Hey boys and girls, trust all is as it should be... well i was in the studio this week again to track solos and dam it killed me....lol. first my les paul packed up... some wiring issues, then my line 6 packed up the next day .... power supply issues, and last but not least my amp has pulled a fast one on me and decided its much better at humming than what it is at producing guitar tones!! but thanks to some great friends with great gear i managed to beg borrow and return the gear i needed to do my thing!. some of the solos were tought to pull off but i think i eventually got it all right and to a point where im happy with it.... but as usual i think ill let you be the judge. so im done in the studio as far as tracking goes but i will obviously be there for the mixing process... ill let you know how that goes. until then keep it real.... whatever that means.

Al.

Having ripped the ass end out of the holidays and tried very hard to convince myself that I am not back at work, the day has finally arrived……my first day back in the studio, for the first vocal takes. Nervous as a nun in a monastery, cos I don’t really know what to expect. Well, I do but I don’t.

A new way of recording for us, coupled with recording in the morning, instead of the afternoon (which I way prefer cos my voice has warmed up during the day), and the looming threat of having to add in harmonies when I don’t really know how to do harmonies! Wtf?! Oh well, all in the name of learning haha!

Having said all of that, I’m also uber excited cos this albums gonna knock the living bejesus outta you! And if it doesn’t, maybe rock’s just not your thing. Will let you know how it goes…..until then…..catch ya on the flip side rockers!

I’ve always had a bit of a love/hate vibe going on with the studio. I love being there, but I hate the build up. For some reason, it’s more daunting than some shows can be. I guess it’s because you really get to hear what you and the rest of the guys are really doing with the songs AND you’re exposing yourself to the analytical mind of the engineer. In this case, we had Brent, who is an absolute genius when it comes to his craft. If he says you’re out, you probably are.

The build up to recording always finds me convincing myself that my throat is sore or some other dumb ass health problem. Weird! Anyways, this time around I decided to just take it one day at a time, treating it like band practice, on top of which I decided to have a 4-day break between the two days that I did my tracking.

Pulled in on the first day to see how the drum takes were going. All was sounding good. You gotta love studio time; it does funny things to a person. This time studio tension got the better of the “Meyer brothers”, and the fight was on. All about a song called “Anger Management”! Hahaha!! Go figure! But healthy conflict almost always produces better results. This was one of those moments. Even though it had Brent shaking his head as if to say, “here we go again”.

When I came in to do my first set of tracking, drums, bass and guitars had pretty much been done, and Brent was working on cleaning a few things up. I was a little nervous because one never knows what to expect, both in terms of the recorded sound and the uncertainty of how my voice would hold up. So, anyways, off I go into my booth, headphones on my head, ready to sing, shout, and scream to an empty, sound-proofed room. The minute I heard our songs coming at me through the phones, the weirdness was gone. The guys had done an awesome job with the tracking, now all that was left was my part.

We had decided beforehand that we were going to double the vocals on each song in order to get a fuller, stronger vocal sound than the first album. I had no problem with this because, barring “Violence of Apathy”, we had always done it this way. The only shit thing about it is you are never sure how many times you are going to need to sing a track before the basic take is good enough to track over. Fortunately, I didn’t need to take more than one take per song initially, so things moved at a steady pace. So, yeah, by the end of the day we had finished the first take of 8 of the 10 songs, and I was relatively happy.

During the 4-day break until my next day of tracking, Murphy would have it, I got the flu! This was on the back of an uber hectic week of drinking and partying. My own fault! When the rest of the guys read this, I’m dead! Anyways, I was really stressed that I wouldn’t be able to do my bit when the time came, but thought I’d give it a bash anyway and just take it from there. Anyways, went in, blocked shnozz and all, finished the balance of the songs and viola! End of “pre-production”! Actually thought it was end of album only to be told that we should do it all again using a different recording style. Wtf?! I was just glad to get it over with and now here we were debating the issue as to whether we should do it all again? We decided to let Brent run with Blood and Scars as a trial run and after hearing the difference, we were sold! Back at square one but uber keen to hear the rest of the tracks! I think ye’all are gonna love it!

Chat soon,
Oz

"Having gone on a tour on the ski slopes in Italy and having conquered every bar that the Fumbi could find in that area, he is back in the land of the real. The axe has new strings, is set up to a millimeter and sounds like a canary singing (well a very phat canary that sings in drop D).

