Tuesday, November 25, 2008

News/No News.

Album going a little slower than expected, so we're not quite at full mixing stage by now (as we'd hoped), but we are going forwards... kind of.

We will keep posting news, but at the moment there hasn't been too much to report... Essoben and I did a little work last week and pushed one track a lot further... there are some bits we're really pleased with.... we just need to be able to do more of it, but unfortunately our studio situation is against us a bit (ie it's moving so we can't get in there for while)... but once back up and running we hope to steam ahead (slightly) quicker.

Ben G

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Steaming on....

We're still progressing... I think every post here will pretty much be the same until we finish! We're recording piano tomorrow night on Dunk's new toy... finely tuned ready. We're getting to mixing stage with some tracks, and some of the experiments are coming together well, so it's looking like this album will have pretty varied moments, as with 'Scars'....

I bought a Harmonium recently which we want to try and use.... annoyingly tho, they're pitched differently to pianos... so not sure how we'll get around that....

Whatever, it should be good for some more Xmas tracks ;)


BenG

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Album Update

September came and went. we've been quiet. Badly so. I personally got to the stage where an end was nowhere in sight...which can kill momentum (and spirit) on a huge scale....dont know about the other guys.

We're sorted now...things have started progressing at a rate of knots now (however fast that might be) - and we'll be mixing the new album come November. Early signs i think are promising. we'll see.

We may be quiet for a while longer...our heads are buried firmly into this project....we'll surface again shortly with a bucket full of info ...
and there will be a short tour come february/march....preceded by a couple of low key shows showcasing the new album.....

Thanks for your patience.
D

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Hello

Hello

I’m Ben the bass player from blueneck sometimes known as Essoben (though not very often nowadays) and I am ashamed to say that this is my first blueneck blog entry. Well, mildly ashamed anyway. I’m told that there were posts bad mouthing my lack of bloging but it seems they were so long ago they are now buried deep in the archive. So – apologies to all.

Corin is almost back from his massive holiday and we should be able to get quite a lot done in September! I also have to write a best mans speech which I will probably spend a couple or weeks worrying about and squeeze it into the night before. I’ve been looking at a few speaches online and they all have the same jokes in. Such as “during the service today I couldn’t help thinking its funny how history repeats itself, I mean it was 30 years ago David and Carol were sending their daughter to bed with a dummy………and it’s happening all over again today.” Boom boom. Best avoided.

I bought 4 Goblets at a reduced price from the local crystal shop only discover they smelled stoney when drank from. I then washed them many times in an attempt to erridaicate the stoney stench and left them in the dish washer as wash after wash went by. One of them broke which indicated that enough washing had been done and it was time to fix the broken one before tring to drink from them again. This is standard with Goblets I belive, and essential to get the smoking liquid effect!

Liverpool flawless on paper start is at odds with their woefull performances. Will me and Dunc manage to get up to a game this season? Last season was the first one when we didn’t manage to. Still we saw the Champions League semi final against Chelsea which takes quite a lot of beating.

Anyway I’m off to meet Ben (who’s birthday it was yesterday) and Dunc at the pub to talk about Blueneck a little but mainly to watch Liverpool beat Villa!

Essoben

X

(sorry ben, posted this a couple of days late for you!! ben g)

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Summer?

Hello

Yes... we've neglected the blog. Again. Sorry. We're having a bit of break from recording while Corins away, so we can take stock of what we have... and so far, we like it. You can see what we've been upto from the videos at Blueneck.com... the Alpha collaboration could be interesting – we just played to a loop, so I'm curious how Corin will fuse it with Alpha's sound... we shall wait and see...

We're also getting the ideas ready for the new album artwork... something to get our teeth into there methinks.

We should get back in the studio sometime in early Sept to continue work, so we'll keep you updayed with more stuff then.

TTFN

BenG

Oh, it's my birthday this weekend, so any presents will be gratefully received ;)

Friday, August 8, 2008

Beards. Thoughts. Anfield. Beards.

We've now entered a short break period in recording due to Corin selfishly going on holiday for 5 weeks. Things had really started progressing over the last few weeks so I guess in a way its quite dissapointing to stop...although really, its probably for the best as we can take a step back, look at what we have and decide what is needed to complete the tracks...we at least have what I think is the basis to the whole album now...The last few days i've been working on some of the vocals...some pretty straight forward, others maybe not so...see the problem is that a couple of the latter tunes have been written on my piano at home...which is in a slightly different key to the actual piano we use (ie my piano is out of key!) so ive found myself gasping for air now its in the right key. Man I talk shite.

