It has been a great summer here - at least most of June and July were scorching hot - but it is obvious that things are winding down and the weather here has been a good indication of that.  Some days are still ok but it's getting noticeably cooler and rainy and you can almost feel autumn in the air.  But for me that's a good thing - even though I enjoy the summer, the autumn has always had a special meaning for me, very sentimental and pensive and heavy - kind of like the way I prefer my art to be.  It is also a time that means no more fooling around, get to work and get ready for a long hard winter and that is just what's been going on here over the past couple of weeks.
It was important for me to get a lot of studio work done, especially recording for the next E.P. and I am relieved to say that all the instruments are in the can which means I can take a short break before doing the vocals, mixing etc.  This short break will take the form of a trip to the homeland for a few weeks of visiting friends and family and enjoying a bit of nature hopefully.
But before that I want to finish off this summer with a bit of an event and the CD Release Show will be that occasion.  Yes, it looks like it is finally happening after all the setbacks of the past few months!  Sept. 4 at Heisse Scheiben Record Store in Berlin.  You can check out the shows page for all the info.
I've also tried to get a few other things a bit more up to date which resulted in a spontaneous photo shoot yesterday.  A bit too spontaneous perhaps as not much came of it but one pic seems alright to me so I think I'll add it to the portfolio.
All for now...time to get some rehearsing in for the release show and see this summer out with a bang!

The inspiration for this one came from observations of online activity that I have made over the past couple of years.  I am an avid reader of music and music-related blogs and although I read many different kinds, I started to notice a pattern.  This should be an age when the technology of "Web 2.0" allows for what I consider to be true freedom of the press, i.e. anyone can start a blog or news site and publish whatever they want as long as it is factual and not slanderous.  So after years of mags like Rolling Stone, Billboard, NME etc. basically monopolizing the music press we should be optimistic that this new age will allow a "level playing field" and bands, stories, music etc. that once would have been ignored (most likely because they don't have enough marketing money behind them) can now get the word out to this new form of alternative press and get some kind of attention at least. 

After all, do we really need another Pitchfork Media?  Or any of these other big "alternative music" blogs that really only handle the "mainstream alternative"?  Of course the obvious anwser is NO.  But upon closer inspection of what is actually going on online you quickly find out that there are actually very few bloggers out there who are actually thinking for themselves and developing their own opinions.  Almost everywhere you look it's the same old thing, same bands, same hype same opinions give or take a few choice adjectives.  Actually a pretty sad situation considering the opportunity that is there.

The "flock" in this case is not a flock of birds, but a flock of sheep (see picture above).  Kind of an obvious choice when referring to the "follower" mentality but I looked at it a bit more closely and I am actually describing a particular kind of sheep that considers itself above the rest even though it is equally susceptible to being led and herded but more by external forces, i.e. the shepherd a.k.a. expensive marketing strategies and pr people.

An interesting little anecdote about the lyrics comes from a spelling error I made while writing out a verse with the word "bleet" - I actually meant to write "bleat" which is the word for the sound a sheep makes.  I actually wasn't sure of the correct spelling, probably because it is not a word I use very often (if at all) so I did a quick web search for the spelling "bleet" and came across a very interesting coincidence.  As it turns out, the word "bleet" is a newly formed word for an online entry that is longer than a "tweet" but shorter than a normal blog entry.  Fantastic!  Without even knowing it I had actually found the exact word I was looking for!  I guess it was just meant to be...

So after a bit of a delay the big day is finally here and the debut release "Shock & Awe" is offical and a free download will be available until the release show on June 26.  Yes, the entire EP will be FREE for a limited time which seems to be the way everyone is going these days so why swim against the current?  And how do I really feel about this free music future?  I have to admit that I have very mixed feelings but I have also decided not to waste too much time and energy worrying about the financial aspects of what I am doing.  I'm having a lot of fun making this stuff and there appear to be some people out there who are digging it so why complicate things?  The last gig was also really fun even though there was only a small crowd.  The sound was fantastic and the staff at Madame Claude were great so what more can you ask for...

Anyway, on to the point.  The EP is done and released and I am quite pleased with how it turned out, at least for a first attempt with this new production strategy.  I chose the title based on the track I thought had the catchiest name, "Shock & Awe" and I will explain what the song is about in the next post.  After that I will write a post about each of the 6 songs every few days to give a bit more background and hopefully make some sense of it all.

Speaking of album titles, I probably could have called this EP "Delayed" not only because the release date was delayed but now the release show date has been re-scheduled for a week later as well!  No big deal, a few unexpected things came up this week and in the end it was decided that June 26 would be better and a live big-screen broadcast of the World Cup will be part of the festivities.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!!!

