Its an exciting time though, despite the lergy. Joined a band recently – just realised I haven’t blogged about it yet. I’m playing bass for Infinite Loop, an alternative/indie band fronted by Spanish singer/songwriter Gorka de la Camara. Gorkas songs are excellent, and the other guys, Thor S on guitars and Arne H on drums, are really talented musicians and make me feel like a bit of a fraud. Been playing together for about a month now, and its really starting to sound good. Damn exciting.

Started my new job at Rubberduck Media Lab last week. Thats going well – nice people, and much more organised and professional than my previous job. Have lots to learn though, so aren’t feeling like i’m contributing much at the moment, but I suppose thats to be expected.

Went skiing last weekend. Sigurd and Marie treated us to a day on the slopes at Norefjell for my christmas pressy. Decided to try out snowblades (or wankerskis as my brother likes to call them). Had a seriously brilliant time, and am itching to get back on the slopes again now. Had planned on buying some snowblades yesterday, but what with the lergy it hasn’t happened yet. I’m really glad we bought a house opposite a ski slope now

And of course theres the arrival of Igneous, our wee puppy, in a few weeks, just in case things weren’t exciting enough.

But enough of exciting things.. I’m going back to bed, try and get some sleep and get myself well again. Don’t think sleep is gonna come easy tonight though….

In the UK, you go see a band on a school night, the doors will open around 8pm, support on by 8.30pm, main band on by around 9.30pm, finishing between 11-11.30pm, allowing everyone to get to bed at a reasonable time. Maybe its an Oslo thing, or maybe I’m just getting old, but we went to the gig at 8pm, the support didn’t get on until 9.30pm, and Ollie, Matt and myself were ready for bed before Interpol even came on. Nah, its not just an Oslo thing – it was the same in New Zealand. Lets face it, I’m getting old..

Anyway, so Interpol came on with Pioneer to the Falls, the first track from the new album, Our Love to Admire, before launching into PDA from Turn on the Bright Lights. Bloody excellent start to a gig.

After that, songs were mostly chosen from the second and third albums, and tiredness set in. I think their first album, Turn On The Bright Lights, is bloody superb – dark, moody and atmospheric with just some damn fine songs. I never really took to the second album – the songs sounded all a bit samey to me – similar tempos, rhythms and volumes, and somewhat lacking in the atmosphere of the first. The most recent album is like a mix between the first two, and has some great songs on it, but not as strong as the first in my opinion. But with the set list comprising mostly of songs from the last two albums, the gig seemed to suffer from a similar lack of dynamics I found with the second album.

They did play excellent versions of Obstacle 1 and Roland however, and NYC was just beautiful. And of course they finished up with a brilliant version of Stella Was a Diver And She Was Always Down.

We walked out into the Norwegian night at 12.45, and it was still light – I will never get used to Norwegian summer nights. Maybe this is why gigs always end later here – everyones confused as to just what the time actually is.

Also been listening to El Rey, the new Wedding Present cd. There were a few grumbles on the mailing list saying it wasn’t up the usual standard, but I think its pretty good. Expectations weren’t high to be honest, but they haven’t been for a while when it comes to the weddoes. Still enjoy their music. The album was produced by Steve Albini again – so is much more guitary and raw sounding than their last cd, and the guitars seem to have a more traditional Wedding Present feel to them.

Have made a few updates to the site recently – most noticable is the new music player that has found a home in the sidebar. The sidebar player has just a few random tracks in it – to listen to everything I have uploaded to this site, click the link under it to open the player in a separate window. This will also allow you to browse this site without having the player reload for each page, which could be annoying. Although I suppose you could always time your reading to coincide with the length of a particular track if you don’t like lots of separate windows floating around your desktop (and if you’re a bit strange).

Other updates include a feed I have added from my last.fm profile, so whatever music I am currently listening to is displayed nicely in the sidebar, and a clearer link to this websites rss feed in the header, for those that want to subscribe.

