Saturday, December 10, 2005

Grrrr!!!!!!!!!

It's been a while since the last update.

If you have been following the Hair Thieves website, you'll know all about the announcement of the additional member.  There may be more announcements soon. 

Musically, we are mostly taking December off.  I'm just tinkering with a couple of tracks for the EP.  Doing some strings for one of the tracks and trying to finish the lyrics for another.

We shall reconvene in the new year.

Have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year

Rollasoc

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Long time.....

This is rumour control, here are the facts.

Not as much music has been completed in the last week and a half. A couple of potential track 4 for the EP have been started and a few others have been thought about in my head. Some of these will surface later. (And I haven't even played Pro Evo 5 since Sunday).

Some work has been done on tarting up the three tracks so far.

However, last night work commenced on the possibly untitled, possibly titled "Fuzzy" track 4. I don't want to give too much away about this track at the moment, lets just say it is more of a team effort and leave it at that for now....

Right I'm off to have a go and sorting some sort of arrangement for track 4.

Later

Rollasoc

Friday, Oct 21, 2005

Slippery Slope to Monday

Well its Friday afternoon and I'm in danger of failing the task of 4 songs in a week.   I'm happy with what I've done on the three so far, I even finished the first draft of lyrics for one of them.

They all still need a bit of work and in one case re-recording from scratch.  Well I've got a month to finish it so i can start sending them out the first week in December, plus I need to get the others to play on some of them.

Right I'm off to start track 4 and see how far I can get in the next two hours.  I can't see me getting a lot of time this weekend to do much music what with other commitments.

More possibly over the weekend, or possibly Monday.

Rollasoc

Thursday, Oct 20, 2005

A Nice Cup of Tea

Having a quick cup of tea so thought I'd do Thursday update quickly.

Things are plodding along.  Song number three has been started.  I've got a long intro and the verses and pre chorus sorted, just need to sort out a chorus type section and possibly a bridge or extended instrumental section or something.

I have a provisional title for it and I've started writing some lyrics and have been busy researching the topic, since the title was jotted down whilst watching late night telly a long time ago and I can't remember much about it.  Very interesting if somewhat dark subject matter.  Not festive in the least. The he he.

Unsure about what to do for song four at the moment. I might just finish one of the ideas I've been kicking about for a while. 

Oh well back to it...

Rollasoc

Wednesday, Oct 19, 2005

Middle of the week

Rumour control, here are the facts...

I'm way behind schedule at the moment.   I think I've finished the instrumental for now.  It may need tweaking a bit later.  Currently it is called Boeotia, for no real apparent reason bar I like the name. (now go and read some ancient greek history).

GW2N is going slower than expected.  The vocals have been put down finally, including an attempt at harmonies.  Not convinced it works.  Also added a bit of piano in the chorus.   I've started orchestrating it now, which is the bit that'll take a few weeks to finish.  I've got some of it sketched out.  It is sounding rather fine.

Was going to start trying to write a new song this morning but cleaned the kitchen instead.  Not that cleaning the kitchen threw up any new song ideas.

New Model Army were excellent last night, one of the best gigs I've seen for a long time. 

Right I'm off to plug the guitar in and find a spark of inspiration from somewhere....

Until Tomorrow..

Rollasoc

Tuesday, Oct 18, 2005

Aahhhhhhhhhh

Ok, I didn't forget to post yesterday, just never got around to it.

Here is Monday's summary then....  After taking the car for a service (how much????), I quickly laid down the acoustic for Girl with two names.  So far it was all going well, then I decided to do the vocals.  Not good, after doing a few quick run throughs with my Superlux mic, I decided it didn't sound very good, so auditioned my other mics.  By this time, my voice was a bit hoarse and I was bored of singing, so I scrapped all the vocals for it.

I did come up with a silly concept for the intro (think Fireworks by Siouxie and the Banshees)

A quick trip off to Newport to pick up drum stool broke the day up a bit.

So far not so good.  I then swapped tracks to the instrumental, listening to it, I decided it really needed a Hammond organ on it.  So a part was duely played and listening back to it, I think 5 and a half minutes is probably way too long for an ambient dirge with no concept of time within it as such. A bit of harsh editing was required and then bits moved around and overlapped and the like and a short three and a half minutes ambient tune was starting to take place.   All it needs now is bells and whistles (possible literally possibly not) added and I think we are done.

One good thing though is the disks I'd ordered have turned up.

Emma came in during the evening to lay some bass down for another track (not for this CD).  Wasn't totally successful, her bass was starting to give an annoying static nosie when she touched the strings.  I even tried earthing her unsuccessfully and ended up having to gate it out at the expense of some bass tone.   We'll try again at a later date we decided.

