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...