Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Jago
Nicky's pal Jago is going to come along to practice on Thursday and set up his recording stuff. We're hoping to get a fair bit done. Nicky says he'll get the beat down for the 'Mirrorball', but he also wants to have a bash at 'Red', 'L.C.A' and 'Ashes'. Nicky may even nail 'Nigeria' and 'Dumb Angels' but we know that'd be tricky. But if they work then we've got all of those tunes out of the way and we can move on as a band. Wish us luck!
Friday, 27 March 2009
Pretty, Pretty, Pretty Good.
Last night's practice was our best for a long time. Instead of worrying about recording 'Mirrorball', we decided to see how far we could take the 4 new songs...
‘Mirrorball’ is now 100% finished and it was nice to play it as a whole band with Nicky on drums on Coz on backing vocals (Coz always seems to leave practice before we jam it and Nicky hasn't hadn't heard it since we added vocals) It’s sounds great! Nicky's drumming on top of the drum machine is so tight. He also manages to do some terrific fill-ins. Very LCD Soundsystem-esque...
We then worked on a new song that Coz had written on the Korg using the arpeggiator. She sang and played Korg whilst Sauce played guitar and Mark and Nicky played bass and drums respectively. Technically, it's the most advanced thing we've done biut it sounded really cheesy in a Coldplay/U2/M.O.R way (something I could imagine being played on MOTD2) We managed to de-cheese with me doing my Iggy Pop impression over the top and to work on the dynamics of the song. Lovely piece of guitar work by Sauce too.
Then we worked on ‘Stardust’ (it's about the David Essex film of the same name) but the trouble is I use exactly the same melody as Coz’s song. Looks like I’ll have to go back to the drawing board with that. We're happy with the music (it's just 2 chords) but we run the risk of sounding like Interpol or, worse still, The Editors (that'll be the Korg strings!) I'd like to meet up with Coz this week to see if we can't salvage it somehow.
We ended the night with the song with the first song we developed as a 5-piece. Mark takes on vocal duties this time. The verse reminds me of the verse to‘Scary Monsters’ and the chorus sounds like 'Peaches' by The Stranglers. Then it mutates into a Samba groove. Very different do anything we've done before.
Overall we’re really pleased with the way things are going. We've definitely developed a new sound now we have Coz and Sauce on board. We recorded each song on mini-disc and it was really interesting hearing them back. I think we're onto a winner!
‘Mirrorball’ is now 100% finished and it was nice to play it as a whole band with Nicky on drums on Coz on backing vocals (Coz always seems to leave practice before we jam it and Nicky hasn't hadn't heard it since we added vocals) It’s sounds great! Nicky's drumming on top of the drum machine is so tight. He also manages to do some terrific fill-ins. Very LCD Soundsystem-esque...
We then worked on a new song that Coz had written on the Korg using the arpeggiator. She sang and played Korg whilst Sauce played guitar and Mark and Nicky played bass and drums respectively. Technically, it's the most advanced thing we've done biut it sounded really cheesy in a Coldplay/U2/M.O.R way (something I could imagine being played on MOTD2) We managed to de-cheese with me doing my Iggy Pop impression over the top and to work on the dynamics of the song. Lovely piece of guitar work by Sauce too.
Then we worked on ‘Stardust’ (it's about the David Essex film of the same name) but the trouble is I use exactly the same melody as Coz’s song. Looks like I’ll have to go back to the drawing board with that. We're happy with the music (it's just 2 chords) but we run the risk of sounding like Interpol or, worse still, The Editors (that'll be the Korg strings!) I'd like to meet up with Coz this week to see if we can't salvage it somehow.
We ended the night with the song with the first song we developed as a 5-piece. Mark takes on vocal duties this time. The verse reminds me of the verse to‘Scary Monsters’ and the chorus sounds like 'Peaches' by The Stranglers. Then it mutates into a Samba groove. Very different do anything we've done before.
Overall we’re really pleased with the way things are going. We've definitely developed a new sound now we have Coz and Sauce on board. We recorded each song on mini-disc and it was really interesting hearing them back. I think we're onto a winner!
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
The Little Fat Man (With The Pug-Nosed Face) ~ (Bowie/Gervais/Merchant)
Little fat man who sold his soul,
Little fat man who sold his dream...
Pathetic little fat man,
No one's bloody laughing,
The clown that no one laugh's at,
They all just wish he'd die.
