division-usa.com

…plus we had an extended break due to Thanksgiving in the U.S., plus, well, I often wonder if anyone actually reads this. I mean, if it’ll get the hit count up, I could always add some rabid lemming pr0n or something…

Anyway, I digress. Recording rolled along last night, in what was hopefully the last drum session for the new album. James, as usual, pounded during the first song with reckless abandon, and actually got some very good stuff. Dave repeatedly wondered if the drums owed him money. On the re-take of a song we’d recorded the previous session, James hit it with much more energy and precision this time around. Since these were the last two (of 11), we would seem to be done with drums. Although I may find something unusable - I haven’t reviewed and comped everything yet - I’m pretty confident we’re done with pounding on stuff for a while.

Speaking of pounding on things, up next is the bass. I really feel for Ron’s strings…

…since the album is well under way now, especially. After having drum session #1 go slowly due to some technical issues, #2 went much more smoothly - James looks to have punched out four more songs during on Thursday. Good thing, too, since we lost a recording session on Sunday, as you will see…

First off, though, there’s a story within a story here. When we last went into a studio (MCR, when Matt was still in the band) to do the 2004 “Hunt” demo, James really struggled - we had slated three songs to be recorded, we only got two, and no one was really overly happy with the drum performance. When we did the 2007 demo earlier this year (using the same mobile recording rig we’re using now), we had some of the same issues. James seemed to start off really strong, and get more and more inconsistent as we went.

Our process was one that’s familiar to people who’ve recorded in a studio before - do a take, and listen back to see if it’s a keeper. I honestly do it that way from habit, since I started recording at 1″ tape 8 track studios, where we didn’t have the money/time to keep multiple takes on the drums. The only change in my mindset was that we could go back and punch in sections, which was very difficult to do with tape. James diagnosed the problem as physical - he’d get cold and tight while we were listening to playbacks of the takes, and the effects would accumulate over the length of the session.

Enter modern recording technology. Since you can record multiple takes non-destructively, it’s allowing us to record 2-3-4-5 takes of a song, and then I can “comp” them together into a single drum track, taking the best sections from each. Interestingly, though, I haven’t had to do that much - James’ being able to play consistently through the sessions has actually raised his confidence level enough that I’ve usually been using the last take we recorded, because they’ve been getting stronger as he goes along.

“Hunt”, in particular, is a great example. We’ve actually been playing it a little faster live than we recorded it. When James commented on my having the “slow” tempo in for the recording, I said “we’re fine as long as you keep the energy up, so beat the sh*t out of them.” He did. We got a great take of that - so good that I’m looking forward to putting the guitars over it already. This change in process has allowed us to capture something that I think has been missing so far from our albums - the energy of our live show.

Speaking of that, we didn’t record anything on Sunday. Why? Because we were at Jaxx, opening for seminal British doomsters Paradise Lost.

Yeah, I know, we weren’t doing any more shows until March. Well, Jaxx got in touch with me last Wednesday and asked if we could do it. We had one rehearsal - after James tracked those four songs - and played the same set we did at the Therion show. The crowd was a little better than I expected, we had fun, the other local (The Groaning) and the PL crew were pretty easy to work with, and it was an overall positive experience. PL was great, too, which is funny because I’m only really a fan of one of their albums (”Gothic”, which they did play the title track from), yet I always seem to enjoy them live.
Well, I have a bunch of drums to review during the Thanksgiving holiday, so I’ll be busy. Then it’s back to recording next week…

…although my adventure really started on Saturday, when I re-discovered the frustration of trying to make sure that click tracks were completely up to date before I started my guitars stuff. Of course, they weren’t. I couldn’t play “Gemini” (ostensibly the easiest song of the bunch) to save my life, but after stumbling through it, I punched “The Collector” out in two takes. Odd.
Then I used the demo I’d already done for “Feast”, which, we discovered on Sunday, was at the wrong tempo. Oops. Guess we’ll pick that one up on Thursday. Yet again, I find myself wishing for more inputs for recording.
Anyway, James got “Gemini” down with a little work, and did five takes of “The Collector”, all of which had really good sections, so I should be able to comp them together. Yes, that’s one of the dirty little secrets of the recording studio - what you hear on albums is rarely, if ever, recorded in one take, for any of the instruments.

Anyway, I think we have two good ones - I’ll be reviewing takes tonight, and comping one drum track, and then sending a karaoke mix around for the rest of the band to practice to. Ah, technology…

Many of you know that we’re taking an extended break between Friday night’s Therion show and the March 1st CircleIICircle/Circus Maximus/Manticora show.
Most of you don’t know why.

