Stormcellar Band Home Page

Waiting on SC10 mastering, are we there yet?

Nope.

Next week. No hurry. Plenty of other stuff to do.

I've done some artwork and I'm not satisfied with it yet. Oh well.

The video we did  of the Flamenco dancing last Friday did not pass inspection. Marina and Aitor want to re-shoot the sequence.

Ok.

The stuff I did with Sensei JC also didn't fly. 

Two attempts, came up with nothing that we liked.

Ok (part 2).

Mr L was very kind in talking about this stuff recently, he views it as 'more failures means more attempts' and sees all these elements as positive.

God bless his cotton socks. We plant a lot of seeds, we water it and we hope they grow :-)

Meanwhile.....

YAY! Tracking for SC11 continues this Saturday. I would asked to make it a Local Influences session but I wanna give Rosie some quiet focus time cos that's how he likes to work.

With some luck, we'll push to schedule the last tracking and the additional guests.

Back to artwork.

It's sometimes a feeling of surprise to get to the end of a mix.

After 18 months of...of....whatever the heck it is we do, we're now up to 'done'.

The tipping point.

Any more is less.

ALBANY

Oh dear.

and then Mr L had it.

A companion album.

OMG.

He's a genius.

Safe Harbour and Rogue State (album 10 and 11 respectively) are...COMPANION ALBUMS!

The marketing department thanks you.

Full marks to the Gentlemen for Road Warrior tasking this weekend.

(sigh) Look at me.  I slip comfortably into the argot of a life lived during war time. Our trips are 'missions'. 

I've been corresponding with Friend of the Band 'Roscoe' who is in parts unsurveilled, doing things. Things that we continue asking of him and others.

So long at war. In a gig economy, in a war at world with itself.

The Stormcellar is a place of safety. We know you're out there, surviving. 

Because we know that, we focus, here, on the mundane items that make up a musical endeavour.

So we continue our mission.

There's a simple joy in the task well completed.

Bill's work with Mr Wizard has paid off. Mr Wizard has adjusted his chain.

Happy Birthday to Cookie and Cheers the folks at the Stag in Newcastle. 

Miss Jo joined us this weekend. With her foot still in a boot after her ankle injury!

 I love this sticker. Yeti Calzone. Brilliant.

Thanks to our friends out in Windsor, another good afternoon. 

The Meat Raffle Gods Smiled upon the band.

We adjusted the setlist a while ago and favoured Mr Wizards preference for fast and loud for the first set, it's pushing my vocal chords so on Sunday we started differently which threw out a carefully worked out structure, I am grateful to the guys for adjusting on the fly. 

As new songs come in and out of the set it mutates anyway, time for another adjustment.

One of the new songs, "I wanna Be Your Girl is an unexpected fun moment which I may have described as Blue Cheese. For Ranch Dressing fans you know what I mean. I think.

I was also very pleased to acknowledge D. who visited.

As someone who has benefited from help to manage Panic Attacks and other fun things, as someone who is intimately aware of PTSD and Mental Health, I say:

Never be afraid to ask for help.

It helps.

Anyway.

In addition to the shows, we did some recording this week as I make a last push to get bits for Safe Harbour.

I headed into Marina's CBD studio for some Spanish hand Claps

Our revered sensei tested some ideas out for Harp.

and lastly, but not least., I want to say Thank you to my beloved Plantronics Dolby Surround Headphones.

Despite being made from brittle plastic they made a great noise.

May have loved these to death.

So...I was feeling a little Fail during the week, now I am walking up 5 flights of stairs carrying recording equipment.

Whose bright idea was this again?

1 of my potential-last-tracking-on-again-off-again things is now on again.

Plus a New Thing popped up.

The mixes are being circulated, notes made. Final tweak session is scheduled for next week.

The push is on.

Sample Art

I'm doing all the really exciting parts of the job now. 

Getting peoples names right.

Artwork.

Yeah.

As usual, here are some of the concepts. Warhol away.

As we work on our latest thing, we're grateful for the help and input from our cellar dwellers and mentors. Thank you to Michael L, Pete D, Monte C, Jim C and Mick C and Peter JL for being our influences.

I spent the afternoon taking notes from Jim as we finalise the mix.

This is the best bit. You're at the point where the right tweak, the right change, the right texture, can make it 'just so'.

It's also the bit where you can over salt it or have Souffloppe, to borrow another kitchen metaphor.

In the instrumental element of SC10 - Safe Habour (gotta start using the name) there's nowhere to hide.

I got a bit conservative on the Bowed Bass. It's a fine line.

Boy are we fussy. By we I mean me. and us. also the everyone. Everyone here is fussy. 

So close.