Monday, July 26, 2004
Don't fade away...
It's been a tumultuous week in the world of Sonic Undermind. On Wednesday Sam, Nikhil and I got together and put together ideas for three of the best songs we've ever done and by Sunday it was starting to look as if the band was no more. Yep. Sonic Undermind are splitting up.
So, what happened? Well, it's been a long time coming really. It seems as though every time I'm out people are asking me when we're playing next and I have to tell them that we haven't got any gigs, and that's been going on for a while. It's not because we haven't been offered them either. Things have just kind of faded out. I guess from the outside it might seem like it's faded out because people have been picking up other projects. Rob's got a huge amount of stuff on, writing music for films and adverts, producing bands, drumming for Rebus etc. Pete's got the Pirates and The Limes, Nik's making his own electronic stuff, I've been talking to people about starting new bands etc. etc. But in truth people have been doing that stuff at least partly because nothing's happening with Sonic Undermind and they need to be writing and playing music. You can't be a band if you aren't playing together and we haven't been.
On one hand it's not really a shock because it's been on the cards for a while, but on the other hand the last two times we've got together have been pressure free jams and we've started writing stuff that's better than anything we've done before. I'm kind of sad that that stuff will never see the light of day with SU. Sam and I are going to keep writing together and we have some ideas for other people to play with. (if you happen to be an amazing rock drummer looking for a band e-mail me)
I feel pretty sad about the whole thing. Yesterday the feeling was the one you have when you've just split up with someone. You know it's the right thing and it's best in the long run but you can't help thinking back to all the good times you had and wishing you could just carry them on a bit longer. You know you've lost something special, and just because you saw it coming doesn't make the actual decision any easier. Today I feel a lot more positive about the future. It's been the most amazing time. We've played some great gigs and made some people very happy in the process, that's always been the most amazing thing for me having people you've never seen before come up after a gig with a huge grin on their face and tell you they had a great time. I don't think I could have achieved all that we did without the support of the other band members, ok, so we fought a lot but we played hard too and I think it made the music better. I wouldn't have had the confidence do do any of what we did without them. It's hard to really explain how much I've got out of this band without going into stuff that isn't for this blog. Thanks guys.
It's not in Sonic Undermind's nature to fade out with a whimper. As soon as the idea of a farewell gig was mentioned the response was "let's go out with a bang, make it the most amazing SU gig ever". So that's what we're going to do. We'll be back where it all started, Bar Oz (now Colorz...) and we'll pack the place out and play the best gig we've ever done. I wonder if they have a license for pyrotechnics...
Anyway, it's been an amazing two years with Sonic Undermind, and another great couple of years with The Unholy before that. Thanks to everyone who's supported us and we're really sorry to all our fans. I'm sure we'll all still be around Reading in bands in one form or another.
See you all at Colorz.
So, what happened? Well, it's been a long time coming really. It seems as though every time I'm out people are asking me when we're playing next and I have to tell them that we haven't got any gigs, and that's been going on for a while. It's not because we haven't been offered them either. Things have just kind of faded out. I guess from the outside it might seem like it's faded out because people have been picking up other projects. Rob's got a huge amount of stuff on, writing music for films and adverts, producing bands, drumming for Rebus etc. Pete's got the Pirates and The Limes, Nik's making his own electronic stuff, I've been talking to people about starting new bands etc. etc. But in truth people have been doing that stuff at least partly because nothing's happening with Sonic Undermind and they need to be writing and playing music. You can't be a band if you aren't playing together and we haven't been.
On one hand it's not really a shock because it's been on the cards for a while, but on the other hand the last two times we've got together have been pressure free jams and we've started writing stuff that's better than anything we've done before. I'm kind of sad that that stuff will never see the light of day with SU. Sam and I are going to keep writing together and we have some ideas for other people to play with. (if you happen to be an amazing rock drummer looking for a band e-mail me)
I feel pretty sad about the whole thing. Yesterday the feeling was the one you have when you've just split up with someone. You know it's the right thing and it's best in the long run but you can't help thinking back to all the good times you had and wishing you could just carry them on a bit longer. You know you've lost something special, and just because you saw it coming doesn't make the actual decision any easier. Today I feel a lot more positive about the future. It's been the most amazing time. We've played some great gigs and made some people very happy in the process, that's always been the most amazing thing for me having people you've never seen before come up after a gig with a huge grin on their face and tell you they had a great time. I don't think I could have achieved all that we did without the support of the other band members, ok, so we fought a lot but we played hard too and I think it made the music better. I wouldn't have had the confidence do do any of what we did without them. It's hard to really explain how much I've got out of this band without going into stuff that isn't for this blog. Thanks guys.
It's not in Sonic Undermind's nature to fade out with a whimper. As soon as the idea of a farewell gig was mentioned the response was "let's go out with a bang, make it the most amazing SU gig ever". So that's what we're going to do. We'll be back where it all started, Bar Oz (now Colorz...) and we'll pack the place out and play the best gig we've ever done. I wonder if they have a license for pyrotechnics...
Anyway, it's been an amazing two years with Sonic Undermind, and another great couple of years with The Unholy before that. Thanks to everyone who's supported us and we're really sorry to all our fans. I'm sure we'll all still be around Reading in bands in one form or another.
See you all at Colorz.
# posted by Mike @ 11:49 
