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The new new abnormal normal

Ah it's mighty comfortable weather considering it's the Summer season and we are less on fire than in previous years.

We note with pleasure the arrival of a grandson for Friend Of The Band Mr G.

Even in times such as these, renewal. The show really does go on :)

Downtime Seaons 1 Recordings

Theo, Coggers and Fox are on it. It's gonna be 'enhanced' from the live shows.

So...if I have taken my hands off this then keeping my hands off is a...new skill! LOL!

Bravo to the chaps as they power through this. I basically get to sit back and watch.

'Awakening' Project

The Kid Stays In The Picture has come up a riot. It's more Steely Dan than Steely Dan.

I reckon we have come up with an excellent, excellent forgery. Almost as good as when Regurgitator did the 'song formely known as' (which I legit thought was a new Prince song...).

'White Fire' still eludes me, as Mr Wizard has made some very pertinent observations. Much like 'Fool For You' I know the song is in there if I can unlock it.

Production Line

In this new normal, the guys have a routine for processing the work.

Write the song. Play the song. Record the song. Mix the Song.

Like mad Brewers, we have different batches at different stages and that's perfectly reasonable.

Assembly of the tracks continues, in sequence, once the Downtime recordings are up to mixing stage

Now that there is a regular, productive, operating at sustainable-organic-speed vibe on getting things done,

There is some basic housekeeping work to do so as everything else seems to have settled into a rhythm.

I did a review of current guide tracks and...well...I guess I have work to do.

Godfather J said it the other day 'running out of things to say' and I get it.

Saying that which seems worthwhile may come easily, or it may take some consideration.

Fool For You Videoclip

Ok so COVID is now less a big deal here so...location scout due. Script? Abandoned. WIll film what we can and smile about it.

Patient Farming

We're not trying to plan on Gigs or what used to be. We make what we can, as often as we can, with what we have, and we are still doing that, therefore, this is...normal.

With luck and the continued efforts of the members, we will see more stuff done, as we seem to like doing stuff.

I'll report it, discreetly (LOL) and often with some gentle reverence for the useful secrecy of getting on with things incognito.

You fund it here paypal.me/stormcellarband :)

Downtime Season 2 episode 3 - Moo

Everything going so slowwwwly & Episode 2 Season 2 downtime

I have noticed the return of traffic and aircraft noises as Sydney re-opens. Sort of. Start, stop, start. Methinks this will be the way of things for the next 2-4 years.

Gig's returned...then went away...then returned...then...

People forgot how much they missed live music and then forgot they missed it, or perhaps they have become so accustomed to staying home that there is a permanent shift in Bands/Venues/Patrons/Media/Music/Cultural Relevance.

Meanwhile - Things are going well, and going sloowwwwly.

Theo was due an album and he is producing Downtime Season One Best Of and it's going well

As there are no rules, we are happily contemplating all the ideas we can entertain.

That brings us to Stormcellar Collectives next recording project which is running in parallel to the Best of Downtime. Perhaps 'sequentially' is more accurate.

We're gathering guests, ideas, edits. We still have no conclusion on how to finish the projects.

The Stormcellar material from our recordings in the US last year still needs some attention, and that requires revenue and that requires...gigs.

Slowwwly - Downtime Episode 2 saw me work out some of last weeks tech problems. We are almost there.

I didnt start promoting Season 1 until Episode 6 because it took us 4 Pilot eps + 5 season eps to sort the process.

As we used the time in which we could have a done a technical rehearsal for mixing album stuff, Episode 2 of this season was still a little risky.

I have some local network issues to deal with, and I need to write myself a Server Operation manual so I dont get overwhelmed when things go wrong (and they do, that's tech).

Thus - it's going...it's going slowly. It will take me at least until the end of the quarter to complete the tech stuff we are working on in the back end.

To recap - 3 albums in Post/Development/and editing. 1 Streaming show operational and in development. Additional website changes and other stuff in development.

We're going to fundraise a little to help hire some of our mates as session muso's cos stuff is tough.

You know what we're up to, support it here: paypal.me/stormcellarband.

Here's episode 2, Season 2, Downtime

Hard times all round

Talking to one of our mates in the States, he hasnt had a gig since March last year. If you see a muso streaming and they have a donation thing and you have a buck, do it, they're hurting.

Downtime Season 2 starts and we didnt mention it

Friend of the Band Monte gave us a surplus screen and it is huge and HUGE and I was well..and it was...GREAT A great idea. Now the other guys can see WTH the show looks like and I can see our guests.

So....Episode 1, Season 2. We called off Date 1 for restart due to COVID precautions (someone had a fever).

This time, it looked like the Weather was going to do for us and we did not strictly have a Wet Weather Plan. Well...Theo Suggested Bongos so I guess we did.

As I didnt know if we were on/off until pretty much last minute I gave up on promoting it. I think that was a wise move. Not cos things went wrong (they did) but cos promoting stuff in the old way may not matter anymore (separate discussion).

All things considered it was still a hoot.

Now, to do it better for Ep 2...we have to look at what went wrong.

The nutshell was, without doing a technical rehearsal, we were overwhelmed on the day by gremlins and it makes it hard to troubleshoot down to an on/off level of testing.

With so many moving parts, clearly being able to see where the problem is can be a task in itself. As we had not done our prep, the episode was called No Homework.

We had:

- Network issues (had to drop my net altogether and go Hotspot from my freaking phone omg)
- Server Issues (things went wrong, the server issues an error code but Bec tells me that doesnt mean it isn't working. I understand that and it still makes me go um...)
- Platform issues (what the heck is the new error code from Twitch or was it just our bandwidth sucked or was it the server or was it ARGH)
- User Issues ( I need to write myself a manual on how to reboot the server properly)
- Sound issues (Monitoring PC had issues, recording gear was fussy and wanted reboots)
- Weather issues - I was all for canning it but Theo wanted to push through. We are ok on the electrical front but he got a wet butt.

The upshot was that it took as 30 min to manage the ARGH and we didnt get it all right. FOTB Dion says 'thats the joy of live TV' so maybe it's an inescapable part.

In true Stormcellar style we managed the disaster. Before we do it again, we are going to rerun the gear again and I have to do some more training to remember my Linux basics.

I am Ok with the errors and learning how to do this. It's a challenge to get my brain in a new mode. It's a new type of 'gig' and there is a learning curve.

It's not just the 'how to' it's the 'how now' as the environment, the software, network, time zones it's all variable.

I love it. this is just our thing.

Oh yeah recording/mixing process underway on 3 projects. Plus Other Stuff. I'd show you faster but there's only one of me and some of this stuff is hard :)

Help out here. Paypal.me/stormcellarband

Pleasantly Slow Going

Videoclip? Covid.
Gigs? Covid.
Other work? Ok.

It's HOT today.

Everything is going. Going....slowly.

Best of Downtime Season 1 is in mixing. Two more projects moving ever-so-slowly through mixing and development.

I expect with luck we'll get season 2 of Downtime up this week.

Paypal.me/stormcellarband, you know you want to.

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