Internet Music Fun
By Craig | May 8, 2008
Just a quick one…
What happens when you add You Tube and Last.FM together? The answer is your own personal Music Channel.
This is the Friends of the Stars channel
and this is my personal channel featuring country rock, metal, old skool hip hop and..erm..Girls Aloud. Essentially, it’s my musical taste laid bare and available online for all to see AND hear.
*Gulp*
Get your own here by entering either your Last.fm username or your favourite artist.
Enjoy..
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
Festivals, Websites, Blah..
By Craig | May 2, 2008
Some news items for y’all
- We’ve been booked to play the 2008 Moseley Folk Festival, which is nice. The festival takes place in Moseley private park and runs from 29th-31st August. More information can be found on the Moseley Folk festival website. We’re on bright and early Sunday morning.
- Our record label Commercially Inviable finally has a website. News, sounds, reviews and the like on Friends of the Stars and also on our labelmates James Summerfield and Sleepy Eyes Nelson.
- We’re apparently recording the drums for the new album at the end of May. This should speed things up somewhat. Or maybe it won’t. You never can tell, really.
- We’re still pulling together the retrospective LP “Community Punishment Workshop - Selected Recordings 2000-2005“. It will see the light of day eventually…it’s a case of so much to do, too little time at the minute. You’re probably the same yourself.
- There have been some nice reviews of the “Lighting & Electrical” LP on the interweb. Net Rhythms described it as “Rather Splendid” and A Starve In Heaven eulogised the shit out of it. All of which is good.
- Oh, and finally, me and the missus have a new pet rabbit. Her name is Sarah Connor and she is fleet of foot.
That’s all the news that’s fit to print.
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
During Which I Bore The Entire Interweb About Writing A Middle 8..
By Craig | April 18, 2008
Anna and I spent a couple of hours bending another song into shape for the new record last night. Pre-production continues apace…
“Pour A Little Water” is something we’ve had hanging around for about a year and after demoing it several months ago we all acknowledged that what was the middle section should instead have been the chorus. So, we sat down last night intending to write a new middle section and then arrange the whole song from start to end.
Writing stuff with Anna is a challenge and a pleasure. She thinks very fast in terms of vocal melodies so it’s sometimes hard to keep up with her and find the chords she’s singing for, and she also changes her mind a lot and quickly because she’s looking for the right thing. Often, by the time I’ve found the original chord she’s started looking for a different one. It’s a very quick fire process and would look like lunacy to an outsider, but it comes from writing and working together over several years and seems to work. The song goes in several different directions, and often at the same time, before we eventually get what we want.
One thing we both agree on when writing together is being very careful to avoid the obvious. When writing songs, and particularly the kind of songs that we play, it’s very easy to take the path of least resistance. Often the song itself drags you with it because certain chords naturally lead you towards others - and there is nothing inherently wrong with that providing you can keep the song as a whole interesting by introducing something slightly out of the ordinary, something unexpected, to keep the ears fresh.
Yesterday, after much tweaking and bashing, we ended up with a pretty complex middle section that has a really sweet couple of key changes, a nice change of pace and somehow finds it’s way in and out of the arrangement very neatly and…
…and I realise I’m dancing about architecture here so I won’t go into any further detail. Suffice to say we are happy with it. Afterwards I made a quick, 10-bob demo so I could remember the chords and arrangement and I’m looking forward to working on a demo-proper over the coming days.
That’s 8 tunes in the bag.
Things are going well…
….a little too well.
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
Organised Pre-Production…whatever next?
By Craig | April 15, 2008
Cam and I spent a productive couple of days in Glasgow last week, knocking songs into shape for the new record. I suppose you’d call it pre-production. The plan, intention and hope for the next record is that it all happens reasonably quickly and without mental anguish, which would be the exact opposite of what happened last time around. I suppose you’d call it hassle-and-anguish prevention.
I had to get up at the crack of dawn to catch my 5.30am train and arrived at Birmingham New Street fully laden with the things I’d need - my guitar, our expensive studio microphone in it’s very obviously expensive-looking flight case, my portable hard-drive and my laptop. I was half-asleep and carrying over £2k worth of gear - an opportunist mugger’s dream ticket - but I managed to survive the journey unscathed by staying awake with strong coffee and 4 back-to-back episodes of Prison Break. I also got to see the Lake District in the very early morning, which was a treat.
Arriving in Glasgow just after 10am I made my way to Cam’s house and we began to work on songs. A little while later, and as we were setting up to record, I realised I’d left the XLR lead used by the studio microphone back in Birmingham so we made a quick trip back into Glasgow city centre to visit Sound Control and in the process found ourselves in a branch of Fopp, via a swift and unnaturally disciplined visit to a bar, before heading back to work.
As a quick aside, I’m equally sad and glad that Birmingham doesn’t have a Fopp. Sad because it’s a great record store and you can never have too many of those in your city but nevertheless Glad because I’d be considerably poorer if there was one here. Cam spent £46 in under 10 minutes, the flash get.
Some songs for the new record are fully formed and ready to be recorded but others need a little work - a middle 8 here, an intro there and so on. The idea is to arrange around 20 songs before we get down to recording the basic stuff like drums and guide tracks that will enable us to start the recording proper. I guess we’ll eventually whittle the whole lot down to 10 or 12 for the final album, but that’s a decision for later on. I came away from Glasgow with arrangements for 4 songs, taking the ‘ready’ pile to 7 in total…so far, so good.
The songs Glasgow gave us were “Stagger Home Safe“, “Railtown People“, “Bubble of Hate” and “Beneath The Tree“.
