Джаред Лето
Перед началом съемок фильма «Отряд самоубийц» Джаред Лето принял решительные меры, чтобы в полной мере погрузиться в безумие своего персонажа. Он решил не просто играть роль, а почувствовать её каждой клеткой своего тела. Для этого Лето отправил исполнителям других ролей несколько загадочных подарков, чтобы подчеркнуть свою причастность к роли. Он послал Уиллу Смиту коробку с пулями, а Марго Робби живую крысу. Участники съемочной группы также получили видео-сообщения от Лето, где он, на фоне туши свиньи, высказывал угрозы, чтобы подчеркнуть атмосферу фильма и зловещий характер его персонажа.
Piano man
Kerr and Thatcher, who are based in Brighton and hail from nearby Worthing and Rustington respectively, have been playing together since their mid-teens, in assorted configurations under assorted names. Prior to forming Royal Blood, Kerr played piano and keys almost exclusively, a handy skill to have when working on an album like Typhoons, and approaches the bass with a guitarist’s flair for melodic riffing high up the neck. “I didn’t know my way around a bass, but I had the theory in my head of piano playing, so I had the best of both worlds,” he reasons now.
“I think being lost on an instrument is always a creative way to begin. It’s the same with new techniques. The first time someone showed me how to hammer on and off – I know everyone knows how to do that, but I didn’t – it blew my mind. I wrote Figure it Out immediately. I was so inspired by that. Even recently I’ve learned from my friend, who’s an amazing guitarist, what a pre-bend is. Again, something I should know but don’t. As soon as I learned how to pre-bend I wrote Boilermaker. Sometimes learning a new technique can really inspire new ideas.”
Личная жизнь
Фрэнк Синатра был официально женат 4 раза, не считая многочисленных бурных романов с красавицами того времени.
Нэнси Синатра держит на руках сына Фрэнка младшего
Его первый брак еще в юные годы был с подругой детства Барбато Нэнси. У них родились трое детей, которых он обожал. Нэнси долго закрывала глаза на его интрижки, пока он не завел роман с артисткой Гарднер Авой.
Ава стала новой супругой Фрэнка, но этот брак не был самым счастливым в его жизни. Певец страстно желал иметь еще детей, а актрису больше волновала ее карьера. Спустя 6 лет они развелись.
Синатра и Ава Гарднер
Третьей избранницей Фрэнка стала молодая Фэрроу Миа. Большая разница в возрасте и разные взгляды на жизнь привели к тому, что супруги расстались спустя год.
Синатра и Миа Фэрроу
Последние годы своей жизни Синатра провел в браке с Маркс Барбарой.
Синатра и Барбара Маркс
Юношество
Подростком мать пристроила Фрэнки работать курьером, но эта работа ему не понравилась. Вместо этого он начал сотрудничать с местной группой The Hoboken Four.
В этом коллективе Синатра впервые выступил на радио и отправился на гастроли. Эти выступления стали для Фрэнки кромешным адом – между Синатрой и коллективом были постоянные разногласия, поэтому сразу после окончания контракта юный певец покинул коллектив.
Молодой Фрэнк Синатра
С этого момента Фрэнк начинает подрабатывать конферансье и солистом в разных кафе. Одно из его выступлений слышит супруга Гарри Джеймса, который в то время искал вокалиста в свой оркестр.
Очарованная женщина устраивает Синатре прослушивание, и он попадает в команду к Джеймсу. Сотрудничество с ним быстро наскучило певцу, и разъяренный Гарри разорвал с ним контракт, сказав, что Фрэнк упустил свой единственный шанс.
Молодой человек быстро нашел себе нового руководителя Томми Дорси, с которым подписал новый контракт.
Синатра ушел от Гарри Джеймса в оркестр Томми Дорси
Падение идола
Фрэнк Синатра был кумиром своего времени. Мировой успех опьянил певца и заставил его дать волю своему тяжелому характеру. Скандальные выходки и бурная личная жизнь привлекали к нему толпы журналистов, которых певец просто ненавидел.
