I know all about magic baby, you see I taught myself...

I felt a bit guilty only posting once this month after so much happened so I've stolen Col's idea of lyrics for post titles and started to write.

I've been really busy recently, it's the end of the first term of my last year at Uni so I've got coursework to complete and songs to practice. It seems like quite a lot of work at first glance but it's easily tackled.

So, onto what interesting things I've been up to. It was Rachel's birthday this month, as well as Mike's so they decided on a joint outing in Reading, that was a mental night full of jolliness, drinks and Scott getting in trouble with a bouncer. Bit of a power hungry bouncer to be fair, too aggressive with little aggravation. We started in the Oakford, a good meeting place if not a tad expensive on the drinks, a lot of people turned up which surprised Rach who was adamant that no one would show up. From there we moved on to the Purple Turtle, where we forced some shots down the birthday pair and where Scott got a wrist slap. We also lost Dan here, I'm not sure what happened but apparently he wanted to pay to get in but the bouncers wouldn't let him, I would have taken the money! We ended up in After Dark, an alternative club that was playing 80s tunes all night, it was quite popular with the people who stayed the whole night, especially when Journey started playing; Just a small town girl.....

Me and Rach stayed at Jof's while they stayed in the Hurst after a party for their mates, which we were very grateful for, it was so much easier to just stay in Reading rather than travelling all the way home, which we found out the next day was also quite a dangerous journey; Mike ended up with a bruised ear and sore knuckles after some confrontation with a group of dicks.

Rachel also had a meal with her work friends at Que Pasa in Camberley. She booked the table for 8.30 but when we got there we were told the chef buggered off at 9 so we had to get our orders in, idiots, did it not occur to them that we may want food? Did they not think of informing us of the Chef's stupid working hours?! It was a great night none the less.

We took a trip into London on the day of Rachel's birth with her Mum and Auntie. We visited Madame Tussauds, stopped for lunch at the Hard Rock cafe and then explored the London Dungeons, what a day! Really enjoyable, although I did unwittingly get strapped into an indoor ride a bit like Detonator, I had my face screwed up for the duration, my fear was captured for eternity by the ride's camera for all to mirth at. Expect that picture to be on Facebook soon I imagine.

Pictures of the nights out can be found on my Facebook page too, enjoy!

In other news, I've stared a Beatles cover band with my brother and a couple of mates from other Reading bands, we've already got a good number of tunes in our set list and more and more are added at each rehearsal each week, we'll be gigging and getting paid in no time! ...We hope. Looking forward to it though, it's great fun!

The Cheap Day Returns are coming to the end of a month long break this week as we meet up for a practice before our next gig, the 15th December at the Cellar Bar in Bracknell, which is a few days before a bigger gig at the Purple Turtle in Reading. I'm really looking forward to that one, should be massive! We've got a number of new songs lined up that Jof has shown me, they sound ace and should be a welcome addition to our set, although I'll miss some of the oldies! I hope they're as popular as our current set. I'm sure they will be.

I'm still thinking about doing an audio podcast, might do my first one just before Christmas when I have no coursework to tie me down!

I feel as though this post has been a bit dull, I'll try to fill the next one with things that annoy me and why to liven things up a bit, rather than just a diary of my month! Expect another post next weekend if I remember, I'll let you know how my exam went!

If I'd written as much as I have here on my coursework I'd be a lot further along! Oops, ah well, back to work!

Cheers for reading whoever you are!

Gig-a-byte

We played a gig at Plug 'n' Play last Friday. It was a good night, although I didn't stay long as I was knackered, still am. Very odd.

We've played Plug 'n' Play a few times but they've updated their sound system since we last played, it's a bad boy now, complete with huge mixing desk and floor to ceiling speakers. It gives a really professional sound, at least it did for the other bands, I didn't have the pleasure of hearing how we sounded through it, obviously. You could hear every little detail, especially from the drums, which made me a little nervous when we opened the night, it ran through my mind that every little mistake I made was amplified clearly for the audience to hear. I soon forgot and bashed the things like they pissed on my favourite shoes, as I normally do.

Plug 'n' Play is a great little venue, and better now with the new sound, but I think it needs to be improved further to make it better for bands and audiences. I think the bar should be updated a little, it looks like a tuc shop at a school fare at the moment, the stage could do with being enlarged, it's just too small for bands to put on a good show and there's a safety rail around it that just puts a barrier between the audience and the bands. If the stage is made a bit bigger, which they have the room for, and the bar updated then I think it would thrive as a local venue and attract a lot more people, not just fans of the bands that are playing.

I'm thinking about starting up a podcast, basically my blog but in audio form and with a bit of local music inbetween. I know I've been saying that I'm thinking of doing a lot of things recently but I never seem to do them. But I started this blog up and kept it running, it just took me time! So give me a while and I might cook something up :-)

I'm going out tonight for a meal with my family (and related partners) We always have a great time when we go out so I'm really looking forward to it, Ace!

Cheers guys, have a good week.

Ill Day

So here I am, sat at home on a Tuesday afternoon. I should be at work but I don't think I'd be much of a help, I've spent most of the day on the toilet.

Yes ladies and gents, I am ill. What an arse. Literally! Ugh, sorry.

So I'm on the sofa listening to my recent obsession, Ben Folds Five's old old old album "Whatever and ever, Amen". It's brilliant! If you've not heard of Ben Folds his music is what I like to call "Piano Rock", but not in a shit way, like Keane. It's tuneful, fun and at times emotional, when you see him perform live he bashes that thing like it's the drums. Ace.

Now I'm no stranger to Ben Folds, having been introduced to his music by my brother around 2001, Jof had a collection of random songs on the family PC which I listened to when surfing the newly-discovered interweb. One of the songs on that list was "Army", a great swear of a song. Also on there was "Brick" which sparked my recent search. I received the album "Rocking the Suburbs" when it first came out, which I still thoroughly enjoy now. This was Ben Folds' first solo album, I learnt recently, but "Whatever and Ever, Amen" was while he was with his band (Ben Folds Five, confusing, I know). The songs on this album are amazing.

The first few really grab you in, and "Brick" is a masterpiece, maybe it's because it reminds me of being younger and careless but I love it. I went to my Mum's on Sunday for a roast, on the way I was listening to the album (of course) and Brick was the last song I listened to as I pulled into the drive. I decided if I had it in my mind I could teach myself it on the piano, so I did. I can now play the main riff of "Brick" on the piano, not perfect but you can tell what it is, a great achievement for someone who doesn't play the piano :-D

Anyway, buy this album, love it and thank me later. I take cash, and beer.

New Member.

After a bit of a search online we managed to find a willing fool to join our musical team. His name is Alex and he plays the bass guitar.

Luckily we got on when we met up for a pint in Camberley, so we aranged a practice at his rehearsal space in Hurst. Jof and I drove out, after many detours in the area, the rehearsal room was on a small industrial estate on a farm, it was a great space. We loaded in and set up, just about to sort out the levels and all the power went. It wasn't just us, it was the whole estate. So we chatted for a bit but no power yet, so we went for a drink at the local and came back to find still no power. We had run out of time so we packed up and headed home. Not the most productive practice I've ever been to but it was fun. Needless to say we've arranged another day, Sunday in fact. I'm looking forward to it.

In other news, We're moving house next Tuesday, scary! I hope it goes well, Unfortunately college and work will really get in the way, something I hadn't realised when we had agreed to push the moving date back a week. We'd be in there today if we hadn't.

