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I'm waiting on tracks from Lynchy and for another shot at finishing Defiance with AJ.

Can't make it go any faster. 

Patience is all well and good, but I am ready to finish this album and itching to start editing the 5D project.

Oh well.

We have a quiet month this month as the guys take care of various things.

There's a bunch of stuff happening, as per usual, but you know I don't like to talk about what we 'will' do, just what we're doing now.

If I wind up with downtime, it might be time to implement the changes to this site - we're due to go for HTTPS, plus I want to try integrating that social media module.

Like any ship, there's always something that needs maintenance.

Hmmm. I detected some reservation from ML when we started talking about the 5D tracks.

I've got three clean tracks from the first batch, and I was looking at maybe another 3-4 from the Coonabarrabran experiment, but Lynchy is worried that the stuff we recorded in the Observatory Dome isn't up to snuff.

He wonders if an Omni microphone would have been better. The stuff on the viewing platform came up great, but there were a few issues with the stuff inside the dome.

The song was new,  the parts and arrangement unfamiliar, the Djembe spilled into the microphone, oh noes!

For my part, on video - maybe I had the ISO too low, maybe I should have said 'screw the noisy picture, gain that sucker up and fix in post'.

We'll get a chance to review the takes in the next few days and we'll see. I've been listening to the Camera sound and I think there's a worthwhile take for the problem song.

Yeah the opening is a little rickety, but the swell from the middle 8 into the verse reprise makes me say 'all is forgiven'.

Lynchy has high standards, so his assessment will be to that level. I may be a little more forgiving, just 'cos.

At the same time, the worst case scenario is we had 1 track that didn't work out well enough and....

...we'll have to go back and do another one!

YAY!

That's why it's all good - this is experimental. That comes with some expectation of 'oh dear that didn't work'

It's pretty normal for us to have to do trial runs of things, especially videoclips. I once spent so long on a test that Rosie quite reasonably asked whether we should just use the test. Coulda, but the final product turned out better.

For the last album, Kansas City Gold, we had to...um....redo a few songs after the....experiment....went wrong.

I have a feeling the song will be OK, but Bill has already expressed a desire to redo it with different musical arrangement, so what the heck.

On the plus side, I'm waiting on the 'takes' so I can start the video editing work. Oh. And the additional recording of additional instruments.

Come to think of it, we'll be busy for a while.

Speaking of while, it's me. I am the hold up for Defiance. I tried again. Fail. Tonight I try again. 

Experiment. Fail. Learn. Repeat.

Back later, have more things to try.

I tried Harp. I tried spoken word. I tried more samples. Tried herding cats.

AJ has tried something, if it works, I'm all good.

I'm not bummed about trying things and saying nope. Knowing what doesn't work is as important as knowing what does work.

Of course, this is all unbelievably subjective and we've delayed the released of the album for 1 month whilst we work on 6 bars, or approximately 30 seconds, or 0.00833 of the approximate album running time.

Oh dear.

I could have jammed anything in there. Heavens knows I tried. But it didn't feel right.

I am not sure whether it's entirely possible to have a clear opinion on this. I did a diagram to helpfully explain.

There comes a point of diminishing returns, where the nudge-to-the-left-no-to-the-right-back-again becomes just plain silly. And that comes from a band that greatly prizes silliness as the highest form of human endeavour.

Heh.

Oh lord, please, please let us be done with this album. I sure am grateful for getting to do it and it's been fun and all but YAAAAAAAAAAAA!

So close.

I found this picture via Reddit, and it seemed to sum up the idea of Keep Calm & Carry On, that most English of Memes.

We're bummed about events in London.

Once again our attention turns to the perpetual state of war we seem to have found ourselves in.

There can be no doubt that we live within it. From the Lindt siege here in Sydney, to the recent events in Manchester and now London, we surely must grasp that we are all part of this.

Over the years we have actively supported the folks who have sworn to keep us safe and to fight our battles.

Today, we recognise that means everyone. There are no non combatants. 

I'm a problem solving Primate by nature, and I am glad to read a few introspective comments and insights in the news. 

It's too early to look at what role our own societies play in shaping it, to raise the subject is to sidestep the immediate hurt and anger of everyone affected by it.

So we condemn the latest attack, and rightly so. 

But as we do so, we see that with each repeat of the problem, whatever we are doing is not working.

9/11 was 16 years ago. We are heading for 2 decades of worldwide warfare, history will record it as such, and we live within it.

So I walk a fine internal line, to not send a signal that this is acceptable, yet to try and work out why they heck someone does this? What motivates them? How can we remove the motivation, not the human?

Is it even possible? Are we, as a species, just so set on this kind of behaviour that we accept it as Human and endure it? Oh dear.

I have to hope that this violence is not an inevitable part of being human.

I have to hope that we can abhor the actions, yet try and find a solution without revenge and hate breeding more revenge and hate. 

Our thoughts are with the people of London and our hopes are with all of us, to find a new way, a different way than this.

I didn't check the web outside our bubble until later on, so I don't know the exact timelines, but it merited an edit to ensure clarity, in light of current cirumstances

I thought that went well last night.    We were blessed with a really good night when most of what we tried worked, at our last show. I felt happy about it.

Rosie took some great shots of Rut, Jesus and Marina.

Lola Sola opened the night, she's got a great voice, then Rut, Jesus and Marina did a set, then we did our thing.

It was quite the night.

I streamed a bit of it on facebook it's there if you're keen.

We were trying a new set list construction method last night, one proposed by Mr Wizard.

I admire the complexity. Worked for me. But dividing all the songs into blocks and then shifting blocks to suit the  vibe provided a wild ride for the rest of the lads, who may prefer a more formal structure.

Gotta say, that was a particularly good night show. 

Cheers to Sue, Julie, Caroline, Sandra, Sage and all the folks who came out or watched from home.

EDIT: Thanks to everyone who came out and was part of the community. All the crazy crap that is going on makes us all the more grateful for the times we get, in peace and good company, doing something we love. MJEB