WC 31/02/08

The Last week in Feb/first week in Mach is often a wierd one. Not quite winter not quite spring. Holidays to look forward to but not quite soon enough. Dark but not as dark as it has been. It seems the years budding excitment grows from this one point.

This week was a long build up to a live session at Radio 2XS for their superb barn sessions series, which we also had filmed by Silvertip Productions. This will be the central plank of our RAW album and documentary, so a lot of making sure we got all the stuff together, deciding what we will wear etc etc took place oer the week.

DawnyVic did her showcase for acting and dancing on Friday. She performed well in both although she did have to make her performances bookend a 3 and a half hour evening with no interval. Even the BEST plays have intervals. At one point, I thought my brain was going to melt- so I perked myself up by playing 'spot the play' as the acting groups were doing scenes from various plays. The Crucible, Much Ado About Nothing, Good Will Hunting, Sense and Sensibility and The Importance of Being Ernest all made an appearence along with a couple that escaped me.

Now, we are about to get in a van and go up t'north to my mums (who lives 10 mins from the studio we are recording in). We are very much looking forward to it! Look next week for a full report!

Ditch



W/C 24/02/08

Busy busy week. A bit of gentle pressure to get the vinly release we are now doing in May ready, a lot of hard work and the target of completing a new tack. I'll keep that under wraps for now but lets just say it's a cover of a song by one of the, in my opinion, greatest bands of all time!

And it REALLY tests my synth playing!

I was woken up by the UK's Earthquake lasy week, thinking Dawn was jumping about onthe bed or having a nightmare or something andso rocking the bed about. I ignored it and went back to sleep, only to wake up wodering if I'd dreamt it or not. As it was, I had expereinced the UK's largest Earthquake since 1984 at 5.2 on the richter scale. For those on a fault line gloating, that's pretty big for a nation thousands of miles from the nearest plate edge relying on it's own ancient faults and thermodynamics to cause a rumble!

The rest of the week was spent planning the next releases and getting remixes back from our favourite remixers for our March release, Instant Mash, They really have our done themselves proud this time and I thank Cru5h3r, Peter T and Robin Firth (the brother of our Dawny and co-writer of Instant Mash ) for some really fantastic stuff! It puts the original in the shade. I alos put a remix/mash-up together myself of Instant Mash along with the other excellent entries form our Whenever Whatever Acid Planet Remix competition that didn't quite make our January release, I've called it 'Instatn When Mashed'

After that, it looks like it'll be 'Fuse' in April followed by 'There is No Black and White' which will also be out on CD and 12" Yellow Vinyl. These things have to be moveable though the way the industry is today!

Me, I keep on working out. It's about time I got my old old physique back and cut through the flab and that is what I intend to do. By this time next year I want to be svelt, not embarrassed take my shirt off on stage when I get hot and get the laydeees hot (or give them a fever in disgust)! So, I must keep working hard.

OH and 'I Don't Know 'was release yesterday (29th Feb) and the B side 'a simple song', is doing particualry well in the specialist charts! Go get it from here (only £1.10 for the whole release if your a memeber), iTunes or wherever, it's the only way you can get 'A simple song' so get it or miss it! We'll have a simlar exculsive B Side on every EP and single release this year.

Right, I must get our labels website and our radio station going!

Ditch



W/C 16/02/2008


It was quite a quiet one this week for me. I spent my weekend recording the new tracks with Dawny which I mentioned in my last blog. I am really pleased with what we have, 2 tracks which work together really well and will probably be side by side on the record. One is a simple stripped down piano number with big discordant strings and a PHAT guitar solo or 2 provided by yours truly (for a change ;-)). It looks like this tracks will be called 'My Sixes [Ditch's Lament]'- but don't hold me to that! the other is much more complex. Fat Hip Hop beats, big strings and subtle piano melodies leading to a huge groove rock out. The 2 tracks share a melodic sub-hook and fit together well, which is more what this second album is about. A big single piece of work, sometimes experimental and complex (though not, we hope, self indulgent), rather than a collection of pop songs. They still will be pop songs at heart, but we like the idea of doing our releases 'commercial-less commercial-commercial-less commercial' and create pop radio edits from the less commercial stuff for the radio and singles. The second song is provisionally entitled 'Sun Song'.

The rest of the week was given over to tinkering with what we had done and starting a full on exercise and diet problem. It's no secret I struggle with my weight but this time there is something different about it. I focus I haven't had before. That, some NLP techniques and a touch of Hypnotherapy (probably the source of my Focus)! So now, whenever I want to beat a craving, I squeeze my thumb and little finger together and I get revolted by whatever I craved. Imagination is more powerful than will and all that. I am eating slow and eating better and eating less AND on a full on strength at fitness training regime which, for the first time, I am really enjoying. So with any luck, watch out for your sleek, thin, new and Improved Ditch, coming soon (I hope) to a photo shoot near you! 

W/C 11/02/2008

Right, lets tell you about our lives. About bits and pieces we get up to and what we have been doing. It may be boring, it may be interesting but, as Lincoln once said, 'the people who like this sort of thing will like this sort of thing' so this is for you!

Last week was a tough one. The first half was taken up preparing for the gig at Roehampton University at The deviant Society so nothing happened, the second half was spent in a sleep deprived limbo.
So, the gig, lets start there. I could tell you about getting my suit dry cleaned, getting the stuff out of the studio packed and ready, getting the van, loading the van and all that but that would be REALLY dull so lets get to the show shall we?

On arriving, we find out that a PA has been especially hired for us (we don't use backline- its sooooo last century) and our support is a belly dancer in the guise of the fantastic Kiana Siino. Wicked! So we sound checked, had a drink, chilled out then watched Kiana's maginfacent (the student boys seemd to like it particularly) performance which involved sword balancing, Vails and Industrial Metal.

Then it was our turn. As it was so relaxed, Harvey and I decided not to get 'suited and booted' - Dawn dressed up of course but she is Dawn. After applying my make up (I don't feel like a man without it) we took to the stage (in this case the area behind the PA speakers) and played a set to a mad fun audience who seemed to love every second. it was great! I think we made lots of new friends and gained lots of new fans that day. Roehampton- we love you, have us back on the bigger stage!

We then dashed back in the van, unloaded up the usual 7 flights of stairs and had a good 3 hours sleep before having to return the van the next morning- hence the zombiefication.

The next day (Valentines day) Dawny got me a chocolate heart from Thornton’s- oh well, diet out the window- and we went for a 3 course meal with Strawberry infused Champers (I give up!) at a hidden gem called 'Small and beautiful'- apt for our Dawny, you'll agree! It was, as always, superb. We then crawled home and slept, basically until Saturday and on Saturday- oh day of days, wonderful day of days, we finally started writing our second album proper. WE NOW HAVE 3 NEW SONGS! TOTALLY NEW! It is a way off you all hearing it but lets just say we have moved on a bit. Expect more guitars, more balls, more intricacy (for certain) and, of course, Harvey laying down the live drums! If the first couple of ideas are anything to go by, if the first album was about light with a shade of dark, this is the opposite! So watch these spaces and remember, site members will hear it first!
DITCH