Low tides.

Tuesday on the heels of Zabbles big turkey extravaganza. I’ve been trying to do 3 updates a week generally as there is a lot going on in the Hadder world. Auditions, new music material, Website, European Press Releases for Stargazer, mountain travels, headless cross covers, book chapters… tour bus… it’s a bit daunting to say the least. Thank heavens it’s all actually enjoyable and rewarding.

Holiday Storms: Real life can be a bit disheartening for me at times it’s true, human natures can be a bit unintentionally destructive… where does lady time go. I’m pondering her today with my gremlin and my ashy relics. The tic and the toc. I wish things were different… I do.. like a drop in the water who’s ripples go on forever, I too seem adrift in the current of circumstances beyond my control at times. And true to it's nature and it's waves that forever gain momentum, at least until they hit the shore again in a splash, I feel helpless at times in its path. Tumbling in the waves. Wishing on shattered dreams. A silly broken coin operated toy left on the floor and thrown out when the battery died. Oh, you can stand in front of the ripples and the fire… but you can’t stop them… a tear can help some nights… but the rock that set it off still sits on the ocean floor. It always will. It takes time… but heavy rocks do move down there… so I’m told… and so I keep walking the beach at sunrise… to see what the tides left. That’s me... and that's what Diamonds Hadder is all about. A tireless hope after every storm.

Speaking of tides..

New Music: I’m a drummer this week. Spent the last few days tracking “Rivers End”, almost done. Should be a real holiday treat. coming soon. Maybe an early stocking stuffer. Me and Ramsay are planning a photoshoot Friday to commemorate all the hard work we’ve done on some of the new material we’ve collaborated on. Should make an interesting snap. I’ll share of course.

Auditions: All I can say is, each week the pictures becomes a little clearer... and the final cast should be together before I take my Christmas tree down. That’s the hope anyway. I’m so humbled by the people I’ve meet during this process, every email, every character. It’s quite the justice league I’m assembling.

The Novel: I have a big Field Note that is an important part of the story, it’s about the waterfall and the dreams Mr Hadder is having. It could be a few days before I complete it.. some chapters take longer than others. Other than that I’m very pleased with the progress so far, it takes a long time to write such a thing in between making a record. I try to honor the moments of creation when they knock on the door, otherwise I’m plotting my tour across the US in my dreams to the crackles of burning fire wood and ocean winds. In a year I think most of this first book will be completed. All things are leaning towards a two book story.. so I imagine I’ll be doing this a while. At least that’s what the wind is saying today.

Hadder Website: A redesign is in process for the music page which suddenly seems rather drab in this meta world we are inching towards. Just something that’s on the radar. I’m happy that it seems to function well on Mobil devices, but I’m looking for something a bit grander on the desktop experience, we’ll see. I’ve outgrown the current page, like a butterfly. So is life. Other than that, quite happy with the Hadder digital space, the front page and the news page are all working rather nicely on all platforms and they are easy to weed and garden. Perhaps comments and the members section will be activated in the near future as the book and the touring plans progress. Tic toc.

The Headless Cross Project: The stargazer crew are recording some additional covers songs in the coming weeks, I plan of filming the process and singing on the tracks… with videos to go along with them, “Headless Cross’ and “Rainbow in the Dark”, from our good friend the king are on the table. I’ll post news from the studio in LA when we start the recording process.

-j

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_72c3e44109c9410eb7587feb8d8a6096/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: A solo I recorded this week for "Rivers End". It was a one taker to help me arrange the transition of parts.. but it's growing on me.

#diamondshadder #johnevermore #evermore #hadderupdate #auditions #riverend #headlesscross #stargazercrew #novel

Update: Ebbs and Flows and where it goes.

A little Friday update as I’m all unpacked and thinking about master Zabbles Turkey gathering. It’s a week of cutting stems for rehearsals, writing guitars for Rivers End, rowing pleasantly down that wonderful river to the falls, revisiting the narrow cut in my heart and ironing out the big “Raven, Coin and Waterfall” field note which is one of the more complex pieces I’ve been pondering as of late for the Hadder story.

