Stormcellar Band Home Page

No one can accuse us of not keeping it 'Real'.

I present exhibit A, our side-of-stage :-)

This weekends two shows saw a series of small mishaps. GPS Fails, logistics errors, snare drum head snafu's. I forgot words, blew out an Eb harp.

Still, nowhere else I'd rather be :-)

On Friday night we played like Eggplants in set one.

and King Kong in set two.

I should also extend my regards to the Pop Culture Whizzes at Lazybones who extracted CD's from me for knowing the answer to my uber geek random statements about The Arnold Rimmer Salute and The Kwizatz Haderach.

OMG whilst looking for the appropirate image I just came across a Dune/Halflife Nerd Combo. Thank you internets. Gordon Fremen? Awesome.

If this stuff makes sense, come to a gig, you will win a CD from me when I ask about such things and you know them.

I reckon theres a bit of breaking bad in that image.

Anyway.

Saturday we were supported by the very able Stone. Cheers to Ray, Dion, Roger and Steve

Watching the Manager out the front of the venue with a Sound Level meter lets me know that they're truly concerned with their neighbours well being (great) and is also utterly terrifying. Thankfully, no one exceeded the average Db level for background noise and a good time was had by all. 'Go hard' mate was the cry after Stone rocked it out.

We decided to Go Hard and Theo's snare drum obliged by going PHWAAANGGG so we played two acoustic numbers to start with.

It took a couple of songs to get our Mojo working properly but thanks to a re-grounding via some Sonny Boy Williamson, (a note to Aussie readers, The blues guy not the footballer) we got back there. For the first time in a while we even ended with the Boogie.

So, to further embellish the legend of our propaganda page, we played two shows where little tiny things went wrong and drove us nuts and we had to make a greater effort to get our game on.

And we're incredibly fortunate to be able to do it.

Meanwhile the masters for EFLH are in.

The show goes on.

Far out.

I was correspoding with one of our mates in France and sent him the final mix of Bloomington just because, well, what else can you do. It's kind of a peaceful bit of music and a little bit sad and a little bit hopeful.

Cesar wrote back to me saying it was midnight and he was listening to the track and feeling the sound of the sea and peacefulness. I invited him to share it with whoever might need the same vibe.

I got an email in the wee small hours to say Robert on the Crossroads radios show had done a tribute segment for the recent events and played Eagles of Death Metal and then Bloomington on air. That's touching.

I know in the scheme of things, it's a laugh against the storm, but if even a couple of people got a moment of Zen listening to it, then it's a win.

We show we're alive when we create

it's what life does

in a time of destruction

as silly as a grin of defiance at the end

pointless, ephemeral, eternal

and each one who comes in

experiences everything for the first time

the most joy

the most pain

the most sorrow anyone has ever felt

all alone

unique and together

Other people would just write 'hey looks like we finished the album.'

I gotta stop reading all this poetry, it's starting to send me frilly.

We send our love to so many right now, some far away, some close to home. We hunker down in the stormcellar and play music and watch and watch and think.

we're pretty bummed out by the major disturbance in the Force and I feel weird about plugging a show but I guess that's at least one way of reclaiming the hallowed ground. We're going to play at Raby, Saturday 21 Nov with Stone, and at Lazybones in marrickville on fri 20th November and do what musicians do. Try and make people feel better, try and make people experience a connection. Music is a basic and fundamental human need, otherwise all our showers would be quiet, our walks down lonely roads surrounded by silence. Dammit, we're not going to be shut down by this stuff. There. Rant over. I'm bummed as hell and I still want you to go see a band, to go see live music. We can resist without hating, by simply being present. We will be and we hope you'll join us, or anyone who makes music for you, here and now.

I generally keep Politics off the set. I mean it's in your music anyway, so what else do you have to say.

But we're reactors to events. We express it in the work we do, reflecting whats around us. As Harry Manx says, 'your tears reflect the world you make'.

History staggers forward taking both tragedy and triumph in its stride. 

Our illustrated world of multimedia and 24 hour newscycles sour our mind with the constancy of slaughter.

Some we dont know about, some we value more than others, each no less a tragedy for our localised measure.

Today, in a newscycle that has made me weary, I am sadder again.

Like destroying ancient statues. Like any act of unreasonability, by any member of the human species, no matter their reasoning. 

100 people gathered together to hear music, to be connected together in a time when we're superficially in one anothers lives through the power of a Like Button.

As a great Australian philosopher once told me, summing up the breadth of the human experience.

Bugger.

Our deepest respect and love extends to the Eagles of Death Metal, to the people of Paris and France, and to all those, in whatever manner, who have come to tragedy today.

Not the first time I've posted this on the site. 

No man is an island,

Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; 
It tolls for thee. 

Bugger.