I'm thinking about compiling a set of pictures, a couple for every gig I play, displaying how I set my kit up and the general stage area, with a few words of how it was to play that venue on that night, it would be interesting to me if no one else, and with Uni looming I need as many things as possible to stop me doing work! So watch this space for that idea! (I hate that saying)

Cheers guys, have a good week.

Si.

Gigs, Exams, Coursework and Parking Tickets.

Another Monday then. Bit of a big day today, I had my exam for the end of my 1st year of degree, exciting!

I think it went alright, I usually choke up in exams and find it difficult to play the most simple things, things that I could do perfectly the night before. It happened to an extent this morning, I wasn't as good as I am on stage or in by bedroom (of course) but I think it was good enough, better than my other exams earlier in the year. The tutors were nice and understanding that it was 9am and I've spent most of my time doing coursework, they helped me out by giving me a nice third piece to play. We had eight tracks to learn, we chose two in the exam and the tutors chose 1. Results should be out in by the end of summer although we probably won't get it till autumn!

So I've got 3 days including the rest of today to get my coursework finished, I've done about half and I don't think it'll be too difficult to get done, I might even try to get it done for Wednesday rather than the Thursday deadline. This term has been quite dissapointing, most of the essays seem a bit pointless and there has been a distinct lack of playing. I think there should be more performing on this performing degree!

I played a short set with Jof last Friday in the middle of Reading town centre at rush hour, it was brilliant! It was acoustic, which was odd, but it was even odder using only a snare, bass drum and a ride cymbal, made me really think about what I played in each song. It went really well, we managed to get a bit of a crowd going from passers-by and a few strangers complemented once we'd finished. Jof, Jenny, Rachel and myself went for a lovely meal at Pizza Express after and a drink in a pub before me and Rachel headed back to the car...

...To discover I had been given a parking ticket. I didn't agree with this so today I have appealed. Apparently I should have had a permit, but according to the sign I could park there on a week day after 5.30 without one. Apparenltly not. I think they worded the sign purposely confusing so they make some money from confused motorists like my self. If the appeal system works they'll agree, change the sign and write off my ticket, if, like I expect, the system does not work and this is just another council that likes to squeeze every last penny from anyone nice enough to visit their little town, I shall pay the £35 and spend the rest of my days complaining about everything, including the bird poo on the pavement, to the council. Fun for them!

I hate councils. I suggest you do too.

Enough ranting, back to coursework. Have a nice week :-)

My Wednesday.

Want to know what I've been doing today? No? Tough.

I've been trying to do even more coursework today, only one week left before I have to hand it in. I wasn't in the mood for writing so I thought I'd do some recording for my Song Writing thingy.

Here's my little set up for recording guitar, pretty simple to record grunge, just whack the gain up to full and go for it.

Living room recording studio

I've also been practicing for my Monday exam, there's so much coursework to do I hardly have time to practice, a little worrying!

Wish me luck for Monday! :-s

Si.

When A Failed Gig Goes Well.

We played a gig last night at the Red Lion in Reading (of course), there were a few bands lined up including us. We were headlining so we had to supply the gear, this always means I have to take it all up from my parent's house, my drum kit, the bass amp and anything else stored there, this fills up my car completely, although I did manage to squeeze a Rachel into the front seat this time. We headed up to Reading after a Chinese take-away and met Jof at his flat, packing more into the car we headed for the venue, situated on a three lane one way street heading onto a rather large roundabout, hell to stop on, it's a "mount the curb and stick your hazards on" job, you can never get in trouble if you've got your hazards on, this is something I've learned from gigging in Reading.

We loaded in and I parked the car in the Oracle car park, nice and cheap in the evening it seems, then headed back to set up the kit. To my dismay I found that another one of my tom holders had snapped a bolt and was failing to hold up the floor tom, so I had to ring the warehouse (aka the parent's house) to ask if they could bring up my other snare stand. They did and I stuck my high tom on that, worked a treat. But that's another £20 I need to splash out on another tom mount. Great.

The promotor, Mr Hallett, told us that the other acts had pretty much fallen appart and that he had no idea how the night would work out, but it was turning into a jam session with some Reading regulars, including Liam of "Jets Against Giants" fame and a few of his mates. It started off a bit shakey, just a mess of guitar and bass but soon it started to form a few good jams an a couple of covers, mainly Kasabian and Kings of Leon, obviously favourites of the guy playing acoustic guitar and singing. There were a few random hints of some ace Nirvana songs but they never came to fruition, unfortunately.

As the night was so unplanned I was the only one who brought any drum stuff (it was all my gear, cymbals, snare, everything) which struck up a problem when people wanted to jam. I wasn't happy sharing all of my kit, some of which was inhereted from Geoff, I also only have one pair of sticks, so if someone broke them I wouldn't be able to play a set. I let Liam play with my brushes, I figured they couldn't do any damage and indeed they didn't. But then some other dick I didn't know sat on my kit, complained about the brushes and picked up my sticks. I jumped in, claws out, teeth bared and... asked him kindly not to use sticks. I didn't know him, he didn't even ask to use my kit and he had the worst technique I've ever seen, luckily he didn't stay on for long. I started to feel bad about it but then I thought no, sod it, it's my kit, they didn't bring anything, if they wanted to play they should have brought their own breakables, that's general law in gigging circles, how would they like it if I sat on their kit and smashed the shite out of it without asking? Gits.

I jumped in and played a couple of tunes (with sticks of course) with some strangers and it was great fun, I never jam like that anymore, I used to do it all the time, at Calibre practices and even in secondary school in the drum room at lunch times with a couple of guitar-weilding mates. We stopped and had a break, I had a drink and we decided to play our set next, the standard half an hour set of tunes, the ones that Nick knows basically, we should really learn some more for our next full band gig. August 27th I think that is, plenty of time!

The set was ace, such fun, sticking a few improv jams in the middle to fill up some time, Me and Jof always seem to come up with some ace tunes when we improvise, must be a cheesy brotherley bond of some kind. I did quite a bit of backing vocals in the songs I could do, I seem to be getting better at playing drums and singing, it must be all the practice I'm getting in the band, I feel like I used to in Calibre, I'm a lot more confident in my playing these days, over the years I've been at the ACM all it seems to have done is make me less confident playing in a band but I'm slowly getting back on top of it. Jof's voice did the usual dying by the end of the set so we gave his voice a rest with an instrumental jam and then headed off into the realms of the last song. Walk Home. I love that song, especially the ending, where we tend to go a bit mental sometimes, it's such a great ender, it's our Everlong, a complete stadium gig ender!

There were a few more jams after us, and another annoyed drummer relegated to brushes. I think this was an advantage for us as when we played it must have been a lot louder and bigger than the jams, unplanned but good :-D The jams finished off and I went and got my car, loaded up, with even more this time and drove back to the parent's to unload. Not before a rather essential petrol stop, my car was struggling to start on the fumes it had left in it's over-stretched tank.

Got home around 1, went to bed. The end. What a night though. I think the promoter is thinking about doing that kind of thing more regularly, an open jam session, it's a good idea, some of the tunes that came out were ace and no one knows what's going to happen next, much more interesting that just having three bands play, much more social too. The dawn of a new era in gigs in Reading I think, and we were there at the dawn of it, awesome.

