Hi all. Yes, it's really me. Your friendly neighbourhood Dave. Although, for a lot of you reading this, I'm probably not in your neighbourhood anymore. Does that just make me friendly Dave? The artist formerly known as friendly neighbourhood Dave? Who knows? I don't. Anyway, I've been a bit quiet on the old blog for a while now. A fair few months. Mainly because I've been super busy. Busier than I've been in a very long time. Lemme tell ya what I've been doing.
Firstly, I got myself a new job. I am now the Assistant Manager of a nightclub called Mosh in Leicester. It has 3 floors (4 if you count the office floor), about 40 or so members of staff, cheap booze and friendly vibes. It also has a sewage pipe that, when open, is easy to fall into if you aren't paying attention to where you're going. It is the most challenging and relentless work that I've ever done, but if you aren't being challenged by what you're doing can you really call it work? Yes. Yes you can. But this job is undoubtedly tough and takes a lot of time, dedication and graft to do well. In the last few months I've become first aid trained, I have an SIA license (I am the skinniest and most un-menacing doorman in the history of doormen), I have a personal license, and I also finally passed my driving test after around 10 years of not taking my test, walking everywhere and regularly swearing at public transport. I've never felt more like an adult. Having this job moves me swiftly onto my second bit of news.
As I said, the nightclub is in Leicester. I was living in Derby. Commuting to and from Leicester wasn't fun at all. Commuting from Leicester at 5 in the morning was, in fact, the polar opposite of fun. I mean, if your idea of fun is sitting on a bus for 2 hours whilst drunken idiots covered in doner meat and garlic mayo periodically get on and off, and are also occasionally joined by incredibly sober and grumpy people going to work or posh people going on holiday, then get on the Skylink at St Margaret's bus station. You'll love it. I do not fall into that category. I therefore moved to Leicester way back in January. It now takes me 10 minutes to get home and life is wonderful. I moved into my own place for the first time. It's small, but it's all mine, so it feels a lot bigger than it looks. It gets lonely from time to time, but I never run out of toilet paper anymore and none of my food ever goes missing so I overlook that bit. It was also marketed as a flat but it has stairs, which either means the landlord has no idea what a flat is or he's scared of stairs and has never actually seen the other floor. Either way, I like it here.
Although I haven't been writing an awful lot on here, I have still been writing for Invicta Magazine. I've been writing reviews for a ton of metal, hardcore and emo releases over the last few months, and I'm still really enjoying writing and listening. If you want to read any of my reviews for them, you can find them by clicking HERE. Definitely read the Tiny Moving Parts review, I talk about cats and doughnuts in it.
My reviewing is going to be kicking back into gear as of now. The amount of free time I have has grown recently, and I intend on throwing myself back into things with immediate effect. I want to be more involved with writing and creating in both my personal and professional lives, and I reckon that striving to make something out of this blog may be a good way to push for that. Fingers crossed ay?
This is the beginning. Again. A new beginning. Or maybe a rebirth of sorts. Picking up where I left off. All of the above are true. Sort of. I'll shut up now.
Peace out.
D.S
x
Showing posts with label derby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label derby. Show all posts
Friday, 4 May 2018
Tuesday, 3 October 2017
Frontierer - The Hairy Dog, Derby, 27/09/17
As time progresses, it becomes more and more difficult to make music that's unique. To make music that has an identity, and contains something that nobody else is doing. As more time passes, more ideas get used, and then a lot of bands begin to start sounding the same. One of those bands is not Frontierer. They sound like if Meshuggah, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Aphex Twin had a baby, and that baby was given lots of drugs. Their debut album Orange Mathematics is a mind-bending whirlwind of disgusting noises, heavy guitars, punishing and erratic drums and more disgusting noises. And I mean that in the best way possible. If you've listened to it and not wondered how they possibly pull it off live, listen again. Because I definitely wondered that. And so, I went to go and see if they could pull it off.
