Ark

Ta da! Here's the aforementioned video for the new single 'Ark' by The Fierce & The Dead, who I hit the bass for. Video by the excellent Ash Jones from The Chaos Engineers. Put it in your eyes and get involved.

New TFATD Video!

If you didn't know, I play bass in a band called The Fierce And The Dead, and we have a new record coming out in November called Spooky Action. November 4th to be precise. And to start things off we made a video for the first single. It's called Ark and it's being premiered by Artrocker magazine over on their website.
The single is out on Oct 21st and you can pre-order it here. It comes with a couple of extra goodies, namely an excellent remix by Emmett Elvin (he of Chrome Hoof/Guapo/Knifeworld fame) and an 'out there' track featuring the voice of James Orman from Silvery. So get over to Artrocker, have a watch, and if you dig it then get involved. You can also pre-order the new album itself here.
Artrocker Video Exclusive!
Here's what the cover of the album is looking like. We're pretty darn happy with it all.

Robert Palmer covers Hüsker Dü!

Wow. Didn't know this existed. I guess this just shows how close to crossing over into the mainstream Husker Dü were! Enjoy.

Dangerous Minds | WTF? Robert Palmer covers Hüsker Dü then Sonic Youth covers Robert Palmer:

Trojan Horse: Disciplining The Reserve Army

Trojan Horse are good. That's all you need to know. Here they are playing at a recent sortie South from their Northern stronghold.

This week i've been mostly listening to…22/6/2013

I'm back! Just had a little time off to bring my brand new baby son into the big bad world. But i'm here now so everybody calm down yeh. This selection is brought to you by watching old skateboard videos, memories of a trip to NYC in the early noughties, Bobby Conn's first visit to the UK in a long time this weekend (tickets still on sale here) and some other random brain whims. Enjoy them like you mean it.

Frank Zappa on 'What's My Line'.

This is great. And weird. Kev.

A man shouting at a guitar

So, t'other day The Fierce And The Dead reconvened in our rehearsal room for an album overdub session. It quite quickly devolved into making funny noises. Which is fine with me!

Dale Crover and Coady Willis drum cam.

This is just great. I was lucky enough to see them support Slayer last year and my oh my it was helluvalottafun. Unison drums are the future. You heard it here first.

This week I have been mostly listening to...27/5/2013

Ta da. This week started at pop punk and ended up with a german cover of a yacht rock classic. Enjoy.

Vintage instruments vs new instruments

Interesting blog from the wonderful Juan Alderete's Pedals and Effects blog (he of Racer X and Mars Volta fame). I've met a lot of gear snobs, and i've met a lot of people who struggle with unplayable planks as they know no better. I think Juan hits the nail on the head here, his favourites over the years have included modern cheap Squiers and vintage Fenders. You should try everything you can get your hands on and see what feels comfortable! If you think modern guitars are fine, great. If you think vintage guitars are best, also great. However, if you only ever try vintage or only modern instruments you're missing out. In Juan's case, he tried a lot of instruments and has discovered a pattern in that he personally finds older guitars to have better tonal qualities for whatever reason, but we must remember that the back story to his point is that he has tried a lot of instruments to reach that decision. So if you're looking for a new instrument, get out there, try everything and see what your ears and hands tell you!
Happy hunting!

http://pedalsandeffects.com/comparing-vintage-basses-to-new-basses/

Don't look behind you!

Last Tuesday The Fierce & The Dead played a show at Westminster Kingsway College. Great show, great turnout, played lots of new stuff that people seemed to dig. As the show was in the college's theatre space this was the first time we were able to use large format projections. I knocked something together out of some crazy cult film loops and some images made for us by our friend and excellent illustrator Paul Hickman. In a million years I would never have guessed what a difference the projections would make. You could really sense that those in attendance became a lot more emotionally involved. Maybe because this band is instrumental it helped with having a focus point, who knows. This is something we're definitely investigating further!
Here's a picture. Looks good right?

Woop woop! Gig alert!

