Crossing the finish line

It's nearly 1am, and my head is muzzy. A combination of too little sleep and far too much caffiene. Today was mastering day, and the final day of making the 230503 album.

7.45am came around far too quickly. It always bloody does. It, for me, is way too early to even begin to THINK about functioning past the occasional grunt, mutter, slurp, or far worse. I shall not elaborate further. Coffee number one was consumed in morning bad-tempered haste.

Having previously been designated (no real surprise) designated driver on the duofold reasoning that a) my car is the biggest and b) I drink the least alcohol of all the band members (one suspects the real primary reason).

The previous evening, I had been sent an anonymous SMS message telling me in the morning it's sender would only be contactable on the above number. Unfortunately, the thoughtful sender of this most helpful information had forgotten to tell me who they were. My guess is that Doug was the sender. Made more likely by the fact that when I asked who it was, there was no reply. Lost in Space, no doubt.

The plan was to meet Doug at 8:20am. After arriving to find no Doug (again, no surprise), a phone call to the number SMS'd me the previous night found Jess, the potential Mrs. Skene, who informed me that 5 minutes after our expected departure time, our beloved goldilocks was in the shower. Time management, indeed most types of management, have never been Doug's strongest point! On the arrival of our innocent looking fretmeister, we left for Robert's. Who, as luck wouldn't have it... was also late.

Steve slept through his alarm. Potentially another hold up, however some thoughtful pajero driver had decided to try parking his car in the back of a truck, thus backing up the M7 between rob's and Steve's, and this gave Steve ample time to try and disguise the after effects of the night before!

Steve's to Nick's was a quick painless run, and yes- Nick was late too. For the first time since October 1979, I look vaguely punctual.

The trip to the city was uneventful, and interspersed with Maic conversations about Monkeys and mobile phones. Rob does an alarmingly good monkey impression. And it all beggers the question 'Who needs drugs?'

Breakfast Of Champignons

Negotiating the (as ever) EVIL city traffic, we met Dean at the car park and decended, en masse, toMcDonalds for a spot of breakfast and coffee number two.

A Scary Little Man and some lovely expensive gear

11am dawned and we went up the stairs and into the studio for the first time, and having been initially introduced to Reece, who is charged with the unenviable task of making our magnum opus sound superb. Poor bugger. After the initial explainations and overtures about the concept and the 'dynamic curve' ( a term that saw much ridicule poured my way from the rhythm section - an interesting concept as they are happiest when playing really loud... what are dynamics anyway?)

Captive audience hanging on every note, contemplating coffee number three

We then set to work. The hardest part begins here.

Benchmark ostensibly set up shop in the former EMI studios in Castlereagh St in Sydney. Tastefully contemporary and not even hinting at it's age, I was particularly overawed to be standing in a room that had counted amongst its previous bums on the leather I was perched David Bowie, Crowded House and The Stones. Slightly less auspiciously; Department mastered Eponymous here in 2002.

I guess we're proud of it. And both look quite different to what we did 1978 days earlier

Not being overly familiar with the mastering process every slight change sounded remarkable and beginning with The Deepest Wound, we took the plunge into finishing the album off.

The first hour could only be described as as really hard slog. We sat through The Deepest Wound- easily our most simple song with a structure of no more than a verse and a chorus, binary form in it's truest sense, ad nauseum trying to get the EQ's and the compression right. With it's structure, hearing a verse and a chorus 60 times each is, at best, grating. So I eased back in the sofa for the long haul waited for the inevitable 'rhythm section bail-out' where Steve and Nick disappear and make for the nearest pub.

To my immense surprise, it never came.

I look like I know what I'm doing... I lie, I lie....

After the first hour and the EQ's and compression rates and other hoo-hah was in place, including wheeling in a Studer 2 track analog tape machine that effectively sent the whole mix to tape and back again (adding that lovely warm saturating that only analog tape can provide. A sad loss in the digital age), the process became easier. From then on it was a process of knocking the songs off one by one, making minor adjustments to suit each one. The consistency of Dean's mixes helped us immensely at this point as the whole thing seemed to translate pretty well to each subsequent track.