The Hairy Dog is one of my favourite venues in the country. Not just because it's 20 minutes away from my house and sells nice alcohol, but because the place is a community for music fans of every genre. It's got a lot of support, and as a result it has been growing and growing in popularity, bringing bigger and better shows to Derby and getting the residents of the city involved in what it brings here. The turnout was great tonight, with a good number of people here early to catch the first band. That band, Sobriquet, were very impressive for a young band. Packing heaps energy and the vocalist sporting a creepy and un-ignorable stage presence, kicked off the show with a bang. The music was proggy and tight with some real clever and catchy phrases, and showed great potential for them going forwards. Visually they weren't the most together band, all of the members sporting very different levels of enthusiasm towards the show, but with a little bit more focus on their delivery and unity I can see the Sheffield lads becoming way more frequent on the local scene.
Next up was The Predecessors, a band that I hold a bit of a torch for. I used to be in The Predecessors for about a year, tracking some guitar parts for the guys and contributing a little towards the writing process in some areas. My commitment to Skies In Motion grew on the run up to the release of the album and it wasn't fair to the guys to hold them back, so I bowed out. They replaced me with another snapback wearing bearded man, Roy, who's a perfect fit for them, and I was excited to see them play their first show. And man, did they kill it. For a lot of the members, this was their first gig in a few years, so they weren't just getting back on the bike; they were learning how to ride it again. However, it looked like they didn't need to do a lot of learning. It didn't look like they'd been away for a long time at all. They looked and sounded tight and professional, stomping across the stage and engaging in headbangs and windmills, whilst simultaneously hammering out musically complex and technically mental material. The heavy bits were heavy, the pretty bits were pretty, and on a whole it sounded huge. Nathan (guitar) is a musical genius, not just thinking of the riffs, but thinking of all the layers and atmospheric noise to sit behind those riffs. The bigger picture, as it were. And it translated so well to the live performance. I'm proud of the boys for making such a huge statement with their first show, and I can't wait to see them play more.
The main support, Derby/Nottingham based Taken By The Tide, never ever disappoint. But this show was something else. They were tighter than I've ever seen them before. They always have this menacing presence when they perform, especially with Phil (vocals) slowly stalking across the stage as he snarls at the crowd. But tonight, it was impossible to take your eyes off them. Every single note was so piercing and crushing, and the drummer was essentially a human metronome. I said in my review of the Loathe show at the end of August that having two guitarists made them sound bigger, and tonight cemented that for me. There was so much weight behind their sound. I can't explain it any other way than "it was so tight". They're just getting better and better every time I see them.
Lastly, Frontierer took the stage. I had no idea what to expect, but I predicted it would go one of two ways. It was either going to blow my mind and be insanely precise, essentially like watching the album be recorded. Or, it was going to be an incoherent mess, with no discernible notes or sections, just sounding like noise. I am happy to report that it was the former. They were insane. The set was unrelenting, never once slowing down or allowing the audience to catch their breath. The guitarists use so many different effects to create the strange and unusual sounds they've become known for, and I wasn't sure how they'd come across in a live setting. They sounded enormous. It isn't used in an over the top manner, it's used tastefully throughout all the songs, adding a sense of unpredictability and unease throughout. But mainly, it adds to the heaviness. All the weird high pitched effects simply made the heavier bits sound heavier due to the contrast. And Chad (vocals) was angry. So angry. His vocals were raw and gritty, remaining powerful throughout the set, not once sounding like he was running out of steam or struggling. All together, they were an absolute wrecking ball, and by the time their set had come to an end I don't think there was one person in the room that hadn't been hit by it. They were seriously impressive, and from the strength of the new material that they performed, they're only going to get better.
The Hairy Dog is one of my favourite venues in the country. Not just because it's 20 minutes away from my house and sells nice alcohol, but because the place is a community for music fans of every genre. It's got a lot of support, and as a result it has been growing and growing in popularity, bringing bigger and better shows to Derby and getting the residents of the city involved in what it brings here. The turnout was great tonight, with a good number of people here early to catch the first band. That band, Sobriquet, were very impressive for a young band. Packing heaps energy and the vocalist sporting a creepy and un-ignorable stage presence, kicked off the show with a bang. The music was proggy and tight with some real clever and catchy phrases, and showed great potential for them going forwards. Visually they weren't the most together band, all of the members sporting very different levels of enthusiasm towards the show, but with a little bit more focus on their delivery and unity I can see the Sheffield lads becoming way more frequent on the local scene.
