Lord Obrien and the lonely Tree of Lights

It’s Thursday in the states, or as I like to call it, "Thors" day. It’s a transitional week for me… quiet things are happening that don’t show much in the real world. Mixes, and listenings which are actually an important part of creation for me, tempo mappings and course plotting’s, story book ideas and time slotting. A little mid-week update on where the Hadder camp is headed and some other cool news on the Stargazer cover I was a part of.

Stargazer news: Well, it might not make headlines, but I received word that Wendy Dio had a chance to see and hear the Stargazer cover we did. Seems an old trusted friend I have by the name of Lord O'Brien was traveling in her parts of the wood and took it upon himself to share it with her. It’s weird the people you meet in life, some are just friends forever, regardless of how often you see each other. Tiny connections in life matter when you least expect them too… perhaps the best connections are exactly that, connections that have no expectations attached. Lord O'brien is quit the traveler. Anyway, to hear that she said “She loved it and was happy that we were keeping Ronnies music alive”, well, even if no one likes it or watches it…. Coming from her, that’s all I could ever dream of hearing. I can sleep on that with an honest smile. Thanks Mr. O'Brien, little things matter.

New Hadder Music: “Rivers End” is turning the bend, so to say. Fine details now.. as I paddle a little further down the river of my dreams. If you didn’t catch it yet, my previous post had a nice little clip of the heavier side of the track, actually I’ve posted a few little videos with various clips of the song over the last few weeks, so feel free to rewind. (Search Rivers End, that will take you there) Of the 2 songs I’m trying to complete this year, to round out the first Hadder release, “Rivers End” is rather grand… 7 minutes down river and it’s filled with twists and turns that are a lot of spooky fun. The final song is a little more straight forward, a track called “Long is the Road”, it’s mapped out and ready for a magic guitar day or two. But I’m trying to stay away from the music side of it while I’m clear on “River” keys and melodies. Remembering 7 minutes of key intervals and guitar and bass work is challenging and so I need to stay focused on “River” movements before I veer the boat of course. But I’m super excited about “Long Is The Road’, it’s has a wonderful chorus which happens to be very relative to the making of the Hadder record and the road I’ve been on personally. I printed this lyric and it hung in the 200 north tower for quite some time. I often saw it staring at me day in and day out… a little mantra so to say.. it’s only fitting that it be the last track I finalize on the road to archers’ bay and the giant skull hut people who live there.

“On and on we, sing the song

We don’t know the reason for it all…

On and on we… sing the song…

till we don’t see the light no more.”

The Diamonds Hadder Novel: I’m working on the “Coin Book” field note. It will drop one day soon when I have a few hours to sit with it. Zabble is leaving Medlins Chambers, he’s alone… other than skylark of course… clutching his key and medallion. Zabble, The Keeper. He’s walking the halls on his way to the lower levels of the castle… oh dear what will he find inside that door. I have some ideas.

Holidays: I’ll be traveling before the new year. I’ve been commissioned for some readings in the boulder hills. It could be snowy and treacherous. I’m quietly planning for such things. Time is ticking. I actually enjoy the tradition of lights and trees and think I’ll take some lights with me on Holiday, perhaps I’ll stumble upon a lonely tree to dress, one that will share the night with me beside a warm fire under the European stars. The galaxies are starting to move around me… I feel it… I can’t explain it, but I sense it. What it means I don’t know, but I see the future and it’s filled with great Adventures and great people if I simply stay the course. Happy Holidays to you all.

PS A note to self: During vocal exercises today, a song called “Phantoms” appeared from nowhere. Perhaps it’s something, perhaps not, we’ll see.

Farewell.

-J

#diamondshadder #johnevermore #evermore #riversend #holiday #update #coinbook #fieldnotes #novel #stargazer #longistheroad

The actor and the audience.

Raising a tower.