In other news, Rachel and I have found a house to rent next year (and hopefully longer) in Hawley, near Farnborough. It's a lovely little 1 bed house in a quite cul-de-sac for just the right amount of money. We move in in September and we are just working our way through the miles of paperwork that comes with property these days. Badly worded, irelevent and needless questions on page after page of beaurocracy. Fun. And being a student always seems to kick up problems. Nevermind, it'll be over soon and before we know it we'll have a brand new home, we're both rather excited!

See you next time.

Infamous Holiday Blog

Well the time has come for me to talk holiday talk now. But first a sandwich...

...Ham and cheese don't you know, I've used all the butter though, no seconds for me :-(

Right, holiday talk, yes. It's not that I don't want to write about it but I don't know where to start... maybe the beginning.

On the flight over we were made to fill in a health form, basically it asked for our name and then if we had swine flu. With a sneeze and a cough I ticked "no". More importantly than this we were also told that, while in turkey, we could not flush our toilet paper down the loo. This was devistating for me to hear. It makes the usually enjoyable task of emptying yourself something not to look forward to. I don't think I got over this till I got home the week after. But let's not focus on the trivial difference of cultural bowel movements.

Stepping of the plane must be one of the best feelings when going on holiday. That smack of warm air that hits your face as you step off the plane or out of the airport, even in the middle of the night, a reminder that you are indeed a long way from home, 1723.95 miles away from home infact, in Marmaris, in Western Turkey. Rachel and I had decided to dip into our savings and splash out on an all inclusive holiday for ourselves. Good choice!

After a deeply confusing two hour bus journey to our hotel we were shown to our room. Second floor, by the stairs with a view from the balcony of someones back garden and some magnificant mountains. We slept. Till breakfast. Which was a nice spread of eggs, toast, ham and cereal.

We spent most days by the pool, listening to the suprisingly large amount of Northeners that we were sharing a hotel with. Mainly Geordies, to Rachel's delight. There was even a tiny little Geordie girl with the best kid's accent I've ever heard! I loved the pool, it was a lovely cold break from the mid 40 degree C temperatures. We booked a couple of excursions but one was on our last day and one was moved to our penultimate day so we had all week to do what we like. We told our rep we wanted to go to the Turkish Delight factory, so she called them. The next day they sent out a car to pick us up and take us to the factory. The boss man showed us around very heistilly and then pointed us in the direction of the shop. It was basically a large kitchen with big vats of ingredients. We bought our mums some delight, got confused for Russians and got back in the car that brought us there. The driver took us to the top of the town for a picture stop and then back to the hotel. We tipped him well, he deserved it! Back to the pool we went.

The meals were good, hardly any part of the day had us left hungry. Let me give you the low down on what was available; 7 till 10 (I think) was breakfast; 12 till 2 was lunch; 3 till 4 was "Snacks", basically a BBQ; 5 till 6 there were some cakes on offer and from 7 was dinner. Perfect!

We went down to the beach for lunch one day and had turkish kebabs, another day we took a taxi boat over to Iclemer, a smaller, quieter version of Marmaris. We had been warned of the locals, apparently they like to hassle, and we did get hassled, especially at the market but they weren't too pushy, acknowlage them and be polite and they don't mind, ignor them and they get a bit shitty but so would I, you get used to it after a while.

Now, the trips! The first one we did was the best day by far. We were plonked in the back of an open top Land Rover and driven up a hill side road, meeting up with 8 other Land Rovers and the entrance to a dirt track that, rather steeply, dissapeared up a hill. We were driven to the top of the hills that surround Marmaris and form the most of the south coast of Turkey. We enjoyed amazing views and some great off roading, nothing too bottom-bashing but enough to blow my hat off. Our driver was brilliant, we stopped off at one point and he took out a knife, cut some tree off and atatched it to the car, making a lot of dust to coat the car behind, he also had a melon in his bag that he sliced up and handed to us on another stop. We left the jeeps to board a boat, which took us to a crystal clear cove that we jumped into and climbed out of to a lovely lunch cooked on the boat. We were then taken to Cleopatra Island where we were shown some amazing ruins and a small sandy beach that we were not alowed on. Apparently they closed it after people nicked the sand. Weirdos. There was a complex pair of jettys that gave us access to the turquoise water. After drying off in the Sun we were taken back to the main land and eventually our hotel, just in time for dinner! What a day!

Our last day was a "departure day". Rather than hanging around our hotel with our suitcases all day we decided to go on a trip. A coach picked us up and stupid o'clock in the morning and took us on an hour and a half journey to our hotel for the evening, a lovely little villa in the middle of nowhere. We were then taken to a taxi boat that took us down the stream to some mud pools, Rachel was really looking forward to this, it's supposed to take ten years off you, which would make Rachel look ten. Worrying! We got there and got into the mud pool, we were only given one hour, pretty strict which wasn't great, but we cover eachother in mud anyway. I didn't like it, it felt horrible but I resisted getting out. We stood in the Sun till it dried, and hurt, then we showered it off. We then took a dip in the sulphor pool, which stank of egg and was a.... warm.... 30 odd degrees. It was too warm for me and I had to jump out. I took a shower and got dressed. After lunch we were taken, by boat, past ancient rock tombs carved out by slaves, onwards to turtle beach. This beach was huge, and burning hot on the feet. It hurt. The beach was closed every night at 9pm to allow sea turtles to come onto the beach, lay eggs and then eventually these eggs will hatch and tiny little turtles will wiggle their way to the waters. We didn't see any turtles.

After a few hours of napping at our hotel we were picked up by mini-bus and taken to the airport. We shopped a bit and then realised our plane was delayed by over an hour. What a suprise. We slept. it was 2am and we'd had a very long day. Although the benches in the Dalaman airport seemed to be designed to be as uncomfortable as possible. They were horrible! We persevered and it wasn't long till we were boarding our plane home. We learned that the delay was caused by a faulty nose wheel. Nice to know, and surely they can't only have ONE plane for this flight!? Madness!

Dad picked us up, which was very nice of him at about 5 in the morning, especially as he headed straight off to work after dropping us home. We slept on the way home, then we slept all day. There was a lot of sleep :-D

But what a great holiday. We met some great people, namely the bar men from our hotel who worked 12 hour days and were friendly for all of them. We took a picture with them and they asked to be e-mailed it. I sent it to them and they replied. Such nice people! I also made a massive discovery on that holiday. Without a beard I look about 10. I am indeed Samson. I think I'll discuss my beard's demise and reformation to power in another post as this one has gone on long enough. If you want to see pictures take a look at my Facebook. I can't get the hang of pictures on here, they tend to end up cut in half.

Me and Rachel and our Barmen.

Well done for getting this far if you have! I know reading holiday stories is like sitting through a slide show of boring pictures without the pictures but I'm sure some one would have enjoyed this. And I'm sure I've forgotten something, many things, and I'm more sure that Rachel will tell me but for now that's it.

Thanks people, I'll update again soon, I have a few things to moan about :-D

Now, on to do my coursework.... Oh hello PS3, is that Call of Duty 4 you have there? Ohh.......!

Si.

(Please ignor the crap spelling in this post, I'm too lazy to spell check)

Holiday Update!

Yes, yes. I will do a huge update about my holiday in Turkey when I'm procrastinating , trying to do my coursework in the week.

Keep looking back here. :-D

What To Do With Sunny Days.

Today has been brilliant. What lovely weather we're having at the moment! The sun is shining and the mercury is having a stretch. Hopefully it keeps up, apparently it's just supposed to get hotter, I hope so. I'll be spending a lot more of my time at Mum and Dad's house, in the garden, as my flat doesn't have a garden :-( Today is the perfect day for a Cider and a social meeting of friends in a beer garden, shame all of my mates either live miles away or are at work. Annoying. I wan't to share my day!