Next up was The Predecessors, a band that I hold a bit of a torch for. I used to be in The Predecessors for about a year, tracking some guitar parts for the guys and contributing a little towards the writing process in some areas. My commitment to Skies In Motion grew on the run up to the release of the album and it wasn't fair to the guys to hold them back, so I bowed out. They replaced me with another snapback wearing bearded man, Roy, who's a perfect fit for them, and I was excited to see them play their first show. And man, did they kill it. For a lot of the members, this was their first gig in a few years, so they weren't just getting back on the bike; they were learning how to ride it again. However, it looked like they didn't need to do a lot of learning. It didn't look like they'd been away for a long time at all. They looked and sounded tight and professional, stomping across the stage and engaging in headbangs and windmills, whilst simultaneously hammering out musically complex and technically mental material. The heavy bits were heavy, the pretty bits were pretty, and on a whole it sounded huge. Nathan (guitar) is a musical genius, not just thinking of the riffs, but thinking of all the layers and atmospheric noise to sit behind those riffs. The bigger picture, as it were. And it translated so well to the live performance. I'm proud of the boys for making such a huge statement with their first show, and I can't wait to see them play more.
The main support, Derby/Nottingham based Taken By The Tide, never ever disappoint. But this show was something else. They were tighter than I've ever seen them before. They always have this menacing presence when they perform, especially with Phil (vocals) slowly stalking across the stage as he snarls at the crowd. But tonight, it was impossible to take your eyes off them. Every single note was so piercing and crushing, and the drummer was essentially a human metronome. I said in my review of the Loathe show at the end of August that having two guitarists made them sound bigger, and tonight cemented that for me. There was so much weight behind their sound. I can't explain it any other way than "it was so tight". They're just getting better and better every time I see them.
Lastly, Frontierer took the stage. I had no idea what to expect, but I predicted it would go one of two ways. It was either going to blow my mind and be insanely precise, essentially like watching the album be recorded. Or, it was going to be an incoherent mess, with no discernible notes or sections, just sounding like noise. I am happy to report that it was the former. They were insane. The set was unrelenting, never once slowing down or allowing the audience to catch their breath. The guitarists use so many different effects to create the strange and unusual sounds they've become known for, and I wasn't sure how they'd come across in a live setting. They sounded enormous. It isn't used in an over the top manner, it's used tastefully throughout all the songs, adding a sense of unpredictability and unease throughout. But mainly, it adds to the heaviness. All the weird high pitched effects simply made the heavier bits sound heavier due to the contrast. And Chad (vocals) was angry. So angry. His vocals were raw and gritty, remaining powerful throughout the set, not once sounding like he was running out of steam or struggling. All together, they were an absolute wrecking ball, and by the time their set had come to an end I don't think there was one person in the room that hadn't been hit by it. They were seriously impressive, and from the strength of the new material that they performed, they're only going to get better.
If you're a fan of The Dillinger Escape Plan and are as gutted as I am that they're calling it a day, listen to this band. They aren't exactly the same, but they absolutely satisfy my appetite for unpredictable, relentless and energetic madness. Go and check out Orange Mathematics, available everywhere you can think of. If you head to their bandcamp page, you can pick it up for whatever price you see fit. Even if you think that price is free. This album is a gem, and this band are only going to go from strength to strength. Give them your time.
D.S
x
Friday, 25 August 2017
A Week Today...
In exactly one week, Skies In Motion release our debut album Life Lessons. We have waited a very long time for this moment. It feels like a lifetime ago. It's been an especially painful wait for me, as all the material currently available in the back catalogue doesn't have me on it. I joined the band after they released the Dreamer EP and just after they recorded the standalone single The Light. I've been dying to get music I've had a hand in writing into people's ears. We've released a few singles, so that's started to happen, but releasing this album is a milestone, and I can't wait to reach it. The end of one road and the beginning of another.
