Exciting things have happened in my life and I’m a bit lax doing other things at the moment, but I’ve got 5 minutes spare so I’m going to share our latest band product with you. It’s D4, our latest EP/album of many/no names. You can get it for streaming or download in several places, the major ones being:
Go give it a listen.
And watch this space as something else will happen soon…
It is what it says on the tin. Heavy Mind Owls, our latest EP, is all recorded and available on SoundCloud. We’ll get it to Spotify and other stores in a bit.
Don’t worry, I’m not really hurting inside. It’s just a lyric from Tortured Soul, the latest and last song to be recorded for our Heavy Mind Owls project. We recorded it last night – still need to mix it though, so you don’t get to hear it just yet. I have spotted that we’ve all been a bit lax though. We recorded Pretty Sun and didn’t shout enough about it. It’s also a song for Heavy Mind Owls and it’s on SoundCloud
Evening. We’ve been recording today. Not the EP – we will get around to that though – this was the procrastination project, which I named ‘Heavy Mind Owls’ without telling anyone else. It’s the Complete for Pete project, where we record some songs that Pete noticed we hadn’t got proper recordings of. Today we did ‘Freaks R Us’ and got it more or less instantly (a first for us) to SoundCloud. Have a listen here:
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.
“Kill, Kill, Beer, Whisky” may be the name or our next EP. It could easily be “Your Face Is A Compromise” too. Or something else, it’s just too soon to tell.
Kill, Kill, Beer, Whisky is my summation of Motorhead lyrics. Pete was saying he’d been listening to them recently and the lyrics were actually deeper than you’d expect. ( And any opportunity for facetiousness will be taken, but I won’t detail the Record Breakers theme tune that followed here ). Your Face Is A Compromise is one of Simon’s lyrics that will actually be on the EP, giving it a little more chance of making it. It’ll be a little time before it’s done yet and I’m sure another name will come along. We know we have five songs for the EP now: How To Breathe, So Far From Me, Half-Life, Lover Best Forgotten, and Knock Me Down. And we intend to go professional for the recording. Step up a level from this DIY malarky. For now, watch this space.
We’re writing the fourth album. Writing, learning, recording this time – slower, different results. Each album is a chance to do something different (well, the same but different). Originally this was going to be ‘the synthpop album’, so we’ve ended up a bit heavier this time instead – because we wrote the first song (How To Breathe) on synths and had to tune the guitars to drop D to play it. Since then Simon has managed to stay in drop D for all five new songs. I’ve slipped back in to standard tuning for Half-Life. The influences have changed a little too. I know that I’ve been thinking of Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against The Machine, Low, Chris Isaak, New Model Army, Nine Inch Nails (can you tell how old I am?), an some of the little Sunn O))) that I’m familiar with. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Rush, Yes, and Hawkwind have all been mentioned in the room too.
It’s going well. We have the two songs already mentioned, then So Far From Me, Lover Best Forgotten, and as of today Knock Me Down. We’ll let you know when you can hear them.
HowManyDevils 