i just got sent this video....i'm thinking it's amazing! :
also....i also kinda used to like afi....but the guitarist and the singer have done this electro album together and i'm guessing that they're doing shows now.....watch this....any respect i may have had for them is firmly gone...hahaha!
wasn't that some funny shit? what are they doing?!?! deary me!
anyway....i gotta go do some more remixy stuff!
xx
28/02/2008
27/02/2008
i'm older...you're older
it's been over a year i've been writing this huh? hahahah! sorry this has taken so long and it's been a pretty nutty year.....it's kinda spawned 2 album, which i'm going to finish recording soon....one is the newer electro sound, which i'm going to london soon to finish tracking the vocals....the other is the 8 bit stuff, that will hopefully be nostalgic by the time it comes to record.
so i think about 2 people will read this so i'm just going to post some videos that i like....a couple of nights ago i got really drunk and went on this 4 hour lecture to adam and claire about music that i like....and had all my cds spread out on the floor. what a dick!
this is a bit like that....but with you tube....and no wine...
anyway...my favourite band of all time and the first song i ever saw of them:
this guy is pretty cool....like a total dude!:
because he puts an addictive chemical in it that makes you crave it fortnightly:
right awwn!:
i still can't get enough of this song:
someone soon is gonne start a band that sounds exactly like this and they'll be huge!:
thirtay threeeee ahh ahh ahhhhh!:
yeah so until i remember about this blog....or your so bored that you actually read another one of my blogs.
rock on!! xx
05/01/2008
another illustrious post....lolz!
it's fucking 2008! i've been writing this blog for a year....it's gone pretty quick and we've done a lot...although on paper it doesn't look that much..haha!
the album i was starting on this time last year is 100% different to what i thought i was going to do....but it's actually 100% what i wanted to do...if that makes sense? i'm really proud of the songs that i've written! everything is in it's right place and it's souding kicking!
so....in the next few weeks i'm looking at getting the recordings finished off and mixed....so hopefully by next month you guys will be getting to hear the begining stages of : ( 2008.
gone is the dusty cobwebs that is 8 bit and i'm being much more possitive lyricly....the songs are about a billion times better than anything i have ever written! or at least i think so.....i guess that's for yall to decide!
thanks for hanging in there....it's been a nutty year, but we wouldn't be where we are without it!
mart xx
the album i was starting on this time last year is 100% different to what i thought i was going to do....but it's actually 100% what i wanted to do...if that makes sense? i'm really proud of the songs that i've written! everything is in it's right place and it's souding kicking!
so....in the next few weeks i'm looking at getting the recordings finished off and mixed....so hopefully by next month you guys will be getting to hear the begining stages of : ( 2008.
gone is the dusty cobwebs that is 8 bit and i'm being much more possitive lyricly....the songs are about a billion times better than anything i have ever written! or at least i think so.....i guess that's for yall to decide!
thanks for hanging in there....it's been a nutty year, but we wouldn't be where we are without it!
mart xx
05/11/2007
post number 40!
so i've got this medium to talk to people....so i'm just going to post what i want here.....first is a couple of videos:
first is 'it's my life' by talk talk......i guess most of you know this as a no doubt song, but it was actually originally done by talk talk....i like the sound of this record, it's kinda intence but...possitive at the same time.
the second is 'art of parties' by japan....the 'tin drum' album that this song is off of is probably my favourite album right now, nothing sounds like japan....i can't get my head around how great this album is!
so i guess you want to hear about the band?
well....we're all working, we're all doing good.....i'm working as a bar man, it's actually the most fun i've had in ages!
musicly....everything is going pretty well.....i've almost finished our album, i just have to do a bit of lyrics on a couple of songs....it's sounding amazing!
the thing that i think most people wont like to hear is that it's pretty much 100% new material....but our plan is to release the older stuff as an album shortly after the 1st release.....just a minor release....but it'll give you guys the chance to get your hands on stuff like 'cute' and 'don't talk just dance'
ok i should go now.....runnin low on batteries!
hope you enjoy the videos. :)
mart xx
first is 'it's my life' by talk talk......i guess most of you know this as a no doubt song, but it was actually originally done by talk talk....i like the sound of this record, it's kinda intence but...possitive at the same time.
the second is 'art of parties' by japan....the 'tin drum' album that this song is off of is probably my favourite album right now, nothing sounds like japan....i can't get my head around how great this album is!
so i guess you want to hear about the band?
well....we're all working, we're all doing good.....i'm working as a bar man, it's actually the most fun i've had in ages!
musicly....everything is going pretty well.....i've almost finished our album, i just have to do a bit of lyrics on a couple of songs....it's sounding amazing!
the thing that i think most people wont like to hear is that it's pretty much 100% new material....but our plan is to release the older stuff as an album shortly after the 1st release.....just a minor release....but it'll give you guys the chance to get your hands on stuff like 'cute' and 'don't talk just dance'
ok i should go now.....runnin low on batteries!
hope you enjoy the videos. :)
mart xx
04/10/2007
that was then...this is now
sooooo....i've not been writing in this blog for ages huh....like 2 months? a bunch of stuff has happened, i guess that's kinda why i didn't write in here, because it means i can stay away from people talking and getting things wrong or something? lol i dunno! so here goes....
we move to glasgow, claire adam and i.....flat falls through, we all loose our minds, claire gets job, claire breaks arm, we have no money, we get flat, we pull out of hadouken tour due to lack of money, jobs and a broken arm, claire gets job in a bar....bar closes down, we play a couple of gigs, adam gets job in french connection....i still have no job...
that brings us up to about now, i'm sitting in a library using the free wireless and i'm trying to find a job....anyone want to give me a job? or send me money or something?
