Eager Sails

Recording.

2010-02-03T17:26:00.000-08:00

Spent a week practicing for the new This Is Hell record and hanging out with T$S on Long Island. I love the $tomp Squad, but I hate sub-zero temperatures. So happy to be in LA.

Apparently this drum kit was last used on Green Day's American Idiot record. I hope it didn't subconsciously influence me to play like Tre Cool.

14 songs later.

I'm done tracking now, so intend to spend the next 10 days reading, drinking tea, downloading films, eating Ramen, and hanging out in the sunshine with B.

Can't wait for saturday, expect beach pictures.

Heavens.

2010-02-01T18:33:00.000-08:00

80% of all pictures I ever take are of clouds.

This blog has become a husk.

2010-02-01T15:16:00.000-08:00

I'm turning it around. A few more from europe with the carrier -

Bloodbath.

Pid.

Nick.

Robbie.

Tim.

Mike.

Freddie.

James.

Anthony.

Chez.

Joe Bayes.

Dickie.

Me.

Dead Swans / The Carrier Europe 2009/2010

2009-12-31T11:32:00.000-08:00

Heading out in europe and the UK with our friends The Carrier from boston. Took some pictures on the ferry, going to try and update a lot on this tour. This is potentially the only sober pictures you will see of Little Ben for a couple of weeks. Enjoy.

Thanks for the lift to belgium Stan!!

Coming home.

2009-12-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

"The sound that turns the road that leads us back home, into 'home'..."

New York City (again)

2009-12-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

Spent a few days hanging out in NYC after tour before I was supposed to go out again with This Is Hell.....until we cancelled because the van broke down. I'm here for another couple of weeks practicing and hanging out before I fly home. I'm sad about missing shows, but I love new york, and hanging out with my long island friends. Expect more pictures from the city, and the smith haven mall.

New York is cold.

End of tour..

2009-12-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

A few more pictures from the last week of tour. Long drives, no money, living off one taco bell a day.....rockstars. Still had the best time ever.

Yo Drew, if you're gonna hijack my camera, there's no way your work is not making it onto the internet. Puppy butt!

St. Louis is a dump, but I like your arch.

Thanks Tasha and Adam for getting us drunk/feeding us/being the sweetest husband and wife in the US.

Dead Swans / Mother of Mercy 2009.

More pictures..

2009-11-22T08:38:00.001-08:00

Some more pictures, from Arizona and California...too much to write and not enough time, night drives are killing my motivation. One day I'll do a proper update.

Little Ben making brilliant life choices, daily.

This guy has over 10,000 friends on myspace.

Falling down..

Huntington beach..

Dead Swans <3's Cali

5 seconds before the police drove past.

Tennessee...

2009-11-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

Trying to fit in, in the south..

This Is Hell / Gravemaker Europe 2009

2009-11-10T06:29:00.000-08:00

This is what I would look like with cool tattoos.

Pictures from the previous tour to the one I'm on now....felt bad posting pictures from the current one without putting these up. Sweet tour, sweet friends. Good to be back on tour with Gravemaker right now, and see This Is Hell again in a couple of weeks so no need for generic 'I miss everyone so much'

I hang out with my friends for a living!

Any photos of me/that look like they were taken by someone who know what they're doing were taken by our friend Patrick. Cheers mate.

Thank you Drop Dead for hooking us up!

The most honest representation on being on tour I have ever known. Travis is miserable, and the van wont go.

Comeback Kid / Gravemaker / Mother of Mercy / Dead Swans US tour

2009-11-10T01:45:00.000-08:00

Bye England...

...Hello Boston!

Chuckleous Worthington.

We were unknowingly all wearing the same underwear.

A picture of New York City.

2009-11-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

The first of many.

2009-09-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

These are pictures from the Dead Swans / More Than Life european tour.

I don't know what to say about it except it was some of the best times of my life to date, and has set a new benchmark for all tours to come.

Everyone on this tour had a least one pair of vans.