I don't know why I decided to update again today, I don't have much to say. I guess I wanted to share with you my garden experience. I spent a hour sunbathing earlier, only to put my top back on and retreat back to my lap top under shade of the trees. It got a bit hot. Although there's a nice breeze cooling me down. Breezes can be dangerous, be careful on sunny but windy days, you don't realise how long you're spending in the Sun. At least I don't, and then I turn a lovely shade of cherry.

I went rally driving the other day. A week ago today in fact. It was awesome, and I mean that in the sense that I was in awe all day. To get my hands on a 200bhp Subaru Impreza was a beautiful feeling, the pull as you stroke the throttle. It made me want to get something with a lot of power myself. But that isn't going to happen for a good three years at least, I'd be able to afford the car, but not the insurance, not a chance in hell! I did brilliantly by the way, not my words but the words of the instructor who was impressed by MA SKILZ behind the wheel. I received 75% after just three sessions in the car, top of my class. YES! I'm definitely going back! Next time for the full day. Although that's £250 I just don't have at the moment, or for many moments to come it seems. I've got to get my own car taxed, MOT'd and Insured pretty much all next week. Joys.

In other news, I'm selling my trusty old Yamaha double bass drum pedal. Geoff left me his DW 9000 which I prefer and I have no need for two sets of pedals. To buy the Yamaha new would cost you £250 and I'm selling it for £160, that's £90 cheaper! And it might as well be new, just a few scratches and a bit of dust but it still works perfectly! E-mail me if you're interested :-)

I'm going out tonight, with Rachel, Jenny and Jof. Should be an ace night, staying round Jof's so we can have a drink, I think we're going to spend all night, or at least the best part of it in the After Dark club. That place is great, good music and cheap drinks, I've been there once before, we got there at opening and stayed till closing, at 4am. Felt like we'd been there half an hour! I'm looking forward to it!

Thanks for reading my ramblings, I'll make sure the next update is a bit more interesting for you. :-)

999 Emergency!

I know, I know, I'm sorry!

At least it's been less than a month since I posted my "I will update next week" post... sorry.

Anyway, I've told this story to too many people so I thought I'd write it on here so I can just link anyone who asks about it.

I'll set the scene:

It's Tuesday, around 2pm, I was supposed to go to town and pick up a TV for Rachel's parents, but I decided to have some lunch before I set off. Super Noodles it is. Tele on, another Top Gear repeat I've seen a thousand times but I watch anyway. Laptop on, as always, chatting to Jack on FaceBook's messenger. As I'm coming to the end of my nutritious lunch time meal I hear a bang. And another. By the next bang I've overcome the confusion and realised that it's my front door that's being assaulted, what the HELL?! I put my noodles down and run to the door, which had been locked all day since Rachel went to work in the morning, I hastily unlock it, and yell "OI, stop!" when it bangs again in my hand. I swing the door open to find my, usually quiet, neighbour, topless and angry.
"WOAH, WOAH! What the FUCK do you think you're doing?!" (sorry mum) I blurted out.
"C'mon then!" Replies the door assailant.
"What are you on about?" I'm genuinely confused at this point.
"I saw him run in here!" He's getting manic.
"Who? I'm on my own here!"
"The guy who tried to kick my door down and rob me, he robbed my parent's and now he's targeting me!"
"Eh?!"

The conversation continues, he goes from claiming I'm hiding someone to accusing me of trying to kick his door down back to the hiding thing. I'm just trying to calm him down, explaining the door has been locked all day and I was alone. I offer to show him my flat to prove there's no one in here, he refuses, saying if he comes in the guy in his flat will run away. He then asks to look in my locked cupboard with my electricity meter in it. I say fine, if it'll calm him down. So I go to get the key, but try to hold my door open with one of Rachel's many boots that are lying in the hallway with no success, so I ask him to hold the door open. He then says "Who's behind the door then?" He says he's seen a boot behind the door (the one I was trying to lodge the door open with) I show him it, then says "What about the hand!?" ........ What hand?! He walks away, out of the corridor, I close my door and lock it. He comes back and knocks quietly (like I asked him too when I first answered it). I think he's calmed down, so I open the door. He then accuses me of snapping his key in his front door, the same key he had been holding in his hand from the beginning of this fun filled fifteen minutes. I can't believe it. He obviously did it. Is he drunk? Is he high?! What's going on?!


All this time he's standing, swaying, leaning towards me quite aggressively, not making much sense and rambling, not answering my questions. So I say I'll call the police, let them sort it out. I though it'd be best for me to call them before he does, considering what he's accusing me of. All of a sudden, something goes ZAP in his left hand, behind his back. "What the hell was that?!" I asked, not at all calmly. "Exactly!" He grins back. This scared me, I thought it was his phone but it sounded to me like a taser or something, this prompted me to close the door, lock all it's locks and inform my neighbour that I was calling the police.

And, for the first time in my 20 year, 5 month and 5 day life, I dialled 999 on my mobile, and pressed the green button.

By this time I'm pretty shaken up, he looked like he was about to beat the crap out of me, I think this may have come across in my phone call. I told the nice woman on the end of the phone what was happening, she took some details, asked me not to open the door and gave me a reference number to use if I had to ring back, if he got aggressive again, she told me that officers would be there as soon as possible. I thank the lady and hang up. I then tell the man who dislikes doors that the police were on their way. He doesn't respond.

I'm lost, I don't know what to do with myself. The Mum and Girlfriend in me tells me to tidy up a bit if the police are going to come round. WHY?! This confused me even as I tidied, it wasn't even that messy. I mute the tele and listen to the guy's nonsensical ramblings. He's talking to the man in his flat (there's no one in his flat by the way) telling him to come out now and he won't react badly. He also looks though my letter box, telling me to give up the robber, "please!". I remain silent and out of sight.

I hear him announce that he's going to call the police, and he does. I can hear the conversation, both sides, loud phone. He tell's the police woman that he's being robbed and it's part of an elaborate internet game. She asks for an address, he gives her it. She recognised the name of the building as the one I had given just 10 minutes before, it sounded like the same woman. She pauses and asks for confirmation of the address, he repeats. She sounds serious. "Officers are on their way sir".
He then rings his mate, tells him to come round as he needs "backup" as he's locked out of his flat. His mate comes round straight away, and buzzes from the front door up to his mate's flat.... which he is locked out of.... right. This prompts my neighbour to ask whoever he thinks is in his flat to "press the key button please!". Now I know he's not well.

Eventually his friend gets in. minutes later the police ring my buzzer, I let them in and they come up the stairs. My neighbour had at this point wandered off down the stairs to another corridor, so the police talk to his friend then knock on my door to confirm what's going on, I open up and talk to them, whilst explaining what was happening my neighbour comes back up the stairs and the police tell me to close my door while they talk to him and sort it out. So I do. They leave the hallway and I don't hear any further. This is the end of my ordeal with my neighbour.

