The World According To Magazine Gap

Winter Reflections

2011-12-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Well, we’re just counting down the days to Christmas now and it seems timely to wrap up the year with an update of the last couple of months (picking up the trail from the previous blog of 3 October).

Launch of Silver Lining EP / BBC Radio Interview – 11 October

On 11 October, we launched the EP on iTunes and other digital stores worldwide. The response from our friends at home and internationally has been just wonderful, and we are grateful for those who bought a copy. The main links, for those yet to download, are:

iTunes / Amazon / Vibedeck

All the songs can be heard in their entirety on our website (but it’s more fun to own them!): PREVIEW MUSIC

On the same day we spent the morning in rehearsal studios in London preparing for our show in Norwich that weekend. We then made our way to Western House, Radio 2’s studios in Central London (near Oxford Circus), to link up with BBC Radio Norfolk for a live interview; our friend Stephen Bumfrey was on holiday that week, and in his place was BBC Suffolk broadcaster James Hazell.

You can hear that interview here: BBC Radio Norfolk 11/10/11

Norwich Arts Centre – 15 October

Having performed in and around Norwich during the previous 12 months at The Brickmakers, Play Fest and Project, it was nice to make our fourth appearance with a show at the Norwich Arts Centre. Located in the arty part of town (known as “alternative Norwich”), the venue is actually a converted church – formerly St Swithin – and is one of five redundant mediaeval churches that sit 500m apart along St Benedict's Street. The history of the place, the architecture and the high ceiling helps make for a special setting.

Support came from our friends Killamonjambo, a great locally-based funk-pop band, who got the crowd very warmed up from dancing along to the party atmosphere. For a change, we decided to start with “Swansong”, which we’ve not done since our very first show (at The Mint in Los Angeles), but which worked wonderfully. We went on to perform 15 songs in total, including a brand new song called “Dancing In Quicksand”, which fortunately got a great reception!

What’s Next – Music Video

On 1 November, after a couple of months of careful editing and fine-tuning (by director Tamas Mesmer and editor Anna Meller), we were excited to unveil our first location-style music video. What we couldn't have predicted was the incredible response on YouTube. In 24 hours it was the #4 most discussed music video in the UK and #61 globally for that day! It was also one of the most Top Rated and Top Favourited. The next day it won 7 ‘YT Honours’, including the #44 most discussed music video globally and #59 most discussed of any video in the UK. The number of comments very quickly surpassed our previous most popular video (“In Two Minds – Live at Montreux”), and within two weeks it was in the YouTube charts as one of the most discussed music videos of the past month, sitting just ahead of new releases by Kasabian, The Arctic Monkeys and James Blunt!

Remarkably, in just over two weeks, we had received superlative comments from over 1,000 different people. At the same time, we’d had over 800 ‘likes’ (to just 13 ‘dislikes’), a 98.4% approval rating, which is pretty cool; that has since risen (as of today) to 1,046 likes, versus 15 dislikes (98.6% approval). Meanwhile, our subscriber numbers have shot up by an additional 2,000 in the last two months (now totalling over 12,000).

We are so grateful for the response and can’t thank enough those who show us such support. If you want reminding, here is the link again:

"What's Next?" - View on YouTube

The Portland Arms, Cambridge – 3 November

Following our appearance on Sue Marchant’s show on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire in September, it was nice to play our first show in the great university city. We were invited in reciprocation by Killamonjambo to open for their headline set, and were pleased to take up the opportunity. The Portland Arms is a very well-known live music venue in town, although surprisingly intimate to say the least! It was like an attended rehearsal for us, and we had fun taking requests from the audience and making up the set on the fly!

The Camden Barfly, London – 12 November

This is an iconic venue in Camden, and a rite-of-passage for all UK bands, especially those based in London. You name it – Coldplay, Muse, Kasabian, Adele – have all graced that stage on their way up, and it was nice for us to perform there, making our debut with a headline show that Saturday night. It’s a small venue, but with a fantastic stage, sound system and atmosphere. It was particularly nice to meet lots of YouTube friends that we’d made during the last year. Oddly, it turned out to be our only show in London in 2011; we’ll do more next year for sure.

Our set was also notable for being the first time we performed “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman. Having long had my vocals compared to hers (though people keep telling me that as if it’s the first time I’d have heard it!), it was a song that I decided would embrace that fact whilst at the same time showing how with my voice and the music of Magazine Gap we would still make it our own. It is the only third cover song we’ve ever included in our set (and the first since our off-the-cuff version of “Knocking On Heaven’s Door” in February).

Annual Round-Up

It’s been a really good year. The absolute highlight was undoubtedly making our debut at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival with a 90 mins show (of 17 all-original songs) in front of 2,000 people.

Other highlights would include: our 2 hour show at The Stables (Milton Keynes) in January; getting across to Ireland for the first time in February; completing the 12-date UK tour in Bristol with a great night; making our first UK festival appearance at Play Fest in May; the success of the four MJF performance videos in July & August; talking and performing on BBC Radio in August & September; launching the EP in October; the success of “What’s Next” video in November; and unveiling three brand new songs in concert (“Ran For Cover”, “In Two Minds” & “Dancing In Quicksand”) along the way.

Looking Ahead

We’re currently working on the plan for 2012, which is exciting.

We’ve enjoyed some downtime in the last few weeks by working on yet more new material to be unveiled next year, as well as planning a series of new music videos for the spring. We can’t wait to get back on the road again with more shows at bigger events and in new places, making lots of new friends. As an independent band, the support from all our friends is gratefully received and hopefully reciprocated with quality songs and performances...

Have a great Christmas & New Year everyone, and look forward to seeing you in 2012!

James

Autumn Reflections

2011-10-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a good summer. We’ve been incredibly busy over the last few months and as ever I choose a convenient moment to summarise our activities (specifically the 11 weeks since the last blog of 18 July).

Montreux Jazz Festival – Performance Videos

In Two Minds

We decided to release 4 videos in a series from the show (out of the 17 songs performed), with the first one uploaded on 25 July, just two and a half weeks after the event. “In Two Minds” is a brand new song and that was its debut live performance. It is also the first song in fact that all four of us co-wrote together, which we did during the previous few months specifically in time for the show - we had hit upon an idea in rehearsal for a type of song that we didn’t have in our repertoire and which we felt would nicely complement the set.

Although it was the first new video we had uploaded to YouTube since “The Promised Land – Live at The Stables” on 15 February, and therefore the first new content in almost six months, the reaction was unexpected and unprecedented. In under a week it had received most than 625 superlative comments and 500 ‘likes’, and achieved YouTube honours of being the #7 most discussed and #27 most liked UK music video of the past week. It would continue to stay in various rankings for some time and currently has over 820 comments and 650 likes.

Inside The Bubble

The second in the series was released one week later (on 1 August). "Inside The Bubble" has been a mainstay of our shows to date; in fact we have performed it live more than any other song. We had already uploaded to YouTube both the original video (featuring the album track) and the live performance from our show at The 100 Club in April last year (split into Part One & Part Two because it ran for over 12 minutes!). We had also previously released the audio track of our performance of it in Chicago in March 2010 (on SoundCloud). But we thought it would be interesting to show how it had developed through all those shows.

So, whilst not a new track, we were delighted that it still received a flood of comments – within 24 hours it was the #5 most discussed UK music video and #92 globally! It has now received over 200 comments.

Silver Lining

This time we left an interval of two and half weeks before unveiling the next video (on 18 August). The original video, with footage shot during our recording of the song last year at Avatar Studios in New York, was the featured video on our channel for some time, and it is probably our most popular song on YouTube; certainly it had received the most attention until “In Two Minds” was released (with over 1,200 'likes'). It was therefore great to release the live version by way of contrast and see what people thought.

It was extremely gratifying, and indeed overwhelming, to get the feedback we did – our friends on YouTube really are the best! Within 5 days we had received almost 400 comments, winning YT honours of #23 most discussed and #51 top rated UK music video of the past week. At the same time, just four weeks on, “In Two Minds” was #68 most discussed UK music video of the past month.

Swansong & Something To Be Said

On 25 August, in gratitude to our friends from all the comments, we made available as a free download two other songs from the concert. You can still find them here: http://www.magazinegap.com/music

More Alive

The fourth and final video from the series went up on 2 September. We had already uploaded our first ever performance of “More Alive”, which we performed at The 100 Club in April 2010, so again it was not a new song. But it was a song that had grown through live performances and we had seen the connection people made with it everywhere we played. It was therefore chosen as the finale for our concert at Montreux. So at 10:25pm with the audience already having danced along to the third part of “Senorita, I See You”, which had preceded it, we began our last song. By now the park was full to capacity and all 2,000 seemed to react to the song. Hopefully the video captured some of that atmosphere, which certainly energised us! Within a week the video was the #30 most discussed UK music video of the past week and to date it has gained over 375 comments.

By 18 September (just under 8 weeks since the release of the first video in the series) we had received a total of 1,860 comments across all four videos from, we determined, over 1,000 different people. That was quite astonishing to us, and we remain so grateful to every single person who posted such generous and heart-warming comments. Thank you.

BBC Radio Norfolk – Interview & Live Session (5 August)

Returning to the chronology, on Friday 5 August we headed up to Norwich to be interviewed by Stephen Bumfrey on Norfolk’s top entertainment show, as well as play live in the studio. It worked out really well despite being somewhat chaotic! Alex and I got caught in traffic so were pulling into the city centre when we heard Cookie already talking on the radio. 5 minutes later we drove into the car park whilst Stephen was playing “Light & Shade” from the album. He interviewed Tim and then played “Our Last Stand” whilst Alex and I made our way up (with acoustic guitar & piano) into the studio, through the maze of back doors and secret alleyways!

