Hadder News: The little things.

Just a little update on some things happing around the Hadder grounds… it’s hard to pick a nail to hammer, so to say, but I keep swinging and driving.

You may have noticed a new animated front page of the website which was on my mind for about a month. At least if your looking at this on a computer, mobile users unfortunately will not see it yet. I finally had a window last week to sit with the concept and design some diamond plate backgrounds… I always wanted to show what Zabble and Ezra kind of looked like in my mind and there is just something about diamonds and windows that excites me. I’m a doorways and windows kind of person. I may shoot a music video in the same fashion… a still scene with open windows showing things as the song plays, we’ll see.. it’s a thought anyway. There’s a lot of possibilities surrounding the overall concept and it's pinging my radar. Yes, I'm writing something novelesc called "Diamonds Hadder".... more on that later.

The Stargazer video: I’m still editing it, well not really, I was in a holding pattern waiting for schedules to align with other people involved so that we could finalize some clips. We had our second clip finalization day this week and I'm approaching the finish line now. Excited to release it of course as it was a very overwhelming amount of work to complete it. I'll be traveling to the Red Forest lakes in the coming weeks for the annual autumn ale festivals, so it will be great to release it before I disappear. Don't tell Zabble, as he considers ale a silly poison. Stepping away from things offers a nice perspective and I like the deep woods.

Auditions: Take it from me... trying to assemble a band in Los Angeles is more difficult than you might think or imagine. Especially when you dress like a strange band leader super hero villain and have peculiar ideas that don’t fit into a traditional mold of sorts. I’ve had lots of inquiries and gatherings over the last few months and some things are organically coming together… I like it that way. I consider the endeavor of assembling a group of likeminded talented people like building an elaborate garden... which I've done before on the hills above BOK… and like an elaborate garden... as I water the seeds more and more each week some things are starting to show, are they weeds or fruit I don’t know yet. There’s no hurry really, nails are being hit, holes dug and poles planted… the tower is being lifted regardless.... and Im always aware that devious squirrels still might come and eat me out of house and home so to say.… it wouldn't be the first time... it’s a blurry picture but there are a few elements that are coming into focus. Let me lastly say, I’m fortunate and grateful that people even ring the bell.. and I’m ever grateful for each inquiry I get and any effort that people put into answering my add. I hate having to choose, I do really. Did I mention I'm considering buying a tour bus? Well I am. It's either that or a plot at Notre Dame cemetery. I figured the plot could wait..., I don't think my stone is going anywhere, besides I like the idea of loud music and the open road. A marriage made in heaven.

New collaborations: I have a meeting with Lord Ramsay later in the week to discuss what will come of the DEMO collaboration sessions we have accidently started. "Last Light" and "Lord of the Golden Tower" will be up for discussion. I'll talk in lengths about this later as I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it exactly on my end and how far to take it. Everything takes time and I don't want to stray to far from some of the actual Diamonds Hadder things that were already in process, unless of course it falls under those rafters. For now, I love to create and so something was created rather quickly and with great intentions from all parties. That's reason enough for it to exist for me.

New music: Aside form the Ramsay collaboration... on the topic of new Diamonds Hadder material, I have several new songs I'm working on including an original Hadder version of "City Of Fire" which I hope to release in the coming weeks. "Ballad of the Dead Rabbit" edits are being done to bring that track to a reasonable length and finality, as it was always intended to be. "The Crying Game" is also getting it's due overhaul which includes some shortening and a few re-sings to close it out for official release, work that was originally intended just before I was willingly sidetracked with the TOR project. Stargazer Cover will release soon.. with video.. other song titles in the works. "Shine" "The Rock King"... "Rivers End", all in process and at varying stages of completion. I'm sure you'll hear a lot about all this stuff in the coming months as I try to drive the nails home and release things in as timely a manner as I see fit.

#stargazer #diamondshadder #johnevermore #hadderuniverse #tribute #newoldsong #coversong #musicvideo #heavymetal #therockking #shine #cityoffire #newmusic #lordofthegoldentower #lastlight #auditions

"Lord of the Golden Tower" MP3 is up

I’ve added a new DEMO song to the music page. It’s a sketch of “Lord of the Golden Tower”, which was written by Lord Scott Ramsay and myself over the last week. I’ll leave it up a little while, just wanted to share the initial process of creation again. Something I'll be doing a lot more of these days. It's missing a solo I think and a few little things but it's a great start to something. It's a step outside of the more traditional sounding music I love and seem to gravitate towards for the Hadder project, but I have a very eclectic taste in music. Generally, if it moves me and inspires me, I really have no problem with pointing my voice, my passions, my focus and my efforts towards it in good hope... perhaps that's true with other things in my life as well. I'll talk more about this new path later. Truth be told. It's a long and lonely river at times and the further down you go.. it's harder to trust the windings... but the falls are pretty.