lets focus on a couple of things....the hadouken tour, i guess that's something that people will want to know about......that was one of the worst decisions we've ever had to make, because we knew people were wanting to see us on that tour, hadouken included. but really, how are we meant to find work if we're going to be away on tour for 2 weeks? for each show we get paid £50....that barely covers travel expenses...and on top of that we'd have to come up with the rent for our flat and accomodation and food on tour. plus 1 fractured arm and no money = lack of practice. we're really sorry to everyone that was dissapointed by this.....believe me we are too!
so...we did a couple of gigs in glasgow, which kinda put things into perspective.....the first at claire's bar before it closed....it was infront of about 10 people, most of whom were staff, we didn't advertise it, it was just for fun....and it WAS fun! we just played to eachother, it was quite intence at parts, but in the right way.
on the other hand we played a gig at the barfly....with the usual bunch of emo bands with microkorgs...and an audience, the whole atmosphere was different, playing to an audience really changes things, in a weird way....sometimes they're fun, sometimes it just takes away from it when you're trying to perform....it's kinda hard to describe. we came away from that gig learning a lesson and knowing that things are going to change for us..
dun dun duhhhnnnnn!!!!
it's going to be really cool though! just hold in there.....it's all getting sorted out....and it'll be completely worth it.....
we're all good....just remember that this is where things start to get exciting!
speak soon
mart xx
we move to glasgow, claire adam and i.....flat falls through, we all loose our minds, claire gets job, claire breaks arm, we have no money, we get flat, we pull out of hadouken tour due to lack of money, jobs and a broken arm, claire gets job in a bar....bar closes down, we play a couple of gigs, adam gets job in french connection....i still have no job...
that brings us up to about now, i'm sitting in a library using the free wireless and i'm trying to find a job....anyone want to give me a job? or send me money or something?
lets focus on a couple of things....the hadouken tour, i guess that's something that people will want to know about......that was one of the worst decisions we've ever had to make, because we knew people were wanting to see us on that tour, hadouken included. but really, how are we meant to find work if we're going to be away on tour for 2 weeks? for each show we get paid £50....that barely covers travel expenses...and on top of that we'd have to come up with the rent for our flat and accomodation and food on tour. plus 1 fractured arm and no money = lack of practice. we're really sorry to everyone that was dissapointed by this.....believe me we are too!
so...we did a couple of gigs in glasgow, which kinda put things into perspective.....the first at claire's bar before it closed....it was infront of about 10 people, most of whom were staff, we didn't advertise it, it was just for fun....and it WAS fun! we just played to eachother, it was quite intence at parts, but in the right way.
on the other hand we played a gig at the barfly....with the usual bunch of emo bands with microkorgs...and an audience, the whole atmosphere was different, playing to an audience really changes things, in a weird way....sometimes they're fun, sometimes it just takes away from it when you're trying to perform....it's kinda hard to describe. we came away from that gig learning a lesson and knowing that things are going to change for us..
dun dun duhhhnnnnn!!!!
it's going to be really cool though! just hold in there.....it's all getting sorted out....and it'll be completely worth it.....
we're all good....just remember that this is where things start to get exciting!
speak soon
mart xx
18/07/2007
so i have't written in my blog for a while, basically i've been taking a break from the more formal band things for a bit.....just concentrating on enjoying music again....not that i didn't enjoy it....it was just becoming a bit much and a real big deal to get through! especially all on my own....so i dropped working on the album to do some remix things...just for fun! which included fresh yo! which is just me making stupid bootlegs....but it's fun!
i've also been working on some more dance orientated songs for :(, partly because we love dance music, but we also wanted to do some tracks that weren't vocal lead and i wanted to write some songs that weren't pulled along by changes in tempo from the drums etc....which i kinda use to give the songs a feeling of progression, i guess that just sounds correct to my ears....so it's been quite exciting writing some music that stays the same tempo all the way through....in a couple of cases it's the same drum beat throughout the whole song, which to me is cool, because i never though it'd be able to write something i found interesting that works in that way......it's just my prince obsession coming through!
i can't believe i didn't manage to get a copy of the mail on sunday with prince's new album on the cover! our manager paul bought me a copy though! i'm well looking forward to getting it! yasss min!
things are going well with paul, he's a bit help and has definitely lifted a lot of the pressure off my shoulders. i no longer have to loose my mind about industry things, or worrying about gigs. it's all good! :)
oh yeah, paul also donated us these drum pads he acquired with a drum kit, i guess they're simmons copies, they're pretty cool though! really fun to play on!
so yeah.....because we had to cancel some gigs on the last tour, we took a trip to nottingham to play for the people we cancelled on there, because we pulled the show a few hours before the gig, which was pretty unfair....but i was in no condition to play that gig. leona had work, so it was just me, adam and claire driving down with paul in his car....it took like 9 hours to get there. it was shitting hot in nottingham too! the gig was cool, it was amazing to finally see computerman! it's been far too long, we've been planning that for a long time! they're dead nice guys!
it was also really cool playing with kc again! it's always much fun seeing her.
our set was so much fun! great crowd! for some weird reasons, gigs when we play as a 3 piece are always really fun, a little weird, but hella fun! i had a tiny bit of voice trouble, nothing terrible, i'm still not at 100% yet, so gotta sort out some singing lessons!
the trip back home took 11 hours! 11 hours in a car is not fun yo! especially when 1 hour of that is spent driving around edinburgh with adam navigating....that boy should never be allowed near a map! he's just inherited a whole bunch of drummer jokes just for that alone!
so yeah....best i get back to working on tracks, we'll hopefully have a new track on myspace soon. ;)
mart xx
i've also been working on some more dance orientated songs for :(, partly because we love dance music, but we also wanted to do some tracks that weren't vocal lead and i wanted to write some songs that weren't pulled along by changes in tempo from the drums etc....which i kinda use to give the songs a feeling of progression, i guess that just sounds correct to my ears....so it's been quite exciting writing some music that stays the same tempo all the way through....in a couple of cases it's the same drum beat throughout the whole song, which to me is cool, because i never though it'd be able to write something i found interesting that works in that way......it's just my prince obsession coming through!
