Changes Afoot

I've been away for a week, removed from phones, TV, internet and the World in general. It's been bliss. I took along my guitar, uke and micro-studio, but neither wrote nor recorded anything new. Just doodled. Sometimes that's just what is needed.

You may have noticed a couple of changes here. Firstly to the look and layout of the blog. I've moved over to the newer Blogger templates which supposedly offer more flexibility and nifty add-ons, taking the opportunity to make the blog fit in with the Lunacy Board site, thanks to the colourful header image provided by my daughter (she did this when she was just five).

You'll find a new section titled 'Common Topics' to the right hand side - this will let you look at all posts dealing with certain topics, e.g. click on 'Deserters' to see posts relating to the Deserters in some way, or for more detail about the steps leading up to the first Lunacy Board album, click on 'Eponymous Debut'. It's also a quick way to pick out all the posts with links to downloadable music. Hopefully it will make this blog easier to navigate around. You'll find these 'labels' at the bottom of each post as well, so you can skip between related posts quite quickly.

On the subject of blogs, when I first started this blog I simultaneously started a couple of others with the same content. The idea being to see which one generated most interest, was easiest to use and read. Blogger won. The others have not been updated for a couple of months now, and most likely won't be again. It's a pain in the neck to copy & paste all the details between them, but more importantly I don't think it's a great idea to have several copies floating around the web - hopefully anybody following the others will pick up from here, which will be the definitive place for my waffle outside the Lunacy Board and Deserters sites.

Lick of Paint

In preparation for finally getting this album out, I've given The Lunacy Board website a bit of a makeover. It's not quite as haphazard as it once was, and should be a bit easier to find your way about.

No update on finished base tracks, as I ended up working on three at once, two of which are our longest songs, so are taking a while. The other day I spent a lot of time on the introduction to 'Fairytale Propaganda', which builds up gradually from a quiet and gentle start to a full-blown rocker. When I returned to work on it at the weekend I realised that it was just too ornate and over-orchestrated, so it will need to be stripped back a fair bit.

'The Winning Smile' also had to be changed, as I had set it up with a simple piano backing, but it just didn't sound as good as it had done previously, so it now has a gentle guitar backing to start it off, but is still in the early phase of construction, so will also be getting some bass and strings.

'Performance Evolution' is our big concept number in about five sections which vary in style from ethereal dream-like harps and strings via neanderthal punk waltz and sugary pop to aggressive guitar serialism. Needless to say, this is taking a while to come together, though all the basics are there - it's really only needing drums, vocals and lead guitar parts added. More on this when it's done.

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Tags: The Lunacy Board, Quintilis, Fairytale, Propaganda, Winning, Smile, Performance, Evolution, Evaluation, website, design

The New Yobstick

At last, I finally got around to finishing the new yobstick. It's quite a departure from previous efforts - lots of natural wood and more emphasis on playability instead of durability. I've only played it for a short time tonight, but it feels great and sounds lovely (far better than a stick with a welly at one end and a load of bottle tops at the other should do!)

I'll stick some audio clips up once I've worked out how to mic the damn thing up. Imagine a drum kit that moves... I may need to get contact mics for it to work, but it is in effect three linked sound sources, so a single mic won't do it justice, and certainly wouldn't make it easy to be heard over electric instruments.

This picture of it makes it look somewhat scrawny, but looks aren't everything. I've set out the process I used to put it together over on the Deserters' page, under Instrumentography, so you can get a flavour for what is required to build one, and find out really interesting facts like "who makes the best bottletops for a yobstick?"

I've also been experimenting with some software called "SooperLooper", which turns a standard Linux PC into a long controllable delay loop. I've worked out how to get some control over it with my guitar effects pedal, to the extent of being able to play a series of chords, then bass, then solo over the top. Once I'm more familiar with it I'm hoping to be able to set up a rhythm with the yobstick and guitar, then play theremin over the top. Early days, but if I can get it working together and hit the timing spot on, then it could sound pretty good.

Festive Goodies

Back in the mists of time (1985) the Deserters produced a short run of magazines for those following our music at the time. They featured interviews with members of the band, articles about the music and anything else that happened to be of interest at the time. I've recently come across scans of them and for your pleasure they are now available for download from the Deserters site at www.the-deserters.co.uk. Some of the references may be a bit obscure, but reading through the biography page first should be all that's necessary to acquaint you with the players. Some of the humour is also firmly on the juvenile side, mostly influenced by "Monty Python" and "The Young Ones", but there are some gems in there, too. So cast your mind back to the mid 80's and enjoy a trip through Deserters' history...

