joshua’s song

Just a quick note on a band that really impressed me and gave me a kick start in starting some new hardcore stuff of my own. Something’s gotta give. Check Joshua’s Song, it’s gonna tell you what’s what.

Arjunah.org

The artwork of our Handmade Record didn’t just fall out of the sky. It was created by the Brussels based tattoo artist Arjunah, based on a dream I had. 

Arjunah has been inking me up for about 11 years now and I know how lucky I am to have stumbled upon an artist as great as him by mere accident. Our cooperation dates back to my facedown days and most of my tattoos spring from the things that were active in that community from ‘97 to ‘99. The reputation of Arjunah’s work is now irrefutable and he is at last getting his long overdue credit and recognition. He has never been a loud, assertive player or networker, but highly committed to his work without getting sidetracked by false ambition. I can only say that his attitude gets my deepest respect and my unwavering support.

I have at first hand experienced the privilege of seeing his work grow ever more detailed and perfected. And I’m not lying when I say that even 11 years ago I was already highly impressed by his versatility and expertise. He can ink just about anything you want. Everything seems to be his specialty but more importantly, his artistic background brings something else to the game: composition. Arjunah has brought order to the chaos of ideas that I have laid on him, time and time again. He has been 10 steps ahead of me every single time. I am convinced that this is a quality that is not only the sum of his experience, but an innate talent for this trade. I am sure that he was ‘meant’ to be a tattoo artist.

If you are thinking about tattoos or you have been thinking about it for a long time but you never took the steps to actually have it done, here’s someone that I can recommend with complete conviction.

These are the paintings that Arjunah made for a school of QUIET.

New toy – the Zoom R16

To all you bands out there … throw away your hand-held recorders, a new toy is available – the Zoom R16. First of all, no I’m not sponsored by the Japanese to advertise this device. I just think it’s so great i wanted to share this with all you bands out there struggling to make some decent rehearsal recordings without bringing out the computers.

So what makes this device so great, well the price for one, but definitely the features are killer. With a price in the same range of those tiny, hard-to-handle-with-their-clumsy-navigation hand-held recorders, you get a device with A LOT MORE features.

The best things is that this device is very intuitive. Sure, there are a lot of menu’s, but after playing around with it for a couple of hours you are ready to go and surprise your band fellows.

After struggling for a couple of years with laptops and external sound card and connector cables or messing around with those tiny recorders I’m considering myself a happy camper with this mini studio.

Some of the features:

• 8 XLR/Line inputs (2 of them are phantom powered) – you can plug in just about everything with an output: guitars, microphones, bass amp line out, keyboards or piano.
• 2 build in microphones through which you can record – this feature comes in handy when your at home and in a lazy mood and you just want to capture some new idea quickly without loosing your inspiration by setting up some mic’s and connect cables … just power on, new project and go …
• Record up to 16 tracks (max 8 tracks at the time) – this is great for recording the whole band in one go and can be used perfectly for demo-making – after laying down the basic tracks you can still punch in overdubs or use the remaining (up to 16) free tracks to record or re-record certain parts or redo vocals and backings.
• Recorded music is stored on a SD card – easy for transfer of data or copying projects to your computer – this cards come in all different sizes nowadays, this device supports SD cards up to 32GB of data. Standard, this device comes with a 1GB SD card.
• There’s a setting where you can choose to record in 16bit or 24bit/44.1kHz and all files are stored as WAV, so no lame-ass mp3 support here.
• All recorded tracks are organized in a project folder (as separate tracks) with a possibility to do a quick mix down (1 stereo track) but you just as well copy the project to your computer and continue in your DAW to do some mixing or rearranging of the song.
• Metronome for click track recording – handy when you want to lay down a basic track during pre-production a move everything to the computer later on.
• Insert / send effects (guitars/basses/fx/mastering effects) – which you would probably not use when recording your band in the rehearsal room, but easy when composing on your own.
• USB connection for moving files between this device and your band members USB sticks or if you connect this device to your computer via USB, it functions as a card reader.
• Powered by batteries (up to 6 hours, not included), an adapter (included) or usb from a computer.