After I had called the police I rang Rachel and left a message about the whole thing, she was at work. Once I put the phone down I realise how distressed I sounded, so I have a drink of water, take a deep breath and calm down a bit. I leave her a second message, apologising for scaring her and explaining I was fine and the police were on their way so not to worry. She rings me a while later, after the police had arrived, asking if I was ok and if she should come home, I tell her not to come and that I'm fine, but she rings quarter of an hour later telling me she's moved her appointments and she's on her way home as she can't concentrate because she is very worried about me. When she comes home I tell her everything and she listens to my second, calmer, message as she had missed it the first time. I'm happy she's home :-)

I hear nothing from the police for a while but they call me late in the afternoon and explain that they have taken my neighbour and he's ok, he's being checked by some doctors and he won't be home for at least 5 days.

Later on, while at work, Rachel calls me to tell me my my neighbour's brother had been around to speak to us, he was very apologetic and explains that since his wife left him his brother had been an alcoholic, after trying to give up on the weekend it all became too much and he had had a breakdown, which is why he was acting so crazy. But he's being looked after in hospital and he would be going to live with him for a while. I'm glad he's ok, he seemed like such a nice guy the couple of times I had met him!

I'm glad it happened this way. What if it had been Rach on her own in the flat?! What would she have done? It does worry me, and her. Also, if I hadn't chosen to have lunch before going to town would he have stopped trying to kick our door down? What if he had successfully gained access? Would he have ripped the place apart? Scary thoughts!

Anyway, very sorry for the lengthyness of this story but it was exciting and I though I might as well do it in detail for you (3 people) to read at your leisure.

More updates to come, now I'm in the swing of things, maybe even some lyrics that I've written, Arrow Hole style.

Thanks for reading all, Have a nice week :-)

Quick Update.

I thought I'd let anyone who looks at this page informed, I'm very sorry I haven't posted in an age, I don't know why but I'm planning on getting back into it next week!

Things I have to write about include: The Thruxton BTCC, My car, Friday's Reading gig and being back at college!

Watch this space people! :-)

Google's New Street View.

Google has a new feature on their map page, a "street view", where you can see certain places from the ground in a 360 degree view from the road. It's limited to larger cities at the moment, obviously London, and other places like Leeds. Most of America seems to have it, it's good fun to look around an area from the street, spy on people and see what they were up to when their picture was taken. All the faces and number plates are blurred, unsuprisingly, but you can have a good look in people's gardens and cars!

One of the Google Street View Cars, Smile if you see one!

It'll be good when the majority of places are photographed and uploaded, you could see your journey before you made it, making sure you don't get lost or confused when your satnav dumps you at the post code you entered. 

Our gig on Thursday went really well, small crowd but they loved us, weirdly one of the drunkest blokes there was the nephew of the owner of the Rose and Crown, a pub about 10 feet from the car park of our flat in Godalming, awesome. He said he'd have a word and try to get us to play in there. I think I might go over and have a word anyway, it'd be great to do a gig that close rather than trecking it all the way to Reading, which can be a pain, as Will found out on Thursday! He was lost for a fair few minutes!

Speaking of Reading gigs, we've got a couple lined up, one at Deja Vu again, the date of which hasn't been confirmed yet, and a gig with some indie record company people on the 11th April. That should be amazing, I'll let you know where it is when I know, if we impress there Reading is basically ours! :-D

Have a good week, and enjoy the weather!

Delayed Gig Review.

Sorry this has taken so long, it's just been difficult to get around to it!

The gig on Sunday, in basic terms, went ace. A bit of trouble with my kit (One of my tom mounts managed to thread a screw and it all fell apart) and a bit of rudeness from certain people didn't tarnish it one bit. I was on gear duty, of course, and I managed to fit ALL the gear and a drummer in my car, the drums in the boot and the guitars and amps on the back seat. I changed the front head of my bass drum before we set it up, which may not have been a good idea, it

 sounded awful! I think it was because the skin I used was a batter head, it rang too much and had a horrible tone. I managed to fix it by pushing the towel against it more, and by tightening it. From what I could hear when Will was sound checking. For some reason though, when the next band sound checked it sounded horrible again. I blame the drummer, he criticised my kit when I went up to fix the sound of the bass drum. I didn't much like this and may have been rather rude to him for the rest of the night.

Here's a video of Will sound checking my kit:

The wait from sound check to our actual set was around five hours but it went very quickly, I think the excitement was building, before I knew it the last band was on their last song and we were up next. Awesome. I love that bit! The host introduced us, spoke about our CD and we walked on, big time! I can't wait to be walking on infront of thousands, I won't be happy till that has happened in my life.

We played a blinder of a set! I felt the crowd were hooked from beginning to end, a really well planned set I think. Here's the set list:

You Didn't Let Me Know

Jennifer

Deciduous

I Wouldn't Move To London For You

I Believe In You

Dissever

Feeling Sore

You Break My Heart Everyday

Easily Led

One Up On Me

Walk Home

Walk home was an epic ender again. I love that song. And so did my mates from Five Aces Black apparently. The were asking if it was on the EP after they bought it.... I had to tell them it's not... never mind. I told them it'll be on the next one! 

The highlights for me have to be the new ones, especially Dissever, I managed to keep on track all the way through them! I'm rubbish with new songs. One Up and Walk Home were also great, I love the ending of Walk Home, it's just a big jam for as long as we want, and a great finish!

We got home rather late, of course, and I was dead. For some reason my legs really sodding hurt! It felt like I'd been running for hours! I guess it was all that dancing like an idiot.

Anyway, I'm led to believe that the set was filmed, pretty much in it's entirety. I'm really looking forward to seeing it, I'll post a couple of the best tunes up when I've got them. for now you'll have to do with the pictures. (see more on Facebook).

I tried to set up Geoff's Ludwig kit on Tuesday, with minimal success. I don't have all the hardwear I need, I've got no tom mounts at all, or the legs for the floor tom. This is quite annoying, I was looking forward to playing it, knowing Geoff it will be tuned to perfection. I'd love to record it. I really want a studio, set up all the time so you can just walk in and record what's on your mind. I find all this Guitar Pro writting I do really stagnant, it doesn't inspire me at all. I need to record my tracks properly. I'd be able to do something if I had Cubase but I think Jof's lost it :-o Nevermind, it'll show up. Probably in a CD case at home.

Last minuite reminder, we have a gig tonight at Deja Vu in Reading. I think we're on first but we get a long set if we're popular. I'm looking forward to it. It's just what I need after Sunday's success, a little booster to keep the gig feeling going a little longer! Hopefully with our new EP (www.myspace.com/johnnyarrow) we'll be able to get more gigs.

See you soon :-)

IOW And A Big Day Today!

It was an odd, rare occassion on Friday, Rachel had the day off and I had no plans what so ever. So we decided to go somewhere. I suggested Portsmouth and Gunwarf Quays, the train that passes through Godalming goes straight there so it was nice and easy. During more research of what we could do once we got there gave me the idea of the Isle of Wight. I thought this was a great idea, mainly because it meant we could go over on the hovercraft, ideal! I do love odd transport, and it doesn't get much odder than a skirt full of air.

So we did it, got up nice and early and headed to the station for the 9.34 train to Portsmouth and Southsea. It rained on the way down, which had me worried it was going to be a typical Rach and Simon rain sodden day out. It cleared up in the end, and actually ended up rather warm when we were in the Zoo.

We arrived in Ryde with no idea of what to do, so we picked up some leaflets. I wanted to go on the steam railway, sad I know but I've already expressed my love for transport, however, it was shut until next weekend, annoying! So we took the electric railway to Sandown, where most things seemed to be. This train was the oldest, noisiest, bounciest, funnest way of travelling! It looked like it had been built in pre-WWII times, infact it wouldn't suprise me if it was. It bounced along the track and was much more enjoyable than the modern day train journeys!