"Lord of the Golden Tower"

I sailed away

into the black

with open eyes, to find

a reason worth the rhyme

I tried to stay

but she was faster

the river bled, it said

Beware... the dead

who's the lord of the golden tower.. my lord, it's you..... it's you.

Seasons came and seasons went

adrift at sea

do distress sent

no letter left

no somewheres end

no jack or Jill

just a whisper that said

who's the lord of the golden tower... it's you.

my poles they drag the floor

searching for something

down below the water line

hopes are cast and dreams they fall... into nothing

my ship it holds it's course.... well into the night

It took me in

and the pain was gone

with ever step, it said

I'm sorry but you were wrong

this water ends

this time is short

soon land breaks and we wake

as we tumble into the falls

who's the lord of the golden tower, the one who dies at the final hour... it's you

#lordofthegoldentower #diamondshadder #johnevermore #hadderuniverse #scottramsey #newsongs #heavymetal #sketch #demosessions #lyrics

Lord Zabble and the Castle Fanglor

Field Notes from Diamonds Hadder: On the topic of meeting Erza.

It was early and Lord Zabble was busy doing his morning things, lighting candles around the castle and putting books back where they belong… he has a few magic books that wander the hallways through the night.. they can certainly startle you as you turn the bends and twists of the lower hallways… he often says “Some magic is hard to keep still”. He has a little sense of humor that perhaps he finds more amusing than others, but it doesn’t seem to stop him from trying a joke or two. He’s rather intense when it comes to the art of magic and is always eager to weigh in on the topic of anything related to the fine art of spell casting and conjuring things from thin air. It’s obvious why his reputation proceeds him, as his knowledge is second to none. It’s said that below the lower tower there is a room filled with books that he’s memorized and that the room so large you could fit a Trillion dragon in it. It’s a joke of course. If you don’t know, a Trillion dragon is a mythical beast the size of a mountain. There is a temple in Remdon entirely built from fragments of Trillion dragon bones.. and the entire city of Remdom sits on the only partial skull ever found of a trillion dragon. Lets just say Zabble’s mind is a lot like an internal library and he often boasts about his ability to remember everything he reads and hears. He often taps his temple as you speak to him, which is his way of acknowledging that he is retaining your words and placing them in one of his internal chambers of his memory. I almost forgot to mention “Skylark”, a Fanglor that Zabble found in the hills above BOK when he was young. Fanglors are wonderful companions who live a very long time and have been known to be incredibly loyal to their masters. To the point of even starving themselves to death upon the passing of their keepers. They also are quite lovable and playful although I wouldn’t let their cute pointed ears and tender nature fool you, they may have the heart of a lion and even resemble them at times, but they have the appetite of a dragon and the claws and teeth to match its temper. Fanglors are highly intelligent as well. They come from the same class of predatory mammals as the smaller and more common Lygor, but are much more rare and 3 times the size. Skylark is a castle Fanglor who’s been away from the dangerous hillsides above BOK for some time… the most adventure she gets these days is chasing Zabbles magic books around the towers into the wee hours of the night. Occasionally Zabble lets her out to roam the hillsides which is good for her… and sometimes she comes back with cuts and scraps and tattered hair and bloody teeth behind a sneaky Fanglor grin. She needs that. Don’t we all. Sometimes she comes back with other things.. which brings me to Ezra. Erza came from a rather unexpected litter of three, she was born just about the time I arrived at the Towers. It’s not known how Skylark became pregnant with three Fanglors but we suspect it happened on one of her hillside adventures. Sometimes I think Ezra looks for her father in the hills, I just sense it. She was barely walking when I arrived at the castle. Zabble tells me that the moment she saw me she instantly dragged herself over to me and fell asleep on top of me. I don’t recall the event but I often hear about it as I could hardly breath and Zabble found it quite amusing that Ezra left the safety of Skylark to investigate me so quickly. I also hear about how my eyes were glowing as Ezra approached… I was a little scared of Ezra at first apparently. Ezra has slept with me ever since. I didn’t have much control over my tattoos then. They seemed to almost act on their own, which still comes in handy as it’s almost like they can tell the future or see things that are unseen to my own eyes and giving me a strange warning of what’s to come or what they fear could happen. It’s funny that some people still associate sight with eyes when really there’s so much more going on to be seen and felt without eyes at all. At least that’s what Zabble is showing me and what I’ve been learning all these years. Ezra and I have become quite close over the years and I really can’t imagine being without her anymore. Oh well, just some words I felt like penning this morning. I’m off to Bok for supplies and some ravens feet, Erza seems to have eaten all of Zabbles stock and I would hate for him to reach for the empty bottle in the midst of one of his crazy potions ideas only to find the empty bottle turn over with Fanglor slobby dripping from the rim. I can hear him now….. “EZZZRAAAA… “ he would say and the hallways would answer back…. “EEEZZRRRAA”.

#fanglor #diamondshadder #evermore #hadderuniverse #zabble #fieldnotes #lygor #castlefanglor #magicbooks #haddermeetserza #ezra