The Western Front

Not much to report on the Hair Thieves front. Things a bit slow, with me busy packing for my impending house move, and looking for a house to move into and E having his shifts moved around.

Guy has supplied the lead vocal to a track called "The New Opportunist". I had a brief go at editing it down to fit the track today, since the version Guy sang over is longer than the current version of the song. It just needs mixing, so that will be the first new finished track for the album. Hopefully the mixing will be done in the next week or so.

I have been working a bit, on what will hopefully be the first track on the album. It is in essentially two separate parts, that merge into each other. Part 1, has been written and demo'd for about 15 months now. It just needs actually recording properly. The 2nd part was just a verse part only but I've added the initial chorus to it. At the moment I'm thinking this chorus will be different to the other choruses sonically. So there is much to do. Lyrically, the concept is there and I have a load of research papers and the like on the subject matter and a few mind maps on directions it could take. I just need to get down and write them now I have a sort of direction the music is going. Musically, it is quite a departure into sort of industrial dance, but hopefully with melody. We shall see.

This week, I also started re-recording Apotemnophila for the album. I love the original but it is full of little mistakes, the obvious one being, if we do it live, Ian will play the arpegiated bit and me the leads. The EP1 version was recorded the opposite way around, since I had recorded most of it, as E joined the band, so I'd like to rectify that in the new version.

I have also been working on a video for the lead track off EP2, namely "Shorewards". I have about 20 minutes of video material, that I just need a spare day to sit down and edit it, now I have it in a format that my video editing program will allow me to use.

Humm.. Reading through the above it appears I've done a bit more than I thought. Oh well.

Later

Rollasoc

All Quiet

Not much happening on the music front right now. We have plans and good intentions to start recording the album and work up a live set however progress on both is minimal. Chris has several real-life issues to deal with that are keeping him away from music and I am tied up with work / too lazy to do anything. We did meet up last night but then spent our time in the pub.

We did talk about recording something next weekend though so progress will be made. Oh yes, one good thing: Guy has given me his vocal for New Opportunist.

Spent a bit of time today making up a circuit board for an auto-wah pedal. It is inevitably going to be called the "Phunc -E" and will be available for sale in a couple of weeks no doubt. And it is purple!

E

Rehearsing and everything.

Well, a very quick update, now EP2 is out and things.

"E Weird" has been getting mostly, good reviews on Garageband and was played on the Radio Ophans podcast last week (Episode 63)(http://radioorphans.blogspot.com/).

Today, we have finally started cobbling together a live set. At the moment this will probably entail 4 songs off EP1 & EP2, two brand new tracks we are working on (one for EP3 and the other an album track) and 4 or 5 non obvious covers.

We shall see over the next month or so, how we get on with the cover versions to see which ones stay and which ones go.

Also, I've started cobbling together the various bit of music we have written towards EP3 and the album. So we can in the next few weeks assess where we are at with both of them.

Later

Rollasoc

EP2 out now!

The new EP has been released this week. This is imaginatively titled EP2

It features 4 tracks

1. Shorewards

2. The Mighty Fall (feat. Tim from The Evan Band )

3. Baited Breath

4. E Weird (feat. Simon Mann on bass)

The new EP can be purchased for download for the pricely sum of $2.99 from our DEADLINK store. You can also buy it bundled with EP1 for $4.99

We have had some very nice things said so far about the EP, which is nice. If we get any reviews I'll put them on the site.

We had this posted about "E Weird" by Martin on Garageband

"A whole song created with guitar is not exceptional. But this one is. I really, REALLY like it. The melody is breathtaking and the performance of both bass and guitar is above standard. The guitars sound is gentle and warm, the sound is like early 90's post rock bands like my bloody valentine, tortoise, mogwai and sigur ros. The reason why I like this kind of music is because it is a perfect soundtrack for being calm and relaxed. It's instrumental and the production is warm and dreamy. I love this kind of music and i really love this song. Great work."

We have very few physical copies of the CD left. Message us if you want a copy and we'll see if we can come to some financial arrangement. ha ha.

Later

Rollasoc

Getting there slowly

EP2 is currently mostly mixed. The aim is to get it finished this weekend. Live with it for a week, then make the disks and put it on the net.

We are just waiting for one part from a special guest to arrive at the weekend and we can start mixing the last track properly. Then there are a few bits and bobs to do and then it should be done.

E has done a great job of the cover. Subtle indeed.

I might try and post a song (or two) on the myspace site sometime in the next week.

The track listing is as follows

1. Shorewards

2. The Mighty Fall (feat Tim from The Evan Band)

3. Baited Breath

4. E Weird (feat ???)

We will be producing a very limited amount of CD-Rs of the EP, some of which might be made available for purchase in a few weeks. It will also be downloadable from one or more websites (like Soundclick).

Once the EP is out, work will start in earnest in finishing writing and start recording the Hair Thieves album. This will probably include Apotemnophilia from EP1, (though this will be re-recorded), Shorewards from EP2 and eight or nine brand new songs.

It will not include any Hair Thieves material previous to EP1.

The other aim is for a new website design. At the moment, part of this redesign will mean the tracks currently available for free download are removed and put in a secure area that only the mailing list can download from. We might also make available "work in progress" mixes of the new songs.

We might allow (some of) them to be streamed from other sites though. So grab them whilst you can or join the mailing list.

We shall see.

As E stated in his blog, after a few aborted attempts at putting some lyrics to a tune we recorded last year (known as "Fuzzy"), he farmed the lyrics out to Guy, (who co-wrote with E "Break the Casino" on EP1). Guy has sent us a great acoustic version of the song now called "The New Opportunist" which I'll see if I can post at some point, so people can compare it with the final version.

Later

Rollasoc

Mix a my toe, Sis?

Just a quick update: Spent a couple of hours with Rollasoc mixing the tracks for EP 2. Almost there now and they are sounding rather good.

On the gear front I have just bought a Line6 Crunchtone overdrive pedal which will go on my "B" board. Also put a few distortion pedals up for sale.

E

Chaos @ the Urn

After much careful thought and several rewrites, we have finally decided that the lyrics for the song formerly known as Fuzzy were simply not good enough. Fortunately I had foreseen this being a problem and many weeks ago sent a copy of the music to my old friend Guy. As I hoped, he has come up trumps with a fantastic set of lyrics and an acoustic demo to boot. The song will now be called The New Opportunist and will feature on either EP 3 or the album, or maybe both.

I have some time off now so I can give Rollasoc a hand with the mixing of EP 2, ready for release at the end of the month. I have also found time to do the artwork and am pleased to report that it continues with the theme from EP 1. Maybe one day the frogs will return.

E