Moving forward

These are my new purchases. The powered speakers on the left of the top picture & the white Suhr electric guitar. Major, quality purchases.

I had planned on putting on a small show to test all the gear but Peter up at San Fran has asked us to play on the 13 August so we'll play that then start organising our own show where I can give it all a run through.

Here's the link to the review Mikes girlfriend (Laura) found: http://www.wellingtonlivemusic.com/reviews.php?id=168

Slow Train Coming

That's the title of a track I've had knocking around for a few years that I haven't been able to write decent music for. It seemed an appropriate title considering it's been about three months since I last updated.

"Slow train coming, from a distance
Mooves closer, through my resistance
I light a candle & I wait an hour
Slow train coming, I can, feel your power

Lover, be still, rest here, an hour
It's my heart, my tears, my wine, my child"

Anyway..

Things have been good, Mike's (our drummer) lady found a review of us on Wellington live, a website I had no idea existed. Have a read, it's pretty positive about us. She mentions in it that she can't find any record of us on the net which I kind of like. I want us to stay under the radar. I'd hate for us to be in peoples faces, I guess it's about finding a healthy balance & our own niche. We need enough support to be able to play the shows we want & record the records the way we want them to sound. For that we need exposure so finding a balance where we're not prostituting ourselves is the where I want us to be.

Liam Finn's touring soon, wouldn't mind checking that out..

We played on Wednesday up at San Fran;

Lordy Lordy
Only a fool
City Streets
I'll wait for you
Jimmy Jones
Secret Garden
Over you
In the meantime

Masquerade

First time we've done an encore, unfortunately by then my hand was cramping & I could hardly hold my pick. I've got a wave file of 'Masquerade' so will try to attach it also.
We played well, looooved playing Lordy Lordy, is a slow 12 bar blues which was a an ideal start to the night I thought (was told later in the evening to never open with it again, but what would he know?) slow & sexy - the rest of the set was pretty upbeat so I wanted to ease into it. We smoked for the first three tracks & settled into a nice groove for the show. Had a couple of comments that it was our best show, so we're moving in the right direction.

We were without Carly for the show & I've been thinking it may be time to head forward without her. She has a lot on her plate & it can be difficult organising around her, the three of us can make a decent racket without her so could be time to move forward as a three piece. I'm sure there'll be a few men that disagree, but it could be time. Will think on it some more.

The state of the Art 2007

Looking back on the music scene over 2007, I don't think there was anything particularly exciting about it, but it was interesting for the direction it started to take. The most significant thing to happen was Radiohead dumping their record company & selling their new record online for what ever price you choose to pay. Whilst there was always going to be people downloading it for free, it still gets the music out there to be heard & they're already cutting out the middle man (recod company) so any money that is made goes directly into their pockets. Not to mention the boutique box set available from their website which included a CD, Vinyl & artwork. All available for ₤40. Again, straight into their pocket. The rules are changing & it's time for Artists to change too or get left behind. The business is becoming a lot more DIY, the punters are going to be able to download specific songs rather than buy an entire record, so the art of putting together 12 tracks won't be so important anymore. Ash have already stated they won't be selling anymore LP's, they're only going to make singles. As for how this effects Pisces, I want us to be known as a boutique band, our music will be available for download as well but for those willing to buy the CD or LP, the artwork & presentation has to quality, as well as what's on the actual album. Real music lovers have to know if they spend their money, they're going to get a quality product.

Elsewhere it seemed to be more of the same, Justin Timberlake seems to be the reigning king of the industry - he tends to cross boundaries & appeals to all types of listeners & generations. R & B continues to be popular & the stars younger & younger, Rhianna & Chris Brown are still in their teens but both are huge. As for Rock, EMO continued on it's merry way, particularly Fall Out Boy who seemed to come out to lead the pack although My Chemical Romance was a close second. Got to admit, I don't mind FOB, I like that they don't mind taking the piss out of themselves & their video's are usually funny. Unfortunately, there was no real danger anywhere, no band really stood up & poked it's head above the crowd which was a shame, but the next revolution is always only just around the corner..

Personally, my favourite album last year was Killing Jokes 'The Death & Ressurection Show'. Released in 2002, it has Dave Grohl on drums & totally kicks ass. It's everything a heavy album should be in my opinion, crunching guitar's, monster riffs, killer vocals & fucking evil in parts.. but also with a soft side. Loved it. Other standouts for me were:

'How do you sleep?' This single of John Lennon's 'Imagine' album is just an amazing track. The production is amazing & the way Lennon tracked his vocals is just so Lennon. Noone else could've made this track, totally blew me away.

Dizzy Rascal - 'Maths & English'. Rasket was back with a dope record, my favourite MC by a long shot. Apparantly tore it up at BDO.

'Impossible Germany' - Wilco - Although I thought the overall record 'Sky blue Sky' was a disappointment, this particular track was outstanding. First heard it waiting for the Brunettes to come on stage at San Fran & it even blew me away then..

Speaking of which - my favourite live show, single, & outstanding Kiwi record was easily the Brunettes 'Structure & Cosmetics' with the single 'Her Hairagami Set' - unique, produced really well, great songs, looked good (& different) - just an outstanding year for them. Deserved more recognition than they got.