Almost immediately Alex and I were talking on air, and when Stephen suddenly asked if we had a 3 minute song to fill the space before the travel, there was a pregnant pause whilst I quickly thought through our repertoire and then started “Something To Be Said”. Unfortunately we hadn’t by then got the piano amplified so Alex had to sit that one out! Fortunately it was all sorted for the next track, “Swansong”. We had no idea how many songs Stephen was going to ask us to play, nor did we agree beforehand what songs to do. Indeed, we’ve never rehearsed an ‘unplugged’ version of the songs, and hadn’t seen each other since we got back from Switzerland a few weeks before. But we know each other so well now that a lot of silent looks and nods were sufficient to adapt to the environment. We went onto perform two more songs, “Silver Lining” and “Slipstream”.

You can hear all of the interview & live songs edited together here:

http://soundcloud.com/magazinegap/bbc-radio-norfolk-interview

It worked out well – in fact, given the overall sound created in a small talk radio studio, the BBC Radio Norfolk editor David Clayton was surprised that what he could hear in his office was a live band playing so came down to watch. Stephen later said that David only ever came down to fire people and has never appeared outside the window during his show before, so he was only moderately alarmed at first!

“What’s Next?” – Music Video

The following week, on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 August, we filmed our first location music video, directed by Hungarian filmmaker Tamas Mesmer. We started in London, around Liverpool Street station, moving east into the back streets of Shoreditch. Then we drove out to the country, near where my mother lives outside of Oxford. Close to midnight we shot some night-time footage of us performing, illuminated only by the lights of two cars. The next morning, we headed out into the Oxfordshire countryside to shoot us playing among the wheat and barley fields. The concept of the video is to contrast the city with the country life, showing an escape from the conformity of one existence with the freedom of the other. With so much footage, we are currently in editing mode and aim to release it later in the month.

Project – Norwich (31 August)

Almost exactly 12 months since we opened our 2010 UK tour at The Brickmakers in Norwich (on 7 September), we returned to the city for a show at Project (although Play Fest, which we played in May, was actually located 20 miles from Norwich). With Tim hailing from Norwich, and gathering great support from the local media, it has become our regional home with plans to do more in the city going forward. The show at Project was essentially a warm-up gig to follow on from the radio interview a few weeks before and by way of promoting our headline show at the Norwich Arts Centre on 15 October.

It was also an opportunity to play around with the order of songs. We played six – What’s Next? / The Promised Land / Couldn’t Make It Up (If You Tried) / Senorita, I See You / More Alive / Inside The Bubble.

Our planned show at The Underworld in Camden on 7 September was unfortunately cancelled due to the promoter's own business difficulties. Therefore our only London show of the year will be at The Barfly in November.

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire – Interview & Live Session (23 September)

On Friday, 23 September, we headed up to Cambridge to appear on Sue Marchant’s BIG NIGHT IN. The show is simulcast each night across five BBC regional stations covering seven counties: Radio Norfolk / Suffolk / Essex as well as Three Counties Radio (Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire). We set up our equipment much as we had in Norwich last month and between 9:15 and 9:35 we were interviewed as well as performed “Slipstream” and “Silver Lining”.

Sue is a great character, and we had a lot of fun in her studio. She definitely threw some curve ball questions (“If Magazine Gap was a pizza topping what would it consist of?”) but that only made for a more entertaining show! We also announced our first ever show in Cambridge, on Thursday 3 November at The Portland Arms.

You can hear all of the interview & live songs edited together here:

http://soundcloud.com/magazinegap/bbc-radio-cambridgeshire

Silver Lining EP

This month we will be releasing the Silver Lining EP on iTunes! More to be revealed in the next 10 days...

Looking Ahead

Over the next few months we have 3 shows (Norwich, Cambridge, London), some more radio interviews, the EP launch, the unveiling of the "What's Next?" music video and much more that we can't reveal quite yet. As ever, thank you so much for all your support.

James

Summer Reflections

2011-07-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Well, it’s been quite an exciting few months since the last update at the end of March, as you’ll know from various Facebook postings for those keeping track. As ever, from time-to-time we consolidate our news into a blog and it’s that time again...

Interviews

There were three interviews with me which were published around the same time in early May. We reproduced in the previous blog, so please have a look at that if you haven’t already, to gain more insight into what we’re all about.

Play Fest, Norfolk – 29 May 2011

Having ended our extended UK & Ireland Tour at the end of February, we had three months off before returning to the stage for the festival season. We had two ‘warm-up’ shows in the UK ahead of Montreux, and it was fitting perhaps that our first stop, a brand new festival in Norfolk, took us back to where we had started our tour last September. The weather was perfect as we played seven songs for our half-hour set in a mid-afternoon slot; the atmosphere was great, and the sound on the Main Stage was good.

Pritchattsbury Festival, Birmingham – 12 June 2011

Two weeks later, we returned to Britain’s Second City for a performance at the University of Birmingham for this renowned outdoor festival which helps students celebrate the end of year exams. This time the rain belted down in monsoon fashion for most of the day, though all but held off for our 50mins / 10-song set at 9pm. It was great to see the students in high spirits and enjoying our show, which was slightly heavier in sound than usual but no less fun!

Myspace – 16 June 2011

We started our Myspace page on 16 June 2009 (as we also did our YouTube channel), and that is essentially the date we consider the official launch point of “Magazine Gap”, though we’d already recorded five songs for the “Light & Shade” album and were about to head to the US with another five songs in pre-production. By coincidence, exactly two years later we welcomed our 200,000th friend to our page. Given the ups & downs that Myspace has suffered in that time (with lots of people closing their accounts), it was encouraging that we had continued to build our profile and make new acquaintances.

Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland – 8 July 2011

We were absolutely delighted back in February to have been invited to play the 45th Annual Montreux Jazz Festival. Set on the shores of Lake Geneva, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and pulling in some 230,000 people over its 16 days, it is the second largest annual music festival in the world (after, somewhat confusingly, the Montreal International Jazz Festival in Canada). It is also one of the most prestigious in continuing to attract the biggest names in music across a range of genres; this year alone that list includes Paul Simon, Sting, BB King, Carlos Santana, George Benson, Bootsy Collins, Liza Minnelli, Seal, Herbie Hancock, Natalie Cole & Deep Purple (whose famous song “Smoke on The Water” references the festival and its founder Claude Nobs), as well as newer acts like Arcade Fire, Paolo Nutini & Ziggy Marley. Although jazz remains an important part of the festival, it has included an eclectic mix ever since the 1970s. Earlier this year it was awarded the “Best Festival In The World” at the International Live Music Conference in London.

I first attended the Montreux Jazz Festival on 8 July 2002, when I saw Paul Simon perform at the Auditorium Stravinski, inside the Music & Convention Centre. Just in front of that building is Parc Vernex, in which the outdoor Music-in-the-Park stage is built, which I noted at the time and thought it would be a great place to play one day. It was therefore a thrill to do so and to work out it was exactly 9 years later to the day. Paul Simon was back there again the week after we were there.

With a capacity crowd of 2,000 people, the audience were buzzing – looking out we could see the same broad demographic we have encountered online manifest itself in reality. We had young kids to retirees, and everyone in between dancing and cheering along with great enthusiasm. After all our hard work it was extremely gratifying. We performed 17 songs over 90 minutes, including a brand new song we wrote in time for the festival called “In Two Minds”. We played all 12 songs from the “Light & Shade” album, plus 3 from the “No Coincidence” album including the title track which we’ve never actually performed before. Another new song, “Ran For Cover”, which we debuted earlier in the year was also included in the set.

The weather was perfect in the end (having been tentative until the hour approached!); we started at 9pm with the sun setting and in our eyes (hence the shades) and played into the darkness by the end at 10:30pm. With Lake Geneva just to the left, and the hills rising sharply on both sides, there can’t be many more places as beautiful as this to perform.

The stage set up and the sound engineering were absolutely first-class, as you might expect, but that gave our performance the extra edge to give of our best and we had such a wonderful time performing there. Our thanks to Claudia Regolatti, who booked us, and the great crew who made us feel so welcome.

You can hear an interview we gave just before taking to the stage here:

podcast.frequencebanane.ch/files/1310222128_interview%20magazine%20gap.mp3

The concert was filmed and we are currently working on the footage, and should have something on YouTube shortly.

Looking ahead

We’re now working on the general strategy for the next several months, so stay tuned for more exciting developments. Thanks for all your support and coming with us on this journey – without you, we wouldn’t feel so encouraged to power forward...

James

Interviews with James Keen

2011-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

James has given a few interviews recently, and we've had permission to reproduce two of them here:

http://www.sonicshocks.com/MAGAZINE-GAP-interview.php

MAGAZINE GAP - John Cascio couldn't wait to find out more about this brilliant hot new band, so we got frontman James Keen to answer all his questions

What brought you guys together? With such varying styles it seems a bit odd that the four of you (formerly 5) would mesh in the way you did.

Yes, and no. The truth is that the walls between genres have been knocked down for many years, and today more than ever people's tastes are extremely broad and, honestly, cosmopolitan. The advance of the internet has of course made the world smaller and further allowed access to all sorts of music to be enjoyed by people from right around the world. That richness is something to be embraced, and where that can be harnessed in some way and to some degree, then it is greatly rewarding and satisfying. With regards our band, we all come from different natural musical inclinations, but share a love of musical exploration. That openness to experimentation and finding common ground between musical instincts has been the cornerstone of the band’s ethos. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of healthy creative tension as we try to find that common ground, but out of a potential cacophony comes something all the more exquisite!

We first explored this on my debut album, “No Coincidence”, which Cookie produced and played on (drums), as well as featuring Tim (bass guitar) and my brother Jason (lead guitar). That album laid the foundations of what became Magazine Gap, allowing us to continue to develop as artists. Cookie had shared a stage with Alex (keys) on one occasion for a session performance and saw something in his playing and responsiveness that he wanted to try with the band, so he was invited to join us for some live shows. The collective sound that subsequently developed was clearly much more that of a band than a singer/songwriter plus a backing group, and we consolidated our efforts into "Magazine Gap".

I noticed that the album "Light & Shade" was recorded at various studios across the UK and US, how did that work? Was it difficult?

