Jingle Bells?

Good evening bloggers! It's been a while since I've last posted an update, so here you go!

It's been a busy run-up to Christmas for me, I've done 53 hours at work this week, and I'm absolutely cream-crackered! But now I'm done I can enjoy the festivities of the next couple of days, drink heavily and eat heavily!

A quick update on the band.. We last practised on Saturday, and to me it was the best practise so far! "Ashes to Ashes" is pretty much finished, and we've somewhat finished with a very off-the-cuff track which is obscure to say the least! Luke has written a track which he fully expected me to hate. He sent it to me and I tell you what, it'll be our first single. It is pretty damn amazing.

As far as the bands name goes, we're still stuck. A fortnight ago we were called CUBA?, and this week we were called HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA BISKY! One of these days we'll find a suitable name for such an obscure band such as ours, feel free to make suggestions!

On a side note, I thought I'd do something different.. Here are the current albums I'm listening to!


1, Chickenfoot: Chickenfoot (2009)

This band, (consisting of guitar-supremo Joe Satriani, Red Hot Chili Peppers' drummer Chad Smith, and Van Halen veterans Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony), have made a truly amazing debut album. With it's hard, sometimes funky groove running through the album, Satriani's superb guitar work and Hagar's rough vocals, it's definitely a must-listen!


2, Shinedown: Leave a Whisper (2003)

Shinedown are a band I love. Every single album to me is amazing, but I do have a soft-spot for their debut album Leave a Whisper. I've seen Shinedown live a few times, all being amazing gigs. Their songs are all great to sing along to, or rock out to, whichever you want to do!






So for now friends, I'll leave you. Have a good Christmas whatever you do!

Dancing with the Beard

Hello blogger people of the blogger nation! Yet another post here from yours truly. It's been a fairly eventful few days, with the band and the world of work, but I won't bore you with too much unnecessary information!

Saturday brought another band practice, this time at Neon Studios in Burntwood. This place compared to our usual studios in Walsall is a lot bigger, and a lot more aesthetically pleasing! As for the gear I'm not so sure, I was using a big Peavey amp this week and I wasn't completely convinced, The Ashdown stack I use down in JJM in Walsall is a lot better, to my ear anyway.

Anywho, we attempted the song me and Luke have been writing the past 2 weeks (working title Roller Disco), however Luke wasn't convinced about it, it's very hard to put guitar to it because of the huge funk bassline involved. We did however finish the Ashes to Ashes themed track, to me it is pretty much a finished article, and I really dig it!! Our sound is such a breath of fresh air to the current stagnant music scene, it's nice to be in a band where we focus solely on the music, and refrain from any conformity that protrudes in today's music. We also devised a very random track where half of it is a fast-paced Slayer-esque riff, then the other half is slow, dragged out and melodic. Lets hope next week brings even more surprises!

On a side note, my friend Luke pointed me in the direction of a news story that broke this week. Frontman of Black Label Society, Mr. Zakk Wylde, is appearing on Dancing With The Stars. For those of my readers from the UK, this is the American version of Strictly Come Dancing. Why on earth Zakk would prance around a floor doing the cha-cha is beyond me. But good on him! I do idolise Zakk quite a lot when it comes to his music, not only BLS but also with his time playing with Ozzy. You can see Zakk never takes himself seriously in the BLS video for Overlord. For those of you who haven't seen it for yourselves, I'll link it up at the end of the blog. It's definitely worth a look, with Zakk walking around in an Uma Thurman Kill Bill catsuit, defeating evil bosses that stand in his way.

Thankyou for those of you keeping up with my blog! And also, welcome to my first reader from Croatia!

Here are some blogs of note for you to visit!

Luke Clarke's Blog
8-bits of Retro
The Indifference Gamer

I'll leave you with the Black Label Society video for Overlord! Bye for now friends!

A Funny Old Week..

Hey readers! What a surreal week this has been.

On Tuesday was my Grandads funeral. We traveled down to South Wales, which is about 150 miles. The service was nice, held at this little quaint crematorium in a place called Coychurch. We all went to the wake after, which was at this little ale pub in the middle of nowhere. It was rather surreal, as Ruth Jones from Gavin & Stacey fame was drinking there!

RIP Grandad, I'll never forget you..

Band practice this week will hopefully be the most productive one to date. We have shed loads of ideas to work on, with about 5 or 6 possible songs coming to completion. We're aiming to be full speed by next month, then we can think about getting a singer in and start doing gigs. Recording is a possibility for January, however if the songs aren't done, there's not much point recording. I'll keep you posted here once we have material to share with the world.

I think I have an addiction. I seem to spending the majority of my free time on the Wii, mainly on Wii Sports Resort. Yep I'm a sad bastard at times, but the table tennis is goddamn addictive! Although if I keep it up, my fiancee may just have to check me into Wii rehab. Whatever that is.

Yesterday was the 6th anniversary of the death of Dimebag, the amazing influential guitarist of Pantera. He has been one of my idols since I've started playing guitar, and although I'll never get anywhere as good as he was, he will always leave a legacy that will be around for years to come.

My reader list for the blog is now coming up to 100! Which to me is a fairly big achievement. So thankyou to the people out there for reading my ramblings, it's much appreciated! Don't forget to bookmark me, or even better, click the "follow" button to keep up to date with my slightly eventful life!

That's all for now, take care mofos!

Jay.

A Quick Update!

Evening blog people! Just a quick update for y'all!

Everything with the band is good! Sadly Luke couldn't make this weeks practice, so I tried to bridge the gap somewhat, taking multi instruments. Anyways, me and CJ tried developing on as much as possible (Luke being the main songwriter for many of our songs, and also with my contributing bad memory), it made for a less eventful practice than normal, but more of a piss-about; playing disco funk, and swing versions of Metallica songs. The recreation of Deep Purples classic Black Night also made for a good amusing 2 minutes of musical history! With my bass resonating across the whole of Walsall, we managed to devise a new structure to one of our songs Roller Disco/Karaoke Bar. This song, with its pumping Buckethead-sounding bassline, seems to be coming to life! With Lukes skills on the effect driven guitar, it should turn out amazing.

So once we have some demos of our creations, no doubt they'll see the light of day on t'interwebs!

That's about all for now, so until next time, take care!

Bloggin' It Good.

Hey there! No doubt it's time for a new blog of mine.

Firstly, the band! We don't have a name yet, trying to choose the right one takes time, and it needs to sum us up to a degree. To go with an average name would be a crime for such an above average band, if I say so myself! The band consists of me on bass, Luke on guitar, and CJ on drums. Me and Luke are bouncing song ideas off each other, adding our own twists, and they sound pretty damn awesome. Me and Luke have varying tastes in music, let along playing styles, and to see them come together in the music we write is great!

The stuff we're coming out with ha a very stoner rock/avant-garde, even prog feel to it. It's such a different direction to the songs we made with the previous band, but it's definitely a genre I feel happier playing, and I'm enjoying it a lot too!

We're aiming to start recording some stuff next month, after all we have about 5 or 6 songs being written and finalised as we speak. All with working titles such as "Roller Disco", "Photographs", and an Ashes to Ashes vibe instrumental currently named "Ashes to Ashes" funnily enough!

It's so refreshing to be back playing bass, I feel so much more comfortable to be playing the instrument I started to learn over a decade ago. As opposed to guitar, there's no panic, no awkward mistakes or looking like a goon! I just stamp on my Metal Muff, and slap-pop away to my hearts content!

In other news, we have a big freeze going on in the UK! Mega amounts of snow and sub-zero temperatures. Global warming my arse.

That's all for now, take care all!

Jay.