In times of Pandemic

Avé! 

A lot of things happen during a year. These last 365+ days - A LOT - has been going on. Here is an update on the status of my projects and a new "profile" for this blog.

Strange Horizon: 

SH got going again late last summer. After a so-so gig on a private event in early august, we got into regular rehearsals for most of the autumn and started to prepare an album recording in early 2020. We had 7 of 8 songs in rehearsal and the final one - an instrumental - was supposed to be rehearsed this spring. In december/january we focused on the five oldest tracks and went to a studio in late january. We got all five tracks done with some cool overdubs and extra effects. Having listening to early mixes of these tracks I'm pretty happy with how they came out. Some vocal parts I feel might have to be re-done, as well as some minor guitar stuff (some pick scratching aka FJOM). 

The plan forward was to focus on the two newest tracks as well as learning the intstrumental. We were supposed to play these three tracks at a small gig on april 23rd and then head right into the studio to record them. A simple plan, right? Me and the bass player recorded a pre-prod for the instrumental with a drum machine which turned out pretty nice. We got through it a few times at rehearsal, but the drummer didn't seem to be really into it. I think it could have grown with time though. The weeks after the studio we once again ran into a period of several cancelled rehearsals and practical difficulties. Then of course, the corona pandemic happened. Within a few days the rehearsal room was closed. I managed to bring most of my equipment home and thus a new era started. 

We quickly decided to shelve the instrumental for a future release, given that we barely got to play it as a band before things closed.. I also realised that it might make the album too long for one LP, which could be a problem. Me and the bass player have been working on a smaller Planet Caravan esque piece which we might include instead to hopefully create some dynamics and variation. We shall see. 

As it stands, we have had access to a temporary rehearsal room since mid june but have not had a proper rehearsal yet. Might get into it soon, might not. I hope of course to be able to finish this release, but I feel that I am tired of these tunes and kind of worn out on the whole band. It should have been so much simpler to just be effective and get shit done and I feel that these delays are out of my control. Of course, Covid-19 cannot be blamed on any of us. But there was a decline in band activity before covid-19 and even after we were allowed to start up again very little has happened. 

There was some talk about re-releasing the demo on CD and include some studio mixes as well as contacting possible labels. But as long as we're not rehearsing I have no motivation to do any "voluntary" work regarding SH. Again, the future is open ended. I don't know. I'd like to finish what we begun, but if it falls apart it is not the end of the world. As long as my voice and hands work, I'll be doing something, you'll see.  

Elder Ruins: 

"Hvis du skal få noe gjort så må du gjørra det sjæl" is a saying in Norwegian. It means "if you want to get something done, you have to do it yourself" and there is truth to that. So while SH has declined, my side projects have made some nice progress during this time. I started Elder Ruins last summer and have picked up on it every now and then. As it stands I have 3 mini LPs planned. I write for these whenever I feel inspired to do so. During the semi-lockdown I tried out some ideas recording with my sound card and computer. One of these was a piece with only synth. Since I actually played "live" to a programmed beat and copy-pasted different layers, it turned out a bit untight, but I liked the general feel of it. A nice experiment to do. 

I also recorded a drum machine preprod of just the ending part of a song featuring guitars, bass, synth and harmony vocals, which I put up on soundcloud. Although it was messy playing wise, the atmosphere turned out quite nice. Several people gave very positive feedback on this one. Some even liked it more than SH while others were put off by the playing. Still, a nice experience and a confirmation that this project has some potential. 

As it stands, I will keep working on it for as long time as it takes. And then I want to actually pay for proper studio recordings when I feel ready for it. I want someone to help me track the instruments and get the mixing/mastering right. 

Elusive Dreams: 

This project has been mentioned here before. Elusive Dreams is a more US doom and hard rock influenced project which I have shared with a former bandmate from Blight. We have been talking on and off about this project over the years. It never ended, but it has not materialised either. 

As SH activity in febuary declined the idea of starting another band came to be. I made some plans and the more I thought about it, the more I felt like basing a new band on Elusive Dreams. I wrote some new, slightly simpler, doomy rock tunes. One acoustic one, even. This was my main focus during the first weeks of lockdown, and then I returned to Elder Ruins as a focus project in late april/may. In late may/early june I got some renewed faith in SH, so I refreshed some future ideas and wrote a new pretty cool tune. 

In july I felt like trying out more Elusive Dreams. Since I now had access to a rehearsal room again I tried to record drums for a few songs, which I added guitars and bass to. The initial aim was to record as much as I could and then get Torbjørn to add lead guitars. Then getting someone to mix and master the songs and release them. However, the recordings did not turn out as tight as I hoped. I still think about finishing them as something to show to potential bandmembers in the future, but at the moment I do not aim to release these versions. Torbjørn is quite busy with Blight and another project at the moment, so the project is back on hold. But we'll stay in touch. Might pick it up again sooner rather than later! 

So what are these Secret Rites then? 

Like I said I aim to do Elder Ruins as a one man project. But since I want that project to be really good, I feel that I need more experince as a multi instrumentalist, as well as with recording myself playing. Thus, a new project based on both old and new ideas have surfaced. More about this in the next post. 

As it stands, this blog is dedicated to all my projects, but the focal point going forward here will be Secret Rites. This has changed before and will change again, but let's just see. More about Secret Rites soon....