It was a natural extension of the album being a journey, with each song having its own direction or leaning, that we should also record in different places. We wanted to take the songs “on the road” and it made sense to record whilst out on tour. We did a lot of pre-production beforehand, but still left a lot open to be determined whilst in the studio. It was tiring for sure, but wasn’t especially difficult, despite limiting ourselves to a matter of hours in each place; it helps having an incredible producer in Cookie who knows exactly what he’s after. The way we work is to record drums & bass together, with a guide vocal and often a guide keyboard to support the performance. We then pick the best take (out of between 4-7 usually), then add vocals, guitars and piano on top. We bring all the parts back to London and edit together (with additional tracking by brass, strings, percussion), but the performance and vibe on the track was very much influenced by being in those places, working with those great engineers in such varied recording studios. We can’t now imagine “The Promised Land” being recorded other than in New Orleans, or “Silver Lining” in New York, or “Inside The Bubble” in Los Angeles or “What’s Next?” in Chicago, and so on. The engineers seemed genuinely surprised at how quickly and effectively we worked, but it seemed straightforward to us.

It was stressful, of course, but also wonderfully focused. We recorded the title track in Houston on a Monday evening, flew to LA the next day and recorded “Swansong” in Hollywood that afternoon, went to Padadena to record “Inside The Bubble” & “Something To Be Said” on the Wednesday before heading to The Mint for a showcase performance later that night, then flew to New Orleans for a solo show on Thursday, then the full band's show on the Saturday in the French Quarter and finished up by recording “The Promised Land” in the 9th Ward (Bywater) on the Sunday. That was a busy week!

I'm from the States, I've been all over and to many different studios and venues, how did you find touring the US to be?

We absolutely loved touring across America on both occasions we’ve been across to date, and the response of the audiences has been extremely gratifying, especially in different places. We were eager to traverse the whole country and play in different areas to see whether the receptivity was greatest in certain places. We therefore set about taking in the four biggest US cities, which are also the largest in the four US geographic regions (Northeast, Midwest, South, West). We figured that how people might respond on the East Coast (New York, Cape May), might be different to the Gulf Coast (Houston & New Orleans) or the West Coast (Los Angeles). What we have found, however, is that there has been no difference! That in turn reflects the broader palette of music lovers generally. Plus, even more importantly, has been people tell us that we have something fresh even to bring to the US, as opposed to them saying “Yeah but there are so many bands like you around”... That hugely positive reaction has been interesting, and of course really encouraging.

What was the goal for the album? I read on your website that it represented a journey, do you feel like that is what you achieved?

The album is a representation of our carefully developed sound and style. In this day-and-age you cannot wait for the music industry to ‘get it’ and finance recordings, and in any case you might lose much of your artistic integrity, so we set about creating a product that showed the vision of what we’re about. It was a journey for sure. We covered almost 25,000 miles to record the album! During the recording process and post-completion, we have wanted to promote our songs as much as possible, both on the road and online, to test the water. With regards social networks, our YouTube channel in particular has been really interesting. We’ve received many thousands of comments, and we always make a point of writing a note of thanks back to them. In doing so, we find out more about them – age, location, musical tastes etc – and what’s been incredibly revealing is that we’ve got fans that range from 12 years old through to retirees, and in countries right around the globe; in particular, USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Poland, Russia, The Philippines, Japan, and Australia. And some have inclinations that you wouldn’t expect, such as metal and hip-hop! So we cannot be too specific about our typical demographic, other than those who like what's meant by the original meaning of "popular music"!! But I would also say that we are still on the journey.

The vocals are sublime. I'm sure you read my review, did I hit the nail on the head as far as my idea of influences goes? If not which artist(s) really inspired you?

Thank you very much! You mentioned Rob Thomas, who I admire as a singer and songwriter, and think Maroon 5 are great, but wouldn’t say they were major influences. Tracy Chapman definitely is. Ever since I was about 18, my vocals have been compared to hers more than anyone else’s. I used to find that annoying because it’s not an affectation, but I’ve long been a huge fan of her folk-rock style as well as her voice; when I first saw her in concert in London I thought if I sound anything like her I’m really okay with that! The artist that has most inspired me is Paul Simon. His “Graceland” album had a profound effect on me – he managed to combine an overlying pop/folk vocal and lyrical content with a fusion of sounds that was distinct, powerful and unique. He’s long been a musical adventurer of course, even back in S&G days. The other two artists that really shaped my own writing are Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Again, they have also sustained a career by moving through genres. They are among the greatest pioneers in music, and most of the other artists I admire were in turn following in their footsteps. More recently, the artist that has most captured my attention is Dave Matthews, and of course the band – their very successful fusion spurs us on!

I must say that the sound stands out in a crowd, are there any areas of your music you may change or will you stay solely with this style?

Again, thank you, we appreciate that. I would say that developing 'the sound of Magazine Gap' has been the main objective to date, even if that consists of various styles within it. It is always important to have a thread that is distinctive but there are so many areas we’ve yet to explore, and our journey will continue and I hope our audience will enjoy the on-going development. Above that, our live shows always take our recorded, more radio-friendly studio versions, to another level again. I think seeing us live is the best way to really understand what we’re about.

What can we expect next from Magazine Gap?

A lot...!

http://www.songsalive.org/interviews?mode=PostView&bmi=582497

Interview with Songsalive! member James Keen about his band, Magazine Gap

Recently, we caught up with one of our favorite European Songsalive! members, James Keen, as he got us up to date on his band Magazine Gap and their worldwide touring and new album:

1. Where are you from, originally and what brought you to your current city London?

You wouldn't know it from my accent, but I was actually born in Australia to an Aussie mum and an English father. I initially grew up in Hong Kong, but went to school and university in London, and have been here ever since.

2. What style of music would you say you do?

We call it "eclectic pop/rock", because it combines a range of styles including: pop, rock, folk, funk, blues, jazz, R&B, soul, country, Latin, African...

3. What do you enjoy best - songwriting or performing and why?

Performing. Songwriting is hard work, a fulfilling but time-consuming process to develop an idea into a fully fledged song. Excitement comes from the moments of inspiration when you hit on something, usually out of nowhere, but is sporadic in the labour of love that is the creation process. It's also something I do on my own. Performing, on the other hand, involves playing with your friends, sharing the spotlight with great musicians, and drawing on the crowd's reaction to shape the show; it's unpredictable and of course requires a lot of concentration but is extremely fun and immediately rewarding.

4. Who are your musical influences?

Mainly Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Sting.

5. Describe your favorite song you have written and why is it so special to you

"The Promised Land". It was my first attempt at telling a story, of creating characters and a different world. I'd never been to New Orleans, where it is set, until the very week we actually went there to perform, and it was an unexpected thrill to record the song there. Made a special song to me all the more special. It's the first song on the new album.

6. What are your goals for the next 5 years musically speaking?

To continue to develop as a recording artist, to try new sounds, and record in studios around the world. Would like the music to connect to more people as well, of course!

7. Tell us about your recordings and what's in store next.

Because our music is something of a journey, it made sense for us to record in different places at different times. Some of the songs on the "Light & Shade" album were recorded, mixed and mastered before others were even written. It took 18 months in total from start to finish. Most of us worked together on my debut album, "No Coincidence", which was recorded and mixed in the same studio in London. With that experience, we were confident about new working environments. We ended up using 12 different studios for the "Light & Shade" album –

In London:
The Dairy Studios
Soho Recording Studios
Beethoven Street Studios
KORE Studios
Alpha Centauri Recording
Metropolis Studios

In America:
Avatar Studios, New York
CRC Recording, Chicago
Piety Street Recording, New Orleans
Sunrise Sound, Houston
Capitol Studios, Hollywood
Firehouse Recording Studios, Pasadena

8. Where can we buy your music?

At the moment, the "Light & Shade" album is only available as a special edition CD (with unique packaging) through our website. "No Coincidence" is available more widely, including iTunes and CDbaby.

9. What are your views about where the music industry is heading in your community, or on a global level?

It remains extremely risk-averse, even when the fundamentals are obvious. By that I mean it's not rocket-science to know that a good voice, a good song, good musicianship, good sound, good vibe etc is something people will be drawn to. Yet, that doesn't seem to be enough for some, and too much for others! Therefore artists are forced to be independent, which is not a bad thing as you will define yourself better as an artist, but the capital constraints means the playing field is limited until there's a serious backer.

10. Anything pertinent you'd like to say about Songsalive!

Gilli Moon [Songsalive! President] been extremely kind in supporting the band, and in fact has been a catalyst in many of our endeavours - we did our very first show as MAGAZINE GAP at The Mint in Los Angeles, where we headlined a Songsalive! event (the launch of The Art of Men CD which included two songs from the "No Coincidence" album). That evening gave us all the encouragement we needed to press on. The support that Songsalive! gives to independent artists is great.

A third interview with the Wimbledon Guardian can be read here:

http://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/leisure/9022399.Magazine_Gap_release_new_album/

Spring Reflections

2011-03-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

It’s been more than a few months since the last update, and now that we’ve finished the tour and got some down time it's a good opportunity to reflect on the intervening period.

Milton Keynes - The Stables (29 Jan)

We started the New Year getting ready for our biggest show of the tour at the end of January. Ranked by PRS for Music as #6 live music venue in the UK (Link), The Stables in Milton Keynes is a stunning theatre. It was originally founded in 1970 by the legendary jazz musician Johnny Dankworth and his wife, the jazz singer Cleo Laine. It was set up ‘in their back garden’, being in the old stables block in the grounds of their home. The present building on the same site was constructed in 2000 and remains state of the art. The Jim Marshall Auditorium seats 400 people on three sides of the stage, with the seats rising up like a traditional theatre. The staff at the venue are extremely friendly, helpful and professional, which helped make it such a memorable experience; special thanks to Alison Young & Rachel Chapman.

