Derek Holt
| Derek Holt | |
|---|---|
| Basic information | |
| Birth name: | Derek Holt |
| Birth date: | January 26, 1949 |
| Origin: | Stafford, England, UK |
| Occupation(s): | Musician, Songwriter, Producer, Arranger |
| Associated acts: | Climax Blues Band, Stewart Copeland |
| Official website: | http://www.derekholt.com/
http://www.derekholt.co.uk http://www.myspace.com/theofficialderekholt |
Derek Holt was a member of the Climax Blues Band who toured the UK with Curved Air in December 1975.
In 1985 Derek Holt worked with Stewart Copeland on the title track for the Star Wars animation series "Droids": Trouble Again. They also recorded Love Lessons together.
Contents
Biography
"I had known Stewart for many years prior to him forming The Police. His brother Miles had a house in St Johns Wood in London. Climax used to stay there occasionally when gigging in London, Miles was Climax's manager and I remember seeing a very young Stewart practising drums in the cellar of this very large house.It was one of those moments when I said to him, 'Hey Stewart you're playing great, keep at it and YOU COULD DO WELL' famous last words. He then went on to join Curved Air, married Sonja Kristina and we ended up touring together. Climax, Curved Air, Caravan, Soft Machine, Renaissance, Mahavishnu Orchestra ended up embarking on a huge tour called 'Startruckin', a rock and roll travelling show, it was awesome, dangerous,great fun, and I will never forget the great vibe.
Stewart was getting involved in film music and he was looking for someone to co-write the droid music, I sent him some of my stuff and he called me up to go and have a go at writing the material. I already had some tunes which we ended up using, with my vocals, but it had the Stewart Copeland treatment, his studio was fantastic, he was using a Fairlight, he had some great sounds. He was writing music from a drummers perspective but with the aid of the Fairlight he was able to experiment, he also had a great engineer. We collaborated on Love Lessons singing the song together. Great fun.
I remember playing bass one afternoon with Stewart on drums, I think he was checking me out as a bass player, he was about to form a band called Animal Logic, Stanley Clarke eventually got the gig, I think I swung too much for Stewart he was more into rock, he told me that Sting always played bass with downstrokes with a plectrum, this was ok but very limiting for me, anyway I probably missed the boat on that day. We met again at Miles Copeland's Château Marouatte in the South of France near Bordeaux. We were there to write songs in a concentrated environment with some other great writers, Jeff Beck, Timothy B Schmit, Lisa Loeb, Chas Sandford to name but a few. The whole experiment was just fantastic, I got to meet some great people/musicians/songwriters, Stewart was really kind and by now he had reached legendary status having been in the most famous band in the world. At his home in Bledlow Ridge he showed me a room absolutely full of gold, silver and platinum discs on the walls, on the floor, they were everywhere, you could hardly open the door.
He was into polo, he had his own team of horses, and one day he drove me to Great Windsor Park where he was competing in a polo match. I happened to go to the toilet and when I came out The Queen of England walked straight past me, looked at me and said 'what a pity its raining', she got into her Jag and it sped off. I was blown away. Stewart and I have crossed paths many times, he is a great guy, great drummer, I wish him every success, when The Police reformed for their last world tour I went to see them in Birmingham, they were on top form and were worthy of the title ' Worlds greatest Band'. I hope someday we can write some music together again, he certainly did well and must have heeded my advice way back when in that house in St Johns Wood."
"Stewart was involved in another polo match in Buckinghamshire, we drove to the match in his vintage cadillac convertible, I was sat in the back, it was a beautiful day and I was being driven by one of the most famous drummers in the world. Stewart was a really good horse rider, he was passionate about polo, he had his own polo field at his home, to practice on. At the match one of his team mates had an injury and couldn't carry on, I offered to get on a horse and take his place, I had ridden horses before, but Stewart thought that it wasn't a good idea, it was the best advice he gave me, looking back I could have killed myself as the game is fast and furious and requires lots of skill and balance, I was more into hacking in the country.
Stewart had already been involved in the music for the Equaliser when I made it to his studio, and it was quite amazing to see how he worked at the Fairlight. The Fairlight is pretty old technology now,it originated in Australia but it was basically a large computer with a screen and huge memory for sounds. I have to say that they sounded better than anything I'd ever heard, they were so punchy, I still think that The Fairlight was the best in programmed music production. My friend Andy Richards used one with Trevor Horn, on Frankie goes to Hollywood and George Michael, as did Gary Moberly from The Bee Gees. Climax had used one in LA on the Flying The Flag album in 1980 its programmer/musician on that session was Michael Boddiker. Also on that session was the wonderful Nicky Hopkins who sat alongside me when we created the basic track to I Love You. Stewart would randomly set up a drum loop and start playing notes on the mother keyboard, with his drumming skills and rhythm knowledge he could create awesome and exciting funky soundscapes. I remember him going to Africa to get samples of tribes chanting and jungle sounds, he would use these snips of original voices and textures in his music.On top of these chanting loops and fantastic rhythms he would then play in a big cello sound or a fast bell like marimba, randomely picking the notes until they were in tune and musically right, he was a great experimenter with top line melody which would be his trademark. Having created the basic tracks he could then play real drums as an overdub to create an even more exciting tune, this became the unmistakeable Stewart Copeland sound.He had no musical barriers anything was possible and achievable, what got me most about Stewart was his enthusiasm for life and music, his positivity rubs off on everyone he meets, its a pleasure to know the guy."
Awards, nominations and other notable achievements
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