Часто он переходил к прямым оскорблениям и даже затевал драки. Возможно, публика простила бы своему кумиру вспышки ярости, но на Фрэнка посыпались другие беды.
Синатра пережил спад в карьере и смог вернуться на сцену
В культуре началось новое время, и в свои 34 года Синатра внезапно оказался человеком «старой эпохи». Он него требовали изменить репертуар, петь иначе, но верность своим принципам не позволяла ему прогибаться под переменчивую моду.
Карьера в кино стала рушиться из-за проблем на съемочной площадке. Его фильм «Дом, в котором я живу», который поднимает проблемы равенства, был осыпан шквалом нападок из прессы. Журналисты писали разгромные статьи о вчерашнем кумире.
Мистер «Голубые глаза»
В довершение ко всему, проблемы со здоровьем привели к тому, что певец полностью утратил голос. В тот момент он потерял все, и его стали посещать мысли о самоубийстве.
Scale model
Since Royal Blood first kicked doors down with their debut in 2014, Kerr has experimented with a series of short-scale basses and a multi-amp setup (there are a lot of silverfaces and usually a Fender Super Bassman in the mix but, again, if you want the forensic details you’d best be a good detective). Bass-wise he rotated between a Gretsch Electromatic G2220 Junior Jet II, the first thing he bought way back when, and a Fender Starcaster before settling on the custom Fender Jaguars bass he uses today.
“I think probably 90 per cent of the record was on the same bass, my orange one,” he says. “I think that’s the one I always write on and a lot of these songs were demoed on that. The demos ended up being the final recording, so it’s almost by default that that bass was used a lot. It’s comfortable to play. It’s almost like I trust it. It hasn’t failed me. When I pick it up I know it’s going to give me something back.”
Kerr’s approach to riff-writing is informed by his responsibilities within the band, and also a desire to communicate through the sort of hooks that drew him in when he was a young Queen fan. “I think the word riff is just something we associate with rock music,” he says. “But ultimately a riff is a melody. Riffs exist in classical music, and jazz, they’re everywhere. That’s how I always think of them. My riffs are really things that I’ve hummed out first. I don’t know how to fret them yet, in the same way a vocal melody can be created. I’m always thinking about melody rather than it being a riff.”
Similarly, his riffs have to play nice with his vocals. Back at the start, the songs that made Royal Blood’s name might have skewed crushing (see Out of the Black or Little Monster) or intricate (see Come On Over). Kerr found pockets of space in both modes, providing solid foundations to do something different on Typhoons, where songs such as Oblivion fuse both elements together in a dance-pop song dotted with soul-derived backing vocals.
“It’s all about counterpoints,” Kerr says. “If I have a particularly busy riff, it forces me into a corner to be much simpler with a melody, and the same the other way around. I think, generally, I’m relying on the bassline to give away a lot of the chordal information. I like to avoid doubling up notes on the bass with my vocal, to create harmonic separation. If I’m singing at intervals with my bass then it starts giving the illusion of chords happening, when they’re not. It just helps everything to sound bigger.”
Royal Blood’s Typhoons is out now through Warner Records.
The post “I feel like a bass player on this album”: Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr on why he’s ready to embrace ‘organic’ tones appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
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Golden ratio
Royal Blood’s new album Typhoons situates Kerr’s bullish, riff-based playing in fresh surroundings. It recently became their third number one in the UK – following up their self-titled bow and 2017’s difficult second album How Did We Get So Dark? —but it crested that peak by doing something different. Gone is that muscular, fuzz-fuelled stomp, with pastel-hued pop-rock and synth flourishes inspired by Daft Punk, Justice and the production of the late Cassius co-founder Philippe Zdar in its place. “It’s drastic in its own context but ultimately we feel these songs are going to be friends,” Kerr says when asked how the new material might sit alongside old favourites live.