Reece was very amenable to our uninformed suggestions and requests and i truly believe he got what we were doing, however we went about doing it. This, in itself, means an awful lot to me. I can only hope I didn't come accross as too much of a megalomaniac. I prefer to straddle that divide between benevolent dictator and excited puppy that I covet so much. I will however not claim to be entirely innocent from the general misbehaviour that Anubis is capable of that probably didn't make the job any easier on Reece's ears.

After cup of coffee number four or five

With all the tracks finally squashed nice and flat, whipped to life by the wonders of harmonic distortion and analog warming and presented in widescreen, the process of compiling the final record began. Here, the band- with yours baldly as ringleader - took control and allowed ourselves the creativity to segue the component songs into 230503 for the first time proper. The SFX came out sounding wonderful, and the sound quality added a gloss sheen that sounded particularly impressive on The Collapse and Leaving Here Tonight. We added the cross-fades, the segues and the seagulls. It all sounded fantastic.

So then it was, 18:30 EST on Saturday 20th June 2009, 230503 was finished. Nothing left to record, mix, master, etc. Audiably complete (The cover is, however, another story). Five years of my life... a little more than a sixth, wrapped up in a little plastic case. It was a very emotional moment.

The Musical Team (or what normal people call 'The Band')

The production team (Or what normal people call 'idiots'..)

Stepping out of the studio into the chilly night air, I felt we had truly accomplished something, and something that MEANS something at that. It is perhaps my greatest achievement yet. That the whole thing was covered, financially, by the band out of money we earned out of live shows in the last 12 months, and not having to subsidise the mastering at all, is even more of an achievement.

Retiring to the pub afterwards, I allowed myself a pint of bitter in celebration. A remarkable day capped off by a nice meal and time with friends. We really were all in this one together.

Post-mastering celebrations. Under-developed phallus thankfully out of shot.

The only fly in the ointment was a yound English lad who was at the same pub, heavily drunk and obnoxious, threatened Steve and, unwisely as events proved, exposed himself to the band, and in particular Nick; much to the horror of his equally drunk but far nicer English friends who were trying to have a polite and friendly conversation with Doug and I. Either the low temperature or severe genetic misfortune served to render the whole process rather less than flattering for the young man in question; a fact that Anubis, and in particular Rob (being the sarcastic sods we are) was more than happy to quickly point out.

Any scars Nick got from this anatomical show and tell were quickly counterbalanced by winning $130 on the one-armed bandits.

So now... we have a finished album. It's one step closer to it's public. And I have finally achieved closure on a project that has occupied over half of my twenties. 1978 days in all.

If it wasn't the best day of my life, it came very close.

Live EP coming along

Spent another night working on the 'Flesh Water and Bone' Anubis Live LP last night.

My opinions on the tracks as they stand:

The Deepest Wound:

A fast pace and spirited version of the 230503 lead off track. A very powerful vocal and the band is aggressive. Dougie in particular is on bitingly good form. The solo is more of a guitar organ duet on the live recording. And I even got most of the notes right.

Steve is tight and Nick is glued to him throughout.

A great opener played very well.

Waterfall:

Bittersweet version with some sensitive vocals and good harmonies. A couple of wayward notes that need to be corrected. Elsewhere, sublime.

The drums are steady and tight throughtout. Nick shines on this one as the bass part tends to extemplorise on the slightly more staid album version: no bad thing.

The guitar solo is very faithful to the album- perhaps a little extra drama wrang out of it. But beautifully played. Doug hit the tuner at the end of the solo, hence it takes 16 bars for the rhythm guitar to come back in. Rather than go into overdubbing, and seeing as how it's not really that noticable, best left alone. After all, it's a live album!

Keyboards are fairly standard fayre. Some faster hammond wanking at the end. Sounds OK.

Waterfall Jam:

This is the live coda to waterfall, and as such is not heard on 230503 in the studio.

Some very moving guitar work and some nice bluesy hammond.

Nick and Steve are absolutely as one on this piece.

The Bond Of Mutual Distrust:

One word. Savage.

