About Romain Bigeard
I am French, I am a guitarist and I am based in Amsterdam.
I started playing the guitar at age 16 inspired by guitar greats such as Jimi Hendrix and Joe Satriani as well as bands such as U2 and The Cure (that was in the late 80s!). I have played over the years with various cover and original bands around Besançon, in Eastern France. I then moved to Dublin, Ireland and Paris, France where I built up home studio recording skills. I have also been a regular contributor to French magazines Keyboards and Soundkeys from 1994 to 2003.
I met my muse (aka Pia) on a misty evening in Montmartre a few months ago. Her unique vision and abilities in direction enabled me to push my musical boundaries to an extent I did not think possible. Her creativity transpires in each of these new songs, she has been an integral part in the recording process as well as contributing as a musician on the piano and synth.
With Pia’s direction I have steered away from the rather crowded genre of 80s inspired instrumental heavy metal and came to explore musical territories such as blues on 'Breakfast for Dinner' and rock and pop on 'Papillon' and 'Sea Shell Cafe'. ‘7 Wells’, which will give its title to an upcoming album, has more of an evocative Eastern feel to it. It took only a few weeks to compose and record the four songs from start to finish.
Take a look at the blog section where I will regularly post details about the birth of each new song including technical details for you gear heads! Struck years ago by a fierce GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), I am a pedal freak and will also post about my collection.
I am always on the look out for collaborating with other musicians, producers and sound engineers whether it is over the Internet or one-to-one. I would love to work on film scores as well as single song projects or as a contributor for personal and commercial projects so, don't hesitate to contact me wherever you are in the world. I am now based in Amsterdam and am looking forward to meeting musicians here.
About Pia Jane Bijkerk
I have been a quiet composer since I was three which is when I discovered the keys on one of my Great Uncle Ron’s pianos. It was at this age that I was also discovered to be partly deaf. I had an operation to widen the tubes in my ears which seemed to give me extra sensitive hearing as I discovered I could hear sounds that other people could not. I rather felt like a superhuman but kept it to myself.
I was trained in classical music until the age of ten when we left Australia to live in Montreal, Canada. I was no star pupil, I didn’t win medals or awards at competitions as I almost always lost my ability to play well in front of an audience. Somehow my mother managed to keep up with piano lessons and a piano for me as we moved countries and continents over the following years. While living in Rovereto, Italy at 14 I decided it was time to move away from classical and try my hand at jazz. I failed miserably.
I spend a lot of my time listening intently in quietness, catching sounds as they flow past and through me. I am very much influenced by my life experiences – by memory, by feelings and by the very present moment. And when I place my fingers on the keys of my piano I start with learned songs as my warm up which quietens my mind and then, if the air is nurturing I am able to flow into the present where my compositions transpire.
It has been an absolute pleasure to assist Romain on these songs and to be able to help him express his vision. His potential as a professional artist is apparent, and I know one day I will be saying ‘I knew him when he was a pony-tailed bedroom rocker’.
PS. Yes I still have superhuman hearing.
Birth of the Songs
Papillon was the first song Pia and I worked on. I had these three chords that went Fmaj7 - Dm - Am. I fiddled with different clean guitar tones and we began recording. As usual, I then started to add loads of distortion and was back in the 80s again. Pia encouraged me to stick to the clean tones and we stacked three layers of guitars playing the same chords differently. I added a bass part that went like a rumble and Pia added piano parts and we had very quickly a solid foundation for ethereal lead parts that were all improvised.
Sea Shell Cafe came next and the same layer technique was used. Again the main lead part was mainly improvised.
7 Wells formed when I started playing with a warmer guitar tone through a deep echo. After improvising the intro, the rest of the song transformed with an Eastern influence. The rhythm section is only minimal and 3 guitar parts make up that rich sound.
Breakfast For Dinner was always intended to be a funky slash blues number from the beginning. Pia suggested that I could play some bass lead parts which I had never done before! It worked very well in the end. The whole song is quite minimalist, like an old blues song but also reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, the wah and the univibe effect used on guitar lead parts mimicking some of his tones.
History behind the Songs
Papillon ('butterfly' en anglais) is reminiscent of the flight of an extremely rare and beautiful papillon only found down under.
Sea Shell Cafe is named after a fairy-lit bar set on the shore of a beach on the beautiful island of Langkawi, Malaysia.
7 Wells is the name of seven natural pools of cascading rain water, tucked in a rainforest, high on a mountain top in Langkawi. "Well,…" is where your mind stops and your senses start.
Breakfast for Dinner. It's Sunday. Or Monday. It's scambled eggs with bacon, tea and toast on the side. It's reading the week-end papers at sunset...
Gear
Recording:
PC running Cubase 4 and a M-Audio Firewire 1814 audio interface.
Guitar used:
'99 Custom Shop American Classics Stratocaster fitted with Kinman pickups used on Papillon Breakfast for Dinner and Sea Shell Cafe
'99 SG 61 Reissue used on 7 Wells
Amplification:
Marshall JMP-1 preamp plugged directly into the sound card
Pedals (From right to left):
Real Mc Coy RMC1 Wah, FoxRox electronics Captain Coconut 2, Xotic BB Preamp, Anlogman DS-1 Pro, Boss Super Chorus CH1, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, Electeo Harmonix Memory Man
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