Studio Diary: Friday, 31th July; Day 18

Waking up with 12 hours sleep under the belt and feeling GREAT! I whacked on some Parkway Drive and read a little bit before going Denis'.

We began at 4.30. Mario and I first goin to the bakery to buy some mini sausage rolls! We then worked more on the drums of Rice. Not long after Theo began work on his piano for the song, whilst I updated SSP stuff on the net and Denis and Mario played GTA on the PS3. Mario's girlfriend then came along; 'what is this?? bring you girlfriend to work day??'. they then began playing Resistance and tried to kill each other, though it could not be done since they were on the same team. However they did notice Denis' player was black; 'I get that alot these days'. Mario and his girlfriend left to eat and Theo finished his piano which I thought sounded like pokemon, but then later thought it was more like Sigur Ros; 'same shit'.

We then finished all instruments for Ricae and called it a day.

Studio Diary: Thursday, 30th July: Day 17

Today was the first day we've actually had with all the band being here! We spent the day working on Rice and it sounds immense! With drums down the night before we worked on recording guitars and shtoof. Theo's girlfriend popped by for a little bit and felt like telling us how we weren't gonna get anywhere and that what we were doing was pointless. Then we split for lunch and came back around 4 - 5pm? We looked up record labels for our evergrowing list which is now like 20 labels, played GTA and worked on song till 9ish. We found a cool label called 'Metal Blade' or something haha which had this band called 'Rollin' With Tha Mutha' (of course it did); which featured Mike V (the pro skater). We're psyched if we get signed to them!

We then left to come back at 3ish tomorrow.

Studio Diary: Wednesday, 29th July; Day 16

Today I made three journeys to Denis' house.

11.00: We were meant to begin at 9.30 but I had a late night involving vomiting and beer lairiness and therefore woke up late and in pain and slightly hungover to 4 missed calls from Mario. We began laying down the instruments for Rice. Just rough so we could start drums. We left at 1.30 since Denis had to go out and eat with folks.

6.00: I returned by my lonesome and me and Denis recorde the last parts of the song and began drums. The drums sound mad good! reminding me of words like 'hope' and 'wings'. We established that the music could only be described as 'Whitney Houston falling down stairs'. We then added this craaaazy drum roll thing which we then felt sounded like 'Whitney Houston with a machine gun - angry because she fell down stairs'

10.00: I return once more, to continue where we left. In the gap I had visited my grandfolks and helped my father with things. Denis played GTA for a bit while I watched videos of The Chariot (THE best band, ever). We then continued. We began work on the beginning drums. Mario's bass sounded amazing. He made this neat little riff which is really quite beautiful. Denis described it as a 'sad black woman'. And then described the scene, her, with her children, in the back of a cab. I thought it sounded more like a 'young, beautiful woman'. Denis then plugged in his keyboard and turned to me and said: 'orchestral shit comin' at ya'. We then made the most PHAT beat in the history of beats right now. It's so gangsta; but in a good way. Denis said it now sounds like 'a sad black woman dancing in a club'.

'We need xylophone/vibraphone on it; how though?'
'I dunno, how?'
'How do you think?'
'Record us playing it through the mic?'
'What do I look like, Dr Dre!'

Studio Diary: Tuesday, 28th July; My Birthday

I arrived at Denis' at 11. Theo shortly afterwards and we set up in Denis' room and learnt Theo's song. The working title of it is 'Batt'. Theo not as organised as me drew a rather sketchy 5 min diagram. Nonetheless, it worked charms and we were well on our way. We 'ssp-ified' it and finished around 4, when I had to get back home and party it up.

2/3 new songs done in two day! Impressive!

Studio Diary: Friday, 24th July; Day 14?

Arrived at 2ish in the afternoon. Theo was on his way and Mario couldn't make it because he only went and got swine flu! Jeez. I told Denis as I entered the flat and he said that his throat was kinda saw and he felt a little sick. I freaked out and Theo entered. I told Theo and he too freaked out. We said we would come back later once Denis went and got checked at the hospital.

Turns out Denis had it, and had to be quarintined for 3 days.

Studio Diary: Thursday, 23rd July; Day 13

Todayyyy, I woke early and went straight to Denis for 9am! Noone showed up.

Me and Denis then sat (re)mixing our songs till 12.30 adding what's called a 'kylie minogue' to our sound, then establishing that our music is like flashing lights BUT for the ears and not the eyes... ah ha; Ear seizures and stuff! Then Mario arrived.

We set up in Denis' living room and practiced the New Song I havebeen working on. It's working title is 'Rice' and we completed it. Everything minus Theo's parts which we will work on tomorrow. It is sounding pretty intense! In the beginning it was rather naked but we soon infected it with our 'ssp sound'. We drew connections to Misery Signals in it; so any fans of them, yay! Should record it over the next few days.

