A LONG time coming, the first Blood People ‘full length’ (a lot of classic albums are only 8 tracks long) is out! Stream it for now, vinyl in the new year. Some of these songs are years old, live standards, some of them are brand new, never heard before, but all of them sound like Blood People. Twas a pleasure to record and a dream to mix. There’s a decent amount of hardware involved. A lot of the weird delays are from my Roland DEP-5, and all of the theremin haunting is courtesy of Mr. Springy 500 series spring reverb. Mr. Springy on The Remin!
I recently joined a band called Lavisher, on the drums, and we wrote an album. I was insistent that I didn’t want to record, I just wanted to play drums, so we went to Bricktop Recording in Chicago to work with Pete Grossman. The drum room there is incredible. Very high ceilings, one big brick wall. The room mics are the snare sound. It was a very ear-opening experience. Then we went to Ohmstead to track guitars with Adrian Kobziar, another humbling and educational experience. We tracked vocals at Chucks and Adrian mixed the whole thing pretty quickly. Listen to Lavisher – Aligned & Vital on all the usual streams, or buy the vinyl from our bandcamp.
The new Beat The Smart Kids album is done, tentatively titled ’30 minutes or less’, a double entendre referencing the short run time and their propensity for ordering pizza. They’re waiting on the vinyl to release it in the new year, but wanted to get a single out before they made their <a href=’https://www.facebook.com/thefestfl/‘>Fest</a> debut. Listen to Bad Influencer on their bandcamp.
Whipped’s fourth EP, Bad Altar, is available in all the places, including bandcamp, where you can pick up a 12″ vinyl record, with our second EP, Future No Brainers, on the flip side. Two EPs for the price of one!
I’ve been playing bass for Still Alive for a few shows. I believe I am Still Alive’s 17th bassist. Our friend Eric did a decent stint as bassist (he preferred a six string) until he died in 2019. This song is a tribute to him.
The Beat The Smart Kids album, HOT DEATH, as well as being available on all streaming platforms, now lives on 45 rpm slime green 12″ vinyl. Head over to their bandcamp and grab one for yourself.
Some of the music I wrote back in October in Brighton for Extreme is finally up on their website. This is seriously the best I can do for a link. I really don’t understand why wordpress won’t let you html anymore.
The new Down I Go album, Aum Shinrikyo is now up on bandcamp. I had a nice listen to it on the train from Brighton on Friday, having heard it a million times over the last three years, but until now only critically. Now it has been released into the wild I could hear it in a different context, and actually enjoy listening to it.
It was a long process, given that we demoed it (obviously) and then rerecorded it in three different countries. Unfortunately the record label that was due to release it, and press it on vinyl, backed out at the last minute when the Czech pressing plant asked for the lyrics, to check we weren’t promoting the activities of a murderous cult. I’m bummed it won’t gain the legitimacy of a physical release on a record label, or reach any new audiences, but our loyal international diaspora of dedicated fans has already received it with enthusiasm, and I am grateful for their support.
It was the first record that I was properly able to mix with my hybrid system at Chuck’s, with all the important stuff like kick, snare, bass, stereo drum and vocal buses going through hardware, and a UAD LA-2 legacy plug in on almost everything else. I’m still ironing out the kinks, but it’s a joy to see those LEDs flash and those needles twitch.
Click on the picture of the needlepoint psychopath and have a listen.
The new Bossa IV album is out today, on all your streaming platforms, but more importantly on bandcamp, where you can give him money for it, just click on the picture.
Bossa IV is a one man band, which made recording during a pandemic slightly easier, even though Matt got covid so many times I made a beer called ‘Matt’s got Covid Again’ during one of our aborted mix sessions. It was a strong brown ale, if you’re interested.
Chuck's Vegetable Stand 