For such an important show we brought up from London our own sound engineer, Nigel Glasgow, who had worked with us at Terminal Studios on the original live music videos; Nigel did an excellent job of engineering the show. We also brought back the dynamic brass duo of Greg Heath on Saxophone and Joe Auckland on Trumpet, who joined us for about half the songs. As with The 100 Club in December, we also featured Rob Bond on the Pedal Steel Guitar for “Nevertheless” and “Slipstream”, on which he performed another blinder. It was also the first opportunity for Cookie to show his new Magazine Gap drum head, which received a lot of positive attention.

As proscribed by the format of the venue, the show was divided into two halves, which was the first time we’d ever had an interval in one of our concerts! We enjoyed it though because we designed the show with essentially two beginnings and two endings. Over the two and half hours we did 21 songs, including a brand new song for 2011 called “Ran For Cover”. The set was otherwise made up of all 12 songs from the LIGHT & SHADE album plus 7 songs from the NO COINCIDENCE album, and topped off for the encore by our cover of “All Along The Watchtower”, which turned into an extended jam featuring all the musicians.

It was undoubtedly our best ever show, with all the hard work put in over many miles paying off, and for such a wonderfully diverse audience; from a girl in the audience taken to celebrate her 11th birthday and a range of teenagers up through every generation including people in their 60s and 70s. The great reception from such a broad demographic was wonderful, and meant a lot to us. It was also nice to hear from many of them first-hand at a meet-and-greet in the foyer afterwards. We also received an extremely warm review from local publication Maybe Magazine (Link); our thanks again to Sarah Wilkinson for her kind words. Chris Towndrow, our talented video editor, came up to shoot some behind the scenes footage as well as the live performance of “The Promised Land”, which he later compiled into a new live music video (Link).

Dublin - The Academy 2 (12 Feb)

The next step on the tour was our first trip to Ireland, with a showcase in Dublin at The Academy 2 in the centre of the city. As a musical and cultural capital of Europe, indeed the world, we enjoyed walking around the town during the day, taking in the buskers on Grafton Street, visiting music shops, and getting our bearings of the main areas and historical landmarks. The venue was similar to Audio in Brighton, being a cool club in the basement, and had an incredible sound system with excellent engineering by Connor. It made for a fun performance and being back to the four-piece for the first time since Birmingham in November.

Bristol - The Tunnels (25 Feb)

It was fitting that our final date on the tour would be in the UK's "most musical city" (Link), Bristol. The Tunnels is an excellent venue, set up only last year by the gregarious, former England rugby star Gareth Chilcott, who also runs it in a very hands-on way and was extremely welcomingly. The support act for the show was local band Jacanda, fronted by Chris Pritchett. I met Chris on the acoustic circuit in London, and in fact I opened solo for his previous band at the Bristol Folk House several years ago. We had long talked about doing something again in Bristol, and this was a wonderful opportunity to do that. Jacanda are a great bunch of guys, with a great sound (Link) , and we enjoyed their set immensely.

With great sound engineering by Kevin and a warm audience reception, we all came away feeling it was probably our best ever performance; hard to compare with The Stables, because it was such a different setting, but as a four-piece with a big sound on a stage that harnessed that power, we were very pleased with the show. Just for fun, and without any warning to the band members, I decided to play Bob Dylan's “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” (which we'd never played together before) instead of Watchtower and showcase how much the band is in sync by coming up with an arrangement spontaneously! Being the end of the tour, and the 13th city, it was great to go out on a high.

LIGHT & SHADE - Reviews

Along the way, our album – which is still only available as a pre-release – has been picking up some great reviews:

"The fabulous group Magazine Gap will mesmerize you with their outstanding music, magnetic originality and creativeness. The charismatic vocals have a captivating appeal while they use a colourful mix of instrumentation."

RadioIndy

"There's folk/rock/pop mixed with R&B/blues/soul with occasional Latin rhythms and jazz piano. The combination somehow works and James Keen's voice stands out. Interesting stuff. ****"

Sunday Mail (Scotland)

"Sophisticated pop for all lovers of class"

VoluME Magazine (BBC Norfolk)

"This is a really good album with a truly eclectic air about it. It has a folk rock side to it with a wonderful heavy leaning to jazz rock too. Sounds crazy doesn't it but that's exactly what this album is. Some fine musicianship is fronted by the singer-songwriter James Keen. Diversity is the key here."

Classic Rock Society Magazine (March 2011)

"What I like so much about 'Light & Shade' is that it's just so unpredictable simply because there are so many influences on here. Not only do you get a wicked disc full of great tunes I have to give the packaging the thumbs up! A pleasurable listening experience, this album should be on your 'To Buy' list. 9/10"

Street Voice UK

“An eclectic sound that combines folk, rock, pop, blues and jazz, it makes for an unusual album. As the band says "It shouldn't work, but it does". There are folk-rock tracks shot through with jazz influences, and vice versa. The album is lyrically strong and the vocals of singer-songwriter James Keen hold all the various elements together and fuse them into a distinct sound. 7/10”

Bristol Evening Post

"Sounds fantastic, with quality musicianship throughout. Could even be suggested to fill the void that's been left by the demise of Simply Red."

Buzz Jack

Four-Piece / Jason

I’ve been playing music with my younger brother for a long time. Jason first joined me on stage for my first ever solo gig in London to sing a duet on my song “Deep Suspicions”; we came full circle by dusting it off for our gig as a duo in Chicago last September. Jason was there at the beginning (both privately and publicly!). His lead guitar work became a key part of my sound, and he played in shows and on demos with our first band, before performing on all the songs on the NO COINCIDENCE album as well as the LIGHT & SHADE album. He travelled with the band across the US and was there for the first ever official Magazine Gap show, which took place at The Mint in Los Angeles (August 09). Unfortunately, Jason’s relocation first to America and more recently to Singapore has meant he has been absent for the last year; in fact, he’s never played a show with Magazine Gap in the UK. The band has largely therefore evolved and developed without him and so, not without significant regret, we all agreed to formally continue as a four-piece, but to try to reintroduce him wherever possible as our very special guest. We all owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his support and work in getting the band together.

28,000 miles

We've worked out that the distance covered with the travelling we have done to/fro London for all the dates over the last 18 months is more than 28,000 miles! That's 3.5 times the Earth's diameter...

Post-Tour

We’ve been working non-stop for two years through various tours, recording studios, music videos, photo shoots etc, and we have finally found some time to relax before we hit the road again in the summer. We’ve got some festivals in the works, including the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, which this year celebrates its 45th anniversary; it also just won “Best Festival in the World” at the international live music conference. We are so delighted to have been invited to play the Music in the Park stage at this amazing festival. I’ve been there twice, once to see Paul Simon and once to see James Taylor, so know how great the place is. Has long been a dream to perform there, so looking forward to realising that in a few months.

As ever, stay tuned!

Cheers,

James

Journal: UK Tour (Autumn 2010)

2010-12-16T03:00:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened, and a lot of miles have been covered, since the summer and the last blog (four months ago now). This autumn has predominantly been spent travelling around the country for our first ever UK-wide tour. Having toured the US twice, it was perhaps overdue that we took to the road around our home country, and we were soon set to perform at key venues in most of the major cities in the UK. As with America, this included the four most populous cities: London, Birmingham, Glasgow & Liverpool.

Norwich – The Brickmakers (7 Sept)

After the Cardiff date was pushed back until the middle of October, the Autumn Tour began with a showcase at The Brickmakers in Norwich. It was essentially a home-town gig for Tim, who brought out the Norfolk Massive (respect!). A two-tier stage with lots of space, a great sound system and a warm reception helped us feel good to be back performing.

Chicago – Goose Island Wrigleyville (16 Sept)

Briefly breaking off from the UK tour, I returned to Chicago in late September to join up with Jason, who was living there at the time, and perform an acoustic show; we were billed as “The Keen Brothers”, and it was our first time as a duo in over 6 years and a personal thrill to undertake. It was also great fun to reinterpret Magazine Gap songs much as we had started out on the acoustic circuit in London many years ago. The flood lights of the iconic Wrigley Field, directly behind the venue, came through the window to add to the atmosphere.

Personal highlight was performing "Deep Suspicions" for the first time in a very long time. It was the first song Jason and I ever played on stage together, and includes a great duet on the choruses and 3rd verse; it's not always easy getting Jason in front of a microphone, but I like the sound of our two similar voices in harmony.

Whilst in town, Jason and I met up with Rob Loutkotka of Collision Labs to talk about the album booklet and set the shape for the rest of the design. Rob had already done a great job on the album cover, and we would continue to fine-tune the rest of the packaging for the next couple of months to get it all spot on.

Cardiff – The Globe (17 Oct)

Back in the UK, the tour resumed with our first visit to Wales. The Globe Theatre is a wonderful venue (a converted art deco cinema) with a high ceiling and gallery level. We were supported by an excellent local band Under The Driftwood Tree, who put on a great opening set. We look back on that show as one of the best of the whole tour. Just felt great.

Oxford – O2 Academy2 (22 Oct)

The following week brought us to Oxford, which has been my ‘local’ city for 20 years as my family home (from when we moved back from Hong Kong) is just outside and I spent a total of 15 months there studying business and law after university. ‘The Zodiac’ was the venue in town and naturally I’ve longed harboured a desire to play there. I was therefore thrilled to finally do so with Magazine Gap. It has been recently refurbished and rebranded as “O2 Academy2 Oxford”, but has kept its great atmosphere and sense of history. We all enjoyed being on that stage. Support came from the talented Eilidh Forster and her band.

Exeter – Mama Stone’s (27 Oct)

We arrived in Exeter early afternoon and headed straight to the University, where we met Gareth & Lauren who this year oversee Xpression FM and conducted a radio interview with us. We also performed our first live session in the studio with acoustic versions of “Slipstream” and “Swansong”.

Mama Stone’s is owned and run by Joss Stone’s mother and oozes a cool, old school vibe. We had good fun, and the set included "All Along The Watchtower" for the first (and as it turned out only) time for this part of the tour.

