At Sea

I've made my very own foldover song - starting from the same 1st section as the Electric Set's Exquisite Corpse. ...Is that weird?! I don't know.. I had a few bits about the Sea, and I thought they were all basically the same idea and may as well be the same track.

One Minute Wonder

Click to buy

Last year I submitted a track for a 'One minute wonders' competition. My track - At Sea (Part 2) was recently featured on this limited edition 7" released by NRONE Records. The vinyl features fourteen 60 seconds (approx.) tracks from some great local artists. And even though i'll never see any money from it, Its well worth buying one, if there are any left. For more information on the One Minute Wonders and to get involved in 2012 go to the 1mw website.

Invention

I had forgotten about this until now. This is the long time coming, debut album from ACivilian A.K.A. my good friend Phil Critten.  I'm not playing in this band any longer but I certainly did through the making of this record, which has relatively recently come out (Nov 11). It's a really great achievement in terms of Songwriting and Arranging in my opinion. There are some great moments. Every song has so much to take in so you'll need to give it the time it deserves. I played quite a bit of  Guitar on it and I think I'm singing on it in places too.

Enjoy, and please buy one! It's available on CD for the same price here.

Exquisite Corpse

The foldover song project that I started around a year ago with James Leeds, Mark Thorby & James Eliot Taylor is finally complete. We set out to write 4 foldover songs, each consisting of 4 separate song sectionse by each writer. Read my previous post and this for more information on our process...

Here is the third foldover song - 'Underground'. This one starts with Mark Thorby, I am second, James Eliot Taylor is third and James Leeds is last.

And here is the fourth and final foldover - On Fire

Foldover Songs

The two tracks below were made by myself and my friends James Leeds, James Eliot Taylor and Mark Thorby. We made them like a foldover picture - You know!? where somebody draws the head and folds the paper so you can only see the neck, the next person draws the shoulders etc... 

I started the first one, titled 'At Sea' and send the last couple of seconds of my bit to James Leeds who then did the same and sent his bit on to Mark... you get the idea. Anyway, we didn't hear each others section until all the bits were complete and we had them together as one piece. I think they work rather well. 

We are going to make two more foldover songs in this way, changing the writing order each time so each person gets a chance to be first and last.

  - At Sea

  - In Flight
www.soundcloud/theelectricset

Rehearsal Video

This video is from the band rehearsal before my last gig at The Playhouse in Norwich. We were learning vocal parts for 'Dancing in the Mirror'.

New Year Plans

So a new year is upon us. What will it bring? New songs for me I hope. I plan to finally finish my unfinished album, Gaga Navyharsties & Pik. I'm not sure how that is going to happen yet, just that I WANT it to happen. I am also toying with the idea of undertaking one of these 'song a day/week/month for a week/month/year' projects to force myself into writing again. I haven't 'finished' a song for yonks. I feel like I need to write a few shit ones to dust of the songwriting cobwebs, before I can do something good. A writing project to force me into doing it seems like a good idea... I should probably finish the album first though.

I have been co writing a song called 'Isle of White' with my friend and fellow songwriter, James Eliot Taylor. Its a biece of music which I wrote and arranged but never wrote words to. I sent him an instrumental and he put words and a tune to it. It's now in the tweaking stages. I will post it up here when it's done. Hopefully it will turn out well and we'll end up doing more together.

I am hoping to do some recording with Alan Southgate and a few others to 'band up' some of his Touchable Numbers songs. Touchable numbers is a song a week for a year project which Alan completed late last year. Check it out

There is also a Lost Levels (my other band) album in the wings. We are trying to arrange a trip to Norway to record it with a friend of ours - Jonas Raab, who is an amazing producer and has his own studio in the middle of a forest somewhere. Fingers crossed that happens!

That sounds like enough to be getting on with for the time being I think.

Happy New Year

Gig

I have a gig at The Playhouse in Norwich on Sunday 28th of November. It's free and I'm supporting a band called Red Gate Rover. I'm going to be doing a few of the newer songs and some of the hits. I don't play very often (as Lowery) so don't miss it yeah!?

Two New Track Updates!!

I have just returned home from a night of recording and mixing with Mark Thorby, at his studio which he, James Leeds and I have dubbed 'Clinic'. We have recorded some extra bits for Dancing in the Mirror - Melodica, Synth Bass, Piano etc etc. Check out version 3.1!

 

Also this evening we added Drums and Piano to 'On Another Knee'. We recorded both parts straight over version 2.2. I think mark has done a good job of slotting them into the mix. What do you think?

New Version - Blisters 2.0!

Another 'Live' version of this song. And like the previous version, its taken from a recorded rehearsal. It's a nice thread which has developed unconsciously. This version though, was recorded by Jason Baldock for 'Live at Old School Studios' on breakthruradio and features Phil Critten on Guitar, Mark Thorby on Piano, Owen Morgan on Bass and Steve Harris on Drums.