Blog Archive: April 2003

If You Can't Remember It In The Morning...
I've got a NEW SONG on the boil at the moment, and last night was a JOYOUS time of running around the house looking for pens and paper to write things down. The Pot In My TeaSet was getting a bit fed up after a while, as JUST as we were settling down for KIP i would LEAP up and go and right down another line or two. I always do this, writing down one line of words, I find, FREES UP space for another one to appear. "I've read", she said, "that people like Paul McCartney say you should never do that - if a song's good enough you'll remember it in the morning."

In this case, Paul McCartney can sod off. I mean, how does he know? Eh? Maybe all those so he DISCARDED in such a cavalier way were actually EVEN BETTER than the ones he thought of in the morning, he'd never know because he had FORGOTTEN them.

Also i have noticed that of ALL the people who say this NONE of them write as much wordage as what I do. This is not a QUALITATIVE JUDGEMENT or anything, obviously, but I learnt all the words to "Goodnight Tonight" in about 5 minutes the other day, as there are only about 22 seperate individual words in the whole song, whereas Born With The Century took BLOODY WEEKS.

However, as this song now is all about How To Drink BEER, i somehow doubt it's going to be challenging "Yesterday" to a FITE.

posted 30/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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The News In Your Region
And so we continue... the ADVANCE progresses towards completion, as the final aspects fall into place. There's some photographs needing resizing, Mr Reverb's information to collect, and some proofreading to be done, there might be a little TINKERING with some programming, but after that the Futuristic Multimedia is DONE. Mr Fleay now has the WAVs in his posession, so will begin MASTERING, and all i need to do now is get hold of a copy of CorelDraw so that I can get the cover done.

Obviously, after that, we move on to Trying To Get Some Bugger To Listen to it, and the rather greater JOY of going out and PLAYING it at people, but for now there is very much an End Of Term feel about things, so much so that, tomorrow night, I'm off to do my first bit of NEW RECORDING for a very long time. Tom and I will be meeting up at Kev's tomorrow night to record "Walkman In My Head" for this compilation, and if there's time I've got a couple of other things to sort out too, NONE of which will include the phrase "this is not a library"!!! Can you IMAGINE?

FORWARD! To VICTORY!

posted 29/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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The Love You Make
Phew! You discover me coming down from a weekend of DYNAMIC ACTION, during which:

1. L Christian Lundholm Review Albums were finally SENT
2. The Gaps between songs on the album were DONE
3. All text (except the song annotations) on the Futuristic Multimedia Aspect of the album was PROOFREAD
4. AAS Minutes were WRITTEN
5. Photograph Bit of the Futuristic Multimedia Aspect was WRITTEN

YEAH! The GAPS bit was the best bit - as with "Say It With Words", I spent AGES getting the gaps EXACTLY right, as i think it's IMPORTANT. Now, for instance, the first drum beat "The Symbol of Our Nation" comes in at EXACTLY the right moment after "Things'll Be Different". It took nearly an HOUR to make just that bit work, but by golly it DOES work now - none of this "2 Second Pause" automation for us, this is QUALITY. The finished WAV files are now off to Derby where Mr Fleay's going to do the COMPRESSION and stuff for me, and then that will very much be THAT. DONE!

So now I've just got the cover to do and some little bits of tidying up to do - even as we speak I'm collecting this year's news pages. And, for that reason, I think this is as good a place as any to bring to an end the collection of these on the CD. Viewers ONLINE can join us after this message and for a long time to come, but this is the last bit of diary Future Generations will be getting on the CD.

These people will, if they are ASTRONOMICALLY DEVOID of ANYTHING better to do, have been able to read me going on and on for the past several YEARS about how the album's nearly finished, and they'll be reading about it on the actual album itself. During that time loads of things have happened to me, especially the life changing actuality of meeting Charlotte and all the ACE RAMIFICATIONS of that event. I know this isn't really much of a MOMENT - it's nearly home time at work on a Monday afternoon, and there's still a ton of stuff to do, but still, it's a relief to finally have GOT to this point.

See you in the FUTURE, The Kids!

posted 28/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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It's Getting Very Near The End
You find me, dear reader, in a weakened state, due to CHEAP BRANDY. It wasn't my fault - Mr Whitaker MADE me drink it. For LO! Last night was the 55th AAS Board Meeting, in which many things were sorted. CRUCIALLY, for anyone interested in EVENTS described on this page, Mr Whitaker agreed that yes, a July release for the album was eminently possible. CORKS!