Service station snuggles.

Bunking the tube into vienna.

The joke here is that Fisher's name is Fisher.

Little Ben is Dice Champion.

Halfway through the 20 hour journey to Sweden.

The biggest bridge in europe between Sweden and Denmark -

Swimming in the danish sea, in the shadow of the big bridge -

DEAD SWANS / MORE THAN LIFE

2009-09-05T03:22:00.000-07:00

Come and see my stupid band smash everything, and party with us!

Newark Airport 3 am.

2009-08-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

Home.

2009-08-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

An update.

2009-08-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

I have driven further in the last two weeks, than I ever thought possible. I didn't even know there was that much tarmac in the world. Most days consisted of at least an 8 hour drive, and let's not forget driving all night every couple of days! I say I drove, I actually just sat shotgun, eating seeds, reading and taking pictures out of the window. You can still feel sorry for me if you like.

Since the last time I posted, we drove from Arizona, the whole length of california up to Seattle. Since Seattle we have been slowly working our way back east, through some of America's 'simpler' states. Like Idaho, potato capital of the US, who's proudest export is Elk Jerky, or Wyoming, where I was actually asked if my camera was "that internet everyone's talking about"

That last comment is the reason I stopped taking it into petrol stations, so alas, no picture evidence exists of my favourite product I found on the road, two vacuum packed, hard boiled eggs, cunningly titled 'Eggs ASAP!'

I realised, looking over old posts, that I talk very little about the shows. It's not that I don't enjoy them, just that a nightly account of whether or not I could hear my kick drum in my monitors isn't something I would be particularly interested in reading. But the shows have all been great on this tour, and I'm very lucky to be playing some amazing venues, in amazing cities, with some of the best bands in hardcore, past and present.

The following 3 pictures are from a shop/art space/gallery I found in Pomona, CA.

LA was by far one of the best nights of tour/my life.

The view from the house of blues dressing room.

Seattle.

As usual, I am rushing the end of a post because I have to load out, and I spent too long trying to be funny. I will update sooner next time.

2009-07-23T00:24:00.001-07:00

Uploading these pictures has been such an ordeal I now have neither the patience or desire to write anymore than to say these are photographs of Dallas, Alburquerque and Phoenix, and the places in between. I'm going to sleep now.

Atlanta/New Orleans/Texas

2009-07-18T14:45:00.001-07:00

On this tour, the combination of frequent 6 or more hour drives, and early load-ins/door times

means very little time to look around most of the towns we play in. Add the fact the venue is almost always on the wrong side of the tracks, and you might have more of an understanding as to why the above photo almost the only one I took in Atlanta. The show was probably the best yet however, and we were fed BBQ and free beer. Every cloud.

On the note of silver linings, the 11 hour overnight drive meant we arrived in New Orleans at 9 am, leaving me almost all day to look around. Here's what I saw.

After the show we headed off again, although the previous night's drive had completely destroyed me by this point, and I remember very little about the drive, or the name of the nice kid who let us turn up and stay/shower at 3 in the morning. Thanks for the watermelon, no thanks to your demented kitten clawing my feet all night.

Now in San Antonio, Texas, and regrettably the same story of long drives thus far killing any opportunity to look around. That and the ungodly heat. Dallas tomorrow, then into the desert.

North Carolina/Knoxville

2009-07-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

Aside from the show, the best thing about Jacksonville, North Carolina on a sunday, is this duck.

Rode travis' BMX around the 3 blocks that made up the town, and the only other thing worth seeing was the mexican restaurant Jones and I ate in, and Mr. B's Pawn shop, which was closed.

The next day we get to knoxville, load in, then get kicked out within 2 hours, due to a riot caused by security punching kids, and various members of all bands on the tour stepping in.

Downside of the situation was no-one got paid, upside was us, crime in stereo, death before dishonor, terror, trapped under ice and the ghost inside playing some kids garage 10 minutes away, making the local news, and getting hustled playing dice.

