Me, in moving images.

[welshywelsh]

Me and the band did a few songs from the new album that were filmed.

This one is our favourite track, an 8 minute, post-rock epic that closes the album.

Plenty of pretty camera shots of my Jazzmaster included.

https://youtu.be/W3vUES_SDaw

[LossyShades]

That was great! Really nice playing and video. I’m curious about any back story on the production and set if you care to share. Cheers

[jthomas]

Really loved the song/tone. More, if you please.

[welshywelsh]

That was great! Really nice playing and video. I’m curious about any back story on the production and set if you care to share. Cheers

Thank you! The building is the Westgate Hotel in Newport, South Wales, pretty prominent locally https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate_Hotel

In terms of production, it was part of a number of live performances from artists on the same record label, dubbed "The Westgate Sessions", so we didn't have much say in terms of staging, however the lighting and feel was in keeping with our general vibe, so we were happy.

[welshywelsh]

Really loved the song/tone. More, if you please.

Thanks for the kind words.

Another live performance here: https://youtu.be/Bq7EgiH6NVs?si=X7901JLTL3Mqb0ZI

The final one will be released 3rd September.

Our album which came out 14th July is here https://open.spotify.com/album/2eINi9Uv ... 4ABpYJ5fS5

Hope you enjoy.

[LossyShades]

Dig the second video as well. I noticed the other guitarist takes some bass duties on. You guys get a really full sound for a three piece. Great job with the album too. I listened all the way through on Apple Music. I get Sigur Ros and Russian Circles vibes. Curious to know more about your influences and the band’s back story.

And your Jazzmaster is looking on point! Is that burgundy mist? MIJ?

[welshywelsh]

We have had our current lineup since late 2019 and put out an EP in the middle of 2020, before getting to work on the album.

We've got a diverse range of influences outside of post rock, but we do all love Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, MONO, Sigur Rös and Caspian, so that's the sound we aim to sit alongside when we get together. Love that you called out Sigur Rös

We try and get a few more guitar hooks into our songs than those bands though, probably influenced by alt-90s and Emo, so I'm not sure how successfully we can be categorised as "post-rock".

The other guitarist fell in love with baritone guitar, so the whole album was written with that setup in mind. As you say, it gives us a fuller sound and he has the flexibility to bring a bass amp in/out of the songs when needed to really thicken the sound. I love that the light bits are super light and then this wall of sound hits.

We play to a click controlled through Ableton, so we can loop guitars and layer things up too and ensure it's always MIDI sync'd. Would be easier to just have more band members, but we enjoy the challenge!

My guitar is a 2002-04 MIJ and yep Burgundy Mist. Few tweaks with the Mastery bridge, Novak pickups, better wiring and Spitfire pickguard, it's my number 1 gigging guitar.

[LossyShades]

Awesome. Thanks for that. Super cool to hear how people get their sound and what they’re inspired by. After I typed that last message it dawned on me that of course you can hear the Explosions influence as well. But adding more riffs is a great place to push out. Either way I get a very cinematic feeling from it.

If you’re up for it I’d be curious if you’d want to share more about your effects and sound setup? Is that a Deluxe? Are you running mono? Curious what your go to pedals are.

Interesting to hear about the ableton click. Makes sense to get loops right and stay in time. My band has an absolute monster of a drummer that sort of drifts with tempo and is incredibly loud but there’s something really fun about it. You just can’t get the consistency as dialed.

Thanks again sharing your project with us.

[Soggy Donkey]

This is just beautiful. And props to your drummer -- he's wonderful. Restraint and powerful and absorbed, and suits mood. Am going to check out the record!

[welshywelsh]

If you’re up for it I’d be curious if you’d want to share more about your effects and sound setup? Is that a Deluxe? Are you running mono? Curious what your go to pedals are.

I'll happily geek out about pedals with little encouragement

This has been my settled pedalboard for a while now:



I have the Dark Star reverb in front of my dirt pedals and then the Empress Reverb just before the looper at the end of the chain, so plenty of flexibility.

I use the Klon as my first gain stage and then pair it with either the Westwood or Black Ash. Full on gain is the Westwood and Black Ash together, but no Klon as it strangles it too much.

MIDI comes in from other guitarist's board into Timeline and runs through into looper, ensuring we're always synced.

I use a 1972 Pro Reverb, currently mono. I did pair it with a Supersonic 22 for a stereo rig, but the Pro Reverb just sounded loads better, so it seemed silly to keep both in that situation. If we ever get to the stage where we have roadies, I'll bring in a second Pro!

In terms of Ableton, each song has a scene created which the drummer triggers from a Roland SPDX (I think that's the model). So each time signature and tempo is cued up for us. It also means he can trigger samples off the SPDX. So it's SPDX into a laptop via interface and then back out interface into boards. There's definitely a world where the laptop could be ditched, but we've not worked it out yet!

[welshywelsh]

This is just beautiful. And props to your drummer -- he's wonderful. Restraint and powerful and absorbed, and suits mood. Am going to check out the record!

Thank you. After going through more drummers than Spinal Tap, we've gotten really lucky!

The guy who played blast beats on his double kick didn't last long....

[BoringPostcards]

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing!!

[LossyShades]

Awesome, thanks so much for sharing this! Looks really nicely curated and functional.

MIDI comes in from other guitarist's board into Timeline and runs through into looper, ensuring we're always synced.

I use a 1972 Pro Reverb, currently mono. I did pair it with a Supersonic 22 for a stereo rig, but the Pro Reverb just sounded loads better, so it seemed silly to keep both in that situation. If we ever get to the stage where we have roadies, I'll bring in a second Pro!

In terms of Ableton, each song has a scene created which the drummer triggers from a Roland SPDX (I think that's the model). So each time signature and tempo is cued up for us. It also means he can trigger samples off the SPDX. So it's SPDX into a laptop via interface and then back out interface into boards. There's definitely a world where the laptop could be ditched, but we've not worked it out yet!

I love learning about these techniques. Your approaches are definitely a next level for me personally. Where did you learn how to do this type of integration? Cheers.

[Firecat]

Sounds great! And love both the Jazzy and the Reverend. I'm a big postrock fan and I think I've heard your bandname before, but will check you out a bit better.

PS: I'm stealing "Me, in moving images." as a potential songtitle ;-)

[welshywelsh]

Awesome, thanks so much for sharing this! Looks really nicely curated and functional.

I love learning about these techniques. Your approaches are definitely a next level for me personally. Where did you learn how to do this type of integration? Cheers.

A lot of trial and error and I still think our knowledge is very limited to be honest. We used Ableton individually for recording song ideas and demoes so we had that basic level I guess. Next step was creating a number of empty projects and setting time signatures and tempos for each, then figuring out how to change between them when playing live. Thankfully most of the time our gear with MIDI is setup from factory to send/receive the messages needed between themselves.

That said, we spent about 12 hours across 4 rehearsals getting the SPDX into the live rig, that was stressful. Went from a fully functioning live band to being unable to play the songs overnight until it was worked out.