Blog update (part 2)

The next gig I saw was of a rather different genre. The headlining band I had seen last year, with Karnivool. I went with my dad, and it just happened that the friend I saw TesseracT with last year was there too. I'll be honest that the main reason I went was because Animals as Leaders were playing. 

One interesting part of the lineup was the opening act, Navene-K. This is an electronic solo project by Animals as Leaders ex drummer. He makes a lot of use of looping and playback software, playing a prerecorded electronic track in the background, playing guitar and looping it, then playing drums, encorproating electronic samples with it. I was mostly interested in hearing this because it was something NEW. People playing live drums along to electronic music isn't particular new to me, however what he was doing, creating almost all of the performance himself through his extensive looper use was. I'm interested in this as lately with issues organising a band, I've been entertaining the idea of playing dual guitar songs myself, using loopers & of course writing songs suitable for that use. His set was pretty good. On YouTube had watched one or two sets that he had done ealrier during the tour, but often there can be fairly big differences between live and recorded performances, usually to do with the venue and the sound engineers. 

Next up were Animals as Leaders. Needless to say, their set was incredible. The played a lot of material from their latest album, which I was pleased by, as I think it is their strongest one to date. Tosin, their lead guitarist used a lot of looping, playing rhythms and doing solos over them while Javier, their second guitarist played the bass lines. The fact the group did not have, or need a bassist was interesting, as at times, both Javier and Tosin were playing heavy, chunky bass lines on their guitars using slap techniques. The tonal creativity their axe-fxs allowed must have contributed to this, but it was still impressive, for them to have such a full, heavy sound with a three piece band that rarely relied on a backing track. During one of the songs, Tosin also used a rather strange seven string guitar which I never knew about, which can't be described with words..

Seeing him pick it up and play it was a rather odd surprise for me. In my opinion, they were the highlight of the night, partially because this was my first time seeing them, but also because they were just so tight live. 

TesseracT were on last, with a change since I had last seen them. A little while ago during the summer, they announced that their vocalist, Ashe had left the band (on good terms). In his place they had got Daniel Tompkins, who had sung for them on their album One, before Ashe joined the band. It was interesting having heard both vocalists live as it showed up each of their strengths and weaknesses. I think that while Ashe sometimes found it hard to hit the really high notes, his voice flowed so well, and he sustained notes much longer than Daniel. On the other hand, Dan had a much stronger voice, hitting incredibly high notes, and also had a better growling voice. One thing I was not expecting was that Daniel, who sung a lot of harsh vocals when he was previously in the band, seemed to mostly be sticking to clean vocals, which I guess is because that is the direction the band is heading in. I can't honestly say I prefer the band with either of their lineups, they both have different advantages. 

The next gig going to is Parkway Drive, Northlane, Carnifex and Heaven Shall Burn in Bristol!

Blog update (Part 1)

It's been a while since I posted on here, so I felt an update is long due.

Over the last two months, I've been to some great gigs, beginning with seeing Opeth & Alcest on the 10th of October. It was the start of the first tour Opeth had done since two years previous, not counting a few festivals last year, which Mikael himself said didn't go too well for them.
I went with my dad, buying the tickets for him to pay him back. For me, Opeth were on my 'bucket list' and rightly so. Aside from being a great live band, sounding very close to the original records (to me the material they played from Pale Communion sounded exactly like on album!), their stage presence was great, Mikael being humorous & joking with the audience, despite how he repeatedly mentioned how nervous they were, given that it was their first non festival gig they had done in two years.
Their set list was quite odd, they varied it between all 11 albums they had done, nearly covering every one. This meant playing a lot of their older more metal material, which was great. However given that I wasn't so acquainted with their pre-2005 material, some of the songs I didn't know especially well, however that didn't detract at all from the performance.

Alcest were an interesting support act, to define their genre, I'd call them a shoegazey metal band, often referencing death and black metal styles. I had listened to some of their music before the gig, however most of their material was new to me. Considering how full and ambient their sound is, it was hard to perfect this at a gig. They did it well, and it sounded good aside from the vocals which were set a little too quiet.
The vocals were another interesting thing about the band; they were all in French. It was a nice change, rather than to see yet another non-English nationality band write their music in English instead of their native language. The French language & the way it flowed also suited the music.
An interesting point, as someone interested in guitars, amps & audio engineering, it was interesting to see their guitarists using Jazz Choruses and slamming them with pedals to get a distorted sound; I've never really heard many metal artists getting their tone that way.