Left just as 15 cars(seriously) of knoxville's constabulary showed up. No pictures, as I was genuinely afraid of being arrested/deported. Cops got guns sen!!

Louisville last night was good, despite the town having literally nothing in except a pizza place with a booth made out of 2 cadillacs welded together, which I didn't even get a picture of.

Sorry.

In atlanta now, where it is hotter than I knew it could be outside of deserts, or the stage of the freebutt. Going to find mexican food.

NYC/Baltimore

2009-07-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

Stayed with Alex (Wonderwoman) after the first night in Philly, where she outdid herself, again. We honestly cannot thank her enough, she is a thoroughly excellent human.

Here is an example of quite how close to perfection she is.

I wish this was breakfast every day.

Short drive back back up to NYC, to the biggest venue I've ever seen.

Baltimore today was good, night drive to North Carolina tonight.

T$S

2009-07-09T16:36:00.001-07:00

Day 1.

2009-07-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

Home for the next 5 weeks.

Yo Chez, we're famous! Also the only time Dead Swans will ever be on a poster with any of these other bands.

A softer world.

2009-07-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

Day&Night

NYC

2009-07-07T15:13:00.000-07:00

Tour starts on thursday, so Travis, Piko and I went into the city to hang out before practice.

One more day of practice, then we're gone.

Tour.

2009-07-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

So I am heading out on tour, playing drums for this is hell.

The dates are as follows:
Jul. 09 - Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero
Jul. 10 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
Jul. 11 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar
Jul. 12 - Jacksonville, NC - Hooligans
Jul. 13 - Knoxville, TN - Valarium
Jul. 14 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
Jul. 15 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
Jul. 16 - New Orleans, LA - The Hanger
Jul. 17 - Houston, TX - Java Jazz
Jul. 18 - San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
Jul. 19 - Dallas, TX - The Max
Jul. 21 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theater
Jul. 22 - Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
Jul. 23 - San Francisco, CA - The Grand Ballroom
Jul. 24 - Los Angeles, CA - House Of Blues
Jul. 25 - Chico, CA - Senator Theater
Jul. 26 - Seattle, WA - King Cat Theater
Jul. 28 - Edmonton, AB - Starlite
Jul. 29 - Calgary, AB - Warehouse
Jul. 31 - St. Paul, MN - Station 4
Aug. 01 - Kansas City, MO - Midland Theater
Aug. 02 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theater
Aug. 04 - Chicago, IL - Metro
Aug. 05 - Grand Rapids, MI - Intersection
Aug. 07 - Clifton Park, NY - Northern Lights
Aug. 08 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
Aug. 09 - Worcester, MA - Palladium
Aug. 10 - Montreal, QC - Fou Founes
Aug. 11 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
Aug. 12 - Detroit, MI - The Majestic
Aug. 13 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody's
Aug. 14 - Buffalo, NY - Xtreme Wheels

I am very, very excited.

For Essie and Jake.

2009-06-03T16:04:00.001-07:00

love/light

2009-05-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

"God has placed it all around us"

Tracks.

2009-05-22T16:27:00.001-07:00

"If she comes circling back, we'll end where we'd begun
Like two pennies on the train track the train crushed into one"

For the best part of 3 months, I have lived out of this.

2009-05-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

And I couldn't be happier.

America.

2009-04-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, not really had much to write about that I can imagine would be of much interest to anyone. I've not taken as many pictures as I know I should since we've been here, but I was ill for the first week we were here, then straight into the studio so I'm not going to feel too bad about it.

I'm not going to do a day by day account, because reading back on old posts I dislike how it reads so I'm just going to say we've met some truly brilliant people, seen some amazing things, and eaten some of the best mexican food outside of mexico. Life is good.

Hoop dreams.

I love 147 Elm Street and everyone in it.

The rope swing at Amy's.

Sunny days.

Boston parties hard!

Fenway Park.

You can stand right by the tracks here.

Jon Garwood is a perfect human.

I hope you don't mind me sharing this.

