Wolfmountain Home Recording Studio- Florence, Italy

Fabio Fabbri's Wolfmountain Home Recording  Studio is the place where Slinky Vagabond recorded their  album “ King Boy Vandals”. 

Fabio Fabbri and Keanan Duffty started working in 2019 at Fabio’s Wolfmountain Home Recording Studio near Florence, Italy.

Luckily, they completed all the vocal lines before the lockdown. During  the pandemic some great musicians had the possibility to listen to the tracks and wanted to be part of the projectplaying their instruments. 
Having a personal recording studio, Fabio Fabbri had the possibility to work on the tracks and continue producing and mixing also during  lockdown.

The result is a new music project that has its roots in the ‘70s and ‘80smusical genres, butwith various different influences that givetheir music a contemporary sound.

In fact, Slinky Vagabond music is not conceptual or experimental, it is a recording studio output, produced as overall direction of the creative  processfrom beginning to end, where Slinky Vagabond have taken control of everything: have written the songs, supervised the arrangements, masterminded all phases of the recording process with most painful attention to detail and released the result on their own online distribution.

This use of the recording studio is one more element that characterises Slinky Vagabond music. Fabio Fabbri is a music producer who considers the recording studio as an additional musical instrument used to aid the process of composition, as Jimi Hendrix and other artists used to do.

If, during the ‘70s, rock was in counter-tradition to traditional music, nowadays we could say that Slinky Vagabond  music is in counter-tradition to the vulgarisation and the exaggeratedmarketingof disposable music. 

The result has been that many great musicians from ‘70s and ’80s have recognised themselves in Slinky Vagabond music and have been delighted to participate as guests in the  project

Martin Turner bass player and founder of Wishbone Ash, Midge Ure guitarist of Ultravox, Thin Lizzy, Visage and cofounder of Live Aid, Dave Formula keyboard player of Magazine and Visage, Richard Fortus guitarist of Guns N’ Roses and Psychedelic Furs, Tony Bowers bass player and founder of Simply Red, Dave Torn guitarist of David Bowie and David Sylvian, Andy Hilfiger bass player of X Brothers and the English drummer David Mahre have played their instruments in many songs.

Regarding the Slinky Vagabond experience,Fabio Fabbri says “ It has been incredible: each musician played his instrument live at his own recording studio, in Great Britain, in Ireland, in the USA  and we exchanged files directly using modern technology to create a real live performance. It has been the most exciting experience I have ever had in my musical life ! “

And Keanan Duffty says; “Fabio Fabbri is one of the most gifted and genuine musical talents that I have ever met and I have been very lucky to work with some legendary musicians, who also happen to be my heroes. Fabio’s guitar playing is a pleasure to experience. His melodies are sublime and unique and he is one of the kindest people I know”.

All the recordings were produced by Fabio Fabbri at his Wolfmountain Home Recording Studio. 

Mario McNulty, a New York City Grammy Award winning music producer, mixer and engineer, was delighted to participate in the project doing the mixing of the track ‘The Beauty in You’ . 

Fabio Fabbri is not only the producer and the composer of most of the songs, he is also the lead guitarist.

About his experience with Slinky Vagabond he remembers: “ I was used to playing  the  same guitar - Fender  or Gibson - all through a live performance or the recording of an album. But the experience with Slinky Vagabond has given  me new insight  into the useand choice of the instruments. I havealways played a Fender Stratocaster, looking fordifferent tones and sounds throughthe guitar touch that at that moment inspired me. But, during the work with Slinky Vagabond, while the recording was going on,it was as ifI was gradually castingoffclichés concerning the various ways ofusingthedifferent kinds of guitars.” 

In fact, within the guitarist community there is the tendency to choose the specific kind of guitar in relation to the the genre or the kind of sound or riff or solo the guitarist wants to produce. Many guitarists and specialised magazines, tend to advise a guitarist to choose a specific kind of guitar  in relation to the kind of sound or riff they want to achieve, also remembering the choices that  legendary guitarists made in similar situations.