So, this weekend I'm endevouring to get WAV files made of the whole album, to send to Mr Fleay - we listened to my attempts at mastering, and i was HORRIFIED to discover that it came out Quite Quiet, and rather than give myself The Fear forever, I decided there and then to entrust it to someone who knows what they're doing... also, therefore, I need to send him the completed Futuristic Multimedia Aspect, so I'll need to get THAT finished off too!

It's all VERY exciting, it feels as if I'm coming BACK to the world of ROCK. In a few short weeks i might even HAVE a copy of it, DONE! And when that happens, the whole crazy rollercoaster of ROCK can REALLY get going! BRILLIANT!

posted 25/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Spent
It's WEIRD this - having spent the past two or three weeks doing A Song A Day, annotations and/or lyrics, i feel quite DEFLATED not to have it to do anymore. STILL, there's going to be some more to do in the very near future, as we're (hopefully) putting out a compilation to celebrate the fifth anniversary of AAS! I'm going to try writing a sort of SLEEVENOTE thing in the same style as "The Curse Of Voon", doing a big chunk of FACT for each release, or maybe for each Catalogue Number, I'm not sure yet. I did sit myself down and write a LOT of FACT about a year ago on a similar subject, but I'm going to have to edit it pretty carefully before anyone can see it... it was written in what we might politely call a "fit of enthusiasm", and is a little "straightforward" in some of it's speaking. The only people who've seen it are Mat and Rob, and they GOGGLED a little at some of the "language", and ROCK and HARD though I am it is not my mission to go around upsetting people.

So yeah, that'll be coming soon - watch the SKIES, kids!

posted 24/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Back To Work
Afternoon all, and hope you had a DELICIOUS weekend. I certainly did, and as well as seeing Paul McCartney (GRATE!) and doing a gig (LESS GRATE) i BEAVERED away at many things. The album is sort-of half MASTERED now (i.e. I've had a go at mastering songs 1-9, the GAPS are sounding ACE, the rest of it needs another attempt), I've built the SAMPLER for people to download preview tracks, and I've very nearly finished off the Futuristic Multimedia Aspect of the CD. You can see some of those LABOURS by visiting the Annotations section, now with ALL songs from the new album DONE, and check the GIGS sections for details of some past and present LIVE ACTION.

We move forward, dear friends, towards a new dawn of Things Actually Happening!

posted 23/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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In The News
I've been going on about how much i like that new WORD Magazine, and it turns out I'm actually IN it this month!

I'm in it going on about how much i like that new WORD Magazine. OK, so it's not quite as exciting as them going on about how much they like ME, but it's a start, isn't it?

posted 17/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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A Beautiful Thing
What a lovely day it is, the sun is shining, the window's open, and in seven (and a bit) hours I'm off work for nearly a week! Adding to the BEAUTY is the reciept of Questionnaires from The Validators - the Futuristic Multimedia ASPECT of the album will have a page dedicated to each of us, and, due to my profession, I naturally constructed a Questionnaire to facilitate the process. You can see what everyone says if (when, surely?) you get the album, but what a lovely bunch of people.

I should also CONFESS that it does make me feel like PROFESSOR X, and thus I have to FITE to resist saying "To me, My Validators!" all the time. But no-one need ever know about that, right?

Also, while I remember, there's a couple more songs in the annotations - writ by THE POWER OF THE MIND!


posted 16/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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My Rule Of Beer
Mmmm, last night i went to THE PUB and drank lots of my New Favourite Beer: Fuller's Honeydew. It's ORGANIC baby, that means it's practically HEALTH FOOD. It's bloody delicious anyway, i highly recommend it. I have hardly any hangover too (as I loudly PREDICTED when I got home), although I am feeling rather LETHARGIC, although this could be more due to the fact that it's the fantastic University Easter Shutdown in a couple of days...

THUS there's no new annotations today. There will be LOADS of stuff done this evening, including, hopefully, at least one more song DONE, but to make up for this OMISSION, I give you My Rule Of Beer:

Choose your beer by its NAME, and it's name ALONE. ONLY buy beer if its name includes words such as "Golden", "Harvest", "Summer", Wheat", "Honey", "Sunshine", things like that. NEVER drink anything that is prefixed by "Old", or seems to be making light of horrible events e.g. "Old Fart", "Sick In The Morning", or "Boz's Bonce Blower". ESPECIALLY not "Boz's Bonce Blower". Or, to put it more simply:

Drink The Beer Called Gold
Not The Beer Called Old

ARMED only with this simple rule you will be able to walk into any Real Ale Pub and buy a pint that will actually be NICE, rather than a test of WILLPOWER to keep down, and SAIL through any beer festival you happen to find yourself at. This is my gift to the world.


posted 15/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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TICK!
I know I was FED UP during the lengthy removal of The Central Line, but i never realised how MUCH until now when I'm back to my ROCKING SELF again. WHAT a difference it makes getting home before 8 o'clock, and even being IN work at a decent time. Life is BLOODY GRATE again, and thus i spent the entire weekend working through my Big List Of Things To Do. And LO! there was much ticking.

