Warmth

Hello Dear Friends,

As we leave a surprisingly short winter ( although I have a feeling the beginning of spring will be later than the official 1st September ) yet as always, it has been a period of growth for the band.

We've always been a band of opposites: Quiet / Loud, Fast / Slow, Melancholy / Optimistic, Positive / Sinister ( You get the picture ). This polar dynamic is starting to reflect itself in some of our new material. We are pushing in both directions and I for one am really happy with the results. I wish some benefactor would just pay for us to spend 6 months recording our mountain of material ( We would require rent, food allowance if anyone is feeling generous! )

Our performances of late have personally felt like some of the best and most emotionally charged shows we have ever played and we will be playing more and more of the new material we have been working on. So let us know what you think.

Expect some songs to be bigger and badder, expect some to be smaller and softer.

Open your heart and your ears and expect to be challenged.

With Love,

Adam

Your Beautiful Mug

Phew! What a crazy last few weeks. I have business coming out of my ears. But luckily for you this benefits you (the reader, dare we say, fan) greatly. There's a little taste of things to come for you, which will be downloadable. I hope you're as excited as I am. We'll let you know when that's done. Oh, and obviously, WHAT it is.

We've had some really great support these last few shows, we thank you. Tonightwedie and We Set Sail at ROAR was ama-zing zing as Nic's mentioned! And last Friday (20th Aug) was YourLMG's celebration of their 40th issue. What a great mag! So glad to have them around as they are a pillar in the Cape Town rock scene. The night was stellar! Some mercilessly beautiful blues from Natasha Meister; We Set Sail sent me to the stars and Sidecar Fire conjured up images of driving at night next to lakes in the rain... crazy cool. And we played last, just after midnight. We had tonnes of fun!

This weekend we're also heading into Durbanville and we'd like to see your beautiful mug there. We'll be popping eardrums at Blizzards, get directions here. We'll be there with New Mustangs and Taxi Violence. We haven't jammed with the boys from TV in ages and we're pretty stoked to share a stage with them again.

I've also been working on my solo lo-fi alt folk project, Tape Hiss and Sparkle. And I've released my first album, For You In Your Cubicle for download. I hope you enjoy it!

Lastly - but definitely not least - Jordi (who sadly left The Sleepers last year) has also been busy. Check out his band Anaphys, it will leave you gasping for air.

Over. Out.

Sy

Ivy In The Machine

all of us on the earth
here's the feeling that you'll never get anything
here's the feeling that you've got the world in your hands
as the innocent parasites grow
as the shadows lock away the dawn
the skeletons of progress
with all of us on this earth

i have been guilty of greed and sin
mother will eat all of her children but
humanity will be here 'til then so
look at the ivy in the machine

we're just sinking stone
buildings grown out to the bone
we're just sinking stone
with all of us on the earth

i will nurse and haunt you
i will build and break you
i am order
i am chaos
i'm your mother
and i will be here until the end

Thumb caught under Hammer of the Gods

As we keep saying we’ve been working very hard writing new songs, recording and video-ing over the past few months. Yet we still find time to play shows. Amazing. How do we do it?!

We played 2 shows over the past few weeks: Aandklas in Stellenbosch on the 31^st of July and ROAR in Observatory this past Friday the 13^th.

On Saturday the 31^st Adam and I met up to give our beloved pedalboards a bit of a spring clean. While re-velcro-ing a pedal I managed to snip into the index finger of my fretting hand with a pair of scissors. Adam, lovingly supplied me with a plaster. I checked after we’d played to see if it had stopped bleeding. It hadn’t. \m/Metal!

It was nice to be at Stellenbosch again after a very long time. This was our first show at Aandklas (organised by Silent Tendency), which is a pretty cool place (complete with exterior murals of local bands painted on walls and good food). I’d definitely hangout there if I lived closer.

We opened for Versus the Wolf (formerly New Altum) and the Pinkertons who each turned in great performances. The turnout was ok considering Metalfest was taking place next door at Klein Liebertas.

The show was significant in that it was the debut performance of One Antler Stag, one of the new ones. ‘n treffer inderdaad! It seemed to get a pretty good response which was nice.

__________________

Adam and I spent most of Friday the 13^th at producer Dirk Hugo’s house doing final overdubs for a song we’ve been recording. It’s always fun twisting knobs, pulling levers and hearing new sounds. More on that later, though (wink).

Later I arrived at ROAR with severe tooth ache. You see, I’ve been putting off having my wisdom teeth removed mainly so that I don’t miss shows while recovering. Lately, tho, it’s becoming more and more difficult to block out the pain in my jaw. Luckily the doctor behind the bar prescribed tequila. And I owe her a debt of gratitude. I was blissfully painless for most of the evening.