This is happening tomorrow night (May 21st) at Westminster Kingsway College Theatre, Grays Inn Road, WC1X 8RA. It's The Fierce & The Dead supported by the brilliant First. It's an early start, early finish show - doors at 6.30pm so come straight from work! And it'll all be over by 9pm so there's plenty of time to go to the pub and try and work out what you've just witnessed. Only a fiver in advance, £6 on the door. It's our last show for a while and we'll playing a lot of new stuff, really looking forward to it. Facebook Event Page. Tickets available here.

This week I have been mostly listening to....19/5/2013

Yeh, I know. I missed a couple of weeks. So sue me.

The Gibson Guitars You've Never Heard Of.

Pro Guitar shop have made another blog, this time about the more esoteric Gibson guitars. Not quite as obscure as the Fender ones. Would love to try out an original RD guitar.

The Fenders You've Never Heard Of | Pro Guitar Shop:

Gig alert!!!

I'm doing a show with The Fierce & The Dead on the 21st May. We're playing with a band called First. They're on first. I can see the whole Abbot & Costello sketch starting up! Anyways, here's the details - The Fierce & The Dead live at Westminster Kingsway College - May 21st

This week I have been mainly listening to...27/4/2013

Missed last week, but, y'know - like, whatever yeh.

The Fenders You've Never Heard Of.

This is pretty interesting. Like the look of the Electric XII
The Fenders You've Never Heard Of | Pro Guitar Shop:

Pharrell Williams interviews Henry Rollins.

Interesting stuff. Stories i've heard a million times, but always fun to hear again.

16 delay pedals in series.

Why not eh. Why not.

This week I have been mostly listening to...14/4/13

Went a bit of a stream of consciousness on this one. They all link up in a funny kind of a way:) I started the week with funk and ended with Sabbath. All makes perfect sense.

This week i've been mostly listening to…7/4/2013

Here's your weekly shot. Bob Mould's new album is good!!

Kev.

Another episode of 'Kev Wants Stuff!!!'.

I do like a nice Thunderbird, reversed or otherwise. Mike Lull makes good stuff. Pretty high price so all contributions are greatly received!

 

 

 

 

Mike Lull Announces Non-Reversed T-Bird Style NRT4 and NRT5 Basses:

This week i've been mostly listening to...30/3/2013

As always - what have you been listening to? Let me know.

Kev.

Bobby Conn

Gotta love Bobby Conn. If you haven't heard his stuff before then get with the programme!
In fact, do yourself a favour and listen to the album 'Golden Age'!



Here's the man in action from a recent show.

"

The Band

Just found this knocking arounbd on YouTube. Hot damn I love The Band. A really good example of ensemble playing. Everyone doing their thing but with focus on the song with no one person overstepping the mark. Listen and enjoy!

 

This Week I Have Been Mostly listening to.....23/3/13

Decided to put together a Spotify playlist of the weekly highlights of my listening habits. I might keep this up, or I might get lazy and sack it off:) If there's something you think I would dig then add a comment!!

So here is a selection of what I've been listening to.....

Open wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!

Hey all,

Recently i've been doing some of that there mixing for various people, and due to budget constraints i've had to work 'in the box' (that basically means it's all done within the computer), and found myself once more incredibly frustrated at the lack of width that ITB mixes have. Some of you people far cleverer than me may know the reason for this - but when Pro Tools is coded someone has to make a decision as to how the panning laws are used. Maybe it's just in my mind, but here's a test if you have access to a half sharp analogue desk - take a mono source, and pan the source 100% left (or right if you prefer), then pan the source in increments of 10% back to centre. Repeat the same test with the analogue desk and tell me what you hear. I hear that the analogue desk (I was using an SSL G Series something or other) does what you expect it to, Pro Tools does not. Pro Tools feels like it is making very little difference then will jump position. Very annoying. 

Basically this is a blog asking for someone to buy me an analogue studio:)

Kev. 

Stop the press!!

This just in - The Fierce & The Dead have signed to B.E.M. Records. I'm very pleased about this, it means we can concentrate on making the best music we possibly can. Here's the press release from B.E.M. 

https://www.facebook.com/fierceandthedead

Fierce And The Dead sign to Bad Elephant Music for 2nd Album

BEM is delighted to announce partnering with The Fierce And The Dead for the production, release and worldwide distribution of the band's second full-length album.

