Not enough hours, etc etc

Life is getting hectic. Between juggling my day-job (hospital domestic and not at all ashamed of it), and being a faux rock-star of the highest (and baldest) order, I have barely had time to think lately.

Rehearsals for the Floyd show have been sporadic and occasionally productive. We are yet to gather with the full compliment of musicians, such are the logistics of uniting a 9 piece group. But the core group have been beavering away getting things right, I have been getting gradually more accustomed to that heaving monstrosity I call my keyboard rig and Dean has been looking a little more like a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Some pieces are coming around well. For a newie, 'Wearing the Inside Out' is sounding fantastic, and thats just as a four piece. I think that may be a high point for me. Shine On, as always is great, the Wall stuff is great, and the Dark Side stuff will stand out. Well, it probably all will.

I am looking forward to playing and singing with Chris again.

Anubis is gearing up for some work in the coming months, as we have somehow landed ourselves a bit of a package 'selection of shows' (thank you Phil Collins) with a couple of progressively inclined groups in Sydney. This is exciting for us as we will get a chance to get out there and show people what we are doing, and make some new friends along the way.

This is doubly exciting for me as the band is rising to the occasion and our last two get-togethers have been nothing short of amazing. Disinfected and Abused, the epic, is as always sounding strong, but the last rehearsal gave us a 'Collapse' to really shout about. The music was accurately played and very spirited and the vocals were nothing short of astounding (with some very good harmonies).

This is some very welcome momentum leading up to the release of the album, which is finished and awaiting mastering, artwork and pressing.

Nothing Succeeds Like Excess

Meet the family. This is the current 2009-touring rig, designed specifically for the upcoming Pink Floyd run and the Anubis Launch show. In no particular order:

1966 Hammond L122 Organ.

Moog Little Phatty Analog Synthesizer

Moog MG-1 Analog Synthesizer

Roland XP-30 Synth

Roland Fantom X-a Synth

M-Audio Prokeys 88 Stage Piano and Midi Controller

Roland JX-8P Analog Synthesizer

To quote my collegue Dean: "8 Instruments, 9 Rows, 477 keys. You have a problem."

Moving House

I'd like to make it known how much MySpace has pissed me off this year. This once keen blogger/diarist/rambler/what-you-will, has been put off by one too many occasions of spending two hours at a computer, immersed in a stream of conciousness, feverishly typing something-or-other, only to be met with 'an error has occoured, and an email has been forwarded to MySpace's technical department'. Naturally, this doesn't give me back the two hours I wasted.

I wrote the blog mainly as an avenue for my utterences regarding the upcoming Anubis album, then, obviously in it's seminal stages, and it followed the story of it's development, and of the band's evolution from three lads writing in a garage to a fully fledged concept album performed and recorded by a five-piece band. Those days are history of course, so I will attempt to sum it all up in some form or another in the coming weeks, shortly before I confine my MySpace account to history as well!!!

It's also worth mentioning that Anubis have been mentioned and complimented on ProgArchives. This is a big deal for us, and for Rob (lead singer) in particular as much of the praise was levelled at him. These are pretty descerning reviewers who are used to Genesis/Crimson/Yes et al, so to be even listened to at all by these people is both exciting and highly flattering.