Not long after I joined the band, we played a string of really cool shows all over the UK. The stand out show, however, was with Killswitch Engage at The Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. Just us and them. Supporting our idols and heroes, but not just as A support band. We were THE support band. I held a door open for Adam Dutkiewicz and he said thanks to me, and I tried to respond but instead said "eeeiihhhhhh". The most surreal and stand out moment of my time in this band. I don't think any of us came away from that gig uninspired. And not long after that, the conversations began. "When are we going to start writing the album?". And after a practice a few days later, me and Andy sat down and started. The first thing we wrote was a very early version of what ended up being the chorus in Cascades. I had some riffs to contribute from when I was at University. I recorded a bunch of material for some coursework projects, part to prove songwriting ability, part to prove I'd paid attention and knew how to record stuff and not make it sound like a 5 year old did it. I sent all of this to Andy, and he took what I'd done and began to develop it. The backbone of the songs stayed, but they became something more than what I'd written. They essentially became the way I initially pictured them being in my head, but couldn't create alone. The process had begun. And we were all excited.
All the above was the easy stuff. The parts that flowed out of us or were already written took little to no effort to develop. It was everything that came after that that was the challenge. Sitting in my flat for hours jamming riffs to each other trying to find something that we could develop or something that was cool and needed tweaking. Some days we wrote a couple of riffs. Some days we wrote full songs. Some days we wrote nothing at all. Bare in mind this would be 4 or 5 hours at a time, and we were meeting up 2 or 3 times a week to try and get this all written whilst also juggling full time jobs, gigs, practices, relationships, eating, sleeping and so on. Some days we thought we'd never finish. And eventually, after many months, we decided to take a look at what we'd written, and when it was all put in a folder, we realised we had enough. More than enough. We'd done it. We sent it to Adam so he could write lyrics over it, turns out he'd had lyrics written before we'd even finished writing the record. So there we had it. We'd written the album. Now we needed to record it.
As I mentioned in my previous post, we recorded the album with Ben Gaines, our drummers brother. The recording process basically began with us giving Ben everything we'd done, him laying it all out into an organised project file, and then recording everything again, only with guitars that don't sound they're underwater and drums that don't sound like they've been imported from a SEGA game. The drums were the first thing we addressed, and mapped them all out in the software to a drum program. Even at that point they sounded great, but they weren't permanent as Sam wanted to record his drum parts (which he did like an absolute boss, I'll get to that later). Then me and Andy spent a few weeks smashing the guitar parts out. We wrote a LOT of intricate guitar parts and layers, this took longer than we expected. Some of the riffs really came to life when we recorded with Ben, and started to really stand out and become more impacting than we initially realised. It was a really enlightening and uplifting process. We finished everything apart from a couple of clean parts, we were on track. We recorded a few vocal parts, a decent chunk of them. But then, shortly after this, the hurdles began presenting themselves. We went on tour, preventing us from recording. I don't regret those tours, Europe is one of the best things I've ever done in my life, and the fact music allows me to travel and see the world is something I can never be thankful enough for. But when we got back, we were exhausted, and we didn't get back in the studio for months. And then we started arguing. Getting at each others throats. Nit picking, blowing things out of proportion, getting stressed out and burnt out, and it was swallowing us. It was becoming like a musical ocean. What I mean by that is, when you go out to sea, people always worry about sharks. About having a swim and a shark swooping in and making you its dinner. In reality, sharks don't kill that many people. The water kills thousands, people drown all the time. The sharks were the issues we were blowing up over, but these issues didn't really matter, we were already in the water. I feared we'd never get the recording finished. So I sat everyone down in the back of our van after a show in Birmingham, a sort of realigning pep talk of sorts. No shouting, no voice raising, a conversation between five friends, planning a route forwards and a goal at the end of that route. And it worked.
