my god, these last weeks have been so much work and none of if has been music. i hate when it's like that. i need to play with the band once a week at the least or i get really grumpy. but sometimes i don't run the show and sometimes there are other things to be done. so the best thing is to get them out of the way so you can focus on the important stuff. i'm not the kind of guy who shoves things under the carpet. anyways, come october i'll be rid all them obstacles and back on my main focus: the next lingua album. i know, this sounds a bit one sided. and i do assure you that the rest of the band have been hard at work whilst i've been gone. but they don't write this blog, even though they could at any time. the word is free, but it's my voice you hear.
and speaking about my voice, i thought it would be fun to tell you all how the band met in the first place and how we finally became lingua. i'll be going through all that in a near future. among putting up some videoclips from the studio and maybe even a sneak of some song yet to be heard outside of our studio walls.
//misha.
9/22/09
8/24/09
kick out the jams.
it feels like ages ago i was going to rehearsals when in fact it was only last week i was there. but for the last three months we've been recording the new album and much of it has been done during vacations so we haven't been more than two guys at a time in the studio. today, we're not pressing rec, we're not being captured, we're not thinking. it's only a rehearsal and we're all going to be there. you se we realized the following the other day:
a. we're a bit shakey on some of the songs,
b. we haven't seen each other as a group in over three months and
c. we need a break from all the seriousness.
so tonight will feel a bit like a high school reunion, except no one will be wearing any home coming crowns. or maybe we all will. king for a day...
a. we're a bit shakey on some of the songs,
b. we haven't seen each other as a group in over three months and
c. we need a break from all the seriousness.
so tonight will feel a bit like a high school reunion, except no one will be wearing any home coming crowns. or maybe we all will. king for a day...
8/14/09
and you will know us by the curegarden dredgtone tool of a muse.
i got a comment from beardonaut about our working title 'cure lou' and it got me thinking of all the stupid working titles we've had throughout the years. actually, sometimes they've had those titles for so long that even when we do name them, we keep mentioning them by working title name.
i wrote 'cure lou' at home and it started with the bass line. the only bass i have at home is an old accoustic one i bought from a friend when he needed money to move out of town. when i played the line on an accoustic bass it really sounded like the cure. i recorded it on my 4-track zoom and started adding guitars and, while still accoustic, it started sounding a lot like tiger lou. you can figure out the title by now, but would i not have told you this story you would have wondered why a song that sounds like something muse could have done bares the name of two quite different artists. it goes to say without question that i named it before we started rehearsing it.
if song don't get lame working titles like 'the new', 'the new new' (depending on how many songs we are working on at the time) or 'the b-song' (reminding us of to tune our instruments way down) they often get titles refering to what other bands the songs sound like. we've had songs like 'the isis rip off', the deftones song', 'soundgardenish' and 'tool circle'. before 'prodigal son' got its new title it was called 'gossard' because i felt i moved like him whilst playing the song. trying to copy a riff by mouth gave 'dagadagá' its title. i don't know where we got the idea from but i guess they are funny remarks that reminds us that all music has been done and we're all just stelaing, borrowing and rearranging music. maybe every band have working titles like these? i also remember when i got my hands on one of faith no more's set list back in 1997 and found the title 'whitney' among a few titles i did not recognize. i started reading their faq's on the world wide web and found that they had these names for some of the songs for no apparent reason. 'whitney' was a remark that 'land of sunshine' had something to do with whitney huston. i never figured out what, but i still thought it was funny.
two other working titles right now are 'judgement day' (although we say 'domedagen' which is the swedish word for it) and 'the sound of inevitability'. well, i think you pretty much can figure out what those two songs sounds like without me adding any more words to this post.