I’m feeling slightly poetic today. It happens. It’s Monday in Hollywood, or BOK, depending on my mood and mask. If you’re simply looking for Diamonds Hadder band NEWS you might want to turn away now. This might be a little philosophical and strange. I woke from a flood of words and ideas Saturday night, ideas and concepts on the topic of building… I’m surrounded by things I’m building. The entire Diamonds Hadder idea is a giant perceptual tower with rocks and boulders and some nights it feels like it could tumble at any moment. And some walls have fell over… so is the process of building. There are also days when I’m standing on the new floor I’ve installed, and I can see farther than I’ve ever seen and a swell of emotion comes over me… a sense of accomplishment… for the tower that wouldn’t exist if not for me and my strange convictions, will and desires. Every week I ride the roller coaster of creation. It’s glorious and it’s terrifying all at the same time, well somedays anyway. Generally, I rise to too meet the planted idea, regardless of outcomes or the crop. I guess I’ve always been a builder of things listening to the wind rather than listening to other people’s windy opinions… making my own stories, rather than spending my days glued to other people’s stories… perhaps you can see the dilemma in that scenario… let’s face it, life is a play filled with actors and the audience, each needed to some degree.... I just always wanted to be on the stage.

The Tower I often refer too is a metaphor for what holds my dream together. It’s the unmovable structure that protects the idea. It’s invisible to some degree, but not. It does weather the storms… and there are many. I did my best on the hillsides over the years with little temporary shelters that kept me dry and allowed me to work on things, but they all blew away in time.. or burned. The winds can get strong. And so I decided to spend some time gathering rocks for something a little stronger these days. It’s hard building your own things… it’s so much easier to just buy in. My problem is I don’t like buying in and most of the time you notice that what you bought is generally shit anyway. It’s not the way you want it and you end up throwing it away anyway. Well, generally speaking of course. And then there are the strings that come with those things. You don't notice them at first, but as you walk you feel them tug at you. There are exceptions to every rule of course. Lord knows I’ve learned that a few times in life. This weekend I found a few new puzzle pieces for the Hadder project. I’ve been very diligent on my morning shoreline walks… collecting wood for the barn fire that’s been keeping me warm and toasty all these November and December nights. I can be relentless in my pursuit of rocks needed for new walls and levels. At the very least, today… in December… I feel alive… and you can’t truly die happy if you’ve never truly felt alive, I suppose. I feel ready for both. Life's hardly as dramatic as I make it out to be... but playing with words is fun to me. Anyway, a lot of things happened this weekend, things that relate to Diamonds Hadder and the tower I’m slowly raising. I spent many hours with the “Rivers End” and it’s very close to releasing. I’m hoping to set it free just before my holiday pilgrimage to the mountains of Remrod. Soon perhaps you’ll see “A Mystery Machine” and hear about a few new characters and storylines in the Hadder play as well, both real and fiction. “Take this all with a grain of salt if you care, and toss it over the shoulder of doubt and fear.” May you build your own tower as you see fit and find the courage to follow your own crazy dreams in life and to grace your own stage, whatever that may be. Stay the course, … you’ll know the way without even thinking about it. And thanks for reading and for wondering about mine. Enjoy a little clip of Rivers End, which I will elaborate on in fine detail when I officially release it to the raven in the narrows.

-j

"Maybe you've seen the end of the stream

and heard the voices in the falls

and met the witch at the only mountain

rising up from it all."

Oh somewhere down at the rivers end,

I could show you where it all began

oh.. down at the rivers end."

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_8a5659166d744741827a907d7c6bfa77/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: Random video clips from 2021 and some music from "Rivers End". The audio is just a random export I did last week after my last guitar and bass recording session's. Background Vocal Choirs and FX were muted for this mix. I spend a lot of time in the mountains and so I shared some video clips from my recent wanderings near white mountain where I was commissioned for some snowy readings.