“We just made sure that the core of the music was bass, drums and my vocals,” he adds. “It was almost like that was 75 per cent of the content, so it was about the ratio of old with new and getting that balance right. Once we got that, it was about carefully injecting new sounds around what we were already doing. I will say, though, that even the 75 per cent of the core sound had shifted a bit, in that it was a much more bass-driven sound rather than loads of pedals and octaves. It felt a little bit more pure in terms of a bass sound. Obviously it’s processed, but it felt more true to how Joe Bloggs knows what a bass is.”
This shift in priorities was signalled early on. Boilermaker, all skronk and golden age percussion, and Trouble’s Coming, as close to Royal Blood-goes-disco as we’ll ever get, were the first cabs off the rank. Kerr still has a stack of boisterous riffs to hand but his playing is more empathetic, underpinning string stabs and playful keys. Is his relationship with Thatcher more like a traditional rhythm section than it has been in the past?
“100 per cent. I feel like a bass player on this album,” he says. “I felt like a guitarist on the others. When you have loads of pedals on it changes the way you play, you know? In the same way, when you try a new pedal you react to what that pedal is doing, and it almost informs your playing a little bit. So the bass sounds I was making really informed a lot of the parts.”
‘SECRET NERD’
He recently completed the gruelling 4x4x48 Challenge, running four miles every four hours for 48 hours, raising money for Brighton children’s hospice, Chestnut Tree House.
“When you stop drinking, you’re faced with a lot of free time. So I’m running a lot and kite surfing. Like most frontmen, I’m a secret nerd and I really like card magic. Running was out of pure boredom.”
Kerr and drummer bandmate Ben Thatcher chat over Zoom from their respective homes in Brighton.
Friends since they were teenagers, Thatcher says he knew he had to be there for Kerr when he stopped drinking.
“I just supported what he wanted to do and was there with him through it,” says Thatcher.
“We didn’t know how the first lot of shows would be with Mike not drinking and me drinking. But we found a good balance.
«I’m just proud that he’s feeling great and has kept on his straight and narrow path. He feels great. Looks great — everything is better.”
It’s been four years since they put out their second album, the chart-topping How Did We Get So Dark? It’s a record Kerr admits they are “immensely proud of, but it wasn’t fun to make”.
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Mike Kerr, left, says he had to kick the alcohol and drugs that were taking over his life
He says: “It was the first time we’d been creative with a knife on our back, knowing that we were going to be subject to a lot of opinion.
«It was difficult as it was our first experience of that. And navigating our way through that making the record I think was pretty difficult looking back.”
So for Typhoons, it was like starting again for the duo, who are set to headline Portsmouth’s Victorious Festival in August.
Kerr says: “We would play our show, get on to the tour bus and have this party on the bus that would go all through the night until we got to the next town.
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The duo are set to headline Portsmouth’s Victorious Festival in August
“We’d be listening to everything from Abba, the Bee Gees, Janet Jackson and James Brown. And our love of feel-good dance music has just infected its way back into our band.
“It feels like we’ve shaved off the beard. And, ironically, I’ve grown my beard back. So it’s been a nice transition into a new chapter for the band.”
Thatcher says: “Growing up, I was listening to pop music and rock came second. I was into songs more than genre and I grew up in a time where a lot of music was easily accessible through streaming.
“I didn’t spend all my money on one genre, and streaming opens you up to many different cultures and worlds of music, where you can take little things from everywhere.
Возвращение к успеху
Почти всех великих людей объединяет одна общая черта: упав, они находят в себе силы вернуться и начать все с нуля.
Новый виток в карьере Синатры начался с проб на фильм «Отныне и вовеки веков». Режиссеры долго не желали утверждать актера, помня о его скандалах, но все же дали ему шанс. Пережитые неудачи сильно дисциплинировали Фрэнка.