“Actually, -Fabio says- having almost always used my Fender Stratocaster, I have never had to consider which guitar to use to produce a particular riff or sound. I have always looked for the best sound using the touching and the phrasing while playing my Fender Stratocaster also in situations where it  would have seemed more suitable to use a Gibson Les Paul timbre.” 

That means that the possibility to experiment doesn’t only refer to the use of  new recording technologies or electronics, but also to a different way  to use the instrument in relation to  the arrangement of a track.

Fabio continues:“I think that the habit many guitarists have in choosing a specific guitar in relation to the sound  they are looking for, is probably more a  psychological questionthan a practical one. I think that this approach  is  due more to  the influence that specialised magazines have on  the guitarist’s approach, than on a realistic reason.”

In fact, if you take a glance at an iconic guitarist like Jimi Hendrix, whose image was closely linked to Fender Stratocaster, a kind of guitar that has a very recognisable sound and that Jimi used for most of his tracks also because he could use the lever, it’s very impressive to see him playing a Gibson SG Special on  the albumBand of Gypsy, with which he produced a different sound whilemaintaining the typical characteristics of the Hendrix phrasing.

We can say the same for Mick Ronson who especially loved Fender Telecaster, while during live concerts he mostly used a Les Paul, leaving us doubtful about which guitar he had really used during the recording sessions.

Therealquestion iswhetherthe guitarist chooses the guitar according to the sound he wants to achieve, rather than be influenced by the way in whichgreatguitarists used that particular kind of guitar.

Fabio says: “ Recording with electric guitars, in my Wolfmountain Home Recording Studio,I have always  preferredflatrecordingwhich meansrecording directly without the use of special effects. I have also used this approach  during the recording of the Slinky Vagabond album. This determined my choice of the guitar that would guarantee the sound I was aiming at. I must say that during the recording of King Boy Vandals, I changed my usual habit and I used different guitars during the recording of the tracks, more than I used to do in the past, looking for the right feeling for anytrack or riff or solo. I must honestly say that I’m satisfied with the result, that encouraged me to develop a different, wider and more varied ,approach to the instrument. During the recording of sometracks of "King Boy Vandals" great guitarists like Midge Ure, Richard Fortus and David Torn joined us on the project. It has been a great experience because, despite the fact that everyone used different guitars and differentrecording methods, the result is fantastic.The variety of the soundeach guitarist createdand the different styles of playing guitar mixed and interconnected perfectly, producing excellent results. To confirm the fact that for a good sound  the choice of the guitar is not crucial but it’s the guitarist’s taste and the way he  plays that counts."

A special section should be dedicated to acoustic guitars. In the album there is an impressive acoustic version of “The Beauty in You”.

Fabio Fabbri is used to playing a Taylor and a Sigma Est 1970 12 Strings. 

He thinks that when using acoustic guitars the touch impact is essential, even though the quality of the hollow body is also important.

“ Recording and equalising acoustic guitars, - says Fabio- I think that you have to pay much more attention to the type of  arrangements of the songs rather than when recording electric guitars. In fact, when the sound of an acoustic guitarprevails as in folk music and in acoustic ballads, the sound produced by the recording must be rich in harmonics. Differently when the sound of anacoustic guitar is drowned out by the sound of other instruments - especially when the sound of the electric guitar is distorted- you have to optimise  high frequencies that allow the acoustic guitar not only to mix with the other instruments but  also to emerge.”

Regarding the recording of the sound of an acoustic guitar, we must remember that itrequires not only a mic of good quality but also it being in the right position in relation tothe sound source.

Nowadays, the use of sophisticated microphones requires more care during the recording because if the equipment - mixers, analog/ digital converters , pre amps etc - are not all of the same quality, the result, in home recording, regarding the width and warmth of sound, could be below  expectations.

This means it is necessary to reach the bestquality level equilibriumof the various components of the equipment.

Acoustic recordings made during the 70’sare still benchmarks even now !