#diamondshadder #johnevermore #evermore #riversend #philosophy #actor #audience #tower

Mattix and the Imagineer: Update

Good morning from the tower. It’s Friday, I woke with a flood of words today. They were everywhere. I love that. I was in an LA parking lot this morning, sitting in the fog to misty street lights while a homeless person had a little campfire going in the street. I felt like an extra in “Escape from New York”. I was doing my morning singing routines… always training… in patterns… singing the words I see in the air… but while I was singing I saw a wooden cat on a library shelf, its toylike magic feline glowing Siamese eyes were hidden in the dark between two books… a bit sinister like.. ha.. well, I suppose there is a story brewing for the Hadder tale, perhaps the wooden cat that Zabble will stumble upon when he finds his way to the lower level of the castle. He makes an odd noise when he walks, like wood knocking into each other… eww… I like him… my own Pinocchio minus the nose liar thing… I call him “Mattix” Perhaps a spell from Medlin to keep his books safe from pesky smart mice. So is my day but filled with wonder.. looking forward to that chapter.

Other news on the Hadder story: the waterfall tale will have to wait, as it’s far too important of a puzzle piece to release now, I think a few short tales to set the scene are in order still. Hence “The keeper and the key” and now “Mattix the Coin and the Book”. I will say that Hadder, lord skynn and ezra are quite safe journeying to the gates of Europa well past the Gorgon bridges, and that soon Hadder will wake with an interesting dream about a hidden waterfall and a sacrifice and a mysterious raven who’s perhaps not a raven after all. Somewhere in this world, there is a Lady that Hadder will meet.. which also might have something to do with his dreams and the future. I’m looking forward to this adventure. I can only imagine the music for it all once it’s completed.

Diamond Hadder New Music: “Rivers End” is almost complete. I’ve had about 3 sessions of Drum, Bass and Guitar work on it and now it’s starting to sound quite grand. It’s one of the more elaborate pieces of music I’ve worked on. Like meatloaf meets phantom of the opera. It might not win a Grammy, but it certainly is a painting I’m proud of. This weekend I’ll tighten up a few screws and perhaps add some grand piano to the front of it. I know a keyboard/Harp player that I’ve been considering for the hadder project, who I also might send the track to, to see if he might create a little magic on the opening sequence of the song. We’ll see how the mixes go this weekend before I do that. Right now “rivers End” is all I’m focused on, after that… there is a track called “Long is the Road’ next on my list and I imagine I’ll be working on that in about 2 weeks while final mixes of rivers get close.

On the side project front: With 3 Ramsay/Evermore tracks completed, we’ll have to discuss what to do next with that project. Record more songs to round out a record or tie up loose ends on the mixes and “Officially” release what we have. I have more Ramsay material, so I’ll probably start tracking a new one in the coming weeks… mixed in to the “Diamonds Hadder” workload. Which reminds me of a lyric that came to me while I was listening to some of the new Ramsay material.

“I might be the King of the Lonely cards,

but the deck is ruled by a Queen of Hearts.”

Stargazer Crew: After some discussions with Dougy Weiand, looks like we are booked and tracking some new cover songs in 2 weeks. From what I can gather this will be the same crew that did the Stargazer video, with Rob Black… the studio engineer at Light Black Studios in LA filling in on Bass Guitar. There’s talk of some original music on the table with that particular cast of characters… as well as some talks regarding Dougy maybe being involved with the first official Diamonds Hadder record. But we’ll see how that all plays out. Next year should be a rather interesting year of creation… on all musical fronts.

Here is a little piece of music at the end of “Rivers End”, it was on the chopping block for the TOR record, and was soon to disappear into the oblivion of lost things recorded at the 200 north tower, but it will be part of the song now. Actually, it always was part of the song.... now it just gets to be heard. You could say I’ve set it free. A rock collector and vindicator of words and ideas, that's me.

-j

“It's hard to believe we’re forever

It’s sad to think you know it all

It’s a gift…

We play this game at all…

Somewhere past the end it all begins again….

Go see the man at the rivers end.”

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_8ca844a800804d618974683362481afc/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: Music from "Rivers End".

#diamondshadder #johnevermore #evermore #coinbook #hadderupdate #hattix #riversend #ramsay #longistheroad