As you may have read we thought we'd toy around with a few covers ideas...theres been plenty of suggestions and ive come across some really good music through those thoughts and ideas... so thanks for those...feel free to keep adding them....the forum at present seems to get read the most...well...by me anyhow....we thought we'd record a couple initially straight to video...so within a month you should see something uploaded.

Football season starts next week....about time! Me and ben really should be getting ourselves up to anfield more this season... its good for inspiration...inital hope...and then just despair! ...maybe things will change this year....and the next blueneck album will be full of short 2 minutes pop tunes?

Enough from me...im boring myself here...I need more new music recommendations ...theres a thread in the forum for this...its amazing what amazing music you've missed out on...


Dunk
x

Friday, July 25, 2008

lost.found.

Aye...we've done it again....gone AWOL for far too long and neglected updating things online. Youre probably used to apologies for now...so i guess i neednt make one....i could make promises such as 'it wont happen again' and 'there'll be 23 updates per week from now on' but by now we all know it just aint gonna happen....just expect sporadic updates and you never know...essoben may actually grace us with his presence one day....ben?...ben???

ok...well as you may have read we HAVE actually been doing some work....and id say we're about 50 per cent complete now on the album...we're pretty sure we'll be finished by the end of the year as we now think we have the tracks that will feature on this record....

we've been playing around with some covers in our spare time and thought we'd record a few for free downloads whilst you wait for the album....and then somebody came up with the idea of asking you lot for any cover ideas that you think would work with blueneck doing....so....if you have any ideas chuck them into the blueneck forum...if we use any of them then we'll send over some free stuff from bens fridge or something like that.

this week we've been in working on a track called 'weaving spiders come not here' which has been a track that we've just worked from scratch on in the studio, corin's been playing drums on this with johnny due in on monday to add another layer of drums aswell....we'll chuck up a clip soon im sure.

jona from the pirate ship quintet popped in on wednesday to join us in the studio...apparently their next album will be ready around the same time as the blueneck release...which is rather convenient...anyway, it was nice to catch up on some pirate news and also good of jona to make the effort to stay up way past his bedtime. 13.

we've been taking plenty more video over the last few weeks so when ben actually gets around to it expect some more uploads in video form.

i guess im discovering why i dont do that many regular updates....this waffling is so bad its boring even myself to the extent that i think i'll stop now.



Saturday, April 26, 2008

Slow go.

Yes. More apologies. We're a bit crap at this blog stuff.

To be fair though, we've not been doing much to write about. In the midst of holidays from various people, studio work has been put on hold. Ben P and I did go in a week ago for him to tinker with some basslines to a couple of tracks...

It is beginning to shape up, albiet very slowly. But we're in no rush. I think "Low" has great potential....

I'm having a break with my family this week, so hopefully the others guys will get some more done whilst I'm away, for me to get started on when I get back. I'd wanted to have a stab at the Radiohead remix challenge, but with most things these days, I ain't got time. Bah.

I've heard the vinyl of 'Scars' is ready now, so I'm pretty excited to see it. It should be in our store in a week or so. Hooray, I hear you shout. (Maybe).

Until the next time.

Ben G.

Friday, March 28, 2008

quiet

Yes, We have been.

We haven't been in the studio for a few weeks (well, essoben has, but we're buggered if we can get him to give us a rundown here), so not many posts. And we've been busy, some of us moving, some of us performing other things....

I've been trying to get my head around HTML. I want to learn. My brain is too small though. And it's a biiiiigg book. I must persevere....

We should be back in the studio in a week or so's time, so we'll get some more reports and clips up as soon as humanly possible.

until then

Ben G

Monday, March 10, 2008

bad head in the morning

me and the boy Paget spent some time in the studio over the weekend just gone. We both had pretty bad headaches...I think we'd both like to think that it was down to a virus or just something going around...but the fact that we may have had a wee beverage the previous night probably didnt help....so recording some of the more extreme loud guitar parts wasnt really ideal....the initial plan was to record some nice soothing bass and for me to have a kip and drink coffee...but that went out of the window when ben's bass decided it no longer wanted to behave properly. We got extra guitar parts down to a couple more tracks but in all honesty i dont really remember how they were shaping out...most probably due to the numbness of my head that day.

we did see the farmer on his tractor about to spray shit everywhere whilst we had a short 'coffee break' - initially we werent sure that this act wasnt upon reflection of what noise he'd been hearing coming from the farmhouse.

oh...ive once again gotten behind on posting out orders from the store.....SORRY!!! it shall be done this week without fail.

dunk

Thursday, March 6, 2008

cover me

Dunk asked me the other night what my favourite cover version was. I honestly didn't know.

