IT’S ALIIIIVE!!!!!!
At LONG LAST!!!
The album is apon us.
Sweet December is out and getting great play on stations nation wide. The video has followed which is picking up all over!
And now…PRESALES HAVE BEGUN!!!!
Head on over to www.downfallsanempire.com NOW to get youself a copy of the album Pre-Ordered for the release date on September 14th. This includes all of you people overseas!!!
The first 500 online presales will come autographed AND packed with a bonus disc with 4 extra tracks. This will ONLY be available for the first 500 copies. ONLY! So get in quick and preorder now!
Our album release party is TOMORROW night. I’m looking forward to getting back on a stage again. It’s been way to long folks!
See you at the Bollix tomorrow night!
Peace, we outta here!
Steve
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
I’m not going to lie to you - I’m pretty tired
I’ve been burning the midnight oil with our producer Chris Van de Geer getting this album all mixed and ready for press. Tonight will be our last night… 3am this morning we finished the last mix and compiled the album. Today the album went to Don Bartley in Sydney to be Mastered. At around 1am tomorrow morning, I will hold in my hand the absolute final finished product. I will then proceed to sleep until August 29th when we have our release showcase.
I just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone for all your support and patience - it’ll be ready to go in no time!
Till then, make sure you keep voting for Sweet December on all the radio stations you can ring/email and tell them if they don’t have it - they should get it!
Aright
That’s all for now
Keep it real!
Peace
Gray
Video Madness
Let me begin this one with a quote from Quentin Tarantino…
“Fuck, man, I don’t feel the need to justify the violence. It’s what Edison invented the camera for. It’s such a cinematic thing. Literature can’t quite do it. Theatre can’t quite do it. Painting can’t quite do it. Cinema CAN do it.”
Using this as our basis, we set out to shoot our 4th Music Video on Sunday night. This vid was the first for the album and the first with a new production company, so everything was a bit new and daunting this time around. After all the meetings and all the pitches we decided – fuck it, lets just go with something that looks cool. So that’s what we’ve done.
With the help of an awesome crew, some enormous body builders and some sweet wrestlers from Auckland’s IPW, we turned a dusty warehouse into a surreal house of pain and in between being outgunned by pretty much everyone, bouncing up and down in a ring wearing pants so tight I fear permanent damange and some amazing physicality and agility – we’ve captured some amazing footage.
Thought you’d all just like to know that – Keep it real and we’ll be announcing some VERY IMPORTANT dates shortly
Peace
Gray
Sleeping For The Next Month
I think I will be sleeping for the next month. From the 29th of August onwards there’s pretty much no stopping for us. First we have our album release party at the Dogs Bollix, then we’re off to the South Island to do a few shows. A few days later we’re flying to Brisbane, Australia to play Q Music’s Big Sound Music Industry Summit and Showcase. After that wild ride, we’re playing a special yet-to-be-announced show (We’ll follow up with more details soon) and from there I’m sure things will only get busier! I’m so excited I CAN’T WAIT!
Right now we’re working on getting everything ready for the big release. The album cover has been designed and looks fucking cool! We’ve got a name sorted (Which we will reveal in time) and the songs will soon be ready to be sent away for mastering. Much like we did with Andrew Buckton, we’re working Chris Van Der Gear to the bone and after we’re done I’m sure neither man will forget the name These Four Walls!
We’re back at our practice space grinding off the rust with an angle grinder and a wire brush wheel and getting back into the swing of jamming.
Its 2.15am and right now I’m going to sleep for the next month so I’m ready to go when the shit’s on, because when its on, we work!
Onwards and upwards! Its the Westlake way…
Farewell Studio
How long is a piece of string?
How long does it take to make an album?
Well, We’ve just spent 5 and a half weeks in the studio recording one – so is that the answer?
What about the intensive writing and pre production leading up to walking into the studio? Well, we’ve been doing that since December – so does that mean it takes 7 months?
What about all the writing and work that goes into being a band to begin with? Does that stuff count? Is it not worth charting the progress of the bands development as a path to the album?
We wrapped tracking last night and I said to Steve – well, that’s only taken us 5 years! And it’s true. Basically everything the band has worked towards over the last 5 years has been condensed into 13 tracks and is off to the mixing factory to get the gloss put on it.. After 5 and a half gruelling weeks of intense tracking, bickering, pranking and generally doing what we do best (whatever the hell that is?) all the pieces are in place and we’re ready to start sorting out release dates, single releases, music videos, photo shoots, press circuits and the fun that goes with releasing an Album.
So yeah – that’s pretty much it for now. Make sure you check out all the vids on our Youtube channel – there’s some really goofy stuff on there.
And with that, I’m off to sleep for a few weeks…
Peace
Gray Vickers
P.S – If you’re not already on our mailing list, make sure you sign up so that you don’t miss out on important information, like super secret limited editions and stuff like that!
Dance, White Boy!
Whenever Steve hears a fat beat and some huge bass he has to dance. It’s been a tough few days for him in the studio as we lay down the drums and bass, he hasn’t been able to stop moving his little feet. We take his insane dancing styles as an indication that we’re on the right track though. Vocal recording will start next week, and like Justin Timberlake, Steve may need to learn the noble art of singing while dancing.
