NewZealand Musician/"one out of the box"

One out of the Box
Author: Andrew Healey

"We live in boxes. We live in houses that are boxes; drive cars that are boxes; the way people make music now on computers is boxes - they visually pile up the boxes in the computer and say 'I'll have three of those for the verse and two for the chorus'," says Nigel Gavin.
This American-born Kiwi could never be accused of working within a box. 'Visitation', his latest solo album, is a collection of largely improvised instrumentals, performed solely on either a seven-string acoustic guitar, or eleven-string glissentar.

The name Nigel Gavin will be familiar to many within the music community, but for those who haven't heard the name, you will likely know the bands and musicians he's played with: Nairobi Trio, Jews Brothers, Gitbox Rebellion, Lorina Harding, Wayne Gillespie and the legendary guitarist Robert Fripp. He also featured on the cover of NZM's April/May 1992 issue.
Gavin appears every bit the virtuoso with shoulder-length hair and his calm manner. He is a lexicon of musical information as I discovered when we met at a Ponsonby café to talk about his new self-released album.

About 15 years ago Gavin arrived here from California. An orphan, he had learned his father was born in New Zealand, meaning he could obtain a NZ passport. "I'd decided to never go back to music," he says. In California he had reached an all time low. He had suffered a relationship break up and was disillusioned with the music industry.
"People were playing music but weren't really into music... they were more into posing and the celebrity of it: bad music, bad hair, bad clothes and bad drugs. It was either jump out of a window or re-invent myself."
Gavin first lived with a brother in the Waikato and helped look after his children. At his brother's home was an old piano, and it wasn't long before the old passion returned.

"One day I walked by the piano and played a few notes, then pretty soon I'd pulled the piano to bits and was playing it like a harp," he recalls.
For Gavin, the objective with 'Visitation' was to follow his muse - the music he hears in his head. "This album is about being visited by your muse and being available to go with it," he explains.
Gavin believes many musicians are too restricted by genre, musical influences or expectation from others to follow their true self. After two previous solo albums: 'Music for Flem 2' and 'Thrum', Gavin believes 'Visitation' is the closest he has been to finding his true self.
There is no multi-tracking on this album and apart from four tunes recorded by Robbie Duncan at Braeburn Studios in Wellington - the bulk of the tracks were self-recorded in Gavin's kitchen onto an old Roland BS880 hard disc recorder. Both instruments were recorded in stereo with a condenser microphone and DI. "The DI gives a fuller bass sound," he explains.

Gavin's seven-string guitar was custom made to his taste by local luthier Laurie Williams. Having an extra bass string allows more scope for playing moving bass lines to accompany the melody. "This instrument I like to play in the morning," he says. Part of the recording routine for 'Visitation' was to get up early, put on the jug, set up the recording equipment and play. Fourteen pieces were recorded this way - completely improvised. A small number of those made it to the album.
The glissentar, a cross between a fretless bass and an oud, is on long-term loan from Twang Town music store in Dunedin. "I play that at night - it has an eastern, mystical sound to it," he says. One of the sounds achieved with this instrument is what resembles notes being reached by the turning of the instrument's tuning pegs - very oriental sounding. Gavin explains he creates this sound by sliding the fingers up and down the fretless neck.

His last album 'Thrum,' sold approximately 1500 copies and Gavin expects to exceed that figure with 'Visitation.' Thanks to the internet, he had already sold copies to fans in the States before it had even been released. Of course the flip side to the internet is free downloads, so with this in mind, Gavin likes to invest in an attractive album cover to make it worthwhile for people to buy the physical CD. He also believes there is no substitute for playing live and fondly recalls selling 250 Jews Brothers CDs in Nuremberg, Germany, after only one half hour performance.
On 'Visitation', Trevor Reekie is listed as executive producer, and Gavin credits Reekie with getting the album off the ground by spurring him on, and securing a distribution deal with independent Rhythmethod.
Gavin describes his target market as "music lovers - people who actually listen to music". When he was young, he recalls sitting around with friends listening to music. No talking, just listening. "These days we hear music all day, we're bombarded with it, but how many people actually listen?"

"My music is easy listening music for the hard of hearing," he laughs. For music that arrives unpackaged, Nigel Gavin in certainly one out of the box.

About Nigel Gavin

The distance from Nigel Gavin's Long Island, New York birthplace, to Auckland, New Zealand, where he now lives, may explain why his original working title for Thrum was, in fact, Off the Beaten Track. At first a visitor, now a resident, Nigel has long been a featured player in New Zealand's music scene, particularly in Auckland, playing guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass - indeed, almost anything with strings - with the Nairobi Trio, the Fondue Set, the Jews Brothers, the Blue Bottom Stompers, Below the Bassline, Jonathan Besser's Bravura and his own Snorkel, among others.

He has also found time to create and mentor the multi-guitar Gitbox Rebellion ( which, in turn, has produced some fine guitarists of its own ) and to perform in collaborative ventures such as the free-jazz Vitamin S, often using other instruments such as the Chinese sheng. Floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee ( or a mosquito, if you will - perhaps you should drop everything right now and listen to track 6 ), Nigel has contributed scene-stealing solos to an astonishing variety of musical groups and settings, bringing with him the dedication to the guitar that earned his place in Robert Fripp's legendary League of Crafty Guitarists.

So, what does a guitarist whose versatility is his calling card, who is respected by other players around the world, who excites audiences with jaw-dropping amplified solos do, when he decides to record his own album? If he's Nigel Gavin, he picks up his beloved acoustic seven-string ( hand-made from native New Zealand woods by master luthier Laurie Williams ), retires to the sun-lit kitchen of his Mt. Eden home for several weeks, and quietly records his own thoughts, compositions, improvisations and ideas.