This Burning Age

I’m writing this when I should be getting ready for our gig tonight but I’m still full of piss and vinegar from last nights gig (having to restrain myself from leaving the stage and tearing into a group of uneducated Gumby-a-like’s of both sexes who thought shouting at each other loudly during acoustic sets was the height of social etiquette. Twats.) and moved to comment on a subject that’s close to my heart, so apologies if it seems rushed. Case in point, Radiohead’s new album release, “The King of Limb’s”: http://www.thekingoflimbs.com/DIGBP.htm

This is EXACTLY the kind of thing I’ve been banging on about for the last three years and what I believe is the way forward. Make something beautiful. Fuck the lazy bastards who bemoan the state of the industry and dwindling physical sales yet keep on grinding out the same turgid releases in standard Jewel cased CD’s with about as much forethought as they give to what they’re having for breakfast whilst refusing to accept the changing model. Embrace downloads! But even then don’t do it half heartedly. A couple of free tracks and a CD just doesn’t cut it anymore. Smashing Pumpkins have gone down this route with Teargarden by Kaleidyscope (a series of 44 individual songs, released one track at a time through free MP3 downloads over the course of several years accompanied by physical, limited-edition EPs, each containing four of the songs) and Radiohead, who scared the industry white-faced with their way of releasing “In Rainbows” has now pushed the envelope further again: a choice of mp3 or WAV downloads with or without the deluxe physical release (a “newspaper” edition which will contain two 10-inch vinyl records in a special record sleeve, many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork, a compact disc, and a colour piece of oxo-degradable plastic package).

Make it lavish. Make it an experience. Make it fucking ART!

I’ll go and have a lie down now. Shit, I can’t…gig-wards.

F x

Patience seems to be paying off. It’s taken a while but my studio finally seems to be pulling together, piece by excruciating piece. Today was a big step. I’d had it in mind to modify the corner table that came the other week and replace the movable keyboard shelf with something a little more accomodating, going from small and QWERTY to large and a little more KORG-Y. I managed to rope my Dad into the build and two afternoons, much scratching of heads and plenty of saw dust later we cracked it. And, surprisingly for any DIY that I’m involved in, it not only works but looks great to boot.

So, with table now in place we manhandled the recent delivery of concrete blocks into two equal piles, threw over a couple of mis-matched black sheets (will sort out something a bit better at a later date) and positioned my new Adam A7’s. Turns out I miscalculated the height and number of blocks required as the tweeters are just shy of being level with my ears. Not a major worry though as another two blocks each side will do the trick. Adam A7’s+Concrete Blocks+Concrete Floor should tick all the boxes in the sound quality stakes though my ls3/5a’s which have been relegated to the desktop are now in need of decoupling. All that remains is to finish wiring things up and I can start syncing the Kontrol 49 to my DAW (Cubase 5) not to mention the other Steinberg, Native Instruments, IK Multimedia and Korg Legacy plug-ins which all have off the shelf templates ready to go. Another step closer to studio bliss. [contented sigh]

Gary Moore died today. His name only came up in a discussion last week and it was still fresh in my mind when I heard the news. I’ve never listened to enough of his material to become a fan but I do know he’s influenced a fair few of the guitarists I hold in high regard. R.I.P. Gary.

Just a brief blog today as it’s late and I’m tired as Hell. First rehearsal with new drummer Tim today and it went really well. Doesn’t seem like it will be long before we’re back to running at “full capacity” which is a great feeling after these months in limbo.

Was so tired after getting home I just about managed to eat before collapsing fast asleep. However, woke up at 11pm with the stomach wrenching worry that usually accosts me late at night: that I can almost hear the ticking of The Clock/the grains falling in The Hourglass/”insert your own mortality cliché here”. It’s truly, truly horrible. When it comes I can’t rest, I can’t settle, I have to do something “productive” or else it remains like a monkey on the proverbial back. So, tonight’s fix involved scouring the ‘Net to collate a list of 30 (yes, 30) well respected UK music bloggers, complete with all salient details and compose a message to each, the crux of which asked them for their address to enable me to send them a copy of the album for review. After working solidly on it for the past 2 hours I’m so tired I feel like I’m going to throw up but I think I’ve just managed to quieten the deafening roar. Book and bed.