Liverpool – The Cavern Club (29 Oct)

Two days later we were in Liverpool, where we had long been looking forward to playing “The Most Famous Club In The World”. The Cavern is truly unique, and being based in the heart of the city, continues to beat strongly as a major attraction. Set in a deep cellar (which had acted as an air raid shelter during the war) it originally opened in 1957, and of course was made famous by The Beatles who played there almost 300 times between 1961-1963. It’s become a rite-of-passage for all aspiring rock stars, despite its turbulent history; it closed in 1973, re-opened in 1984, closed in 1989, and lastly re-opened again in 1991. The original stage, which has terrible acoustics, remains the main tourist attraction (with regular acoustic cover sets). A newer and larger stage in the adjoining room is where we played, and where Paul McCartney made his return in 1999. Great sound engineering and audience helped make us feel extremely welcome and have a lot of fun performing. Alex's mop top hair cut was even more fitting for the occasion! A major highlight in our live performances to date.

Glasgow – Nice n Sleazy (30 Oct)

The following day took us for the first time to Scotland. It was a Saturday night and turned out to be celebrated as ‘Halloween Eve’; the centre of Glasgow, where the venue was located, was essentially a massive fancy dress party. The Scots clearly go all out with brilliant costumes and make-up, which contributed to a great party atmosphere as our audience were coming from and going on to various parties. Got a message from 'Elmo' the following day saying how much he'd enjoyed it! The stage itself was covered in ‘spider webs’, and the previous act performed in skeleton costumes (sadly we'd forgotten ours). Good night. Fun and seriously funny.

Brighton – Audio (13 Nov)

We had a couple of weeks off before resuming on the south coast, in the cosmopolitan city of Brighton, which has such a great energy. The venue has a cool Miami South Beach art deco style exterior and is situated opposite the Brighton Pier, facing the English Channel. Although essentially an underground club, Audio has one of the best sound systems of any of the venues we’d played and the engineering was first class. It contributed greatly to our feeling that it was one of the best shows we’d done. Great support set from Brighton-based funk-pop band, with an awesome horn section, The Grand Majestic.

Newcastle – The Cluny (16 Nov)

This was a city we fell in love with – our first time there on a freezing November night, and the people couldn’t have been warmer. The Cluny is a great venue and another historical stop on the circuit. We enjoyed the two support acts in Hattie Murdoch and Mike Gatto, and had a blast performing. We will definitely be returning to Georgieland!

Birmingham – O2 Academy3 (29 Nov)

Our penultimate gig of the year was in Britain’s Second City and took place at the newly refurbished and very smart O2 Academy3. It was a very cold Friday night but busy, with Adam Lambert and Interpol performing in the other two venues on-site. We chose to mix up the set list that night to air some tracks that hadn’t been performed so often on the tour, such as “Light & Shade”, “Something To Be Said” and “What’s Next?”. For the last few gigs, including this one, we had been going on stage without a set list and would decide which song to do next just prior to launching into it. That gave us flexibility and was fun, but also kept us on our toes.

Album Pre-Release

We took the decision to release the album in wider formats later in 2011, but to put out in December a very limited, CD-only edition, in a special digipak to let our loyal fans to get their hands on the whole project. We have of course been unveiling songs on the album bit by bit – on Myspace, YouTube, Jango etc – but to listen through from start to finish is the only way to experience the entire journey.

The artwork, as mentioned earlier, took the same care and attention to fine-tune as we did with the mix, and similarly we were really pleased with the results. We finally sent it into production in mid-November and waited for it to return from being manufactured (as it turned out in Poland). The release date had been set for Monday, 6 December and the first CDs were posted out to be delivered on that date. It is currently on sale exclusively through our website: www.magazinegap.com/shop

Silver Lining Video

As documented in an earlier blog, we recorded a new song called “Silver Lining” at Avatar Studios in New York whilst there in March this year. We also filmed the recording, and earlier in the autumn we began the process of editing together the footage. Given our schedule and that Chris, the editor, was also flat out, we would return to make changes every few weeks. We finally had it ready in time for the launch on 6 December, and it went live on YouTube that day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPHFiSmIiuc

London – The 100 Club (7 Dec)

After our successful show in April, it was great to return to The 100 Club for our album launch concert on Tuesday, 7 December, and our final date on the autumn leg of the tour. Our special guest musicians included the return of Greg Heath on tenor saxophone, who delivered a sensational solo in “Inside The Bubble”; Greg is also a brilliant photographer and we used two of his shots as full pages in the album booklet. Greg plays on eight songs on the album, so it was very fitting that he would be there for the launch.

We’ve worked with two trumpeters on the album; Henry Collins was our original guest trumpeter, who had previously played on a number of tracks on the NO COINCIDENCE album, including “Good To Go” and “More Alive”, and performs on three songs on the LIGHT & SHADE album, including “Our Last Stand” and “It’s All Good”. When we came to record brass on the second set of tracks, Henry was off touring the world with Tom Jones but kindly recommended Joe Auckland to step into his place; Joe plays on five tracks on the album (including “The Promised Land” and “Silver Lining”), and joined us for our first 100 Club concert (as seen on YouTube). This time Joe was off on tour (with Madness) but Henry was back in town and we were delighted that he could join us on stage for the first time. On the NO COINCIDENCE album, Henry also recorded a stunning mute trumpet on “Oversight”, the version of which ultimately did not make it onto the album for fear of detracting from the vocal but was otherwise amazing. So it was a great thrill to recreate that version for the first time live. Our photographer that night fell ill as it turned out, so unfortunately we don't have official photos from the night. However, here's a picture of Henry & Greg in the recording studio.

During the additional tracking on “Slipstream” in London last year, we felt that it would benefit from a pedal steel guitar. Joe, our engineer, knew of a great player called Rob Bond, and we quickly tracked him down. Fortunately, he was able to join us the next day and laid down a beautiful sound that added immense emotion to the track. It was therefore fantastic that Rob was able to join us on stage for the launch, playing that song as well as “Nevertheless”; on both tracks he was stunning. We will look to recreate that in Milton Keynes in January.

2010 – Round-Up

So, it’s been a busy year!! It’s been hard work, but we’ve also had a lot of fun. The year started with completing pre-production on two new songs to round out the album. This was ahead of our return trip to the US, where we recorded those two songs (plus an instrumental that appears as a hidden track on the album!) and performed in New York City, Cape May, Chicago and Los Angeles. Back in the UK it was straight into rehearsals for our first two hour concert in Central London at the ‘oldest live music venue in the world’, The 100 Club, with guest musicians. In May we headed back to the studio for additional tracking (acoustic guitar, brass, percussion, backing vocals) on those new tracks, followed by the traditional painstaking mixing process, before mastering in August. After the summer, we were back on the road! Then with the album complete, the artwork complete, and the production complete, finally the launch...

It’s been wonderful to meet so many great people across the US and the UK. Along the way we have also been delighted to have been joined online by many thousands of people across Facebook, Myspace, YouTube and Jango, among others. The support has been hugely appreciated.

Our 2011 starts in January with our biggest ever show at The Stables in Milton Keynes, followed by a trip across the Irish Sea to Dublin and Belfast. Lots more to come after that, but got to leave some suspense!

Have a great Christmas everyone and very best wishes for 2011!

James

What's Been Happening?

2010-08-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

It’s been almost 4 months since the last blog, and so perhaps timely for an update (or summary for those keeping track on Facebook) on what we’ve been up to since returning from America at the beginning of April. There have been two main features of this period: the 100 Club show and videos; and finishing the album.

The 100 Club Concert

On 20 April we performed our biggest ever show, a 2-hour non-stop concert in front of a great home crowd who packed the house at “London’s Oldest Live Music Venue” in the centre of the city. The show featured 19 of our songs, including all 12 from our forthcoming “Light & Shade” album and 7 from my “No Coincidence” album (on which Cookie, Tim and Jason featured), plus the Bob Dylan classic “All Along The Watchtower” – first time we’ve performed a cover.

The guys were on fire: Cookie, who was musical director of the show and a commanding presence behind his bespoke Pearl Drum kit, kept it all tightly together as well as delivering two blinding solos in “What’s Next?” and “Inside The Bubble”. Tim played a series of bass guitars, including his 4-string 1963 Fender Precision, his 5-string Yamaha TRB fretless, his 6-string Yamaha TRB, and his custom-made 7-string! (No word yet on an 8-string, though we actually did see one in a music store in New York's Tin Pan Alley which Tim declared to be excessive so we may have reached a limit!). Alex, who had toured America with his 61-key mini-keyboard, was finally able to flex his muscles with both a grand piano and a single manual Hammond organ which he used to great effect (sometimes at the same time). Not to be outdone, I brought two acoustic guitars (both Taylors), two electric guitars (including my 1951 reissue ‘Nocaster’, a custom Telecaster, which appears on the cover of the No Coincidence album), and my Spanish guitar for “Senorita, I See You”.

Jason was not there, as he isn't able to perform every show with us, but we did have our long-term collaborator Kofi Karikari on percussion back in the mix. Kofi plays on every single song on both albums, and is a crazy, I mean, quasi-member of Magazine Gap. His boundless energy and infectious enthusiasm, not to mention talent and countless bags of toys, were on full display – highlights included hitting sticks against the club’s own speakers, playing a triangle with a spanner, and wandering into the crowd to everyone’s surprise (including ours and quite possibly his) to perform a ‘call-and-answer’ solo.

It was also the first time we were joined on stage by brass. We first met Greg Heath, a master saxophonist from New Zealand, during the recording of the “No Coincidence” album, on which he features on “Good To Go”. He returned for the “Light & Shade” album on which he performs on 8 tracks. Joe Auckland, a brilliant trumpeter who ironically is not from New Zealand (Walthamstow actually), joined us more recently for the second part of the recording process and plays on 5 tracks.