I can tell you which is the worst... My Chemical Romance's version of 'Song 2'. Absolutely fucking shameful. And NME thought it worthy of committing to one of their CDs. That's the last time I trust them.


BG

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

and another thing......

AOTB - aka 'Anything Other Than Breathing' - Ben G is WRONG...this track is going to be immense....Ben tends to get a little scared when the volume goes past 4 - and then sits in the corner refusing to play....He'll more than likely deny EVER liking this track (even if secretly he loves it) cos he's probably the most stubborn person ive met...very loveable at the same time mind.


dunk

pillow talk

Last night I finally got around to commencing work on my own parts of the album that need to initially be put down...its been a while since ive put down any guitar parts in the studio environment and in all honesty I found it hard to get into the right frame of mind....which is basically an excuse for being piss poor to begin with! We spent the evening looking at a track which is still , as yet, untitled (its been that way for around 18 months or so) - and after some random experimentation, cider drinking, questions of a sexual nature regarding ben g and several tweaks of nobs here and there we finally came up with a majority of my guitar parts for this track....overall its sounding in pretty good shape and now just needs some mass explosion of BIG guitar to finish the track off....plus some extra blueneckness here and there....im waffling again arent i? anyway yeah...its gonna end up pretty much bonkers.

Corin's currently building a lovely new studio out in the middle of nowhere (again) which is going to be ready soon - so we'll currently be vacating the farm and all its lushous animals and will be finsihing off this record there. The new studio sounds immense, full of secret tunnels that lead to lands afar. this may be a slight exaggeration on my part. i dont really remember.

Oh...i've currently taken over responsibility for posting out the merch/albums etc sold through the blueneck store...I kind of forgot to post out the orders last week so apologies to all those that maybe received their albums a little late...i have some more to post out tomorrow...i WILL post it on time..sorry - its just the way i was made. We have a few of the signed scars promo copies still left and have now got the last few actual copies of the album. These ARENT being re-printed...just so that you know..

until next time
Dunk












?

http://omnomnomnom.com


very weird.



om nom nom nom.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

more morenesss

Hallo.

Visited the 'farm' to do more guitar overdubs on saturday... i love the fact the studio is only a few minutes from my house. It really enhances my extreme laziness....

I managed to complete my parts to 'Low'(a demo of which is on the YouTube channel) which is sounding nice... and much longer... and also got Seven down (again, demo up on YT). Also got some bits down to AOTB which could be a monster to peice together... but we like a challenge... the others really like this one. I'm a little colder toward it, but I'm curious to see where it will end up. At 13 minutes, there a lot of scope (for kitchen sinks).

Dunks in tonight i think... I'll hopefully get there to get some more video and pics...

We will get Essoben to write one of these one day. One day.....

BG

Monday, March 3, 2008

Birdseye Potato Waffles

Having watched Ben's latest video montage from the initial weekend in the studio I've come to the conclusion that my accent is indeed good enough to join Reef - I could obviously try to steer Blueneck in a musical direction to that of the aforementioned band but i fear that we'd just not be rock enough...Ben for one certainly has never raised his goblet of rock for anyone in the past....replace the r for a c and thats another story...

anyhow, I guess that this is a damn pointless post in all honesty - but then I thought it was better to chuck down a few random thoughts that were running through my head at the time rather than leave the 'diary' empty for yet another day....You;d have thought that essoben by now would have graced us with his poetic presence...but no.......

Well tomorrow night cometh the hour cometh the man...and indeed it is time for myself to be entering the studio to stumble my way through a few of the tracks - Ben's right....this is shaping up to be a slightly different record to that of Scars of the Midwest....i'm pretty sure we're moving in the right direction...but if for some reason it's not looking great then we can always pull out a cover version of 'Place your Hands' complete with authentic West Countryness......

Waffling...its what i do.....its the only way i know.

Dunk

Thursday, February 28, 2008

YouTube vid

Vid from the studio... watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/BlueneckUK


or here (if i can post this properleeeeee):


buzzzzzz

Sorry. A little late with this one.

Went to the studio on my lonesome on monday night to get guitar overdubs down to, er... a track which has yet to be named... even thought it's been in the set for about 2 years now. It's the one we usually end on, for those who have seen us recently....

