Technology Is My/Our Friend

We've finally got the internet up and running in the new house. I don't have it yet myself, as the Ratcomputer is still waiting to return following its upgrade. It'll be good to get back online at home though, in the summer of 2005 I designed a new website for The Change, but then moved to London and didn't have a way of updating it.

I've found Myspace a really great alternative, vastly superior in many respects - I can actually get web traffic on it (as in people) - but there's no place like home, and with my buddies at Art Concept, I can do things with the web that are beyond the reach of a lot of people who like me don't have any money. I have some ideas for things that I'd like to do with a new site, but this time I think that I'll step back from designing it. Its a really big distraction, and we've got access to this fab piece of software that is going to make maintenance much quicker and easier. I'm sick to the back teeth of slow moving old Dreamweaver.

It'll also give me a chance to get my Independent Artists Company page up to speed before I try to flog -sorry, "release" - the mini opera on it.

Speaking of such, I was in a quandry the other day about how to record the demos for my Gate project, because I really need more scope than my analogue four track can provide. So...I've found the answer. And its gorgeous. The only decision now is whether I go for a 16 or 24 track unit. I may need to put the 24 track dream on ice for the moment, and use the difference in outlay to buy a couple of new extra microphones.

Once that's done, I'll be able to record demos like a God. Sadly, it'll be goodbye to analogue. No way that I can afford a 1/4 " analogue machine...or run it either. But I'd like to still use my old Tascam on occasion and master it onto the new studio. If only women were as warm to me as the sound of analogue recording.

It hasn't been a very hard decision to make about this studio. The question mark was over whether it would be better to buy some stage gear for the band, but that, I've concluded, should be a joint venture...and this studio is for personal use (and by extension the bands also).
I really wouldn't be able to embark upon this new creative path without this equipment, ofcourse there is always more equipment that I feel that I need...a synthesiser would open up whole new ball games in terms of the sound that I use, or maybe an organ (not likely to be able to fit a Hammond with a Lesley cab. in my room, I think). But this should be a good start. One other thing...it has a drum machine. And according to the average life expectancy for English men, I have 52 years left to learn how to use it.

I NEED MORE TIME!!!

Peace and Love,

Tom.

Bored

Boring job. Boring house. Boring walls. No music. No studio. Bored.

I need to inject something interesting into my week. Its very boring.
Its the price that you pay for not being able to record.

Am going to have to find something/someone interesting to do something with pronto. Maybe it would be nice if - for a change - it didn't involve waking up with a shitty hangover the next morning.

I watched 'V for Vendetta' last night. Good movie.

Ah, so I bought tickets for The Who at my beloved Roundhouse yesterday. I really can't explain how much I love that place. I researched it a lot for my thesis. The Who's gig in October will be forty years to the month since they played there with Pink Floyd, Cream, and The Move, with Gustav Metzger doing the light show. Its a small venue too, so it'll be a nice change from seeing Messrs Townshend & Daltrey in a big field.

The problem with boredom is that it encourages idiocy to create distractions.
Bollocks.

Tom.

The Who At The Roundhouse!

I've got my fucking tickets ya bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tom.

Nasty!

Woke up this morning quite late - my hours have changed, so I get a lie-in - because I'm going to be working a bit later than before.

Was all set to walk across the road - Kingsland Road of Sunny Dalston - when I encountered the irresistable urge to have a vomit. Not entirely sure why, I didn't drink heavily last night, nor did experiment with Sushi, so I'm a little perplexed.

I am wearing some truly nasty clothes today. Black trousers, navy blue badly cut jacket, a white shirt and a really shit tie. What is it with ties? We have a company dress code that insists that I, the long haired bearded bastard of rock that I am, have to wear a camp bit of silk around my neck. What genius invented that?

Well, it won't be forever. By hook or by crook I'm going to pull myself up and out of all of this.
Now, it could be time for a shave. My beard is looking a bit Father Christmas. It will, ofcourse, look horrific for about a week afterwards. Praise the Lord!

