Laying Down the Vocals Part 1
Was back at Northbrook Studio with Nick, to record the vocals over the top of the music we’ve already laid down. I thought naively, that we would have it all wrapped up in an evening, but after singing each song 3 times, and re-doing the bits where I got it wrong, we managed 6 songs. So I’ve called this part 1 as we’re going in next week to finish it off hopefully. I’m confident that we should get the recording completed next week as the engineer Alex seems pretty on the ball. He said that his favourite song is Ketamine, which pleased me. Mikey’s been working on Art design for the album, and have come up with a few suggestions.…
Northbrook Studios Part 2
Much better than last time, when we arrived Alex had pretty much set up. So we were fairly quickly into the sound check. We all worked hard and Alex worked his magic, so that by the end of the day we had laid down the music for the six remaining tracks. We were really pleased as this means that we only now need to put the vocals over the top, which we do next week. The tracks we did this time were Paper Cuts, which proved to be a bit of a pain, as we have inserted a break, which we kept screwing up on. Then we completed Nice Guys, Society, Hey Hey, Baby You Are Not For Me and…
Northbrook Studios
We went into the studio last Saturday, it started badly as we arrived at 9.30 and then had to hang around for three hours while they set it all up. To be fair this is the first time they have let the public in and we are getting it cheap. But if they want to get any more bookings they need to be set up to start when the band arrives. So we had 3 hours of playing, and Alex the technician is a nice guy, who seems to know what he is doing. We laid down the music for 5 tracks, 90 Miles, Dancing Outrageous, Let’s Party, End of the Line and can’t remember what else. I do that,…
Getting Ready To Record
Only a couple of weeks until we are in the studio working on that debut album. Been practising, practising, practising, making sure the songs work and we all know what we are doing. Polishing up lyrics adding in breaks to Paper Cuts and society, so that they have a bit more variety. Basically getting everything as good as we can, so that when we hit the studio we make the best use of o tie. No gigs planned yet, as we wanted to get the album out of the way first, then we’ll set about gigging and launching the thing. I think that we have agreed that the album will be called Dancing Outrageous. I wasn’t happy with lyrics of…
Latest Bar and Steve’s Arm
Sorry not to have written for a while, Christmas, families all that stuff sort of got in the way. Then I just sort of lost momentum and everything ground to a halt. But now I’m back, and I can tell you what Brighton Strangler have been up to. At the start of December we played the Latest Bar supported by POG and Jimmy and the Worn Out Shoes. Great gig, about fifty of you wonderful people turned up to see us. Great fun, people dancing and we tried two new songs; Wise Guys and Dancing Outrageous. They both went down well; I think that Wise Guys might be our pop hit, while Dancing Outrageous is just good old punk pop…
We’ve got Steve!
Yes, we’ve got Steve, he’s our new drummer. And even better, we have got a gig lined up for Sunday 25th November. Supporting us will be the almighty Pog and the wonderful Jimmy and the Worn Out Shoes. It really is so much nicer when you are playing with friends, both in the band and as support acts. As for Steve, he’s got to do a lot of song learning very quickly, but I reckon he’s up to the task. We might play a two or three new songs which we are working on, probably Dancing Outrageous, Started Alright and Wise Guys. I say probably, because we have a couple of other songs as well, but we’ve got limited time…
New Drummer
We might have got ourselves a new drummer, a guy called Steve. Mikey did some sterling work and found him through Band Mix. He is due to turn up on Sunday for band practice. Let’s see if he does, if he’s keen and the right fit. Fingers crossed that I’ll be able to enthuse about him after Sunday. If not it’ll be back to the drawing board and inertia, as we scrabble around looking for anyone prepared to hit things in rhythm. The Coalition of Chaos are not going to get a Christmas song done in time for Christmas. Can’t release it then until a year’s time. Bloody Christmas songs, you have to wait until Christmas…I broached with Shaggy…
The Search Goes On
Still no drummer, I’ve asked everybody, I’ve posted on facebook, I’ve put a request on Brighton Bands and Musicians. Mikey has put up an ad on BandMix, but we still haven’t found a drummer. We can even provide the drum kit if necessary, but nope no takers. It’s incredible how stunting it becomes when you lose the drummer, anyone else and we could probably cope, but the drummer is the glue that holds it all together and when they go, everything just falls apart. A few people have suggested a drum machine, but I need human beings in the band, not inanimate objects. And besides the drummer adds their own style and energy. My potential side project The Coalition…
Drummer Quits!
Bloody disaster! Tim had developed tinnitus, constant ringing in the ears, so the doctor has said that he has screwed his hearing and can’t do anything involving loud noise any more. So he can’t play in the band any more, can’t do his DJing, can’t go to gigs, loud music etc. That’s hard, it means he can’t do so many of those things he has always loved. He can’t even finish the album, which we were in the studio recording with him just at the start of the Summer. Poor Tim, he was an integral part of the band and leaves us with not just a drummer shaped hole, but we’ve lost someone who was skilled, easy to work…
Back From Hols and Energised
Just returned from a 3 week break to Bosnia and Serbia. It was hot, stunning scenery and half price beers. Trying to find food as a veggie was a bit problematic as they do like their meat. Ate a lot of pizzas and in spite of a lot of walking have managed to put on weight! Did think of the melody for a possible new song and managed to find a song that I have been hunting down for about the last 35 years. Heads Down No Nonsense Mindless Boogie by Albertos Y Los Trios Paranoias. Hear this a handful of times when I was 17 and adored it, then it just disappeared off the face of the earth. …