Синатра получил «Оскар» за роль в фильме «Отныне и вовеки веков»
Фрэнк Синатра начинал больше слушать режиссера и учиться актерскому мастерству. Фильм принес Синатре «Оскар» и подарил путевку обратно на вершину.
Постепенно к нему начал возвращаться голос, он отправился в новый тур, записывал новые песни, ему предлагали роли в кино.
INFECTIOUS SWAGGER
The synth and infectious swagger of Typhoons make the album a full-blown dance riot, and it’s no surprise when Kerr and Thatcher cite Daft Punk and Justice as influences.
“Being a band made up of a rhythm section, what we’re tuning into is the complexity of the grooves in the rhythms.
“When Justice and Daft Punk made their way on to our CD players, it was such a brilliant hybrid. It’s the first time rock musicians and rock lovers began tuning into dance music — it was a cross pollination of dance music and rock.
“But the Bee Gees are a massive influence for me personally, and Abba as well. I think there’s a real intelligence to their music.
“Once you get past the fancy freeness of the vocals and the glitter and everything, when you look beneath the hood of it, they’re really technically accomplished songs.
“I was playing keyboards and making them sound like guitars in my early bands.
“I’ve always been obsessed with playing one instrument, but sounding like another. So I guess in this band, I’ve been making a bass sound like a guitar.
«And now I’ve made a bass sound like a keyboard. It’s working out how we would fit into it rather than doing an impression of anything.”
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Kerr admits working with Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme was a ‘dream come true’Credit: Redferns
For new single Boilermaker, the pair got to work with hero Josh Homme from Queens Of The Stone Age. Homme produced the track — one of just two songs on the album not produced by Kerr and Thatcher.
“Working with Josh was obviously a dream come true,” admits Kerr.
“Those Queens records changed the way we thought about music. They’re masterclasses. They’re what you listen to if you want to get f***ing good at your instrument, you learn how to play those songs.
«So to be in the studio with Josh, we learned so much.”
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Royal Blood were recently interviewed by Sir Elton John for his Beats 1 radio show Rocket HourCredit: Getty
Closing the album is the stunning piano ballad All We Have Is Now. “No one was ever really meant to hear that song,” admits Kerr.
“It was just something I was playing on my own to be honest with you.
“And one late night in the studio, I plucked up the courage to play it for Ben. We didn’t even look at it until right at the end of putting the record together.
“We are just fans of songwriting, whatever that looks or sounds like. It was a song that we both really loved. And this is our album so we put it on.”
Голос Америки Фрэнк Синатра
Фрэнк понимал, что если он хочет чего-то достичь в оркестре Дорси, ему необходимо совершенствовать свои вокальные данные. Источником вдохновения для него стал тромбон.
Синатру поразило, как плавно на этом музыкальном инструменте один звук переходит в другой. Певец задумался, если на это способен музыкальный инструмент, то может ли человек сделать подобное своим голосом?
Синатру называют Золотым голосом Америки
Певец разработал свою технику дыхания, которая впоследствии стала визитной карточкой звезды и прославила его на весь мир.
Фрэнк Синатра обретал все большую популярность как певец, но и этот контракт начал его тяготить. Половина доходов от выступлений уходила в карман Дорси. Естественно, Томми не хотел терять такой источник доходов и долго отказывался разрывать контракт.
Highs and lows
Kerr’s state of mind when writing also played a major role in how Typhoons shaped up. It’s your classic Abba-style collection that hides some crushing lows amid songs that outwardly implore you to lighten up and follow your hips to the dancefloor. He struggled with depression while making How Did We Get So Dark? and as those songs moved from studio to stage he slipped into the often hedonistic mechanics of being a touring musician. Eventually, he was rocked by how easy it was to function while drinking as heavily as they were. Typhoons is the work of a sober musician who wants to celebrate a change in circumstances, but also a musician who’s only really about writing what he knows.