So to today, the plan is to start a new track and possibly have another attempt at the vocals for GW2N.

Oh and I'm off to see New Model Army tonight, which should be rather good.

Rollasoc

Sunday, Oct 16, 2005

He bangs the drum

Right I said, I'd try and update this each day of the recording of the Christmas giveaway CD.

Today (Sunday) is day one.  The aim to at least get my bits written and recorded over the next 8 days.  Possibly also to get Emma to record her parts and possibly any\everyone else over the next few weeks or so.

The day didn't start out too good, as a late night beer session led to an ever so slight hangover this morning.

To be honest, it does seem to be a bit of a daunting task to write and record 4 new songs in 8 days, given that I normally do less than 4 a year.

So I'm going to cheat a bit.  Firstly, I'm going to record an acoustic version of The Girl With Two Names.   I've started a rough demo of it today, putting down rough 12 string, piano and vocals and throwing a few other things on top.  Actually, I'm quite pleased with it so far.

Secondly, I've started an instrumental track, this will be more ambient \ soundtrack like, at the moment it is running in at about 5 minutes, which maybe too long and possibly too boring.  This will be probably entirely synths with no guitar.  Of course that may change over the course of the next few days.

I haven't got a clue about what I'm doing for the other two tracks.  I was thinking I might do a cover version of one of the local Telford bands, if I can get the permission over the next few days.  I'll see what I can write tomorrow though regarding the two songs though.

I've also acquired an electronic drumkit.  I am rubbish at playing the drums but I'm keen to learn, I don't think I'll quite be good enough this week to record any of my playing.

I've also ordered the media required for the Christmas CDs.  They should be turning up in the next few days.  Its all jolly exciting.

Right I'm off to cook tea and get back to writing and recording.

Later

Rollasoc

Sunday, Oct 02, 2005

October rain it sings your praise

Well, ok it might not, but it is October and it looks like rain.

The predicted flurry of new tunes and bits semi happened. At last count I have 19 bits of songs on the go, not including the four other songs I'm currently collaborating on. (Actually that should be 20 since I started a new piano piece yesterday).

Looking at the plan, I'm way behind schedule, oh well. I should have actually been properly recording songs now, with everything written, but I'm still in the writing stages. Ooops

I did borrow a chap at work's Guitar Synth during the week, which was a lot of fun to play with. He is selling it, shame I can't afford it.

I've booked a week off in the middle of October to record the Christmas EP I aim to send to people on the Hair Thieves mailing list, if you want a copy, you'd better sign up on the main Hair Thieves site. Not sure if I'll make 50 or 100 copies of the disk yet. I have a plan for the packaging of the disks. Should be nice.

At the moment, it'll probably be 3 or 4 tracks. An acoustic old track (or possibly an orchestral version?), an instrumental and one or two new songs with vocals. Of these three or four tracks I haven't started any of them, so the pressure will be on to get it all done in basically 9 days.

I'll try and write a blog entry each day about how progress is going.

What else... Humm... Went to see Hayseed Dixie a couple of weeks ago, which was a great gig. Went to see Lee Evans last night also, which was very very funny. Then got New Model Army and The League of Gentleman coming up over the next few weeks. All good fun.

Bar that, I thought it was finally time to back up all the music I've done so far over the last 6 years. So far I'm up to burning DVD 6 of stuff. Crikey, a bit of a waste of a day so far though. (well a waste until my PC goes tits up).

Later

Rollasoc

Sunday, Sept 11, 2005

Its a long way home

A strange week really. Lots of stuff going on and stuff, plus the added bonus of seeing my brother Paul who is currently cycling the length of the UK from John O' Groats to Lands End (something like 900 miles).

He started his journey last weekend and aims to get into Cornwall today and to Lands End tomorrow morning.

You can check his online diary on (or donate money to Shelterbox)

(Link now dead)John O' Groats to Lands End Journal

Music wise, not done too much during the week, but have been busy this weekend. Firstly I reordered and rewired my pedalboard. (Now that Rob at work kindly fixed my Line 6 DL4 for me.. Still waiting for Line 6 to give me details of how to send back and track my pedal... Not happy with them)..

I've mostly written a new song this weekend. At the moment it is called "Assimilation" but that may change to something else, I don't know yet. Very much a work in progress, it needs a bit more work on the verses and some extra instrumentation, but I'm pretty happy with it so far. Lyrically I've had most of it for about 2 years, musically I wrote it yesterday. Pretty simple and I think an interesting concept. I did re-record a version of it today, slightly more sped up, since a) now I can play it faster (ha ha) and b) else it was sounding like a slight dirge.

