Now I Dream About The Holidays
We’ve hit the rehearsal studios again to prepare for a gig in February, but I reckon its still good to just catch up and see where everybody’s at. Of course, it is also very exciting when Noel comes in with a new song, and we’ve more or less laid down a rough arrangement for a song called “Holiday”, and maybe work some covers into our set as well. Yippie kay yay.
Taking a new step…
Things are definitely getting better for the band. Because of the need for them, we decided to get down to record what is known to be demos for the songs, It’s Always Summer, Unlike Other Guys & One Live Baby.
I managed to get a friend’s help to record my drum parts on Wednesday night, recording at the studio at my workplace. Initially I didn’t have much high hopes for the drum sound, but after my friend did some EQ-ing, they turned out pretty ok.
But what’s surprising is that it fit in well with the parts previously recorded by Noel, Mel & Brian. I’m glad that the demos are finally taking shape, & personally, I’m also excited that the band is progressing beyond jamming to taking the next step into recording.
Can’t wait for you folks to hear the demos…that is, if you’re interested
What didn’t happen, what could happen
Maybe my writing about ZoukOut jinxed it. Maybe it was always too good to be true. How could a band that barely just played its first gig be playing in front of 26,000 people next? It was probably for the better that it didn’t happen. Who knows what fools we would have made of ourselves?
Well, you can get an idea as soon as next month.
We’ve got another gig lined up. And possibly also a third in late January.
Preparing a demo (sort of)
After the last gig, a friend of mine who works at Zouk asks if we wanted to play ZoukOut. Of course, we would. He asked for audio recordings of our songs. Problem is, we don’t have any. The plan was always to gig what we can to hone our set, and then go to a studio. So the week had been spent putting together what we can on my home computer. It sounds all right so far, I just wish I had a subwoofer, because the HS50M’s really lack in bass. It makes monitoring near impossible.
We’re going with three songs: It’s Always Summer, One Live Baby, Unlike Other Guys.
Hopefully these three songs would be enough to get us a gig; if not, it’s a good exercise for us anyway. Apparently most places need a demo these days before you’re allowed to play. Maybe it’s because we have so many bands in Singapore these days, that it helps to filter things a little. It was different in the 90’s. Probably because there weren’t as many bands then, or that bands weren’t ever really expected to bring in a crowd.
I suppose it’s the latter. Coz then we didn’t have BayBeats.
This is the latest logo, and probably the one we’re gonna stick with. It’s done by Joanne Tay, who some may know to be Little’s girlfriend. Anyway, they celebrated their 10 years anniversary as a couple a few weeks ago.
First show rocked
Several old friends came to watch. That alone would have made the night special.
The set started slow: we were told to turn our guitars up; I struggled with an out-of-tune string. Still, by the third song, the audience began to clap along. The night ended with Teenage Kicks.
We were beaming after the 25-minute set. We couldn’t do an encore, because we hadn’t prepared anything else. Seven songs in total. Six of which were originals.
When can we play again?
This is us playing “It’s Always Summer,” technically the newest song of the night.
Debut Gig: Keeping It Peel!
3 More sleeps to our first gig! Okay, we’ve been busy rehearsing our set, and also getting our photos taken just so we can.. be sort of a band. Like you have to do band things before you can call yourself one.
So anyways, a debut gig’s always an exciting step forwards for a band. For starters, it’s months of hard work, writing songs and rehearsing them so they sound just right. Sure, we won’t be a finished product, but your first gig is how I imagine a birth to be. Not that i’ve had babies, but y’know..
Anyways, we play the Prince Of Wales, Thursday October 8 at 9pm. We play a mean set of 90’s inspired Brit-Rock. Well, that’s how I describe it, it’s really just alternative rock, there’s just so many different substyles.
If you’re coming down, let us know on the Facebook events page!
Things falling into place
Preparation for the coming first gig is underway. Had a proper photo-shoot today with Little at Colbar. We arrived at 9 AM and found that they only open at 11 AM. So we shot what we could on empty stomachs and parched throats before breakfast at Holland Village Food Centre. This is technically our second session with Little; he had come to our practice session once, which was when he shot this:
We have also created a Shelves page on Facebook.
It seemed necessary (or useful) after Ben put up our gig: Keeping It Peel 2009
Gig confirmed
We’re totally going to be playing at Prince of Wales, 8 Oct. Together with two other bands: Midnight Marvel and We GANG. I haven’t heard of either, but Ben says we’re lucky coz the latter brings in the crowd. I like its name a lot. Show starts 9 PM. I think we have the second slot.
The date came as a bit of a surprise, a week earlier than we had expected. It meant we had to pack in more practice before the gig. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Everyone seems game to make this work. I want to make this work.
We were asked to submit a band picture but didn’t have one. Thankfully, Little (fFurious) agreed to help. It’s certainly not the first time he has, having created my EP cover art while I was playing as Silverspy, subsequently taking pictures for me right through to Suchness. I doubt there were a band in the 90’s he hadn’t shot.
Unfortunately, this shoot won’t happen until next weekend, which meant we had to submit another image: the logo. Fortunately, more than one friend spotted that it was a bit too close to BooksActually. (It really was.) Out of nowhere, Robin did this, which we used:
First gig on the horizon
Got an email from Robin while I was in Edinburgh. We could be playing in October at Prince of Wales pub. A John Peel tribute gig. This couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.
We quickly settled on six songs and practised the set today. It has been over a month since we last played together. There were mistakes all over the place. We should get it right in time for our first show. I should also finish writing the lyrics to some of the songs. Can’t be singing gibberish through the set. (I got away with that once, performing at HMV with an earlier band. Made up sentences while looking at the CD rack. It’s a bit of effort.)
This is a video from my favourite band of the moment: The xx. It’s great to hear minimal pop.