I cannot wait to get into the studio to lay down some tracks and full up that low section. With the chance to practice to the tracks laid down so far sans bass and vocals I have to say that the fans are going to be in for a treat with the Bloodline Album. It is going to sounds amazing."

See ya soon
Fumbi!

Hi Guys and Gals and all other sorts,

Well last week I was in the studio again laying down the rhythm tracks for our new album bloodline. As you know we have been recording at Sesalos studios in Westville with Brent Quinton at the desk. I really enjoy my time in the studio as the whole atmosphere is so chilled but very professional and I really feel that I can just let loose which is great.

I am quite reserved when I am there compared to my normal self which people close to me would probably think I am nervous or do not want to piss Brent off, but the funny thing is that reservedness is actually a focus that is comforting and stimulating at the same time. I pretty much did all the rhythm tracks in 5 days or so maybe a bit less which is awesome cause in the past I would have a day!! But that can also be fun. It was great to take the time and just make sure everything was done properly for a change.

The Drums are sounding massive and I am proud of my brother Chris for his accomplishment they truly are the back bone of the songs and they just groove so fucking hard!!! We abandoned my usual sound and went for a more classic set up. I got to use a Marshall JCM800 with a boss sd1 and the sound was just huge.

John Ellis from “tree63” was kind enough to loan us that amp which I can tell you now has probably never sounded that heavy on a tree record (thumbs up) thanks John and Brent for hooking me up. There were some challenges along the way like “Unitor of Hate” was a toughie but for the most part I got through it all cause I like doing home work..... I am such a nerd at times.

Anyways I think the guitar sound is great and I am keen to hear it with some bass which Garry will start soon and I am sure he will do me proud!!! Well he better! Anyways I will let you guys be the judge of the sound when the record is out. You cannot please everyone all the time so we will just have to see.

Cheers for beers!!! And a bong!!

Well here I am sitting in the Middle East (Qatar to be exact) while the rest of the band continues to make head way on the new album. I am of course still having my say that is the wonders of the internet. Alan has done most of the rhythm for the guitars and I have received them via e mail to listen to and this album is going to rock.

The tracks are just drums and guitar and no real mixing has been done at this point and the songs just jump out the speakers at you and grab you by the balls. The band is taking a break for the rest of the week and will go back next Wednesday were Alan will start recording solos and Garry will start doing his bass and Sean will do vocals. And I must I cannot wait to start getting those songs so we can get on with the mixing so we can release it to the world….

Ok, Ok so I have not blogged for a while and that kind of defeats the object of a live site, but the truth is I have been so busy with tracking the drums that I have been exhausted every night and opted for sleep instead. Between Photo shoots and Studio it just became too much.

The good news is I am finished with the drums and happy with the result. A decision was made to re-track the drums after producer / engineer Brent Quinton did a test song for us to show us what the true potential of the band could be if we took a bit of time to do it right. The result was just mind blowing in my opinion and will open a new chapter for the band I have no doubt about that. So after spending 14 days in the studio what did I learn? I learnt take the time, listen and do it right from the beginning.

This decision was not taken lying down by the band and it took some convincing with the help of my brother as he too was astounded by the result of the test we did. To be honest it was not that the guys did not want to do it they were just concerned about the budget, but in the end it was decided to go ahead.

So yesterday afternoon I walked out the studio feeling very accomplished and what I had done over the week, no thanks to Brent and his infinite wisdom and knowledge and the support from Martin (studio business person) and my brother.

So that was the last fling with the band as I head overseas for a while. The band I going on holiday for a while to enjoy the silly season after what has been a hectic year and a half they will be back in the studio at the end of January 2010 where it will all start again.

Studio report:

Day1 monday: The first day of being in the studo is always an exciting day for me and i generally dont get much sleep the night before cause im like a kid going on holiday, although i know there is alot of work to be done it never feels like work.... You get to the studio and everything is so neat and shinny and its just rad. Day 1 is always about tracking drums so the main focus is on making sure chris is comfortable and happy with his parts and takes of those parts. For the most part i think it went well bar the odd argument and tense moments we created with each other wich us "Meyer brothers" have become infamous for ha ha ha when our gloves come off its not pretty but the funny part is watching other people in the room go quiet and not know where to look or what to say.... Ha ha ha but it does suck when we fight cause were both stubborn but i think alot of it is to do with the fact that neither of us are "schooled" musicians so we have a unique way of getting our musical ideas across and sometimes those ideas get lost in translation and can lead to tension and frustration and im not the easiest guy to work with either. For the most part i think the drums came out great and the performances are real and thats what matters. Unlike some artists we dont have unlimated resources so our budget and time adds to our sound. Things would be different if we spent six months in the studio but that being said day 1 went well and the drums sound great, i got home from that session and fell asleep very early due to being totally drained from the days experience.