///misha.
i wrote 'cure lou' at home and it started with the bass line. the only bass i have at home is an old accoustic one i bought from a friend when he needed money to move out of town. when i played the line on an accoustic bass it really sounded like the cure. i recorded it on my 4-track zoom and started adding guitars and, while still accoustic, it started sounding a lot like tiger lou. you can figure out the title by now, but would i not have told you this story you would have wondered why a song that sounds like something muse could have done bares the name of two quite different artists. it goes to say without question that i named it before we started rehearsing it.
if song don't get lame working titles like 'the new', 'the new new' (depending on how many songs we are working on at the time) or 'the b-song' (reminding us of to tune our instruments way down) they often get titles refering to what other bands the songs sound like. we've had songs like 'the isis rip off', the deftones song', 'soundgardenish' and 'tool circle'. before 'prodigal son' got its new title it was called 'gossard' because i felt i moved like him whilst playing the song. trying to copy a riff by mouth gave 'dagadagá' its title. i don't know where we got the idea from but i guess they are funny remarks that reminds us that all music has been done and we're all just stelaing, borrowing and rearranging music. maybe every band have working titles like these? i also remember when i got my hands on one of faith no more's set list back in 1997 and found the title 'whitney' among a few titles i did not recognize. i started reading their faq's on the world wide web and found that they had these names for some of the songs for no apparent reason. 'whitney' was a remark that 'land of sunshine' had something to do with whitney huston. i never figured out what, but i still thought it was funny.
two other working titles right now are 'judgement day' (although we say 'domedagen' which is the swedish word for it) and 'the sound of inevitability'. well, i think you pretty much can figure out what those two songs sounds like without me adding any more words to this post.
///misha.
8/12/09
brun utan soul.
yep, i know, a bit slow on the updates lately. but vacations are over and it's back to balancing work, kids, music and girlfriends. they all need their share of attention or else we'll lose touch, get dumped or fired. let's not go there.
but me and thomas were in the studio monday night and added some guitars to 'dejected' and last thursday we did 'uptempo' (yep, still untitled) so together with 'prodigal son', 'foment' and 'cure lou' (working title) we have five songs for thomas to add vocals on. 'foment' and 'prodigal son' already have his voice on them so tomorrow we are focusing on 'uptemo' and 'dejected'. the latter of those two got a brand new solo on top of the old one and i really hope it turns out good in the mix so we can keep it. only problem is i don't know how i will solve it live. but, we're treating this record as our last, so no need to think about that, right?
five songs! can you believe it? and we have more takes on drums to add guitars and bass to, but we figured we'd complete these five first. i wouldn't wanna leave thomas with fifteen songs to mix or add vocals to in a row.
but it's so damn fun recording the songs and since we havn't rehearsed in ages, it's like discovering them again. sometimes i find that i've forgotten how we play the songs and have to listen to old rehearsal takes to figure them out. i like that, it makes it less like work and i get a chance to rewrite parts i wasn't all that content with. like the solo on 'dejected'. or the solo on 'foment' that got a second guitar with harmonics. once again i've no idea what to do with it live, but with our history of touring i see no need to worry.
thomas is a happy camper as well. he's going out there alone at nights and adding so many vocal tracks it seems like a rock opera. but it's all good. and fun! as i told you before, we promised you a grand record armed to the teeth with layers and fireworks. so far we're keeping that promise.
later
///misha.
but me and thomas were in the studio monday night and added some guitars to 'dejected' and last thursday we did 'uptempo' (yep, still untitled) so together with 'prodigal son', 'foment' and 'cure lou' (working title) we have five songs for thomas to add vocals on. 'foment' and 'prodigal son' already have his voice on them so tomorrow we are focusing on 'uptemo' and 'dejected'. the latter of those two got a brand new solo on top of the old one and i really hope it turns out good in the mix so we can keep it. only problem is i don't know how i will solve it live. but, we're treating this record as our last, so no need to think about that, right?
five songs! can you believe it? and we have more takes on drums to add guitars and bass to, but we figured we'd complete these five first. i wouldn't wanna leave thomas with fifteen songs to mix or add vocals to in a row.
but it's so damn fun recording the songs and since we havn't rehearsed in ages, it's like discovering them again. sometimes i find that i've forgotten how we play the songs and have to listen to old rehearsal takes to figure them out. i like that, it makes it less like work and i get a chance to rewrite parts i wasn't all that content with. like the solo on 'dejected'. or the solo on 'foment' that got a second guitar with harmonics. once again i've no idea what to do with it live, but with our history of touring i see no need to worry.
thomas is a happy camper as well. he's going out there alone at nights and adding so many vocal tracks it seems like a rock opera. but it's all good. and fun! as i told you before, we promised you a grand record armed to the teeth with layers and fireworks. so far we're keeping that promise.
later
///misha.
