Recording 2011 Demos

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.

- Proverbs 24:33-34 (King James Bible)

So anyway, we're getting straight back to recording demos. It's sounding pretty good! Also, the stuff we recorded in Cardiff will hopefully rear its ugly head soon enough.

Please note the new vocal deflector:

And the gold discs on the wall:

And also Sam's new jumper. Nice jumper, Sam!

Out of shot: bed of cocaine.

New Year's Resolutions

1. Marry, or at least propose to, Laura Marling

2. Try to stop myself from actually doing (1)

3. Go on tour with The Shadow-Line, and have a ludicrous time

p.s. This is why

Scratchcard EP Launch at The Amble Inn, Dec 29th 2010

The Amble Inn was cosy and candlelit as we came in out of the misty night to set up for the gig. After shifting everything in from the cars we lifted out some furniture and put it round the back (leather armchairs are waterproof? Aren't they?), before making ourselves comfortable in the corner of the pub where all the bands and solo artists would be playing.

Unfortunately no one took any pictures of the gig, which is actually a good thing, because it means people were listening to the music. Also, on literally the first chord of the first song I swung my guitar up too high and smashed one of those lights, so it probably would have been too dark anyway.

Here is a picture of Ben Jacobs at the gig:

How the tables have turned, eh Benji?

Anyway, the music was great. We had sets from 8 Bit Heros, aka Jordan, who recorded the first few acts (recordings which will hopefully surface soon) who sounded great with a few classic covers. We had the live iteration of Peter Hai, playing epic instrumentals on piano and guitar. We had the first ever live solo set from Oliver Bissill, who plays bass in the Shadow-Line; playing what turned out to be complex acoustic songs with a strong ear for melody. We then had the inimitable Dom Pusey delivering the finest set I have yet seen him perform, with stuff like 2-finger tapping on an acoustic guitar and some impressive vocal acrobatics. After him were The Doubletakes, my brother's band, who unfortunately couldn't find a drummer for the gig but played a fine melodic set regardless. Thank you to everyone who played, to Sam, Joe and the bar staff at The Amble Inn for running things, and to all the people who came. It was a lot of fun, thanks for making it such a special night.

Scratchcard Winner EP

Scratchcard Winner EP out now.

Download:

http://zygmuntday.bandcamp.com/album/scratchcard-winner-ep

or

http://soundcloud.com/zygmunt-day/sets/scratchcard-winner

It's free, but any donations are appreciated.

Mistletoe & Wine

Happy Christmas!

Here's a present:

Horoscopes / Morning Rain

Horoscopes / Morning Rain by Zygmunt Day

Sam Killin and I spent the whole day mixing on a glitchy, horrible version of Cubase. Here's a track off of the new EP, 'Horoscopes / Morning Rain'.

'Scratchcard Winner' EP Drops Dec 29th.

Adventures in Cardiff and also At Home

I recently went to Cardiff for the second time. I went on a MEGABUS which was less mega than it sounds, and more like being on a coach for three hours. However I managed to fall asleep for most of it. Then I got to Sam Killin's house where it's so cold they can turn the fridge off and the milk keeps. It's not actually that cold, but it was pretty chilly and it used to be a brothel. Apparently? And it was so cold Sam wished he was in Norway so he'd be warmer. Also we were talking about the lottery, cos the new EP is called 'Scratchcard Winner', and Sam said that if he won £85million (EuroMillions Jackpot Rollover) he'd be dead by the end of the year. I thought maybe he was right. If you had that much money you would probably want to die. There are only so many things that are made of gold, and once you had bought most of them what would be left for you except religion? And most religions would tell you to give away all of your money, preferably to them, and then how would you eat? As it says somewhere in The Bible, man cannot survive on bread alone, but it certainly helps. Anyway I recorded two new songs in a studio:

Sam was there running the desk:

The new songs should see the light of day some time in the new year. They sound really good. One is a really full acoustic production with string sections and pianos and a 12-string guitar which sounds like a banjo. The other is just guitar and voice. I think they're both pretty good songs. Recording in a studio is the best and if you get a chance then you should go and do it. Also try and use some really expensive microphones because it makes so much difference.

Then I got back to St. Albans where it's been snowing pretty heavily. I went for a night out, when this lucky boy got to meet Santa Claus:

I hope he gets the Lego space shuttle that he asked for. Lego is pretty much the best quality kids toy going. Once or twice I may have played a bit of Lego with my cousins and then just carried on after they got bored and stopped. And then when everyone went to the pub I stayed behind to finish off my base. You've gotta have a decent base in these testing times; I, for one, am not going to become a victim of the economic downturn.

Then of course it was snowing and I walked home after going to a party for a friend of mine from school who's just become a Royal Marine Commando. There was a fantastic buffet. After that I had to get home. So I took some photos of the snow to pass the time.

Snow makes everything quiet because it's like the world is covered in acoustic foam and it soaks up all the reverb. I don't know if that is fact but it seems like a pretty reasonable explanation to me. No sound carries, it's dead like being in a vocal booth.