Our live highlight at this stage sounds (dare I say it) more cohesive and natural on stage, and the grinding riff is absolutely on the money.

Robert is in stunning voice on this one and I even do a pretty good job backing him with some notes that dogs can only hear. Doug aids and abets from underneath.

The keyboards are arranged differently from the album. A benefit of playing the songs so much after recording them. In truth there's a part of me that probably prefers it this way.

Middle section is utter chaos and the drums and bass are relentless.

Disinfected and Abused:

A tight and venomous version of the epic track, played much more quickly and aggressively.

Guitar and Moog duets are good. A couple of bum notes from me again, but I'm not about to go re-recording them. I can't guarentee I wouldn't stuff them again anyway.

Mellotrons sound positively huge as I think I put more reverb on them... perhaps accidentally. Either way, it is good. now I have to work out what I did and do it all the time.

Steve is extemplorising all over the shop and gets decidedly syncopated at times. Thankfully he untied the knots as well as he tied them on this occasion.

Nick, again is particularly effective down in the bottom end and is stuck to Steve with araldite.

Harmonies are great.

5/8 section comes on like Heart Of The Sunrise on methamphetamine. All tricky riffery and a mellotron feeding frenzy. If only I could have played this to 24 year old David Eaton when he started writing this.

A bit of a sticky moment in the denoument... Steve is a beat early and we all had to follow suit. Some may not notice it. I don't think Steve did...

Either way, I'd have liked to have corrected it but it was not feasable. So it is what it is. It would be criminal to not include such a great version of a song for the inclusion of one fuck up most would not even notice. Hell.... it's live!

Too much to summarise

Right now I am thrilled to bits.

I get a call from the small but perfectly formed Bennison this morning to bring me the joyous news of a Shine On booking for the utterly glorious 1000 seat Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, in Nowra.

It's big. Firstly. Bloody massive.

And secondly it is an absolutely marvellous venue. It, like the cube, is ultra-modern and acoustic savvy, but with tiered seating and all those marvellous Entertainment thingies that look so fantastic. Our show is going to look absolutely unreal in it.

There are at least two other venues that are being looked at as we speak.

The end of this year will be utterly Floyd-tastic.

Tonight, Dean, Robbo and I are going back to mix the Anubis live album, 'Flesh, Water and Bone'. The one from the Lansdowne tapes. Having hear them back, I can safely say they are among the best sounding things I've heard with me on, and in some cases, the fire behind the songs is even hotter than the album versions. Obviously, the dichotomy between an art work and a live music performance remains in play, and both are meritorious for entirely different reasons, but there is some positively scorching playing, and some remarkable vocals.

Finally, I have pottering around in my new studio space which had once previously been my studio space. It's homely and warm but at the same time is well organised and some well placed reminders of my life everywhere does help to make it less sterile than a normal recording environment. All I need now is my beloved mac back in it's rightful spot and I'm good to go.

Warm and Inviting. A nice space for recording with pictures and soft light.

My Dad made me a wooden Rack unit that now comes out on an angle. Easy access to patch bay and the cable jungle behind.

Picture #1: Shine On at Campbelltown. I like this shot very much.

Picture #2: Anubis at Sydney University, July 2008. Another great shot from a great looking show.

Two brilliant pictures of Shine On from the last show.

Analogue Friends. ARP ProSoloist, CZ-5000 and the Roland JX-8P

String City: The guitars in situ. Obviously not including the ones Doug has currently got.

Lansdowne Tapes

I'm sitting listening to an awesome soundboard recording of Genesis in LA in 1975. Full Lamb lies down show. Awesome stuff.

This brings me to the fact that Dean and I reviewed the tapes from the Lansdowne show last night. Not usually a chap given to extended bouts of self-congratulation, I must confess I am really fucking stunned with how good they sound.

The highest point, musically, of the set, is the instrumental section of The Bond Of Mutual Distrust which bristles with intense energy and drive.

Dean's comment on the whole thing does kinda sum it up for me... whilst Rob fronts the whole thing with an intensely magnetic and punked-up energy, it's Steve's drumming that really hits you. I really take him for granted. He has without doubt taken on the complexities of the Anubis material and everyone seems to comment on his playing extremely favourably. I seriously underestimate what an incredibly exciting musician he is.