The Hadder Story: For some of you new readers and listeners around the world, you may notice that the Hadder site is a mix of music and literature... I’m guessing this literature will be the second full record on the Hadder Front, or at least a part of it. Perhaps it will be written with the new band characters all in place, that is the hope anyway. Funny how puzzle pieces work, every piece does reveal a little more of the picture… and they do get easier to find as the pool of odd little pieces gets smaller and smaller. As I took the last few days to pour some new bricks and get some words to paper from raven whispers and starry night cottonwood ponderings.. I cant tell you how happy I am that the tower I’m building resides on my earth.. and that even when I’m away I can see the fire I left… burning in the distance… and no one can take that away. Something so far away still warms my heart. It’s a thought that helps me sleep at night for sure. Hope you liked “the Bridge” story, it’s been rattling around my head a few weeks… I like lord Skynn, he’s an interesting character… one of those people we all need in our life. A mentor to some degree for little Hadder who is growing up and learning more and more each day about himself. There’s a few twists and turns coming, a Lady Wilhelm, The Coin of course, the truth about his dreams and that Magic Waterfall, The King and the Prison…. The chamber… Oh, it’s all coming together slowly. Stay tuned if you like such a thing, I have nothing better to do.

On the topic of Music: All energy is now on “Rivers End”, aside from planning auditions and rehearsals, which by the way are really starting to ramp up with some great players and prospects as of late tapping on the tower door, and a few minor minor vocal re-sings on “Hell Fall”, I hope to have rivers done before Zabbles grand Turkey gathering. It’s a tall order as the oven is practically warming already. I should note that the Ramsay/Evermore material on this site, including Hell Fall, is mostly demo material, missing solos and little production things and they may frequently be updated behind the scenes.. but I share because I think the process of creation is important and that most honest steps we take in life, the ones that lead anywhere worth a damn… they deserve to be recognized in the process… and not hidden away… to some degree anyway. I’ll try to continue doing such things. The vocal journey of “Rivers End’ was a very fond memory for me, I distinctively remember a giant wall that needed jumping during the process and the frustration of a few failed vocal leaps and bounds over that wall and a walk along the ocean, the day I broke the code on it. Sometimes it brings tears to my eyes… literally... solving the lyrical puzzle of a song. Its ebbs and flows are that important. That’s me. Enjoy the little vocal clip below.

-j

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_1b0d6f5349f1418bba3236ef67e46ede/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: Soloed Vocal tracks from Rivers End, Chorus played along to some random video clips.

#diamondshadder #johnevermore #evermore #coin #hadderupdate #zabble #auditions #hellfall #riversend

The Bridge

Field Notes from Diamonds Hadder: On the topic of The Gorgon bridges and Black Mice.

"We’ve been sitting on the hillside a while, Lord Skynn arrived a few hours ago carrying a few large bags filled with something. Who knows what he’s up too but he’s been fairly quiet since he arrived. Although I hardly know him, I can see he’s a man who believes in things and I find it easy to trust him. That’s not something that comes easy with me. He left me and Ezra here with strict orders not to approach the bridges and to stay on high ground above the mossy patches of earth along the road. He seems rather cautious these days and rather addiment that we do as he says… this is a strange land that I’m not familiar with. So me and Ezra have been hanging around for hours just watching things and thinking. occasionally the earth under our feet rumbles and it seems like the trees and shrubs are moving slightly but I think it’s just my mind playing tricks on me… as we all sat there a strange animal come out from the woods tenderly walking with timid steps down below, I’ve never seen an animal quite like this, it seems to be like a large deer although the antlers were twisted in large spiral patterns that created circular discs on the sides of its head, like heavy shields, scraped and worn from strikes I’m guessing… I imagine they are quite the battering rams.. the body of this animal is very stout and muscular… almost unmoving and quite impressive. It was grazing on the short grassing near the front of the bridge… and occasionally a snap or pop from the forest would send it into a quick still and alert posture, just it’s eyes would shift side to side.. perfectly still… until it felt the noise was nothing and then it continued grazing. This went on a little while till it reached the very front of the bridges where the grass was greenest… Lord Skynn looked on as well with an odd smirk on his face as though he was waiting for something… me and Ezra just enjoyed the moment, I often sat on the hillside of BOK taking field notes for Zabble so I was used to sitting and listening and observing odd creatures and people for that matter.