I haven't forgotten about the new track - watch this space over the next few days. I'm working on the 3rd (and hopefully final) mix at the moment.

Welcome Mr. Wheezy

Since the days of the Green Shed Studios and the big Farfisa organ we had there, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the sound of the organ. Nothing else sounds like a proper pipe organ being played well in a cathedral and echoing round the space, filling the audio spectrum with trouser-flapping bass and angelic overtones. And the latest addition to my sonic arsenal fits the bill - it sounds nothing like that, but perhaps a bit more like an asthmatic monk playing an accordion in a public toilet.

Introducing the J. Busilacchio electric reed organ - it's a keyboard in a suitcase, includes 4 legs which screw in to the bottom and an on/off switch. Turn it on and a fan starts pumping a cool breeze across your fingers and you're ready to go. It has a great sound - effectively it's a harmonium without the bellows, or a horizonal accordion. The air gets pumped over metal reeds which results in a rich sound a bit like a pipe organ with a bad cold - not as bold or clear, but with a dignified, if slightly dishevelled, air. It's defintely more Ivor Cutler than Van der Graaf Generator, but that's certainly no bad thing. It sits quite well with theremin, so I may create something to feature the two together.

There's really not a lot of information available about these - they do crop up fairly regularly in online auctions, along with similar items by other manufacturers. I've seen them described as dating from the 40's, which I find a little hard to believe, as they have more of a 60's feel to them. They're also known as Chord Organs, due to the panel of accordion-like chord buttons to the left of the keyboard, though this tends to lump them in with some pretty ugly-looking plastic things with plastic reeds which really are not in the same league. If anyone has more information about the history of these critters, let me know.

UPDATE

I've done some more digging around, and discovered various different versions of the organ. I've put details on a new page on the Deserters site, here.

Note to eBay sellers: You are welcome to use the details about Busilacchio/Lorenzo organs from this page on the condition that you include a link to this page (http://www.the-deserters.co.uk/inst_organs.html) on your listing so that your potential buyers have access to all the information.

The Green Shed Googlewhack

Every so often I'll check to see how people are arriving at the blog or the main Deserters site. There's usually a fair mix between people looking for the band specifically and 'accidental' visits by people looking for information on military desertion or fire engines. Every so often there's a little gem that makes me smile - somebody does a search for 'what does eximious mean?', for example. The latest was for 'greenshed, progressive rock' from Yahoo japan.

When I did a search on this myself, this blog was the only entry (a Googlewhack, I believe?), so I dug around for anything else about 'green shed' that could be remotely related to progressive rock. Not a thing could I find. So the question is; is there somebody over in Japan creating prog rock under the name 'Greenshed', or was this a return visitor to the site who's enduring image of the band is of us recording in a green shed? Who knows (or cares)?

Summery Summary

The sun is out here and I've got 10 minutes to spare, so I've tidied up the Deserters front page, removing all the old 'Track of the Week' entries and replacing them with a single list of links to the files and links to each blog entry so you can read all about them.

So, if you've enjoyed a track or two, they're now all handy for downloading in a thrice for the full Deserters experience. What are you waiting for?

Your Place or MySpace?

Seems the place to be these days is over at MySpace.com. Or so I'm told.

Whilst I don't really want to end up being scattered all over the place when it comes to providing a web presence for the Deserters and my music, it also seems daft to miss out on something potentially useful. I do find it a bit cluttered in places, but if you don't like it just stick here and ignore it... You won't miss anything important!

So if you feel the need to live the MySpace dream, you'll find me there too, at www.myspace.com/mickbordet. Don't expect to see anything Earth-shattering that you haven't already found on the blog or Deserters sites, but it does offer the following:-

• The latest 4 'Songs of the Week' as streamed mp3s


• Links to other bands/musicians with similar interests/influences/etc.


• A blog with slightly different content and some links to other interesting music

Deserted Refurb

I've given the Deserters' website a bit of a make-over, as it was looking pretty sad. It's still not perfect, and there are various bits of extra info to be added like music clips, lyrics and family tree. Those won't be added until November, but I think the site's looking much more readable now and I've added some more photos which I came across.

Website Improvements

I've upgraded my website hosting recently, so Deserted, the website at www.the-deserters.co.uk, will be getting a bit of an overhaul soon.

I now have more server space and hope to fill it with some sound clips and other goodies...