By A. Thomas

January

After a very nice couple of weeks off with the family in NZ we returned on the 10th just in time for Toowoomba to get hammered by an ‘inland tsunami’, followed by widespread devastation in the Lockyer Valley and the flooding of Brisbane. The road between our studio and Barn’s house hadn’t been cut so he came over on Friday (14th) to get down some amazing bass on Intro III (which is actually for the 3rd album but recorded now to have a similar vibe to Interlude II on the second album) whilst drinking 100 proof southern, fresh from duty free.

19th Vocals begin with United. Pretty husky take but sounds pretty cool. Will probably keep. Had a shot at the bridge in Never Knew. Pete still away on holidays at this point.

26th Our friend Helene suggested we do a charity gig for the floods so it was an opportunity to make a bit of extra money for the Premier’s Flood Appeal. So we had a run through a couple of sets in preparation for tomorrow night at the Music Kafe (a gig we had already booked). This is Australia Day as well so it marks one year since we recorded the Acoustic DVD…gone quick…

27th Arrive with Mick (our photographer) at the Music Kafe after some major rat-running to avoid traffic on the way down. Managed to get there just in time to get a quick feed and drink before going on at 7pm. Probably wasn’t the best idea to have a gig so close after Australia Day as it wasn’t a huge turn-out but Helene came down and did a wonderful job collecting donations. We made over $400 so it was well worth the effort.

28th Vocals continue with One x One. The vibe wasn’t happening for a bit and after some deliberation we decided to try a completely different melody on the verses. After singing two takes we accidentally played both at the same time which led to a nice harmony. Bingo! New idea works a treat and with a little fine tuning belt out the song fairly quickly…

February & March

…sees the completion of the vocals and we’re really happy with the overall results thus far, with the exception of the Believe guitar tracks. Still sound muddy, may have to enlist some help there...

April

6th Our buddy Matt “guitar sound wizard” Rowe joined us for an evening and brought over his mesa and marshall cabs which we hooked up and recorded both at once for Believe. The mesa provided the bottom end metal and the marshall provided the top end crunch so we got an awesome sound. Managed to get all my parts down.

7th Music Kafe gig turns into a ripper as the Dead Kennedy’s (minus Jello Biafra) are playing down the road at the Hi-Fi and quite a few punters where loitering up the street. Was a nice boost to the band as they were very appreciative music fans and as a result sold a few CD’s (including our whole catalogue to the owner of the Music Kafe!)...

8th Ben comes over solo and lays down his Believe track in practically one take using the same set up as Wed. Now it’s really coming together as the guitars are clear and crunchy and kick arse!

May 

Mixing continues... concentrating on six songs, first listen in car not too bad, kick way too loud on a couple of songs (nearly blew up newly installed speakers). Hope to get a test CD to the boys within a few days and then continue on last 6 songs. Looking forward to sharing the ‘surprise’ with the guys next month to celebrate our first five years together. Josh (from work) has band called Varia who have been together 6 months or so. They are hosting a show this Friday (20th) at the Prince of Wales in Nundah (north side Brisbane) and have asked us to open for them. Been a while (8-9 months) since we’ve played a rock gig so looking forward to that too...

June

Presented 5 year anniversary photo books. Guys loved them.

50th Gig at Music Kafe – Barn on table amongst crowd during 15 minute United last song (met Pete Ascough from Cartoon Physics, he liked our set so much he gave us 2 gigs – Globe and Rics in July)

Video Clip filmed Bribie in unfinished apartment renovation. Looks like a war zone, cool back drop – drunkin jam BBQ – listen through album as well that night.

Mixing going well.

July

5th Tempo gig – not bad but got a call next day from Tempo booking agent who is keen to get us on more paid gigs.

Putting finishing touches on mixing.

15th Awesome globe gig – nearly got side swiped on way down. Played strat (first time out) and Ben on acoustic – great sound (and recorded too). Ben’s mate Rob got some really nice photos.

Jimi Lucas helping out on vox for new album.

29th 3 piece acoustic at Rics. Ben away for the weekend.

August

1 week to go before mastering – pretty damn excited to listen to finished product after so many months (over 18 from start of rehearsals start of 2010!). The guys have been great in giving their input during the mixing side of things. In the meantime whilst we wait for the artwork to be completed we’ll offer the record for pre-order with some bonus goodies. We’ve also start working on some new ideas already – last week we had 3 or 4 song ideas half finished. We’re gonna go a bit old school and record the ideas like we used to do a few years ago...

September 

7th & 14th Sep – continue to get down new ideas. Some fun stuff evolving....

16th Sep – pick up 500 CD’s from James at Alchemix Studio in Woolloongabba. Very happy with artwork...

October

7th Music Kafe – Great gig. Good crowd, sold some CD’s. This would turn out to be Pete’s last gig with the band.

New ideas continue to get recorded for ‘Blade Runner’ Ideas CD’s.

26th Pete comes in to rehearsal and hasn’t walked five steps before he drops the bombshell that he wants to leave the band. Needless to say we were all shocked and whilst I don’t think we’ll ever know the full extent of his reasons the impression is that he’s had enough, not feeling it like he used to. The prospect of future tours and the heavier music doesn’t seem to appeal to him anymore. Can’t say I blame after the massive effort of over 5 years turning up every week. He really helped define the band from the outset and will be greatly missed. We ended up having a massive jam which got a little sad towards the end. We played for about two hours and started with Promised Land and finished with Believe. We all took it in turns to choose a song with no new ideas played during this session, just all the recorded stuff including some rarely played songs like Nothing To Lose, Into The Fray and Lock The Door.

November

Placed an ad in Rave and have got three drummers coming over the next couple of weeks starting with Jon on the 9th.

The search for a new drummer goes on. Pete kindly wrote on FB that he’d be willing to step in for any urgent gigs but none are upcoming at this stage.

So far we’ve seen John, Vic (old work acquaintance) and Tim (Ben’s mate). To date we’d say Vic is the pick of the bunch...got two more guys tonight (23rd Nov) including the hyped up 18 year old Daniel from Springwood. We’d hire him on the spot based on pure enthusiasm but we’ll see if he can play....

December

Barn’s old flatmate and friend Jim Peacock jams with us just before Barn goes overseas for a month (7th). Very good drummer and seems like a nice guy.