Hello folks. How have you been since we spoke last? Really? He did what? And she didn’t know about it? That’s ridiculous! Anyway, I thought it best to post something to make you aware of some upcoming shows this month. We haven’t played since October since we were severely restricted by the all consuming, all encompasing production of our yet to be finished album. Luckily, the end is in sight for that living nightmare and we’ve managed to rack up a fair few dates for the coming months. Here is a selection of flyers.

So that’s a punk rock fourgasm in Leeds March 19th, and our debut Newcastle gig (can you believe it?) March 22nd. Pure insanity. I hope we managed to learn some new songs to play at these dates. We’re so slack. Aside from these two little gems there is actually shitloads more dates listed on the gigs page, including weekends with Pure Graft and Shields Up in the coming months.

We’re headed to Barnsley to finish tracking once and for all (we hope) at the weekend. We’ll be there, bothering Jason Sanderson on Sunday and Monday. I feel for the guy, I really do. We have a few extra vocal parts to add. A few guitar parts and we need to run the bass through an amp. Then I think we’re offcially finished tracking… unless we want to add a little tamborine. Hmmm…

Well friends what a week it has been. We were booked in to record vocals for the album over the weekend of the 19th – 21st February. I spent much of the preceding 3 days scrambling around trying to think of better melodies and lyrics in a vain attempt to prevent the inevitable regret which I have regularly suffered after a few months of reflection on ideas that “seemed good at the time”. I think I largely suceeded.

We planned to head back to Jase’s on Friday night but decided to stay in Sunderland since his flat is currently undergoing extensive renovations. Three hours sleep later, our hungover posse dribbled into Jonny’s car and we were on the road.

Things got started quickly. Greg was nailing his lead vocals. It was sounding great. But things gradually started to take a turn for the worse. Greg was sick 4 times while he was recording and struck down with a facial tick and severe headache. That’s what you get for giving it your all. He had to go sleep in the practice room for an hour or so while we picked takes and started recording some of my lead vocals. Here is a picture of Greg recording.

But seriously. Here’s how he actually looked. I managed to rattle through about 6 songs before I started feeling the same. Doing 4 takes of each line of each song takes it out of you. I went to lie down and handed the banton to Jord, who managed quite a few tunes while I slept.

Sunday was decidedly more relaxed. We woke to white-out conditions, not an unusual sight for us when recording with Jase. We started the day with some cures for our sore voices. I went down to the shops and bought some whisky, root ginger, lemons, brown sugar and paracetomol. Seemed to work fairly well for me, but Greg’s voice was seriously fucked up. I managed to finish the vast majority of my vocals and got some pretty sweet takes. Jord nailed all of his stuff I think. We got an early finish on Sunday, and decided we should go back once we were in full voice. The stuff we did get done sounds fantastic. We’re all really pleased. We rounded off the session by adding a few pick slides and things.

We’re back in the studio on 14th/15th March and hoping to finish tracking everything then.

Lots of shows are being planned with our buddys in Beasts and Shields Up, as well as Europe and more UK plans so watch out. Chris Randle’s going to take some goofy photos of us this week apparently. I can’t wait. Ahem.

*[UPDATE]* I’ve just uploaded about 1 million (slight underestimation) photos. Check them out here.

Back in September, we posted a few blogs about recording 2 songs for a split 7 inch with our German friends A Hurricane’s Revenge. This month, those plans are finally coming into fruition, as we excitedly reveal the artwork for what is sure to be one of 2010’s most anticipated releases. The “Boat Race” Split 7 inch features 2 new songs from both bands!

The art is an original painting by Sarah Fellows based on one of the more memorable activities we took part in on tour last year. We’ve decided to let people hear the second song on the split, “Stockholm”, so check out myspace or the music page on our site if you want to have a listen.

In other news, we recently confirmed dates to record vocals on our yet to be titled debut album. Very exciting. We managed to record the majority of the music in 10 days at the start of January (see the posts below for more indepth details/idiocy). We will be heading back to Barnsley for the weekend of the 19th, 20th, 21st February. After that we’ll probably need to touch up a few things on guitar and mix/master.

We’ve also been practicing hard to get up to scratch to start playing live again. We have some great gigs coming up over March and April. Full details are on the gigs page, but already we have dates with Cutting Class, The Arteries, Bangers, This is a Standoff, Young Livers, Bridge and Tunnel, as well as a weekend in the works with Pure Graft and hopefully Beasts.  Plans are already in motion for our return to German soil in May/June 2010.

Here is a flyer for the first show on the 19th March, cheers to Sam for sorting this out.

More news as it comes. Stay tuned, idiots.

Well, today we got back from recording in Barnsley. What an experience it has been. Extremely stressful and difficult at times, and extremely enjoyable and hilarious at others. We’ve managed to track all of the music in the last 10 days. We recorded 14 songs. No mean feat. It was a lot harder than I had anticipated, but I think we’ve managed to produce something quite special.

Huge thank you’s to the following individuals, without whom the process so far would have been an enduring nightmare: Dan Shannon, Gareth Barker, and most importantly Jason Sanderson, whose patience knows no bounds it seems.

We will be returning to Barnsley soon to finish off the album with vocals, a few more guitar things and some mix/mastering. Then we just have to figure out how to release the thing. Overall, I’m very pleased. Have a look at this video we shot while we were down there. I’ll post a few pictures when I can be bothered.

Okay, here’s a few snaps we got. I spent most of the time filming, so there’s only a few. There’s some more on the photo albums page. I’ll try to get more amusing ones when we go back to track vocals. Images of us staring at amps, setting up drums and restringing guitars aren’t exactly the most enthralling to view.

Happy New Year everyone. I am sitting on a mattress drinking tea and eating cornflakes in Jason Sanderson’s charming, yet freezing cold flat. We are here in Barnsley recording our album. We drove down on Sunday afternoon in an attempt to get a heads up on loading in and setting up. Sleet and snow did not impede our voyage, but we are starting to wonder if we will ever be able to leave. Anyway, though this was partially achieved, drum shop trips and various other excursions proved necessary on day 1. I thought my bass had finally bitten the dust. Luckily we were able to fix her with a colossal blend of solder and gaffer tape. Should tide her over for now.

Setting up drums is very time consuming. We came in wanting everything to be perfect, and hoping not to compromise on tone. I think we’re being pretty thorough so far. We built a drum tunnel which sounds amazing. We started properly tracking drums at about 4pm on Monday and we went til about 10.30pm. We managed 4 or 5 tunes. Tuesday was another day full of drums. Jonny’s hands were getting pretty cut up by this time so it was getting harder and harder to make good takes. We struggled through despite the ever worsening stigmata. We finished Tuesday with 11 out of 14 songs tracked on drums.

Yesterday was Wesnesday and we had 3 tunes left, plus a few small pick ups from the previous 2 days. Jonny by this time was in severe pain, but we fought on. Perseverance and morale is key. We finished tracking around 3 and began making edits. This is very time consuming. Joe is helping to tidy up some of the edits to speed some things up. We hope to have this done by tonight, but who knows how long it will take. I’d love to start tracking guitars tomorrow.

We have been eating like kings, preparing vegan delicacies such as tortilla pie and Greg’s signature “spicy soup”. What larks. More news as it comes. Please pray to baby Jesus for us.

Follow us on twitter (@brokenfew) if you are deranged.

Thank you.