We finished at 4 - 5. Peace out.

Studio Diary: Wednesday, 22nd July; Day 12

We had an evening shift tonight!
Just myself, Denis and Theo since Mario was busy.

We mixed Cairo! The last of our 6 songs! W00t W00t! Theo left early, and Denis and I chilled to what we had done. Before he left he told us of this relative of his, who once owned or worked for a big studio/record label? However, they managed bands such as Kylie Minogue and Dead or Alive ('you spin me right round baby right round' (the song Flo Rida ripped off)). Nevertheless this was pretty awesome, and apparently when Theo told him what we were doing he said we were on the right track! That was comforting and gave me a boost!

We then organised a session for tomorrow at 9am to begin work on a new song! We were now back on the road being creative! A break from our current songs.

Studio Diary: Monday, 20th July; Day 10000

Ok, we took a little timeout it seems.
This was due to complications with the army.
All is good now.

We regrouped at the meeting pub and made plans! I showed the guys the website; looking shweet as! Theo then left, never to return (that day) and Mario, Denis and I went to Denis' to mix Song 2. This was soon accomplished with us abusing the hell out of reverse effects. We then went down to the pub and to a gig to see fellow band mates Death Habit perform.

Studio Diary: The Weekend, 4th + 5th July; Day 9/10

Day 9: The day I come studio with a goatee

'You look like satan'
'I feel I look like a cop'

is the conversation that ensues when I get to Denis' at 5.30pm on Saturday.

We start mixing Mr A.M. after he shows me Song 4 and tells me I made the Re-Do list. Theo arrives an hour later and the exact same conversation begins. The song is sounding awesome with links to Cairo and Song 3 in sound par tapping. We are all giddy. Mario could not make it today and is coming tomorrow. We make a 'To-Do' list; we have sooo much to do. Theo begins to call me Reno 911 cos hes a dick. Instead of Victory Pubbing it, Theo and I drive to seafront and get Strongbow and Nuts. On this journey we broke the law by driving down a one way road with the possibility of traffic coming around the corner at any moment; was intense. At 11.30 we went to Limassol roundabout and gap song-ed it till 2ish where we scared the bejesus out of a small bird, were nearly mauled to death by a ferocious dog and found a drive-thru sandwich shop/supermarket where one literally pulled up to a window, told the guy what they wanted and he would wander the shop gathering your required condoments.

Day 10: The day I come studio with a moustache

'Now you look like a cop'
'I feel I look like a dick'

is the conversation that ensues.

Mario does bass for Cairo and then we both blitz through our 'Re-Do List'. There are numerous interviews throughout the day concerning Folk Week, Anal is Worth the Wait and Assfarm (the meaning of these will become apparent at somepoint. We also established that a beard grows better every(next)time you grow one. Therefore no matter how old you get in life you always have that to look forward to... eh, how about it! ANYWAY, the songs are sounding great and we split for lunch reconviening at 3.30pm where we do little work on Song 1 then go drink where we intend to discuss the music video. This takes about 2 minutes and we then start doing horrific impersonations of people. We leave early since Theo is 'under the thumb'. Tomorrow again at 10am. Goodnight x

Studio Diary: Wednesday, 1st July; Day 8

This is starting to become tiresome ha! But, we are now on post TWENTY.
And it's the FIRST of July!

TODAY I woke up, listened to The Spinto Band, Patrick Watson, Why?, Plan B; respectively. Then wanted some Scroobius Pip and Dan le Sac but couldn't find them on my PC.

Went to Denis' at 2pm and we fixed up Song 3 (mixing but not quite mixing) until 11pm.
During these 8 hours:

- The electricity went off numerous times
- Denis and I blew the heads of Zombies on a game called 'Resistance'?
- Theo re-did his entire piano
- Awesome tapping going on, shit was off the hook
- We made a Re-Do chart (below) w/awesome life-like drawings of us.
- Found out Natalie Portman is not who she appears to be
- Filmed a bunch of stuff
- I got a haircut
- Some great quotes going on; my favourite from Denis being 'If you think that's in time then you need to go back to time school motherfucker'
- Went 'Victory Pint' and had a hotdog w/ alcohol

Studio Diary: Tuesday, 30th June; Day 7

I went to Denis' at 2pm to record Cairo; Theo was coming at 5. There was alot of improvising on both parts and we got some awesome sounding licks; reminiscient of Bullet for my Valentine denis said. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, still sounds awesome though. Theo arrived at 6.30pm and tried some piano out. At 9ish I was tired and left while Theo and Denis stayed to work on Song 2 and a half.