Imagine my surprise when I found out that my favourite inventor Nikola Tesla and guitarist Allan Holdsworth were related. I recently acquired Holdsworth's album Wardenclyffe Tower and noticed that this must have been named after Tesla's laboratory Wardenclyffe in Shoreham, Long Island. Allan Holdsworth has always been inspiring when it comes to music, going against norms and expressing pure unbound creativity. Nikola Tesla is alien in his genius and there is too much to mention about him than I have time or room to write at the moment. I love it when people achieve exactly what they want and create amazing things.
I found an interview with Allan Holdsworth about Wardenclyffe Tower; this is the excerpt most relevant to this article:
Why did you choose to call the album Wardenclyffe Tower?
It's about this particular tower and Nikola Tesla. I always intrigued when I had the big book with his patents and everything. He seemed to be a guy who was doing things, being really creative and it seemed he wasn't in the right time to be doing what he was doing! [laughs] Although what he did contributed to everyone and everyone benefitted, not many people actually know he was responsible for all the things that he did. When I started working on that track Wardenclyffe Tower, I had this idea of this guy in his workshop. So, when I finished that piece, I thought well, that would be a good title for the whole record.
Are you often inspired to write music that way? Do you need that sort of catalyst?
I set out to write something. I quite often start out with an idea I have and work with that. With Wardenclyffe Tower, that was definitely a concept I had — creating an imaginary backdrop for this guy.
I was just listening to Shawn Lane playing “Once upon a time in the west” on YouTube and his level of playing has astounded me. Unfortunately he died in 2003 and I will never get a chance to see him perform in a concert. It is definitely worth exploring his material and I will write more opinions when I buy an album or two.
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