Thursday, October 26, 2006
SNS day
So today, I've been reviewing the new Six Nation State single for Josaka (summary: very good) and tonight I'm going to see them play at the After Dark (with White Sunday, the Jones Radio and the Heartwear Process). I'm looking forward to it a lot, will be interesting to hear their stories of Latvian debauchery! Before the tour started they were in a big studio in Latvia recording their debut album and it sounds like they were having an amazing time.
I hope they remember us little people when they are rich and famous!
I hope they remember us little people when they are rich and famous!
Monday, October 23, 2006
The Results
I had a really fun day turning my spare bedroom aka the guitar room aka the computer room into a mini studio for the day on Saturday. We didn't just want to remix the Rebus single, we really wanted to get some new heavy live guitars on it too.
Sadly Nik forgot to bring half the hardware and software we were going to use so in the end it was a bit of a technical challenge. We did manage to get samples into the computer and some live recording to go on top of it though. My new valve distortion and guitar synth proved their worth. We did have to use my girlfriend's guitar though, mine just wasn't heavy enough sounding! It's fairly amusing that we had several grands worth of kit going through Rob Rebus' old 4 track via a very dodgy wire because we were short one connector. Never mind.
Anyway, the slightly primitive sounding results can be heard via this link to the Rebus forum.
Sadly Nik forgot to bring half the hardware and software we were going to use so in the end it was a bit of a technical challenge. We did manage to get samples into the computer and some live recording to go on top of it though. My new valve distortion and guitar synth proved their worth. We did have to use my girlfriend's guitar though, mine just wasn't heavy enough sounding! It's fairly amusing that we had several grands worth of kit going through Rob Rebus' old 4 track via a very dodgy wire because we were short one connector. Never mind.
Anyway, the slightly primitive sounding results can be heard via this link to the Rebus forum.
Friday, October 20, 2006
The tax man
Just had a very nice chat with a tax man in Staines. I guess someone had reported me to the tax office as a potential self employed person or self earner regarding Screwball Cabaret.
To be honest, I didn't know quite what it could have be about when I got the letter last night, so I was bit worried and expecting a bit of a Kafka-esque bureaucratic nightmare. In the end the chap who sent me the letter was really nice. I got through to his direct line in 2 rings, he got the paperwork and called me back immediately and once I worked out what he was talking about and I explained the situation with how often we did them, my role, the non-profit (loss making) nature of the enterprise etc. he said it wasn't something they were interested in.
He was very nice about the whole thing, easy to talk to and I was very impressed. Maybe I should move my ideas about the Inland Revenue into the 21st Century. :)
I can't work out if Anonymous' comment about "lovin the more regular updates" is taking the piss or not. I don't think I've managed to post more than 2 updates in a 10 day period. After initial good intentions.
To be honest, I didn't know quite what it could have be about when I got the letter last night, so I was bit worried and expecting a bit of a Kafka-esque bureaucratic nightmare. In the end the chap who sent me the letter was really nice. I got through to his direct line in 2 rings, he got the paperwork and called me back immediately and once I worked out what he was talking about and I explained the situation with how often we did them, my role, the non-profit (loss making) nature of the enterprise etc. he said it wasn't something they were interested in.
He was very nice about the whole thing, easy to talk to and I was very impressed. Maybe I should move my ideas about the Inland Revenue into the 21st Century. :)
I can't work out if Anonymous' comment about "lovin the more regular updates" is taking the piss or not. I don't think I've managed to post more than 2 updates in a 10 day period. After initial good intentions.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Remix Rebus
I'm really looking forward to this Saturday. During the day former sonic undermind guitarist Nikhil and I will be attempting a special remix of the new Rebus single. Much as I enjoy Joey Ultra, Nikhil's special brand of musical insanity is something totally different. And we'll probably get fairly drunk and have a great laugh. The remix might be crap, but at least we'll have a great time.
Pressure's on for Joey Ultra now with a gig in less than 3 months. We won't need a huge set by then but we will need to be polished. We've also got to make sure we don't just polish 4 songs to death and stop writing new stuff. Weekly rehearsals are great though. I've never been in a band that rehearsed this regularly and you get an incredible amount done!