i can't believe i didn't manage to get a copy of the mail on sunday with prince's new album on the cover! our manager paul bought me a copy though! i'm well looking forward to getting it! yasss min!
things are going well with paul, he's a bit help and has definitely lifted a lot of the pressure off my shoulders. i no longer have to loose my mind about industry things, or worrying about gigs. it's all good! :)
oh yeah, paul also donated us these drum pads he acquired with a drum kit, i guess they're simmons copies, they're pretty cool though! really fun to play on!
so yeah.....because we had to cancel some gigs on the last tour, we took a trip to nottingham to play for the people we cancelled on there, because we pulled the show a few hours before the gig, which was pretty unfair....but i was in no condition to play that gig. leona had work, so it was just me, adam and claire driving down with paul in his car....it took like 9 hours to get there. it was shitting hot in nottingham too! the gig was cool, it was amazing to finally see computerman! it's been far too long, we've been planning that for a long time! they're dead nice guys!
it was also really cool playing with kc again! it's always much fun seeing her.
our set was so much fun! great crowd! for some weird reasons, gigs when we play as a 3 piece are always really fun, a little weird, but hella fun! i had a tiny bit of voice trouble, nothing terrible, i'm still not at 100% yet, so gotta sort out some singing lessons!
the trip back home took 11 hours! 11 hours in a car is not fun yo! especially when 1 hour of that is spent driving around edinburgh with adam navigating....that boy should never be allowed near a map! he's just inherited a whole bunch of drummer jokes just for that alone!
so yeah....best i get back to working on tracks, we'll hopefully have a new track on myspace soon. ;)
mart xx
24/06/2007
tour day 7
boy do i wish i'd just kept a little diary of every day rather than waiting until i get online....doh! not totally sure where to start...
oh yeah...newcastle! we turn up to head of steam....as usual it takes fucking forever for all the other bands and p.a. people to set up. we're pretty much always on time...and it takes us like 5 minutes to set up...i wish other people could get their shit together! so yeah....we get rushed onto stage for the gig....didn't really get time to prepare....we play for about 10 minutes, we're awful! another learning experience! paul managed to get us on the guestlist for i was a cub scout, who are playing around the corner at the academy 2. so we head up there....it was nice getting to go to a gig with slightly bigger bands playing, puts things into perspective. :)
so yeah....next day we head down to newport, this takes fucking ages! we watch billy conolley, then beverly hills cop, then sponge bob square pants...it goes quite fast. tj's is a cool venue, kc is sorta organising this gig so she's a little stressed....the other bands are cool...some more generic emo and a cool hip hop kid. as usual i never really get long enough after eating, i need at least 3 hours....i guess my eating pattern isn't the top of everyone's priority. i have a couple of bits of pizza just over a couple of hours before we play.....not such a good idea because i was sick in my mouth a bit during twin chevron...hahah! it was gross! show was cool....crowd was cool! we hang out at kc's and i take advantage of the internet connection....i spend ages on msn talking to my new friend tomomi...we only started talking this week because she has the same bis t shirt as me...haha! it's really cool talking to her, because we're really similar, same age, into the same stuff, we're both pretty nerdy...she says it's kinda like talking to herself...shame she stays in japan huh!
anyway...we're all sleeping in one room...not a big room....you can't walk for people....so that's me, adam, paul, claire, cat and leona all in one small room. it was weird! wake up in the morning and hit that msn again! tomo phones me and i impress her with my mad japanese skills! :S
we head on up to lincoln minus kc, she has to stay in newport to organise a gig....it's another long trip! it's raining all the way and we're in quite a few traffic jams. after checking into travelodge, we head out to the venue...apparently we're late, although we'd been calling all day....the guy said he'd been calling us....whatever...he's nice enough. he made us soup yo! fuckin soup! it's weird having normal food after eating chip butties and pizza every day!
this venue is hot! when we actually play, it's scortching! i almost pass out during codes, at the end of our set adam almost cut claire's laptop in half with his cymbal when he knocked it over...lol! the crowd this night were totally amazing! really into it...crowd surfing and everything! second encore ever, i go back out without my top on after claire and leona convincing me it was a good idea....felt kinda awkward, the audience wanted me to do it anyway....i personally don't think anyone should have to witness that! lol! we go out and play first blood....much fun!
no internet at travelodge! fuckin shit!
we head down to guildford, the venue is weird, it's like a rehearsal studio, no bar, pretty small...looks like it's going to be fun! the promoter is talking about fire regulations and the 150 tickets expected being cut down to 75 or something.....they start people letting in and people are complaining to us saying they'd been on a reserved list and that's since been scrapped or something. the venue is rammed, some of the other bands decide it's funny to drink all our red bull and try and steal our vodka and cider, fucking rich kid generic emo bands! little assholes! lol! anyway....we spend a lot of time in the van just watching the kids in the carpark, paul looks over at these 2 kids on the barrier and is convinced he recognises them....he's like "did we stay with them on the last tour or something?" i'm like "never seem the before"....he comes back over with them and it turns out that one of them is nick the drummer from hadouken....the join us in the van and we're talking n stuff.....and i see this big police riot van drive into the carpark...and there's police....and people in weird uniforms.....and ummm....a fire engine! i'm like "that'd be so funny if the gig got pulled!" well....the people in the funny uniforms are health and safety....the clear out the venue and count everyone in it...they say it's meant to be a 60 capacity room and they count 194 people in there! this all happens 3 songs into the band before us' set.....the announcement comes that the venue is being shut down and i'm like "bring on the booze!"
we load out....there's all this stuff with the police busting kids for underage drinking...the owner of the venue looking really worried...it's crazy!
