The force behind Errorhead, namely one Marcus Nepomus Deml, may well be familiar to guitar guru’s out there but it required a bit of background research before I understood anything about either him or his work. Born in Prague in 1967, Deml was brought up in Germany and developed a taste for playing blues based guitar at a very early age. He moved to the US in 1986 to develop his playing and writing, attending the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles and played extensively around the L.A. club circuit, before returning to Europe in 1993. Over the next 12 years Deml established himself as an accomplished session musician, working with a diverse range of artists, including Bobby Kimball of Toto, Michael Sadler of Saga, Nena, Kingdom Come and even Hip Hop artists 3P.

Following work on a project called “Earth Nation”, the first incarnation of Errorhead was born, recording an instrumental album of material which gained critical success for its’ cross-over between guitar and electronica. The follow up “Error-Rhythm” was recorded with the addition of vocals from Marianne Bork-Larson but never got released in this form due to record company problems, although it did eventually appear in 2004 on Deml’s own label, minus the vocals. After another side project in 2006, Deml finally decided to quit the session business last year and concentrate full time on Errorhead, where he was joined by Frank Itt on bass, Zacky Tsoukas on drums, Tom Aeschbacher on keyboards and vocalist Robbie Smith.

 “Modern Hippie” is the result of this collaboration and it has been an interesting album to come to terms with personally, as it’s perhaps fair to say that mainly instrumental albums do not normally provide a strong appeal. This however is an album that sparked enough interest on first listen to keep me coming back for more and with time I have found my eventual rating creeping up. There is a clear element of experimentation as you might expect from reading the history above but there is also an underlying core of excellent guitar work firmly fixed in blues based rock.

“Connected” is one of only two full vocal efforts on the album and by that I mean the vocal actually tells some sort of story. The track clearly falls into the blues rock category with an updated 1970’s feel that guitarists such as Aynsley Lister carry off so well and it’s a pity Smiths excellent vocal was not more widely used following such a strong opener. Stylistically, “For My Brothers” continues along a similar vein but it’s mainly an instrumental, using a single line of vocal throughout but is pleasant enough. The experimentation begins to kick with a number of instrumental tracks that begin to introduce many of the sounds and influences that clearly interest Deml. 

A short track called “Dave”, with an early Fleetwood Mac feel to it, is followed by “Temporary Impression” which had me thinking Gary Moore on the guitar solo but with a few unique sounds thrown in to keep you thinking Errorhead. The album continues on this ever changing path with a powerful Pink Floyd, Dark Side Of The Moon inspired track called “Northern Lights” and follows up with the second full vocal effort.  This song “Heaven”, seems to pull together all of the influences so far and the band combine very well, with another fine solo from Deml on his Stratocaster.

In the final run in we get “Bhangra Baby” which starts, not surprisingly, with an eastern groove and could easily have appeared on a Toto album in one of their instrumental interludes. Closing track is the jazz influenced “Tata”, which starts slowly and picks up into a jolly enough vibe but it does also bring the album to a rather off-beat ending.

Overall this album is not going to appeal to everyone, particularly on the first listen, but if you like something a little bit different, enjoy excellent musicianship and being taken on a journey of discovery, then you might find this will grow on you.

Let us know your views on Modern Hippie

Track Listing

That’s Good
Connected
For My Brothers
Dave
Temporary Impression
Yeah Man
Watch My Cloud
Northern Lights
Heaven
Bhangra Baby
We Come in Peace
Follow Your Dream
Tata

Line Up

Marcus Deml - Guitar/Vocals
Frank Itt - Bass
Zacky Tsoukas - Drums