We’ll be recording the next Division album, “Control Issues”, during that time.
Look for updates here.

Talk about a polarized set of gigs this weekend! Richmond on Saturday at Rocks, our first time there - it was low-pressure, in my mind, so it should be fun. The trip down starts with a (thankfully minor) traffic accident. The directions were, ahem, interesting. The venue and staff were great - I was a little nervous about the stage being “on the patio” when we first got there, but that got sorted out after chatting with the soundman (William), who was excellent. However, the organization (in my view, the promoter’s fault) and professionalism of some of the other bands involved left, well, something to be desired.

No clear running order or start time was established, so we had to hash that out - and then re-hash it after we had to go and rescue the band who’s backline we were borrowing (not their fault, their gear truck broke down - but symptomatic of the day), and some individuals involved decided to play at being “rock stars”, resulting in us very nearly packing up and going home. However, in the end we got it all worked out, and played a pretty decent show despite the issues.

Sunday night couldn’t have been more different - I was sure there would be disaster when Testament hadn’t checked when I got there at 5:15, but their stage manager (who’s name I never caught, sadly) was AWESOME. He kept everything moving, got the locals set up and hustling, and had everything done for the locals to all get their full sets, with correct start times. Amazing - I’ll work with that man any day. The crowd was insane (and huge), and the show overall was a smashing success for us.

On top of that, Testament was blindingly good.

Just goes to show that when musicians (and promoters, crew and clubs) are involved, you never know what will happen…

-Mike-

How does a song find the page and the recording media to become a real live entity?  It really depends on the individual or group putting it together, and what dictates the feel and flow of the music.  In the case of lyrics, often times it’s something that isn’t at the forefront of your thinking, but rather something lurking in the background.

Tonight, Division made a lot of progress on song #9 for the upcoming CD, and the evolution of the lyrics was really in sync with the music.  We were sort of directionless for a while, but once we decided on a flow for the song, the framework for the words came together as well.  It sounds too vague in those terms, but let me dig a little deeper and explain.

I tend to write from the chorus out, meaning I want a good powerful hook first, and then I’ll work on the verses, and the story surrounding it.  That’s what has been the most effective in my experience, and it’s helped to make the kind of song that fans go home singing to themselves.  (For an example, check out Hunt on Division’s MySpace page.)  In this case, I did just that.  I started with a hook and wanted to build the rest of the song around it.

The problem was, it was just too vague.  I had sort of a “fight through it all to get back to the one you love” beginning vibe, but as we started to drive the song and write more, I started getting more specific.  It moved to more of a parent-child vibe, and then got really specific when I realized how much I was affected by a friends’ situation.

Two good friends of mine are married and have been for a while.  The husband has a child from a previous marriage, and until recently, his son has been in the custody of his mother.  His mother is a lunatic, and decided to plant the child in front of a computer screen as a babysitter instead of giving a shit what happened to him.  Given the Internet and curious hormones of a young teenager, the child found one thing, then several, and eventually was psychologically diagnosed as having an addiction to pornography.  I can’t begin to think where his life would wind up if he continued to have that level of exposure to unfiltered images on the world wide web.

His father recently got custody, which is where the song fits in.  While not addressing that specific issue, it addresses a father fighting to get back to his child, who has been told he is the enemy and has no place in that child’s life.  Not sure if that makes any sense, but for those who are totally wondering what sort of thoughts go into the evolution of the new Division material, there ya go.

Be safe out there!
One Love,
nK

Metal Fuel…

Have you ever wondered what drives metal? I know a lot of bands describe themselves as booze-driven or drug-driven, but I have some trouble accepting this as the primary drive, since I don’t indulge in either. But then some self doubt comes in to play. I’ve been playing bass for 14 years continuously (only a short break when I was recovering from getting run over by some New Jersey asshole driving a crappy Ford Escort station wagon while I was biking home from crew practice back in college) and what have I written? Basically nothing.

I turned in some pretty generic riffs as part of my theory training to various teachers, and I wrote some mathematically driven vocal harmonies for a different theory class, but other than that, I really haven’t written anything. I’ve got music playing in my head basically all day long but can’t seem to convert it from noise in my head (alright, voices too, but I strenuously try to ignore them) to notes on my instrument. I spent a lot of time wondering what the hell I was doing wrong.