Lastly of course a huge year for my boys Silverchair, Dan came through again & wrote a great record of avant garde, intelligent, up beat rock music - blew away crowds all over the world and just continued to produce excellence. Never fails to put me in a good mood this record.

Biggest disappointment was the dull Wilco record & the depressing Bloc Party.

Anyway, they were my favs & just some observations, hope 2008 is just as interesting for both the industry & the mighty Pisces.

Hi ho, it's off to work we go

Played San Fran last night. About 35 people showed up, was an appreciative crowd, at one point during the quieter moments of 'Hope' the whole room was silent. Was quite a thing, I can usually hear chatter chitter but we seemed to have won them over last night.

Opened with a new track - Over you - which we had only rehearsed once on Monday, it worked ok. It was a track I was hoping Carly could sing but it's in too low of a key so we'll be working on that to get it closer to what she's comfortable with.

Set list was:

Over you

City Streets

I'll wait for you

Lover

Jimmy Jones

Hope

Secret Garden

Broken Pieces

Only a fool

We probably could've (& should've) squeezed in another track, but I was too slow on the uptake..

Funnily it was the quieter tracks - Hope, I'll wait for you, Jimmy - which seemed to go across the best. The rockier ones seemed a bit souless to me. Then again, it's hard to gauge what the audience is enjoying, sometimes you think you've duffed a track & someone will comment how much they like it. As was the case last night with Broken Pieces which I thought was an average rendition of, but Kate said it was her favourite.. go figure. It's hard for me to be objective about things sometimes, even while we're playing I'm critiqueing everything, audience response, my playing, my singing, the other's performances. I might hear a duff note, which most people will completely miss..

Overall was happy with the gig, really nice to see Mum's brother & his family come along as well as Graeme's brother & Fam, I think we play music that can appeal to most ages, as you need to if you're going to play big gigs & sell a lot of records.. but yeah, happy with the show, no other gigs lined up so back to door knocking. Might try the Adelaide.

Till next time..

Blend 05/12/07 - Radio with pictures

Here's some photo's from last Wed show. The middle is the Hohiria street crew. Good bunch.

It years 20 years ago today..

Sargent pepper and the band played last Wed night at Blend.

The setlist was:

Fall again
Control
City Streets
Secret Garden
I'll wait for you
Lover
Fallen
Hope
Broken pieces
Masquerade
Only a fool

The show went well, we soundchecked with 'Turning away' after which the bar manager told me to turn it down - even though I thought it was already barely audable, so down it went again.
Not many people showed, that's not necessarily important - as long as we're consistantly good people will come, but as far as getting more gigs there the bar manager has to justify the cost of paying us. I might have to promote us playing a bit better. We're probably one or two songs short of really putting on a great show too, we have good songs but I feel we need a couple that really hit hard & take us up again. Will work on that, unfortunately there's not a song tap you can just turn somewhere, you're a slave to the music, it comes in it's own sweet time. I think it's best to trust it & let it lead you rather than try to force it out.

Back to the gig, we started slowly, my harmonica crapped out on me again, I can't get clean notes out of it anymore it's too jammed with gunk. I'll need a new one soon. After that though, Control, City Streets & Secret Garden all went well. The guys are learning the songs now so they're more confident playing them. It was the first public outing of 'I'll wait for you' which is a love song sung by a guy who's just died singing to his wife, I think it's a great song & it sounded good live. Rest of the show went alright, Dave took a video of 'Lover' which I'll get put on dvd, finished with a rockin version of 'Only a fool', I always felt the chorus was a bit bare, it had potential but the chords left too much space, I changed the Em to an octave higher & it fills the gap nicely so the song sounds a lot fuller, very happy with it now.

Anyway, that's it for Pisces for 2007. Looking forward to getting straight into 2008 & having Carly's lovely vocals back.

Business time

First of all a big 'Congrat's' to my homeboy Ragin who's now a proud Daddy to little Rajan jr. - as yet unnamed I believe. Much love to you & the lovely Lexis. make us proud.. :)

Two shows coming up:

Wed 5 Dec Pisces at Blend.

Lover
Control
City Streets
Secret Garden
I'll wait for you
Hope
Oh my
Fall again
In the meantime
Masquerade
Only a fool

We have practice this Sunday, couple of things about the show: I'm going to get Mike to open the gig with a bit of a drum intro, perhaps keeping a regular time on his hi-hat while doing a few combo's before Graeme & I come in with the main riff. Should be good.
I'm also going to perform Oh my solo. Which may or may not go down well in the pub. Not really suitable for a solo acoustic track, but the set needs it so..

The other gig is also at Blend on Saturday the 15th. It's for our work Social club function. Myself and two workmates are playing rock'n'roll covers as 'The Merrymen'

Who do you love? - The Doors
Money - The Beatles
Maybelline - Chuck Berry
Tutti Frutti - Little Richard
A hard days night - The Beatles
That's alright Mama - Elvis
What you want me to do? - Elvis
School days - AC DC
Great balls of Fire - Jerry Lee
Hound Dog - Jerry Lee
Rocker - AC DC
Roll over Beethoven - The Beatles
Kick out the Jams - MC5

Out of all those songs I'm most excited about playing Kick out the jams, a legendary rock track by the Motor City 5. I think Pisces will start covering it too.
The bars open to anyone, some come on down if you want to hear some kick-ass Rock'n'roll!