So, that’s it ? Well no, this device can also be used as a controller for your DAW and you can also use it as a sound card for direct recording music onto your computer.

So what else do you need after buying things (whenever you buy something there’s always this other thing you require to get going)? Well, in order to make some decent recordings i recommend you get a few XLR mic cables, 2 omni-directional microphones (Audio Technica AT-2020’s will do a great job) and a headphone.

I don’t go to a rehearsal without this device anymore …

The food wizard

It’s about time I wrote something extra great about this man on our site. Alain Indria from Lombardia. I think by now it’s safe to say that I can consider him a good friend. When times got rough, Alain helped me out with a job, working at this amazing place and when all fell apart around our previous band (.calibre), he was the guy that helped me get back on my feet and try to look at stuff from other angles. We don’t see enough of each other cause he’s busy and I’m busy and we never seem to get around to socializing anywhere else but at Lombardia, but still it feels like I can turn to him when I need some extra push. And I like that. I hope he knows he can count on me in the same way.

Anyhow. Veggie, vegan, raw, … it’s all possible. And more importantly it’s always organic and non industrial. Tailor made, if you require so. I just started hanging out here many years ago for the excellent variation in vegan foods and his new stuff still impresses the hell out of me. He truly is the food wizard, coming up with new, exciting stuff all the time. Sometimes, stuffing me full of foods as a guinae pig (as long as it’s free and veggie, I’ll down it) and I must say, I never tasted anything I didn’t like. So if you’re a veggie or a health freak or if you have any kind of food allergy, talk to Alain and his mom Odette, and they will show you ways to turn even the most restricted diet into a banquet.

Part of the production budget for our first asoQ recordings (the mastering to be exact) was provided by Alain because he could see we were in a jam. I still consider this a great gift which we really needed at the time to help us finish the recordings. To thank him we recorded this whack demo song for his most popular invention: gingerlove, a hot beverage based on herbs and fruit. (gingerlove.be).

Durango Sessions

Definitely something long overdue. Looking for the people that have been wearing our asoQ shirts I stumbled across this photo. Wim Wilms: indeed our Belgian version of John Peel, be it on another level, but just a honest. He’s working hard and more importantly, he has a non discriminating vision on what music and the culture of music should be like. He will not let himself be influenced by his personal taste when working with bands. I know he believes that anyone that is really putting in the effort and the hours, deserves a little break. And that is just fucking great, no?

Radio Benelux and its Durango Sessions offer a platform to anyone that wants it. We’ve played this venue twice up until now and I’ll keep knocking on that door about once a year because it’s just the best fun ever. The crowds are mostly very small (it is just a bar with some stools, and the rest is taken by the band set up and the audio equipment) but the ambiance is immense. I always feel like I’m stepping into Twin Peaks when I enter the room, the wooden walls, the same people, the black ‘n’ white tile floor pattern, the intensity of it all, the urinal outside, … I totally LOVE this place.

Check this shit out… it’s the best. If you have an act or a talent that is suited for radio, get in touch with the Durango Team. I loudly support this effort.

Drum Gear

Just wanted to write something about the drumgear that i’ve been using for the asoQ-recordings…

I always use Ludwig drums.  I’m endorser for Ludwig since 2007, and i have to say… this is it.  I’ve got a Ludwig Classic Maple, the Ringo Starr edition.  It has everything i look for in a drumkit, and i just LOVE it.  It sounds a little bit vintage (some call it “the new vintage”).  The whole drumkit actually sounds fantastic !  The exact specs of my drumkit are as follows:

• Bass Drum 14 x 22″
• Tom 9 x1 3″
• Floor Tom 16 x 16″
• Snare Drum 14″ (depth varies depending on wich snare i use)

I use Remo Emperor Coated on top, and Remo Ambassador Coated on the bottom.  I did some experiments during the recording-session.  For “Varnish” i muffled my toms and snare like i never did before, and tuned my snaredrum really really low.  I also changed bassdrum-muffling for some of the songs…

Let’s talk about my snaredrums.  I’ve got a Ludwig Black Beauty, but for the asoQ-recordings i also used a titanium Dunnett and a Bronze Sonor Signature snaredrum (the real big & heavy one, 8″ deep and 20 kg !)

