Pounding along

Been working on drums today. The first song is starting to sound like something, and I made a lot of progress on the second one. I tried to record myself with the phone today, which was interesting. Some things sounded better than I feared, but I also noticed parts that I need to tweak. Will continue to record myself drumming from now on.

I even came up with a part where I have to open and close the hihat. Tricky!

Check out this setup from a while back. One of the other bands at the rep place were recording in studio so all the cymbals were gone. All I had was a hihat top, so I played all cymbal hits on that one. Doesn't really matter at this point, the important thing is to practice using my arms and legs correctly so that I am able to play something close to what I have in mind.

Continuations and beginnings

Once again, future readers and stumblers upon...

Since the previous update a LOT has happened. Strange Horizon has been a band for over a year. Two lineups, three live shows and one demo release, digital and on cassette. Overall pretty good response with fans from all over the world. Wow. But alas, everything comes with a price. The band was on hold for more than a month due to member commitments and is still struggling to get back into gear. This has been difficult for me to cope with, following the success of our first year.

I also realised along the way that SH is no longer my band. Other members feel the need to have a say in how things are run and to have creative input. That is something I of course must respect, but as I realised that I had lost SH as my private musical playground, the need for something similiar to what SH had been when it was just my project came into being. Thus, Elder Ruins was formed.

Elder Ruins is similar and different to SH. So far I have composed an EP of material which is more focused on atmosphere and includes a song on keyboards. Think Revelation and Warning with hints of Burzum. Lonely, but soothing music. I aim to perform everything myself and am currently working on learning servicable drumming in order to do a recording. I have shown significant progress behind the kit, but there is still a long way to go. Also, where most of my SH material is close to a decade old, these pieces were composed during the last two months. It's inspiring to work on something so fresh, and I like the idea of having something to work on when SH rehearsals are cancelled or delayed. I also like the thought of making something that is just me and thus very personal.

I meant to update this blog with SH history as it happened, but never did. I might in the future however. For now, you can see most of our big, and some smaller, events documented on instagram here. You can also follow our Facebook page. And please listen to our demo on bandcamp!

Since we never used this blog actively for the band, and have used Instagram for updates instead, this blog will from now on be dedicated to Elder Ruins and the progress towards a recording.