Friday 26th October 2012

Practice at Big Noise Room 3 8 - 11 tonight. We'll be working on So Far To Hell And Back tonight, This track is finished but not arranged so we'll be working on the arrangement tonight & hopefully come out with something definate. Setup might take a little longer tonight because of using the new Condensor Mic and i'll have to figure out the studios mixer to set it up how we want it. Hope Dave does'nt forget to bring the leads and the pop sheild.

Update [23.10.2012]

Not much has been going on the past month. Illness and lack of a Rhythm guitarist has rendered the band in suspended animation for a short while. I've continued to write new potential riffs and practice the other tracks. Dave (Singer) has been constantly putting lyrics together for the already established riffs. We're confident about the new material and practice will resume as normal next Friday even if it's only the 3 of us, Me (Lead Guitar) Paul (Drums) and Dave (Vocals) after a long break we really need to get together and work on the material. I've got The Studio Condensor mic and some Sony Studio Monitor Headphones now aswell so we can plug the Condensor mic into the Mixer at the studio for the Phantom power and XLR connection then plug the headphones to the the monitor and the output to my laptop running Cubase 6 to record the sessions using the Condensor mic in the figure 8 position to pick up the vocals on one side and the rest of the band on the other using it like a room mic.Dave (Singer) has got the leads and the pop shield so he'll need to remember to bring them to the session. I got the laptop the other day. It was kindly given to me by my good friend of mine who's name is "Campino" he got himself a new one so very generously gave me his old one. "Thanks so much for that mate, it's greatly appreciated & will be very usefull to me and the band Thanks" The search for Rhythm Guitarist and Bassist is still ongoing & I'm sure that we'll find the right people eventually but for now the grindstone still turns and we need all the practice we can get. New material is being written all the time we need to get back to work on it. So! Practice as usual this Friday 26th October people see you there. And remember that it'll cost us a little more this time because there's only the 3 of us. I work it out a about £6.66p each for the session. What dy'a know "666" :) \M/ lol.

Progress Report

We did't go to Big Noise this week i did't see the point since we had only one guitarist and the track need two guitarists because the two parts played together make the tracks what they are and if only one guitar part is playing then the whole thing sounds empty. So instead Paul Dave and me had a songwriting session round at mine instead. I figured that it'd be a good chance to put the new Pro Tools HD 10.3.0 to work :) Anyway we went over possibilities for the verse and chorus parts to It's So Far To Hell & back its soundimg really good. The lyrics are virtually done there are a lot of definates on paper now and its coming together well we wrote a chorus riff and some possible lyrics for it aswell. Its all about arrangement & presentation now. Daves been writing and recording possible lyrics on his phone and we gave them a listen aswell as some guitar ideas from me and Drum ideas from Paul. It's shame Ryan did'nt come Wednesday or Friday because he's fallen behind now and thats not a good idea concidering the length of time he's been with us. He can't make it on Fridays and thats a problem with everyone in the band for conveniant practice time. Wie really need to sort something out cause we need that Rhythm guitar there. Apart from that progress has been good and theres talk of a new track in the band.

Rehearsals Friday 14th September 2012

Practice is on as usual tonight Big Noise 8-11 Room 3 Ryan is coming tonight for his second audition. Hopefully he's got some understanding of how the tracks are build up by now after a week with the tabs he should know the basics by now. Dave ssays he's got some new lyric ideas for Massive Overload so i look forward to hearing what he's got and i know he can't wait for me to hear it :) We're all gon na have to p+ay +a +li+ttle e-xtra tonight to cover w hat Sean did'nt pay the practice he walked out and i'm not sure if we should be asking Ryan to chip in on his second audition although he might want to. I work it out at £8.33 each and i pay £8.34 to make it what we owe and Ryans share. Thanks Sean. Anyway hopefully it'll be a good one tonight Dave and me got together last Wednesday to throw around some lyric ideas and we'll be putting em' into action tonight. Now i'm gonna eat my dinner go for a smoke and carry on with my warm up.

Song Writing Session [08.09.2012]

Cancelled going to Big Noise tonight due to lack of a Rhythm guitarist and funds to pay the bill :) Instead Dave came round to mine and we spent a few hours going over some riffs and putting lyrics together. I'm Well happy with the progress where making despite the lack of Rythm Guitar and bass. It's given us a bit of time to focus on the lyric writing and melody placements. We have possibilitys for the 1st and 2nd verse to Massive Overload and also put together a verse riff the verse melody and some lyric ideas for So Far. It's going really well. The vocals are rough at the moment but given a proper vocal recording mic a mixer and time to practice and get the placement and key right it's gonna be amazing. I'm feeling very optimistic. Gonna audition a few new Rhythm guitarists next week i really hope i can find the right person who can play the riffs as well as i can play them. I don't mind teaching but i'd prefer not to have to. I've posted the tabs for 2 FLASHPOINT tracks and i'm asking anyone wanting to try out for Rhythm guitar to look at them and learn them to the sample tracks before meeting up to audition.