One of the first things raised was getting the drums recorded. So we booked studio time, 5 days of it, and Sam spent months preparing. He'd sit in his drum room for hours with headphones plugged into his phone and drum along to the entire album, time after time after time. He became a machine. And when we came to record the drums, he recorded everything in 2 and a half days. Normally beast mode is used in reference to people with big biceps and snapbacks that forget about leg day at the gym, but that day, Sam was the sole definition. He absolutely didn't forget leg day, there's some double kick patterns on this album that sound like actual thunder. He killed it. And now all that was left was the remaining vocals and a couple of guitar tweaks. Adam, Andy and I all have vocal parts on the record, and we spent a solid week or two honing everything in. Tweaking, adding things, taking things away, rewriting melodies, restructuring patterns and lyrics. Ben came up with a ton of good ideas and helped write one of the catchiest choruses on the entire record. And then, we recorded a tiny vocal part, one of the tweaks I think, and realised we'd finished. Like actually finished. The album was done. I can't explain the feeling of all that weight that lifted off me. It was a genuinely emotional moment. I mentally and physically felt lighter. We all had a celebratory pizza party afterwards which helped put some of the physical weight back on, just watched some videos on youtube and hung out as friends. Probably the first time we'd all sat back and just enjoyed each others company in months.
We both lost and gained a lot of things during this whole writing and recording process. We lost Pete, guitarist and founding member (who I replaced). We lost Lou, bassist and founding member (1st picture). We lost Daryl, bassist and Greggs no.1 fan (2nd picture). We've all lost relationships, both friendships and romances. Sam's lost some family members. We lost Adam for a few hours in Barcelona. For a big chunk of 2015 and 2016, we'd all lost our minds. But we have gained an album. A documentation of all of this. 12 tracks of music that we're proud of, that tell a story that's much bigger than the 5 of us. And we hope you enjoy it.
Not long after I joined the band, we played a string of really cool shows all over the UK. The stand out show, however, was with Killswitch Engage at The Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. Just us and them. Supporting our idols and heroes, but not just as A support band. We were THE support band. I held a door open for Adam Dutkiewicz and he said thanks to me, and I tried to respond but instead said "eeeiihhhhhh". The most surreal and stand out moment of my time in this band. I don't think any of us came away from that gig uninspired. And not long after that, the conversations began. "When are we going to start writing the album?". And after a practice a few days later, me and Andy sat down and started. The first thing we wrote was a very early version of what ended up being the chorus in Cascades. I had some riffs to contribute from when I was at University. I recorded a bunch of material for some coursework projects, part to prove songwriting ability, part to prove I'd paid attention and knew how to record stuff and not make it sound like a 5 year old did it. I sent all of this to Andy, and he took what I'd done and began to develop it. The backbone of the songs stayed, but they became something more than what I'd written. They essentially became the way I initially pictured them being in my head, but couldn't create alone. The process had begun. And we were all excited.
All the above was the easy stuff. The parts that flowed out of us or were already written took little to no effort to develop. It was everything that came after that that was the challenge. Sitting in my flat for hours jamming riffs to each other trying to find something that we could develop or something that was cool and needed tweaking. Some days we wrote a couple of riffs. Some days we wrote full songs. Some days we wrote nothing at all. Bare in mind this would be 4 or 5 hours at a time, and we were meeting up 2 or 3 times a week to try and get this all written whilst also juggling full time jobs, gigs, practices, relationships, eating, sleeping and so on. Some days we thought we'd never finish. And eventually, after many months, we decided to take a look at what we'd written, and when it was all put in a folder, we realised we had enough. More than enough. We'd done it. We sent it to Adam so he could write lyrics over it, turns out he'd had lyrics written before we'd even finished writing the record. So there we had it. We'd written the album. Now we needed to record it.
