10 May 2012
As well as the photo shoot and interview with Taz yesterday there were smatterings of con jointed work which seemed at times like trying to play ping pong with butterflies blindfolded. Emails keep pinging out into the ether and I am starting to think I am like the Omega Man sometimes and there’s no one else out there!
Did finally get down and check the Derby filming and audio as it has now moved into position in the intended box set. Russell Cherrington the director was probably thinking I’d disappeared over the eternal horizon in the Clown Carrier as it has been so long since I was in touch re the footage.
It had been a while since I’d last looked at it but with the Studio Sessions moving forward I needed to follow up with the next wave of mixing otherwise I was going to lose momentum.
The Pro tools sessions from Derby are now on their way up to Calum and I am locked into a visit to Russell’s in Carlisle after the Glenn Hughes shows to go through micro editing on footage that will stand perfectly with the Spittalrig sessions and the Glasgow IAEFTL speech and interviews which I now have permission to release.
The Derby set is from December 2010 and it’s really interesting to hear the versions of the songs in early stages and against their evolution in the set throughout 2011!
Set list “Chocolate Frog”, “State of Mind” “Somebody Special”, “Jumpsuit City”., “Slainthe Mhath”,”Brother52″, “Vigil”, “Punch and Judy”, “Out of My Life”, “Incubus”,”Jigsaw”,”Pilgrims Address”,”Gentleman’s Excuse Me”, Kayleigh”,”Lavender” and “The Company”.
There are a couple of guitar and keyboard repairs that will take a few hours one morning but the set is pretty good and totally different projection energy wise from the studio recordings. Strange hearing us finding the dynamic at the end of “Special” which we were just starting to try out. 52 has a tentative confused “everyone stare at each other ” moment and there’s some interesting on stage banter! :-0
“Just Good Friends” was in the set list on the night but it’s questionable due to a couple of horrendous mistakes that would make milk curdle!
I still have to go through the material for the “Miscellaneous” DVD but these are all taken from various sources and don’t require mixing, just EQ’ing.It’s still a chunk of time to sift through what I have and to chase other sources!
Gavin Griffiths is on his way up, picking up his kit from York en route, so we start our move into the rehearsal space tomorrow. FTC and Clown Carrier will be managing the monitor set up.I’ll probably not be in there working until Sunday, allowing the band to come together and work out arrangements before I start chanting!
It’s going to be a busy time as I also have to deal with my own workload from here in the morning before I go down to the borders.
Off to Edinburgh now to buy a tripod for the Sony DVD camera so we can film rehearsals and the upcoming gigs. Luckily the FTC found my pro mikes I got from Henk Tempelman in Holland in a flight-case that I thought I’d lost at Leamington last convention.
The Leamington tickets are going to the printers next week so should be ready before the end of the month.
I have decided to price them at £60 inc vat for the weekend.
The tickets are laminates which will come with a lanyard and should be retained to get you in and out over the weekend.
I already have 2 bands confirmed as special guests and am negotiating with other “artists” to see if we can come up with a really varied menu of entertainment to carry us across the two full days.
Saturday doors are at 12 and Sunday doors at 1pm. Special Guests will be on stage at 7 and I will be on stage at 8.45.
Both nights will be full electric outfits but I will be playing an acoustic set on Saturday afternoon.
With a bit of luck and some serious hard work I intend to play most of the material from “Feast of Consequences” over the weekend as we will be writing throughout July, August and September.
There will be a premier of “Electric Man” on the Sunday afternoon which I think could be an ideal piece of eye candy for those with hangovers from the previous night!
More details will be posted as well as information on buying tickets in the coming week.
It’s a highly busy time and everyone is buzzing and looking forward to the electric shows in the next 2 weeks.
I must admit having that nervous high at the prospect of a dramatically different approach with songs some of which I haven’t played for a very long time.
For now it’s a drive in the rain to Auld Reekie and listen to the songs on the car CD player. Nice to get reacquainted again 🙂