Given that it was Friday the 13^th and that the names of the bands that playing were The Sleepers, We Set Sail and Tonight We Die, it was deemed appropriate to theme the evening around the original Friday the 13^th myth. The date first became associated with bad luck via reports from sailors of the disappearances of ships at sea on this date through the years.

It was nice to see Tonight We Die again. The last time I saw them play was at Observatory Cool Runnings - not Runningz, or Rootz, but Cool Runnings – Yes, that long ago. I was quite fond of that place. It was quite a hub. We played many a good sweaty show there. Anyway, Tonight We Die did a good job of rousing a generous serving of delicious ROAR audience members. It was nice to see a lot of new faces as well as people we hadn’t seen out in ages.

Next on stage was We Set Sail, Adam and Steve’s ‘other’ band. :) Trinity, their trumpeter who was celebrating her recent birthday, donned a ship captain’s hat. I’m glad to say that they are definitely catching on with a lot of people - a lot of dancing and cheering.

By the time we played this were hot and sticky.... in a good way. Marné, We Set Sail guitarist, even joined us on stage for a bit of Restriction.

Now before this turns into a damn gig review I’ll just say that we played our pantses off, that once again we played One Antler Stag and debuted another new one called Tributaries. These 2 songs are particular favourites of mine. So one else seemed to mind them either. Great, I think we made some new fans. Sweet!

If you’d like to see what part of me I damage next, before I reach the stage, come see us at The LMG 40^th Issue Party at Zula Bar this Friday the 20^th along with Sidecar Fire, We Set Sail and Natasha Meister.

The signal is sent.

Nic out.

Friday The 13th at ROAR

A Hi-Hat Full Of Cheesecake

Two weeks have past. Three practices, one Mercury show, a drum recording and a long overdue blog. While being a very busy fortnight we were bombarded by chocolate muffins, doughnuts, cheesecake and beer to up our sugar levels and help us with our challenging ways.

First practice: a pre show practice. Having decided on a set for the upcoming show with Isochronous at Mercury that Friday, we were on our way. As it turns out we made a great choice as we had an incredible show. Along with having great sound and lighting, we filmed and recorded our performance (in 360 degrees) for your pleasure, which should be released in the not too distant future. Thank you to those who came through. (See if you can spot yourself in the photo)

After all was said and done it was back to recording drums at our friends, Stefan Wyeth and Liz Vogt, for two of our newest songs, The Fear and Sophie (Thanks to Antonio Manuel from Gandalfs/ROAR for lending us some microphones). Wooden floors, tall ceilings, tea, hotdogs and a microphone in the hall way, not much more a drummer could want. An update will be on its way soon.

Having played the show and gotten the drum tracks recorded it was time to start working on three new songs that we had been practicing over the past couple of weeks. Some new challenges and a slight shift in direction. With my own crib notes, cell phone recordings and a one mic recording I knew I had no excuse to mess it up, but alas I was incorrect. Luckily with the help of the guys and the above mentioned sweets and chocolates we were able to work through all three and they should be done really soon. Although the songs all sound really great, Tributaries is starting to become a new favourite of mine, but that is for you to find out..

Hope to see you all at our next show in Stellenbosch, this Saturday 31 July at Aandklas with Versus The Wolf and The Pinkerton

Much love

SGJ

Wodin's Day Practise and The Bar One Stone

Well first of all. Steve picked Nic and I up and we arrived a little early outside Kill City Blues. We were kindly verbally accosted by the drunk bergie and then were kindly let in to the practice rooms. Phew!

Discussions for a setlist this Friday at Mercury with Isochronous was a serious matter of contention. But a meaty set was furiously whipped up.

We also discussed recording drums on Thursday and Friday with our friend Stefan Wyeth in a wooden-floored room in our friend’s Observatory house. Which is sounding very cool apparently.

Then Nic Rixx came in to say hi. And then Steve’s packet of chips fell over. And I was sad. Because I love chips.



The Bar One Stone



I believe certain objects adopt you. I believe they find you and assist you with work or annoy you or just give you some sympathy. When we were recording A Signal Path in 2008, the Bar One Stone found me and helped me.

It was an ungainly looking geological nugget. It resembled a Bar One chocolate bar. Or rather the last bite left of one. There was a stoney toffee centre enveloped in an obsidian dark chocolate.

When we started recording I built a little coccoon in the RockitDog Studios with some black sheets and black bags. All the while I was behind that microphone I was clutching the Bar One Stone. It supported me... grounded me.

Alas the Bar One Stone has since left me to give someone else the support it so expertly gives out. I enjoyed our time together and thank it for it's support.