As I mentioned in my previous post, we recorded the album with Ben Gaines, our drummers brother. The recording process basically began with us giving Ben everything we'd done, him laying it all out into an organised project file, and then recording everything again, only with guitars that don't sound they're underwater and drums that don't sound like they've been imported from a SEGA game. The drums were the first thing we addressed, and mapped them all out in the software to a drum program. Even at that point they sounded great, but they weren't permanent as Sam wanted to record his drum parts (which he did like an absolute boss, I'll get to that later). Then me and Andy spent a few weeks smashing the guitar parts out. We wrote a LOT of intricate guitar parts and layers, this took longer than we expected. Some of the riffs really came to life when we recorded with Ben, and started to really stand out and become more impacting than we initially realised. It was a really enlightening and uplifting process. We finished everything apart from a couple of clean parts, we were on track. We recorded a few vocal parts, a decent chunk of them. But then, shortly after this, the hurdles began presenting themselves. We went on tour, preventing us from recording. I don't regret those tours, Europe is one of the best things I've ever done in my life, and the fact music allows me to travel and see the world is something I can never be thankful enough for. But when we got back, we were exhausted, and we didn't get back in the studio for months. And then we started arguing. Getting at each others throats. Nit picking, blowing things out of proportion, getting stressed out and burnt out, and it was swallowing us. It was becoming like a musical ocean. What I mean by that is, when you go out to sea, people always worry about sharks. About having a swim and a shark swooping in and making you its dinner. In reality, sharks don't kill that many people. The water kills thousands, people drown all the time. The sharks were the issues we were blowing up over, but these issues didn't really matter, we were already in the water. I feared we'd never get the recording finished. So I sat everyone down in the back of our van after a show in Birmingham, a sort of realigning pep talk of sorts. No shouting, no voice raising, a conversation between five friends, planning a route forwards and a goal at the end of that route. And it worked.
One of the first things raised was getting the drums recorded. So we booked studio time, 5 days of it, and Sam spent months preparing. He'd sit in his drum room for hours with headphones plugged into his phone and drum along to the entire album, time after time after time. He became a machine. And when we came to record the drums, he recorded everything in 2 and a half days. Normally beast mode is used in reference to people with big biceps and snapbacks that forget about leg day at the gym, but that day, Sam was the sole definition. He absolutely didn't forget leg day, there's some double kick patterns on this album that sound like actual thunder. He killed it. And now all that was left was the remaining vocals and a couple of guitar tweaks. Adam, Andy and I all have vocal parts on the record, and we spent a solid week or two honing everything in. Tweaking, adding things, taking things away, rewriting melodies, restructuring patterns and lyrics. Ben came up with a ton of good ideas and helped write one of the catchiest choruses on the entire record. And then, we recorded a tiny vocal part, one of the tweaks I think, and realised we'd finished. Like actually finished. The album was done. I can't explain the feeling of all that weight that lifted off me. It was a genuinely emotional moment. I mentally and physically felt lighter. We all had a celebratory pizza party afterwards which helped put some of the physical weight back on, just watched some videos on youtube and hung out as friends. Probably the first time we'd all sat back and just enjoyed each others company in months.
We both lost and gained a lot of things during this whole writing and recording process. We lost Pete, guitarist and founding member (who I replaced). We lost Lou, bassist and founding member (1st picture). We lost Daryl, bassist and Greggs no.1 fan (2nd picture). We've all lost relationships, both friendships and romances. Sam's lost some family members. We lost Adam for a few hours in Barcelona. For a big chunk of 2015 and 2016, we'd all lost our minds. But we have gained an album. A documentation of all of this. 12 tracks of music that we're proud of, that tell a story that's much bigger than the 5 of us. And we hope you enjoy it.
September 1st. This album will be available everywhere. PLEASE check it out.
You can pre order a physical copy by clicking here.
Thank you for supporting us.
D.S
&
Skies In Motion
x
Wednesday, 23 August 2017
How To Step Up Your Bands Live Set In One Very, Very Long Day
I had a very productive day yesterday. VERY productive. Also a very long day, where I was out of the house for about 15 hours, but it was fully worth it. I nearly had the most recent Game Of Thrones episode spoiled for me, I spilt some tea on my leg and briefly locked myself inside a toilet, but these are merely tiny imprints on an otherwise smooth day. Mainly because a large chunk of the day was spent making the Skies In Motion set more professional.