I love laughing.

2009-04-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

America.

2009-04-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

We're in America, I cant believe they let us in.

London.

2009-04-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

Underworld tonight was the best show of tour. Thanks for coming down if you did, we had a lot of fun. That's all I have to say, this is a husk of a post. I'll make more effort tomorrow. Maybe.

Back in the UK.

2009-04-07T12:01:00.001-07:00

An overdue homecoming post. We drove through the night from Belgium on saturday after watching Madball (who were amazing), to Wrexham in Wales. We'd never played Wrexham before so really didn't know what to expect, but there was a lot of people and they showed us a great time. Thanks Wrexham, we hope you'll have us back. Huge thanks to Andy the promoter and his family for putting us up, no thanks to his cat with a human voice for wailing in John's ear all night.

The previous night's feline interruption led to a short, tense drive to Manchester where we managed to pacify John with a Nando's. Show was great, saw some old friends and made some new ones, before spending the night in Sheffield with TS, Godfrey and Sam. Huge thanks to those guys for bringing us a load of Drop Dead stuff, and for generally being excellent humans.

We're in Glasgow tonight, where again, we've never played so don't really know what to expect. If the show is a washout, at least I can claim some money back for returning my Barr cream soda bottle. It's called progress people.

Slovakia/Austria/Hungary/Slovenia.

2009-04-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

I was going to apologise for not posting again, but then I realized I was actually suprised there was running water in some of the places I've been to in the last 5 days, let alone internet access, so I'm not going to.

The past week has been completely surreal. It feels like we've driven more in the last five days than the first 3 weeks, and has left everyone completely drained. Haven't really taken many pictures as we seemed to spend all day driving, loading in, eating, playing, then leaving again, all in the space of about 12 hours, so not a lot of time to look around. It seems bizarre to just sum up my experiences of these countries in just a few sentences, but I don't think we were in any of them for long enough to write more.

That said, I tried to take at least a couple of pictures that summed up each place.

Slovakia -

This was one of the most bizarre places I have ever seen. It was exactly as I imagined it, only I actually enjoyed myself. The show was absolutely wild, as were the kids partying afterwards.

My camera died almost as soon as I got to the venue, so sadly* no pictures remain of Nick and I staying up til 4 in the bar til we had to leave for the drive to Munich. Before we were plied with as many rum&apple juice shots as we could drink, I took a couple of pictures.

*I'm definitely not sad about this.

I haven't got a clue what this is, but there were three of them on the wall, and I liked them.

I am well aware that this is a terrible photo, but I just couldn't believe Pid was on Slovakian TV.

Leaving Slovakia, Salvador Dali landscape.

And so to Vienna, where again I saw next to nothing of this landmark of architecture and culture, bar the venue, an Irish themed bar, and a dirty, overpriced nightclub.

Yeah, thats really it. Sorry Mum.

Then to Budapest, where it's a pretty similar story. Show was amazing, after which we headed to the hostel, then went for a walk to get some food. This was cut short when our driver John saw someone get stabbed in the face 30 yards from the kebab shop we were in. Good times.

I am going to write a book of John's expressions.

We run Budapest.

Owing to the literally torrential rain, I took no photos on the way to the venue in Slovenia.

The following are from the house we stayed in, which was the furthest building from civilization I have ever been in. Apparently the woods surrounding the house were rife with wolves and bears, though we didn't see any. Which is a shame, as the owner of the house was the very proud owner of two bazookas. I'm not even slightly joking.

That's all I can be bothered to write for now, the 10 hour drive from Belgium to Wrexham has robbed me of any motivation. Just a week left now, check the dates on our myspace and try and make it to a show. Bibby.

Germany/Austria/Italy.

2009-03-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

I knew when I started this blog that I wouldn't update it as frequently as I should, but on this tour I've been slack even by my own standards so I've decided to do a proper post, with some words, not just pictures.