Auditions

Due to the amount of interest to audition for Rhythm guitarist i'm gonna tab out the rhythm guitar parts for the 3 sample tracks posted on the FLASHPOINT blog and bandmix. Anyone wanting to audition for rhythm guitar please listen to the tracks and work them out using the tabs. The decision to keep you in the the band will be based on your ability to play the already established patterns for these tracks. If you are accepted to join the band you will be free to add your ideas to any new material we write from then on. I have already tabbed the Rhythm guitar parts for Massive overload and it's posted on this page i will be tabbing out the other 2 tommorrow for anyone interested. To everyone that has contacted me about a tryout please be patiant i will get to you. There's quite a few people wanting to try out and i'm finding time to hear everyone that wants to be heard real soon. In the meantime please listen to the sampe tracks and work out the rhythm guitar or bass parts whchever applies to you for each track. I will be posting Rhythm guitar tab tommorrow as mentioned above. Use this time before meeting up to work out and practice these tracks to the best of your ability. Thanks.

Midweek songwriting session

Dave (Singer) Mentioned that he would like to have a midweek practice. Paul (Drummer) won't be able to make it because of his working hours, And Sean walked last practice but it will just be a melody and lyrics writing session so Dave and me could do it at my home studio. I'll multitrack the whole thing through Pro Tools and use MIDI to fill in for the drummer. It'll be good to have some one on one time to get the lyrics finished for Massive Overload. I think maybe Wednesday's but i'll have to confirm it with Dave.

Girly Strops Over Picks

Well just got back from the studio, We Got the first verse lyrics written for Massive Overload tonight,Finally! We're gonna work on the chorus next week. Oh yeah and Sean packed up his shit and walked out half way through the session because he said someone had nicked all his picks... Yeah i know... I had a tin full of picks with me i would have given him a few of mine if he wanted them Not sure what's happening. I think i'll be looking for a new rhythm guitarist now. Paul (Drummer) and Dave (Singer) are still up for it i asked them and made sure. I said "If you don't wanna be here then don't come, I'll find someone that does wanna come" They both said that they still wanted to carry on. It's just Sean hes been moody and unco-operative for a while now. And he can't play half the stuff i write anyway so it might be a good thing. FUCK! Now i need to find a new guitarist that will turn up co-operate and can play my riffs.. Grrr!!! But As "Gene Simmons" once said "The thing that got me through was my own selfish stubborness to think Why should i let some knucklehead ruin what i have built, I'm not gonna let someone elses problems or ruined life destroy everything i've worked so hard to achieve" Next weeks mission is to finish the verse we where writing this week then write the chorus. Dave was talking about having a midweek songwriting seesion aswell as the Friday night 8-11 session. I think that's a very good idea, Infact i've been pushing for jaming 3 times a week for some time now. For now i'm gonna record all the rhythm guitar parts as a backing track to replace the missing guitar until i can find a new Rythm guitarist.

New Band Member

FLASHPOINT New Linup. [FilGee - Lead Guitar/Producer] [Sean - Rhythm Guitar] [Paul - Drums] [Dave Lawrie - Vocals] No Bass Player Yet (Open For Auditions) We've a new vocalst joined the band last night after answering an ad and auditioning. We where inpressed with his audition and he seemed happy with our arrangements. Welcome to the band Dave and i hope that we can all write some killer material together. Look out for thoes tracks in your email i'll be sending them a bit later on. All we need now id a bassist. Sean had the idea that maybe he could play bass for a while and i take care of all the guitar parts until we can find a permanant bassist. I'm not sure if that's what we are gonna do yet though. Time to get to work and write some music I feel more optimistic about things now hopefully it will work out well.

A fresh New Look

Time to take a fresh new look at our situation as a band. I'm booking rehearsal space today for Friday. The question is are we going to Big Noise or Audio Works ? I chatted with Justin at audio works last night and he sounded more than happy for us to go over and use one of the studios there for writing/auditions/rehearsals. Sean and me talked about it on the phone last night and he said he might check it out on the way to work. It looks quite good but i think that there's only 2 studios not sure on that though. http://www.audio-works.co.uk/ Big Noise http://www.thebignoisestudio.com/ has just been refurbished and hopefully will now how some sort of air conditioning as when we used to go there it was so hot in those rooms that the amp tubes started blowing out on the Marshall's :) personally i think we should go with Audio Works, New start new rooms i reckon. Anyway The singer that answered the ad will be coming aswell (Hopefully) so we'll get to hear what he's like and make a decision as to whether he's staying or not. He chose "Seether - Like Suicide) as an audition song. I hope he sings it well. Sean had a thought that maybe he could play bass and the band have one guitarist like Pantera and Van Halen until we can find a permanant bassist for the band. I'm drawing up an itinerary for rehearsal tommorrow so that the time is'nt wasted messing about Not that that's gonna happen :) But i think that we should'nt get our hopes up for tommorrow and think of it as time to meet the vocalist and work out a stratagy plan for what we are gonna be writing and rehearsing over the next few month's. We need a pln and stick to it if this is ever gonna go anywhere. Write, Arrange, Practice, Practice, Practice, Record, Mix, Master, Burn, Design packaging, Distribute, Promote, Promote, Promote, Gig, Gig , Gig, Promote, Promote, Promote, Practice ,Practice,Practice. A successful and well used plan for success :) Anyway i've got my fingers crossed that it'll fall into place tomorrow but even if it doesn't we'll just have to try harder.