Well now I think I finally have an answer. Great metal is fueled by hate. Pure, blistering, white-hot, tear someone’s face off hate. When Division hired me, I was basically still a cover bassist. Lines had been recorded and that’s what I was supposed to play. Sure, you can’t hear any bass notes on the albums, but that was the way that the old guy played.

Now that I tear the strings off the bass people can hear that there were some neat bass line in the old songs. The most exciting thing about the new album is that I have to develop parts from scratch. With that, I’m finally being a bit creative on my instrument. Some of the new songs that are basically done, are going to freak people out, but they’re unified in three ways.

First, the songs themselves are structured out of some of the most brutal and complicated riffs that Division has yet to turn out. Second, the lyrics are filled with a dark and angry edge thanks to Nick. Finally, we’re bringing the rage to our performances. Even on the clean breaks, this harsh energy is burning through. It’s going to be good.

Now, jump ahead to last week. Some of the crappiest stuff that’s happened stacked up to make the week overall one of the shittiest I’ve ever had not involving death. From bad and long days at work, to the screwy weather, to the awful commutes, to rupturing my God damn eardrum again, and slicing the tip of my index finger off accidentally… by the time practice rolled along on Thursday I was a flaming ball of rage.

I got in to practice already in serious pain from my finger, my ear, my head, and my back (from the awful chair at work). I then found out, that I had also forgot my earplugs! *insert Howard Dean Scream here* Anyway, we were able to use the anger constructively. Mike brought out a new riff and I threw some ideas at him and in about 20 minutes we had most of new song. In process I came up with another idea that will likely be song unto itself. Now this was cool. I’m finally starting to turn out some useful musical output. And the only thing I can attribute it to is the desire to break my bass strings over someone’s head combined with inability to do so without going to prison… I don’t know if this is why some people drink, but if it isn’t, it should be….

Now I’m going to go smash stuff.

\m/

RonCK

…would anybody read it?

Snarf snarf.

Ok…. Here it goes - my first blog… here at least.  I’ve written a couple entries up on our myspace site.  Nothing too specific about me; just speaking for the band on a show or something general.  But here it is… my first attempt at being more personal - me speaking for me and making fun of everybody else   I’m not going to ignore myspace, however - I’ll probably just copy what I write here or there, then paste it there or here. 

I challenge the die-hards to read both!

Here’s a quick update on my past month:

Back in early Oct, I got the call from Odin’s Court.  They had a big Brooklyn gig with the mighty Zero Hour scheduled for November 12th - but no drummer!  John Abella - who is a freakin smooth and creative prog drummer for OC - had a schedule conflict.  Matt Brookins, vox/gtr, rang me up and asked if i could do the gig.  9 songs were in order, one of which being a scary Dream Theater cover - “6:00″.  I’m sure some of you cats could smash it - but if you know me, I’m not a prog guy and math wasn’t my strongest subject in school.

Anyway, Division had nothing on our plates, so I accepted. 

Concurrently, my wife and I began the house cleaning / packing for our potential move to Baltimore.  Also, we began our weekend house-hunting trips to Baltimore.  Anybody whow knows the I-95 stretch from Baltimore MD to Fredericksburg VA can understand the metaphor that our car became a ‘mobile home’. 

Then Division got the call from Jaxx to join OC and ZH on their November 11th show.  We accepted in a heartbeat - why not?  A bill with Zero Hour, Odin’s Court, Brave, Encompass, and Andsvara is pretty freakin sweet!

So, it’s late mid-Oct and it’s time to tackle and rehearse these songs.  I live in a townhouse, so practicing drums is a pipe-dream.  Instead, I always learn music during my work commute.  Oh… yeah… more driving - morning work commute is 1 hour minimum…. 2.5 evening commutes on bad days.  Anyway, that’s a lot of time on the road - and a lot of time to listen to the tunes i have to learn!

 Shortly after, I began jamming with the OC guys.  I have to say… Matt is the coolest bro - totally gracious, humble, hospitable, flexible, driven - everything one could ask for in a crunch-time situation!  The rehearsals were far - Matt lives practically lives in Cuba and Rick is somewhere just outside of Norway - and split between Matt’s and Rick’s.  Lots of fun though - and well worth the drive!

Fast-forward to Jaxx….. Encompass… OMG Tanvir is just a stud on the drum kit.  Totally in command of everything he’s doing and he’s doing some crazy shit, my friends.  You must check him out.  I swore I heard Donati’s feet at work when that dude was warming up during their soundcheck!

Brave - quite honestly - and we’ve played with them quite a few times - the BEST I’ve seen them yet.  They got everything - the tones, the feel, the performance, variety…. and most important…. the SONGS. 