The night after my last post we played Zedwitz in germany, which translates roughly as 'The end of the earth'. It was desolation personified. Still, there was cereal on the rider for the first time, so I was at least able to bring a long awaited soya milk rain to my proverbial muesli drought. After this oaty reunion we headed over to Hof airport to find this waiting for us -

Thats right, self-appointed King of Essex and London, 'streets-are-his-catwalk' ex-model 'Famous One' Pid Payne, here looking decidedly unlike any of the above.

We head back to the venue, eat perhaps the worst hot food ever conceived, then play the worst we have played in months, maybe ever. We all blame it on Pid's one hour jet lag. At least there was half a van in the venue.

We loaded out in the snow and drove 100 metres to the other end of town (seriously) and stayed in Zedwitz's finest (only) hotel. Here's a couple of pictures to give you a feel for the place.

And my personal favourite -

You're not dreaming......horse bedsheets. Never have I slept more soundly, safe in the knowledge that Sea Biscuit and Shergar were keeping a watchful eye.

We manage to tear ourselves away from this palace and head towards Linz, Austria.

Obviously it wouldn't a visit to Austria with the 3 obligatory police stops and 70 euro fine for being overloaded.......oh, just us? Cheers Austria.

We eventually make it to the venue using our preferred method - looking for the most graffiti covered, run down crack den in sight, which led us straight to the door of Ann and Pat's.

Despite our preconceptions, we were pleasantly suprised to find perhaps the best rider yet, all our beds already made up and internet connection. Turns out after soundcheck, we were being treated to the best stage sound yet, and when we played there was a real life long-haired metaller windmilling for the duration. I nearly stopped playing from laughing so hard when he first started tucking in. After the show, Dennis (this is hell drummer), Pid, Robbie and I went for a little stroll where we found no food, but a drunk man with a puppy and some concrete porches.

After all that excitement, we head back to the venue for 3 hours sleep, in which time Dennis shouts at a girl for staring at him while he's sleeping, and I lose my mind listening to This Will Destroy You.

Thankfully, after our 7am start, this is the first thing i see -

As soon as I caught sight of mountains, my tiredness altogether disappeared, and for the next 7 (7!) hours I stayed awake on my own and took over 200 photos. Thankfully I have chosen only a handful to share.

I am supposed to be loading out NOW so have to run. Please spare a thought for me carrying a full drum kit through a crowd of italian ravers......now this is happening.

Some words.

2009-03-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

Rum drunk, great show, Little Ben did guest vocals for this is hell, I love my life.

Trier.

2009-03-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

Just come offstage in Trier. Played to a crowd of blank faces......who then came and bought loads of t-shirts, weird. Today has been fairly quiet as we were all lucky enough to get a lie in, so we have all been pretty sedentary. Nick, Little Ben and I found a swimming pool so I took some pictures.

We have been watching this upwards of 30 times a day.

2009-03-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Yelling Goat.

Karlsruhe.

2009-03-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

Today I have mostly been looking at this.

As such, I have nothing of interest to write about, unless you want to read about little Ben and I screaming the name of Elliot from trainspotters cat in a german service station. Then I was going to find pictures of us playing from the last few shows, but got distracted by lolcats, so I'm just gonna post some pictures of us in funny glasses. Sorry.

Important Tour Update.

2009-03-20T05:46:00.000-07:00

Hamburg by night...

2009-03-19T02:54:00.000-07:00

is mental. Behold.

Hamburg.

2009-03-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

It turns out that internet access has been limited to say the least thus far, so apologies for the lack of updates. Also, uploading photos seems to take forever, hence there aren't many yet.

Since I last wrote we have played in Berlin, then driven a 4'000 mile round trip to Orebro in Sweden and then back to Hamburg with a day off in between. Just come offstage in Hamburg, where we played probably the best yet, to perhaps the most placid group of people I've ever seen at any show, of any genre, including piano recitals. I can only imagine they're too full of hamburgers to move around. Things are looking up though, I've got the first of as many free staropramens as I can drink in front of me, and our driver john has already started making animal sounds in the bar. Tonight can only get better. Enjoy some pictures.