The end of Disinfected with Steve and Rob locking in into percussive thumping, Nick anchoring the whole low end down with frightening force and Doug and I off in flights of fancy over the top....

I think this is going to turn more than one head.

Hapy Birthday Rob and Dean

May is far too expensive.

Two of the closest of my inner-circle both notched up another run to their respective innings in the past two days.

In a rare candid (ie. not sarcastic) moment, I feel I should reflect upon this with at least a little respect.

Firstly, Dean, who as a co-conspiritor in the Floyd-world and in the studio and then in music that displays slumberous adeptness, can be charged with the honour of rehabilitating my (then) shattered confidence as I was jettisoned from my previous working collective (as they sodded off to make their music elsewhere leaving me feeling like the proverbial rug had been pulled from beneath me), by inviting me into his working collectives and making me (oh, how this decision has caused him much aural-pain -- both hammond and stupid question induced -- since) his keyboard player of choice...

I think it's fair to say I will be forever indebited to the man who takes nearly all of my hair-brained suggestions and over-enthusiasm in his enormously laid-back stride.

I really have no idea where, musically, I'd be today if Dean hadn't placed a call to me to ask if I'd be interested in joining him in the Floyd show. Or even if I'd still be on this whole bloody roundabout. Or still in the playground at all for that matter. I don't know. But I can't underestimate his role in keeping the roundabout turning.

Since then, the emergence of The Expert Sleepersas a creative collaboration and his sterling work on the Anubis record which, due to him, actually got finished(!) and will be mastered next month, have all grown from the inital spark of musical telepathy and empathy that became evident the first time we played together. And, too, the effortless collaborative spirit that dwelt within.

I don't think it's feasably possible to put into words the truth behind what Dean's extraordiary musical mind and unfeasbaly amiable temperament actually represent and mean to me. It is, undoubtably, to his enormous credit and my enormous good fortune that I would be hopelessly lost without his immensely creative, rich mind; unfeasably passionate musicianship and wonderfully ebulliant spirit. Resemblences to former, deposed, long-since-decapitated English monarchs not wishstanding, the man is a giant (metaphorically speaking, obviously) among men. And this I mean.

And then there's Robert. If I had to make a list of those who've most affected me on a musical and personal level, Robert's would be right amongst the very top names on both.

To say I seem to share a creative artery with Robert would possibly be the best way of describing it. He's rather like a co-joined twin connected by the creative artery, the one that supplies the life blood to our ideas. I have never before felt quite such a telepathic connection. It's fair to say, that aside from the best impersonation of me I have ever seen, Robert can predict me rather better than any meterologist can predict the weather.

It's hard to quite describe our exact relationship as it's so unorthodox. The only thing I can pin point it to it's like having a twin brother who looks nothing like you, is six years your junior, but can compare totally in mind and spirit. Obviously, that's only my take on it.

When I began working and writing with Rob all those years ago, he was a teenage punked-up ball of energy with long hair and wristbands. I introduced him to Yes and Genesis. He brought the Tee Shirts, girls suddenly stopped asking for his number, and he began to worship at the alter of the mighty anorak. I often wonder what sort of monster I unleashed.

I always had the belief that with the right tools, the mind could run wild and create at a frightening pace. Robert sets that pace. A hyper-creative person who works at lightning speed and always has a backlog of musical ideas, many of which are among the most exciting and interesting I've heard. There's the common streak again. He chomps at the bit to get to work, musically on an idea and will push it and push it until he's satisfied he's broken it's back. The drive is quite overwhelming for one so normally indecisive.

As a person, there are few who are as warm, generous of time and spirit and fun as Robert. He's a soul-brother of the truest nature. In fact, the term should have been invented for him. As English as the drizzle on a grey Sunday, he is imbued with a quick and feirce wit that indicates his intelligence, which he self-depricatingly puts down at every concievable opportunity.

I know of few other people I enjoy the company of as much. My life would be so much emptier for not having him.