Suddenly there was a little rumble in the earth and I thought perhaps my eyes were playing tricks on me… the ground under this strange animal was shifting and buckling which of course startled the animal as it began a frantic dash for the edge of the forest… as though it knew what was happening… in a flash the earth it seemed to tear up, like a trap spiders door, the grasses and shrubs lifted sending debris into the air.. and to my amazement they were not grasses and shrubs at all but well disguised skin from what appeared to be some troll like wooded creature… it was much larger than the animal and in a simple swoop it snatched it in it’s strange treelike arms.. it was like the earth had come alive. Ezra looked on as well, she grumbled as the event unfolded, I think she took a liking to that poor animal. I had to hold her back a little as she felt like charging a few times. She stood fast by my side in a firm excited state of mind, like a dog might appear when he’s watching a squirrel outside a window but can’t get at it. As we continued watching this bizarre earth shifting creature, it crouched into a ball to devour it’s recent catch… it’s back looked like a lumpy hill, but I think it was eating… dirt fell off its limbs as it moved until finally it started to slowly vibrate and shift again… it’s skin morphing into the earth around it, what a gift. The quick vibrations could be felt under my feet and a small cloud of dirt and leaves was dispersed into the air around the creature, only to fall back down upon its body which now seemed nothing more than the grassy earth itself. After a little moment of silence, it was done, I looked at Lord Skynn who still was wearing a silly smirk… “Gorgons” he said with a little grin. “And where there’s one, there are many.”

He then grabbed his oddly squirming bags and started walking down the hill… For a moment I was frozen… and Ezra looked at me as if to say, “go get him”. We were both confused. We watched him walk down to the edge of the earth just before the grassy areas of the road… “I don’t think this is a good idea Lord Skynn” I screamed out an odd loud whisper…. Trying not to awaken the earthly creature of course… he turned to us, with a strange smile as he walked, like a mad man with a secret… at the edge of the grasses the earth began to rumble a little.. as his steps grew smaller and more cautious and his grin wider and madder.. he reached for his bags and placed them on the floor carefully opening then… from the bags came tiny mice… black as the night and quick as lightning… they almost looked like beetles… they poured over the tops of the bags, 2 bags in total, tens of hundreds maybe more… they hit the grounds and raced over the grasses heading for the bridges… a loud rumble grew as the mice began their march, a small earthquake erupted and the earth all around the bridges began to lift… everywhere… giant troll like creatures jumped from the earth in a frantic state fumbling and bumping into each other… each creature making a strange woodley barking noise, similar to the sound of banging wood together with a deep bellow attached. Gorgons I imagine… they seemed to be quite scared of the mice… Lord Skynn stood and watched as the last few gorgons jumped from the broken earth and ran off into the forest ahead of the mice… strange knocking echoes could be heard a few moments quietly disappearing into the woods as the gorgons ran for their lives from the tiny little creatures. It was quite amusing actually.

Lord Skynn waved me and Ezra down from the hill… as we approached him he smiled and said:

“Where there is one, there is many.”

(We both smiled while Ezra cautiously smelled the broken dirt at our feet, chasing a few remaining black mice around the pits left in the earth.)

Lord Skynn: “I have a friend nearby who collects black mice for this very purpose. Every strange thing in this world has a weakness my lord, big or small, knowing that weakness is the key to understanding it and ultimately defeating it, if it’s something that needs defeating of course. Your mind is the sharpest weapon you’ll ever possess. Your father taught me that. No trinkets, weapons or kyon magic can outwit the sharpest mind. Though there is a place and a time for sword skills, knowing your enemy’s weakness is more powerful than any thrust or blow you could ever wield.

(I stood and I listened. I imagined my father for a moment, remembering the stories I heard of him in Zabbles books, the man he was… often outwitting his enemies before the battles began. It’s as though he was talking to me through Lord Skynn. Finally, Lord Skynn gathered up his empty bags and heaved them over his shoulder, with a rather deliberate look upon his face, he said:)

Lord Skynn: “We should move along; gorgons are territorial, and they’ll return rather quickly. With any luck, We’ll be at the gates by morning.”

(And he started walking.)

#diamondshadder #fieldnotes #lordskynn #gorgon #ezra #blackmice #johnhadder #bridge