The spring river runs...

Image info: A little image from a Drum Tracking day in LA earlier this year. (left to right: Mr Black, Joey Mancaruso, me)

Good morning, it’s a wonderful spring out there. A little update for this last day of March while the river she runs from the mountain tops.

The last 2 weeks were vocal days for “The Crying Game”. It was nice to return to this track. Since the DEMO of this idea, I’ve been excited to get back to it and close it out to some degree… I’ve always wanted to retrack it with a little more energy. Another thing that always bothered me with the original track was the microphone I used, which was a brittle condenser that just didn’t sit well with me. The last few years I’ve been in love with my Sure 58, which is also my live microphone. It has a bit of a dull and warm sound that I like, it reminds me of the past. Perhaps it’s also a subconscious memory of old rehearsal days for me and that low-pass sound inside a room where high frequencies trail off in space. All other tracks for the record are in a holding pattern while I get a rough mix out of this new “Crying Game” idea. A few other things you might notice, I’ve detached the intro to the song… which is tentatively now called “The Divination”, it’s the 45 second poem intro.. I’ve always envisioned it as a warning, perhaps Leto’s warning to Niobe… a prophecy if you will. It’s a bit spooky, but then again… isn’t all Greek mythology spooky fun. I thought it would be nice if it had it’s own track listing so that you didn’t have to hear it ever time you simply wanted to rock the track itself. I also condensed the actual track, removing the entire 6-minute outro… it was interesting and fun on the demo, but in the end I really just wanted the song to be a song. The middle of the track did change as well… I think for the better. I’ve included a mix of some of the new work, I think one more day of edits and a few word resings and I’m closing out the tracking phase of it. Just a mix after that and then onto “Long Is The Road” just in time for the spring fog.

Hadder field notes are on Holiday while I finish music for the record. But who knows, those things come from nowhere and they are hard to stop sometimes. We'll see... I feel a story brewing out there.. beyond the hills of BOK, where the king has secretly commissioned his own mage to develop a weapons with great power. Some new characters are a brew.

I won't lie, I have been sneaking in a vocal tracking day or two on the "Rainbow in the Dark" cover song I'm involved in with the Stargazer crew. You'll hear it soon enough.

I’m pretty focused these days… simpler times, like a little calm before a beautiful summer storm. Not much expectation, just honest creation.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_73bdafba7a77450c8b576f20def022da/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: A little video montage of anime that I liked to a small audio section of the "Crying Game" re-design.

farewell

-j

Counting Down

Image info: An old image I took in a place that's literally gone back when I wrote the original "Crying Game".

A very quick update. I've decided to start a little count down to the completion on the Hadder record, considering I'm so close. Lets say 90 days... yeh, that sounds good. I've added a little counter on the front page that will hopefully keep me honest in the coming weeks.... I may pull away a little as well from the samples and video teasers as I approach the finish line. I hope to do a lot of promo and advertising stuff after I complete the record so some quieter time now before it gets released might actually be a nice thing. Keep in mind I still don't know if I want to release it all myself or have it released through a record label... I'm still thinking about all that. there are advantages and disadvantages to both scenarios... things really not worth thinking about now while I'm locked up in the new tower wielding the final brush strokes on my pretty little heartfelt picture. I may hold the last three songs, "Long is the Road", and the newly mixed and modified.. "Divination: The Crying Game" and my little "Dead Rabbit" Track, as I complete them. I will however keep doing progress updates on the stargazer crew cover songs hell, I might slip in a "Field Note" or two before the record drops. So much has happened to Zabble and Diamonds the last few weeks. That's it for now really.

Farewell

-j

Ever hopeful: Vague notions beyond the 1st Breakers

Image info: An image I took near the lake in autumn, where the coin now sleeps.