The set list for the show, for any MG historians out there, was:

Our Last Stand, It's All Good, Couldn't Make It Up (If You Tried), The Promised Land, Nevertheless, Save A Space, That's The Idea, Light & Shade, Swansong, The Dawn, Slipstream, How Did It Come To This?, More Alive, Something To Be Said, What's Next?, Silver Lining, Good To Go, All Along The Watchtower, Senorita I See You, Inside The Bubble

The 100 Club – Videos

The show was beautifully filmed by London Corporate Media, with 3 cameras (operated by Geoff Cockwill & Ben Milner), and the sound recorded and mixed separately (by Paul Lewzey). Our thanks to them and to Chris Towndrow, who edited it all together.

Having received a rough cut of the entire show, we decided to focus on 7 songs for release on our YouTube channel. Editing videos can be mind-numbingly tedious – at least on this occasion we had just three angles to choose from, and the one take. The videos we did late last year were all filmed three or four times, with two to the studio track and the other two performed live, with the video set to just one take; this causes potential sync issues that can drive you to distraction. Nonetheless, it still took a lot of time to fine-tune the 100 Club vids to the extent that you don’t think about the edits when watching it, i.e. that it flows seamlessly in line with the music, and focuses on the right people (e.g. the person playing the solo rather than me having some water). We tweaked away through May and over the course of three weeks in June released them steadily online; because YouTube only allows a maximum of 10 mins per video, we had to divide “Inside The Bubble” and “What’s Next?” into two parts.

Completing The Album

Meanwhile, having come back from the States with two brand new songs (that only otherwise existed as files on a Mac hard drive), we returned to the studio to complete overdubs, ahead of mixing and mastering. We started at the end of May at Beethoven Street Studios in NW London, where we recorded percussion, brass and my acoustic guitar, as well as spending a great deal of time editing the tracks (see the previous blog “Mixed Emotions” for more information on what that’s all about).

We were delighted at their reception, with the number of views, subscribers and friends on YouTube increasingly dramatically. By the end of July, we were the #43 most viewed channel of all UK-based musicians!

We then moved on to Alpha Centauri Recording, one of the highest spec mixing rooms in London. There we began working on the sounds and levels of each instrument, and choosing the points of emphasis; it’s a cacophony if everything comes at you all at once, so the key is to create movement in the track by having all the elements have their moment.

Because of the complexity of the instruments, we often take away the track to live with it for a few weeks, and then come back to make more changes; sometimes, as in this case, we go away a third time, and return for a final mix. We also took the opportunity to play around with the mix of “Our Last Stand” to make it more obviously radio friendly. Our thanks to Joe Fields, who has now worked on every single track (recording and/or mixing), and Steve Rhodes, who owns the studio and provided the final mixes on the latest songs.

Once it was all signed off, we moved on to mastering. For this album, we have worked with John Davis at Metropolis Studios. John is one of the most in-demand mastering engineers in London, and has worked with so many major artists it’s hard to keep up, but by way of example he mastered the last two U2 albums.

So, the album has finally been finished and has been a great journey in itself. We started in Brixton in February last year with the first five songs completed by May, without anticipating that the rest of the album would go on to be recorded, sequentially, in Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, and Chicago with overdubs back in London.

The running order was very hard to work out, but I think we got there. It is designed to take the listener on a journey, given the variety and richness of the content. It’s quite a ride! The track listing, revealed here for the first time, is as follows:

The Promised Land

Our Last Stand

Silver Lining

Inside The Bubble

What’s Next?

Swansong

Light & Shade

It’s All Good

Couldn’t Make It Up (If You Tried)

Slipstream

Senorita, I See You

Something To Be Said

For those who come to buy a hard copy of the album, there is also a secret track hidden on the album – won’t tell you what or where in the States it was recorded... you’ll have to wait and, er, hear.

Believe it or not, completing the album is only Part 1 of the process of putting it out. It’s quite like cinema releases, where the film is finished 6-9 months before release so the marketing campaign can get underway well in advance to ensure maximum impact once released. Similarly you can’t just put out an album without building up a head of steam – that includes press, touring, singles, radio, sync, TV, videos, artwork, street teams and so on. We are thus at the beginning of forthcoming widespread promotional endeavours...

We have a number of things in the works (it would be premature to reveal what!), but it does include our first UK-wide tour, which starts in Cardiff at the end of this month and finishes in London in November. I’ll also be heading back to Chicago next month to perform an acoustic set with Jason; the first time we’ll have played as a duo since our days on the acoustic circuit and our final show at London South Bank University. We will be releasing more dates steadily over the coming weeks, and look forward to seeing many friends, old and new, on the road...

Thanks again to everyone for their continued support - means a lot to us.

James

Journal: East Coast-To-West Coast US Tour (Spring 2010)

2010-04-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since the last blog, but we’ve certainly been keeping busy in the meantime – filmed four music videos and completed the careful editing process (the subject of another blog perhaps) before releasing them on YouTube in January, given two performances in London (including at The Phoenix Theatre in the West End for the Room to Read charity), written & worked on two new songs to record for completion of the “Light & Shade” album, and embarked on our second tour of the US. Talking of which…

We really enjoyed our time last August/September in the States, and were eager to return. This time though, we wanted to hit the East Coast and the Midwest, as well as returning to the West Coast and LA, which we all love. First stop, New York City.

Day One – Tuesday 23 March – our daylight 8-hour flight was direct from London, and being in the anomalous two-week period where the US moves an hour forward before Europe does, there was a helpful 4-hour only time-difference. We stayed in a ‘super-trendy’ hotel just off Times Square; with tiny beds, orange carpets and green wallpaper complete with odd shapes and patterns everywhere, suspicion is that the designer must have been on some bad acid trip when the concept was created. Still, location was great. Most of us had been to NYC quite a few times over the years, and love the energy and pulse of the city.

Day Two – Wednesday 24 March – started with an obligatory photo shoot in Times Square. Having worked near Piccadilly Circus for many years, which is London’s equivalent of Times Square but on 1/1000th of the scale, it is never less than overwhelmingly impressive. It was then off to a rehearsal studio round the corner from Madison Square Garden (one day!) for our last run-through of the set and to finalise the running order. A few years back, before the band came into existence, I performed solo sets at The Mercury Lounge and The Knitting Factory in Lower Manhattan. This time, however, there was a lot more horsepower in the shape of the entire band, not to mention all new material.

Sullivan Hall is a really great place to play: good stage and equipment with a cool atmosphere. All in all, a great setting for our debut performance in the Big Apple, and we enjoyed ourselves. Only hiccup was that at the start of the second song, one of the strings snapped on my guitar unbeknownst to the audience, so I had to style it out by dancing through the next two songs whilst making baseball-style coded signals to our tour manager to try to locate an alternative. Travelling as we do at the moment, one guitar is all we guitar players can carry! Fortunately, I managed to borrow an excellent Taylor Guitar from Matt (from an excellent band called Cool Kid Collective - check them out!), and I was back on track…

Day Three – Thursday 25 March – began with a 10am start at Avatar Studios. This recording studio, which dates back to 1977 (and was known as The Power Station until 1996), is one of the few remaining major studios in New York. Studio A is like a wood-panelled temple and is widely regarded as the best drum room in the world. It had become a mission of ours to find a way to squeeze into our diary and theirs for that particular studio whilst in NYC to take advantage of the room, and studio manager Tino was kindly accommodating. And yes, Cookie loved the incredible acoustics of the room. The sound of the drums was impeccable. Meanwhile, for the first time Tim recorded with his bespoke 7-string bass guitar. Anthony, who has recorded John Mayer there among others, was our first-class engineer for the day. We laid down a brand new track called “Silver Lining”. As usual, after significant pre-production in London, principal tracking was completed relatively quickly, and we were done by mid-afternoon.

We then headed off to catch our train from Penn Station to Philadelphia, which is about 50 miles southwest of NYC. Being English, the idea of a comfortable train that leaves on time and… wait for it… arrives on time is really quite exciting. How do they do it?! Anyway, Amtrak gets my vote. Philly is another interesting city, and we took in some of the Historic District (Liberty Bell, Independence Hall etc). Didn’t get to run up the ‘Rocky’ steps unfortunately. Next time.

Day Four – Friday 26 March – began with a two-hour drive south-east to Cape May, which is at the base of the peninsula that forms the bottom end of New Jersey. Cape May is a seaside resort and major tourist spot in the summer, with one of America’s 10 best beaches. We were invited to be part of a music conference and that night we had a lot of fun performing in a venue located right on the beachfront with the Atlantic Ocean before us. We hadn’t quite realised up to that point that our tour on the East Coast would be quite so literal. Great audience that night, and we made lots of new friends.

Day Five – Saturday 27 March – began with a photo shoot on the beach, with the weather much improved from the day before. We then returned the hire cars to Philadelphia International Airport and took the two-hour flight up to Chicago, which is the largest city in the Midwestern United States and the third-most densely populated city in the country. Its unspoilt shoreline on Lake Michigan is quite special, and the city has such a rich history with a lot of spectacular architecture. The view from the top of the John Hancock Tower was something to behold, as was seeing the ‘Silver Bean’.

Day Six – Sunday, 28 March – was another recording day. We headed to downtown Chicago to record our second new track at Chicago Recording Company (aka “CRC”). This famous recording studio dates back to 1975 and has been used by a range of artists including Michael Jackson, Carole King, Coldplay, Kanye West, The Smashing Pumpkins, and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Survivor (you know of "Eye of the Tiger" fame) were recording upstairs - seems Rocky had caught up with us! We were in one of the two main rooms, Studio 4, which was a fantastic environment to lay down our new song, “What’s Next?”. The song has a bluesy, rocky, R&B, funky vibe, so doing it in Chicago and in that studio was very fitting indeed. Alex recorded a B3 Hammond Organ and Fender Rhodes for the first time (and brilliantly). Jason recorded his original 1957 Telecaster, which has great character and sound, as well as his new custom Les Paul. Our engineer for the day, Mat LeJeune, was another top-flight professional to work with.