He's so depressed at being hated,
Fatso takes his own life,
He blows his stupid brains out,
But the twat would probably miss.
He sold his soul for a shot at fame,
Catchphrase and wig and the jokes are lame,
He's got no style, he's got no grace,
He's banal and facile, he's a fat waste of space
See his pug-nosed face...Pug, pug, pug, pug,
See his pug-nosed face...Pug, pug, pug, pug,
See his pug-nosed face...Pug, pug, pug, pug,
The little fat man with the pug-nosed face, Pug, pug, pug, pug,
Little fat man, pug-nosed face, Pug, pug, pug, pug,
He's a little fat pug-nosed face, Pug, pug, pug, pug.
Little fat man who sold his dream...
Pathetic little fat man,
No one's bloody laughing,
The clown that no one laugh's at,
They all just wish he'd die.
He's so depressed at being hated,
Fatso takes his own life,
He blows his stupid brains out,
But the twat would probably miss.
He sold his soul for a shot at fame,
Catchphrase and wig and the jokes are lame,
He's got no style, he's got no grace,
He's banal and facile, he's a fat waste of space
See his pug-nosed face...Pug, pug, pug, pug,
See his pug-nosed face...Pug, pug, pug, pug,
See his pug-nosed face...Pug, pug, pug, pug,
The little fat man with the pug-nosed face, Pug, pug, pug, pug,
Little fat man, pug-nosed face, Pug, pug, pug, pug,
He's a little fat pug-nosed face, Pug, pug, pug, pug.
Recordings, or lack thereof...
This band is notoriously bad for actually recording anything that could be played on the radio or in the club . The last time we recorded a decent EP was in the autumn of 2006, when we were just a 3-piece. THAT'S 3 YEARS AGO!!! 'Canis De Sexus' was recorded in both Gloucester and Bristol and was mixed by Stephen from Countryside who proved, you can polish a turd...
To be fair, Mark and I put a lot of work in getting nice sounds for the bass and guitars, it was just that we were working with a rather poor drum track (the snare sounded awful, a bit like Lars Ulrich's snare on 'St. Anger') When it came to the mix, Stephen used all kinds of tricks on Pro Tools to get the EP to sound the way it is today and we also decided to record most of the vocals on his good mics. We were really pleased with the way it turned out and we were lucky enough to hear it's tracks played on the BBC and at Socialism @ The Thekla throughout 2007.
The rest of that year saw Sarah joining the band and Jimmy leaving, who was eventually replaced by Nicky in September 2007. We spent the rest of year trying to write to material as well as getting Nicky comfortable with our back catalogue so we could play a gig. The new songs were mediocre at best apart from 'Nigeria', but we decided to plough on, looking forward to playing live in 2008 with our new drummer.
The debut gig came and went and we very pleased with the way we played. We were looking forward to playing a few more gigs and recording some of the new songs, as well as ones that were left off 'Canis' ('Ashes, 'B4', 'LCA') We achieved the former, but then Sarah left us for London. Before we knew it, it was June and it was time to put The Bitch on the back burner as we began rehearsing for our mate's wedding reception, under the guise of 'Prenup'. We had managed to demo the new EP on 4-Track but the only things that came out of it were crummy recordings of 'Nigeria' and 'Dumb Angels'...
Although it was a bit daunting, knowing we'd be a covers group for the next 6 months, Prenup was a good laugh and we recruited our friends Tony, Coz and Sauce to help us perform the songs the bride and groom had selected. It definitely made us better players and it was good for me to focus on my bass playing, whilst Mark sang more than he would normally. Nicky certainly blossomed as a drummer and Tony, Coz and Sauce really made us sound like a professional act, with their contributions on vocals, guitar, drums and percussion.
An opportunity came to record a new Bitch EP in Leeds in October but we somehow manage to lose the slots we booked. Rather than try to reschedule for December, we decided to forget about it and just focus on getting the Prenup right (which was now a 17 song strong set)
The wedding performance was a great success and we were asked to play again in January for our friend's 30th. That would be Prenup's final gig but we decided to recruit Coz and Sauce for The Bitch and now we find ourselves in a position of having a number of NEW songs that we want to record a..s.a.p.
Rather that traveling up to Leeds or asking someone to record us in the rehearsal space, I'm going to take on the role of producer. I feel I have learnt enough over the last few years to make a good Cubase recording and I'm sure Mark will be on hand to help me out as he co-produced 'Canis' with Stephen.
