The Pilgrimage: Chasing time.

It's September 29th and I’ve been packing for a long trip. It's an annual event of mine. I tried desperately to finish up current hadder projects before I had to begin the packing and planning as I knew that once I started boarding things up, I would be away from the tower and unable to complete things until I returned. I was able to complete and release City of Fire which was a great accomplishment for me and it will feel good to reflect on that while I'm away, loudly. I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't tie up all the lose ends.. but this is about the journey not the destination right? Yes. I will say the city has lost it's appeal to me as of late and I do wonder if I'll return from this pilgrimage at all. There are many places with foundations for rafters and towers.

New Material - Ramsay/Evermore “Hell Fall” – I spent the night in the lower chamber till midnight trying to complete the new song, which is coming out rather nice. It’s my 2nd full vocal tracking day on it and generally it takes about 3 or 4 vocal tracking days to complete a song from pen to mix. Not always, but most of the time. I seemed to have unlocked a few secret doors on the track. I had an amazing night with it as I created by candle light in my quiet chambers. I put some quick video clicks to the music below. My voice has come a long way in the last few years. It's nice to have the control and range that I always dreamed of. What a wonderful puzzle this track was, I think I’m getting good at finding pieces that fit but really it’s just about doing the work and looking an listening and I’ve always been dedicated to that. Regarding this collaboration with Scott Ramsay, who BTW has a very unique skill and talent for layering guitar tracks and sounds in a very vocal friendly way, I still don’t know where these tracks are headed on the official release side of things but after this third track I think we'll be able to figure that out. Looks like a Hadder tour to me but who knows. We have a live drummer laying tracks on one right now to see what that sounds like as well… for now, enjoy the demo’s as they are… who knows what will come of them. They sound good loud, so that's a great start. I will say I rather enjoy blasting these sounds out into the forest to see what shakes free.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_2dd694c3c9be4c029f7a05df1d34eed1/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: Just random video clips with some audio of "Hell Fall" in pre-production, REV 2. I threw some Matrix clips in there, why not right. Amazing creating something from a dream.

Other things going on:

Stargazer Music Video and NEW cover songs - I received the final audio track for the “Stargazer” video, as it turns out we decided not to master it any further. It was slightly mastered straight off the board, so I’ll just be using that. I’ll post the audio in the coming days, but my pilgrimage has now interfered with me completing the final edit… even though it’s really just a few hours of work… with an 8 minute video it just take time... I received the audio approval to late and it will be best to wait till I return from my pilgrimage… when I do get back that will be one of my first priorities. On a side note, looks like the same people involved in the stargazer track will be doing some other cover songs from the early sabbath days and I’m on board to track those as well. That should be a lot of fun. I think the plan is doing 3 tracks, “Nightwing” “Headless Cross” "Gates of Babylon” and ‘Kill the King” have all been talked about as well as a few others… I love them all so it doesn’t really matter to me. Great players on that stargazer track, so the songs should sound really great when they are done. Looking forward to it.

New material: Yes there’s so much on my plate and I love it. With “City of Fire” behind me I get to pleasantly pick the next song from the TOR project and complete it as I did with City of Fire. I think it will be a track called “Rivers End” and I can’t wait to grab my guitar and dive into it. I'll post the lyrics while I'm away, such a great story and I have fond memories of the work I put into it. It was recorded at 200 north, which I'll elaborate on as i start work on the track. All the vocals are done which is nice... so I’ll start releasing little clips like I did with "City of Fire" along the way as I start tracking music to it. There’s a 4th song on the Ramsay/Evermore front that’s floating around and talking to me, tentatively called “Queen of Hearts” which is basically done in my head. I’ve been singing to the track for a few weeks and it’s got a really great chorus from what I can tell anyway. And lastly, there is “The Rock King” and “Shine” which are all in the tower on paper and sketched out to some degree. Time is really the only thing between them and me. I think I’ll work on “The Rock King” and “Rivers End” in parallel as I did with “Hell Fall” and “City of Fire”, it’s nice to take a break from one and go back and forth, I think it helps to step away from each at times. Reflection is key for me… and that goes for everything in my life... stepping back is as important as stepping forward I notice. I may film some video footage for the rock king while I’m in the mountains this next week, I have the video all worked out in my brain… I already see it and it's so pretty and odd... it’s going to be really cool looking. Just have to press the video trigger and walk past the lens a few times.

Enjoy a short clip from Hell Fall - REV 2, I like this song.. it sings to me.

Not sure when you'll hear from me next, in a few days I suppose... where the river meets the road perhaps... but I'll be out there thinking and filming and planning the upper levels and the new rafter design. That's what I do.

#therockking #diamondshadder #johnevermore #heavymetal #lyrics #newsongidea #visions #sacredplaces #mybeach #spring #hellfall #riversend #cityoffire #stargazer #pilgrimage

Kilwaughter: The dream coin the rail and the queen.

Field Notes from Diamonds Hadder: On the topic of his dreams and the destruction of Kilwaughter Castle.