I'm going to leave this for a week or so now before revisiting it. More details to follow as I flesh it out.

I'm hoping this will kick start a writing flurry over the next week, as I attempt to get back on track with where I hoped to be with writing stuff.

Later

Rollasoc

Monday, Sept 05, 2005

Momentary Clarity of Reason

Yesterday I had a mad 5 minutes where I thought sod it I need to tidy up the website.

So today the hack occurred. Gone is the chat room. I haven't done an online chat for many months now and can't see me doing one in the near future.

Gone is the guestbook. Fed up with third party guestbooks with pops ups, so I may write one instead.

Gone is the forum for the same reason above. I may re-instate this since I have the code for one.

Gone are all the recording and effect tips. I may but these on another site, I'm currently designing. But they are in desperate need of updating and I haven't got time to do it at the moment. Plus I have some good ideas for them if I ever get around to it.

Musically, things are progressing, after a weekend near re-build of my PC in an attempt to get a stable recording platform. I think I'm there now.

Emma is working on another (more tuneful) song.

I've been recording with a couple of people recently. The first we wrote and recorded a rough song in 3 hours. Now comes the process re-recording it properly, which should be fun, since we are 300 miles apart using totally different recording systems.

The 2nd is a bit more secret..... More details to follow soon. The first tune is almost ready for mixing.... Maybe a week or two.

te he he...

Rollasoc

Friday, August 19, 2005

Umm

Not much to report so far this month, I went on holiday to Cornwall during the first week and basically read several books on recording mixing and writing which was very pleasant.
I did manage to finally wrestle a copy of a demo of my friend Tim's proposed album. More about this over the next few months hopefully as he properly records it.

Since I've been back, I've been busy playing with a new soundcard and waiting for new software to arrive. Basically been teaching myself new stuff.

The plan is to spend the next 6 weeks trying to write lots and not do too much recording.

Emma has written her first tune. Totally improvised.

(Link now dead)Umm.mp3

Enjoy...

Rollasoc

Saturday July 30th 2005

Wet July

Well the end of the month.

One new song recorded, but it was so special, I sent it to one person and won't link to it on the site. (ok not so much a song as noise). (unless he likes it so much and says others should hear it).

Spent the last few hours going through all the partial song ideas that I've started and everything I've done in the past to cobble together a rough version of the forthcoming Hair Thieves long player, (obvious minus the new planned tracks I haven't written yet).

So far there is about 40 minutes of music that I'm happy with, so with finishing off the partial tracks and writing two or three more, things are looking promising. (I may even drop some of the older tracks).

The aim now to to concentrate purely on the writing aspect for the next two months with maybe rough acoustic versions, then start properly recording it and a few other things from October.

Also this month, I've done some recording with another local band. More info on this as it progresses.

I'm going into hiding now for a few weeks to concentrate on other stuff, see you on the other side.

Later

Rollasoc
PS I finished the Harry Potter book in a day.

Monday July 11th 2005

Bitten the Bullet

Well, I've finally uploaded the new website.   I'm expecting a few teething problems, (even after testing it). Please go and check it out and send me a comment.

As a result of finishing the site, I've fallen behind with the music side of things.  I have started recording a new instrumental.  This should be an acoustic guitar piece, (don't want to get too dependent on the guitar effects).   This should be up before the end of the month.

Work is continuing slowly on a few other tracks, more details as and when I have them.

With the new Harry Potter book released in the coming week, I'm not expecting too much music to get done at the weekend.  ha ha.

Later

Rollasoc

June 30th 2005

Least Productive Month

June, crikey what happened, where did it go, why didn't I achieve anything.

I had big plans this month.  Record 2 or 3 songs, finish and update the website and leanr PHP and MySQL.

I've achieved none of them really.  Ok I did release "Silverpit", but not the two songs I aimed to finish.  I failed to write (or even start) this months competition piece. (not necessarily true that, I started one, liked it and pinched it for the verses to another song I'm working on)

I have done some recording this month, but nothing is finished.  I'm blaming the weather for being too hot and humid to work and PES4 since I like playing it so much..

Good news though, Emma has started to teach herself the bass.

Oh well, July tomorrow, a new month, new goals, new horizons.  I'd best get to work, even if it is just release the website.

Rollasoc    (4/10 must try harder).

Later

Rollasoc

June 4th 2005

June Already

Wrote and recorded a little ditty this morning, whilst mostly hungover.

(Link now dead)

Leave a comment about it......

Mostly been messing with "Guilt of Innocent Blood" (part 2 of a 4 part thing that Cases of Conscience was part 1) track.  Drums are mostly sorted, bass is done but needs re-recording, then just need to layer a shed load on top of it.

