Brandi On Matt

It seems Matt Chamberlain snuck in a little studio time with Seattle musician Brandi Carlisle for the recording of her new self-titled debut album. Brandi talks about how Matt contributed to the album in an article in the Daily Record:

One of the things [producer T Bone] Burnett did to keep the songs fresh was bring in studio drummer Matt Chamberlain. Chamberlain, a former drummer for Pearl Jam, has recorded with David Bowie, Stevie Nicks, Kanye West, John Mayer and others.

“We played a lot of songs that had never been played with drums with drums,” Carlile said. “To play the songs with such an incredible artist like Matt Chamberlain really made the songs feel like a brand new thing.”

Kudos to Sean for catching this article.

Neil's Fragile Things Includes SLG Stories

Neil Gaiman’s new book Fragile Things is a collection of stories, essays, and other miscellaneous material, including the series of prose-poems Neil wrote for Tori’s Strange Little Girls tourbook. If you missed out on purchasing the tour program at the time, now’s your chance to check out the stories. Kind thanks to Alex F. and Anne for sending this in.

Gaelle, Eduardo, and Vasilis Bibas tell us that the book also includes “Pages from a Journal Found in a Shoebox Left in a Greyhound Bus Somewhere Between Tulsa, Oklahoma and Louisville, Kentucky,” the short story Neil wrote for the Scarlet’s Walk tourbook.

Happy Birfday, Tash!

Tash is six years old today. Yay!

I wonder if Tori will be reading Now We Are Six to her for her special day. (Let’s hope she doesn’t sit her down with Now We Are Sick, Neil connection notwithstanding!)

Does Matt Chamberlain Ever Sleep?

Matt Chamberlain is a busy guy. In his September 1, 2006 website update, he mentions finishing up work on Tori’s latest album and a number of other projects he’s involved with. Read on for those details plus some photos of him in the studio.

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Matt Chamberlain Touring With The Indigo Girls This Fall

According to Emily Saliers, Matt Chamberlain is taking his sticks on the road with the Indigo Girls this fall. Emily had some kind words about Matt, who is new to their fanbase but no stranger to Toriphiles:

We’re also fortunate to have Clare Kenny on bass, Carol Isaacs on keys, and for the first time, Matt Chamberlain on drums. He played on “Despite Our Differences.” You’re going to love him.

This, of course, means Matt won’t be in the studio or touring with Tori during these months. But we can share him, right?

Thanks to Matthew for the heads-up!

Neil Made Her A Tree, But Can Tinseltown?

In his most recent journal entry, Neil includes a link to an article in the Hollywood Reporter’s “Risky Biz Blog” in which Stardust scriptwriter, Jane Goldman, confirms that they would like to have Tori do the voice of the tree if a deal can be negotiated. Having finished filming earlier this month, the movie is currently in post-production and is scheduled for theatrical release in March, 2007.

(Thanks to marla for letting us know about this.)

Rare Opportunity To Get Intimate With Jon

(wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean?)

Okay, perhaps not, so here’s the skinny, you lot with the dirty minds…

Toriphiles in the London area will have an opportunity to hear Jon Evans’s jazzier side as he performs with our good friend, acclaimed singer/songwriter Emily Bezar, in an intimate club setting this coming Wednesday (July 19th). Then … Malta!

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Matt's Photos from the Recording Session

Matt Chamberlain has posted some pictures taken during the recording sessions for Tori’s new album in Cornwall on his myspace. While the picture taken of Matt and Tori in front of the recording desk appears to have been removed, there is still a shot of Matt playing with his drums all miked up.

UPDATE: Matt has deleted his myspace profile from the site so that photo is no longer available.

More New Album News From Matt Chamberlain!

Matt Chamberlain has updated his website again and says that he has completed tracking Tori’s new record:

Hello—-just finished tracking the new Tori Amos record out in Cornwall England. It was a really fun and intense 3 weeks of non-stop playing, eating, playing, sleeping and playing. All I can say it that it rocks! I was really excited to put my new Ludwig drums to the test and they definitely sounded really focused, subsonic, full with a nice woody tone. I tracked a few songs with some 60’s era ludwigs, some random Slingerland Radio Kings and the old trusty roundbage Gretsch kit from the 40’s really helped on a few tracks. I also really got into using Ableton Live software quite a bit which I think it probably one of the most innovative and intuitive things out there for making long-form audio/electronic loops and phrases.

Thanks to Jenny for bringing this to our attention!

Neil Gaiman Tribute Song Clips

Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble have both added audio clips to their listings for Where’s Neil When You Need Him?. So, we can now hear the first 30 seconds of the remastered version of “Sister Named Desire”. In addition, Amazon.com has also added a blurb from Neil about the compilation.