Carl Baldassarre Talks ‘Grand Boulevard’ Album, Music Gear And More

Guitarist/educator/composer Carl Baldassarre has his inaugural solo album ‘Grand Boulevard’ which is out now and he chatted to us all about his new music, career and more:

Your latest single is called “Sands of Tarifa”. What was the creative process for this track?

The track was inspired by my time relaxing on the beaches of Tarifa, Spain. From that vantage point you can see Northern Africa and feel the essence of Morocco, Marrakesh, and Casablanca across the Strait of Gibraltar. I had a vision for the song as a fantasy love story melding the sonic vibes of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir and The Beatles’ Eastern explorations on Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. The verses of the song are built around a droning D colour for the primary riff then toggling between D Major and B Major chords during the verse to create the dreamy mood for the story. The choruses were designed to lift and shift from the dream state to an awakened state by using chords in a major cycle progression (G – D – A -E). The overall all effect of the contrasting verse and chorus was to create a binary song structure alternating between fantasy (verses) and reflection (chorus). The string arrangements are replete with idiomatic eastern harmonic and rhythmic figures which add to the magical and authentic texture. The strings were recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London with the London symphonic orchestra under the baton of conductor Rick Wentworth. I’m very pleased with the result.

Where is your hometown and can you describe it in five words?

a. I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, USA. I would describe it as Gritty, Resilient, Modest, Challenging and Ever-changing.

You are releasing your forthcoming album ‘GRAND BOULEVARD’ this year. Where did you record the album and how did you want to approach the recording process?

I recorded it mostly in the UK (Abbey Road Studios, London) and the U.S. (Sweetwater Studios in Ft. Wayne, IN). The approach to recording was to simply work with the best people (producers, engineers & musicians) and NEVER settle for anything less than excellent.

Do you have any favoured guitars/pedals and effects?

Overall, my three favourite guitars are my Les Paul #1, my Strat, and my Brian Moore. I also rely on my Martin acoustic and Yamaha classical. For pedals, I rely on a Bogner LaGrange gain pedal, Spark drive, Nemesis delay, Ventris reverb and Mobius modulation pedal.

In addition to your work as a musician, you have also become “Professor of Classic Rock,” creating a popular YouTube channel that has now amassed millions of views. What advice would you give to a musician starting out?

 1: Figure out what you’re good at AND what excites you …and do that. 2: Trust your gut and never give up. 3: Don’t waste time. 4: Take risks and go out on a limb, because that’s where the fruit is. 5: Embrace failure so that when you fail, fail beautifully!

One of the tracks from your album is called ‘Gin with Alice’ and I wondered if Alice is based on a real person that you know?

I wrote this song while in Edinburgh, Scotland. I was staying with a friend whose wife (Alice) knocked on my door and said, “It’s 4:00 pm and I’m going to have a gin, would you like to join me?” I thought, now that’s a great title for a song! However, the song itself has nothing to do with her, and the subject matter is extremely difficult as the “Alice” in my story takes her own life. The lyrics suggest this when referring to “flying” and her “second-last goodbye”. Unfortunately, this is something I’ve experienced so it’s quite moving to me.

How do you look after your voice?

By hiring better singers than me!! I mostly did backgrounds on this album so I could focus on the guitars!

The album is produced by yourself, Phil Naish and Mark Hornsby who also engineered the album. How did you all first meet?

Phil and Mark both had worked together before for several years. When I was interviewing engineers for the project, I met Mark Hornsby and during our meeting he told me about Phil Naish. When I met Phil, that sealed the deal!

Do you have any plans to tour this album in the UK or other countries?

I’m hoping we can put that together. We’re just looking for the right opportunity, but I’d love to! In the meantime, I have several shows in the states for the premieres.

What makes Carl Baldassarre happy and what makes you unhappy?

What makes me truly happy is composing new music and what excites me is playing live concerts. When I’m unhappy it’s usually because I’m not doing one or the other.