29-03-10 – *Ends the Beginning* / *Gives tea to old people*

Okay!   So what happened this week?

- Getting the YAWA EPs + T-shirts
- Playing the Epic YAWA EP Release show (7/10)
- Having my brand new camera stolen
- Finishing off the 7 Day Bassline song
- Helping out at Rachie’s community project
- Visiting my homeslice Ogre
- Doing more skype teaching sessions

*Wipes Brow*

Okay, I’m no stranger to stress and close calls, but literally getting the EPs about 7 hours before we were selling them was cutting it fine even for me.

On wednesday, two days before the release, I got a call from the duplicators saying the printer was broken.   I nearly had a heart attack (I accidentally fell on an electric fence after hearing the shocking revelation) but he said he’d be able to deliver the goods in time and fortunately he did.

Unfortunately, due to the time constraints and an accident with mixing up old versions of the artwork (Sorry Sketchy! – Sketch of www.graphicsgirl.co.uk did the artwork btw), there are a few really silly errors in the EP – can anyone point them out if they own a copy?

The T-shirts arrived well in time, though – they look great.   The girls ones are a much better size too.

Frickin’ good times.

The day of the EP launch was eventful.   It kicked off with us leaving early with the intension of flyering round wolves town center.   Due to getting horrendously lost in Wolvo (that’ll teach me to assume I can remember where a place is without sat-navular assistance) whilst trying to find the new venue, that didn’t happen.

We did get to the venue on time though, unloading and soundchecking only to find my electronics were making a violent buzzing noise no matter what we seemed to do.   After about a half hour of faffing around trying to fix it, the sound guy seemed intent it was a lead in my gear.   So off I ran to Maplins with Scratch to buy a new one… but it was closed.   We headed back and found Pete on the way, who had come back from his journeys in Dudley for the gig (I swear I hadn’t seen Pete for like 3 or 4 months).

We got back and I had a brainwave to separate my synths from my samplers and put a noise gate on the buzzing sound so it only played when there was enough sound to mask it.   It worked, we breathed sighs of relief, and then went on with our nights.

I went outside to meet Rachie and was confronted by a group of YAWA fans.   It looked like the Hadouken gig had paid off – loads of people from it had come down to see us.   Eventually, as people filed in the place started to fill up.   I don’t think we’ve had that many people come to a show just to see us before.   It was freakin’ awesome.

Many hugs and 3 support bands later, we went on stage and the crowd positively erupted.   They were UNCOMFORTABLY ENERGETIC, to quote a meme – Kieran had his first proper crowd-surf moment whilst playing some of the new songs.   They went down a treat – Zero Gravity is so damn heavy and I got everyone headbanging, then Nebula’s epic outro led surprisingly well into a blast-from-the-past for I am the Navigator.   Scratch mentioned that loads of people sang along too, which was awesome.

He also mentioned that craploads of merch was sold, which is my favourite amount.   I spent a good portion of the remainder of the night signing it, which would have been the perfect end to a perfect night if my brand new £300 video camera we were recording the gig with hadn’t been stolen.   I suppose it just wouldn’t be a memorable gig without something really bad happening.

But yes, our facebook shot up by a load of fans the following day, meaning a load of the people that came with friends must have enjoyed it.   I really hope that venue gets more and more full each time we play it!

Boyinaband baby…

I got Rachie in to assist with the vocals on my new Bassline 7 day song and discovered she has a powerful voice in that little body of hers!   You’ll be able to hear it next week.   In the form of a cheesy Americanised, sped up RnB vocal line, but still.

It’s a cheesy, catchy little tune, as are most of the 7 day songs, I tend to veer towards cheese when making them for some reason.   Ha!   Reason!   Let’s move on…

Lol, old people.

I donned a “Heritage lottery fund” T-shirt and went to Codsall community hall to assist with Rachie’s community project she’d been working on.   I was in the 1920s tea room they’d set up that looked suspiciously like a room in a community hall with some tablecloths, sweet jars and 1960s music.   But I won’t question it, maybe that’s what the 1920s were like?

There were quite a few people there – it was an exhibition showing the local school through the ages.   It was really well put together, with proper printed museum-like banner things and props. The amount of old people was unsurprising, since I assume that’s what old people do when they aren’t driving in front of me.

It was nice to be able to help Rachie out for a change, since she’s always helping me promote gigs and sell tickets

Ogreslice!

Flashing back to before the gig, I went up to Ogre’s to sell him a ticket and pretend to be his friend for long enough so he didn’t think I was just going up there to sell him a ticket.

We had a good ol’ catch-up where I revealed that I’d slept in Pendulum’s studio (Did I mention that?) and told him all the stuff that is happening with me, then found out he had a shiny new lady friend and was really getting into coding.   Nice to know that as soon as I leave Stafford they make a course that teaches you something.   Loltastically, Ogre’s the only one on said course.

But yeah, it was awesome to catch up and play some Unreal Tournament 3.   In fact, it was during that UT3 game that I got the call about the broken printer for the EPs, during which time I probably did get electrocuted in-game.

I’m Straight Teachin’

I like getting paid to tell people things that I think people should know.   It’s even better that those people come back for more lessons because they find it useful.   I feel like I’ve really tapped into something – online teaching will one day be frickin’ huge, I know it.

Next week on Dave’s Blog…

So with the craziness of the YAWA EP out the way, I can get on with…

- Releasing the 7 Day Song tutorials (with assistance from Scratch on the video editing!)
- Buying another new camera
- Finishing the Business plan
- Writing the mar/apr update for boyinaband
- Going down to London on a top secret mission with my new buddy Jay-dizzle-fizzle.
- Mo’ teaching!

Until then, take it easy geezers and geezettes!   These blogs should, within a few months, get really interesting if all goes to plan…