Considering Opeth have been one of my favorite artists for quite a while, buying merch was a must. While I am a little against the idea of getting yet another black band T-shirt, I felt this one was deserving.

Opeth Setlist:
1) Eternal Rains Will Come
2) Cusp of Eternity
3) Bleak
4) The Moor
5) Advent
6) Elysian Woes
7) Windowpane
8) April Ethereal
9) The Devil's Orchard
10) The Lotus Eater
11) The Grand Conjuration

Encore:
Deliverance

Free verse poetry

Maybe they're normal. Or not? The stabbing wasn't, but he was mostly to blame
Either way it was the past
The crazy is still there though, definitely
Somehow loveable, despite the scars, despite the arrogance, despite the past
Outside the kings arms, they're hard to miss, with their stranger-brought JD & coke, smoking a cheap fag, a folded bike jacket in one arm

The room is messy & cluttered, nothing of particular significance
It's only temporary, it seems it always is, clothes half unpacked from boxes, draped carelessly across the few surfaces about the room
Not welcoming to stranger nor friend

Internal dialogue

"Well fuck, that's it ruined. What do I do now?" he said, in a hard, unchanging voice. In response, the other side of room replied "well ain't it fucking obvious? You change the game plan, that's nothing new to you!" "I suppose so" he sighed he replied. "Yeah, I know. I've been there before, It's tricky & a pain in the ass, but its for the best. Plus, you got out of there early, you certainly know what happens when you let obsessions take over.." he shuddered.
"Well, I suppose It's back to the start for me then. As you said, pain in the ass, but fuck it, its good experience for later works. Besides, I couldn't really see it fly anyhow, even if I was working with a fairly empty sketch.
"So what now then?"
"Who the fuck knows? Go about life as normal. Junk the old picture I started, find a new canvas to work on, and paint my life away! Besides, you know that other thing I've been working on..the self portrait..well yeah, that's pretty important to me still, so I've gotta get on with that. I need to sell it, earn myself a living!"
"That's the spirit! Last time I saw you were in this dilemma, you were so fucked up, broken even. That work, that you had put so much effort into, just..ended."
"Yeah, I was, I had spent seven months creating an overworked painting that looked terrible even in my designs, of course i'd feel shit when my attempts to fix an already ruined piece weren't working.

Thinking about it, it's great. Now I'm free to do anything. If I want I could be the next Picasso, or who knows, earn enough of cash off selling paintings, get a model girlfriend, spend my life partying!
As much as a good painting is great, I also fucking love a blank canvas. The boundaries are limitless."

Prog night!

A few weekends ago on the 28^th, I went to see Anathema in Southampton. The venue was a small (roughly 200 or so capacity) one called The Talking Heads.
I had been invited by my friend to come along with him & his parents. While I knew the band and had listened to a fair bit of their material (on his recommendation), this wasn’t a gig I’d usually think of going to myself. 

A three piece Austrian band called Mother’s Cake opened, who we only found out about a few days before the gig, when my friend saw pictures from previous tour dates. I can’t really define them in terms of genres, as they had a lot of different styles in their music, ranging from funk to prog & hard rock.

I couldn't find much of their music on the internet, so me & my friend were rather uncertain how good they would be. They honestly blew us away though, mixing funky vibes with ambient guitar and some Rage Against the Machine style rock.

Next up was Anathema they opened up fairly calmly with two songs off their latest album, before launching straight into two of their critically acclaimed songs, Untouchable, Part 1 & 2. As expected the crowd went wild. The rest of their set consisted mostly of their later, softer material, but they still played a few songs from the early 00’s, such as Closer & A Natural Disaster.
Near the end of their set, a man in the audience passed out from the heat as the room was so packed and hot. Vincent, the band’s main vocalist & second guitarist, immediately jumped off stage & helped the man out of the venue, which really was one of the those ‘the small things make all the difference’ moments.

Some of the best things their performance was the power of Lee & Vincents voices, especially with some of the beautiful harmonies they did. The strong voices added a lot more power to the overall sound.

The intimate venue also made it feel that much more special, as you connected directly with the band in a sense.