Tour.

2009-03-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

So I'm on tour for the next 5 with my band Dead Swans in europe with This Is Hell and The Blackout Argument. For anyone reading this who doesn't know us, the band consists of me (Benny), Nick, Robbie, Little Ben and Pid. Unfortunately due to work commitments and the length of the tour Pid couldn't do the whole thing so our good friend Sykes is filling in on guitar for the first few shows.

We got picked up on thursday night by our new friend and driver John, then got the night ferry to france, where we had some celebratory first night of tour beers served by surly dover maids and took some pictures.

After that we drove through the night to Frankfurt airport to pick up TIH and meet the TBA.

There was a slight delay in between TIH arriving and TBA guys meeting us, leaving us an hour hanging around Frankfurt airport, which for the most part involved Rick from TIH barely unable to contain his excitement about being back in europe, as this picture clearly illustrates -

Since then we've played two shows, in Wangen and Erfurt, both of which have been amazing.

This is our first time playing in the mainland, so it's been so flattering that there's been a handful of kids at both shows who know the words and moved around. We're all still adjusting to being away, which means everyone sleeps a lot, both when we're driving and most of the time at the venues when no-one is playing. The obvious result of which is I currently don't have much to write about yet, so I'll just post a couple of pictures, more to follow.

I bought a camera.

2009-03-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

Expect sub-par photos to accompany my questionable writing.

Overdue.

2009-02-26T13:29:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed the promise of an hourly update throughout the recording process wasn't exactly upheld. Anyone who has ever done any recording will probably be aware that, while an hour seems a fairly lengthy period of time in any other situation e.g waiting for a bus, watching any Tom Cruise film, in the studio it can take an hour to find the right guitar tone. Bearing that in mind, count up how many hours it would take to set up, record, then pack away. Then imagine reading about it......actually, don't. I had to sit through it, I'm not going to try and relive it anytime soon. Instead, I'll do a brief summary, focussing on the positive.

Overall, it was a good weekend. Everyone just about managed to play everything right, it still needs some mixing but it's already sounding good. Our extremely long suffering engineer Win is the closest thing to a perfect human I've ever met. Not only did he put up with our combined incompetence/back-seat production driving/flatulence, he also made us sound something like a proper band. One with fans and everything. We celebrated Elliot's birthday on saturday by going to one of the 5 pubs in the village I live in, then playing drunk table tennis back at mine.

Sunday comprised of not quite finishing the mixing, before heading to brighton to play my old band Once Over's last ever show.

Again, although I had a great night, there is nothing to write that will be of any interest to anyone else. So to summarise, there were a lot of faces I havn't seen in ages, a lot of faces I don't see enough, and some faces contorted in a mixture of disgust and fear. Everyone dressed up, some better than others (Stee>Melmoth), we managed to remember all the songs, and Elliot stagedived. If I knew anything about computers I would do a link to the photos, but I don't. If you want to see them that much, find them on facebook or something. Snide.

Oh yeah, the main highlight of the weekend was Scott of Soundlocker Studios fame offering me a few shifts working at the studio before I go on tour, which is a godsend because I really didn't want to have to make up 8 things I supposedly did to find a job when I went to sign on. So that's where I am now, at the studio, listening to the band upstairs kick into Vertigo by U2 for the 9th time. One more time and I'm setting off the fire alarm.

1:30

2009-02-21T05:36:00.000-08:00

So I might have been a little optimistic to think enough would happen in an hour worth writing about. I may have been optimistic that anything that happens today is worth writing about. Never the less, I've started this so I'll finish. Besides, there is literally NOTHING else to do. The studio is in the middle of an industrial estate. I've been and spoken to the guys moving into the unit next to the studio who are starting a custom door and window company (they were an interesting bunch). Then I chased some seagulls. Short of walking the couple of miles in to Lancing town centre(!) there is nothing to do but sit here and watch Win display superhuman levels of patience and restraint as he resets for the 23rd guitar take. ("You've nearly got it, one more"). Pid is sitting next to me smirking as he did all his guitar takes in under an hour. Eddy is staring at the floor. Elliot has just redeemed himself with a take reminiscent of a young Eric Clapton. We might have lifted the curse. I'm going to stop writing before I jinx it. Vocals are next - hilarity may ensue.