Once in Sandown I realised I'd been there before, the road from the station, and the station it's self were very familiar! Obviously memories from childhood holidays. By this time it was lunch time and we were starving! We found a nice cafe on the pier and had fish and chips, yum! The place was empty, obviously because it was a week day in March. It felt like we had the island to our selves! We decided to go to the zoo, just a short walk from where we were, although it was longer than we expected, we had a Mr. Whippey Ice Cream on the way to keep us occupied. The zoo is tiny, but with the biggest cats I've ever seen, the roaring lions were just amazing. We visited the "Jeepers Creepers" section and, because we were the only people in there, one of the keepers got a royal python for us to hold and look at, it was incredible! 

We got home at around 7, just in time for Rachel's TV. It was a brilliant day out and I would recommend it to everyone! We were lucky with the weather!

You may have noticed, if you are a user of Facebook, that I have been madly promoting the Johnny Arrow and the Cheap Day Returns gig tonight at the Wilde Theatre in Bracknell at 7.30.

Well it's no different on this site either! It's our EP launch and a big gig for us, it will be brilliant, you should come and buy a CD and/or a badge. We're donating £1 of each CD sale to Thames Hospicecare in memory of our late, great drummer Geoff. 

I can't wait for this gig. The last time we played at the Wilde Theatre was last year with Geoff on drums and was the best gig we had played up to then, and still the most memorable for me. The stage is huge! Great sound too.

Anyway, I better go and get ready to go to sound check. I've got a whole drum kit to set down, pack into my car along with the amps and guitars and drive it all the way to bracknell for 3.30. Then I've got to set it all up again.... I love this stuff!

See you tonight then hopefully! You'll be missing out if you don't come!

Excitement Building...

Gig on Sunday, Oh yes! I can't wait. The fact it's an EP release just makes it even more exciting!

I hope it's a good turn out, I really want people to see us! To enjoy us! That's what we're all about, a good time. I came home from a busy night at work tonight just rearing to play. I really wanted to play drums to some Soundgarden, shame it's so late, I'll have to save it all up for tomorrow. Sometimes I feel college drains the enjoyment out of playing drums but when I'm playing the stuff I love I realise I still love it just as much as I always have.

I've come up with an idea for a music video for the band, I won't go through it now but I thought it'd be pretty good. I sent it to Jof, never know, it might be out by the end of the year! :-D

So, it would be awesome to see you there on Sunday, and I would really love it if you did come.

Here's the info: Sunday 15th March, The Wilde Theatre, South Hill Park, Bracknell, 8pm till late.

E-mail me for more info, or go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135033950455

:-D

Another Set List!

We went to another Bluetones concert on Friday, by "we" I mean Rachel, Jof, Jenny and me. This time at ULU. Rachel and I went into London early for some dinner before we headed off for the gig. We had to change at Leicester Square anyway so we stopped there and chose a restaurant from the plethora available. We chose the Angus Steak House, lovely food, quite expensive though! 

We headed off for Russel Square for the gig, if you've ever been to Russel Square tube station you'll know that it's a rather deep one. There are a couple of lifts but they were crammed full of commuters so we decided to take the stairs. We didn't know how long this winding staircase was until Rachel's legs were pretty much falling off! (I was fine by the way :-p Gutted Ray!)

I had no idea where we were heading when we got outside but we eventually found the place. It was sold out, by the time the 'Tones were on the place was packed. The last Bluetones gig I went to the tiny place was empty! The support band were pretty interesting, a bit preachy but a good show, appart from the annoying bloke with a load of hands stitched to his jump suit... You had to see it really.

The Bluetones were on form as per usual, it was part of their Expecting To Fly tour, their first album if you're not aware, and if you're not, you should read up and buy their albums! After the interval they played a few B-sides, like the awesome Colorado Beetle, which contains one of my favourite lines of all time: "And when, at last, you sleep my love, I'm gonna smash your lying head"

Awesome. Jof and Jenny unfortunately had to leave a bit early because they were staying at Jenny's mates house. I thought this was a bit odd, I wished they had stayed till the end, Jof would have loved to have seen Devil Behind My Smile. At the end I stayed close to the stage and asked one of the roadies to get be a set list from round the back, behind Ed's drum kit. I have three set lists now from Bluetones concerts, one of which is signed by all four members, ending up on their tour bus was the most amazing expericence! Now of course we've played on the same bill as Mark Morriss, how big time! :-D

Here's a pic of said set list, 6th March 2009, ULU.

I went round to Mum and Dad's Today for Sunday lunch, not the normal roast, to Rachel's horror, but a lovely stew, and some Pear and Cranberry muffins Mum made! Mmmm! I also went round to Elaine's house to pick up Geoff's drum kit. Pretty emotional but I'm so greatful. Geoff's kit is beautiful and rather expensive, such as the DW 9000 double pedal. I can't wait to get the kit set up, i remember it sounding amazing, Geoff kept it tuned imaculate.

Back to college tomorrow, to the pointless lecture with Jim Jamoa in which I never learn anything. I've been using it to write my essay for that subject, a better use of my time I think.

Have a nice week. :-)

Busy Busy Boy!

Good lord what a busy boy I have been today!

I've been busy working my little hands off re-doing the Johnny Arrow MySpace page. I added one of those header thingies, made it all black and white and replaced all the tunes with the 6 brand spanking new ones from our up-coming EP. It's not finished yet, but it's an indication of things to come! We need some more ideas for it.

Check it out at www.myspace.com/johnnyarrow

All that HTML makes me reminicent of Computing lessons at Farnborough 6th.

....Anyway, does anyone know of a cheap site where I can get a custom bass drum skin made up, and not customskins.com, £90 for a skin?! I'm a student!

I've been reading this while working away, it is rather funny, and probably indicative of the style I'm writting in now, I'm quite easily led by the style of the stuff I read. It's the rider for an Iggy and the Stooges gig. Now I hate Iggy Pop, he annoys the hell out of me and his adverts on Sky One, Two and Three make me reach for the switch (or "remote"). But this is funny, written by one of his roadies. Check it out...

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/iggypop/iggypop1.html

Funny Stuff.

Cheap Day's EP launch on the 15th March at the Wilde Theatre in Bracknell. You should come, and you should bring your friends. Honestly, we'll be great. We're having a practice tonight just for it, imagine that!

Any-hoo... Have a nice day!

Healthy Bastard!

I impressed myself today. After a great lesson at Uni I drove home and remembered we needed milk. So I parked up at the flat, got my bike out and cycled! I know what you're thinking; "no way Simon, I bet you just drove there and sat on your arse when you got back!" Well arses to you nay-sayers! I enjoyed it too. I would love to start cycling everyday, I'll have to find a route in the woods and countryside. I could even take my bike to the Devil's Highway, it's great there, loads of space, just a bit shit that you have to pay for parking. I miss the days when I would cycle to Mike's or just go into Tibet woods for a ride. Awesome.

March Already!

I know, I know! It's been a very long time since I updated on here! I just needed something to talk about!

Last weekend was a very eventful one, the Amphlett siblings and respective partners went to Jongulers on Thursday for some comedy, it was ace, I think I should do that kind of thing more often, I need to find some closer ones. 

Friday night Rachel and I went to the University of Reading Student Union to see my mate's band, Five Aces Black. They were brilliant, they've really improved since Farnborough 6th Form, they're tighter and much better at their instruments. Rachel liked them too, she even bought an EP! She really liked the last band, The Quotes, they were good but... I dunno... There's something I don't like. I know the drummer of that band, he sat next to me on Higher Diploma last year, he was really good!