Sonically, the whole gig itself was great, as it was definitely loud (I had foolishly forgotten to bring my earplugs!), but there were no sounds that pierced your ears too much, as things such as vocals often do at gigs. There was also not a ridiculously overbearing amount of cymbal sound muddying the mix, as it often is with small venues.
I must say the audio engineers & stage technicians did a great job, as Vincent noted at the end of Anathema’s set.

At the end of the gig, I had a brief chat with Mother’s Cake and would have brought one of their CDs but didn’t have enough money with me at the time; however I did see small promotional posters for a gig I will be going to soon! I was quite happy with this, as it’s another poster to adorn my bedroom wall with. 

Anathema setlist:
1. The Lost Song, Part 1

2. The Lost Song, Part 2

3. Untouchable, Part 1

4. Untouchable, Part 2

5. Thin Air

6. Ariel

7. The Lost Song, Part 3

8. Anathema

9. The Beginning and the End

10. Universal

11. Closer

Encore:

12. Distant Satellites

13. A Natural Disaster

14. Take Shelter

15. Fragile Dreams

Next up on my gig list, is Opeth, on the 10^th of October! I'm looking forward to this very much, as they are on my 'see before I die' gig list.

2nd Week back

Today marks the end of my second week back at college. It's odd experience, some things changed but mostly the it's same place as it was a few months back.

One of the biggest noticeable changes is the first year students. Compared to last year, this years first years seem to be much younger & more immature. Then again, that may just be a natural way on looking at generations younger than you. It isn't much of concern though, as everyone does, they'll most likely grow more mature (or drop out) next year.

The college itself hasn't changed too much, the smoking area has been moved closer to the college, most likely to be able to monitor it and check if people are smoking weed (a pretty pointless idea, instead we just go up the road to the railway bridge to get high..)
My old hangout spot, the upstairs cafe has been altered very weirdly, they have scattered plant pots around the corners and put beanbags down there. While it doesn't subtract from the room, it doesn't add anything..it just looks weird now, which I support suits the place.

Personally, It's been a little strange. Seeing as the group of friends I had last year were 2nd years, they have now left, mostly for university, and I am stuck here with much less friends & people I knew.

Making new friends isn't an especially easy thing for me, but that's not at all to say its a bad thing. The fact I have to focus more on making efforts socially is a good challenge and will definitely be useful for when I go to university myself.

That's very much the story of this year; 'it'll be hard, but hopefully rewarding'. This is especially true with the education side of college, as I have a fair few long bits of coursework to do, some a bit more complicated than they need be, but as mentioned about: rewarding. As well as coursework,there will be exams to do at the end of the year, and on top of that, I hope to get a couple of songs written & recorded with my band, in time for next summer time, when we can hopefully open for some of my friends bands at some of their gigs.

I may be a little over ambitious, but if I work hard enough (that's the real question here!) I should manage it.

R.I.P.

Three weeks ago on the 22nd I had to bury my cat. She was 10 or older..the age where its been so long that you can't quite remember their age.

The previous Friday, she went out during a thunderstorm, and despite us calling her in, decided to stay out for the night. She never turned up in the morning. When I came home from visiting a friend in Bristol on Monday night, we found her outside the back door wanting to come in. She limped in through the door, and soon it was evident something wasn't right. We took her through to the kitchen and gave her a pot of milk and noticed she was bleeding. We assume a fox attacked her, but she got away.

When we arrived at the vets he checked her out and gave a diagnosis. She had fly strike, which is when flies attack a wound and lay their eggs in it. As the weather at the time was something like 30 degrees at the time, the eggs had hatched quickly, and to be blunt, she had maggots wriggling around in her ass. The vet said it was too late for anything reasonable to be done.

Watching her being put down was hard, but I just broke when my dad said something along the lines of "it'll be me next in another 10 or 20 more years". At the time, my mum was working, so as anyone would be, she was sad that she was not there at the time she died.

Dealing it wasn't easy, straight after supper on the night I went to look for her to play with her, and for about a week after I kept looking out of the windows at night, expecting her to be waiting to be let in.

To me, she was the closest thing I've ever had to a sister, and will be impossible to replace, whether it's personal attachment or not i'm not sure, however i've never found a cat that is more friendly, sociable, and relaxed than her.

R.I.P. Kitty, you will be missed.