Dreamweapon

[nickh]

I am playing this at full volume at the moment to drown out the noise of the builders in the building below me.

I would have loved to have been at the Watermans Centre when this was recorded, did anyone on this board go that night?

[runcible]

Easy for me to say no I didn't, but I can't work out how I missed it. I don't remember it being announced at the time, yet I went to every Spacemen 3 show I had the opportunity to attend once I got into them - 5 in all. The one related show I missed was when Pete and Jason played a duo set at Drummonds in Euston. I remember thinking I should go and then didn't for some reason. Idiot.

It's interesting that although Will was there he isn't on the recording. He'd only joined the band shortly before and his amp wouldn't work that night- he was so nervous he didn't say anything apparently, and ended up effectively miming. So it's just Pete and Jason on Dreamweapon.

[nickh]

Hell of a long time ago though it was, I don’t remember ever seeing it advertised either. In fact the more conventional gig a year later I vaguely recall only getting a couple of lines in the Richmond & Twickenham Times (not a very rock ‘n’ roll paper).

It just makes me laugh to think of Pete and Jason droning away in the foyer spoiling everyone’s evening!

I also remember Spiritualized were supposed to play at the Watermans around the time of their first gigs but when I called the Watermans they said it had been postponed.

I’m still waiting.

[bunnyben]

i love this cd! i listen to it as i go sleep at the moment

[spacemanrich]

Hence the name of the album, 'Dreamweapon'. Always been a good album to put on when your having insomnia. You'll be knocked within 20 minutes w/ the repetitious drones ...

[supershonn]

really??? i've never tried it, many on the board who i've have met and stayed with can attest to my insomnia!


i'll get it for months at a time. i've tried everything. so thanks for the tip!

[Chris Barrus]

Always been a good album to put on when your having insomnia. You'll be knocked within 20 minutes w/ the repetitious drones ...

No way I can fall asleep to Dreamweapon. I find it very insistent and demanding of attention... Almost as if I'm hearing the concentration that's going into it.

[dselevan2]

Dreamweapon is the only album besides maybe The Madcap Laughs which changed the way I play guitar.

[nickh]

Dreamweapon is the only album besides maybe The Madcap Laughs which changed the way I play guitar.

How did it change the way you play guitar?

[dselevan2]

i don't know. I must have been 16 when I got it. I started using drone notes and getting away from the blues scales. Even this electronic sounding stuff I did for this record called the Audience was basically a descending indian scale I came up with, including a droning A or E..I just sped it up and slowed it down using cheap computer software so it didn't sound like a guitar anymore. But it was still played like Dreamweapon sounded to me. It just sort of changed the way I played EVERYTHING. All my quick poppy rock songs included some sort of Dreamweapon type riff. The way my brain works, it never really sounded like Dreamweapon, more like Syd Barrett because I always tried to sneak that stuff into a 2 minute song. But if you slowed the song down by 4 you might hear something Dreamweapony in the background going on. I love the idea of playing a 45 minute set of the same chord progression, but I never had the patience to record anything longer than lke 3 minutes and 33 seconds.

So anyway, even though I only listened to Dreamweapon like 10-20 times all the way through, it really changed the way I played my guitar. I can't explain it! Maybe it was the acid.

[nickh]

Thanks!!

That’s a good story. Spacemen 3 probably changed the way a lot of people listened to music and opened a door to a whole world of stuff they might never have heard, definitely true for me anyway.

[dselevan2]

Thank you. I had never really thought of it that way, as one doesn't usually consciously think about how they play music, so it was nice to try to put it into words. Now I'm aware of it and will stop trying to rip off the Spacemen 3. Just kidding.