I apologize in advance as today is somewhat of a philosophical message of progress. Anything worth a damn in life is a challenge… it’s hard… you have to wake somedays staring at a huge wall of water, knowing it’s just going to crash on you and there’s nothing you can do about it. The shimmering ray of hope is just beyond that wall… your ability to see that, to believe in why your paddling at all, and to stand there defiantly while the wave crests over your head and her creeping shadow crosses your own before it all tumbles on you.. takes courage and conviction. Well, Diamonds Hadder feels like that sometimes. It’s like I’m paddling out over the swells and occasionally they kick me back a little, but, I am a little ways past the 1st breakers now. Dazed and confused, yet defiantly swimming with the taste of blood in my mouth and a focused rage and fire in my heart. Here’s a little Wednesday update on Hadder things. It’s been a very busy and uplifting week as I'm now adrift on a calm flat.

New Music: Life in the new tower is great. I love the place. All the little tools needed to complete this first big picture are scattered all around me. Spring has found it’s way into the tower… thanks to a few trips into the hills of Bok with my green thumbs. African Daisey’s are swaying in the tower to the delightful hum of “Long Is the Road” and “The Crying Game”. All focus is on the record now… the final push of it. "Long is the Road" is turning out to be one hell of a closer for the record. It’s in a little listening stage right now as I fine tune the end of the song and sculpt the build-out so to say. I seem to have rounded the corner on the solo section of the track and found a rather pleasant key of notes that seems to work. Maybe later in the week or next I’ll upload Video Sample #2.

I’ve talked about this before, but in order to finish the record and close it out, “The Crying Game" and “Ballad of the dead Rabbit” both have to be reopened and produced a bit, with some new re-sings. Both tracks will lose about 4 or 5 minutes off the DEMO versions as they will be condensed, less progy and more focused around the choruses. Both those tracks were recording in a different studio, saved from a studio that literally burned in the BOK fires of 2018, (an event that was actually prophesized in the lyrics of the dead rabbit) so they needed to be transferred to the new tower. I did “The Crying Game” this week… it was a lot of behind the scenes work.. it took 2 days to convert it over. My ears are a little more in tune these days and I’ve already taken the track down quite a bit, it sounds like a song now and not a 13-minute opus. “The Dead Rabbit” will go through the same process. I’m using these little breaks between tracking work on “Long is the Road” to accomplish this final work. I’m not taking on any new tracks or material… this last push will close this record out. I hope to be celebrating the completion of it in the coming months and move on to more fun things that come with a record release.

Ramsay/Evermore material is a little idle while I put all my energy into capping this first Hadder record. I will say I am very excited about the Ramsay side project and I do see something happening with it, perhaps as the year progresses things will become a little clearer on that front. Who knows maybe a tour with both projects could take place.. it’s a vague notion anyway.

Stargazer Crew: The “Headless Cross” and “Rainbow in the Dark” covers are moving along wonderfully. I’ve posted a few short videos of “Headless Cross” in my News section the last few weeks, just vocal mixes from my studio as I was tracking. Some “Rainbow in the Dark” clips will be coming soon as well… spending a little more time on this one as it’s such a famous song and it deserves a little extra vocal attention. This project is all just side work done during my break time from Hadder work. It’s fun and I’m honored to be a part of it. If you haven’t heard it yet, this group of fellows and I also did a cover of “Stargazer” from the Rainbow Rising record, you can find the track and the music video on the front page.

Last little things: Between the War in Ukraine and the return of the goat… it’s been a rather eventful spring to say the least. I did all the honest planting I could have done this past autumn, this winter was a bit unkind on some fronts.. but this spring is surely a truthful breath of fresh air. I’ve mended a few broken strings and dug a few new holes for next year while I was weeding the current flowers of the day. Now, before the fogs come this year, I’m settled in the tower, me and Ezra… and mattix..… doing my best to listen to the daises as they dance to the winds of change…as I stare out past this first row of breakers… at that next set in the distance… I’m hopeful… ever hopeful.

Prayers for all the people fighting for simpler things this day.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_4112ff6540ce4f498977c7fcca40023e/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: A poem I wrote for "The Crying Game" that was based on the story of Niobe from Greek Mythology.

Farewell

-j