On Sunday I was mostly assembling studio furniture whilst listening to Rammstein. I’m not sure if heavy N.D.H. is necessarily conducive to the required attention to detail needed but if it all falls down in a week at least I’ll have something to blame. I’m not exactly built for D.I.Y. but I managed to get from this:

to this:

without too much swearing, bruised thumbs, wailing or gnashing of teeth. Having to be incredibly careful of finances as I’m sailing a bit close to the wind in that regard at the moment but fingers crossed I’ll soon be adding an SM Pro M-Patch 2 http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec06/articles/smprompatch.htm into it for reasons I’ll get to in a bit…

Did my first radio phone interview on Tuesday. I’m not entirely sure why I was more nervous sitting in the comfort of my own home than being ensconced in an unfamiliar control room but that’s what happened. Luckily all jitters fled as soon as I got on the phone but the half hour leading up to it I was more nervous than a nervous thing. I “think” I just about got away without sounding too much of a tw@t and only had a couple of brief moments of brain freeze which I managed to fluff my way through. Massive thanks to Rich Williams at Vixen Radio for allowing me to plug the album and for playing one of our live acoustic tracks (it was the “Acoustic Hour” after all).

“The Solstice Bare”, the second installment of Smashing Pumpkins 44 song behemoth “Teargarden by Kaleidyscope” arrived on Wednesday courtesy of my truly wonderful other half. People are often bemoaning the impact digital downloads have had on physical sales. The answer? Make something beautiful that people want to own. It’s an approach I want to take with our releases and it definitely looks like it’s a view shared by Billy et al. Beautifully screen printed box artwork by Flavor Paper, equally gorgeous 12″ record art, 10,000 made worldwide and only 500 released in the UK. This is everything that music should be about. Something that makes your heart sing. Something to covet and care for, to listen and love.

Finally, tonight I set up my new, and very much needed, acquisitions: a pair of Adam A7 Nearfield Monitors: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov06/articles/adam.htm Bought second hand from a very nice chap off the “Sound on Sound” forums I am absolutely over the moon with them. In the end, with the budget I was working to, it had come down to a pair of Genelec 8020a’s and the Adam A7’s. I was familiar with the 8020a’s already (I’d mixed the first album with them) and the price was good but the A7s frankly blew me away. More comparable with 8030a’s but with better bass response and to me, more analytical and less forgiving (and at a price it would have been simply rude to refuse ). I couldn’t bear to part with my vintage Spendor ls3/5a’s and Quad 405 combo as they’re the best speakers I’ve ever used for mixing acoustic guitar, strings etc. but the A7’s bring a whole new dimension to the table and mean I can now get on with recording and mixing the second album with confidence. And the SM Pro M-Patch 2 I mentioned earlier? It’ll allow me to connect both sets of speakers to my DAW whilst giving me an all important analogue level control rather than having to rely on altering it via mouse in the on-screen mixer (not to mention a host of other useful bits of studio trickery). I just need to get some decent stands or wall brackets and I’m away!

It’s been a hellishly long time since I wrote in this Blog.

Getting back into writing and indeed maintaining what I think of as a “proper” blog i.e. an online diary that’s regularly updated with more than just a list of dry factettes, is something that’s been on my mind a lot recently. In fact, for a while now the thought has been popping into my head, niggling away at me and wagging a disapproving finger in the general direction of my lassitude so much so that I started to feel quite guilty for not doing anything about it. Guilt, actual guilt, proper laying awake at night guilt, and all over something as simple as not maintaining my blog. Almost unbelievable but sadly true, I’m a psychotherapists wet-dream. But for some reason it just seemed so difficult to do.

After a bit of a think (not too much of one, hopefully I’m not quite that self-absorbed, but then again, I’m writing a blog so I guess it comes with the territory) I came to the conclusion that part of the trouble was that previously I’d been writing about the band and the band alone. Restricting the content had pretty much muzzled my natural train of thought. So, I’ve decided to start again, v2.0 if you will, and I’m going to be writing about anything and, lawks, everything. As the band and my music are so inextricably a part of what makes me, me, you’ll (that’s if there is even a you out there reading this) still hear me waffle on about the day to day ins and, as is often the case, outs of This Burning Age but, by the same token, you might here about an interesting book I’ve read, who I’ve just met, or what I had for lunch (hopefully not too much of the latter…and a bacon sandwich today if you really must know).

It almost sounds like a plan. Hopefully enough of one to keep me returning here.