we drive over to meet spectrum 7....and umm hang out n stuff....i get a vege kebab...that's as exciting as it gets....we drop the girls off at sean from spectrum's house....and me adam and paul drive over with our friend del to stay at his.....he has wireless yo! so i stay up to 5 am talking to tomo on msn....good end to my night!
southampton today...paul is nagging at me to get up....so i gotta go!
mart xx
oh yeah...newcastle! we turn up to head of steam....as usual it takes fucking forever for all the other bands and p.a. people to set up. we're pretty much always on time...and it takes us like 5 minutes to set up...i wish other people could get their shit together! so yeah....we get rushed onto stage for the gig....didn't really get time to prepare....we play for about 10 minutes, we're awful! another learning experience! paul managed to get us on the guestlist for i was a cub scout, who are playing around the corner at the academy 2. so we head up there....it was nice getting to go to a gig with slightly bigger bands playing, puts things into perspective. :)
so yeah....next day we head down to newport, this takes fucking ages! we watch billy conolley, then beverly hills cop, then sponge bob square pants...it goes quite fast. tj's is a cool venue, kc is sorta organising this gig so she's a little stressed....the other bands are cool...some more generic emo and a cool hip hop kid. as usual i never really get long enough after eating, i need at least 3 hours....i guess my eating pattern isn't the top of everyone's priority. i have a couple of bits of pizza just over a couple of hours before we play.....not such a good idea because i was sick in my mouth a bit during twin chevron...hahah! it was gross! show was cool....crowd was cool! we hang out at kc's and i take advantage of the internet connection....i spend ages on msn talking to my new friend tomomi...we only started talking this week because she has the same bis t shirt as me...haha! it's really cool talking to her, because we're really similar, same age, into the same stuff, we're both pretty nerdy...she says it's kinda like talking to herself...shame she stays in japan huh!
anyway...we're all sleeping in one room...not a big room....you can't walk for people....so that's me, adam, paul, claire, cat and leona all in one small room. it was weird! wake up in the morning and hit that msn again! tomo phones me and i impress her with my mad japanese skills! :S
we head on up to lincoln minus kc, she has to stay in newport to organise a gig....it's another long trip! it's raining all the way and we're in quite a few traffic jams. after checking into travelodge, we head out to the venue...apparently we're late, although we'd been calling all day....the guy said he'd been calling us....whatever...he's nice enough. he made us soup yo! fuckin soup! it's weird having normal food after eating chip butties and pizza every day!
this venue is hot! when we actually play, it's scortching! i almost pass out during codes, at the end of our set adam almost cut claire's laptop in half with his cymbal when he knocked it over...lol! the crowd this night were totally amazing! really into it...crowd surfing and everything! second encore ever, i go back out without my top on after claire and leona convincing me it was a good idea....felt kinda awkward, the audience wanted me to do it anyway....i personally don't think anyone should have to witness that! lol! we go out and play first blood....much fun!
no internet at travelodge! fuckin shit!
we head down to guildford, the venue is weird, it's like a rehearsal studio, no bar, pretty small...looks like it's going to be fun! the promoter is talking about fire regulations and the 150 tickets expected being cut down to 75 or something.....they start people letting in and people are complaining to us saying they'd been on a reserved list and that's since been scrapped or something. the venue is rammed, some of the other bands decide it's funny to drink all our red bull and try and steal our vodka and cider, fucking rich kid generic emo bands! little assholes! lol! anyway....we spend a lot of time in the van just watching the kids in the carpark, paul looks over at these 2 kids on the barrier and is convinced he recognises them....he's like "did we stay with them on the last tour or something?" i'm like "never seem the before"....he comes back over with them and it turns out that one of them is nick the drummer from hadouken....the join us in the van and we're talking n stuff.....and i see this big police riot van drive into the carpark...and there's police....and people in weird uniforms.....and ummm....a fire engine! i'm like "that'd be so funny if the gig got pulled!" well....the people in the funny uniforms are health and safety....the clear out the venue and count everyone in it...they say it's meant to be a 60 capacity room and they count 194 people in there! this all happens 3 songs into the band before us' set.....the announcement comes that the venue is being shut down and i'm like "bring on the booze!"
we load out....there's all this stuff with the police busting kids for underage drinking...the owner of the venue looking really worried...it's crazy!
we drive over to meet spectrum 7....and umm hang out n stuff....i get a vege kebab...that's as exciting as it gets....we drop the girls off at sean from spectrum's house....and me adam and paul drive over with our friend del to stay at his.....he has wireless yo! so i stay up to 5 am talking to tomo on msn....good end to my night!
southampton today...paul is nagging at me to get up....so i gotta go!
mart xx
20/06/2007
tour day 2
sunderland was one of those gigs. where you turn up and realise that no one is going to be there....it was essentially a bar, a nice bar, we were sandwiched between 2 indie bands. it was adam's birthday so we just made the most of it....sunderland is a pretty weird place, much like a small town....but bigger. we had so much fun playing....it's always the case, when we know we have nothing to prove and don't give a shit....we always play 100 times better.
we bought adam a cake and wrote "happy birthday bellend" on it...he loved it!
earlier in the night we were in a supermarket and found bottles of vodka for 5 bux each....ace! we bought three....later in the night we discovered that the vodka was only 22%....how shit is that!??!?! shouldn't be allowed to be called vodka!
we had a pretty cool night....we're staying in a metro lodge....which used to be called formule 1! kick ass!
we went into newcastle today....went to the same bar that leona and i went to on our last horrendous trip to newcastle....it's really nice...amazing mashed potato! afterwards we headed to the cinema....adam and leona went to see oceans 13...cat, kc and i went to see spiderman 3. it was pretty cool...although when it got loud, the sound kinda glitched....it was weird and annoying....so after the movie i complained...we were given a refund....free movies yo! kick ass!