Pressure's on for Joey Ultra now with a gig in less than 3 months. We won't need a huge set by then but we will need to be polished. We've also got to make sure we don't just polish 4 songs to death and stop writing new stuff. Weekly rehearsals are great though. I've never been in a band that rehearsed this regularly and you get an incredible amount done!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Joey Ultra first gig?
I just realised that I never updated you all on how the last Three Litre gig went! The evening was organised by Rebus, one of their excellent Rebus and Friends 'secret' events where they get the cream of Reading's bands down to play short sets to an inevitably ultra crowded BBBs.
The lineup started with the most excellent Damien A Passmore, playing his very amusing country music, and an incredible covers medley that must have covered like 20 songs. He was followed by Ben Marwood and his new best friends (half the heartware process) which is the first time I've seen Ben when he wasn't in acoustic solo mode I thik. Then it was Rebus who did a couple of their own songs, a cover of Downhill by Three Litre and Girls on Film. Six Nation State sneaked onto the stage to play their new single fire (without their suits!!) then it was Three Litre. It was very sad to see Three Litre go, but they were as amusing and entertaining as ever, Graham was one of the key people in the Berkshire Live 'scene' when I started being in bands locally and going to gigs. He even introduced me to Rebus, who then went on to poach our drummer. The Mighty Litre went out with a bang though, as Darren speared his snare drum skin and punched a huge hole in it. Plus they gave away loads of old merch and I got 2 CDs and a t-shirt! WOO! Hopefully it won't be too long until they do a reunion gig. Hmm. My Luminaries completed the line-up which really demonstrated just how good the Reading scene is at the moment.
The new band, Joey Ultra (it's been so long since I posted you've probably forgotten...) have potentially, theoretically, been asked to play the next Rebus and Friends secret gig in January as our debut. Oh. Secret gig. We haven't been asked, and there isn't one. I don't know what you are talking about!!! Shut up!
Still, hypothetically, if there was a gig in the rough timescales of January, would we be ready? I am starting to think we probably would. Especially if it was one of those secret gigs where you only have to do a short set. We've got 3 songs pretty much nailed on, 4 more in the pipeline and now that we're rehearsing every week things seem to be going fairly swimmingly. Our challenge would be to be able to play in a bill of that kind of quality and not seem like we were way shitter than everyone else.
As for the lack of updates to the blog... maybe we'll get an additional contributor. Any ideas or comments? Who'd you like to see write here? Would you like to do it?
The lineup started with the most excellent Damien A Passmore, playing his very amusing country music, and an incredible covers medley that must have covered like 20 songs. He was followed by Ben Marwood and his new best friends (half the heartware process) which is the first time I've seen Ben when he wasn't in acoustic solo mode I thik. Then it was Rebus who did a couple of their own songs, a cover of Downhill by Three Litre and Girls on Film. Six Nation State sneaked onto the stage to play their new single fire (without their suits!!) then it was Three Litre. It was very sad to see Three Litre go, but they were as amusing and entertaining as ever, Graham was one of the key people in the Berkshire Live 'scene' when I started being in bands locally and going to gigs. He even introduced me to Rebus, who then went on to poach our drummer. The Mighty Litre went out with a bang though, as Darren speared his snare drum skin and punched a huge hole in it. Plus they gave away loads of old merch and I got 2 CDs and a t-shirt! WOO! Hopefully it won't be too long until they do a reunion gig. Hmm. My Luminaries completed the line-up which really demonstrated just how good the Reading scene is at the moment.
The new band, Joey Ultra (it's been so long since I posted you've probably forgotten...) have potentially, theoretically, been asked to play the next Rebus and Friends secret gig in January as our debut. Oh. Secret gig. We haven't been asked, and there isn't one. I don't know what you are talking about!!! Shut up!
Still, hypothetically, if there was a gig in the rough timescales of January, would we be ready? I am starting to think we probably would. Especially if it was one of those secret gigs where you only have to do a short set. We've got 3 songs pretty much nailed on, 4 more in the pipeline and now that we're rehearsing every week things seem to be going fairly swimmingly. Our challenge would be to be able to play in a bill of that kind of quality and not seem like we were way shitter than everyone else.
As for the lack of updates to the blog... maybe we'll get an additional contributor. Any ideas or comments? Who'd you like to see write here? Would you like to do it?