7/30/09
signed, sealed, deliverance.
it is official! as of july 28th, aural music released the following statement on their website:
LINGUA SIGNS WITH AURAL MUSIC AND ENTER STUDIO - Lingua from sweden signed a new deal with Aural Music and are currently in the studio making the new and much anticipated follow up to their 2006 debut The Smell of a Life That Could Have Been. If The Smell... was a journey inwards and an ode to the angst of passed youth, the new album breathes heavily of growth and self esteem as most members of the band pushes 30. The music has the same tone as it always has, but the energy is far more intense. This time the music isn't as much searching as it is demanding. Expect nothing but grand landscapes, big productions and, of course, emotional rock when the album hits the shelves. Til then, be sure to check out the band s blog as they update continously from the studio with diaries, pictures and other treats. www.lingua.nu - www.linguamusic.blogspot.com
any questions?
*silence*
good, let's get to work then.
LINGUA SIGNS WITH AURAL MUSIC AND ENTER STUDIO - Lingua from sweden signed a new deal with Aural Music and are currently in the studio making the new and much anticipated follow up to their 2006 debut The Smell of a Life That Could Have Been. If The Smell... was a journey inwards and an ode to the angst of passed youth, the new album breathes heavily of growth and self esteem as most members of the band pushes 30. The music has the same tone as it always has, but the energy is far more intense. This time the music isn't as much searching as it is demanding. Expect nothing but grand landscapes, big productions and, of course, emotional rock when the album hits the shelves. Til then, be sure to check out the band s blog as they update continously from the studio with diaries, pictures and other treats. www.lingua.nu - www.linguamusic.blogspot.com
any questions?
*silence*
good, let's get to work then.
7/18/09
the world is our oyster.
i recieved a mail the other day saying we need to make new promo shots for the upcoming outing of the album on our new labels website. you'd figure it's not a big deal, but what do you do when everbody's on vacation and you can't even place the whole band in the same city for fifteen minutes for the next four weeks? you do the only thing you can do.
so i booked dates for single shoots with everybody and had my girlfriend photograph me. then i printed the best photos, glued them onto cardboard and cut out little figurines of each and every band member. it took a while, but now i have four linguistic mini me's on my coffe table ready to take on the world. they will climb sand dunes, pose by large trucks and do other things you wouldn't dream of little people doing. so, if you have any ideas of what kind of photos you'd like to see us in, now is the best time to make your voice heard.
//misha.
lingua getting ready for some action!
so i booked dates for single shoots with everybody and had my girlfriend photograph me. then i printed the best photos, glued them onto cardboard and cut out little figurines of each and every band member. it took a while, but now i have four linguistic mini me's on my coffe table ready to take on the world. they will climb sand dunes, pose by large trucks and do other things you wouldn't dream of little people doing. so, if you have any ideas of what kind of photos you'd like to see us in, now is the best time to make your voice heard.