after the movie we headed down to bernaccia....which is where we played on the last tour....the staff there are so nice! so accommodating!
after that we headed back to the hotel....which is where we are now...watching the f word....we're meant to be going to a club tonight....dunno if i can be bothered really....pretty hungry too!
oh yeah....i'm editing all the footage we have from the tour so far....just taken on our phones....i'm gonna stick it on you tube soon yo!
right awwn!
mart xx
we bought adam a cake and wrote "happy birthday bellend" on it...he loved it!
earlier in the night we were in a supermarket and found bottles of vodka for 5 bux each....ace! we bought three....later in the night we discovered that the vodka was only 22%....how shit is that!??!?! shouldn't be allowed to be called vodka!
we had a pretty cool night....we're staying in a metro lodge....which used to be called formule 1! kick ass!
we went into newcastle today....went to the same bar that leona and i went to on our last horrendous trip to newcastle....it's really nice...amazing mashed potato! afterwards we headed to the cinema....adam and leona went to see oceans 13...cat, kc and i went to see spiderman 3. it was pretty cool...although when it got loud, the sound kinda glitched....it was weird and annoying....so after the movie i complained...we were given a refund....free movies yo! kick ass!
after the movie we headed down to bernaccia....which is where we played on the last tour....the staff there are so nice! so accommodating!
after that we headed back to the hotel....which is where we are now...watching the f word....we're meant to be going to a club tonight....dunno if i can be bothered really....pretty hungry too!
oh yeah....i'm editing all the footage we have from the tour so far....just taken on our phones....i'm gonna stick it on you tube soon yo!
right awwn!
mart xx
18/06/2007
tour day 1
ok....i'm gonna try and make this short because i'm just waiting to get in the shower and we leave in an hour.
the weekend was cool, our friend joel came up to listen to the work on the album and give advice and shit...it was pretty hard work actually, listening to something that's almost finished and someone saying that you should change a lot of it....overall it's going to be kickin!
i kicked his ass at streetfighter 2 though! i also completed street fighter 2...that's going on my cv yo!
so yeah, we all got drunk and went to see gallows on saturday, that was pretty cool.....getting up on sunday morning and still having to pack everything and we're due to leave at 10am...not fun!
we finally leave an hour and a half late, everyone is feeling a bit shit, paul especially is feeling rough...lolz! shame he has to drive huh! we get to glasgow to switch the van and we pick up paul's girlfriend beth....she's made some really cool stuff for us on this tour. we now have earings, rings, keyrings and necklaces made out of computer keys from some of the more unfortunate keyboards that we've gigged with...haha! they're so cool though!
we head over to edinburgh, studio 24 is a really cool venue, nice n big....i head out to meet an old work friend....thanks emma for buying me food! gradually i start to feel worse, just getting really tired, i always get tired before we play but this is different...eventually...back at the venue, we're due on in a couple of minutes and i throw up in the toilet, i hate that because it always roughs up my throat for singing. so yeah, i feel a little better, we play the gig....we're doing alright...a bunch of technical problems with leona's laptop throughout the gig though. i hate laptops!
y'know what's cool though? last night was our first ever encore! that was fun....so we go back on and play first blood....people were wanting us to play cute again...hahahaha! that so aint gonna happen! i was actually contemplating not playing that song in the set just to see what would happen...lolz!
anyway....somehow we've aquired our own flat for the night....so we came back and had soup and chips and got a good nights sleep...apparently i was snoring like a total cunt last night....kc had to go sleep in another room. lolz! what a shame!
hahahaha!
so yeah...sunderland today, i've only been there once, i'm interested in what the crowd is going to be like for us.
so yeah....time to try and blag my space in line for the shower.
mart xx
the weekend was cool, our friend joel came up to listen to the work on the album and give advice and shit...it was pretty hard work actually, listening to something that's almost finished and someone saying that you should change a lot of it....overall it's going to be kickin!
i kicked his ass at streetfighter 2 though! i also completed street fighter 2...that's going on my cv yo!
so yeah, we all got drunk and went to see gallows on saturday, that was pretty cool.....getting up on sunday morning and still having to pack everything and we're due to leave at 10am...not fun!
we finally leave an hour and a half late, everyone is feeling a bit shit, paul especially is feeling rough...lolz! shame he has to drive huh! we get to glasgow to switch the van and we pick up paul's girlfriend beth....she's made some really cool stuff for us on this tour. we now have earings, rings, keyrings and necklaces made out of computer keys from some of the more unfortunate keyboards that we've gigged with...haha! they're so cool though!
we head over to edinburgh, studio 24 is a really cool venue, nice n big....i head out to meet an old work friend....thanks emma for buying me food! gradually i start to feel worse, just getting really tired, i always get tired before we play but this is different...eventually...back at the venue, we're due on in a couple of minutes and i throw up in the toilet, i hate that because it always roughs up my throat for singing. so yeah, i feel a little better, we play the gig....we're doing alright...a bunch of technical problems with leona's laptop throughout the gig though. i hate laptops!
y'know what's cool though? last night was our first ever encore! that was fun....so we go back on and play first blood....people were wanting us to play cute again...hahahaha! that so aint gonna happen! i was actually contemplating not playing that song in the set just to see what would happen...lolz!
anyway....somehow we've aquired our own flat for the night....so we came back and had soup and chips and got a good nights sleep...apparently i was snoring like a total cunt last night....kc had to go sleep in another room. lolz! what a shame!
hahahaha!
so yeah...sunderland today, i've only been there once, i'm interested in what the crowd is going to be like for us.
so yeah....time to try and blag my space in line for the shower.
mart xx
08/06/2007
we're getting through it! right awwn! check out that chart!<<<
today we re-recorded all the drums....adam just has to edit them etc and i did a bunch more vocals....right now i'm concentrating on getting a good lead vocal for each track...which i'm recording in ableton...then i'm going to take that over to cubase on my pc and just make that sound kick ass and work on harmonies etc....it's going to take a while....but the overall sound is going to be kickin!
