Recording Drums!

Got crackin' on the drums last night.... we now have drum parts down for "Theatre Of War", "Retribution" and "Into The Light". That brings the total now up to 5, with "Moon On The River" and "Say Goodbye" done way back in the latter part of last year.

Big pat on the back to Drew, and to thank him for all his sterling tub thumping and unpleasant gaseousness, here's one of those lovely moving picture things you all seem to like so much ... Can we get MONTAGE?!?!?


Hugs and kisses,
S-Crew x

One Year On ....

And it looks like it Might Just End ...
I can't believe its just shy of a year since my last post about Chris' departure from the band. And what have we been doing all that time? Bugger all.


No, thats not true. We have been out gigging, writing new songs and searching for a new vocalist. After a couple of false starts and some gigs with yours truly grunting his esteemed way through the repertoire, we're pleased to announce Lyndon Parry as the new vocalist of Skeleton Crew. We are about to undertake our first gig with him this weekend, and we have already made a head start on the recording, with 6 songs in the bag already.

Lyndon giving it some during recording.....

What can I say - we're all really excited about the way the songs are sounding. The again, every band says that, don't they? But its true. I was so excited last rehearsal that I ... well, you don't need to know that part. The long and short and curly of it all is that with luck and a fair wind, Bring It On will be out in June. And about bloody time too, as we're itching to get on with some new tunes!

Love to all.
SC.



In other news, Steve has invented the first BackPack PA system, ideal for buskers the world over. He, as you can see, is also quite pleased with how work on the CD is progressing.

It will never end ...

Just when I thought that this blog was about to draw to a close .. perhaps with an entry saying "CD is now available" .. we were dealt a bit of a blow earlier this week. Chris, our singer, has decided that his heart is no longer in Skeleton Crew and has decided to hang up his hat and SM58. We wish him all the best, there really is no animosity there, and he will be sorely missed, but we all agreed that if this band ceased to be fun, then it was time to stop. We have had a marvelous 3 years together.

Skeleton Crew will continue, and we have already had applications from singers to replace Chris. If anyone's interested in applying, please drop us a line! Once we find a suitable candidate we will then proceed to re-record the vocals and continue on with The Master Plan ...

Just when you think its all over

We've been back in recording mode again ... almost at the 11th hour of mixing, it became clear that My Life My Rules simply wasn't working. And after much soul searching, we realised we weren't prepared to let it go through as a filler, when it had potential to be such a great song. So we tried some different ideas and ended up with markedly different version ... and then it was time to blow the dust off the mics again and record the revised version.

It really has made a difference. My Life My Rules was the first Skeleton Crew song, and has probably suffered from being played to death, so its nice that the rewrite has given it a lot more energy and enthusiasm, which is much more in keeping with the rest of the tracks. It also marks our first recording at our new home, the Barnstone Country Club.

"I must not look up teacher's skirt"

Graham dispenses a little "aide memoire". And yes, I have avoided an obvious pun.

This week saw the conclusion of our recording sessions, with the last of the backing vocals now recorded. Most of the tracks have almost completed the mixing stage, its just a case now of listening to them through and making a few final tweaks, which means after all that we are still on target for a March release of Bring It On.

It may well be that the last recording session was also out last week in the scout hut too. In a strange and rather alarming way, we'll miss it, as we have done a hell of a lot in that place. I for one will miss the hot chocolate that tastes like effluent, the fact that we could play football in doors, braving the spiders in the toilet and the heaters that smell of burning children.

The recording process has so far taken 3 months. However, in that 3 months we have had 3 hours a week. Thats 12 hours a mont, 36 hours in total. A total of 12 hours of recording at my house, gives us 48 hours. So in total we will have made an album in 2 days. Niccccce.

Video finished and single released!

So at last we see some fruits of our labours! We released "How Come I'm Never Around" and the b-side "Driving Me Crazy" yesterday, as a £0.79 download for both tracks, and the video is now up on youtube. We're also adding the incentive that all those who buy the single will be sent a link to purchase the album for just £5.00 when its released. So if you fancy it, go ahead and click on the buy-it-now button below:

You can see the video on youtube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=Px8dvGmuRAs

And now, the briefest of little restlets, as gigging starts on Friday ...