Lineup
Justin Sherborne :: vocals/guitar
Grant Smith :: guitar
David Bergman :: drums
Stephen Gardener :: bass

These tunes were recorded live during practice, and so are a wee bit rough around the edges, but give a good idea of what we sounded like Please note that these songs are copyrighted by the band, and not released under the Creative Commons license. Saying that, feel free to download and share with whoever you want!

1. The Special Guests – Talked About It – 4.2MB
Decent jangly indie tune in the vein of the Wedding Present. Great chorus and middle section! Loved playing this song.

2. The Special Guests – Down – 4.1MB
Another tune I enjoyed playing. Usual cool guitar sounds from Grant.

Instruments/Setup

The main sequencer used here was a Yamaha RS7000, the best hardware sequencer i have used to date. I came from using a Roland MC505, which while having some ok onboard sounds, confused the hell out of me when it came to programming! From the beginning, the RS7000 just made sense. This sequenced itself (the onboard synth and sampler) and my Korg Prophecy, which was used for some of the basslines and squelchy noises. In addition, Walking Sideways features my new Telecaster, and All Around Us my acoustic guitar and mandolin.

1. Stega – Walking Sideways – 4.2 MB

I recorded several versions of this, and wasnt sure which one to release here. I went for the guitary one in the end, as i quite like the power that comes with the change to the second part. Still like the others, so one of them might turn up here at some stage.

2. Stega – All Around Us – 4.1 MB

This is the first of the new batch of songs i wrote this year. It has a slightly different sound as it was produced using a Korg Electribe, which had more thumpy drums and an overall different feel to my later equipment. Also the only song so far to feature my mandolin – although in a very subtle way. I’ve noticed people tend to pick this one as their favourite of the bunch.

3. Stega – The Lowest Point of Her Life – 5.2 MB

The first part of this song is a nice ambient dance thing, but its the second part that i am most happy with – especially the way the layered pads, the bass and the nice crisp drums sounds all interact together. One of my favourites, along with Kays Piano.

4. Stega – Deep Blue – 4.1 MB

Like the chorus on this one – lots of layered prophecy sounds. Some vocals would probably go nicely with it – just gotta develop my lyric writing skills now.

5. Stega – Gravel - 3.2 MB

Another one written earlier in the year on the MC505. Felt like doing a scratchy odd time signature song, and this was the result. Quite like the feel of this one, especially when the bass comes in, although the production is a bit crap

6. Stega – Kays Piano – 3.9 MB

This one is basically a single loop with layers and layers of sounds built up over it as the song progresses. Very pleased with this one, the rhythm, swirling textures, and of course the simple piano line. Was listening to So Said Kay by the Field Mice when i decided i wanted to create a song with that piano sound. In the end it evolved into something different than i had originally planned (as usual).

Instruments/Setup
Recored on my old Amiga based setup. Music X sequenced a Korg Prophecy solo synth, a Korg X5 general synth and a Yamaha RY10 drum machine. My Fender Strat was put through a Zoom multi effects unit and the lot was recorded onto a Fostex X11 4-track.

1. Stega – Desert – 3.3 MB

Quite like this one. Nice, big, dark atmospheric sound with lots of guitars – typical Stephen sound circa 1996.

2. Stega – Wait – 4.1 MB

A nice ambient dancey thing, showing off the incredible sampling capabilities of the Commodore Amiga. Also a song without any guitars. What was I thinking..?

3. Stega – Green – 2.9 MB

Two drum machines and a mellow proph sound. Nice to keep it simple sometimes.

4. Stega – Ensom – 4.3 MB

Nice squelchy Prophecy bass. Writen on a wet April afternoon when I really didn’t want to be in Wales. Or Britain. Or even Europe…

5. Stega – Treesong – 2.2 MB

This song was recorded shortly after I got my Korg X5, and is still one of my favourites. Inspired by a walk taken up a wooded hill in Wales, this is the original mono recording, as the subsequent versions just didn’t sound as good to me…