I’m also endorser for Sabian Cymbals, and have never been so happy with my cymbal setup like i am now.  I use the HHX-series (15″ groove Hats, 21″ Groove Ride, 18″ Xtreme Crash and 20″ Stage Ride, wich i use as a Crash).  They really sound like they have to sound… not too agressive, cuts through the music, but still sounds a bit dark-ish… i like it.

Here’s a pic of my drumkit with my Black Beauty snaredrum.

Top View:

Cymbals:

And here’s the Dunnett in Close-up.  Next to it is a Sonor Designer Maple Snaredrum that i’ve been using since i was 15

If you want to know more about the gear i’m using, you might find these links interesting:

www.ludwig-drums.com
www.sabian.com
www.dunnett.com
www.vicfirth.com

Cheers.

writing. writing lyrics

As I always do, I’ll just start writing and see where it gets me.

I’ve been writing for as long as I can recall. Even when I was pretty young (like 5 or something) I used to record small story plots on a tape recorder, thinking that I would be transcribing them to paper later when I could write. I liked the way certain things sounded when I was thinking them, I still do. The value of words was never in speaking them out loud. It was in reading them and feeling them bounce off the inside of my head, filling them with my nuance, before I swallowed them. I never was nor will be truly good but as with any personal expression, it does turn into some kind of self-therapy. So I just kept doing it. It matters to me.

When it comes to writing lyrics for music, nothing is impossible. And the most fucked up stuff or the most basic have proven to be the most inspirational to me. It’s like having the same, lame discussion about the essence of art with yet another acquaintance in yet another bar over yet another drink. It’s pointless. Do whatever you want to do. It’s all fine.

I went through some phases of reading way too many political books and that reflected in my writing, thinking it was my duty to convey ideals to an audience. But when I finally (it took me some time) realised that I was in fact rather a-political, I just quit reading those books. From that point on I rediscovered myself in my writing.

I wonder if you feel the same about this: If you read words from another, do they often seem far more coherent and impressive than your own? Every time I’ve read a book that felt really good, I get to think that I should stop putting my efforts into my own writing, because it’ll never be as good or as a moving as many things I read from others. But then I know that this is not the reason why I’m doing it. I’m doing it because I have to. Once I let go of those doubts, I felt liberated enough to love writing for what it was. It is the only thing that makes sense to no one but me.

With the lyrics for this band, it’s no different. It is my persuasion (and not everyone in the band always agrees with me ) that my lyrics should make sense only to me. I don’t ever want to write anything that has a point other than the feeling of the moment it hit me. I guess it only means that there should be no compromise from my part. And that’s were not everyone agrees. Producers are best at trying to make things more ‘accessible’ for a larger audience. And although I constantly try to find my own balance in putting words to a tune, there is a line I just won’t cross. You’ll have to shoot me first.

So here’s a first and there’ll be more to follow. Feel free to interpret.

City of Quartz

Chorus: City of Quartz, with your neon lights
You’re picking me up and you’re dropping me into the night

You can dumb it down a shade so I could have a thing to say
But if you have an attitude, I won’t deal with it today
Every matter of time is none of my concern
You keep screaming for the rent but I’ll never learn

Before the bloody grind begins and I amass all my defeats
I can open up the door and step into the streets

The sidewalk eats up all my thoughts before they make it to my tongue
I’ve dislocated everything that could go wrong
I smoothen it out and dance it around, there’s something seriously wrong with me
Like a cold blunt instrument, I’ll throw around my honesty

I can’t hide the fact that there’s something seriously wrong with me
I can’t stand the fact that there’s something seriously wrong with me