New Website launch will hopefully be towards the end of the month.  I have a few things to finish off, but I want to write a new tune or two for it.

Gotta go.. Off to see Ferris tonight

Later

Rollasoc

May 13th 2005

The weekend is here once more

Not much to report to be honest.

I went away for a week to Cornwall and didn't get much done (bar a bit of work on the website), due to family commitments.

Since I've been back, I've started messing (now I've found a tuning that works for me) around with my 7 string guitar. Expect much heavyness soon.

11 days until the next competition deadline and I haven't started this months entry... Ooops.

Website is coming along, though I'm suspecting trying to teach my self PHP, flash, CSS and mySQL all at once is probably a bad idea. The general layout and look is there, I just need to finish it off and write a couple more songs before I launch it. I might even do a free giveaway with the launch.

So the weekend is but minutes away. Looking forward to go-karting tomorrow, bar that I really need to start writing some music.

Later

Rollasoc

April 26th 2005

Knackered

Ok the competition song is finished (Actually finished it early last week). I'm not really happy with it, just had to abandon it to get it in on time. Voting on it has commenced. I'm not expecting many votes to be honest.

(Link now dead)AnotherSpringtime.mp3

This features Emma on trumpet.

Send us a comment about it, if you download it.

Bar that, not much happening, been far too busy to do any music recently.

New look website is still ongoing. Plan now is for end of May early June release. Hopefully with some new songs and sections (new sections to be written next week).

Need sleep...

Later

Rollasoc

April 16th 2005

Pedal Frenzy

Still updating the website, going slower than expected since I've been doing some stuff for another website.

New competition song, going slowly. Lyrics are taking an age and still no title. It's a bit of a cheesy pop song so far, but I am making Emma play some trumpet on it this time. I really need to get it finished in the next 2 days, since it is slowing me down on everything else I wanted to record, plus the deadline is soon. Though the first version will be a sub 2 minute song, I'm thinking of doing a longer mix of it with an additional verse, else all my music output so far this year will be very short songs.

I've bought a couple more guitar pedals (Line 6 DL4 delay modeller and a Digitech Whammy pedal), so I've been having fun playing with them. Expect (hopefully) some strange stuff soon.

Later

Rollasoc

April 5th 2005

Spring is in the air

Ok, sort of finsished the punk song I was working on. It needs a little more work, but if you are interested here is the link to the version I entered into a competition. (Which I didn't win incidentally).

GreenSpring182(Link now dead)

This isn't officially on the website yet so semi exclusive new track then. Go on leave a comment.......

I'm still updating the whole Hair Thieves site for a relaunch soon, so the story, lyrics and maybe a bit of remix will turn up then.

Currently working on this months competition entry (which is shaping up to be a bit jazzy but in dropped D), plus a few other tunes.

Going to ignore the news for the next month, now the election has been announced. Yawn a rama.

I'll keep you posted.

Later

Rollasoc

March 19th 2005

Where Does All the time go?

Oooo 2 weeks since the last enty (slaps wrist).

My birthday was a subdued affair. Which was nice for a change. No hangovers or anything.

Punk song is in progress. The music was recorded 2 weeks ago, just haven't finished the lyrics or recorded the vocals. The deadline for the competition is Thursday so I'd best do that today.

Been busy playing Rainbow 6, Sonic the Hedgehog and PES4, so not a lot of music has got done.

I let Emma hear the 2 versions of Tabanid, she preffered the original version, so I'll stick with that.

I bought yet another guitar last week, another acoustic. So expect an acoustic song written on it soon..... I'm thinking of getting rid of my 7 string guitar, I probably haven't used it in 6 months... I'm not sure yet....

My works had a battle of the bands competition the other week, I didn't enter, but was official photographer for the evening. I'll try and put a few of the photos up on the site in a week or two, since some of them turned out better than I hoped.

Went to the Haygate on Wednesday to see Mavis Tuesday and Graham (from the Exploits of Elaine). An enjoyable night, though a slightly shortened Mavis set (since they went on late). Still waiting for the Mavis CD to appear.....

I'll be in the Haygate tonight if anyone is out and about.

Right I'd best go and shout into a microphone and get this blooming punk song finished.

Later

Rollasoc

March 3rd 2005

Almost a Birthday Boy

4 days till my birthday.

Not much to say about music this week, having gone away for the weekend.

Did go and see Fred Zeppelin last week. I'm not a fan of tribute bands as such, though they are very good (except Kashmir which doesn't sound right at all). Seems to be the easiest way of making money from music without much effort, since you get a ready made audience.