Day Seven – Monday, 29 March – allowed us to do a bit of sightseeing of the city, before our performance that night at Martyrs, which is located in the trendy Lincoln Park area, a centre of Chicago’s music scene. This excellent venue has superb sound quality and engineers, and has registered as one of our best shows to date. We performed “What’s Next?” for the first time, and were delighted that it went down a treat. The audience was great – we were particularly pleased and grateful to see many who had made special trips from Indianapolis and Detroit, 200 and 300 miles away respectively!

With that gig, we had also achieved a milestone for the band having now played the four largest cities in the United States (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago & Houston) which are also major centres in all four US geographic regions. That we were so well received in all those places has been extremely encouraging.

Day Eight – Tuesday, 30 March – we took a mid-morning flight to Los Angeles for our performance that night. It’s a four-hour flight covering 1,750 miles. To put that in perspective within a European context, it’s the equivalent of us playing a show in London one night, and then the following night in Moscow or Istanbul. (No plans to do that just yet). Anyhow, we felt good for our final show of the tour, returning to the stage where we had first performed in the US – The Mint – which lies just south of Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It was great to see many familiar faces in the audience from our performance last August, and to see them as enthusiastic about the brand new material as to what they heard last time out.

We then had a little bit of downtime in the US before flying back to London. Preparations are now well underway for our full concert at The 100 Club next week, with an extended set list and additional musicians in the equation. Should be yet more fun…

See you soon

James

Special Thanks To:

Nick James, Michele Baptiste & Georgina Bambridge (Tour Management & PR for Magazine Gap); Tino Passante & Anthony Ruotolo (Avatar Studios); Chris Shepard, Mat Lejeune & David Mills (Chicago Recording Company); Jennifer Sellers (CEG Music for Sullivan Hall); John Harris (SS Cape May for Cabanas); Bruce Krippner (Martyrs Live); Brent Harvey (KBH Entertainment for The Mint); Chris Kabata, Mike Schacht & Scott Dudelson (concert photographers); and, all those who came out to see the shows.

Mixed Emotions

2009-10-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

Oh, mixing. What fun, what joy, what a painstakingly, ear-bleedingly, technically-complex, aurally-challenging, exhausting affair.

There is a brief pause after the recording of all the instruments and vocals has been completed to share the general satisfaction at the collective brilliance of the contribution of each of the players. Then the mixing process begins… Countless hours are eaten up over several days, over several weeks, usually in a basement studio devoid of any natural light. The ingredients are there, but so many critical choices have to be made to ensure that what sounded good raw, sounds even better when mixed. And it can go oh so horribly wrong. Many bands tell of having to scrap a mix and start completely afresh. The reason for this is that what is done to the raw material can result in unintended sounds, and too many errors like that contribute to an overall mess. Plus, the songs have to be compressed to suit a commercial format but get carried away and an exciting track that had life and vitality in the studio, is suddenly DOA requiring panicked defibrilator-type action to rescue the situation before too much hair is ripped out and toys thrown.

A lot of record companies often use one of about six people (sometimes in a different country) who consistently produce a good commercial mix and send it back. Problem with that is the bands often don't get to attend those sessions and therefore make adjustments along the way, of which there can be many, so they have to accept the mix as is. As an independent project, we have the 'luxury' of being hands-on and getting the mix we want. And here's how we make it happen...

Firstly, editing. Each song has at its heart the core band: drums, bass, piano, guitars, vocals. Because we are driven by the desire to enrich our music with as much colour as possible, whilst keeping the overall thread of the sound, we also have additional elements that we like to add. This mainly includes percussion (the great Kofi) on every track to various degrees, plus a brass trio and string quartet on selected songs. Before getting into the studio, there is a preparatory stage where we carefully edit. This involves checking all instruments are rhythmically accurate (i.e. on the beat and in line with the others), as well as selecting the best parts of the vocal and electric guitar takes, and selecting which bits of percussion to use. It helps when you work with a producer who is so clear-minded about what works and what doesn't; Cookie is incredible. Then the mixing engineer can begin his work. This year we've worked with the brilliant, cool and unflappable Joe Fields.

The mix always starts with the rhythm section, specifically drums and bass. The bass can be reasonably straightforward, as at most it'll be recorded by direct input into the sound desk and/or by a mike aimed at an amp. The key is to ensure that the top, mid, and bass frequencies are where they should be, before effects are added (everything is always recorded 'dry'), and Tim is on hand to ensure his signature sound is spot on. The drums, on the other hand, can be time-consuming because you have a dozen microphones in and around the drums; the snare alone can often have three! The bass drum has to be tonally right, the snare as crisp and warm as possible without being too sharp, the high-hat, toms and cymbals need to be balanced, and then the overheads and room mikes (positioned several feet away) need to be brought in to help bring an overall sound. Again, the drums are warmed up with subtle effects. The acoustic guitar, which provides another key rhythmic component, is then added in and blended to ensure the song is driving nicely along without being too noisy - one sound can overwhelm another to make it mushy.

All the time, the greatest challenge remains not killing the energy of the track whilst accepting the need to compress it sufficiently to be acceptable across numerous mediums (radio, stereos, TV etc). Historically we have had the problem where the live, raw version seems infinitely more exciting than the first mix. Deciding on effects can be tricky to. The vocals, for instance, like everything else are recorded completely 'dry', in a dead room. This allows complete freedom of addition rather than subtraction. The exact same vocal, which will ultimately be selected, can go through various incarnations and sound too dull, too bright, too boomy, too far away, too close, too thin, too loud and on and on.

So the main vocal goes in followed by the backing vocals with their level carefully worked through - too high and they can clash (ear can't decide which one to 'follow'), too low and it sounds like an odd echo. Next, in order, comes the piano and electric guitar (which can both be providing rhythm or lead support), ensuring neither conflict with each other or with the vocals, but rather are complementary. Once the core band is sounding good, the percussion usually is added. This can be as small as a triangle, egg shaker or tambourine and as much as congas, bongos and timbales. Percussion is tricky, especially triangle or shakers - even slightly too high or slightly too low and they sound really annoying in the mix. At the right level, however, they add an element of class and quality that is thoroughly worthwhile. When that is all done, we add the brass (trumpet, saxophone, trombone) and the strings (two violins, a viola and a cello) which are, respectively, played together yet picked up through different mikes and blended for an overall sound. Not everything is then left at one level. We raise and drop certain instruments (electric guitar, piano) depending on what it adds to that particular series of bars. We also make sure that each instrument gets at least moment to 'shine' (i.e. is sufficiently prominent for the ear to clearly recognise it and appreciate the added flavour).

That gives us a first mix, which we like to take away and get comfortable with; it is usually the first time we have had a recording of the songs to take home with us, so the first occasion we have the time to really listen to and take in all the individual parts in the mix. This allows us to return with detailed notes about parts that should be removed or enhanced. We also listen to the tracks in multiple settings - the car, the kitchen stereo, the iPod, the TV/DVD, the computer, the mini hi-fi - as well as through headphones and through speakers at different volume levels (with apologies to the neighbours), so as to become aware of any major problems that you might not easily pick up in the studio. Frequently we’ve worked on something all day and then immediately listening back to it in the car on the way home you will suddenly be asking, “What is that?!” On one recent mix it all sounded fantastic in the studio, but at home through headphones the high volume of the egg shaker drove us to distraction!

We then do what's called a 'recall', which can take over an hour to get the settings on the mixing desk back to the exact positions they were before (following detailed notes the assistant engineer makes each time). Lots of minor tweaks then get made over the course of the day and we're on to Mix #2. In an ideal world, that should be it, but in our experience, there are then a very small but larger enough number of final adjustments that need to be made to take the mix closer to the 100% we want, so one last day is required. There may be things that we would adjust again if we had yet another day, but at that point we 'call it'. Then it's off to mastering, which is a mysterious process where all tracks are enhanced by ensuring the frequencies are smooth and that each track is at the same level as the others. It's usually advised to have someone completely fresh do this, and there are specialists who only master. We've worked with Steve at Abbey Road and John at Metropolis who are two obvious examples.

And then what? Well, choosing a sequence for the tracks is another essential mix to ensure the album flows much in the same way as each song does. And picking out singles and deciding release timetables and filming music videos and deciding on artwork are some of the next stages (in no particular order)... Stay tuned for all that...

James

Journal: West Coast-To-Gulf Coast US Tour (Summer 2009)

2009-09-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Finally found time to reflect on our US trip. Firstly, on behalf of the band I want to thank everyone we met along the way who helped make it so enjoyable, memorable and successful. Specifically, the first class engineers (Jacob, Steve, Milton, Wes) and managers (Skip & Ben, Paula, Candace, Shawn) at all the recording studios, the organisers and sound guys at all the gigs (notably Gilli, Tony, Eric, Joe), the hundreds of people who came to see us perform, and all the other people we met along the way who were so warm and friendly.

The trip started on Friday, 21 August when we flew directly from Heathrow to Houston, which became our home base for the tour. Sunday was the start of an intense 10-day schedule, spending all day rehearsing for the gigs and on final pre-production on the new material about to be recorded. The next day, Monday 24 Aug, we began tracking at Sunrise Sound Studios. We had one song planned per studio (with a fifth track in reserve time-permitting). In Houston we recorded the title track to the album, "Light & Shade".

Midday on Tuesday, 25 Aug, the band flew north-west to Los Angeles, which being a 3hr 30 mins flight isn’t as close as you might think (over 1,500 miles actually), but made it in good time to get over to the iconic Capitol Records building in Hollywood by late afternoon. Their incredible studios are on the ground floor, and the rich history of the place is evident from photos on the walls and memorable moments from film – Studio A, where we were recording, was featured in the film “Ray” for the recording of “Georgia On My Mind”. Capitol is the sister studio to Abbey Road in London (both owned by EMI) and having mastered the NO COINCIDENCE album there, Cookie and I found strong comparables. We were also given exclusive access to the roof, which has an incredible 360o view of LA, and we took advantage to do a quick photo-shoot before getting down to recording "Swansong".

