Last year we spent some time in an actual studio recording five tracks that would become the D4 album. Now they are ready for the good people of planet earth to buy and listen to online!
Find it on your favourite music streaming site/online store and enjoy.
Rob and I spent the evening at The Mullberry Tavern last night where we saw four pretty awesome bands. I would say the they probably represented a bit of our style in a way. Firegarden are a brilliantly talented rock and prog (and a little grungey sometimes) act that never fail to put out a good set. Then there were two other bands (who’s names passed me by [Baranovich and Modern Day Dukes :Rob]). One did covers of traditional rock tracks whilst the others were more on the punk side. The headliners were the super amazing Hands Off Gretel who put on another dynamite show. So much stage (or lack there of [Tiny, tiny stage. I think Sean’s hair probably reached across it :Rob]) presence and songs that sweep high and low as well as full on power tracks. Lauren’s voice seems to get stronger every time I see them. A brilliant night all in all. I can’t wait to start gigging again! [I just hope we’re as good as these bands :Rob]
Home work done! I’ve listened through the HowManyDevils back catalogue to see which, if any, of the tracks I’d like to revisit. I have a short list of ‘YES’ tracks and a much longer list of ‘MAYBE’ & ‘NO’ tracks. It was nice to revisit them with a critical ear. Brought back memories of reversing every other night in the old run down office block we had a room in. I wish I’d spent more time on the drums back then. Some of the tracks do sound like they need leaving in the past where as others feel they have unfinished business. There is still the case of getting a drummer type to join us. I think that might be better left till we have, as a band, got the set list decided and learned well enough to play through with hitch.
On a side note check out The Midnight. Amazing 80s sounds for your ears!
Things are going quite smoothly at the moment and this is a good thing. We have a couple of weeks break from recording and production which is a chance to ponder on what we’re doing next. Probably a couple of older tracks. Probably writing some new tracks. Definitely working on some mastering of the EP and also looking to play some gigs. Need a drummer for that bit. Which is always a sticking point. We’ve had difficulty with the job of keeping drummers in the past. Maybe we need some one who can play a gig or two and record every few months rather than a permanent fixture. On the subject of gigging we might have a crack at streaming a performance or two. See how that goes. See if there are any tracks we can do anything with acoustically.
Here we are at the mixing stage. All recording done. Little bits and overdubs added. Started the day with me adding other guitar tracks. Rob then added some guitar and percussion parts with Pete. Pete has been mostly ears today helping steer the good ship HMD. By the end of today we should have a product. Something for us to promote some how.
Well, day one is over and done with and it was brilliant! I couldn’t have imagined how easy and enjoyable today could have been! Rob the engineer is an amazingly approachable chap with so much in common with ourselves we couldn’t have chosen a better guy to record our little songs! We managed to get the five tracks down, a run of overdubs done and the vocal tracks down. All the vocals are first time takes. We listened through to the tracks and I think they are sounding very good indeed. (all the practice certainly paid off). Tomorrow will be adding good anything else we need to the tracks and final mix. Can’t wait to hear the final results!
You know, because we’re so high profile I felt that I needed a break before the band gets together for recording.
While away I found some weird pictures in a loft. Ate quite a lot of cheese. Drove down the wrong side of the road and didn’t even have an accident! I also had a chance to play with a Melody guitar that my GFs dad had dug out. The action was pretty high (I think it needs the truss rod adjusting) but it seemed to be well put together. I think it was an M-800 (or 650). Melody were apparently part of EKO at some point, but then they split and continued to produce guitars until the late 80s. It had built in electric piezo pickup under the bridge. Two controls (volume and tone I assume). Would have liked to hear it plugged in. Maybe another day.
Continuing the fish theme I also found this.
Tomorrow is our last practice before the recording session. A last chance to get everything sorted. Going to try out the new microphone I bought the other week as well. Yippee!
So it’s been a little while since we’ve done anything meaningful music wise. Sporadic practices and a bit of song tweaking is about it, all in preparation for the studio time we have booked. Wanting to not waste time with overdubs, we are wanting to get almost all the basics down on day one. I have a feeling we will want to do some layering of guitars on at least a couple of tracks.
Rob and I have been to a couple of gigs recently. Steel City Rocks which was a bit of a festival thing with a few bands on. All pretty good! I particularly enjoyed Hands Off Gretel. Solid line up and a huge talent art and sound wise. Spiffing!
We then saw L7. What a band! 50+ and still able to rock a whole room! Amazing set full of energy. Truly talented women. Would love to see them again.
We had a practice day, and it was good. (I also drank tea in Rob’s garden)
We played through the 5 tracks. Altered some drums and rejigged the start of Half-Life. We have everything in place now. Just the matter of practice, practice, practice till we take on the recording sometime in September (hopefully). Loving my guitar sound today. Used the Epiphone Dot with the Boss Digital Metalizer. For added sustain I used a vintage overdrive to keep the levels up. Interesting feed back and noises.
I don’t know. We are about somewhere. We’re moving forward in a fashion. We’re pushing boundrys a little at a time.
HowManyDevils 