HEDERSLEBEN 3  

  >>> Pre 'Fall of Chronopolis' tour & LP recording <<< 

   PART ONE - 'STUFF'   

   by Nicky Garratt  

 
Here I am, almost 60 and surrounded by stuff!
 
I don’t mean mess or junk, although there is some for sure. What I really mean is baggage.
 
In 1971 all we needed was one of our group to have a car. We could all pile in and go to Leicester’s De Montfort Hall to see Curved Air, Hawkwind, King Crimson or Wishbone Ash. We parked the car in that overcrowded lot, took our seats - it was all seated back then - and as the lights dimmed, the atmosphere became electric.
 
Who would have thought that more than 40 years later I would have been traveling for weeks around the USA with Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash and Nektar.  
 
A bus ride on Saturday morning to the Silver Arcade would see us flipping through the Prog-rock LPs; the one or two we’d take home we’d  played to death. We’d read every word on the jackets; some even smelt of fresh ink or varnish coating. 
 
Back at home we’d rehearse with our band in the bedroom: no rehearsal room cost, no rent, no mortgage, property tax or car payments, just playing. Yes it was 90% fun and 10% struggle.
 
At least that’s how I remember it. 
 
It’s now a different story; the scale has tipped the other way. Houses, vehicles, taxes, health, and logistics all eat away former fun time and leave one fatigued with it all. Not least of it all is the Department of Motor Vehicles. Yes, 6 hours to register our new tour bus and it’s still not done! Where will we park it? 
 
Well I hope I’m towards the end of these preparations. KQED called me last week to set up an interview; my good friend Henry Rollins will be plugging us on his radio show for the Southern CA shows, and I even did an interview with the Guardian newspaper  in the UK a week or so ago. With the Brainticket album - featuring Hedersleben as the backing band - just being released, more promotion is also coming from that source.  
 
The posters have gone out, a radio session in Portland OR secured, (KBOO 22nd of April), various papers and on-line interviews or promotions fulfilled and rehearsals started. 
 
The rehearsal studio is in Oakland and is not much more than a cupboard. The equipment jams the windowless space, which instead of a view of the outside world, is festooned with posters from our previous tours. Between Jason’s drum kit and Kephera’s sufficiently prog nest of keyboards, Ursula and I are squeezed while Ariana is on the other side. Behind her our lighting engineer practices with a slimmed down rig. We are looking to perform only pieces from the upcoming album Fall Of Chronopolis on this tour as we go straight into the studio to record it afterwards. Perhaps the live favorite (On The Ground) Safe & Sound from the second album Die Neuen Welten might be added as a closer or encore piece. 
 
The bus is still in the North Bay having finishing touches to it. It is huge, and needs to be. The Sprinter’s we’ve rented in the past are not big enough and this tour we have Philadelphia’s St James & the Apostles traveling with us. They will play all the shows up until southern California. California law restricts us to 10 seats without a commercial license with a passenger endorsement.  
 
 
 
The rest of the seats have been removed and a barrier is being erected to protect the gear from flying forward. This bus is equipped with electric doors and even a wheelchair lift that enables us to load the gear directly onto the pavement.
 
This is important as parking is in critically short supply at many of the gigs and inevitably someone with pull right up to the back end of the bus.
 
I must confess to being less than enthusiastic about owning another liability.
 
When we are not on tour we will drive it out to Carmel to store it, but still…
 
...it’s more “stuff”!

Nicky Garratt 13 April 2015

Huge thanks to Mike Kiker (organist, pianist, bassist and multi-instrumentalist for 
St James & The Apostles) for some of the photos used for Nicky's tour diary...

 

    St. James & The Apostles' Facebook page - click here   

 

Hedersleben 3 are:
Nicky Garratt - Guitar
Jason Willer - Drums & Percussion
Kephera Moon - Keys, Synths & Vocals
Ariana Jade - Vocals & Violin
Ursula Stuart - Bass & Vocals
 

   Live preview of new song from forthcoming Hedersleben album   

On their Facebook page, the band publicised "a clip from the last tour featuring a track from our up and coming album titled 'The Fall of Chronopolis'..." which you can watch below

 


BELOW IS THE NEWS STORY ANNOUNCING
NICKY'S EXCLUSIVE T&M HEDERSLEBEN WRITINGS...

 

   NICKY GARRATT EXCLUSIVE!   

   Nicky to write Hedersleben 3 diary for T&M   

Time & Matter are absolutely thrilled to announce that ex-U.K. Subs guitarist Nicky Garratt will be resuming his popular 'NICKY'S GUITAR NOTES' exclusive articles for this website.