Our session started after a full orchestra had departed after recording music for the next season of “Mad Men”. Studio A and Studio B are actually linked so they can be turned into one giant room for larger scale recordings. The downside is that despite heavy doors and sound buffers there can be ‘spillage’ from one to the other. Didn’t matter to us, because we were making all the noise, but Cookie’s drums affected the recording next door of John Mayer’s vocals. Although the idea of being on a John Mayer record is appealing, this wasn’t quite what we had in mind. We did though get to meet his co-producer and drummer Steve Jordan, who came round to check out all the noise. Great guy. He and Cookie hit it off – unsurprisingly really, as they have a lot in common and are quite similar in many ways. We managed to work out ‘turns’.

We finished the session at 11:30pm, and then began again early the next day, Wednesday, 26 Aug. We drove to Pasadena, an historic, upmarket, attractive town in LA about 40 mins from Beverly Hills. Firehouse is a relatively new studio, but no expense has been spared in its construction or fit out. Although the building is over 100 years old (so ‘ancient’ in LA terms), inside it was like going forward another century. A really important part of making a studio work is that intangible and unknown quantity known as ‘the vibe’; actually all the studios had the right feel and atmosphere for the specific tracks we were doing, and Firehouse was no exception - very comfortable and the day was a breeze.

We had intended to record just the one song, especially as we had to leave by 4:30 for the evening’s performance, but things moved so smoothly that we managed to do two: "Inside The Bubble" and "Something To Be Said" (two very different tracks).

Wednesday was also Alex’s birthday and the hilarious, larger-than-life veteran LA studio manager, Candace, was kind enough to sneak in a surprise chocolate cake. Then it was a mad dash across town to The Mint to check in with Gilli Moon and the rest of the line-up ahead of doors opening at 7pm. The evening was an interesting mix of artists (from folk and country to dance and rock), and we were given the headline slot – which has the advantage of allowing us to have the longest set, but the disadvantage of being last (which on a school night can be fatal). After 3.5 hours of music, we weren’t sure who would have the stamina to remain for us, but lots did and we were very grateful for that! The challenge was therefore to see if we could not just play well, but overcome their natural mindset before we started of perhaps hearing one song and then calling it a night. Given the response, I think we accomplished that.

The gig was incredible for us. The reaction was like nothing else we’d ever experienced, such as the audience frequently applauding mid-song as we moved into choruses. Unusually we did not have a prepared set-list, opting to feel our way, and that turned out to be a good plan in itself. The crowd’s enthusiasm gave us great inspiration, especially after four straight days of rehearsing and recording (covering 1,500 miles along the way), and the band stepped up to the occasion. The evening proved to be one of the highlights of the whole trip – it was our first show in the United States and the reception has further fuelled our ambitions, overcoming any anxieties we might have had about response from Americans. Thanks guys – it meant a lot to us!

Cookie and I left very early the next morning, Thurs 27 Aug, flying from LA to New Orleans as I had a solo performance to give at 8pm at the hotel where the Cutting Edge Music Business Conference was taking place. We were already scheduled to perform on Saturday, but by coincidence Tony Moore, who runs our 'home venue' of The Bedford in London and has become a good friend to us, was a panellist and invited me to do a spot at this acoustic event he was hosting. It was very different being back on my own, especially after all the time spent building up the Magazine Gap sound, which is so much larger and more powerful now than little ol’ me. But, the songs are meant to stand up in their own right (and hopefully do!), and I did enjoy the challenge of being a one-man band again. Nice to see if I can still pull that off from time to time! I also got to play piano again, having surrendered those duties some time ago when Alex joined the band.

Friday 28 Aug was spent networking at the Conference – a mix of really pleasant, smart professionals and utter plonkers who clearly need to be put out of their misery. When record labels say they are only interested in new acts who are already selling records, you wonder what the world is coming to... Meanwhile, the rest of the band had returned to Houston, and then drove over to hook up with us that night in the French Quarter, which is like nowhere else on earth, and has to be experienced first-hand. Bourbon Street was a sight to behold!

Saturday, 29 Aug, was our performance at the Balcony Music Club, and we had a lot of fun that night. (Nice to have the band back!). Different atmosphere to LA, as New Orleans has its own vibe, and you are competing with a thousand other joints in close proximity, but performing in this historic town was hugely rewarding in its own right, and we made lots of new friends in the audience that night. It was the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and it was extremely fitting to perform "Nevertheless" from the NO COINCIDENCE album, a song that was written in its immediate aftermath, and to dedicate the performance to those who have suffered as a result.

Sunday, 30 Aug, took us to Piety Street Recording, the studios where earlier in the year Dave Matthews Band had recorded their recent album (and one that I think is possibly their best yet and which I haven’t stopped playing since). The studio is in the Upper Ninth Ward district and managed to survive Katrina.

A very different set-up again, but wonderful all the same, and very suited to the track we recorded: “The Promised Land”. This song tells the story of a missionary and blues guitar player who settles in Louisiana and makes his name performing and preaching in New Orleans. As this was actually my first visit to the city, I never imagined I’d record this song there, but it couldn’t have been more fitting. Only problem was that I had written one line as “New Or-lee-anz”, which nicely rhymed, but had discovered that locals call it “Nu Orlinz” (or “N’awlins” if you want to get really accurate!). Don’t remember the syncopation of ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ being in Nawlins, but there you go! Ultimately I used some poetic licence to find some compromise between the two.

I also shot some hilarious footage of Alex monkeying around with a new found studio toy, which we will hopefully work into a music video at some point.

On Monday, 31 Aug, we drove the 350 miles / 6 hours back to Houston. On Tuesday afternoon we returned to Sunrise Sound to do some editing work on most of the tracks. Then Wednesday, 2 Sept, was our final performance at Rudyard’s, a nice, open first floor venue in Houston, and the room was packed. Again, that gave us a great lift and we played our longest and biggest set accordingly. We lurve Texas! Thanks y’all for comin’.

After a few days ‘vacation’ (finally!), we flew back to London, feeling tired but elated. We have since completed the tracking with brass, percussion, strings, Hammond and backing vocals, and are about to begin the intense mixing process. We also have a ‘homecoming’ show at The Bedford next month to look forward to. It’s been a great few weeks, and given us all a huge boost of confidence in what we’re trying to do. Appreciate everyone who has joined us on this journey so far…

James

The Thrills And Spills Of Pre-Production

2009-08-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Magazine Gap’s first blog. Thought I’d share with you an insight into what we’re up to at present...

Ahead of our recording sessions in 4 major US studios next week (in Houston, Los Angeles and New Orleans), we are in the final stages of preparation on five new tracks. Which is exhausting. What makes the band so exciting for us all is the different directions in which we pull and how meeting in the middle leads to something quite distinct. But reaching that point is a lot harder than it, um, sounds. We can start a track that I think is essentially in one particular style (say funk-rock), only to have elements of Latin, RNB, blues, jazz, slap bass or whatever added into the mix. Some of it can be great, some not-so-much. We also remain very conscious of not repeating what we’ve already done elsewhere. Then judging tempo can be extremely different - too fast and you've lost the audience; too slow and it's in danger of being too boring; too excited and up-beat and it can be too exhausting; too down and it can be too depressing. All this can be hugely rewarding and deeply frustrating at the same time. But then, I guess, that's ‘art’. The 'science' part comes in making sure all the contemporary elements are there - overall sound, length of song, format of layout, lyrical and musical hooks, etc.

The working title of the next album is "Light & Shade", which is not just one of the songs we'll be recording next week, but a reflection musically of the inherent variety and lyrically of the theme of the balance sought between extremes we encounter in our daily lives, which are complicated yet necessarily enriching. The ying and yang, if you will. For example, relaxing on the sofa after a punishing work-out is more rewarding than just being a couch potato. The other 'trick' the band tries to pull off is to have music that works on two general levels; on the one hand the 'sugar rush' of easily accessible melodies and the bounce of the rhythms, but on the other having underlying subtleties that encourage repeat plays where interesting sounds emerge to the discerning listener; it can come from a piano lick, a percussion instrument, the strings, the brass trio, the lyrical electric guitar work, the warmth of the Hammond organ, harmonics or licks on the bass guitar, the ghost notes or unusual timing of the drum patterns. I'm still discovering a raft of little things that the guys put into the recordings even though I was there through every day of the mixing process (about which… another day, another blog).

When I’ve written a new song, I first play it to Cookie and Jason for their approval and suggestions; naturally I like everything I do, but they have a strict quality control mindset with a view to the overall objective. Once ‘certified’ by them, we get together with the whole band where we start relatively free-style allowing everyone to contribute their ideas. This can take weeks of rehearsals (recording as we go to analyse and enhance next time) before sifting carefully and scaling back what might have become a wall of sound to something contemporary, classy and cool. We never play it straight or safe, and are now so comfortable with each other to allow broad expression in experimenting with ideas that range from brilliance (“Wow!”) to madness (“What was that!?”). Then we have to edit very selectively. Fortunately, Cookie is the final judge and a great arbitrator. If it were up to me, all my songs would probably last about 10 mins and include at least one harmonica solo. But "less is more", and whilst telling a story or conveying a message in just over three minutes is actually a tougher challenge it is ultimately more satisfying. (Also makes it much easier to remember the lyrics when it comes to performing!)

Despite all this preparation, the studio then has its own vibe and we often change things there and then as the final pieces of the overall direction fall into place. That's both exhilarating and worrying at the same time; although the clock is running and this is zero-hour on the song, the last minute changes are almost always right on the money. We have to trust our instincts.

This time, unusually, we are also in the middle of preparing for our first series of dates in the US; that has the additional complication of simultaneously working on the 'studio' and 'live' versions of the same songs! We have to be far more moderate in the studio (for fear of scaring off people at radio-land) than our shows which need to represent a step up (rather than a straight forward replication of the album version).

So that's it for now - we look forward to seeing you many of you on the road in LA, New Orleans, Houston or London over the next several weeks. And hope you like the new stuff! We’ve worked hard on it you know…

James