“Stagger..” is one of Cam’s and is about a homeless drunk worried about international terrorism (!) whilst “Railtown People” is a really simple song, again by Cam, that is based around a de-tuned D chord and has a sweet, repetitive refrain that we plan to build into some kind of harmony vocal round. “Bubble of Hate” and “Beneath The Tree” are songs of mine that I’ve been carrying around for a while, searching for a structure or vocal hook to hang them upon, and they came back from Glasgow in pleasingly different forms than how they arrived. Both were initially faster, poppier numbers but after some playing around we settled on a sparse and bittersweet country feel for “Bubble..” and a slower, more punchy arrangement for “Beneath The Tree“.
All-too-quickly I found myself on the train back home again, but in my mind’s eye (ear?) I can already hear the way the record is shaping up, and it’s shaping up nicely.
Photos:
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
New Post on Music Think Tank
By Craig | April 3, 2008
Howdy,
I’ve written a new post for Music Think Tank. Have a looksee..
It’s not replicated completely here because it’s about an idea that might be successful in the music industry and since we have our standards to maintain it has no place here.
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
Digital Products You Absolutely Don’t Need.
By Craig | March 27, 2008
You have to admire the commercial spirit of the human race - it’s what got us where we are today.
Our limitless imagination means that along with all the fun stuff like sex, music and homemade meatballs, we are also able to come up with products and services that our fellow humans never knew they needed until the point comes that they discover they need them, which is a neat trick.This ability to come up with all manner of shit that we don’t need is also what drives our willingness to celebrate those people who can sell ice to Eskimos, send coal to Newcastle and so on and so forth.
The long and the short of it, folks, is that if you can’t convince people they need something, then you might as well not bother creating it in the first place. It’s a one-man-clapping thing. Kinda like making a country/folk album and then realising that you can’t sell…..oh, that’s another story.
Anyway…
Talking of stuff you don’t need, I thought one of the dumbest products I’d seen to come out of the…ahem…digital music revolution was this:
…..the USB Turntable. The premise of the USB Turntable is that converting your silly old vinyl to shiny new digital is not only a piece of piss but also a worthwhile use of your time, when neither of which could be further from the truth - Converting vinyl to digital is a long-winded process that leaves you with substandard versions of what you started with and you will never, ever get those hours back… However, the USB turntable starts to look as necessary and vital as good old-fashioned fresh air when compared with this…. 
…which is a very expensive ‘valve’ amplifier doohickey that comes with an iPod docking station. Yup, that’s an analogue ‘valve’ amplifier system for you to play your digitally compressed audio files on.
Now, on first glance this may look like a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, but it’s actually far, far dumber than that. So dumb and pointless, in fact, that you can comfortably expect to see adverts for it in the next issue of Observer Music Monthly. USB Turntable salesmen across the globe are jumping ship to this product as you read this.
Seriously, if you’ve bought one of the above products then please don’t bother buying our album. The rest of you should feel free to proceed to the shop or to iTunes.
(Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed the cack-handed use of sales psychology in this post)
Topics: Internet Doohickeys, Apropos of Nowt | No Comments »
Live Video and Photos from the Dorian Wood night - 21/03/08
By Craig | March 25, 2008
Here are some things that were captured on Friday….
Anna singing with Dorian Wood (USA) on his song ”Watsonvilled”…
..and some photos from the night.
There are many more photos to see in this handy Friends of the Stars / Dorian Wood FLICKR set
Friends of the Stars
Dorian Wood (UK)
Dorian Wood (USA)
There will be some audio to come just as soon as Dorian USA gets home to California and makes it Interwebable.
Were you at the show? Leave a comment below with your thoughts…
Topics: Music, Images, Collaboration, Birmingham, Live | No Comments »
Thank You, Kings Heath
By Craig | March 23, 2008
A big thanks to all of those who braved the howling winds, sleet and cold to make the show on Friday night.
Both the Dorians played storming sets and joined each other onstage for a double-Dorian finale to bring the house down.
Photos and Audio to follow shortly..
Dorian Wood (USA) continues his UK tour at The Half Moon in Putney, That London tonight.
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
This Good Friday, All The Dorian Wood You Can Eat.
By Craig | March 18, 2008
Just a quick reminder about our night on Friday at The Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath. We have Dorian Wood from California, USA and Dorian Wood from Birmingham, UK. We also have sounds from the Step Off DJs and an acoustic set from ourselves, Friends of the Stars. It’s £3 on the door and kicks off at 8pm.
Confused about the whole double Dorian thing? Clicky to read all about the show, listen to songs from the performers and even get directions.
Hope to see you there…
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
We Built This City On An Early Night.
By Craig | March 16, 2008
Lots of Birmingham sites have posted this over the last few days. I’m happy to join in.
It’s all part of the Keep Digbeth Vibrant campaign, something I support completely. If you’re unaware of the back story then it goes something like this:
Property developers build far too many Luxuty 1 Bed Apartments in and around the city centre of Birmingham. As soon as the buildings are constructed they become massive, gigantic twat magnets. Idiots are strangely compelled to purchase their identikit boxes at hugely inflated prices and once installed they throw themselves whole-heartedly into the Modern Urban Living Dream. The Modern Urban Living Dream doesn’t include any noise after 11pm.
It’s a crazy world, kids.
Obviously, I should qualify the above by pointing out at that not everyone who lives in a city centre apartment is a twat (Some of my closest friends etc etc). However, if you are one of those people complaining then why did you move to the middle of the second largest city in the United Kingdom and expect peace and quiet? That was stupid.
Topics: Apropos of Nowt, Birmingham | No Comments »