The Fierce And The Dead - guitarists Matt Stevens and Steve Cleaton, bassist and producer Kev Feazey and drummer Stuart Marshall - was originally born out of sonic experimentation when making Matt's second solo album, Ghost, and they've developed into one of the most original bands in the UK rock scene. Their unique brand of instrumental rock music, fusing rock, post-rock, punk and progressive elements, has made a big impression though one full-length album and two EPs, and their incendiary live performances, most recently as part of the Stabbing a Dead Horse tour of the UK with Knifeworld and Trojan Horse.

David Elliott, founder and CEO of Bad Elephant Music said: "We're proper made up to be working with The Fierce And The Dead. They're absolutely our kind of band, and lovely guys too. I'm looking forward to hearing what Matt, Kev, Stuart and Steve are going to produce for us, and of course it will be an absolute monster. Collaborating with a band of TFATD's calibre is a huge honour for us, and we welcome them with open arms to the BEM family."

Matt Stevens, on behalf of The Fierce And The Dead, said: "We are extremely pleased to partner with Bad Elephant on this album, they are true music lovers and believe in supporting the artist. This will allow us to make the music we want to make and have the support to help us gain a wider audience, without in anyway compromising our vision for our new album. And they like a good curry, which is nice."

The as yet untitled album is scheduled for release in the Autumn of 2013.

Good news I says.

Kev.

Shotgun Microphone. Literally.

Happened across these the other day. Microphones housed in old shotgun shells.

Erm, WTF? Could be fun? Here's the site - 12Guage Microphones.

 

Kev

TFATD live in Birmingham!

Yup, 

Tonight (Friday March 8th) The Fierce & The Dead are off to the Midlands - birthplace of 'Heavy As Fook' - to play a one off gig with the lovely Godsticks at a venue called The Asylum. Personally i'm really looking forward to it, we've got some new material to play as well. Not sure what time we're on so get there for doors opening at 7.30. And it's only a fiver! Got to the facebook event page for more info yeh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kev

Guitar pedals are fun.

You may or may not have noticed that i'm a big fan of guitar pedals. On the last The Fierce & The Dead tour our guitarist Steve was using one of these - the ZVex Box of Rock. In a nutshell, it sounds like an old Marshall being driven hard, and there's a clean boost thrown in as well. Proper good old fashioned grunt to it. We like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big fan of ZVex, they're good people to boot! I was lucky enough to own a Nano Amp many years ago as well. That was incredibly good fun to record with. Sounded huge, even though it's 0.5 watt.

So what are your favourite pedals people? I'm always looking for something fun to make noise with.

Kev.

The return of The Dame

So, here it is. Bowie's new album is available to stream from iTunes right now. It's officially available on March 11th, but go have a listen and let me know what you think. 

https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMultiRoom?cc=us&fcId=602817345&id=602823129

I'm selling a massive cymbal.

And you can buy it here if you want. Mega Bell !!!!!! 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290872871732

 

Reggie Watts at TED

I know i've posted up Reggie's stuff before, but this is just brilliant. Let your mind go with it!

Want Part 1

I could spend a lot of time with this bad boy. It comes from the madman at Dwarfcraft.

Long time, no blah blah blah.

Yep, i'm back. I'm sure you've all been terribly concerned in my lack of blogging, but fear not - the mack has returned, well for now at least. And if you're wondering where i've been i'll tell you - i've been busy!

I'll try and post some stuff up soon, but for now here's a quick plug for my adventures as a bass player in The Murder Barn and The Fierce & The Dead. On March 1st The Murder Barn will be supporting the magnificent Gallon Drunk at the Lexington in good 'ol London town. It will be one hell of a night so i'd advise buying tickets in advance, which you can get here.

And TFATD will be playing all over the shop in the next few months. Too many to list here so head over to the Shows page at the main website to see what's what.

As you can see, busy busy. 

Here's a video of Gallon Drunk to get you in the mood!

Speak soon yeh.