 Then us… read that below.

OC - they tore it up… again!  John tore it up… I should have taped his performance and just hit ‘play on tape’ at the NY gig where I was to fill in   I knows those songs like the back of his hand and he’s has a lot going on in his grooves.  Thanks for making my sub-job hard, @sshole!  Their 6:00 cover sounded sooooo good!

Zero Hour - these guys own their instruments like no other….  For 4 dudes (1 bass, 1 guitar, 1 drummer, 1 singer) they sound HUGE!!!!  Not only can they all play, but they’re playing in crazy 7 over Pi time signatures like it’s nothing!!!  And Chris - the best voice I’ve EVER heard on that stage… by far!

I had a blast during the Divisino set.  We all did, in fact.  I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that much on my kit - but I had some f’ups that were just way too funny to get pissed at.  Most notably “Greed”.  Everybody in the band turned around and gave me the finger after I botched…. no…… MUTILATED a simple fill.  Total brain fart.  All I could do was laugh.  Then I see the other drummers playing that night watching side-stage (we all check each other out like that…. it’s nice actually - a good brotherhood!) and all I could do was shrug my shoulders and throw up an “i just ate some shit” smirk.  It was great - I wouldn’t take that back if I had a choice.  It was just too funny!

Ok….. the NY gig.  I’m going to have to blog on that later.  It was fun…. but I’ve typed way more that I intended to tonight… and I still have to finish packing for my Baltimore move!

See ya!

James

It’s one thing to hit a three-day metal fest in order to see some of your favorite bands, it’s quite another when you’ve been in “the business” for a few years and your goal is to make the most of a few days with your friends from across the country.

The lineup for ProgPower is always a topic of discussion, since there’s such variance in the bands that members of the crowd will like some and usually offer their objection in a loud and drunken manner when they don’t like a particular band. My goal was to see the few bands I knew and liked, pay attention to a few I’d heard about but had never seen, and to outright avoid a few others. Mission Accomplished.

As opposed to the last time I went to Atlanta (in the middle of Hurricane Ivan), I had my far better half with me this time around. Sybir joined me for the trip, which made for a lot of fun. *ahem* a LOT of fun. The other major difference is that we drove this time instead of flying the John Denver special that almost turned Mike and I into the next bad Richie Valens movie.

So, for those who don’t know, ProgPower is three nights of metal (Progressive and Power Metal hence the name); a pre-party Thursday and then full lineups on Friday and Saturday night, and a ton of partying. Thursday night brought some familiar faces, as well as some surprises. Former label-mates Theocracy were on the bill, as well as Circus Maximus (who sounded unbelievable). The goal Thursday was to arrive safely in Atlanta, find our hotel and see the man who inspired me to sing lead, Zak Stevens of Circle II Circle.

We didn’t even get into the venue before I ran into people I knew, including the same three fellas running security from a few years back. I got singled out immediately. I think it’s cause I sent a half-dozen girls to dance for the staff to “Baby Got Back” last time I was in town. Then it was off to the bar and some metal. The same two bartenders were running the front bar, Jamie and the guy who could be his twin. They know how to pour a stiff drink, and therefore got most of our money. They also saluted our choice in liquor, which lead to an even heavier pour, and therefore, more drinking!

Even Sybir knows C2C, pretty well, and between her, Ron, and a few others, I had to endure several jokes about my similarities to Zak. I’ll take those any day of the week, thanks. So, if I’m going to dive into anyone’s performance, it’ll be theirs. They hit the stage with some familiar material from their first two CD’s, revved up and showing their enthusiasm for playing in front of close to a thousand people.

Zak used to sing for Savatage, from “Edge of Thorns” through “Wake of Magellan”, before taking a few years off. As a reward, the majority of C2C’s first two discs were co-written by long-time Tage boys Jon Oliva and Chris Caffery. The first half of the set was an exercise in what the fans already knew, including covers of Savatage’s “Handful of Rain” and “Edge of Thorns”. Then, C2C made a statement, playing half of their upcoming “Burden of Truth” CD.

Let me say, I LOVE where this band is headed. The new disc, written by the band, follows the plot of the DaVinci Code, and shows Zak off more than ever. Other than the crushing vocals, watch out for Andy Lee. This guy positively shreds on guitar. He made me want to rehearse, and I don’t even play guitar in Division. They wrapped up with “This is the Time” from Savatage’s “Dead Winter Dead”, which was sort of a weak finisher.