The first incarnation of Slinky Vagabond

The first incarnation of Slinky Vagabond was in 2007 when Keanan Duffty formed the band with Earl Slick (David Bowie) producing and playing guitars, Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) on bass and vocals, the legendary drummer Clem Burke (Blondie), with backing vocals from Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks) featuring on their cover of Bowie’s ‘Boys Keep Swinging’-

After recording and live performances in New York, with the reformation of Sex Pistols in 2007/2008 and Blondie’s touring schedule, this version of Slinky Vagabond soon split up, but the members still remain good friends.

 In this video  Keranan Duffty talks about the  Slinky Vagabond first incarnation  which features. Earl Slick, Glen Matlock and Clem Burke with Duffty on lead vocals. 

 Also watch David Bowie's swashbuckling performance of 'Boys Keep Swinging' on the Kenny Everett show in 1979.

It's good to meet your hero |When Keanan Duffty met David Bowie:

It's good to met your hero, expecially if the hero is David Bowie.  

Keanan Duffty met his hero David Bowie in 2007.

Bill Zysblat, David Bowie’s longtime business manager, organized the first encounter at RZO organization on 57^th Street in Manhattan.

Keanan met David three times and  the second meeting they decided to promote the David Bowie fashion collection, marketing an exclusive CD of ‘Five, maybe six” unreleased songs by David Bowie.

The Bowie by Keanan Duffty collection was launched at Target stores across America in October 2007 along with the Limited edition ‘Strangers When We Meet’ CD featuring six unreleased Bowie tracks.

With advertising in Rolling Stone, Spin and GQ the collection sold out pretty quickly. Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters was pictured in GQ wearing a pair of the skinny black Bowie jeans and the entire line of clothes seemed to get the seal of approval form fans and fellow rock stars. Target created a 3D fashion show, of which the Bowie collection was part, and premiered it in New York City’s Grand Central Station. This was reported favorably in the Wall Street Journal.

The moral to the story is that some times it is good to meet your heroes.

Meeting David Bowie

 At this point in time there can be few people in the world who are not familiar with David Bowie. His career has lasted for decades and spanned music, film, theatre, the internet and the stock market. One thing that cannot be over looked is the influence he has had on literally millions of people. To say I am a fan of the man is an understatement. I would consider myself a disciple who has learned much of my creative craft by studying this man’s moves and I am not alone in that. However. nobody comes remotely close to the real thing.

My first exposure to the famous orange RCA records label was not through Bowie, but the glam rock band The Sweet. The Sweet were probably my first music fetish and I was not alone in that either. British kids sent these so-called ‘brick layers in drag’ to the upper echelons of the pop charts thirteen times during the 1970s. I bought their string of hit songsations that included the Bowie-esque stomper ‘Blockbuster’ followed by ‘Hell Raiser’, ‘Teenage Rampage’ and ‘Fox on the Run’ all of which cemented their status a pop idols for British teeny boppers. However, I was soon to realize that The Sweet were merely a lightweight bubble gum ensemble who didn’t even write their own songs. Their RCA label mate David Bowie was the real thing. An artist for whom my admiration never waned. It would be over thirty years later that I would eventually meet the man in person.

Bill Zysblat is David Bowie’s longtime business manager and in 2002 I reached out to him. Zysblat’s office, which houses the RZO organization is on 57^th Street in Manhattan and in the early Nineties I had moved to Manhattan and made New York City my home and my base for a career in fashion design.  I was interested in designing some t-shirts, Bowie tour merchandise. “Great”, said Bill, “but he’s on tour so let’s revisit after the current dates end in 2003”. However, at one of Bowie’s German shows the unthinkable happened. David Bowie had a blocked artery which caused him to be hospitalized and for the tour to be cut short.

Several years later I reconnected with Zysblat and in the time since our first conversation my circumstances had changed favorably. My fashion label had blossomed I had just struck a deal with the American mass retailer Target, a 1400 plus chain of stores based in Minneapolis and reaching across America coast to coast.

