Gerry Leonard on Bowie, Spooky Ghosts & Creativity.

January 11, 2017

Image credit: Hotpress.com

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of attending an IMRO Seminar by Dublin-born / New York based guitarist and producer Gerry Leonard. In the past couple of decades he has played with and co-written songs with countless artists, best known among them being David Bowie, Suzanne Vega and Rufus Wainwright. He’s also released a couple of records under the project name of “Spooky Ghost”. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen him play live with both Bowie and Rufus. He’s a very creative and atmospheric player so I was very excited to spend some time in his company.

During the talk, which lasted for a little over an hour and a half, he played some of his own compositions and some David Bowie material and talked about his working methods and how he approaches various creative projects. It’s always a pleasure to listen to good musicians speaking about their passion and very often, the best musicians are the most down to earth generous people you could meet. Gerry seems like an incredibly humble and gracious guy who continues to love and work hard at his craft.

I took a few pages of notes at the seminar which you can read through below if you like.

I will highlight some of the core ideas he touched on below and my thoughts on the same.

Notes from Gerry Leonard @ IMRO Jan 2017

1. What’s a perfect Day?

“A perfect day for me involves playing guitar, good espresso and being involved in good musical projects, projects with substance. There is a time for input and a time for output.“

~ I’m forever fascinated with how other creatives spend their time. Good to know coffee is high on Gerry’s priority list too! It’s a nice thing to think about dividing the time between input and output … you can’t always be in creative mode or you’ll burn yourself out. There must be time too for gathering thoughts, experiences, stories and impressions. Creativity then is putting all these strands together in new and interesting ways. He also talked about how he will spend days just figuring out new pedal arrangements and other technical things like this.

2. “Figure out what you’re good at …”

He talked about moving to New York for the first time and realizing that he was now just one more guitarist in a city full of great players. In order to find work, he said it was essential for him to take a step back and figure out exactly what it was that made him unique. That was a nice idea for me, to take the time to look at your own unique set of qualities and figure out how to move forward from there, to step into the maze knowing exactly what you’re about.

3. Solutions

He spoke in terms of projects all the time. From years of working with so many different artists it makes sense that he would have a very definite sense of a project and the clear division between each one, and of course the unique challenges that each one brings. As a solo artist, I am forever working on my own stuff… of course I experience different album and tour projects (and the co-write project I’m most excited about The Great Trade) but it’s easy for everything to kind of blur and to lose a sense of direction. I like this language of thinking in projects and solutions. It’s almost scientific. Figure out what the hell it is you’re trying to do and do it.

He talked about working with Suzanne Vega. They set a schedule to meet once a week, every Thursday and work on songs. This is how anything gets done. In small steps. They add up you know. Work out a plan to move the project forward. In fact he even spoke of songwriting as a way to move the project forward. For me the project is the songwriting, but I can see the logic in this though process too. You’re not going too far without songs.

4. First Thought, Best Thought

“Make bad demos, work quickly, play with ideas, first thought best thought” …

He talked about getting the ball rolling when starting on new recording projects… I liked the advice he gave to make bad demos. Don’t be too precious early on, be playful. If it works … great. If not throw it out!

Notes from Gerry Leonard @ IMRO Jan 2017

5. Our art doesn’t have to be everyone else’s art

“Be kind to yourself. Try to do our work, but always be kind. Our art doesn’t have to be the same as everyone else’s art. The process is important. You need the input and the output, the highs and the lows” – Gerry Leonard

Here’s Gerry himself speaking on Irish TV about his process in working with David Bowie:

Compliment this article with Peter’s cover version of David Bowie’s Lazarus, then dig into Mason Currey’s wonderful book “Daily Rituals: How Artists Work“.

Discover more about Gerry Leonard on his own blog and at his official twitter.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share your reactions / further thoughts on the creative process in the comments below.

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First Champions

July 20, 2016

There is a book called “The Artists Way” by Julia Cameron. It’s a work book of sorts for artists and aspiring artists. For some reason my Mother had a copy. I think she skimmed through it before deciding it wasn’t for her. She gave it to me and I immediately put it in my desk drawer, where it sat untouched for about a year.

Now that I’m beginning to get over all the excitement of getting married, I feel a desire to re-commit to the business of living a good creative life. So I’ve started working through the book. One of the exercises in the first week is to write a letter to one of your early artistic champions. Someone who believed in your abilities from the start. So I wrote a letter. I wrote to Vinny.

Vinny Baker was a friend of my Father and the greatest guitar player I ever heard. He was the single biggest influence of my first musical years. An inspiration, he was the ideal to work towards. The gold standard. Together we picked out my first real acoustic guitar and together we recorded the album “Wood” in 2006 at his VeeBee Studios. He passed from this life suddenly and unexpectedly three years ago today. I think about him all the time.

Letter to your champion:

Dear Vinny,

I want to thank you for letting your love of music spill over into everyone who met you. I’m thankful to have been exposed to your passion and musical knowledge at such a young age. Music lit you up and then it lit me up. You were the wise man handing out knowledge with kindness and warmth. You were my teacher and guide. When I was a boy you were a God and now you are gone. You were discipline and joy. You loved your instrument and the hum of electric amplifiers. You hated all pretence.

I remember hiding, spellbound and underage, in darkened corners of pubs all over the country, watching you performing miracles on a red Fender Stratocaster. I remember a note that went on forever. I knew then that I wanted more than anything to be a musician.

“Wood” is almost ten years old. That record wouldn’t exist without you. I remember clearly, early mornings at the new VeeBee studio. Before any work could begin, we would have coffee, and maybe a sandwich or a slice of toast. It was a very important and exciting time. Thank you for your enthusiasm and patience on that project.

This was my education and music was a warm blanket I was wrapped up in. I was in love. I owe you more than I know and now you’re gone. Your guitar is under my care and I try every time I pick it up to do it justice, to honour your spirit in the wood, and in the world.

I will be forever thankful for the time you gave me and for the sparks in your hands.

Vinny’s Bourgeois Sloped-D Dreadnought guitar (Now owned by Peter)

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Songwriter’s Journal – August 26th 2014

August 27, 2015

I write every day. I write digitally and in a physical notebook. I write to keep track of thoughts & events, conversations & dreams. I write so I don’t forget. I write to help process things. I write to wake up. As far as habits go I think it’s a good one. It’s another form of documenting, just in the same way as a song is, or a movie is, or a poem is. This little Journal Romance has been blossoming now for almost two years. Long may it continue. The following entry is from one year ago and was written in a period of creativity and excitement right before the release of “Outlines“.

I hope there is some small insight or value in this to you dear reader:

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

ALCOHOL: 1 whisky
ENERGY: 7
MOOD: 8.5
WAKE: 6:52 am

It is a grey day, not pretty, windy, not inspiring. But it is a day all the same and I will be thankful to have it before me. For some reason I woke up pretty early this morning, before 7am. It was still quite dark then – these days are getting darker and darker – but I felt strangely awake for such an early hour.