//misha.
lingua getting ready for some action!7/14/09
black hole sun.
so, me and patrik were in the studio yesterday (we really need to name it one of these days) and it reminded me i had a story to tell you.
a couple of weeks ago we were recording an untitled song that might be one of the oldest ones to be on the record. you can listen to it on our myspace, it's called 'untitled'. it's a short, uptempo track. really powerful and i especially love the fact that it hits its first chorus at 17 seconds. as normal lingua songs has that happening at two minutes (exaggerating a bit), it makes it quite unique. anyways, it was me, thomas and patrik hanging in the studio. we were laying drum tracks and thomas recorded it while i was there to add the right feeling and guidance through the songs. we played it a couple of times as we set the right sound and as we finally settled for a good one we nailed it with a perfect take on the first try. great sucsess. all good in the neighbourhood.
a week later i get a phone call with thomas just saying "you're gonna have to re-record 'uptempo' ". i was just about to get mad as he started laughing. first i thought he was going to take it back but then he started telling me the story. apparently thomas and anders were in the studio adding bass to the takes me and patrik had made. as they were laying down 'uptempo' (or 'untitled' if you will) anders hit chorus too early. "sorry" he said, as they had another go at it. this time, as he once again hit chorus too early it stood clear that we had made the verse too long. the verse is a 3/6 tempo thing with a 4/4 patterned riff. that means we all repeat a 4/4 pattern thrice which makes it a 3/6 tempo (i think, we all suck at musical terms as no one is a schooled musician). but it turns out we had recorded it as a 4/4 completely, repeating the 4/4 pattern four times. so it was back to work and throwing away a (what seemed as) a perfect take.
now, queston, how in the hell did we miss this? we listened to the song a numerous of times, just as many times as we played it. thomas even tried to sing along to the chorus once, we tried to help him. we failed, and blamed the late hour and sleepy heads. what the hell?
well, even the sun has its spots and this story could have gone to the grave quietly and unheard, but do you really think i would let that happen?
//misha.
a couple of weeks ago we were recording an untitled song that might be one of the oldest ones to be on the record. you can listen to it on our myspace, it's called 'untitled'. it's a short, uptempo track. really powerful and i especially love the fact that it hits its first chorus at 17 seconds. as normal lingua songs has that happening at two minutes (exaggerating a bit), it makes it quite unique. anyways, it was me, thomas and patrik hanging in the studio. we were laying drum tracks and thomas recorded it while i was there to add the right feeling and guidance through the songs. we played it a couple of times as we set the right sound and as we finally settled for a good one we nailed it with a perfect take on the first try. great sucsess. all good in the neighbourhood.
a week later i get a phone call with thomas just saying "you're gonna have to re-record 'uptempo' ". i was just about to get mad as he started laughing. first i thought he was going to take it back but then he started telling me the story. apparently thomas and anders were in the studio adding bass to the takes me and patrik had made. as they were laying down 'uptempo' (or 'untitled' if you will) anders hit chorus too early. "sorry" he said, as they had another go at it. this time, as he once again hit chorus too early it stood clear that we had made the verse too long. the verse is a 3/6 tempo thing with a 4/4 patterned riff. that means we all repeat a 4/4 pattern thrice which makes it a 3/6 tempo (i think, we all suck at musical terms as no one is a schooled musician). but it turns out we had recorded it as a 4/4 completely, repeating the 4/4 pattern four times. so it was back to work and throwing away a (what seemed as) a perfect take.
now, queston, how in the hell did we miss this? we listened to the song a numerous of times, just as many times as we played it. thomas even tried to sing along to the chorus once, we tried to help him. we failed, and blamed the late hour and sleepy heads. what the hell?
well, even the sun has its spots and this story could have gone to the grave quietly and unheard, but do you really think i would let that happen?
//misha.
7/12/09
what happened?
so, a new album. if you ask me it's about time! we should be on our third. but when we released "the smell..." we were rookies and didn't make the most of what we were given. also, record sales were down worse than ever and that left us quite unprioritized. it was a bad combination. still, we're damn proud and glad we got to make an album, and even more so to be given the chance to make a second. not many bands are that lucky today.