Saturday night I went out in Reading with Jof, Jenny and all their mates. Jof's flat is awesome, really modern. That night was crazy. We started drinking at Jof's and moved on to After Dark. What a great club! Hidden away on a quiet street, makes it seem more special some how. It was a mix between the Agincourt and Plug and Play or something, and as it was 80's night the music was pretty enjoyable. We stayed there until we got kicked out at 3am. An obligatory trip to the kebab shop on the way back to the flat and we continued for a bit at Jof's place. Until people started falling asleep! Next morning I had to move my car from the Oracle, it was good to have a walk in the morning, I think I might try to do it more often. We had a fried breakfast from Spoons and I headed back to Mum and Dad's for Sunday Lunch, awesome! Their new TV is huge! I had great fun plugging my laptop into it and playing games on this massive screen. I was going to go to another gig in Reading on Sunday night but I was too knackered from Saturday's shenanigans!

I think if I had the choice I'd like to move to Reading. It's cheaper than Guildford, it's nicer than Guildford and there's more going on. I could hang out with my brother more often and be closer to home too. Although I do love Godalming, it's nice and quiet and I love the countryside that surrounds it, just a five minute drive and I'm in the middle of nowhere. I love that. Reminds me of "home" I guess.

I've got to get off my arse. I want to get out more, I guess it's hard because of the time of year but I love going out, especially in the country as I've said. I need to get cycling again. I'd love to run a marathon at some point in the next couple of years, that would be such an achievement for me. This new project with Mike is brilliant for me, I've never been in a band where it's basically just what I want to do. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love all the projects I'm involved with but it's nice to see my own grungy ideas being played on proper instruments. It's great to be doing something with my best mate again.

Anyway, I'm gonna go find something to do. I might even go out for a wander, find some field to enjoy like the country boy I am.

Cheers guys, hopefully it won't be as long this time.

Loss Of A Great Man.

Uh oh, I'm starting to lose effort in keeping this up! But I'm really trying!

Some thing very serious this time, Yesterday morning at 3am a great friend of mine passed away. Geoff had been diagnosed with cancer last summer, which was  a shock to everyone, he was one of the healthiest people I knew! I don't want to focus on those few months though, because there are years of great times that deserve much more attention.

I met Geoff when I was about 14, can't remember the exact year. I had been given a drum kit for christmas and I had set it up in the attic, for some reason. I hadn't had any complaints so far so when some one knocked on the front door asking to speak to "the drummer of the house" I was nervous, expecting a angry old man as I came down the stairs I was greeted by this tall smiling Austrailian man. He lived on the street and tracked me down using my drumming. He said he'd like to teach me how to play properly, which was probably wise as the whole of Sandhurst could hear my rhythm-less bashing.

I took him up on the offer and the next few years he taught me how to play at his house, this was great although at the time some days I just wanted to be out playing with my mates in the evening sun. I'm so glad I kept at it, when I started I just wanted it to be a hobby but thanks to Geoff's tutoring and taking me to see a number of drummer's clinics my love for the instrument grew, he is the reason I am on the path I have chosen, studying drums at the ACM and trying to get the Cheap Days some recognition.

Geoff with Jof and Myself at a Bar Four Gig.

When we needed a drummer for the band he was more than happy to play for us, also offering a great place to practice. His enthusiasm kept the energy on stage at a peak level, always playing the hardest and best he could. His talent could be heard specifically on "You didn't let me know", which is almost a country beat, but his playing on "One Up On Me", a drum track which I had written, proved he had the stamina to hold a quick tune like that together. All the tracks that we played live and wrote together evolved into something that we never imagined they could be, reshaping what you can hear today. It will be impossible to replace that man on the tubs.

It was a great privilage to play in a band with Geoff, and an even greater honour knowing him. Everyone who met him fell for his charm, he was a great great man that will be forever missed and never forgotten. 

If I know Geoff he'll be chatting away to the greats, like Buddy Rich and Bonham, already! He deserves so much more from me than just 500 words on a blog no one reads but this is all I can do right now, there are so many things I could write about the years I knew Geoff. If you ever met him you know how much of a loss to the world this is.

Goodbye and rest in peace Geoff.

Geoff Benton.

Finally, A Result!

After my rant last week I headed into work for the evening shift, a bit tense from my experience earlier in the day. I like the out of hours staff, they're down to Earth and have a good amount of common sense! They agreed that the person I spoke to in the day had been rude and shared their own "other people being rude" stories. 

One of my supervisors checked on the system to see if my laptop had been ordered when I asked it to be and it turned out it hadn't, I was annoyed once more by the incompetence of some people, although this time from another shop. Down hearted I carried on with my work. Out of curiosity I checked the stock of "my" laptop myself. To my joy the one we had that was held for sale for a customer was now 'Pristine'! This was ace! This meant that I could buy it for myself! So I did so! After a bit of trouble getting my card to work I finally had it, £473 worth of Acer 6920G. Brilliant!

So yes, now I am writing this on my shiny new laptop, on which I have already installed and played a few of my games, such as Counter Strike: Source and Half-Life 2, they run beautifully! I am so very pleased with it! I'll have cheesy smile pictures up with me and my laptop for the next post :-D

Now I've just got to get some accessories for it! Like a new mouse, I've got one in mind from work and a portable hard drive, although this is a bit expensive so I might have to wait till next month to purchase that particular item!

I'm looking forward to my birthday next week, we're gonna go out for a big 'ol meal as we always do. Undecided weather to make everyone come to Godalming, there are some nice restaraunts around here, or to travel up to the Hurst. It's my choice, I hate choices! We've got a gig at Bar Four this Wednesday, we would have a load of new stuff to play but unfortunately we can't practice before then, Sim's globe trotting means he couldn't make a Sunday rehearsal and I'm at work every other night! It'd be good to see some people there if you can make it :-)

Don't you hate getting phone calls from a recording?!

Cheers Guys.

Pay Day Rant.

I got paid today, three times what I normally do. This is because PC World owed me money for the overtime I did for training, and also I think I recieved my tax back.

At least I think this as I have not got my pay slip yet. I checked my bank this morning to see if and how much, I have been paid, and very excited I was to see just under a grand sat in my account, just waiting to be dug into. After my lesson (in which I had to play Bohemian Rhapsody in front of the class, ace!) I drove down to work to get my pay slip and buy the laptop that I mentioned in a previous post, but I find to my dismay that the manager I have been sorting my laptop and money stuff out with isn't in today... chuffing brilliant. This rules out buying my laptop, so I ask someone if our pay slips are in, which I know they are because they are always in on the day we're payed, but I need someone to go and get them as they're in a locked room, but no, these people can't be arsed to help me out so they tell me they don't think the slips are in. So I can't check where my pay has come from this month.

...Great, thanks guys, you've been a boon to my day!

Nevermind, I'll check later when I'm in work and possibly buy my laptop too. :-)

We'll see. The next post on here may come from my shiny new Acer! :-D

Rant over, my appologies.

Third and Final Day Of Recording.