It seems that I'm going to have a couple of gigs lined up in the near future. One for me, and one for the band. Spoke with Danny The Drummer last night, and he's keen on the band gig, I've suggested that we try to book something else in on the day/weekend following too, so that we can make the most of it. I suspect that I will travel up to Lincoln for the rehearsals. It could be a fairer way of balancing out the journeying that everyone is going to have to put in. There are some good rehearsal rooms - I think - around here in Dalston and Shoreditch too, and I'm more ready to use these than I was the ones in Camden. We've also got a great place up in Rugby too, that Llee found. Its cheap. Isolated. Has a stage and plenty of space, enough to record, we used it a month ago. So, we have options. We can play and practice wherever the fuck we like, we can pretty much pay whatever the fuck we like.

As long as I don't get too distracted by a bottle of scotch, guilt or the failure of my latest half-cock grandious attempt to save the world then we should go onto great things. As long as the 'Rambo with a brandy glass' alter-ego doesn't rear his ugly addled head, then I should remain pretty balanced and financially solvent.

I'm still trying to get hold of my friend Joe - he who is the genial monkey who has set-up an events company - to talk to him about VJs. That's the next trick, get a VJ who can add something really powerful to the musical mix. A 21st century rebirth for Mike Leonard and the Hornsey College of Art's Sound and Light workshop. That gives me something else to equate. Is it necessary to this brand of rock music, and if not, then the purist in me has to think about whether he can some unecessary dilutions of rock n roll.

The sour minded capitalist bastard cynic in me - and the performer - also says, that rock n roll is entertainment too. Its show business. But what a deadly weapon that is, a real Trojan Horse, because its the cheapest dirtiest low art form at times, but it can, has, and will again be capable of transcending barriers in a way no other art form can. Primitive and sophisticated. Vulgar and elegant. Immediate and abstract. All these things simultaneously. Bang.

Tom.

P.S. Tom, shut up, go and vomit some more before work.

Its Sunday!

Howdy,

How are tricks people?

I've had a mutha of a week, but I've just enjoyed my second lie in of the weekend, and that's really unusual for me, as once I wake, I'm not one to stay in bed.

Time for some changes, I think. I should have my studio back after next weekend's rehearsals, which will be good, as I can start to feel productive once more. At the moment I have lots of distractions, recording has become such a key part of my creative process when songwriting that I feel that I need it to focus myself when I'm writing. I have been working on the first song for new magnum opus that I've cooked up. Its called 'Break The Gate', its not exactly sophisticated, but then again rock music isn't and neither is my grasp of musical language, so I can be content with writing what appears to be a good rock song.

I've been seeing lots of people, people who I haven't caught up with for a while or who I should probably spend more time with. Still though, I miss companionship at the moment and people that I can draw close into me. I long to spend time with supportive creative people, people that I can build something with. Hopefully, I will get a fill of that next weekend with the rehearsals.

The weather here has gone quite shitty, and I'm a little worried as to where the summer seems to have disapeared to. Am feeling a bit weird, but quite relaxed today. I'm trying to put problems out of my head and revel in the space that they leave.

Peace and Love,

Tom.

Crazy

Finally moved in. Nice house. I didn't remember it much from the viewing. I have an excellent terrace. A good place for wine, food, books, papers, pens and assorted distractions.
Spoke with Danny last night, and Llee just now. We are scheduling another rehearsal for a week or so. Should be interesting, a new dimension.

Have done a lot on the new opera. Started getting some music together for it. I am borrowing guitars.

Still without my things, am still feeling displaced.

I've been very busy, and under a lot of stress. Hopefully things can relax a little more now. I haven't had time to write here for a week or so, or send anyone any messages. Sorry about that, will try to get back on track with that.

I had a very unexpected but intense experience on Sunday. I'd like to write about it here, but I'd be betraying a confidence. So I won't. Maybe one day it will be a short story, carefully veiled, so that you don't suspect that what I'm describing is fact. I must sound conceited. Sorry. I would love totally honest, but the problem is, too many people read blogs these days. Oh, for the distance of stardom or the anonymity of an alter-ego. But I am not a star, nor do I believe in writing blogs or journals under an alter-ego, and therefore, I have to deploy an editorial position in these circumstances.

Frankly, this sucks. Because it was - no drugs involved - a fucking mind, body and soul exploding experience.

I'll try to write more here now. I have my lyric wall up already. Nice to be feeling more focussed once again.

Tom.