I promised myself I wouldn’t let myself go long stretches without posting something to the blog and yet here I am, weeks later, incommunicado with you, our loyal 12 fans and you’re probably wondering what you did to deserve the cold shoulder. Nothing, babies, nothing. I’m a bad friend. I’ll try harder.
Frankly, i haven’t felt like there was anything terribly momentous and band-related to write about but then there’s always something brewing in the music world worth piping up about. I’ve been distracted is all.
Work on the EP was halted briefly at the end of June when I answered a call from a friend to provide a sound design for his play. It was all pretty last-minute and required some sourcing and editing of sound effects, a tiny bit of composition, assorted “Pro-Tool-ing” and then learning the theatre’s system in only two days! Madness. But the pleasure of rolling with the challenge as it was presenting itself to me reminded me that I can, on occasion, be cool under pressure. Most times, when faced with adversity, I whine and procrastinate but this time given that I didn’t really have a choice – it had to work, the play was opening the same week – I simply accepted the hand I was dealt and felt confident in my ability to see it through. I understand that this is commonplace for most people but it’s not my normal operating procedure so I’m gonna go ahead and pat myself on the back. Is the end result perfect? Nah, but it works – I’ve seen the show now and it’s really great!
“What’s the show, Ross?” Glad you asked. “The Alchemist” by Ben Jonson is an Elizabethan comedy that director/actor Tariq Leslie has brought a deft comic touch to and realized as a modern satire. Sure, sure the language may be challenging for those who aren’t well-schooled in ye olde timey English but just as with Shakespeare there are passages that absolutely sing. Besides, the pace and performance of the show is such that you could watch the whole thing without dialogue and still know what’s happening. The story is about a trio of con artists hustling through a day when a bunch of their scams collide. It’s smart, funny, purposefully anachronistic and a genuinely fun time out at the theatre. If the usual “Bard on The Beach” fare leaves you a bit wanting, check out this clever production. Of course I’m biased but I wouldn’t write anything at all if I thought it sucked. Go support independent theatre! Prithee, clicketh here for thy details.
Eventually I got back to the task at hand, and am whittling away at the new songs to make sure everything is crackin’! I’m pleased with the results in the earliest stages of editing/mixing though frustrated at my guitars’ inability to stay reliably tuned. I refuse to admit that it might be user error but it’s more than likely – I do have a tendency to grip the neck like I’m strangling it. “Why so tense, guy?” the guitars ask. I dunno. Anxiety is bitch. Sorry, guitars. We even managed an actual band rehearsal in the midst of all this nonsense and it felt like a workout after a month of eating nothing but Haagen-Dazs. Glad to get back to it but gladder still that we’ll have a good chunk of time to whip the EBH machine back into game shape before any live performance in the fall. Recording rawk and performing rawk are surprisingly different skill sets.
We’re also excited to announce that we’re going to have new artwork for the EP by the fabulously talented Barret Chapman. He’s looked after our artwork every time out so far and he’s awesome and we’re stoked that he keeps wanting to contribute. We’ll have some sneak peeks at album and t-shirt art soon! Aside from visiting Barret’s site, which I highly recommend, you can check out the sweet games his company makes over at Nexl Level Games. They’re nice kids who make fun things.
Oh, did you see the new YouTube video? Go there too. More to come. Some many balls in the air. That can be either a juggling reference or a sex thing. I’ll let you decide, you dirty monkeys.
Smithee
Frankly, i haven’t felt like there was anything terribly momentous and band-related to write about but then there’s always something brewing in the music world worth piping up about. I’ve been distracted is all.
Work on the EP was halted briefly at the end of June when I answered a call from a friend to provide a sound design for his play. It was all pretty last-minute and required some sourcing and editing of sound effects, a tiny bit of composition, assorted “Pro-Tool-ing” and then learning the theatre’s system in only two days! Madness. But the pleasure of rolling with the challenge as it was presenting itself to me reminded me that I can, on occasion, be cool under pressure. Most times, when faced with adversity, I whine and procrastinate but this time given that I didn’t really have a choice – it had to work, the play was opening the same week – I simply accepted the hand I was dealt and felt confident in my ability to see it through. I understand that this is commonplace for most people but it’s not my normal operating procedure so I’m gonna go ahead and pat myself on the back. Is the end result perfect? Nah, but it works – I’ve seen the show now and it’s really great!
“What’s the show, Ross?” Glad you asked. “The Alchemist” by Ben Jonson is an Elizabethan comedy that director/actor Tariq Leslie has brought a deft comic touch to and realized as a modern satire. Sure, sure the language may be challenging for those who aren’t well-schooled in ye olde timey English but just as with Shakespeare there are passages that absolutely sing. Besides, the pace and performance of the show is such that you could watch the whole thing without dialogue and still know what’s happening. The story is about a trio of con artists hustling through a day when a bunch of their scams collide. It’s smart, funny, purposefully anachronistic and a genuinely fun time out at the theatre. If the usual “Bard on The Beach” fare leaves you a bit wanting, check out this clever production. Of course I’m biased but I wouldn’t write anything at all if I thought it sucked. Go support independent theatre! Prithee, clicketh here for thy details.
Eventually I got back to the task at hand, and am whittling away at the new songs to make sure everything is crackin’! I’m pleased with the results in the earliest stages of editing/mixing though frustrated at my guitars’ inability to stay reliably tuned. I refuse to admit that it might be user error but it’s more than likely – I do have a tendency to grip the neck like I’m strangling it. “Why so tense, guy?” the guitars ask. I dunno. Anxiety is bitch. Sorry, guitars. We even managed an actual band rehearsal in the midst of all this nonsense and it felt like a workout after a month of eating nothing but Haagen-Dazs. Glad to get back to it but gladder still that we’ll have a good chunk of time to whip the EBH machine back into game shape before any live performance in the fall. Recording rawk and performing rawk are surprisingly different skill sets.
We’re also excited to announce that we’re going to have new artwork for the EP by the fabulously talented Barret Chapman. He’s looked after our artwork every time out so far and he’s awesome and we’re stoked that he keeps wanting to contribute. We’ll have some sneak peeks at album and t-shirt art soon! Aside from visiting Barret’s site, which I highly recommend, you can check out the sweet games his company makes over at Nexl Level Games. They’re nice kids who make fun things.
Oh, did you see the new YouTube video? Go there too. More to come. Some many balls in the air. That can be either a juggling reference or a sex thing. I’ll let you decide, you dirty monkeys.
Smithee