The Parochial Pianists

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

Hello all,
The past few days have been rather hectic for the now un-signed Parochial Pianists. We were doing a charity gig with some of our old friends such as The Bad Livers & Nothing Rhymes With Orange. The gig went fairly well & we were met by an almost sell-out audience even if the crowd didn't know who the hell we were. Later after the show as we were all going on our merry way Willmore announced that he couldn't find his expensive steel xylophone. We searched everywere but later discovered that it had infact been stolen by one of the rowdy crowd members. Willmore didn't speak to us for a few days until yesterday he announced that he was leaving the band. After alot of begging & pleading from me he explained that he no longer wanted to live the lifestyle & didn't at all feel safe in the band. This comes as almost a heavy blow to us considering that we wanted our latest album to be rather xylophone based. We have ultimately already been searching for a new xylophonist considering that Willmore doesn't appear to want to re-join.
In other news Mike Maitland appeared to be coming round at the concept of re-joining The Parochial Pianists, so much for that. He is apparently now back in the studio producing Snakes & Barrels second LP. Things are looking bleak for the latest Paroch's album but we are all trying to keep things under control.
Ending on a good note we had a brief photo shoot before the charity gig. Obviously this picture was taken when Willmore was actually in the band:

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/8496/theparochsxv7.jpg

From the left; John Partridge, Mark Willmore (with my guitar for some reason), Lewis Jackson & me (Matthew Barnard).
Anyways have fun facing the turmoil of life this week. I'm off to go make a pizza ;).
Peace Out,
MB
xxx

Welcome to the official Parochial Pianists blog,
I have been meaning for along time to create a blog for a while but I never got round to it with been busy & everything. As the majority of you know we recently released 'Drink Zender' from 'Day-View' as a single and I can now officially state that this was our last single to be distributed on Quarterstick Records. So now you might as well almost count us as an un-signed act with nothing to do ha ha!! Yet we are planning on creating a new album, possibly with Michael Maitland back in the band if he doesn't go through with a reunion his previous Glam-Rock project from 1998 entitled 'Snakes & Barrels.' I recently met up with Mr Maitland during our brief tour of Europe were we spoke in a London bar. I wasn't sure of his drunkeness but the comment he clearly stated was "I would love to join the band, I'll call ya." Although I am still awaiting that call I'm sure Mike will pull through.
Anyway, as I am currently short on time I will leave you with a promise that I will consistently update this blog explaining to history of the band to any n00bs & telling you the progress on the Maitland, new album, situation.
Peace Out,
Matthew Barnard
XxxXxxX