I've now nearly FINISHED the Futuristic Multimedia Aspect of the CD, and i tell you this, it BLOODY ROCKS. As well as all the lyrics and annotations I've been doing here, there's also information about who plays what, how the BAND got together, how the RECORDINGS were done, what the title means, a whole other ALBUM's worth of demo versions of (nearly) all the songs, and six complete OTHER tracks. Also complete ROCK diaries from the past three years, AND there'll be a photograph album AND stuff about the Validators AND it all looks ACE. My fingers fairly CRACKLED over the keyboard making it all work, and i am WELL CHUFFED with it.

I also wrote some more Annotations, but blogger packed in while I was doing it. There is, however, some NEW new stuff up there today to keep you going, and also of course that Merchant Ivory Punks download for Leisure Listening. Let's ROCK!

posted 14/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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The Merchant Ivory Punks
As promised a few days ago, here's that version of The Merchant Ivory Punks that i was on about - let me know if it doesn't work!

posted 11/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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ROCK ACTION POINTS
Also as threatened a few days ago, here's the main points from our band meeting. Can you STAND the wait?

BAND GIGS:

London (x2)
Leeds
Sheffield
Cambridge
Derby
Stoke

Gigs to happen every 2-3 weeks from July onwards.

Practice to be undergone 2 weeks before the first gig, in one of the new big rooms at Stayfree

"Sampler" download will be promoted via CLEVER email. Tracks will consist of:

The Symbol Of Our Nation

Fat Was A Feminist Issue

Falling For Trust

Programming Is A Poetry For Our Time



posted 11/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Gig Action
Another gig - HOORAH! I will now be appearing in the Winchester Area on the 7th May, in A Pub. Which one, you ask? Why, the one where Ray works! Er... I should be able to get it a bit more precise before the day, but that's what I know for now. Cool huh?

In other news, it's a week to go until my return to the Betsy Trotwood (Easter Saturday, 8.30 prompt), so last night I had a bit of a practice, and had a WHALE of a time BELLOWING out some hits old and new. I have updated the gigs and past gigs bits of this site too, and have a THINGS TO DO: ROCK list of things to do in the Rock Arena, so hopefully by the end of Easter I'll have finished the whole thing AND got the L Christian Lundholm Promotional Campaign completed AND made Suitable Arrangements for the AAS 5th Birthday Celebrations.

News of all these to follow, but for now, why not check today's addition to the Annotations?

posted 11/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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I See It All So Much More Clearly
I bought a NEW LEAD the other day, so that I could start to transfer my demo tapes to MP3 - the plan is to have a complete version of the album available in the Futuristic Multimedia section of the CD in DEMO form, so that Interested Parties can compare my first efforts with what THE BAND came up with. I don't know if anyone would really give a monkey's about it, but I thought it might be INTERESTING to see how these things work.

I've done about half of them so far, and it's been ILLUMINATING. When I moved house a lot of my copies of this stuff either went in the bin or to my parents' house, so I had to borrow them back from Tom. Many of them hadn't been heard by ME since i recorded them 2-3 years ago, thus i had FORGOTTEN what they sounded like. In some cases this was nice, as my demo sounded either DEAD GOOD, or Interestingly Different - "Post Subsonic Bass", for instance, has only about half the same words and a different tune altogether. I LOVE this sort of thing, it all comes from being a Beatles Nut and finding pleasure in all those crackly old tapes you used to be able to buy at record fairs before Anthology came out. "Merchant Ivory Punks" has a VERY different vibe too, if I can I'll stick it up here on the website as an EXAMPLE.

