Category: The Caravan of Dreams

2020 is going to be the busiest year yet. The first major event is Jan 25th when I host the second Music for the Head and Heart showcase in Leeds with three superb artists. In Feb I am back in the studio recording two acoustic stripped back tracks for the second Caravan of Dreams album. I’ll also be rehearsing the electric band to record another eight tracks throughout the year.

The Caravan of Dreams follow up album will have a number of surprise guests, making this the most ambitious recording to date. The ensemble will also have new musicians playing live gigs throughout the year and a special gig in April with special guests.

I’ll be spending more time on The Music for the Head and Heart platform and travelling to USA, India, Romania, Japan, Austria, Poland and Russia throughout the year. This means a lot of time management and planning. The band will be playing more selective gigs throughout the year and working up a new live set.

Here is a great new video created by Nick Bloomfield. He really like the track and off his own bat created this

The Caravan of Dreams have been working up a terrific live set that was extremely well received at the launch and our recent follow up gig at The Grove Inn.

Of course as The Caravan of Dreams, we will always be expanding the set, but this is what we have chosen to date which includes tracks from Tales of Dark and Light, some unrecorded material and some old favorites from my previous band. The new musicians are doing a superb job and its an absolute joy to play with them.

This is a really diverse set and I am playing five different instruments at these gigs, including Gregor Nowak guitarelle, African blackwood tenor ukulele, Moses custom stratocaster and/or Collings I35 electric, 5 string baritone ukulele. I am using my trusted Henriksen Bud and Blu amps that produce the best sound on planet earth.

This is much more challenging and sophisticated material than I have been used to, but its a terrific amount of fun. At the album launch as well as the core band we also had Jon Burr sitting in on harmonica, Chris Smith on keys and the terrific Laurent Zeller on violin. We’ll be doing some more gigs in Leeds on August 23/24th where we will have some surprise guests and new live material.

The Caravan of Dreams are also back in the studio later this year to record new songs as a full band as well as a stripped down project I am starting to work on with a wide range of musicians.

SET LIST

One Finger
Dunning Kruger Blues
The Pink Moon
When the pain begins
All that loving
Sticks and stones
Hold that thought
Here in the silence
Slow news day
Grey Skies
Perfect Place

Encore

All Kinds of Crazy (Nick, Agi and Jed/Laurent)
What you gonna do? (full band)

Nick Cody and the Caravan of Dreams have released their latest album ‘Tales of Dark and Light’. Musician Nick Cody collaborates with what he describes as a ‘caravan of talent’ in this latest release.
‘Tales of Dark and Light’ is a warm cosy album filled with mellow tones,rich instrumentation and wholesome country hues. The album speaks truth about the world in which we live, illustrating issues such as Brexit, murder and social change within the beautifully crafted lyrics. There are glorious harmonies throughout the album and tracks such as ‘Tales Of Dark & Light (Intro)’ feature these wonderful harmonies in all their sweet richness.

The album is brimming with peppy foot tapping ditties from ‘Grey Skies’ and ‘Dunning Kruger Blues’ while ‘The Pink Moon (Song For Zeke)’ and ‘Here In The Silence’ brings a sweet easy going vibe to the album. The twinkling guitar twangs and simplistic retro vibe gives the tracks on the album a warm velvety feel and classy quality while the elegant strings and soft beat add a feathery light vibe. The delicate piano adds a touch of tenderness to tracks like ‘All That Loving’ and ‘When The Pain Begins’.

There is a sublime variety of refined musicianship throughout the album as the melty melodies unfold beautifully upon the mesmerizing instrumental backdrop making each track a snug delight to the ears. Each song flows fluidly into the next with the noir pop hooks and cinematic instrumentation creating joyous moments and chilling tones like in ‘The Other Me’. The majestic blend of acoustic instruments create a unique sound that consumes you into the depths of the album. The strings add wonderful characters to each track as it weaves its vibrant melodies through the darker songs with a playful or melancholic persona and tempting allurement. The band close the album as they began it with ‘Tales Of Dark & Light (Outro)’ bringing the whole experience full circle.

‘Tales of Dark and Light’ showcases beautiful musicianship, lush warm harmonies and glorious instrumentation. This album oozes charm and character.

https://www.indiebuddie.com/category/new-music/

I’ve been reflecting recently on many of the brilliant musicians I know who have inspired me to explore musical territory I would never have believed possible. My first band “The Small Change Diaries” was essentially a baptism of fire when I played my first ever live gigs and especially playing Lagoa Guitar festival where I met my good friend Laurent Zeller. Laurent has played on my last Small Change Diaries album and features on the new Caravan of Dreams album “Tales of Dark and Light”

The Lagoa gig was only the seventh live gig I had ever played and only the fourth live full band gig! I was well aware that I was the most inexperienced member of the band and I’ve never worked so hard to make sure I was as ready as possible playing a 45 minute set of original material I had written for the band! My producer Carl always commented “One live gig is worth” eight rehearsals and he’s 100% right. A few years on I’m now pretty comfortable with playing live and its an experience like no other.

The new ensemble “The Caravan of Dreams” is a killer outfit of musicians, and the album “Tales of Dark and Light” features no less than fourteen musicians. This has been a more ambitious project in terms of writing and arrangement. The single biggest game changer for me has been working with vocal coach Agi who also sings brilliantly on the Caravan tracks. I’ve never met anyone with such a brilliant ability to identify and arrange harmonies and fourteen months of 1 – 1 tuition has been like training for the Olympics. She is without doubt an extraordinary technical teacher as well as a brilliant singer who has stretched me in ways I never imagined.