Day2 tuesday: this day we finished the last two drum tracks to be done and set up my amp and guitar to start tracking guitars. This time around we used a few different mics to get my tone but otherwise it was similar to the first album. I used my standard live rig which is a crate 120 combo amp with a line 6 xt live which is only used as a noise gate with some compression. We then went for lunch and returned at 20past 2 and by 4 thirty we had tracked and doubled 6 of the 10 songs. When tracking my parts i always tend to play standing up as appossed to sitting down which to me makes a huge difference as im more comfortable that way. Overall the day was quick and easy as our engeneer/producer is amazing at what he does and isnt afraid to tell me when ive played something crappy! I trust his judgment and its always a learning experience when working with him. I left that day feeling good about the project.

day3 wednesday: i got to the studio round 8am which is early considering i was up late the night before hanging out with my bong and pro evo football on the ps3. We started tracking straight after a caffine pick me up. I finished the remaining rythm guitars and then moved onto the solos. Ive never tracked solos before in our songs as our previous album had no real solos to speak of. I had worked my solos out before hand so i had a good idea of what had to be done. I recorded them dry so no delays and no double tracking so they were precise and tight. We added a little delay post recording and im happy with how they turned out and that was me...... Done with tracking.

Ive been in every day since working on mixs and just generally hanging around sleeping on the couch and being a nusance...... Anyways im happy with the songs and sound and think its a great and strong follow up to our first album the violence of apathy and im proud of my own and everyone elses contribution to the process! Cant believe another album is in the bag. Heres hoping you the fans will dig it!

Cheers fuckers! Al.

Today we started mixing, or should I say Al and Brent started. I once again caught the arse end of it. I would just like to add that I am not the lazy one in the band I have just decided to take more of a back seat this time and give others some breathing room. This however will now need to come to an end as it is clear the whip needs to swung a few times to get everyone focused on the overall picture.

On a lighter note in my CD player I have the first 4 tracks that have been rough mixed down. All I am going to say is... WOW these are really good songs. I know what you thinking, we wrote them and we recording them so it should be natural to say that, but it is different when you actually have to sit down and really listen to everything over all.

Mr. Leary has really brought the vocals to a different level and he is sounding super hot! He is brought in some awesome melodies mixed with a nice hard edge that is not over bearing to listen to. Lyrically he has also brought maturity to the music.

Naturally I am also exited as I have written lyrics to one of the songs and a chorus to another and I am proud of it as I normally do the slog work behind the scene and rarely get to shine in this department. I am also just glad Sean agreed to do it with no fuss. This is about the time I will give myself a pat on the back 

It also just dawned on me that know body knows the track listing for the songs as yet. So here it is:
• Dragons Hell
• Anger Management
• Blood and Scars
• Bloodline
• Enigma
• Distortification
• Silly Little Lies
• Untitled
• Untitled
• Untitled

I know the untitled ones don’t help much, but tough luck that is the best I can do for now. And of course they are in no particular order.

Ah glorious day 7 in the studio….. Well technically not day seven for me as I decided not to go in yesterday and had a nice weekend of countless hour of video footage editing and doing stuff band related *yawn*.

Last night we caught up with Mr. Goss – Ross to discuss album titles and cover design so he could start working on it. Hopefully he will give us lots of versions to pick from so we can dis them and be all musician like, but I doubt it Kevin is very good at what he does and we will probably all like the first draught he shows us just because of the genius he is. Any way like I said the album name has been decided but we will reveal this at a more appropriate stage.

Today saw Cameron Smith from local band “Reverend Henry” Cane come in to do some piano tracks and strings for one of the new tunes. I must say it was interesting to see what he added to the track and he clearly has talent at what he does. After he laid his tracks down and left I gave it a couple of listens as this is very different for us and the truth be told the band did not want to record this track but I saw something in it that had huge potential and once it is finished I think they will thank me for sulking and trying to get my way, now with the extras added I can hear that this is going to be an epic song in its own way and will stand up to anything we done so far as a band.