“I think it came from how I was feeling,” he says. “I’d just come out of quite a dark spot in my life, and I felt fucking amazing every day. So when I was making music I just had this energy and I wanted to reflect how I was feeling. But, lyrically, all I wanted to talk about was where I’d just come from. It was kind of a happy accident. It’s a juxtaposition that really gave me new life to continue writing songs in this way, because it wasn’t as weird as it sounded on paper.”
The pandemic drove a train through the middle of the process, with the first lockdown hitting midway through recording. Rather than waiting, Kerr and Thatcher wrote a further batch of songs, including the glammy title track, that altered their whole approach, pushing them towards a sound that didn’t reflect the world outside their studio walls. They produced the album themselves, wrangling this fresh palette on their own time and discovering that they enjoyed the extra responsibility on their shoulders.
“I think we found it liberating,” Kerr observes. “Once we knew the record we were making, and we had this vision, it was so clear. It was really about just capturing the songs, and I think when it comes to recording and getting good performances that’s where we fly. We didn’t have any fear about it sounding good, or being played and recorded well. We had such confidence in the material, and from that point onwards it wasn’t scary to make at all.”
The J team
Early on, they had a helping hand from someone who was among the most important influences on Royal Blood as a band: Queens of the Stone Age leader Josh Homme, who is joined by Jeff Buckley, Jimmy Page and Jack White as Kerr’s favourite guitarists. “They all begin with J, for some reason,” he says with a bemused laugh. Along with Paul Epworth, who helmed the rumbling Who Needs Friends, Homme’s is the only other name among the production credits, for his work on Boilermaker. Kerr took plenty from the experience, particularly in focusing on his words and his performance as the band’s de facto focal point.
“Being a singer in a band isn’t something I ever dreamed of,” he says. “I just wanted to play. After that first record I suddenly found myself in these shoes. I had quite a lot of growing to do. On Boilermaker I found my voice. That was a big moment for me. Another thing I learned is just about using the studio as an instrument, and how creative the recording process can be. In the past, sometimes the studio has just been a place to capture what we do live, and that’s it. The time we spent together was so creative, and we were doing so many odd things in the studio to try and get to new places, that it really rubbed off on us.”
Наталья Бондарчук
В фильме «Солярис» роль Хари, сыгранная Натальей Бондарчук, существенно изменила её в период съемок. Чтобы точно передать образ героини, ей пришлось преодолеть несколько трудностей. На съемочной площадке ей пришлось надеть кристаллическую маску, которая оказалась гораздо более опасной, чем ожидалось
Это привело к возможной травме лица актрисы, и потребовалось мгновенное вмешательство и предосторожность, чтобы избежать серьезных последствий. Этот инцидент нанес серьезный удар по психике актрисы, оставив её долго в состоянии стресса и требующей времени для восстановления
‘BUMPED IT UP A LEVEL’
“It just came to be that our sound was a rock sound and we were writing rock songs at the beginning. But I would say a lot of our influences are not rock. Dance music has definitely come up on this latest record.”
The new sound for the band combined with the pandemic meant they had more time to work on their latest album.
Kerr explains: “For us, from a creative point, it was amazing because we were half way through an album that was no way near as good as it ended up.
«We scrapped half of the album and added five new songs. We really bumped it up a level.
“After lockdown, we just carried on writing songs with the security of knowing we had an album that was pretty good.
“This kind of security and nonchalance to the writing, in that period, resulted in some of the best songs we’ve ever written.”
Lead single Trouble’s Coming set the tone and a direction for the record.
“Then in the first lockdown, Typhoons and Limbo presented themselves,” says Kerr.
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Typhoons is on course to be No1, outselling all the Top 5 albums together
“When those songs revealed themselves, it just seemed like a much bolder step into the world that we were envisaging. And from that point onwards we felt very comfortable in these glittery new shoes.
“This record is us stepping out of the way and allowing everything to make its way onto our songs.”