i'm done for the day i think...i'm just going to rest my voice for more vocals tomorrow....have a good night folks!
btw...listen to dag nasty! i've just gotten into them...amazing!
mart xx
today we re-recorded all the drums....adam just has to edit them etc and i did a bunch more vocals....right now i'm concentrating on getting a good lead vocal for each track...which i'm recording in ableton...then i'm going to take that over to cubase on my pc and just make that sound kick ass and work on harmonies etc....it's going to take a while....but the overall sound is going to be kickin!
i'm done for the day i think...i'm just going to rest my voice for more vocals tomorrow....have a good night folks!
btw...listen to dag nasty! i've just gotten into them...amazing!
mart xx
07/06/2007
pretty in pink
it's been a busy week, we played a gig on saturday as a part of gay pride here in aberdeen....it wasn't very busy though and we were just playing the same set we've been doing for ages....i can't wait to stop doing it....new set next week! yass!
we've been concentrating on the drums this week...we're using a slightly unusual process to record them, it's mainly based around the performance and rather than recording audio, we're recording the midi from our electro kit into ableton live, which will then be edited....generally on modern recordings, if someone makes a mistake or fluffs part of a take, they'll either loop out the error or drag the parts of audio back in time etc. our process is similar, but rather than looping out the audio, we just fix the errors in midi, then run the midi back through into the drum brain and record the sounds it produces....what this means is that we can get a take which we're happy with, but change the sounds the brain produces whenever we want.
(that picture is the midi drum kit we're using...it's pretty lofi!)
the downside of this process was forgetting that for when i've been writing, i had ableton set to quatise everything that was recorded in midi, so what was recorded sounds like it's just a programmed drum machine rather than a human....we'd finished tracking all the drums and it was once we came to editing them that i realised what had happened....so tomorrow we're basically going to record the drums all over again...joy!
(this picture is my track list, note all the drum tracks are half finished...well now most of them are back to square one...shit!)
i also did a bit of stenciling whilst adam was tracking his drums...just to kill the time....we take these plastic boxes out on tour with us so i painted the lids...check them out!
ok i'm gonna go play some street fighter 2!
more soon!
mart xx
we've been concentrating on the drums this week...we're using a slightly unusual process to record them, it's mainly based around the performance and rather than recording audio, we're recording the midi from our electro kit into ableton live, which will then be edited....generally on modern recordings, if someone makes a mistake or fluffs part of a take, they'll either loop out the error or drag the parts of audio back in time etc. our process is similar, but rather than looping out the audio, we just fix the errors in midi, then run the midi back through into the drum brain and record the sounds it produces....what this means is that we can get a take which we're happy with, but change the sounds the brain produces whenever we want.
(that picture is the midi drum kit we're using...it's pretty lofi!)the downside of this process was forgetting that for when i've been writing, i had ableton set to quatise everything that was recorded in midi, so what was recorded sounds like it's just a programmed drum machine rather than a human....we'd finished tracking all the drums and it was once we came to editing them that i realised what had happened....so tomorrow we're basically going to record the drums all over again...joy!
(this picture is my track list, note all the drum tracks are half finished...well now most of them are back to square one...shit!)
i also did a bit of stenciling whilst adam was tracking his drums...just to kill the time....we take these plastic boxes out on tour with us so i painted the lids...check them out!
ok i'm gonna go play some street fighter 2!
more soon!
mart xx
23/05/2007
spare moments (mart's brain)
ok, so right now i'm mixing down all the instrumental tracks from cubase on my pc, which i'm then going to transfer over to my mac and run in ableton, so i can record the vocals....not sure if this process is going to be successful or not, but it's the one i'm going with. the whole thing takes a bit of time to mix down tracks so whilst i'm waiting for things to happen i'm going to write my blog and speak about what's going on in my miiiind.
we basically have about 2 weeks to finish the album, which i'm totally shitting my pants about because some of the tracks people have never heard....so i'm hoping they don't just go..."that's shit!" and we have to come up with something real fast. eeeek!
also...i think every musician probably does it at one point....and yes it usually ends up with us being slightly frustrated or irritated....it's the google search for your band to see what comes up! now i know we've had some shit reviews, which i'm ok with....we've done some shit gigs and 'first blood' wasn't as well received as we'd hoped it would be....and that's fine.....it's more when you stumble on a message board or a place where the public post personal comments up there...it's one of those things where people can just say a passing comment and i'll be thinking "where the fuck did that come from?" because no one questions me about it and i'm not the most open of people (says the guy with the blog), but in terms of friends and stuff, i don't have that many close friends, just like morrisey innit! lolz!
so yeah, i stumble on this thread in the nanoloop forums about who is going to be the first major 8 bit band, some people suggested 8 bit weapon, others bit shifter, someoe said computeher which is cool, someone said david sugar which is great and someone said us....which was really flattering...someone else agreed and then another who went on to say "but that mart guy is a bit 'full of himself'"!!! i'm never totally sure where people get this impression, is it when they've met me at gigs? or through speaking to me on msn? maybe people don't get my sense of humour?
it kinda just niggled away at the back of my head, now i don't really care what people think of me, but when someone gets my character totally wrong, it's just a bit weird for me.
what ya gonna do hey?
so it made me kinda think, should i really be writing a blog with my personal life in it? i've had some people...ok my totally crackers ex girlfriend go "it's meant to be a studio diary, why are you writing about girls you've pulled on tour?!?!? you look like a dick!!!".....but at least i'm being open. maybe that's not a good thing though?
so yeah, i don't mind, my life is recording this album, everything in it goes into recording it, all the things that happen to me influence the way it sounds and i'm documenting that. from my skin allergies, to getting booze spilled on me when i'm on the megabus, to crackers paranoid ex girlfriends, to buying a nintendo ds to write music on then realising i have no way to get the software on it...even after buying a rom cart, to computers fucking with me and my low self esteem....