Another episode in the most epic weekend of the year.....!
Today we got the remaining lead vocals done and I did all of the backing vocals and extras like cowbell and tambourine, these tracks are finally ready to be mixed! Which we got onto about half way through the day, We've finished mixes on Feeling Sore, You Break My Heart and I Believe In You. Jennifer and Easily Led have been roughly mixed to be finished off at a later date, probably a couple of weeks although I expect Jof will get his hands on them before then and I'm sure they'll get put on the net. I can't wait to have a copy of them to listen to, I'm so proud!
Al is such a great bloke. He seems really quiet and shy but that's just how he is, and he's bloody hilarious! The same kind of humour as me and Jof, The amount of laffing fits we had over the last three days is... well... a lot. For more pics of the weekend follow this link.

One Of Many giggle-Fits!

That's it for the studio diary I think, not much more I can add, other than it's been a great experience, one I hope to do again soon, with more songs and more giggles! Cheers for reading for the last few days, this blog will probably get a little less frequent but I'll update it when something interesting happens, or if I want to get something off my chest :-) Cheers guys!

As a footnote, Rach came home early from work today, she's got a really bad case of the flu, her work superiors don't seem to care and just think she's making it up. From the stories I hear I hate that place, and she was so happy when she got that job. Bastards!

Have a nice week :-)

Cheap Day Recording: Day Two.

Not to worry, this post will be a lot shorter than yesterday's, I'm not feeling very talkative tonight :-)

Today went so quickly compared to yesterday... compared to any day really. We got loads done though. The bass guitar I borrowed was a squire, not the most quality instrument but it did a great job, once we got the sound we wanted I bashed through the songs, surprisingly quick, I think I did one song in one single take, although some overdubbing had to be done to clean it up a bit, I'm not superman! It's amazing how much the bass fills it out.

Once I was finished Jof started on the guitar tracks, a little more complicated this, he double tracked almost all of the guitar parts and added some melody lines over the top of some of the tracks. The tunes were really starting to sound like proper radio-ready recordings even at this pre-production period. It's amazing how all the individual parts sound much better within the mix, especially the drums, which have started to sound really professional, I feel.

Some of the ideas that we've come up with, both Jof and myself, and Al, are great. You Break My Heart sounds massive, a bit like Yellow by Coldplay I realised today, but ours is better.... of course. That song is a real chart climber I reckon! I Believe In You is so dark and I'm really proud of the intro fill, it sounds brilliant if I do say so myself! Jennifer is a whole new entity, I don't think we ever thought it would sound like it does. I can't wait to show people these tracks, I am very proud of them.

Jof's vocals have massively improved since the last recordings, once he stopped shouting the lyrics like he does live his voice really sounded ace, especially the gentle parts in You Break My Heart, when it's mixed it'll be hair raising I reckon!

It's backing vocals tomorrow and little touches like tambourines and shakers... possibly cowbell too :-D There might be some corrections to be made if we hear any mistakes or imperfections but that's it... tomorrow is the last day in the studio. It's a real shame, it is a great way to spend my time, I love it. It makes me want to do it all the time, although I already knew that's the kind of thing I want to be involved in. It's Al's job to do that and run the live shows, what a job! I'd love it!

No pictures today, I took a few and a video of Jof playing the solo in Feeling Sore but I'm back at my flat in Godalming and I've got no way to get them onto Rachel's laptop. Speaking of laptops, I should have mine this time next week... OH YEAH!

That's it for tonight, I'll have the last update online tomorrow evening if there's anyone still interested! To finish up here's a great pic that had me and Jof in stitches last night, I hope you enjoy it! Night!

First Day Recording

Here is a pre-warining: If you have a scan and can't be arsed to read my rather depthy review of today's happenings there's a quick review on Jof's blog, which can be found here: http://www.blogger.com/found But I hope I haven't put you off mine!

We spent today in a recording studio at South Hill Park in Bracknell, with our good friend Al. We turned up not knowing what to expect, we didn't even know where the studio was located. It was a lot smaller than I expected but was a great little space. My first job was to lay the drum tracks down for each song, I was quite concerned about this as I had not played any of the tunes for a couple of years, the newer ones I had never played at all. I gave it my best efforts and I am overall pleased with the results. My kit sounded ace, after a bit of setting up and gaffa taping the overtones on the toms were tamed. I was a bit sketchy on some of the tunes, in honesty I was a bit sketchy on all of them! Playing to a click track just complicated matters, I knew that I wasn't that confident with playing with a metronome and I think it showed with the first few takes, but once I had got into the feel of it, the use of the click really helped.


It took most of the day to get all the drum tracks recorded, we did about four takes of each track, so we had some to chose from and to make sure we got the best played one. It was great to play that much again, I don't get much of a chance to play my set up these days and it felt brilliant, I did feel a little rusty though, I must practice more, I just wish Avec Fist would get going so we can gig, that'd be ace. In the studio we recorded some samples of each of my drums and cymbals so we could use them for over dubs and so I can use them to write beats myself using my own kit sounds, this kind of thing still amazes me.

The Beast Ready To Record

Once the kit was put away and packed into my car I attempted to play the bass tracks. After a few takes on One Up it was clearly not working, somethings off with the frets on the bass. We decided to do the guitars today and see if I could borrow a bass for tomorrow. I managed to get one from my old old friend Mr. Keir Bozwell, what a great guy. He's gone all punk and tattoo'd these days, what a commitment, tattoos an' all that. I'd love to get one but I know I'd regret it a few days later, I'd have to feel one thousand percent sure I want it.

Anyway, Jof got the guitar tracks done for One Up and Jennifer, I was worried that One Up wouldn't have the energy in the studio that it does when we play it live but I think we managed to capture something, these tracks are already sounding amazing, I can't wait to hear the finished product. I'm looking forward to getting the bass done properly and moving onto the vocals, the backing vocals should be a laff, if past recording sessions are anything to go by!

Gotta Get That Hair Sorted Joffery!

So, possibly an update tomorrow night, infact there will be as Rach is going out to see her old mates from college so I'll have the night to myself. PS3 and internet it is; ideal!

Cheers for reading guys :-D

New Years Day Excitement!

Happy new year everyone! 

I decided a few months ago to buy myself a laptop, as I have been using Rachel's laptop since we moved to this flat. It's not that I don't like Rachel's laptop but I feel bad when I use it or if I install games on it, it's also rather slow at playing games.

So my research began, and working at PC World really helps with this, I have loads of people to talk to about my choices and I can play with all the laptops on display in my break. I narrowed it down to... well... one laptop. Decision made. It wasn't hard to come to the decision; this is simply the best laptop I can get on my budget.

It is a Acer 6920G. It started off with a price tag out of my range at £699 but it slowly came down and is now £529. With my discount that's £477. The specs are great, it has 3 gig of RAM, 512mb of dedicated graphics and a relatively good proccessor, although it has a small hard drive at 250 gig but I can buy a 1TB external drive for around £60. Ace! I'll never need more than that. It has some cool other features too, like a finger print reader, you can asign each of your digits to a different program so a touch of a finger will open your chosen program... Genius! It's missing a number pad though, which I did originally want, but I'll get over it, or buy a usb one later.

Jof had a Acer laptop before and said that it was unreliable and expensive to fix. I hope that my experience will be better and if not, I'm good friends with the Tech Guys at work so I'm sure I can wangle some freebies! I read good reviews so I'm optimistic about my first computer :-D

We don't have any in stock in Guildford so I've had to order one in from another store. I went into work today to see Adrian, one of the managers, I got him to ring up his mate in another store who said they would promptly send one over, hopefully next week! I've also applied for some money from my savings to make up the price. I am, as they say, excited!

So there you are, now you know my next big purchase :-D