Typhoons is the first album the two have self-produced and Kerr says that “began out of necessity, making music in lockdown”.
He adds: “We began recording ourselves, thinking we were just making demos. And we got to the end of these demos and realised this was 90 per cent of a recording.
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The new sound for the band combined with the pandemic meant they had more time to work on their latest albumCredit: Redferns
«So we just kept most of it and went in and patched what we needed to. So it was almost self-produced by default.”
For Thatcher, the album is also a mark of their friendship.
“We’ve always put our friendship first. Our musical connection was strong from the beginning and we have the same sense of humour,” he says.
“But through travelling together and making music and sharing the same journey, we’re closer than ever. Royal Blood has been an amazing experience for both of us.”
Детские годы
Синатра в младенчестве
Будущая звезда мировой сцены Фрэнк Синатра родился в семье иммигрантов 12 декабря 1915 года. Его отец за свою жизнь сменил множество профессий, мать была медсестрой с большим интересом к социальной работе.
Фрэнк был единственным сыном своих родителей. При рождении он едва не погиб, потому что весил 6 кг. Врачам пришлось доставать его щипцами, из-за чего Фрэнк получил повреждение барабанной перепонки.
Синатра был единственным ребенком. Рос будущий певец в неблагополучном районе, где конфликтовали различные преступные группировки. Чтобы выжить на такой улице, слабому мальчику пришлось научиться бороться с жизненными трудностями.
У его семьи был неплохой доход, с 13 лет Фрэнк самостоятельно зарабатывал карманные деньги, играя на укулеле.
Синатра в детстве
Синатра проявлял мало интереса к образованию, поэтому из школы его выгнали. Юный Синатра мечтал только о музыкальной карьере.
‘AMAZING GUY’
The song owes a lot to Kerr’s love of Elton John, who the frontman says he is “obsessed with”.
He says: “I went to see him play in Hove with my mum — we’re both massive Elton fans — and it was the best show I’ve ever been to.”
Sir Elton recently interviewed Royal Blood for his Beats 1 radio show Rocket Hour.
What was that like? “Oh, incredible. Amazing. He’s such an amazing guy,” gushes Kerr.
“We’d never spoken to him before, although I knew he was a fan and played our music on his show.
“He has an amazing story. He’s come out of a life of addiction and been so open about it and I really respect that.
“Even at that Hove gig, he was talking about it on stage and I was probably very recently sober at that point. So I have huge respect for everything he stands for.
“Drinking and drugs had really affected my mental health and it wasn’t until I was sober that I realised the low standards of living that I had accepted.
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“It wasn’t until I experienced sobriety that I realised the high cost of low living.
«I know someone who had been sober for five years, but then started drinking again, and a year later they were begging outside of Tesco — they’d lost f***ing everything.
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“So looking back now I’m so proud that I saved myself and we were able to make this album. It means so much.”
Typhoons is out now
The music video for Royal Blood’s I Only Lie When I Love You
Хит Леджер
Подготавливаясь к съемкам фильма «Темный рыцарь», актер решил поглубже погрузиться в свою роль, принимая решительные шаги. Он не просто изучал характер Джокера, а полностью поглощал этот образ, прибегая к использованию снотворных, обезболивающих и успокоительных препаратов. Его стремление к полной иммерсии привело к тому, что он изолировал себя в специально подготовленной комнате, где каждый уголок напоминал о темном внутреннем мире персонажа. Актер вел дневник, в котором описывал свои эмоции, переживания и мысли, связанные с Джокером. По мере того как съемочный процесс развивался, границы между личностью актера и его героем становились все более размытыми. Он стал одним с Джокером, перенося часть темной энергии персонажа на себя. К сожалению, Хит Леджер так и не узнал, насколько успешно ему удалось воплотить образ Джокера на экране. Его стремление к искусству привело к трагическому концу, поскольку актер умер от передозировки препаратами еще до того, как фильм о Джокере увидел свет.