The Time is Now!!!!!

So, today is a special day. The album is released and we play a headline show at the Louisiana. To say it is an exciting day is an understatement. As you can see from the attached pictures, the albums have turned up on time (due in part to a helpful DHL delivery man and a little run home at lunch time) and the certificates are done. We also have some nice little download cards which we will be selling at the show tonight (if CDs don't float your boat anymore). The cards are inspired by this nice little company. I would have used them had the link from bandcamp not insisted I buy from the US, pay 30 bucks shipping and wait 3 weeks (a bug in the moo site, not the band camp site).

So I've decided to do a weekend release special. The whole album is now streamable in high quality from our Bandcamp page here and you can buy the download including album artwork for half price, a mere £2.50. You can also buy the album for half price for the weekend only from here (also available for that price on the door tonight). This is just for the weekend I must stress so if you want it, come and get it while you can.

Now we really are reasy (sic) to rock. Bring on tonight.

Steve
xxx

Getting Close: Artwork Preview!!

So yes, it's pretty much all in the bag now. We have finished the share certificates and they are ready to be sent out with the CDs, which should be with us soon. They are currently being lovingly crafted by a big laser in France somewhere. To say we're excited is somewhat of an understatement. I've ummed and ahhed about previewing the album cover. It was up on Facebook yesterday as I wanted to host it somewhere to show a few people and a few other people saw it. The feed back was very positive and, therefore, in order to tantalise the tastebuds a bit more for the actual launch, here it is in all its gloriousness.

If it's not immediately obvious, the concept is that I am a preacher that no one is listening to. Hopefully it will make more sense when you hear the title track of the album. What I said about embarrassing situations in Broadmead shopping centre should also me more obvious. Clearly even though there weren't actually that many people there at the time (the marvels of modern technology) I still felt pretty stupid. This is obviously only part of the artwork, I will definitely leave the rest as a surprise. The download facility we are using at Bandcamp allows bonus files. So if you download the whole album for a fiver (or are lucky enough to be given a free download, either at the album launch or from one of our shareholders) you can download all the artwork that you can then print, cut and fold and add to a CD (if you feel so inclined). Obviously, if you're just an iTunes (or similar) user and get all your album covers via the CDDB service, it will be on there too.

So on to the album launch, which is bearing down on us like a large thing that bears down on unsuspecting folk. Everything is in place, the flyers and posters have been distributed, we got a nice little recommendation in Venue (not Venue Choice but then we are competing with the new Colston Hall launch) and the setlist is finalised. We have come across one potential little hitch. The attached picture should tell more than I can in words.

Isla O'Connor was born unto the world last Sunday. Isn't she a gem! Horrendously large congratulations to Michael and Emma. As you can see, however, this has rendered our guitarist rather full in the hands department. I was convinced that she would make a surprise guest appearance on the 26th but she decided to pop up three weeks earlier than expected. I am sure the man with the dancing fingers and the microphone aversion will do his best to make the show but little babies tend to be a bit more important than ageing rock stars. As a reminder (I am not sure whether I posted this before) but the line up for the launch is as follows:

8.40 - Cabaret Rat
9.30 - The Get Outs
10.15 - FIRSTOFTHEGIANTS

Tickets can be purchased in advance from Bristol Ticket Shop or on the door. Unless you're a shareholder in which case you get one free entry.

So yes, that's all for now folks. Not long now.

Steve FOTG

I Told Them About The Album Launch

The steam train that is the launch of our forthcoming album continues to chug on its musical tracks. Ugh, what a terrible metaphor, sorry to start a post like that. But yes, we are so very nearly there. All the album artwork and the master went to the duplcation company yesterday and in 10 working days we should have 500 jewel cased CDs and 500 packaged CDs ready to go to various record labels, blogs and magazines and so on. As you can see, we also have a poster for the album launch. Hopefully, if you live in Bristol, you will see one of these around somewhere as I have been putting them up all day. What fun I had. The poster gives a large clue to the album artwork although it is not what the final cover will look like. That will remain under wraps for the time being. Anyone that does live in Bristol should recognise the location and the lovely pink poster behind me.

We had the largest moment of indecision so far yesterday when, at the very last minute, the repro company asked if we wanted the CDs individually cellophane wrapped. Now personally I hate the plastic wrap around CDs that you often get in record stores. First of all, it doesn't allow you to have a nose around the CD and the inlay before you purchase and secondly, it's a complete pain in the arse to get in to. I still haven't found a sensible way of doing it without a scalpel blade. However, our resident designer (Michael, our guitarist) was convinced that having wrapping would present a professional image to our share holders. So I polled 4 share holders (the 4 people who I knew would be available on email at the time) and the two that regularly buy CDs said no and the other two said they couldn't care less. All that time I was thinking from an image point of view. Then it dawned on me that the plastic required to wrap 500 CD cases is actually quite a lot. I do so hate wasting plastic, this is why we have a whole cupboard full of plastic containers waiting to be taken to the recycling. So, in the end, I made the executive decision not to have plastic wrapping. I do apologise if that impairs your listening experience but please be mindful of the fact that it was purely an environmental decision.

One quick word on something I'm building a bit of a passion for lately. It has come to my attention that a lot of people, when they receive the CD, are likely to burn it to MP3s then put the CD away and never (or rarely) get it out again. Well I hope they burn it before they do that anyway. I would therefore like to request that those that do this, burn it in as high quality as the space on their mp3 players will allow. If you use itunes this means going to Edit>Preferences>Import Settings then selecting MP3 Encoder from the drop down list and then, ideally, use Custom and encode it at 320kbs. I challenge people to encode at this rate then use the standard 128kbs rate and compare the two. You will be astounded, I guarantee it. In this age of making music more instantaneous and accessible, it is very important that we do not compromise on quality as a result.

Now please excuse me while I watch the end of Captain Corelli's Mandolin (spoiler alert, ze Germans just killed all the Italians, ouch) and finish my glass of Merlot in preparation for my 13 mile run tomorrow. It's hard being a rock star.

Arrivederci

Stephen