Some surprises were altogether LESS pleasant, however. My version of "Back Of The Sofa", for instance, is APPALLING, and some of the songs we didn't record are just CRAP. One song, "Following A Star" is too painful to listen to all the way through, and yet I remember at the time thinking it was the best thing ever, and spending AGES upstairs in the attic recording it on the four-track. Last night i was HUMBLED to hear it again, and remember with shame how AMAZED i was that the Validators didn't want to try it out as a band - frankly, after hearing some of that stuff, i am AMAZED that they even wanted to BE in a band with me, and thus I offer my sincerest gratitude to them for Sticking With It. There's a song called "Forgiveness Is A Cuckoo" which I haven't re-listened to yet, but which Rob still brings up as the absolute NADIR of my efforts - having heard the standard of material that he was POLITE about, i dread to think how awful it's going to be.

So yes, THANKS to Tim, Emma, Tom and Rob today i think, and also Kev - he doesn't have to listen to the demo tapes, but he DOES have to listen to me trying to sing - and (Local Radio AHOY!) that, gentle reader, is the topic of today's addition to the Annotations section. Oh yeah!


posted 10/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Fat Was A Feminist Issue
Right! The first song to go freshly into the Annotations section, and there's a LOT of information about it too. I'll get everything linked up properly in a while, with links between the Song Blog and the Annotations, honest.

While I'm here, I'm starting to notice that nearly all the songs were written within a very small area (here, in fact - on Fosse, King Richards, Hinckley or Narborough Roads). What can it all mean?

posted 9/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Housekeeping
I'm just doing a bit of tidying up at the moment, putting the Bits About The Songs into a seperate area. This Is For Your Convenience (and also mine, but don't tell anyone that).


posted 9/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Band Meeting
We finally had our band meeting yesterday, and what a LOVELY time we had. There was Nice Food, there was Good Company, and there was even football on the telly. Last time we all sat down together to discuss things in this way we did it in a pub, got distracted by the pub quiz, got drunkened, and missed the last bus home. This time we sat out in Tim And Emma's Extension, got distracted by baby Edie, ate delicious barbecue grub, and everyone drove home. And we talked about Loft Conversions too.

It was SMASHING, and we also had our photographs taken by Joanne, who was LUCKY enough to get a sneaky preview of the album accompanied by people going "Ooh, listen! This is a good bit!" throughout. What LUCK! The outcomes were various, and I'll stick the action points up here when I've written them up, and it felt GOOD to FINALLY be on the very cusp of releasing the album.

We're aiming for JULY, kids. That's July THIS year!


posted 7/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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Working From Home
What a lovely morning it is, made all the more lovely by the simple fact that I'm sat in my house listening to records, as opposed to having to go on the TRANE and then NOT listen to records. Working From Home, it's SO very civilised.

The only TWINGE on the horizon is the embers of a hangover, for last night i Actually WENT OUT! FANTASTIC! Things out in the world seem pretty much the same as the last time i Actually WENT OUT, but it was good to check. My good friend Mr Lawson came down to the capital, and we went to see Mull Historical Society. They were dead good, but did rather go on a bit - bless, he was obviously VERY excited INDEED about the fact he was doing a gig and loads of people had come, and thus it was GRATE. That new album is DEAD good, all the songs from it sat quite happily with the ones from the first one i.e. they were ACE.

The only slight drag was that it really did go on a bit - after an hour I've usually had about enough anyway, but when he came back on for the Solo Encore it was A Bit Much - we left after he started the SIXTH song, even before the Obligatory Second Encore With the Band started. We went next door to a HORRIBLE pub like something out of a Satirical TV Show, it was an Australian Themed Bar, and it had a STAGE where they were getting girls to kiss to win a holiday "worth £160". Whoo! "Show us saaam TANG!" bellowed the compere, unpleasantly.

Then we got the train all the way back on the Central Line - HOORAH!

posted 4/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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It's All Go
Just to keep you in the LOOP, preparations CONTINUE for the Album Meeting on Sunday - last night i did a LOT of work on the DVD Extras... oh yes. As i may have mentioned here before, I'm planning to have a WEALTH of stuff on the CD for use in a computer, and I've got a rather NATTY interface designed to do it with. You know how the current LOOK of the webpages is a typewriter? That, gentle reader, was done back in the last century to cunningly ECHO the typewriter on the cover of "Say It With Words". A SIMILAR idea pervades the design for the on-CD stuff, and will hopefully be exported online too when all is done. Anyway, I'm trying to get a working version finished so's I can take it to Woodhouse Eaves with me on Sunday to show everyone.

The main Big Job to do with it for now is going to be getting some content sorted, so I'm going to try and use the Song Blog to collect correct lyrics and commentary for all the songs on the album. You may, therefore, be seeing a few more coming along over the next few days...

posted 1/4/2003 by MJ Hibbett
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