Also went to Shrewsbury for the Telford rocks bash at the buttermarket. Nice venue... One sentence reviews
Ripchord - Alright, not my cup of tea
Exploits of Elaine - Excellent (I really should buy the CDs). Though in future, if they are going to break glasses on stage, at least mic them up first.
Poet Dogs - Not the best I've seen them but very very good
Mavis Tuesday - Excellent also, probably the tightest band I've seen in a while.
Hey Edison - First time I've seen them and they were impressive, the singer has got a great voice. The crowd was dwindling by now, since the last train to Telford had gone.
Omatic - Very small crowd, but a pretty good set. One of my favourite cds of last year.

I did like the fact the buttermarket, has a lollipop machine opposite the bar, I'm assuming it is a ploy to work out who is under age. If you buy a lollipop you are too young to get served.

The only bit of music I've managed (inbetween games of PES4 on the internet), was I've re-recorded Tabanid in a different key and will get one or two people to suggest which version sounds better, given my lack of vocal prowess. Just need to finish the lyrics and start recording it for real.

Cases of Conscience didn't get very far in the competition I entered it in. I had lots of positive feedback, but not a lot of votes.

I'm going to try and knock out another 2 minute tune (possibly a punk one?)for this months competition.

I'm out and about in Snowy Telford this weekend and the next to celebrate my birthday.. (I'll let you guess how old).

Have a good en

Rollasoc

February 21st 2005

Time Flies by when you are a driver of a train

Where has the last week gone, it has flown by. (Beer, DVDs and PES 4 mostly)

Not much to report. Still haven't done anything about the Cases of Conscience video idea. Might do this, might not.

Song formally named NB, may have some lyrics at least with for two of the three verses. I have some old lyrics called Tabanid, (a blood sucking fly), which seem to fit the verses. But the chorus lyrics don't fit the music chorus I have, so one of them will have to change. The general concept of the lyrics, is about a mate of mine who had a stalker a few years ago. She was really annoying. The other problem (I've just noticed, since I'm listening to it now), is it might need to change key as well, so total re-recording may be needed. (This is why it takes me so long to finish things).

I'll keep you posted. I'm off to play PES4 on the XBox.

Later

Rollasoc
The subject is from a Half man half biscuit song.

February 13th 2005

Snow in February

Humm.. It's been snowing. Luckily none of it stuck. Not a fan of snow at all.

Cases of Conscience is now on the Hair Thieves Website. (Haven't finished the video though)

(Link now dead)

Check it out and post comments (I may even stuck some of the comments in the review section).

Rollasoc

February 12th 2005

The Weekend Starts Here

Saturday morning and Dick and Dom have finished so thought I'd best log on. Went out on the pop last night and I'm feeling quite good today.

Finished an initial version of Cases of Conscience and entered it into a competition. I should be working on the video now, but I'm writing this.

I'll post the various links in the next few days....

Finished Halo 2 the other night, the ending was a bit of a dissapointment, but I have Sonic the Hedgehog now to play.

Read a book this week on how to promote your band. Which was interesting.

Later

Rollasoc
http://www.hairthieves.com

February 5th 2005

Welcome

Humm... Hello... Hummm... (Not a good start).

Ok the aims of the blog is to keep anyone remotely interested what is happening with the Hair Thieves and general comments on love, life and what's happening in Telford and the rest of the world.

I'll endevour to post regularly, at least weekly.

Right current state of play......

May 2003 the Hair Thieves gets set the challenge to release an albums worth of music by May 2004. This is mostly due to it being then available for the wealth of people Chris knows whose birthday is around that time of year.
May 2004 no album appears.
The Hair Thieves do however release 3 songs in 2004. (two of which you can hear on this site, the other can be found on the Hair Thieves site). Chris then promptly moves house and all music ceases for several months.

Jan 2005 - With the home studio ready, the Hair Thieves embark on a new set of songs.

Feb 2005 Chris starts this blog. Currently there are several new songs in various states of completion.

1) Cases of Conscience. An instrumental which forms the starting act of a much longer piece (possibly 2 or 3 acts). Currently being recorded for release end of Feb.
2) NB. Musically mostly there, just waiting for divine lyrical inspiration. Called NB at the moment since I needed a folder to put it in and pressed those two keys. TBD
3) Sweet Lemon Mechanism. The intro is mostly there. Lyrics are started. TBD
4) Anime Girl, music and lyrics are in progress. Problem is it is starting to sound like a bad eighties rock tune. Needs major re-vamping

There is probably another couple....

Right I'm off to the pub.... (Shame I'll probably miss Tin Omen tonight).