I woke up at 9am, feeling fresh (ish, not a morning person), had a bowl of fruit and fibre and a cuppa, and headed over to the Heroic Audio headquarters. Heroic Audio is an audio production and recording company ran by a very good friend of mine, Ben Gaines. An aural wizard, idea generator, ginger viking and also the brother of my drummer, Sam. He recorded our album (did I mention we're releasing an album that's OUT NEXT FRIDAY ON SEPTEMBER 1ST), gave us a TON of good advice throughout the recording process and made it sound better than we could have ever imagined. We frustrated him so much throughout the process by being difficult and picky and very hard to work with at times, and he has openly admitted he hates us on numerous occasions, but he is still willing to work with us which is good of him. I mean he loves us really, if he really hated us we'd all be chopped up and thrown in bins across Derby right now. Anyway, I digress. I went to visit Ben to create a bunch of interludes to integrate into our live set. And for good reason.
Every time I go to watch a band, I'd say 8 or 9 times out of 10 that band has a backing track of some form leading in or out of songs. Often both. This is generally done in a couple of ways. The band, or at very least the drummer, will be playing along to click track that will be triggered at the very beginning of their set. A backing track will be running in the background, and the band follow the click track to make sure what they're playing is completely in time with the backing, which sounds SUPER tight. Or, one of the band will trigger pre made intros and outros as a way of leading us in and out of songs, which if done right and crafted properly, sounds so slick and polished. The latter is what we'll be doing. We currently don't do this. We used to, and our set was so so polished, and we used to get complimented on our professionalism so often. Now, I'm not saying we don't now, as we still get good feedback and comments on our shows, but I think if we re-introduced this element, we could really become a force to be reckoned with. So there I was. Re-introducing.
We've been playing the same set for the last couple of years, with the addition of one or two songs here and there. It is time for change. Not just to make things more exciting for the people watching us, but to breathe a bit of life back into the set for us. So we started. The song we started the set with is no longer in the set at all. I wanted to completely changed everything. I do not want to spoil it, but our set is starting with something really cool. It has impact, it's memorable, and most importantly, it's nostalgic. I won't say any more about it. You just gotta trust me it's cool. Then the fun started. A few of the intros required a small amount of composing to be done. Tiny compositions to lead us into songs in the set. Ben has more sounds in his recording software than you've probably come across in life, and knows the library like the back of his hand. We spent hours writing, crafting, scrapping, reshuffling, adding, taking away, drinking tea, talking about Game Of Thrones and telling him to shut up because I haven't seen the newest episode yet, more writing and crafting. And at the end of the day, we had everything we needed for a new set. Everything I had envisioned for our set to make it more professional. We nailed it out in about 8 hours. Perfect timing too, as we had a band practice almost straight after, so I had my opportunity to pitch the new set and the interludes to the rest of the band.
I had no idea if they'd like the changes or not. We are all very different people and in turn that makes us all individually very difficult to predict and read. Legit they might have said "Yo Dave are you high, this set is awful and those interludes sound like an aural version of a dirty nappy". But luckily for me, everybody was on board. Completely on board. We played through the set with the interludes, and it felt like it flowed better than what we'd been playing until now. I think we all agreed, we were all on the same page. Mission accomplished. Now, to test it out at a show.
We'll be debuting our new set at Macmillan Festival in Nottingham on September 2nd. A great day of music for an even greater cause. There's so many good acts playing all day, so much variety. We've been a part of this festival in the past, and regardless of whether we've been on the bill or not, we've always been in attendance. This will double up as our album release show, so it's gonna be a good one. Come and party with us. To grab a ticket, click here.
See you in the pit. Well, I won't I'll be on stage, but I'll be able to see you in the pit.
Actually, thinking about it, I won't be wearing my glasses on stage, so I probably won't know if you're in the pit at all. I might not even know you're there.
See you at some point during the festival.
Thank you for reading. I'm gonna go and listen to the new Neck Deep album and do adult things like washing and cleaning.
D.S
x
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