The other Caravan members Fergus Quill, Jed Bevington and longstanding friend Rich Ferdi and like “The E Street Band” a tight brilliant musical unit. Guest musicians including Phil Doleman, John Burr, Dave Bowie Jnr, Adrian Knowles and Chris Smith have helped create a truly amazing set of tracks. These are significantly better musicians that myself and its a joy to play with them.

I have an idea for a new project which will require a huge creative leap and a massive amount of work. I’ll start on this after the Caravan of Dreams album launch May 11 and will be calling on old friends as well as some new musicians. Throughout all these explorations, my good friend Martin Simpson has been invaluable in his encouragement and inspiration. Martin is a brilliant example of never standing still and always pushing forward musically. I have realised that he has been a big influence on my own musical thinking and the attitude of “just going for it!”

I’m super grateful for all those who have supported me in these musical explorations. As Jerry Garcia once said “What a long strange trip its been” and its about to get way stranger with the next project as I leave any semblance of what remains a comfort zone into new musical territory.

We just completed our last Caravan of Dreams rehearsal for 2018, working on the live set for 2019. The material is coming along really well and as well as getting Tales of Dark and Light” ready for the launch in May, we are also planning to record three new tracks in Feb 2019 – “Sticks and Stones”, “Gather Round” and “What you gonna do?” These are all up-tempo songs and will be great additions for the live set.

It’s an absolute pleasure to play with such superb musicians and see The Caravan of Dreams sound develop. With 6 members this is 50% more than in previous bands and allows for a lot of musical explorations. I continue to find the writing/recording process truly fascinating and watching songs come to life. 

Tales of Dark and Light now has 14 mastered songs, but I’m still writing and there are more potential songs to be recorded. The two most obvious standout tracks are “Sticks and Stones” and “Gather Round” Both of these are up tempo tracks and really showcase the brilliant rhythm section in The Caravan of Dreams. I may have to rethink what appears on the album as the 14 existing tracks already make up 49.49 minutes of material!

The Caravan of Dreams sound is also starting to become more apparent and quite different to what I have written for previous bands. There’s a real swing to many of the songs and the lyrics are often a lot darker than anything I have written before. Here’s a verse from “Gather Round”

Old fashioned justice, old fashioned thoughts,
Hangings in the morning, we’ve no need for courts,
Apology for a husband, brat bitch for a wife
Kisses in chaos, for a wasted life

The plan is to go back in the studio in Feb and then have promo copies of the album ready for March with the formal release party May 11th.

 

We have finalised the running order for “Tales of Dark and Light” There are lots of considerations for this. An album is like a movie, with a beginning, middle and end. This is a substantial piece of work which was recorded over a year with twelve different musicians. I decided to record the title track last and this opens and closes the album.

This is very different to anything I have done before and there is a big sonic variation throughout. Some tracks have up to eight different instruments and others just have one instrument and vocals. Even though I wrote most of the tracks on the ukulele, the final tracks are certainly not based around the ukulele sound. Special thanks to Agi who has pushed me to develop a lot more vocal expression and precision. Dave Bowie, Adrian Knowles and Fergus Quill all brought some spectacular bass to the tracks. Chris Smith, Alice Higgins, Agi and Paul Conway all supplied keyboards. Laurent Zeller provides violin on most tracks except “With one finger” where Jed Bevington plays. Phil Doleman supplies lap steel and banjo. Rich Ferdinando plays percussion and Jon Burr brings some terrific harmonica dynamics to “Grey Skies” and “He’d shooting blanks” 

This is a collaborative album and even though I wrote all the material and lyrics, the final result would not be the same without everyone involved.

This is one of the joys of being in a band as opposed to playing solo and/or with loops. With a band, you get a unique dynamic interaction between artists that create something quite unique. I’m proud of the final result and special thanks to Carl Rosamond for the brilliant production. The official release will be on May 11, 2019, and the 49.49 minutes of material will be released in a number of formats internationally.

 

In a few weeks time, we’ll be running the first of a few warm-up gigs for The Caravan of Dreams, ahead of the album release in May 2019. This is a brand new band with the exception of Rich Ferdinando who brings his percussion skills once again into the mix. On “Tales of Dark and Light” there are 12 musicians, but of course, not all are available for live work due to a number of factors. We are doing a lot of rehearsals as this is all brand new material and I think many will be surprised at how diverse the sound is. We have a lot of dynamic variation and I’m delighted with the final tracks.

The core of the live Caravan of Dreams ensemble is me, Agi, Fergus Quill and Jed Bevington with Rich Ferdi. Fergus and Jed have played together for years and bring a terrific dynamic to the band. Agi is one of the best vocalists I have ever encountered and adds a dimension I could only dream of. Rich is like Charlie Watts, the perfect beating heart of the band. We will also have Chris Smith on Keys for the November gig. Chris is a superb musician, equally at ease with keyboards and guitar.

These are fascinating times and the Caravan of Dreams “Tales of Dark and Light” album is now 99% complete with 14 tracks. We’ll be previewing many of these for the first time in a few weeks and I can’t wait. This s different to anything I have done before and on a number of tracks, I don’t play an instrument at all! Special thanks to Mike Jolly for organising the gigs and all those involved in making this new dynamic ensemble possible. The full album launch will be May 11th 2019 and it’s going to be one great night for music lovers. 

Today we finished mixing and mastering “Tales of Dark & Light” The album will have 14 original tracks and is by far the most complex and challenging project I have been involved in, to date. There is a wide range of material from some really stripped back tracks with just piano and voice to other tracks with up to eight musicians. In Oct and November, we’ll be doing some low key gigs before a full album launch planned for May 11th. The launch night will be a substantial affair with some great support acts and special guests for the evening. 

There will also be a full promotion campaign from Feb next year in the press and the album will be released as a CD as well as downloads available globally on all music platforms.