So this week, I will start recording the new Sexy Bitch record!!! I want to begin by recording the drum track for 'Mirrorball' and then taking it home to add the remaining instruments. I'm very excited as it's been a long time coming and I truly believe these new songs are some of the best we've done. I shall let you know how we get on...
To be fair, Mark and I put a lot of work in getting nice sounds for the bass and guitars, it was just that we were working with a rather poor drum track (the snare sounded awful, a bit like Lars Ulrich's snare on 'St. Anger') When it came to the mix, Stephen used all kinds of tricks on Pro Tools to get the EP to sound the way it is today and we also decided to record most of the vocals on his good mics. We were really pleased with the way it turned out and we were lucky enough to hear it's tracks played on the BBC and at Socialism @ The Thekla throughout 2007.
The rest of that year saw Sarah joining the band and Jimmy leaving, who was eventually replaced by Nicky in September 2007. We spent the rest of year trying to write to material as well as getting Nicky comfortable with our back catalogue so we could play a gig. The new songs were mediocre at best apart from 'Nigeria', but we decided to plough on, looking forward to playing live in 2008 with our new drummer.
The debut gig came and went and we very pleased with the way we played. We were looking forward to playing a few more gigs and recording some of the new songs, as well as ones that were left off 'Canis' ('Ashes, 'B4', 'LCA') We achieved the former, but then Sarah left us for London. Before we knew it, it was June and it was time to put The Bitch on the back burner as we began rehearsing for our mate's wedding reception, under the guise of 'Prenup'. We had managed to demo the new EP on 4-Track but the only things that came out of it were crummy recordings of 'Nigeria' and 'Dumb Angels'...
Although it was a bit daunting, knowing we'd be a covers group for the next 6 months, Prenup was a good laugh and we recruited our friends Tony, Coz and Sauce to help us perform the songs the bride and groom had selected. It definitely made us better players and it was good for me to focus on my bass playing, whilst Mark sang more than he would normally. Nicky certainly blossomed as a drummer and Tony, Coz and Sauce really made us sound like a professional act, with their contributions on vocals, guitar, drums and percussion.
An opportunity came to record a new Bitch EP in Leeds in October but we somehow manage to lose the slots we booked. Rather than try to reschedule for December, we decided to forget about it and just focus on getting the Prenup right (which was now a 17 song strong set)
The wedding performance was a great success and we were asked to play again in January for our friend's 30th. That would be Prenup's final gig but we decided to recruit Coz and Sauce for The Bitch and now we find ourselves in a position of having a number of NEW songs that we want to record a..s.a.p.
Rather that traveling up to Leeds or asking someone to record us in the rehearsal space, I'm going to take on the role of producer. I feel I have learnt enough over the last few years to make a good Cubase recording and I'm sure Mark will be on hand to help me out as he co-produced 'Canis' with Stephen.
So this week, I will start recording the new Sexy Bitch record!!! I want to begin by recording the drum track for 'Mirrorball' and then taking it home to add the remaining instruments. I'm very excited as it's been a long time coming and I truly believe these new songs are some of the best we've done. I shall let you know how we get on...
Monday, 23 March 2009
Artwork
I need to create some new artwork for our myspace and get some photos of the new line up.
I'm also thinking we should replace our mascot (the Siberian Husky) with an Accountant since Lights Action have recently been snapped with said dog (see pic)
We also have a song called 'Lights Camera Action' which is a bit unfortunate!
I'm also considering changing our name as our gigs never get printed in the evening post and I'm always embarassed when family and work colleagues ask what we're called.
Here's some ideas I've had:
Boris and The Johnsons
Yassassin (After the Bowie track)
Celebrataunts
United
Fridate
Avalon, Manifesto or Siren (After the Roxy Music albums)
N.E.W.S
Teachers
The Fascinators
Sportz
Italia 90
So what do you think? Shall we remain The Bitch or is it time to get ourselves a new moniker?
Friday, 20 March 2009
Mirrorball
We've actually finished one of the new songs! It's called 'Mirrorball' and, lyrically, was inspired by a damning Venue review where Sauce was compared to an Accountant. Musically it reminds me of Cola Boy
http://www.nme.com/video/id/-OQy8HMa3cI/search
We're going to start recording it this week so hopefully it'll be available on myspace next month...
http://www.nme.com/video/id/-OQy8HMa3cI/search
We're going to start recording it this week so hopefully it'll be available on myspace next month...
Friday, 13 March 2009
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