when we made "the smell..." we recorded eight songs and all of those had to make the cut. in retrospect, we all wish we would have recorded a few more just to have an arsenal to choose from. all songs were good from start, but you never know how songs will translate themselves in the studio and there are songs didn't turn out the way we wanted them to. there always is. so when our first royalties came, we decided to buy our own gear and record the music ourselves. this way we can spend any amount of time on any song, wasting only our own time instead of our hard earned in a studio where time is money. the stress runs off, we make better songs. it's a total win. and since we haven't released anything except two pre-recorings on our myspace after our debut, we have loads of material to choose from. we've selected 16 out 28 songs that we hope to record before we sit down, listen to the material and (in worst case) make cuts.
with this new freedom in hand, we enjoy every moment we get in our twenty square meter excuse for a rehearsal room. so far, drums have been layed down for six tracks. three of them have bass and guitar, and we've just started recording some vocals to the songs that have lyrics. i'm not envious of thomas, he has another ten or so lyrics to write before the end of this summer. the rest of us are merley polishing the last details to our parts and adding strange noises and playing around with ideas that pop up. some are good, some are erased immediately. i'd say the attitude towards the whole process is playfull and open minded. everything is tried at least once. if it works it works. if it doesn't, move on.
we're looking at an exciting summer to come. we'll keep you posted.
when we made "the smell..." we recorded eight songs and all of those had to make the cut. in retrospect, we all wish we would have recorded a few more just to have an arsenal to choose from. all songs were good from start, but you never know how songs will translate themselves in the studio and there are songs didn't turn out the way we wanted them to. there always is. so when our first royalties came, we decided to buy our own gear and record the music ourselves. this way we can spend any amount of time on any song, wasting only our own time instead of our hard earned in a studio where time is money. the stress runs off, we make better songs. it's a total win. and since we haven't released anything except two pre-recorings on our myspace after our debut, we have loads of material to choose from. we've selected 16 out 28 songs that we hope to record before we sit down, listen to the material and (in worst case) make cuts.
with this new freedom in hand, we enjoy every moment we get in our twenty square meter excuse for a rehearsal room. so far, drums have been layed down for six tracks. three of them have bass and guitar, and we've just started recording some vocals to the songs that have lyrics. i'm not envious of thomas, he has another ten or so lyrics to write before the end of this summer. the rest of us are merley polishing the last details to our parts and adding strange noises and playing around with ideas that pop up. some are good, some are erased immediately. i'd say the attitude towards the whole process is playfull and open minded. everything is tried at least once. if it works it works. if it doesn't, move on.
we're looking at an exciting summer to come. we'll keep you posted.
7/10/09
signal to noise.
welcome to this blog which will be our new home for a couple of months or more as we record our second album! we figure you have some questions, but let us ask them for you.
a new album, seriously?
yes! we know it's taken a while (read: forever), but a cotract has been signed and equipment has been bought. this baby is going to be recorded in our rehearsal room and so far it sounds great!
why a blog?
it's a perfect tool for this mission, to shed some light over our work and to let you in on the process. we also hope it's a far more interactive way to keep in touch with fans and friends. our goal is be as open as possible, please ask questions.
why not the blog on myspace?
because it sucks.
what's the name of the album? who's producing it? what label is going to release it?
all those questions have answers but will be answered in due time. be patient, as you have been for the last three years.
for now, the blog remains white, as the blank sheet of paper the album still is. but as our wrk progresses, changes are going to be made as artwork and themes are set.
welcome to what is going to the journey to a new lingua album!
//misha.
a new album, seriously?
yes! we know it's taken a while (read: forever), but a cotract has been signed and equipment has been bought. this baby is going to be recorded in our rehearsal room and so far it sounds great!
why a blog?
it's a perfect tool for this mission, to shed some light over our work and to let you in on the process. we also hope it's a far more interactive way to keep in touch with fans and friends. our goal is be as open as possible, please ask questions.
why not the blog on myspace?
because it sucks.
what's the name of the album? who's producing it? what label is going to release it?
all those questions have answers but will be answered in due time. be patient, as you have been for the last three years.
for now, the blog remains white, as the blank sheet of paper the album still is. but as our wrk progresses, changes are going to be made as artwork and themes are set.
welcome to what is going to the journey to a new lingua album!
//misha.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)