Drums are done.

2009-02-21T03:05:00.000-08:00

It's 11 am. Drums are finished. I will now update hourly. Eddy is dominating his bass tracks now. From outside the door you could be forgiven for thinking Mark King of Level 42 was creating a new prog-pop odyssey in there. Elliot is tracking guitar after this. He's currently sitting opposite me with his ipod in trying to remember the chords. Tensions are already running high. Elliot is coming closer to tears with every stumbled bass note. He's just told Eddy he's got 10 minutes to finish. Elliot is threatening us all with violence now. I'll be back in and hour if he doesn't break my fingers.

Illiterate.

2009-02-20T04:02:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the unnecessary apostrophy. That's going to torment me.

Drum mic's are set up.

2009-02-20T04:01:00.000-08:00

We're cooking on gas!

Train Spotters recording starts tomorrow.

2009-02-19T14:39:00.000-08:00

My other band Train Spotters will be recording a demo tomorrow.

For me, any type of recording usually consists of 90% setting up and 9% listening back to takes I end up not using. The remaining 1% is the time I spend making mistakes while the red light is on. You may have guessed by now I don't enjoy recording very much.

So, to make my studio experience a little bit more enjoyable I have decided that once I have tracked drums I will do an hour by hour updates as things progress. Or don't. We will have a video camera, so there may be some footage at some point, provided I can work out how to transfer it onto here without having a(nother) breakdown. If I'm successful you can expect to see such scenes as Pid deliberately playing things wrong to make Elliot cry, and Win (engineer) watching the clock and/or taking long periods of contemplation asking himself and, possibly the almighty lord, what he's done to deserve having to endure three 12 hour days with us.

I know you're all excited, but try to get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day.

It worked!

2009-02-03T12:20:00.000-08:00

Unbelievably, the first post worked and is now visible to anyone who cares to gaze upon it.

Which is probably no-one. I wont let that get to me however, and am now posting with a brief explanation of why I have started this blog.

Without going on far too long (failing already), it is a small number of things.

Firstly, I am currently unemployed. As you can imagine this leaves me a great deal of free time, which I should be spending reading improving texts and actually learning the songs we are demo-ing for the new record, but in reality usually sees me shouting incoherently at the television/cat/outside world, and drinking far more coffee than my body will thank me for in later years. So this is an attempt to fill some of that time doing something other than those things, and maybe even encourage me to go out and do some exciting things to write about.

Secondly, I am going on tour in march for 5 weeks, after which I head to Boston to record aforementioned album with my band Dead Swans. In tours previous there has always been well intentioned talk of a tour diary, which never seems to get beyond a few pages of my appalling handwriting in a tesco value notepad, resplendent with phallic symbols. Needless to say these transcripts never make it anywhere near a computer, besides, the crude penises are the best part about them, and I don't know how to use a scanner. So I am hoping that this will be a good way to keep all 2 fans (my parents) updated and at worst, something for me to look back on in years to come and be hugely embarrassed about.

Third and finally, I have been trying to be more creative recently and this seems like as good a medium as any to do so, especially seeing as I still haven't got all the paint out of my eyes from my last creative expedition.

I am imagining that I will mostly be posting about band/tour related matters, but you never know, I may do something of note between now and March. Thats it for now, time to go and see if those Demo's are in my inbox (thanks Burt).

Peace.

In the beginning...

2009-02-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is my first post, and I am not entirely sure it is going to work. Those of you who have spent time with me are probably aware that I struggle to turn my phone on or off.

We will have to see how I fare in this frankly quite alarming expedition.

God help me.