Stormcellar Band Home Page

Got distracted.

Sc11 First Mixes are in.

Show on Friday Aug 8 , Native Rose, Rozelle 

Big ups to Theo for arranging the percussion session.

No we are not putting an explosion at the end of Walk Into Your Heart.

This is why you don't leave the drummer by themselves in the studio

I'm experiencing the twin sensations of omg-we're-almost-done and OMFG-we're-not-done-yet.

Vocals for 'Minor Miracle' and Choir for 'Walk into your heart' are still outstanding.

Sometimes this feels like watching a glacier move....

Nothing for a while, then Icebergs.

Art is still underway for SC10. It's taking me a long time to find the right pic. (Sigh)

 I tried a few pics with Google's Deep Dream. 

When in doubt, ask the artificial intelligence.

Anyway. Not done yet.

As we get closer to finishing the audio components of the current stuff, the logistics, the artwork, the fiddly bits, we're almost ready to start the Video component.

Just as Safe Harbour (SC10) is the soundtrack to The 5D Project, and Beyond 5D (still in production), SC11 (Rogue State) will be the soundtrack for the Sydney Identity Project.

The Sydney Identity Project.

What is the Sydney Identity? 

Are we still stuck on Tourism Australia, the Harbour Bridge, Ken Done and 1980?

That's what we'll be exploring.

SC11 is all about Sydney. Then and now. What does it mean to be from here?

What is The Sydney Identity?

We've been in pre-production for a while and it looks like we're starting filming next week.

After the last few sessions on SC11, we've taken some much needed down time.

Even though there are things to arrange, last elements of tracking to....

zzzz..

zzzz...

Monday wiped me out so much that I set a 48 hr window for 'no further thinking about it'.

That lasted about 20 minutes.

And then I tried again.

An hour later.

And a few hours later after that.

Downtime don't come easy.

Theoretically now is the time to return to that thinking.

I feel like we've pushed our schedule out by another week. 

Driving The Bus

As Self Propelled Artists we move at the speed we set.

While doing lyric research I came across a passage in the I Ching about not rushing the harvest.

Okey dokey.

There's definitely a balance to things. 

Too much latitude? Project goes into the Never Never.

Something else that is equally true: There is a finite capacity for making phone calls, setting schedules, readjusting schedules.

Re-readjusting schedules.

Abandoning the schedule.

Who needs a schedule anyway.

It's not like the studio is...oh...it's already booked?

That's all right, we can shift this to....oh. He's got something else on.

Oh.

Yeah.

Gilding the Lily. Another concern. Do we really need this new great idea?

Maybe we do. That's a thing too.

If you drive the bus, there's some simple logic.

Stay on the road, don't ding anything, take rest breaks, work out a route, make sure you have petrol.

Also, snacks.

We have a loose amalgamation of ideas we call a plan.

That'll do.

Meanwhile, in Social Media News

Tending The Rock Garden.

 I'm seeing less and less engagement with Facebook from Humans and I'm seeing more and more restriction on Folks Like Us while FB makes their money selling your secrets to Bad Players.

Pouring your heart and soul into making someone else's garden grow seems contraindicated, especially if you're then charged to pick some of the flowers you planted.

Getting judged for how quickly we update, how quickly we respond?

How the hell did we wind up with a Bulletin Board that judges you?

Down here in Oz, we deal with Poker Machines.

In New South Wales, we have a Metric Crapton of them.

Pinging, binging, YES!! 

Between the shiny stuff, the Pavlovian Conditioning and the ruthless exploitation of Human Psychological Traits, Australia spends the most per person on Gambling of any 'developed' nation.

The Whitlams wrote 'blow up the pokies'. 

Midnight Oil talked about 'Dad's so bad he lives in the pub all underarms and football clubs'

It's a Thing. 

When I see the Social Media systems adopting the same Addiction Inspiring strategies of Poker Machines, it encourages me to stop engaging.

Statistically, the house always wins. Bad game.

Tending the garden of rocks.

No matter how much care you put in, how much watering, this garden is unlikely to bear fruit or give flowers.

The eventual outcome is likely to be a client based, distributed Social media environment.

Makes no sense to aggregate on one provider. You are the content generator. It's your life. Your contacts, your pictures, your stories.

In time that's where we see it heading.

In the interim, be aware when the machine goes BING you may not be winning, you may be 'told' you're winning, or if you only put another dollar in the machine; surely the jackpot has to be close.

Move the rocks to the right, move them to the left whilst they resell the water you add.

Hmmm...

From now on, we want a bouncy castle on our rider.

The Weather Permitting Project continues.

Mini Pancakes. Great weather.

10/10 for organisation. 

Long Session 

Jo was with us this weekend and today was her turn in audio land. We got a lot more done than I had planned.

Mainly because there was more to do than I had accounted for.

I'm not sure whether this is accurate, but it feels like we've spent longer/done more on this album. Maybe it's that SC10/11 ran together. It's been almost 18 months worth of work to get these both together.

Today, I thought we'd hit the milestone of 'no more tracking'.

Ah.

Except for some Percussion.

Ah.

And maybe some adjusted harmonies.

Ah.

And 1 last set of guests.

Right.

But other than that, done, right?

Oh yeah.

Also that whole vocal for Minor Miracle that you haven't finished writing yet.

(sigh).

Ok so we're gonna need another session.

We're moving towards mixing, notwithstanding any of these minor issues. A minor miracle indeed.

Watching the Detectives

No band is an island, separated from the stream. 

The twenty first century truly is upon us, shrugging off the hold of the past.

It's reckless to think the future is the same as the past. It's hope to believe it to be different.

I was talking to J the other day, he said 'your band name is a bit apocalyptic isn't it?'

It's funny that should come to mind.

Maybe, when the weather darkens, thoughts turn to safe places.

I replied, that when we started, it was more a reference to the Wizard of Oz than Vault 77 but hey;a decade's a long time in the future.

As this isn't my first apocalypse, I can fashion a thought or two.

Start with taking some time for yourself, get some breathing space.

Jo comes and sings with a band. that's how she does it.

I play in one. That's one of the tools I use to get by. 

Making some meaning out of it. Whatever it is.

Down here in the Mystical land of Oz there's still Blue Sky and Pancakes.

Takes some effort to be part of it.

All the good stuff does.

We're glad you're part of what we do, hope you're doing your own thing.

Tide comes in, tide goes out. Gotta pay attention when the water laps at your feet.

Time to stand up.

Our great thanks to Stuart Van Der Graaf and Michael Hawke.

Theo had the idea to add Flute to 'I disappear' and we took a few extra risks.

It wasn't until all the parts came together that it started to make sense.

Whew.

It'll make sense when you hear the final.

Ok. It might make sense.

Maybe.

Possibly.