It's Been A While Eh?

Good morning peoples! I've been meaning to start my blog back up recently; so I thought no time like the present.


Well, where to start?! I've finally moved out of the shit hole that is Brownhills, moved in with my beautiful girlfriend Janine, and to top things off.. I will be a Dad come September!! I can't wait, he'll be the most awesome baby ever :). I get to turn him into a Villa fan, teach him bass, and be a generally crazy dude just like his Dad!

Ahh.. so how can things get better than that? Well life's good with the band, we headlined our first gig a month back, we're coming out with some great new material and things are really moving forward. We've done some rough demos of our tracks; here's our best one so far "Torment"!

So there's a quick catchup on how life has panned out for me for the past 8 months or so. Catch ya laters!

Long Time No Blog!

Good evening peeps! It's been a very long time since I last posted an update on ye olde Blogger, so here we are!

Where to start.. How about music?! After a jaunty split of the jam band I was in "Calculon", I decided to jump back on the band bandwagon! I posted up a classified and awaited replies. In total I had about 7 or 8 offers, some small bands, some playing gigs in the Academy in Birmingham and such-like. Anyway, I chose to audition for this alternative rock/metal band called The Sacred Sun.

The first audition went terrible, I wasn't with it that day and I didn't do myself any justice. After that Saturday I was contemplating hanging up the bass for good, my confidence had been given a serious blow. The guitarist from the band invited me back for a second shot, and it went really well. They offered me a place in the band, which I graciously accepted!

I chose them for a few reasons.. I saw the motivation in the band straightaway, they have a drive to succeed more-so than I've ever experienced. I mean, the last couple of bands I've been in have been alright, but there wasn't enough dedication being put in by some members, nor did I really feel I had much say in matters. This new band are still coming up from the roots, and I can tell it won't be long til we're gigging and making a name for ourselves! The material that we've got already is really good, all the guys know what they're doing and they execute it really well. I look forward to contributing my own writing to the band. It's a team effort, everyone has a say, bouncing ideas off each other and making some great music.

Moving on to a new development that came up just this week! I applied for a College course in Electrotechnical Technology, it's a part-time course working towards a BTEC in being a Sparky! I went along on Tuesday, and they seemed impressed with me. I got offered a place on the course that day and I should be starting it in September should all go to plan funding wise! It's definitely time for a career change, should it be where I am now or moving onto something completely different. 3½ years in the same job doing the same part-time hours is grating on me needless to say..

Cya for now guys!
Jay

Commence the Blog!

Hello readers! Yet another update from yours truly.

I thought I'd fill you in on events just before I head off to sleep..

In my last blog I admitted to being addicted to an MMORPG called Tibia.. Well my new addiction has moved onto a new game, FIFA 11! It took me a while to get into it, but I tell yee, there's nothing better than playing online. (And beating people in the most amusing/cruel ways possible! My PSN ID is metrule89 if anyone would like to befriend me on the Playstation network and maybe I'll give you a game! Oh, and here's my current stats for all you geeks out there.


Anywho, in other news, it's my week off work! And I'm enjoying it by being a lazy mofo. Mainly sleeping through half the day. Playing snooker with the lads from work tomorrow, so that should be a good laugh. Oh, and fingers crossed for my MOT on Friday! Lets hope Brenda the Green Machine can make it through!

I do tend to rabbit on about the scope of readers here, but I am delighted to see I have readers from not only the UK, but the US, Russia, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Croatia, Mexico and France! So for the international readers out there.. Спасибо! Merci! Danke! Tak! ¡Gracias!

Catch you on the next edition of.. My Uninteresting Blog.

Might Aswell Face It, I'm Addicted to Tibia!

Hello readers! I thought it was about time to write a new blog since my last post was Christmas Eve.

I'd like to start by confessing my new addiction; Tibia! It's an MMORPG with bogstandard graphics, however the actual gameplay itself is pretty damn good! It's more addicting than I was expecting, and I've been playing it pretty much every day for the last 2 weeks. Here's a little taste of what the graphics are like:





Anywho, in terms of the band, we seem to have settled on a name. That name is CALCULON. The name comes from a character on the TV cartoon Futurama (pictured). We're focusing on finishing a new song by Luke at the minute, named Rescued from the Dagon. It's a moderate-speed number, with really good melodies and chord progressions. I think it might well be the best song we've come up with so far!!



Not much else to report I'm afraid, I hope you have all had a great Christmas and New Year. Also welcome to my new readers from Russia, Germany and Mexico!!

Cya soon!
Jay

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.