“Come up to the office”, said Bill. “You should meet with David and see if there is synergy”. The famed RZO organization –That was the place where I would first encounter Mr Bowie. The meeting was to be with David, his personal assistant Coco Schwab and Bill Z in Bill’s corporate board room. Beforehand I imagined the meeting would be with the Thomas Jerome Newton character from The Man Who Fell To Earth, the seminal Nic Roeg movie that cemented Bowie’s mid 1970’s star as the alien rock icon. Would David enter the room in a fedora, black coat and shades? Was I suddenly being transported into the offices of World Enterprises? ‘Slow down Arthur, keep to thirty’.

I nervously paced the empty room and after a few minutes Bowie appeared looking very casual in a sweat shirt, chinos and suede desert boots. I guess I am meeting David Jones from Bromley then, I thought to myself and Bowie immediately put me at ease by having me sit in the chair at the head of the desk. Now I was on the spot.  That voice. Even his speaking voice is totally distinctive. This is the guy who inspired me to be creative in the first place and I’m in the same room. This is surreal but I am keeping it together. Just act natural…After some lighthearted small talk I made my pitch. Bowie was charming and funny, at one point in the conversation I forgot where I was in my monologue, “I’ve lost my thread” I said, at which Bowie pointed out that was “not so good for a fashion designer-losing your thread”.

He asked what I had in mind and I told him that I thought it was a good time to bring my idea of a Bowie fashion line to him “Oh, why is that then?” he asked. Simply, that I had built a small business selling to hip premium retailers around the world and had now struck a deal with Target- meaning that my clothes would have the potential to be in shops across America. A bit like getting a big record deal after years with an indie. With that distribution already in place I could put the Bowie name on a fashion collection and offer a ‘Warhol style’ mass market approach. David seemed intrigued.

I was dying to ask for his autograph and get my picture taken with this icon of innovation but I resisted the temptation to ask. “Don’t’ blow it” I kept telling myself. We shook hands and David asked to see some design ideas. “You haven’t already pitched this to Target have you?” “No”, I said. “I was waiting to get your approval”.  He seemed happy with this and gave his blessing for me to approach the retailer.

Meeting number two took place, again at Bill Z’s office. David, Coco, Mark Wolk, the president of the manufacturing company who produced my collections, my wife Nancy and myself attended. We had design boards, sample garments and designs for the labels, hang tags and packaging.  All we needed was David’s approval.

“Nice jacket” he said to me of the coat I was wearing. “It’s one of Vivienne’s” I said happy that he approved of the Westwood tailoring.

Some weeks later we I met with Bill Z and Coco and the guys from the London based music PR firm who handle the Bowie account. Target were hoping for a big splash launch event with some of David’s stage costumes in glass cases-museum style. “Not going to happen”, the PR guys said, and they were firm about that. How about some quotes from David?  “Not going to happen”, again came the reply. This is not going to be an easy sell I thought. How do we promote a David Bowie fashion collection without Bowie’s help? The PR men finally agreed that we could market an exclusive CD of ‘Five, maybe six” unreleased songs. That was something-I would even get my name on a Bowie record. OK not on the orange RCA label that I had worshipped since my youth but nevertheless.

The third meeting was at the Bowie’s Isolar offices in Soho. These few rooms are on the sixth floor of a former light industrial building that is typical of that New York neighborhood and house a small staff that tends to the Bowie machine. At that meeting would be just David, Coco and myself. I had come to present the marketing ideas for the launch of the collection. Target were very keen to have David perform a song at an opening party. Again, not going to happen. “I’m not Posh Spice” he said. Oh dear. Did I fuck this up? He seemed happy with the in store promotional presentation and the CD design but didn’t want to be hawking a bunch of clothes. In hindsight I can see his point and he was obviously right. Keeping a distance allowed for his inspiration to be seen without it becoming an obviously commercial enterprise. This man was teaching me something about the importance of mystique-which in the age of mass celebrity and online exposure means that we become over familiar with our heroes and they can be easily cast aside.