We had a wonderful time hanging out with some of our local homies, including Scott (overhaul your trannie) and Carol (Coldie), Dennis (Lens cap), Jennifer (I’m the president of the Wade Black fan club), and Doc Metal. There was more fun to come though…

I spent the day Friday at my day job. Yeah, really. I went in to work and juggled end-of-quarter business while doing some intense training on some new computer security products. It’s really cool stuff, and as an aside, I really enjoy what I do for my day job. I wasn’t such a huge fan of it at 7 AM when I was getting up to deal with I-285 and passing metal maniacs still partying from the night before.

Anyway, that took most of my day, so I got to return to the hotel and promptly rack out until I was restored to consciousness in the best manner possible.

We returned to the club after a good but slow dinner at a nice restaurant with some decent selection. The bourbon was good, we got to tease a few other friends, including Zilla, Glenn, Matt and Roger, and picked up a few discs as well. As for the music, we were very pleasantly surprised by one of the most fun bands I’ve ever seen: Freak Kitchen.

FK is a trio from Sveden, who absolutely enjoy what they do, and with songs like “Porno Daddy” and “Speak When Spoken To”, it’s easy to see why. Mathias, the guitarist, inspired the crowd to chant Goody Goody, which is the first time I’ve ever seen anyone do that. Chris, the bassist, was dressed like he had to defuse bombs between songs, and Bjorn, the drummer was just a beast.

FK was, by far, the greatest unexpected reward I’d ever thought of during the festival. For a lifelong fan of the Galactic Cowboys, they were enjoyable. We ran into them later and they were as gracious as they were talented, which was a nice touch.

Friday night was headlined and owned by Evergrey. Tom and the band were once again in full stride, playing almost two hours, including three backing vocalists, and a string section. The band, despite a fill-in bassist, was consistently powerful and emotional in what it does. Just like with the Kitchen boys, it was great to hang out with Tom and find him as down-to-earth and humorous as ever.

Later, we met Fabio Lione of Vision Divine, as he taught Babbette and Angela how to say such phrases in Italian as “Spank Me”. That was entertaining. We also caught up to the Canadian angel herself, my buddy Angela from Thangelic. It was two years since I’d seen her, and it felt great to see her again.

Saturday was up-and-down. I thought I’d sleep in but simply wasn’t able to, and wound up getting up way earlier than I’d wanted. Sybir, James and I took a long walk down to Borders, and back. We snapped a few cool shots though on the way. Afterwards, the absolute pitfall of the weekend was next on the agenda.

If you ever venture to Underground Atlanta, steer clear of the Irish Pub. It blows. It fucking blows. It took almost two hours for us to get appetizers and the wrong drink order. The entire place was just dirty and not worth the trip. In short, the end result was five of us in a rotten mood. It was an absolutely aggravating time, and I’d recommend an insurance fire to the owner in the immediate future.

We returned to the hotel, got cleaned up and hit the club in time for Zero Hour. Technically, one of the absolute most amazing acts I’ve ever seen, they were just way over my head at times. They also got partially butchered by the sound guy, since they were the first act of the day. The guys were totally in to what they were doing, and what they were doing was some of the most complex stuff I’d ever heard. I liked them but had a hard time finding a song I could bang my head to long enough to find a groove. Instead, we drank.

Vision Divine was up next, and since we’d met Fabio the night before, we decided to watch a few songs. (Did I mention the Canadian angel is just adorable?) VD was an entertaining band, and all in tune with one another, not only instrumentally, but in their movements, attitudes and enjoyment. I liked ‘em enough to grab their self-titled disc. And apparently “feather” is pronounced FEE-thur.

We caught a few songs from Epica, with whom we get to share a stage Tuesday night, and that band is very, very in tune with what it’s doing. Simone is a fantastic lead, both in presence and voice, and Mark, Ad and the other instrumentalists hold up what she does on stage very well. They were enjoyable to watch, and we’ll prep the crowd properly for them at Jaxx in a few nights.

I wound up picking up a few CD’s as a result of what I’d heard, including Vision Divine, and Freak Kitchen. From our last marathon trip to Minnesota, I felt like grabbing a Morgana LeFay CD as well. I also picked up Angra and XYZ; a guilty pleasure from high school.

We got up early and headed home on Sunday after properly saying our goodbyes on Saturday night. To say the least, PP VII was a fucking blast. Special thanks to everyone who chatted, hung out, harassed, kissed, hugged, slapped ass, shot some pics, banged their heads and basically just fed into the amazing energy of the place. Can’t wait till it’s us up there.

One Love!

nK