The sun is shining, another beautiful day in London town, so the mood is very upbeat! Going to be quick as right in the middle of recording. Like I said just getting through demos, not much to say other than we are getting through it. We have also started sending a few tracks out to potential collaborators with a lot of positive response, so all good there. As soon as I have information to divulge then I will let you know.
On a sadder note an old friend passed away recently, Shawn Mortenson RIP. Great artist and long term friend, sadly it seems that a lot of good people have been lost this year. Just wishing him luck on the other side!
Went to see Richard File’s first ‘We Fell to Earth’ gig on Tuesday night. From the pirate airwaves to the ICA! It was a great show and I wish him all the best with his album and future touring. It was also good to see a few old heads that I have not seen for a while.
Other things that have been going on - getting my head into Global mix album, starting next week. Looks like the track listing is coming together even though I have got to say clearing records in is a fucking pain in the arse! Considering that you can download pretty much anything for free these days, I find it amazing sometimes how complicated it is to clear records in this day and age. And I am still waiting to confirm the city, I will let you know as soon as it is confirmed.
Got a cool weekend ahead. Back to the old school tomorrow as I am playing Oxford. It will be good to catch up with some old faces. And then off to Napoli with 3D for a boy’s weekend of serious food and drinking!
Oh yeah and tonight off to see The Big Pink at the ICA with after party to follow. I am sure tomorrow will be a slow day!
Have a great weekend – until next time!
23 April 2009
17 April 2009
Bruno!
It’s all about the new trailer for ‘Bruno’, the new Sacha Baron Cohen film! It has had us in hysterics in the studio over the last few days and I cannot wait until it comes out in July. You’ve got to check it out.
I suppose the main news in my world is that I am going to do a new Global Underground mix CD. I am still to decide yet as to what city it is going to be from but as far as music goes the idea is that it is pretty eclectic, probably have a new UNKLE track exclusive, remixes and some re-edits. I am just trying to get the track listing into shape as we speak. I recently spent 10 days in Sri Lanka which gave me a lot of time to go through tons of new music in respect to the compilation.
What else?
Did a web chat with gig wise the other day which was fun. Thanks to all of those who got involved. Sorry if I didn’t answer everything but you can always hit me up again in the next few months when I do another chat.
I played Proud Gallery last night in Camden which was fun. I got to meet Mick Jones whilst playing Rock the Kasbah which was pretty cool. It was good to have a laugh after having to DJ last week with food poisoning which I thoroughly do not recommend – Oysters beware!
It has got me thinking about doing a regular night again in London. Something small, I quite like playing in Camden to a different kind of crowd and playing more eclectically. So me and Pablo are kicking some ideas around at the moment. Maybe trying to get him back into DJing again and us to do something together.
I’ve got a weekend off which I am looking forward to; I hope the weather holds out.
Have a good one!
I suppose the main news in my world is that I am going to do a new Global Underground mix CD. I am still to decide yet as to what city it is going to be from but as far as music goes the idea is that it is pretty eclectic, probably have a new UNKLE track exclusive, remixes and some re-edits. I am just trying to get the track listing into shape as we speak. I recently spent 10 days in Sri Lanka which gave me a lot of time to go through tons of new music in respect to the compilation.
What else?
Did a web chat with gig wise the other day which was fun. Thanks to all of those who got involved. Sorry if I didn’t answer everything but you can always hit me up again in the next few months when I do another chat.
I played Proud Gallery last night in Camden which was fun. I got to meet Mick Jones whilst playing Rock the Kasbah which was pretty cool. It was good to have a laugh after having to DJ last week with food poisoning which I thoroughly do not recommend – Oysters beware!
It has got me thinking about doing a regular night again in London. Something small, I quite like playing in Camden to a different kind of crowd and playing more eclectically. So me and Pablo are kicking some ideas around at the moment. Maybe trying to get him back into DJing again and us to do something together.
I’ve got a weekend off which I am looking forward to; I hope the weather holds out.
Have a good one!
13 April 2009
UNKLE Update
Hello. I have finally succumbed to the wonders of modern technology and thought it would be a good idea to start my first blog, especially as we are starting our new record. I thought it would be a good way to let you know what is going on in the wonderful and weird world of UNKLE.