Happy birthday to you both.

Immense love and hair-loss,

Uncle Bald

Gutted...

My Apple Mac died last night.

I am very very pissed off. Something to do with the hard drives. It's not recognising them, and refusing to boot up.

The Mac had (has?) on it about 35 songs, a recording session I did with Steve of all our old songs, all my photos, every rehearsal Anubis did for the last two years, every gig we played together, every second of film of the band, and my entire itunes library.

Particularly galling is that before it died, Rob and I were working on a new track, and I had broken it's back and brought it into submission - it truly was sounding great. Now it has been returned, electronically, to the ether from whence it came.

This is a major disaster for me, as I have taken to playing with new songs almost on a daily basis. Dean and I are going to try to recover some data and get her rolling again, but I am not optimistic.

I am resigned to losing everything if that is what has to happen to get my computer back. I have some stuff backed up, and thankfully everything pertaining to the album is backed up and safe. But I am hoping that even if I have to replace the hard drives, most of the work can be recreated somehow.

I prepare for the Lansdowne with this around my neck. Nice.

Ahoy for The Lansdowne; New friends.

Tomorrow night we're playing a relatively low key show at the Lansdowne. The band are probably treating it more like a recording session as the tapes for this show, should they be good enough, will be mixed into a live album and put out for release.... eeek!

I know that we're more than capable of performing, although last night's rehearsal was tired and frustrating as we all made far more errors than our perfectionist natures allow. I think a certain amount of frustration at performing the same songs over and over has begun to take it's creative toll and Anubis is ready to begin writing for Chapter Two....

Thankfully, the culmination of the 230503 project; erm... marathon... is relatively close at hand. The album is in for mastering on June 20th. This is at Sydney's Benchmark Studios, which used to be Sydney's EMI studios on Castlereagh Street, and latterly Studio 301, before they themselves relocated to Alexandria; Incidentally, these guys did Department's 'Eponymous' LP in November 2002.

The plans after the next show are to begin rehearsing the whole 230503 album as a piece, with all the segues and changes in situ. Which is going to be an ambitious undertaking to say the least. I am anticipating and dreading it in equal measure.

This will give the arrangers in the band a real treat as there will be the need for plenty of Jamming/Extemplorisation in order to fill the gaps. Meanwhile, I am trying to get to grips with the idea of having to perform both 'Breaking Water' live and the Collapse as one song. Not easy at all. One piece to already have benefitted from 'the arrangement brains' in the band is Flying/Falling which has metamorpisied from being a quirky little electronica thing into a Yes-like epic. A weird transition. But it does sound very good.

Having Nick for this process is handy. He's not satisfied until we've tried absolutely every single way of playing a song that is physically possible. And Steve's inclination to back up his rhythm section buddy and hi-five at every concievable opportunity is unsettling!!! I fear letting them loose on the live arrangement of 230503.

The next exciting event is the tentative creative steps towards writing fresh material. We want to release 230503 and follow it up within 12 months with a brand new, fully rehearsed concept album that matches and possibly exceeds the one we've just taken six years to make. Am I an idiot?

Some new ideas have been filtering out of Rob and I gradually over the course of the last 6 months, and it's now falling into place. Steve came and added his own distinctlive approach to two songs, one that began with rob and I, and then one which began with Doug, and then Rob and I re-arranged it, and Nick decided the original bass line wasn't interesting enough, so he pinched the guitar line instead... Thats my boy!!!! Steve added drums to both, plus one other short instrumental section we had.

I finished them off to give the boys an idea of how they sound. And now it's the 'adapt and improve' process (In our band, read: change completely). One thing about Anubis is that we are totally not precious about written parts. If one member comes up with a better idea, we go with the better idea. And if not, it's down to who has the hardest punch. The rhythm section always win that one.

Rob has written tentative vocal lines for one piece; and the end of it is just amazing! With lyrics and direction I think we have 'big' moment in our hands, and a launch pad for another of 'those' solos from El Gingeoid.

Then we will probably start the process of conceptualising; naval gazing and putting all the bits together like a giant polyrhythmic jigsaw puzzle.