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contemplative
Hi all,
I thought that I would take my time out to give you some in depth analysis into the creation of Day-View which for those of you who don't know, was our previous album.
I personally started recording the album in 2004 but due to an insufficient budget ended up by only recording three demo tracks. These tracks were demos of; Mercury Rising, Sirens & Underworld. The demo version of Mercury Rising originally featured an opening electric guitar and the tale it told was somewhat different. The other two tracks remained pretty much the same.
By the beginning of 2005 I had managed to get three new members to join the band including long to friend, Mark Willmore. I had seen Willmore perform live when he was with Calexico who were on the Quarterstick Records label & I was astonished with his xylophone playing. I thought the album could do with some instruments we had never used before so I got Willmore. I had met Lewis Jackson years before when he used to do classical piano & I thought he would be perfect for the role of keyboardist. I had also known John Partridge for years as when Freddy died of a heroin overdose we had him stand in on bass guitar.
Progress was fast on the record as Willmore got us easily signed to the Quarterstick Records label for the fact that he knew them well. This gave us a substantial budget compared to my work alone the year before. In the first three monthes we layed down over 30 tracks, yet we only used three on the actual album these been the same tracks I recorded alone as the demos. After another 3 monthes we recorded another 45 tracks filling up the rest of the album. By December 6th 2006 the album was released on the Quarterstick records lable & although hailed by many, many critics wasn't even a vague success.
The album is predominantely a concept album & over the 75 tracks in total we recorded, all of these stuck solidly to the plot. The tale revolves around the character of King Mercury who lives in a futuristic world ruled by Greek Gods. All of the normal humans of the world rely entirely upon their material possesions without a care for emotion or anything else. This emotion is left up to the Gods to have. King Mercury falls in love with one of the Goddesses & although knows its forbidden, marries her anyway. Predictably Mercury's Goddess wife is kidnapped & Mercury has to set out on a journey across the now baron world to save her eventually ending up in the stark underworld were he would be trapped forever. The story has a sad ending & almost shows that there is no hope left for the world & although this may be so it features many hidden political messages that draw parallels with our modern day society.
The title of the album been Day-View could be translated as saying 'debut' which might of well of been for the band considering no one actually knew who we were & would have seen this as our first album. Day-View could also be referring to a new beginning, a beautiful horizon. Yet, ironically, the album art work severely clashes with this as it features a very industrial landscape which is also how I imagined the world King Mercury lives in to look like. Interpret the album how you will...
Peace Out,
Matthew Barnard
XxxXxxX
I thought that I would take my time out to give you some in depth analysis into the creation of Day-View which for those of you who don't know, was our previous album.
I personally started recording the album in 2004 but due to an insufficient budget ended up by only recording three demo tracks. These tracks were demos of; Mercury Rising, Sirens & Underworld. The demo version of Mercury Rising originally featured an opening electric guitar and the tale it told was somewhat different. The other two tracks remained pretty much the same.
By the beginning of 2005 I had managed to get three new members to join the band including long to friend, Mark Willmore. I had seen Willmore perform live when he was with Calexico who were on the Quarterstick Records label & I was astonished with his xylophone playing. I thought the album could do with some instruments we had never used before so I got Willmore. I had met Lewis Jackson years before when he used to do classical piano & I thought he would be perfect for the role of keyboardist. I had also known John Partridge for years as when Freddy died of a heroin overdose we had him stand in on bass guitar.
Progress was fast on the record as Willmore got us easily signed to the Quarterstick Records label for the fact that he knew them well. This gave us a substantial budget compared to my work alone the year before. In the first three monthes we layed down over 30 tracks, yet we only used three on the actual album these been the same tracks I recorded alone as the demos. After another 3 monthes we recorded another 45 tracks filling up the rest of the album. By December 6th 2006 the album was released on the Quarterstick records lable & although hailed by many, many critics wasn't even a vague success.
The album is predominantely a concept album & over the 75 tracks in total we recorded, all of these stuck solidly to the plot. The tale revolves around the character of King Mercury who lives in a futuristic world ruled by Greek Gods. All of the normal humans of the world rely entirely upon their material possesions without a care for emotion or anything else. This emotion is left up to the Gods to have. King Mercury falls in love with one of the Goddesses & although knows its forbidden, marries her anyway. Predictably Mercury's Goddess wife is kidnapped & Mercury has to set out on a journey across the now baron world to save her eventually ending up in the stark underworld were he would be trapped forever. The story has a sad ending & almost shows that there is no hope left for the world & although this may be so it features many hidden political messages that draw parallels with our modern day society.
The title of the album been Day-View could be translated as saying 'debut' which might of well of been for the band considering no one actually knew who we were & would have seen this as our first album. Day-View could also be referring to a new beginning, a beautiful horizon. Yet, ironically, the album art work severely clashes with this as it features a very industrial landscape which is also how I imagined the world King Mercury lives in to look like. Interpret the album how you will...
Peace Out,
Matthew Barnard
XxxXxxX
anxious
cheerful