I’ll ease myself into proceedings gently by keeping things short and, hopefully, sweet this time. And none is sweeter than the “nicest man in rock”, Dave Grohl. I’m currently in the midst of sorting out my home studio as we’ve started to make tentative steps into recording tracks for the second album as a band (although I’ve been plugging away on my ownsome at making rough demos, about 10-12 tracks, that might be possible candidates for inclusion for the past 6 months or so) so when I stumbled upon this video on the NME’s site of Dave Grohl taking us on a tour of HIS home studio (his garage) it got my attention. The guy is a bit of a God anyway but his “screw it, lets just make the album here” attitude struck a chord with me. Ok, he has the benefit of a garage with two floors which you could comfortably live in plus thousands upon thousands of pounds worth of ridiculously expensive studio equipment (analogue gear heads may well start feeling warm and fuzzy about half way through the vid) but, essentially, he’s doing it himself. Which is what I want for us as a band for this next album. Don’t get me wrong, if a label suddenly appeared offering us the use of a cutting edge studio with hot and cold running producers and engineers I doubt I’d say no (that is as long as they weren’t about to get the BIG calculator to work out how much we’d then owe them and how old we’d actually be before we paid the debt off. Which seems to be the norm with these things) but the idea of doing it all ourselves is still incredibly appealing. I guess because I made the first album when it was just me and the producer in a small room in his house with less gear than I have now that it’s doubly so.

There’s a link to the video below. Definitely worth a look if you have the time and fingers crossed it won’t be so long till I’m back doing the blogging thing like it’s, er, 2004. Or something.

http://www.nme.com/nme-video/dave-grohl—exclusive-studio-tour/757688254001

F x

As you may already know, we have two very exciting gigs on the horizon: an “Emma Scott Presents” show at the Slade Rooms in Wolverhampton on September 3^rd and an Academy 3 appearance with the incredible “Heights” in Birmingham on September 7^th.

It’s always our aim to try and give as much back as we can to fans of our music. With so much available through digital download we feel that any physical release, whatever it may be: promo, single, EP or album, should be something a bit special. And when times are hard and money is tight we genuinely appreciate it when anyone comes to see us play live so, as a thank you we’re running a joint promotion for these two September shows offering everyone the chance to own some very limited edition “This Burning Age” releases and merchandise when they buy their tickets.

And without further ado, this is what we have for you:

Here’s a rundown of what’s in the photo:

1. A 3 track Promotional CD for the album “A Muzzle For The Masses” signed by the band. Previously only available through our Press Releases within the industry the CD comes in a professionally printed sleeve with custom artwork and is from the first and final print run of only 100 (subsequent copies will feature different cover art). This hasn’t, isn’t and will never be made available for sale. It’s a very limited run and once they’re gone they’re gone.

2. A 3 track Live Acoustic CD taken from the “5^th Day Records Sessions”. Featuring live acoustic versions of “End Game”, “Repeat to Fade” and “Panic (Bring On The Bomb)” the CD is a strictly limited run with every cover numbered accordingly. Each one comes in a cardboard pocket emblazoned with an “Anarchy A” wax seal which are all hand stamped and taken from a Master Seal hand carved by myself with the back cover signed by the band. Like the Promotional CD these are unavailable to buy and won’t be replicated.

3. A full colour, professionally printed, A3 size Promo Poster for “A Muzzle For The Masses” signed by the band.

4. 5 hand-made “Art-Polaroid’s”, made by myself and each signed by the respective band member (doodles and other snippets of written ephemera may well work their way in depending on the person…you have been warned! ).

5. A 38mm metal pin badge branded with our “This Burning Age” logo.

6. A custom made guitar pick in black printed with our “Anarchy A” design.

7. Our debut 10 track studio album “A Muzzle For The Masses” in CD Digipak format with 6 page rollfold booklet (containing full lyrics and photo artwork), signed by the band.

And so to the offer itself:

Buy 3 tickets (at £5 each) for you and two friends (or more) for the “Emma Scott Presents” gig at the Slade Rooms in Wolverhampton on September 3^rd and you’ll receive the following bundle:

3 Track Album Promo CD

5 Hand Made “Art-Polaroid’s”

1 Badge

1 Plectrum

Buy 3 tickets (at £4 each) for you and two friends (or more) for the “Heights” gig at the Academy 3 in Birmingham on September 7^th and you’ll receive a different bundle:

3 Track Live Acoustic CD

A3 size Album Promo Poster

1 Badge

1 Plectrum

If you buy 3 (or more) tickets for BOTH gigs then in addition to receiving the two bundles you’ll also get a FREE copy of “A Muzzle For The Masses” signed by all the band.

To buy tickets for either show email me on: in-formation@thisburningage.com and I can give you the Paypal details and find out where you’d like it all sent (this offer is only available on pre-ordered tickets bought directly from us and isn’t available if bought through other ticket sales companies). There will be NO Post and Packaging charges for anything as I’m going to cover it. I just want people to come along, enjoy the nights and have something that is hopefully a little bit special to keep as a memento.

Friday x