Anyway, got all the ebow down, with a nice buzz-saw like sound for the end bit. I suspect this will have everything and the kitchen sink thrown at it for measured chaos.

More time booked for saturday, with someone filling the time... weird how speedy this seems compared to recording 'Scars', That did feel like a lifetime. But then, i think this could be a very different peice to 'Scars'. That's probably intentional.....

BG
x

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Johnny's Report....

1st day of recording: 16/02/08

We arrive at Corin's......early (10am is early!) to a waft of cow dung in the air. Smells like home!
Set-up doesn't take long and after I've wiped the sleep out of my eyes and slurped on my coffee we're ready for action.

It's a drumming frenzy to begin with.....and with the Aga to keep me company I must have lost some well earned pounds after 4 or 5 (?) takes of the first track! It's one we've played live so the drum part is down pretty quickly.

Next is a Stomperthon and after some blood (well a bruised thigh!), sweat and some tears (on my part!) we're two down. The 3rd follows and after some discussions on tempo, feel and the 'A and B' game we're pretty happy with the take on 4.....I HOPE!!

It's been a pretty intense and tiring day......but a giggle all the same!

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.


Johnny
x

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

more from the weekend....

hello...

Just to add to Dunks comment... a good weekend's work all round... nice country air... and close to where I live, which is dead handy...

Only at guide stage at the moment so difficult to say how it's shaping up, but one track has broken the 13 min barrier, which is quite an acheivement. Roar.

Nice to be back recording again. My favourite bit of it all. Piecing it all together. We do seem to eat an awful lot while doing it tho... so expect some weight gain. Kettle chip anyone?



More soon. And video clips.
Here are some photos for anyone interested....

BG



the Somerset countryside.... aahhhhhhhh





























Farm wildlife. Not to be crossed. 




This caged environment does funny things to me.












The secrets out – our new direction reference material revealed....




Dunk tuning. A rare occurence.


At last....

Well finally we've managed to return to the studio to start recording the follow up to Scars of the Midwest! Its taken far too long to get back to this stage, and in all honesty I think theres been times since we released scars that it probably looked like we wouldn't actually release anything else again through one reason or another.

I'm very much hoping that this recording doesn't take anywhere near as long as the first album took - there was a lot of messing around and over experimentation that took place that time...and a lot of tracks that we just gave up on - im pretty confident that that wont happen this time. We already have johnny's drum tracks recorded to what we think will be over half of the album, and ben is due in this week to start putting down the basic bass initial bass parts.

It looks like you can probably expect a slightly heavier sounding blueneck this time around judging by the VERY early stages - I wont elaborate too much more on that yet - but you 'll be able to see snippets that we're uploading to the youtube channel during the recording sessions.

Oh..Corin has moved the studio too....we're now in a farmhouse...overlooking the Mendip hills...with ducks, geese and the occasional pig and dog wandering around...its an ideal opportunity to re-create the Pet Sounds cover art... ;-)

We'll try and keep you updated regularly with random thoughts of whats going on and with a bit of luck we'll get ben and johnny offering their mutterings soon.

Until then...

D.A x

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

We're not dead.

Hello.

Yes, we are still alive, and apologies for not updating the blog as much as we should. We are lazy. No excuse. I'm sure you'll understand.

Anyway, good news is we're heading back into the studio this weekend as a last-minute decision... Corin Dingley with be dealing with production and recording duties again, and it's fair to say we're all pretty excited... We've got new tracks to be going back in with, some which you may have seen on the YouTube page... some stuff might grow along the way. We'll add video diaries and stuff as we go along, snippets of tracks and general tomfoolery. 

It's gonna be a little while before anything comes together, but hopefully we won't take as long as we took on 'Scars'....

Until then....

BG



PS

We've found some limited promo-sleeved albums, which we've all signed and now added them to the shop on the site.... there's only 18, so if you want one, you know what to do.

Monday, January 21, 2008

sorry...

we will update soon.

we – well, I  – have been a bit lazy.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

HNY!

Happy New Year to all, and to start the new year off we thought we’d give you an update to what will be happening in the Blueneck camp over the coming months.

We’re about to start working on new songs again, which we will record live sessions of and upload here to the site – the first set planned for February. Then the next batch after that, possibly March – all depending on how quickly they take shape. Hopefully then these may possibly form the next album….

Apologies to those who were waiting for the first podcast back in December – we ran out of time. Sorry. Thanks to all those who downloaded the ‘Twelve Days EP’ – we hope you enjoyed it. We’ll leave it up for a while longer for those who missed it.

Enjoy the new year….

Ben