Wanted to get around to writing something here for a while now but the personal life got kind of busy and there was also a lot to do to get the EP finished so that's the way it goes.  At least now I can say that a lot has been accomplished in the last while and the EP is being mastered as I write and will be ready on time after all.  Quite a relief after all the setbacks and other things I've had to deal with over the past month.  I'll write more about the EP and the songs soon...

Another big priority has been to get the technical problems with the live set sorted out and steps have been taken.  I ordered a ground-loop isolator yesterday which should take care of the buzzing and other disturbance that came from the laptop when it was plugged in and a smaller controller will be attached directly to the keyboard to allow a more compact setup on stage.  The laptop will now be placed on a large size note stand which means no more table necessary for it and the large controller etc.  I have also decided to phase the guitars out of the live set (for the time being) which will mean fewer factors to consider in the overall sound.  I will still play some of the songs that have been recorded with guitar but will adapt them to the keyboard which should be interesting as alternative versions, something which is going to happen with all the songs at some point probably.

All for now...

Had a pretty busy week here putting in the final tracks for the E.P. and starting on the mixing.  As always the first stages of mixing were a little frustrating but once I made some adjustments things started to take shape nicely and a few more sessions should do it.  All in all I am very happy with how the songs have turned out.

I jumped back into the studio work with both feet because I had put it on hold to get ready for the first live show.  I guess I was in a bit of an "onwards and upwards" mode considering that there were only a few people at the show and there had also been some minor technical problems.  Generally a bit of a frustrating night I have to admit but I am optimistic that things will get better and I have already sorted out the technical problems.  Now all I have to do is get a few more people to actually show up!

Other than that just getting prepared for tomorrow, another crazy "May Day" here in Berlin.  Considering that I live in the heart of the riot zone there are always some consideration to be made, e.g. parking the car far enough away so there is no risk of it getting damaged, getting some cash (all of the banks and their cash terminals get borded up) and this year because it is on a Saturday I have to remember to do all my grocery shopping today in order to get through until Monday.  Yes, lots to do here so I better get at it!

And just to give you an idea of what it's like, check out this video...

Atari Teenage Riot - May 1st, 1999

As you can guess by the title, there has been quite a bit going on around here over the past few weeks.  But unfortunately not enough it seems.  I'll start with the bad news (which really isn't such a big deal but I like a bit of drama with my morning coffee).  Due to some setbacks in the studio the EP release will be postponed by two weeks making the new release date June 15, 2010.  So now on to the good stuff...

...and where to start?  I suppose the development that ties in with the release date is that there will be a "CD Release Show" at a local record store here in Berlin.  You can check here for info etc.  But that's not the only show coming up.  On May 29th I'll be part of a double bill at a cool club called Madame Claude.  The other band will be Ben & Béné, a dynamic duo from Paris!  That one should be very interesting indeed...

And last but not least, I am really looking forward to the debut show tomorrow night at Supersonic.  I finally had time this week to set everything up the way it will be on stage and was relieved to find out that it works in practice and not just in theory.  Should be a good night!

Maybe I'll see you there...

After quite a bit of consideration and deliberation about the best way to get some recordings officially "out there", the decision has finally been made.  The first release will be an E.P. of six songs and will be released on June 1, 2010.  The original idea was to release an album and enough material is ready but instead of blowing the load all in one go it will be divided up into 2 E.P.s with the second probably getting released near the end of the year.  There will definitely be some kind of release "event" but planning is still in the early stages.  More updates on all that coming soon!

Oh yeah, and this is "for reals", i.e. not an April Fool's joke!

And Happy Easter if you're into that kind of thing.  And if you're not too "devout" about these kind of things you might get a kick out of this video...

Origins of the Easter Egg

You might have already noticed that there is a new page on this site, "Alive!" which basically is what you would think, i.e. a listing of upcoming live performances.  Only one confirmed so far but a few more should be showing up there soon.  It's been a while since I last went through this process of getting gigs and I forgot just how complicated it can be.  Club owners/bookers tend to keep odd hours and getting them to respond to an email is pretty much hopeless.  Not to say I blame them, they are probably bombarded with requests - just have a quick look at Myspace and you will start to think that just about everyone in the world is in a band...that's a lot of people looking for gigs and since it has become almost impossible to sell recordings of music I imagine that many more artists are trying to get "out there" and get their share of the pie.  Whatever, I guess I'll just keep trying and see what happens.

So I will finally be getting out of the studio a bit, very necessary for my own mental health among other things.  But things are going well in the recording department and there will definitely be a release this spring.  It's not 100% decided but it will probably be an E.P. and will be released very early in June.  Exact release date coming soon...

All for now.