"It’s autumn in Bok. I awoke last night from some nightmares. I don’t often talk about such things but it’s true.. while I sleep, I often frequent places that seem unquestionably real to me. So real in fact I think I may even bring things out from the dreams. I’m not sure how I do that or what exactly that’s all about, but it happens. Another odd thing about my dreams is that I see other people with the same eye tattoos that I have in my dreams, something that Zabble has been pondering and scratching his head over. Ezra is with me now and we’re on the western rim this morning watching the sun come up… she’s extra close to me.. I think she heard me in the night talking in my sleep… shaking from the dreams. I wonder if she dreams… I often see her jittering while she sleeps… as though she’s running or playing…. grumble grumble... I wonder if she dreams of home… of other Fanglors in places she’s never been. I have a coin that I sleep with occasionally, a gift, it’s a simple thing that brings me comfort, the weight of it… the memory of the meaning… my fingers trace it’s etched markings in a silly pattern over and over as I sleep. I often clench it with a tight fist close to my heart to ward off my demons in the night. I did last night as well. Some people might say I’m foolish to put such value in trinkets and made things, but I see what others don’t and I feel what others don’t. I see memories in the air. In my dream I saw a poem and a paper… it was folded and I desperately was trying to see the date at the top of the page… it’s so vivid… me trying… I don’t remember what it said but I know that it left me with a very sad feeling… there was an image of a field on the opposite side of the paper, as though it was written on some card stock which I tried desperately to recognize but couldn’t quite place it. There’s other things too.. a child… a family that seemed like it was mine.. an elaborate golden rimmed deck of cards sat on a rather old ebony table… a queen of hearts was flipped and was shaking and vibrating making a strange uneasy rattling noise… unrested… it moved as I walked near it, turning as I did… almost staring at me.... I was playing a game and laughing with the child and for a moment that was so nice but there was a huge rift between us that wavered in the air… it shimmered between us bending time and space… it was like a window…. And I saw the most beautiful queen I’ve ever seen.. standing on an elaborate cobblestone terrace... she was in tears overlooking a vast ocean of waves and wind…… her hands clenching an iron railing with what looked like an ornate hand worked black twisted diamond pattern… seems an odd detail to recall but I remember staring at it as though I twisted it myself with my bare hands… she was clenching so tightly that her hands were bleeding down the iron railings and so the black diamonds were dripping in a dark red… there’s a strange feeling as though I know the place but yet I can’t place it… And then in a flash I witnessed what looked like the gardens and Lord Zabble’s Kilwaughter castle in ruins and a large raging fire on the hillsides covered in bodies… it was all so real. I wonder if I should go back… I worry about Zabble, he’s always so occupied with his books that I fear he wouldn’t even hear a Barkanian dragon wondering through the castle hallways chasing his magic books, let alone a kings raiding party. By now, word of my arrival and stay at the castle has made its way through the outer reaches of the kingdom and has surely caused a little unrest with the king, who still has a sharp hatred for john hadder and the war between the warmoths and men. I hear rumors that I’m not really welcome on these lands and that Zabble has fallen out of favor with the king. Something isn’t right I just feel it in my bones. Perhaps I just worry to much. Zabble says, “Little Hadder, leave the worry for the worry leaves.” Ha, a reference to the strange tree we have in the gardens that Zabble often touts over as it’s a rare species from the black forest which he planted when I arrived, a “Worry tree” they call it, aptly named after the warmoths who still rule that forest and the fear rightfully invoked when standing near one. Well, we should get going. All this talk of dreams and trees has made me hungry, I know a little place on the way. Pssst....Come girl... lets go.

#kilwaughter #diamondshadder #evermore #hadderuniverse #zabble #fieldnotes #erza #pilgrimage #magicbooks #johnhadder #thedream #thecoin #worrytree

Cit of Fire: New MP3 available.

I’ve added a new song to the music page. It’s a working vocal mix of “City of Fire”. There's a nice animation on the front page as well... I find it's nice to see things while my ears are working and thinking, particularly things that relate to what I'm hearing. Perhaps the cover is inspired by the King himself and his floating city. I always envisioned him to be quite a grand fellow. The track still needs an actual MIX DOWN and mastering session, where some things will be cleaned up and sounds fine tuned a bit before I officially release it but it's a good speaker kindling mix for my pilgrimage and maybe yours. I don't really pride myself on playing instruments but it's nice that I can at the very least do enough to finish the paintings I started. I've been documenting this track along the way in previous posts, feel free to search #cityoffire if your interested to know more about the song. I'm sure I'll have something to say about it once I return from Klevermore. I would like to close it out with some final thoughts, but I'll wait till I return. For now I'm onto completing #hellfall and perhaps even releasing the #stargazer before I leave for the Bok ale festivals and salty red cliff adventures.

"City Of Fire"

Was an angle, lured was he,

by whispers in the serpents tree

they said... take a bite before you leave

so cast out from the garden...damned was he

day and night they work their wicked fingers to the bloody bones

slaves to his unholy reign

like moths drawn to the flame

into the fire

city of fire

city of fire

so the king he was pleased

he vowed his kingdom not be seen

but only by the sinners be

who dare to seek.. who dare to see

years did pass, his palace hid, so proud of all the work they did

he cast them last into the sea to guard the waters of the deep beneath

Narration: (alternate mix/future release)

"Below the Cliffs a masons road

at the end a doorway goes

shimmers when the sun it shows...the city of fire

mirrored castles echo the golden rays

flaming spires adorn misty lanes

paved before we ever came

Behold.. the city of fire!"

So we race the sun... born to run, on a midnight turn to nowhere.

So we race the sun... born to run, on a midnight turn....

to nowhere!!!!

City of Fire

City of Fire

City of Fire

City of Fire

So we Race the Sun born to run… until the midnight comes

And we face the one... who built the sun… to hide it all

The city of Fire!!!!

#cityoffire #diamondshadder #johnevermore #hadderuniverse #heavymetal #sketch #mp3 #release #lyrics #newsongs