We have been writing demos for the new record over the past four months, in our studio in London. Currently it has been myself, Pablo, James Griffith our bass player, and my brother Aidan so a pretty similar set up to how we did the End Titles record. We started the writing process off by recording some tracks in Henley in September last year whilst members of our band were still in the UK as an experiment to see how it would be to record in more of a band way than our typical previous sessions. Out of these sessions which consisted of myself, Pablo Clements, James Griffith, Joel Cadbury, Gavin Clark, Matt Pierce and Mike Lowry we came away with about nine tracks that definitely seemed like a new direction for potential new album material. We then came back to London and worked on the Redux record and finished touring etc and ended the year in a massive high doing the Heritage Orchestra show at Union Chapel – definitely my favourite show to date. The orchestra and visuals created by Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones were just fucking awesome! We just posted some video footage on UNKLE.com, check it out.
So we started the New Year by writing as many new tracks as possible not thinking too much other than what felt right at the time. Last week we sat down and found that we have about 30 ideas that are worth pursuing in one form or another. I think the plan for the next few weeks is to start whittling the ideas down, getting more definition out of the tracks so that we can start the lyric and collaborative process. We are still trying to work out who we are going to work with but I think we all agree that we want to work with a batch of new artists as well as new songs by myself, Gavin and Lisa Lindley Jones who joined us towards the end of our tour last year.
It feels really exciting as we have a blank canvas to work from. I think after doing all the different records from the past two years which range in so much different style it allows us in this record to be very free. The main thing that I really want to try and achieve in the music is something that feels more uplifting and optimistic than previous records. An eclectic psychedelic trip is what is going around my head. Demos are a real mixture of styles ranging from more electronic influences to heavy rock grooves. It is also important that we make something we can take out live.
So there you go, I will keep you posted on how we progress. Pablo has been going mad as usual buying shit loads of analogue gear so there are lots of new toys to play with in the studio which is adding a lot to the recording process, even though I feel sometimes we spend more time trying to work out how something works than actually recording, but hey it all adds to the fun!
Really happy how the Heaven video has been going down. Working with Ty and Spike on that has been awesome and the response out there is great. The recent remixes have seemed to make a positive impact in the clubs as well.
I’ve also started a column in URB Magazine in America. My first in a very long time, not since writing with Straight no Chaser and ID Magazine in the 90s, it’s called ‘Living In My Headphones’ which will come out quarterly over the next year.
So there you go, that’s what has been going on in my world. I will keep you posted as to my progress.
Thanks for all the support.
James.
We have been writing demos for the new record over the past four months, in our studio in London. Currently it has been myself, Pablo, James Griffith our bass player, and my brother Aidan so a pretty similar set up to how we did the End Titles record. We started the writing process off by recording some tracks in Henley in September last year whilst members of our band were still in the UK as an experiment to see how it would be to record in more of a band way than our typical previous sessions. Out of these sessions which consisted of myself, Pablo Clements, James Griffith, Joel Cadbury, Gavin Clark, Matt Pierce and Mike Lowry we came away with about nine tracks that definitely seemed like a new direction for potential new album material. We then came back to London and worked on the Redux record and finished touring etc and ended the year in a massive high doing the Heritage Orchestra show at Union Chapel – definitely my favourite show to date. The orchestra and visuals created by Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones were just fucking awesome! We just posted some video footage on UNKLE.com, check it out.
So we started the New Year by writing as many new tracks as possible not thinking too much other than what felt right at the time. Last week we sat down and found that we have about 30 ideas that are worth pursuing in one form or another. I think the plan for the next few weeks is to start whittling the ideas down, getting more definition out of the tracks so that we can start the lyric and collaborative process. We are still trying to work out who we are going to work with but I think we all agree that we want to work with a batch of new artists as well as new songs by myself, Gavin and Lisa Lindley Jones who joined us towards the end of our tour last year.
It feels really exciting as we have a blank canvas to work from. I think after doing all the different records from the past two years which range in so much different style it allows us in this record to be very free. The main thing that I really want to try and achieve in the music is something that feels more uplifting and optimistic than previous records. An eclectic psychedelic trip is what is going around my head. Demos are a real mixture of styles ranging from more electronic influences to heavy rock grooves. It is also important that we make something we can take out live.
So there you go, I will keep you posted on how we progress. Pablo has been going mad as usual buying shit loads of analogue gear so there are lots of new toys to play with in the studio which is adding a lot to the recording process, even though I feel sometimes we spend more time trying to work out how something works than actually recording, but hey it all adds to the fun!
Really happy how the Heaven video has been going down. Working with Ty and Spike on that has been awesome and the response out there is great. The recent remixes have seemed to make a positive impact in the clubs as well.
I’ve also started a column in URB Magazine in America. My first in a very long time, not since writing with Straight no Chaser and ID Magazine in the 90s, it’s called ‘Living In My Headphones’ which will come out quarterly over the next year.
So there you go, that’s what has been going on in my world. I will keep you posted as to my progress.
Thanks for all the support.
James.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
