It’s been a while since I last wrote here, and this because I’ve been tremendously busy as of late - aside from moving to a new apartment (with a conveniently awesome work room for me to do my stuff) - with recording the new album, a new band, and sorting much welcome support from companies I have been wanting to work with, namely Laney amps, Wampler pedals and Matrix amplification.
I’ll be giving the Laney Ironheart (and some of my righteous pedals) a workout with Ola Englund and Chimp Spanner on the 29th and 30th in Maldegem, Belgium. Do drop by if you’re in the vicinity - check Guitar Candy on Facebook for details.
“What is this new band you speak of?” I hear you ask. The band is The Firstborn, whose work I’ve always loved, and I’m looking forward to the upcoming gigs with them. We should start working on new material in not too long, I’d say. Check us out by clicking the image below!
I maintain the plan of putting the album out there by the end of this year / early 2013, so fear not, o ye who are eager to listen to new stuff from me.
As always, many many thanks for all the support you guys give to me, and for your interest in my work!
Machina is the second song for my new album, coming early next year, called Transcendence (the first one was Roland’s Last Stand, which is now finished as well). Mix is evidently far from final, but I thought I’d share the song anyway. The inspiration for this was actually East European cartoons from the late 70′s I remember watching as kid, a couple of which had this dark and machinery like texture to them.
Guitars used on the track are my Jaden Rose Spider #3 and my Blackat Leon 8 proto, and the bass that so kindly gave me the workout of a lifetime is my cheapish 7-string HK, tuned F# to C, low to high. All the guitars are recorded through the Kemper into a Presonus 22SVL interface, whereas the bass was recorded direct and then processed via plugins, the ghetto way.
In spite of Jaden Rose not being able to make it this year, which was a damn shame, I hung out with my friends and went around testing things, giving the new Blackat a good whipping, and enjoying some fantastic kit. Here’s a couple videos from this year’s Musikmesse - hope you enjoy them!
Atonement tees will be done and ready to distribute in about 2 weeks, meaning I can send them out around the time I get back from the Musikmesse - here’s hoping no more hiccups appear.
The whole process, from the botched attempt to the only company that would give me a reasonable delivery schedule without pathetic limitations (even tee colour was an issue for some. A black tee, no less), with VAT changes and posting, actually implied that each tee cost me around 18 EUR and some change, thus rendering all sales an actual profit of MINUS 9 EUR to me per unit. If this is not committing to fans, I don’t know what is, really.
Some people have noticed my love for teles and singlecuts wasn’t meant to be, as there isn’t exactly an abundance of 7 and 8-string high quality guitars using these shapes as templates, so while I managed to get absolutely fantastic superstrats (as my Jaden Rose, Blackmachine, etc., show), high quality singlecuts seemed an impossibility to get without built-from-scratch custom orders.
This year, things did change! I got myself the fantastic Decibel AMX and an ESP T7, and that left only an 8-string super-tele to go. Until I met Tomek from Blackat guitars, and here she is:
Blackat Ninja 8
Here’s a video from a song in progress called Roland’s Last Stand, which will be featured on my second album (still untitled as of yet):
My good friend Ola asked me to record a lead on one of his tracks. Needless to say, I said “send it over, dude!” and the rest is history!
This is a still unreleased song from Feared called Vintersol, and here’s Ola’s video edit of the whole thing, yours truly included. Check out Ola Englund’s righteous metal playing and glorious amp demos at: http://www.olaenglund.com and http://www.facebook.com/fearedse
There are some amazing production tips and patches on his site as well, and I can’t recommend them highly enough!
For this vid, here are both signal chains:
Ola Englund: Strictly 7 Guitars Solar7 - Engl Victor Smolski - Hesu 2×12 - SM57 - Focusrite Saffire 24
Me: Jaden Rose Spider #3 (her first official vid! Yay!) - Eleven Rack (yes, I’m a minimalist at times )
Please remember: my album Atonement is out now, so if you’re interested in getting a free track or check out some of the tracks on the album, please go to http://FredBrum.com/atonement/
What have I done just now? Ordered more CD’s - thanks to you guys I am on the verge of having none left and people are still ordering more.
You have my deepest thanks for such a warm reception and for all the emails and messages - this was just something done as a way of paying tribute to my mum as well as recording what is, in essence, my voice as a composer, and you turned it into an unexpected success.
The good news is that the ordered CD’s have now been sent (I truly wish that could have taken place earlier, but professional commitments in sunny California prevented me from doing this upon receiving the CD’s). Given the postal services estimations, I’d truly appreciate if you were to notify me should the package containing the CD not have arrived in two weeks, which is a most generous timeframe, so that I can take the necessary actions to ensure the swiftest resolution.
The less good news affect only those that oredered the tees. The plan was, of course, to ship the tees to their happy new owners at the same time the CD’s most had purchased, yet the test print from the company that was handling the task (it was promptly replaced) was, to be honest, nothing short of appalling. I refuse to send a subpar product to anyone, much like I refuse to accept one myself, and the printing is now being handled by a different company - I expect them to have a short turn around time, and the separate shipping will occur, of course, at my expense.
Regarding the tees, I also noticed, when ordering the quantities of each size, that many did not include the size in the paypal notes or email me regarding that matter. As such I would deeply appreciate it if you were to reply to this email mentioning the size you’d need. Thank you!
This entire process was, albeit longer than intended, most educational regarding future releases. Many contacts were made that ensure quality service, many bureaucratic traps unarmed, and the unfaltering support from people who are into my music was immensely inspiring, and I can’t thank you enough.
Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions!
In spite of the delays caused by the whole process regarding copyrighting my material and ensuring all paperwork was in check, the cover work for the album is now complete and the CD is getting ready right after a final adjustment and printing colour check. I expect to receive the CD’s, ready for my autograph / dedication marathon sometime next week, and off to your mailboxes it goes (along with the tee, for those who ordered one)!
I can’t thank you enough for your patience regarding this matter and for your understanding of the shortcomings of facing the paper jungle that is protecting one’s work when you’re a one man operation.
In case you have somehow missed it due to some pesky email filter, everyone who has purchased the CD has access to the MP3 at no extra cost. please don’t hesitate to email me should you have not received the link to download the MP3 content from.
I had the pleasure of being interviewed by the fantastic Laurie Monk from Truth In Shredding. Laurie is a tireless promoter of technical guitar players and provides us with a much needed space where you can see news and media regarding what we’re doing.
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