i've gone off astray now haven't i....lolz!
we're off to see the wizzard! the wonderful wizzard of lolz! we're off we're off we're off we're off to see the wizzard of lolz!!!!
sausage lolz!
mart xx
we basically have about 2 weeks to finish the album, which i'm totally shitting my pants about because some of the tracks people have never heard....so i'm hoping they don't just go..."that's shit!" and we have to come up with something real fast. eeeek!
also...i think every musician probably does it at one point....and yes it usually ends up with us being slightly frustrated or irritated....it's the google search for your band to see what comes up! now i know we've had some shit reviews, which i'm ok with....we've done some shit gigs and 'first blood' wasn't as well received as we'd hoped it would be....and that's fine.....it's more when you stumble on a message board or a place where the public post personal comments up there...it's one of those things where people can just say a passing comment and i'll be thinking "where the fuck did that come from?" because no one questions me about it and i'm not the most open of people (says the guy with the blog), but in terms of friends and stuff, i don't have that many close friends, just like morrisey innit! lolz!
so yeah, i stumble on this thread in the nanoloop forums about who is going to be the first major 8 bit band, some people suggested 8 bit weapon, others bit shifter, someoe said computeher which is cool, someone said david sugar which is great and someone said us....which was really flattering...someone else agreed and then another who went on to say "but that mart guy is a bit 'full of himself'"!!! i'm never totally sure where people get this impression, is it when they've met me at gigs? or through speaking to me on msn? maybe people don't get my sense of humour?
it kinda just niggled away at the back of my head, now i don't really care what people think of me, but when someone gets my character totally wrong, it's just a bit weird for me.
what ya gonna do hey?
so it made me kinda think, should i really be writing a blog with my personal life in it? i've had some people...ok my totally crackers ex girlfriend go "it's meant to be a studio diary, why are you writing about girls you've pulled on tour?!?!? you look like a dick!!!".....but at least i'm being open. maybe that's not a good thing though?
so yeah, i don't mind, my life is recording this album, everything in it goes into recording it, all the things that happen to me influence the way it sounds and i'm documenting that. from my skin allergies, to getting booze spilled on me when i'm on the megabus, to crackers paranoid ex girlfriends, to buying a nintendo ds to write music on then realising i have no way to get the software on it...even after buying a rom cart, to computers fucking with me and my low self esteem....
i've gone off astray now haven't i....lolz!
we're off to see the wizzard! the wonderful wizzard of lolz! we're off we're off we're off we're off to see the wizzard of lolz!!!!
sausage lolz!
mart xx
19/05/2007
studio tan
this last week i've been spending in essex with carrie....she came up the week before to visit us in aberdeen and then we got the smegga bus down to london....which was ummm....interesting....drunken black metal bands on buses aint fun yo!
i've basically been working on a remix for a dance band called dnr and another remix of rolo tomassi....although rolo didn't ask me, i'm just hoping they give me permission to upload it.
the dnr mix has turned out pretty cool though!
talking of remixes, funeral for a friend rejected the remix i did for them (not sure if i mentioned this before) so you'll most likely never hear it...haha!
the album is still coming along, i'm hoping to have all recording of it finished within 2 weeks....we'll see if i can achieve that! it's not too long until the next tour! we're heading out with kc, which i'm really looking forward to, she's really fun to be around and it gives us a break from emo core/rock/pop bands that we normally play alongside....i wonder what the crowds will make of her? haha!
this week i bought computermusic magazine....most of the vsti's that i use came on the cover of that magazine and this week it came with a sequencer programme for the nintendo ds....so being me i went and bought a ds, then realised i have no way of getting the shitting programme off the dvd and onto the ds....i hhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifave to order a special cartridge to do so...doh! the ds is kicking though! totally addicted to it!
i've never spoken about this before, but i get deja vu alot! like alot! it really freaks me out at times, sometimes it's just a minor feeling, it's never enjoyable...the other guys in the band got pretty sick of hearing me go "oooh...just got really weird deja vu" whilst on tour....i once freaked out in a club because i got this really big earie deja vu....it's well weird! here's a fun fact link.
i get back to aberdeen on tuesday morning...so it's back to recording : ( album no.1!
mart xx
i've basically been working on a remix for a dance band called dnr and another remix of rolo tomassi....although rolo didn't ask me, i'm just hoping they give me permission to upload it.
the dnr mix has turned out pretty cool though!
talking of remixes, funeral for a friend rejected the remix i did for them (not sure if i mentioned this before) so you'll most likely never hear it...haha!
the album is still coming along, i'm hoping to have all recording of it finished within 2 weeks....we'll see if i can achieve that! it's not too long until the next tour! we're heading out with kc, which i'm really looking forward to, she's really fun to be around and it gives us a break from emo core/rock/pop bands that we normally play alongside....i wonder what the crowds will make of her? haha!
this week i bought computermusic magazine....most of the vsti's that i use came on the cover of that magazine and this week it came with a sequencer programme for the nintendo ds....so being me i went and bought a ds, then realised i have no way of getting the shitting programme off the dvd and onto the ds....i hhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifave to order a special cartridge to do so...doh! the ds is kicking though! totally addicted to it!
i've never spoken about this before, but i get deja vu alot! like alot! it really freaks me out at times, sometimes it's just a minor feeling, it's never enjoyable...the other guys in the band got pretty sick of hearing me go "oooh...just got really weird deja vu" whilst on tour....i once freaked out in a club because i got this really big earie deja vu....it's well weird! here's a fun fact link.
i get back to aberdeen on tuesday morning...so it's back to recording : ( album no.1!
