“A Pete Francis record feels like a ride from New York City to the coast of Maine.”
American Musician, Writer, Poet, Singer-Songwriter, Founding member of Dispatch
📲 Text me: +1 (772) 275-3017
“A Pete Francis record feels like a ride from New York City to the coast of Maine.”
American Musician, Writer, Poet, Singer-Songwriter, Founding member of Dispatch
📲 Text me: +1 (772) 275-3017
“He says I’m telling you, I’m burning the river”
“So They Say is my first solo record. I recorded it in the Summer of 2000 with Jack Gauthier at Lakewest Recording Studio in Rhode Island. Lakewest is a cool studio. Totally unassuming - it could be mistaken for a military barracks. Inside those cinder block walls and windowless rooms is a magical temple of sound. Jack is the studio owner and musical guru. Many of the amazing blues recordings by Duke Robillard were done at Lakewest. He's recorded countless bands - Dispatch's Bang Bang and Four-Day Trials were recorded there. Jack recruited Marty Ballou on bass and Marty Richards on drums. They were a superlative rhythm section. I wanted this recording to be sparse like a John Lee Hooker album.
So many of the lyrics came out of my poetry notebooks. At the time, I was very influenced by the poetry of Seamus Heaney, Wallace Stevens, EE Cummings, William Carlos Williams, and Emily Dickinson to name a few.
To me, artists like Charles Mingus and Miles Davis captured the musical aura I felt most aligned with at the time. In many ways, I wanted the instrumentation to sound similar to a Rudy Van Gelder record - dry and pure- while my voice could be upfront in the mix playing the role of what a Coltrane horn might sound like. I was interested in my form of expressionism both lyrically and instrumentally.
I worked with artist William Quigley on the album art. Quigley painted a portrait of me for the cover. My brother, Eric Heimbold, took the photo out of the train window that is on the back of the album.” – Pete Francis
So many of the lyrics came out of my poetry notebooks. At the time, I was very influenced by the poetry of Seamus Heaney, Wallace Stevens, EE Cummings, William Carlos Williams, and Emily Dickinson to name a few.
To me, artists like Charles Mingus and Miles Davis captured the musical aura I felt most aligned with at the time. In many ways, I wanted the instrumentation to sound similar to a Rudy Van Gelder record - dry and pure- while my voice could be upfront in the mix playing the role of what a Coltrane horn might sound like. I was interested in my form of expressionism both lyrically and instrumentally.
I worked with artist William Quigley on the album art. Quigley painted a portrait of me for the cover. My brother, Eric Heimbold, took the photo out of the train window that is on the back of the album.” – Pete Francis
Album Credits:
Pete Francis: Vocals, Guitar
Marty Ballou: Bass
Marty Richards: Drums/Percussion
Doug James: Tenor and Baritone Sax on Father Rose
Dave Limina: B3 Organ on Carry You
Produced by: Jack Gauthier and Pete Francis
Recorded & Mixed by: Jack Gauthier
Recorded at: Lakewest Recording Studio West in Greenwich, Rhode Island, USA
Mastered by: John Mailloux at Bongo Beach Productions
Words and Music By: Pete Francis
Original Paintings and Album Design By: William Quigley
Album Photography: Eric Heimbold, William Quigley
Artwork Layout: Steve McCarron, Leif Heimbold