Friday fun times

We began today with a fairly slow start that included breakfast, English style:

Rode a double decker bus:

Got to the rehearsal studio (how many names do you recognise?):

Looked at architecture:

Oh yes, and we also rehearsed. We set to work on some completely new material, followed by consolidation of some of our other ideas. All in all though, it's been a pretty relaxed friday. We shall be having some well deserved drinks soon, and will let our hair down (aka PARTY!) this evening, so I am not going to write anything else!

BYE BYE

STUDIO DAY 2

Day 2 in the studio was quite productive. Did pretty much the same thing we did yesterday. Wrote. Jammed. Refined. Got a bit excited.

We also had a little meeting with Matt Emsell (Matty's manager) about plans for the next few months into next year, and it was also a little bit exciting. All I will say is that there are some really cool things in the pipeline, and it's pretty mind boggling that I will be a part of them! Just picture world domination being step 1 of the process! HA!

Below are pics from day 2:

T-Bone being highly productive; on the floor and on his phone!

Matty playing through a beautiful Orange amp (Orange is the name of the brand for all you non-musicians) with crazy awesome reverb, and his voice going through an old school Alesis digital rack reverb unit. It smooths out his off notes....

A blurry picture of the rehearsal studio's 'Ludwig' drum kit that isn't really a Ludwig at all; it's a kinda crappy Mapex, but I have been beating it into shape! And if you were wondering, the answer is YES, I do play keyboard and drums at THE SAME TIME....Not really, but seriously I do....

Again, if anyone has any questions they would like to ask, feel free to email me, or reply to this post and I shall be happy to answer, unless those questions are not about what a great photographer I am.

END

CREATION

Today Matty, T-Bone and I started working on completely new material towards the first full length 'Matt Corby' release. We probably ended up jamming out 4 new ideas in the space of an 8 hour jam, and are only into really rough arrangements of each so far, but it is a good start I think. It's quite exciting working together on Matty's stuff, basically from scratch, because we are each bringing our different elements and influences to the table, and it is already sonically showing.

I think we all got a glimpse of what we were capable of achieving together when we hit the rehearsal studio for the 'Into the Flame' EP, where for example, the track 'Brother' was workshopped as a group. Although Matt had the initial skeleton, we were each able to add our own flavours and create something that we couldn't have done without each other being in the room. I am definitely a big believer in 2 brains being better than 1 when it comes to creativity, in any form for that matter...So if you are wondering what the new sounds are that are coming out, (without saying too much) in my view it's almost a progression of thought from the 'Into the Flame' EP. however, we are definitely not restricting ourselves to what we have done in the past, but are each being very experimental in our approach, which I think is a healthy thing when developing new material. So I already can't wait to get in the studio to start bringing these songs into fruition!

The next 2 days are also designated rehearsal days, so I am looking forward to the momentum we gain from constantly working on new material, and the excitement that generates. It's an honour and incredible privilege to be working with, in my honest opinion, one of the world's most exciting emerging talents (Matty if you're reading this don't get a big head! HA!), and to be invited onboard for his creative journey is a rare and truly beautiful thing. I definitely feel as if the work I have been putting in as a composer and arranger of my own material has been leading up to this point, so it's good to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and be involved in potentially creating something that captivates a really wide audience.

I'm interested to hear all your thoughts on any of this, and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask away!

Bedtime now. Tomorrow awaits!

So. T-Bone (Matt Corby's bass player) and I arrived to a chilly but sunny London this morning (monday) after quite an epic voyage from home. We watched many films. We talked. We ate. We drank (many thanks to Geraldine for the complimentary champagne upon hearing that we were travelling musicians - i'm such a name dropper). We slept (it's an art form on a plane, believe me). And we traaaaaaaavelled. I think my total hours of transit from when I left Forest Hill, Melbourne until i arrived at our apartment in Shoreditch, London was approximately 34 hours (Melbourne - Sydney. WAIT. Sydney - Hong Kong. WAIT AGAIN. Hong Kong - London. WALK WITH HEAVY INSTRUMENTS to London Tube. London Tube - Liverpool st station. WALK WITH HEAVY INSTRUMENTS AGAIN - Apartment. COLLAPSE), so it's been pretty hectic.

Shoreditch is sweet. Inner city eastern suburb with lots of cool buildings and streets, as i'm sure most of London has...

Our 'activity of the day' today was to go shopping at Oxford Circus, and I think I may have blown my entire first week's budget on some hip British gear, but hopefully it shall allow me to be at one with my surroundings/be a hipster.

We are in fact over here to write towards Matt Corby's first album, which is very exciting, isn't it?! So that's why I am over the other side of the world. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Wednesday will be our first day of rehearsal, so hopefully I will be able to post about something a little more 'music' orientated, possibly with fancy pictures, or even sound/video, but don't get your hopes up.

So for now I will just post this photo of my newly 'most valuable possession', that I was sure to bring on my month long adventure; the faithful 'Dragon tour' frisbee.

The Dragon became our only source of physical activity (apart from our amazing speed hand-clap game, that i might mention another time) on the last Matt Corby tour in Feb '12. It was actually a really healthy outlet from the rigours of touring. We were often spotted trying out the latest throwing techniques before soundcheck, after soundcheck, and sometimes even during soundcheck. All in all though, I can definitely say that I owe my sanity to this $10 spinning disc of glory. NEVER PUT A PRICE ON YOUR SANITY, KIDS! (unless it's not cheap).

In fact, now I am wondering what it is that keeps YOU sane? what keeps the mind ticking in the right direction when it feels like the crazies are tightening their grip on your fragile intellect? Coffee? Star Jumps? Dreaming of being the first astronaut to touch the sun? Pleeeease feel free to leave a comment, and maybe we can each learn something from one another...

Anyways, enough of my apparent insanity. Enjoy your day. I am enjoying London (in a vary weary kind of way).

Tim