mart xx
04/05/2007
studio days
i was kinda glad to be getting a rest after the tour....had 2 duvet days to recover and be ready for recording....wanted my voice to be healthy again. to be frank...(you can still be garth) i really want to be out doing more gigs!
on wednesday i went out to run some errands....had to put one of our broken laptops into be fixed, it totally died on the shikari tour. turns out the hard drive was fucked, so i'm getting a 120gig one put in, i'm going to start using it for my pc based recording from now on...just writing songs etc. although i'm going to do all the recording of vocals and drums onto the mac because my new soundcard only runs on firewire....none of our pcs have firewire. i also invested in a 400gig usb hard drive...no more backing up onto multiples of dvds for me! it's turning out to be a great investment already!
i'm finding it hard to record though, i've not been in the mood, people keep asking me industry based questions...questions about tours and stuff, whenever i hear anything about that i get stressed and it puts me off recording, i hate stuff like that! i've made a chart and hung it on my wall, it's got all the songs titles on it and boxes that represent 'programming', 'lyrics', 'vocals', 'drums' and 'other stuff' to check once i've completed that part of the song....didn't really help....until last night...
i've been working on this song, one of the ones i found on an old dvd, it wasn't finished, but had a lot of promise....it's kinda arty at parts. i had the chorus in mind and knew what i was wanting to do for the verse so i set about writing the vocal lines for it.
here's how the songs usually come about...mart writing songs 101 if you will:
i'll usually have a piece of music finished, a verse, chorus or intro...i'll try and work out some other cool parts around it then move onto the vocals. there's actually quite a lot of people that do it this way, i know metallica do it this way...not that i'm doing it because they do, i found out quite recently that they do it this way:
so yeah...i'll just play the piece of music i want vocals for on a loop and sing over it....i'll record what i'm singing and just paste the vocal melodies i like best over the music...sometimes if there's no music for a section (like with the song i'm talking about) i'll just sing what i feel is the most natural for the next part and the write music under the vocal line, i think it works pretty well. when it comes to lyrics, i'll generally have a subject i'm wanting to write about, which is usually influenced by the tone of the song and i'll just fill the words into the blanks of the syllables. it's definitely more about the music for me, i love to have fun with lyrics, but i'm no bob dylan or anything...i guess kurt cobain is like that huh? he just happens to write amazing lyrics over his music.
anywya, this song is a lot more screamy than what i've been writing recently, not really a concious effort to be heavier or something, it just fits the song and i kinda miss that side of the band a bit....stuff like stynax, i guess in a way the song is pretty similar to syntax in the way it jumps around....you'll hear it soon enough because i think i'm going to upload it onto myspace once it's finished. right now it's called '2 sides'....may change to 'don't tell yo pappa' but umm....probably not...hahaha!
so yeah, today i gotta go out and pick up the laptop that's being fixed, it's my nephew's 4th birthday, so i gots to get him a present and go see him...then i'm coming home to finish off the song, still got to check of that 'lyrics' box....at least i know what i'm writing about!
it's 11am, i should really have been up and ready to go out about 2 hours ago....crap!
mart xx
on wednesday i went out to run some errands....had to put one of our broken laptops into be fixed, it totally died on the shikari tour. turns out the hard drive was fucked, so i'm getting a 120gig one put in, i'm going to start using it for my pc based recording from now on...just writing songs etc. although i'm going to do all the recording of vocals and drums onto the mac because my new soundcard only runs on firewire....none of our pcs have firewire. i also invested in a 400gig usb hard drive...no more backing up onto multiples of dvds for me! it's turning out to be a great investment already!
i'm finding it hard to record though, i've not been in the mood, people keep asking me industry based questions...questions about tours and stuff, whenever i hear anything about that i get stressed and it puts me off recording, i hate stuff like that! i've made a chart and hung it on my wall, it's got all the songs titles on it and boxes that represent 'programming', 'lyrics', 'vocals', 'drums' and 'other stuff' to check once i've completed that part of the song....didn't really help....until last night...
i've been working on this song, one of the ones i found on an old dvd, it wasn't finished, but had a lot of promise....it's kinda arty at parts. i had the chorus in mind and knew what i was wanting to do for the verse so i set about writing the vocal lines for it.
here's how the songs usually come about...mart writing songs 101 if you will:
i'll usually have a piece of music finished, a verse, chorus or intro...i'll try and work out some other cool parts around it then move onto the vocals. there's actually quite a lot of people that do it this way, i know metallica do it this way...not that i'm doing it because they do, i found out quite recently that they do it this way:
so yeah...i'll just play the piece of music i want vocals for on a loop and sing over it....i'll record what i'm singing and just paste the vocal melodies i like best over the music...sometimes if there's no music for a section (like with the song i'm talking about) i'll just sing what i feel is the most natural for the next part and the write music under the vocal line, i think it works pretty well. when it comes to lyrics, i'll generally have a subject i'm wanting to write about, which is usually influenced by the tone of the song and i'll just fill the words into the blanks of the syllables. it's definitely more about the music for me, i love to have fun with lyrics, but i'm no bob dylan or anything...i guess kurt cobain is like that huh? he just happens to write amazing lyrics over his music.
anywya, this song is a lot more screamy than what i've been writing recently, not really a concious effort to be heavier or something, it just fits the song and i kinda miss that side of the band a bit....stuff like stynax, i guess in a way the song is pretty similar to syntax in the way it jumps around....you'll hear it soon enough because i think i'm going to upload it onto myspace once it's finished. right now it's called '2 sides'....may change to 'don't tell yo pappa' but umm....probably not...hahaha!
so yeah, today i gotta go out and pick up the laptop that's being fixed, it's my nephew's 4th birthday, so i gots to get him a present and go see him...then i'm coming home to finish off the song, still got to check of that 'lyrics' box....at least i know what i'm writing about!
it's 11am, i should really have been up and ready to go out about 2 hours ago....crap!
mart xx
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