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.
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.