Great Couple of days...
...We're still looking for a drummer. Alex is playing out of his skin at the moment. Probably because the pressure is off. Really don't want him to go but have to respect he sees his future elsewhere.
On Monday we modeled Firetrap's Autumn/Winter Denim collection. This was a great laugh. We turned up at this mansion on London's Portland Place where parking spaces say 'Diplomats Only'. We loaded our gear in and set up. It was an amazing room. Big leather couch, Big fireplace, Old record player set up with vinyl scattered around it (including Bruce Springsteen's 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town', made me feel at home). After we set up and soundchecked, we had to put the clothes on. I had to squeeze in to a pair of women's 32 inch skinny jeans. The men's ones were too baggy for me. But the women's ones....Ouch. I had this tight black T shirt and a cool looking black jacket. Very moody. I had my haircut and had my make up done. Ha! Make up! I had this black eye liner and foundation and lip colour. Might get used to it.
At about 6pm, the models walked in. We had these 3 girls who were our 'groupies'. They had to dance around and hang with us. Giles got their numbers.
We played our set 2 or 3 times and jammed a couple of old tunes and mucked around with a few ideas. It went down really well. At one point we had the whole place bouncing. Everyone came in to the room and started dancing. Great fun. We'll have some photos very soon so I'll post a link.
Yesterday I drove Giles, Laurie and myself to Bath, South West England to do a radio interview and record some acoustic session tracks. We're playing Bath University Radio's 5th Anniversary Gig on Sat 11th Feb, so they got us in to have a chat. We did 3 tracks: 'First Move', 'New Way' and 'Do It'. We talked about what was going on with the band and the future etc. It's great doing interviews. The more you do, the more relaxed and comfortable you get talking about what you do. The show will be aired very soon and will be archived on the university's website. www.1449urb.com
I've set up a myspace page for songs that don't get used by the band. All tracks are recorded in my room. I've got a little studio where I lay down ideas. The tracks that are up there at the moment are from a few years back and the band have actually played them. Except for 'Cry For Help'. I haven't even played that song to the band yet. I know it won't be a 'Vibrants song. Anyway, check it all out at www.myspace.com/sammyholt and please add me!
posted by Sam at
1/25/2006 10:36:00 AM
5 Comments:
Sam - I'm commenting on yer comment from Plum Flower Dripping...
You guys do have a few things going in your favor. You got a hot band, well connected, in a good location.
It's not like ME trying to find a drummer in northern Minnesota!
Still, there's a certain urgency or you'll lose the momentum.
Sounded like a cool gig! I did make-up and flash clothes 10 years ago with Flooding Opera. Made for some bizarre video!
I was at yer myspace site, or close anyway, but the computer went glitchy that day. I'll try again and hey if you wanna see Ticharu on a webcam doing a song for Aliandrex go to ticharu.blogspot.com and follow the link embedded in the post title 'If You See Her Muse'
Keep yer pecker up!
Listening to your MySpace songs now. Very cool demos.
Just listened to the Arctic Monkeys, sure you've heard of em. call me an old fuddy duddy, but I think you guys blow them away.
New drummer will work out, your time will come. I know it.
Just got back from MySpace and listened to EVERYTHING. You have a great voice and a strong songwriting sense. It reminds me of Sean Lennon's solo.
The drum programs were the only drawback but I'm sure you're aware of that. You're using the programs to replace a natural drummer but programs are an artform apart from what a live drummer can do. Push the drum loops outside or use hand percussion. I mean, you've already got a psychadelic sound, you could push it to the next level. The layers and the colors are well crafted and the vocals are lush and beautiful. If the percussion sounds were more unique...
You'll Be Here is awesome Sam. All the songs were great, but that one stands out. Great work mate.
I don't crave a natural sound so much as a unique sound. Your sound is imaginative. That's what I like about it. I'm saying, put the same creative edge into your percussion tracks whether or not they're programmed.
Leaving off the percussion works for a lot of stuff, and simple hand percussion also works for a lot of stuff.
I find the only way to make drum programs work is to forget about it taking the place of a drummer and use the machine as an instrument and artform itself.
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