had made these sounds.
The result, “Vanessa Peters with The Sentimentals,” was the most organic, free-flowing, and spacious album I’ve ever made. The impromptu photo shoot was pretty epic as well. Thanks @bittenherbst for the extra photography help (photos #2 & #3)!
The last few days turned into a blur. Zwickau – Hagen – Stuttgart – Lucca – Rome – Lucca. Seven hours in, we were stuck for what seemed like forever behind a giant herd of cattle that we never saw but clearly heard. And smelled. Mamma mia. Now we are staying in a little apartment outside of town because our apartment is rented to some tourists.
I’m very fortunate to be with someone who is so easy to get along with. We spend countless hours on the road, planning, problem-solving, crisis-responding, and occasionally playing shows. Hardest working person I’ve ever known. She’s a trooper. Always weird, never boring, never gets old, always better when she’s there.
So cool to find posters up all over town!