The Bowie by Keanan Duffty collection launched at Target stores across America in October 2007 along with the Limited edition ‘Strangers When We Meet’ CD featuring six unreleased Bowie tracks. With advertising in Rolling Stone, Spin and GQ the collection sold out pretty quickly. Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters was pictured in GQ wearing a pair of the skinny black Bowie jeans and the entire line of clothes seemed to get the seal of approval form fans and fellow rock stars. Target created a 3D fashion show, of which the Bowie collection was part, and premiered it in New York City’s Grand Central Station. This was reported favorably in the Wall Street Journal. The moral to the story is that sometimes it is good to meet your heroes.

"To Cut a Long Story Short"|The Spandau Ballet cover version

Slinky Vagabond | A New Art Rock Music Project

Slinky Vagabond is a new art rock music project by Keanan Duffty and Fabio Fabbri. Their new album " King Boy Vandals" contains a fantastic lineup of great artists: Midge Ure, Richard Fortus, Martin Turner, David Torn , Dave Formula, Tony Bowers.

The  new Slinky Vagabond art rock music project starts with the encounter between Fabio Fabbri - Italian  guitarist and composer - and Keanan Duffty English fashion designer and singer based in NYC.

They met for the first time in 2017 at the Polimoda International Fashion School - where they are both  teachers- after a lecture on fashion and music held by Keanan and Glen Matlock, the Sex Pistols bass guitarist and song writer . Duffty dressed the Sex Pistols during their 2003 American tour, so the lecture was an opportunity to show students the Keanan and Glen experience in music and fashion.

Some months after this first encounter, Fabio and Keanan started discussing music and decided to collaborate to create a new rock music project.

They worked at this new rock music project for two years adjusting some compositions of Fabio to Keanan's voice and lyrics and rearranging some Keanan's tracks in relation to the new musical line, recording at Wolfmountain Studio, outside Florence, every time that Keanan was in Italy for his work at the Polimoda Fashion Institute.

They have had a lot of fun working together at this new music project and the result is a sound that entirely expresses the musical experience of the two musicians, that comes from and perfectly mixes their different musical background. Thus, Fabio‘s R’&R’ guitars are mixed perfectly with Keanan’s  voice and glam style. Their mutual passion for Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie is reflected in their music, although their sound is totally original and new.

In  two years they have collected  a lot of material  that is now  published in their new album "King Boy Vandals".

They decided to adopt the name Slinky Vagabond, a term used in the David Bowie song “Young Americans”, from the album of the same name, released in 1975. It is a tribute to the greatness of David Bowie and a name that Keanan has already used in the past in some of his projects and activities, and  it was also the name of a R'&R' band formed by Keanan in 2007 with illustrious musicians like Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols, Clem Burke of  Blondie and Earl Slick who performed with David Bowie and John Lennon.

Friends like Martin Turner, bass guitarist and composer of Wishbone Ash, Midge Ure, guitarist of Visage and singer of Ultravox, Tony Bowers, founder bass player of Simply Red and The Durutti Column , Dave Formula keyboard player of Visage and Magazine , Richard Fortus of Guns N' Roses, David Torn who collaborarted with David Bowie, and David Sylvian, Andy Hilfiger and the English drummer David Maher were  part of this new rock music project  project playing their instruments in many songs.

Other artists have also given support by collaborating at this new project. 

Some pictures were taken by the photographer Ruggero Lupo Mengoni. The videos were made by Fausto Fabbri, musician, sound designer and video maker.

The Grammy Award-winning music producer, mixer and engineer Mario McNulty has offered to  mix  " The Beauty in You", the first  released song.

Recording at Wolfmountain Studio, Florence (Italy)

Reording  at Wolfmountain Studio, Florence, Italy. 

In this picture , taken in 2019, before the pandemic, Fabio Fabbri and Keanan Duffty are recording the songs that will be part of their first album "King Boy Vandals" at Fabio Fabbri's Wolfmountain Home Recording Studio, near Florence, Italy.   

The picture was taken durig the recording of the vocals.