Bassing Up Is Hard To Do…
Today was limerick day. This bought on many problems for us as a band. Buckletone was merciless! He ripped into everyone. Gray, Steve, Brad, myself. He even ripped into the band as a whole. He had the first limerick within the first hour and a half of todays session! Can we really be that bad?
Many limericks were submitted, yet had to be turned away because the didn’t meet the correct protocol. From what we found out, the limerick structure must consist of 5 lines. Each line had to contain a certain amount of syllables. For example;
Line 1 - 9 syllables
Line 2 - 9 syllables
Line 3 - 6/7 syllables
Line 4 - 6/7 syllables
Line 5 - 9 syllables
The object of the limerick was to make lines 1,2 and 5 rhyme, although this was not a necessity. I think Buckletone won that round.
After some changes were made to a final drum track this morning, today’s objective was to complete the remaining bass tracks. All went well, except for Lilith, which was a bit of a pain. As it turns out, for the past 6 months I’ve been playing it wrong, and this needed to be rectified. It didn’t take me long to get up to speed, but tracking it was a nightmare. But - with Buckletone’s encouragement - we knocked the bastard off and re-amped with some dirty, dirty distortion pedals he has. You’re going to love it.
Throughout the recording process so far, we have strived to get the best tones we can, and I have to say I am completely happy with how the bass tones have turned out.
Tomorrow’s objective: recording rhythm guitars. There will have to be some photos of the combination of amps we’re using to get the best sound for the album!
I can’t wait for you all to hear this album!!!
Parking ticket count: 1
Week II: Studio Update
The drum tracks are all completed. We had a successful 4 day stint at the plush York St studios. Jeremy and his team are stand up guys, and it was even surprising to find an old school friend of Gray and I had just started as a studio assistant. Having tea, coffee or hot chocolate at the snap of your fingers was a luxury we all got used to, but unfortunately it had to come to an end!
Today (Monday, 11th May) was the start of a new week, and a new studio. Studio 203.
Studio 203 is located on Symmonds St, owned and run by Andrew Buckletone. (Yes, his real name is Buckton, but we’ve changed it to Buckletone because that’s who he is now.) This afternoon the bass tracks began, and by close of today’s session we had 5/11 bass tracks down with more to come. Today I was put outside my comfort zone when Buckletone suggested I play entire songs downstroke with a pick. This was strange to me because I’d never done it before, and I had to adapt quickly without wasting time. It worked for some songs, but not for others where it was just physically impossible to play 16th notes as downstrokes.
The bass tone is thunderous, yet punchy and in your face. Its going to sound great mixed in with the guitars and drums, I can’t wait to hear the final product.
Coming soon - more videos, pictures and future blogs. Once bass tracking is done, more time shall be had to write studio updates!
For now, sleep.
Studio Update: Day III
At present, as I write this the time according to my laptop is 12:34PM.
I am sitting in the York St control room listening to Andrew Buckton and Brad put the drum track together for Sweet December that has just been recorded. Things are sounding good.
My favourite part of the whole track is the snare drum. It just sounds so good! We are using what we’ve compassionately nicknamed ‘Big Fatty’. For later use, I am going to explain why we use this nickname for this particular drum. It is a Tama snare that we borrowed off Big Val (Thanks, Val!). Its a very deep snare, with the most intense bodilly sound I have ever heard. It is much deeper than the other 3 snares we are currently switching between. Once we put a new snare head on it and tuned it up (Thanks, Tory!) it sounds absolutely amazing. Brad passed the comment earlier that this snare is sounding better and better each day, which is completely true. We’ve used this snare for all bar one song I believe thus far, and we may end up using it more as the session goes on.
I have been sitting on the blue couch, listening to the takes and in between trying to cut together some video footage we have been taking. Unfortunately I am having to transfer the .MOD files from the camera onto my latop, changing each file extension to .MOV and then compiliing each individual file into one removing the timecode breaks. It is a painstaking process, and at times I have lost my rag and given up - but every time, I get back on the horse!
More to come later, and hopefully some footage should be up online soon!
Swine On!
Dear Mr Geldof.
In the face of this potentially horrible outbreak, I propose we gather round and stand tall. We need to send a message to this Swine Flu that we won’t be bullied, harrassed or intimidated by a mutant strain of Influenza. Having successfully stopped world hunger, erased third-world debt, and having scored a UK No.1 with ‘I don’t Like Modays’ you are clearly the man for the job.
So let’s fight this thing with the biggest weapon in our arsenal. Celebrities. The only way we can beat down this rabid virus is with a heartfelt, catchy and equally rabid single, performed by a who’s who of international musical talent. As long as we can get Liam Gallagher to sing ‘SWIIIIIIEEEEEENEEE” it will strike fear into the neuraminidase of even the toughest virion.
They say ‘Send a madman to catch a madman’ and likewise, to battle this contagious airborne disease, we must spread our own infectious message accross the airwaves.