This time, Nicky will be detailing his thoughts about the preparations for his Krautrock/Spacerock band Hedersleben, who are about to commence a Spring tour, immediately followed by the recording of their eagerly anticipated third album 'Fall Of Chronolpolis'


Regarding his ongoing Hedersleben project, Nicky enthused to T&M that "Hedersleben are doing very well, the reviews on the new (second) album have been great. Read them here: http://hedersleben.com/merchandise-reviews2.html. The recording on the third album 'Fall Of Chronopolis' starts on May 7th with our new bass player Ursula Stuart and violinist player Ariana Jade, both of whom will also provide vocalshttp://hedersleben.com/news.html"
 
 
"This will be our most ambitious project to date - The Fall Of Chronopolis. Movements from this concept album were played live on the 2013 and 2014 tours and now the band is in rehearsals for a spring recording... my articles for T&M will give you exclusive insights to this exciting time for Hedersleben.."
 
Hedersleben 3 Tour 2015 (With St James and the Apostles)

Click the above tour poster to enlarge

   READ NICKY'S FIRST NEW ARTICLE - CLICK HERE   

   CDs SIGNED BY NICKY GARRATT  AVAILABLE...  

The Time & Matter webstore has got the first two Hedersleben CDs in stock, of which we have a limited amount signed by Nicky, and we have also just taken stock of a limited number of Brainticket CDs, which Nicky has kindly also exclusively autographed for us...

Buy Hedersleben I CD - click here (autographed by Nicky Garratt)
Buy Hedersleben II CD - click here (not autographed)
Buy Brainticket CD - click here (autographed by Nicky Garratt)

 


   FURTHER BACKGROUND INFO...   

The following articles/news have previously appeared on T&M and are added here to give the reader further information on Nicky's ongoing Hedersleben project...

  Nicky Garratt T&M Exclusive 

  Nicky explains the new songs exclusively for T&M  

Nicky Garratt's new band Hedersleben have a brand album out now. Entitled 'Die Neuen Welten', it is the second of a trio of albums, and follows on from their 2013 debut 'Upgoer'.
 
Time & Matter are pleased to announce that we are now stocking the second Hedersleben CD, 'Die Neuen Welten', featuring Nicky Garratt as well as ex-U.K. Subs drummer Jason Willer...
New album line-up: 
Nicky Garratt - Guitars / Kephera Moon - Keys / Kati Knox - Vocals / Bryce Shelton - Bass / Jason Willer - Drums/Percussion.
 
NICKY GARRATT TALKS EXCLUSIVELY TO T&M
 

"This is the only time I've ever explained the meaning of these songs!

I envisioned the first 3 Hedersleben LPs from the band’s inception.
It's Time and Matter - or strictly Time and Space - in a sense.
The first album 'Upgoer' is about humanities ultimate goal of going up.

Upgoer (part one)
We look up! You will hear the sounds of Earth and at the end the voice is a recording of the last speaker of a dead language.
Der Donnervogel (Dreamstate)
Up we go and we pass, allegorically, through the mythical Thunderbird constellation.
Dark Nebula
Thoughts during the journey. (Words by K. Bean).
Upgoer (Part 2)
The expansive galaxy engulfs the ship as do the possibilities.
The End of Love. (Dreamstate)
The crew emerge from the cryogenic machines. To them they have just said their goodbyes to lovers, friends and families who have, by now been dead for thousands of years.

The second, new album, 'Die Neuen Welten' continues our saga as we celebrate the new worlds discovered by the Kepler space telescope. Now these planets await.

Zu Den Neuen Welten
To the new worlds.
(On The Ground) Safe and Sound
The unmanned probe lands.
Nomad World (Dreamstate)
We know planets can be ejected from star systems to drift darkly through interstellar space. It has been postulated that they might be more numerous than stellar bound worlds. These orphans mimic humanity itself until we can show we are not alone.
XO5B
One of Space telescope Kepler's triumphs.
Tiny Flowers/Little Moon
…and life goes on. Little Moon is our keyboard player Kephera's world - you'll need a passport.

The third album 'Fall Of Chronopolis' is about that unsettling dimension that robs us of everything: Time. It is based on the glorious book of the same name by Barrington J.Bayley.

 

It is due to be recorded next year..."

Nicky Garratt 16 July 2014


   HEDERSLEBEN FILM RELEASED IN AUGUST 2014   

Hedersleben released a 17 minute film/video version of Zu Den Neuen Welten back in August 2014. It was shot and directed by Erren Franklin, and at the end of the piece, there is a little footage of what Nicky described to T&M as "Hedersleben goofing around..."

 



 T&M