December's Children: 2008

Sunday 7 December 2008

Rock 'n Roll is Dead

It is with sadness that I have to report that a few weeks ago Jack Richardson left for New York City. Any future gigs will feature a new lineup. We all wish him the best of luck for the future. News regarding the remaining members of the group will be posted in due course.

Sunday 14 September 2008

New Recordings, The Rhythm Factory, Stolen Wallets and that prat Mark Perrin...

This week has been a particularly exciting one for the band, not least because of our night at The Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel, but first things first!...

The eagerly awaited debut December's Children E.P. is now available to stream and download from Myspace. Mixed by Grant at Bakehouse Studios, these are the first recording to feature Jack Richardson, Marco Argenton, Luke Miles and myself. Jack has promised some new, exclusive artwork and free CDs containing the EP will be available at all future gigs, until they run out!

This Thursday, December's Children were featured in a Showcase night at The Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel, alongside our new friends, The Plastic Heroes. Having been parted with my wallet before we even made it to sound-checking, I think i'd be forgiven for being in two minds with regards to how it would turn out.

My hopes were then dampened by seeing that prat, who we'll refer to hereafter by the pseudonym "Mark Perrin" walk through the door. We crossed paths with him and his dreary, wannabe Liam Gallagher impersonations at The Arts Theatre Club, Soho, where he refused to let me use his amp. Therefore, we were all quite amused to see him arrive with his Amplifier hidden away under a waterproof sheet to keep the drips off, apart from him obviously, and then later to see his drummer complaining about not having a Hihat stand, although I think we can safely say that had there been one there at the start of his set, it may well have ended up lodged up a certain orifice.

Having been by this point even more apprehensive, I was greeted by Marc Olivier, frontman of The Plastic Heroes, dressed in the extraordinary attire i've come to expect from him and his band. - What a Jacket! For the first time as a band, I was unsure who was looking forward to see who's set more. It was my first chance to see the band perform and they were great, with original, catchy songs, as strong as their image.

By the time we came on stage we were raring to go, and opened with 'Another Land'. Having taken a little time to become accustomed with the rather peculiar levels of the foldbacks, we rocked straight into 'Dressed Like A Priest'. Luke held a really great backbeat, and it showed in Jack's delivery. I must confess to initially feeling I wasn't on best form, but with all the energy around me, and that extra bit of help from Marc's amazing vintage Marshall I was soon savouring every last moment. We ended with a really upbeat 'Do You Know', which went down a treat!

When we finally came off stage we were saddened to hear that the Promoter of the event had been attacked by a member of another band during our set. Whist he was not severely injured, he had sustained a cut beneath his eye and was rushed to hospital.

So, all in all it was a very colourful night, albeit not all for the right reasons. We are all really proud of these new recordings, and look forward to hearing your feedback about them. Again, I urge you to please 'Become a Fan' on Facebook to register for updates and let us know what you think of what we've been doing! Our next show is on the 25th September at Powers Bar and we'd love to see you there!

Saturday 6 September 2008

The Times They Are A-Changing

The Official December's Children newsfeed is now available on Facebook! By clicking here you will be taken to the December's Children Facebook page. By becoming a fan you with receive exclusive images of the band, as well as exclusive recordings, invitations to the latest gigs, and in the very near future exclusive merchandise such as free T Shirts, Posters and nights with Jack...

Thursday 4 September 2008

Putting the Rock in the Bakehouse Roll

At last, the day came to embark on our first formal recording session at Bakehouse Studios in South Wimbledon, South London. We arrived at 10AM with a whole host of ideas and equipment. We started by recording Luke's drums, with Jack in the Vocal booth laying down a guide vocal and guitar, and myself in the main room giving cues and strumming along. Having been out all night, Luke blew us away by recording all 4 tunes in no more than 2 takes! We then placed my little 20 Watt Class A Ashdown amp in the Vocal booth turning all the knobs to the right, and set up Jack's Fender in the main room. We patched the amps through to the control room upstairs and played live to the drums. The guitar melodies, and breaks were then overdubbed on top. Jack soon got to grips with monitoring his vocals through headphones and went on to record several vocal takes of each song, each one even stronger than the last. Marco arrived soon after, and in keeping with the day's productive nature, recorded his basslines in no time at all. The mixing has currently been left in the hands of in-house engineer, Grant, and are all eagerly awaiting the results, which are certain to be featured on our online music sites, and will be available for exclusive free download in due course. The tracks recorded are as follows: 'Another Land', 'Come Join Us', 'English Son' and 'Two Bad Blue Eyes'. Before I go, we'd all like to thank both Grant, and Charlie Hamblin for all of their ongoing help, and would like to encourage you to visit the Bakehouse Studio website.

Monday 1 September 2008

Another Land

This past week's been quite a crazy one for the band, but it's certainly opened up some doors.

Last Sunday, having rehearsed at Bakehouse Studios in South Wimbledon we discussed recording a demo there, which now appears to be in the pipeline!

On Wednesday we travelled to Brighton for a gig at Tom's Gallery. Sadly, the event collapsed into a pile of dust well before it began. It started with a disinterested sound man clearing off without actually sound-checking any of the bands. Following this, the promoter of the event succeeded in getting into an argument with almost everyone who had arrived, with the sad result of him getting bottled, and the audience leaving. We were then set up to play at 9:30 as the first band on, however having got bored, Jack had gone for a wander, and so we were moved on to the next set. We agreed with the bass player of the remaining band that he would lend us his bass amp for our set. I guess taking into account the rest of that day's luck it was inevitable that he would leave straight after he came off! Stuck without a bass amp the promoter attempted to bodge the bass through the PA, but it was sure to be in vain what with his lack of cables and inputs, and the girl behind the mixer banging out trashy wannabe 80's crap through the PA, just to make it easier to hear everything. In the end out of frustration Jack went into Another Land, before ending with cut-short rendition of Dressed Like A Priest, to an audience of one, who ironically really enjoyed it!

Thankfully, our faith was firmly restored last night with a return to Tommy Flynn's, videoed for Youtube! There was a great crowd who really enjoyed the show. It was a shame to have had to leave before the Plastic Heroes came on stage, not least cause they held the record for the coolest haircuts of the night, but we are on the same bill as them for our gig on September 11th at The Rhythm Factory.