Normally, I spend every Saturday in the studio, working on music or some other music related stuff, I find that day works for me… but, every-once-in-a-while, breaking from the norm, I’ll venture out of the studio on a Saturday, and every time I do that, I regret it… today I tried to do something a little different, and decided to get out of the studio this afternoon (around 3:30pmish) and went and had a coffee, and worked on some other music stuff. The result… it was a mistake… I’ve made this mistake a few other times as well in the past… whenever I do something like this, I always come to the conclusion, stay in the studio… stepping outside of that on a Saturday (with a few minor exceptions) is just not a good idea… mental health-wise Saturdays for me, are reserved for strictly being in the studio working on music, or music related stuff. No breaking from the norm. I now realize that. Saturday will always be the day that I have to remain in the studio and either be making music or music related stuff! I was trying to change up my environment today, to get some fresh ideas… but I find when I step out of the Saturday routine of being in the environment, either nothing gets done, or I just don’t get as much done, and I suffer mentally cause of it… sorry folks, that’s just the way it is… I’m glad I learnt this lesson today… if I plan on being in a different environment on a Saturday, it has to be after my allocated studio hours (which is between 9:30am to 7pm). Of course there are the rare exceptions, like when I’m travelling and such… and I have no other options (even then I try to take some time out of the day to work on stuff), but yeah, those are the only exceptions. For some, that may not seem logical, but for me… I need that routine… that is just a fact of my life... is it a blessing..? A Curse..? I view it as a blessing, cause I’m forced to be in the studio doing something musically, or music related, that’s it!
Today's lesson; Saturday will always be reserved for being in my studio and working on my musical endeavor, whether it's writing music or working on other aspects. After everything that has happened over this last 20 year time span of Twitch's existence, there is no diverging from the original routine of being in the studio and working on music, or music related stuff!
Well, I’ve moved on from Wax Trax! Records artists and trying to find as much of that as I can, to Skinny Puppy. Now, I have quite a few of their releases and albums already, but there is a treasure trove of albums and their “Back & Forth” series on YouTube... and I’ve been really enjoying listening to that stuff and finding stuff that I haven’t heard of theirs! I’ve been really interested in the “Back & Forth” stuff that they’ve released over the years, cause typically it’s all old demos, rough versions, live cuts, or unreleased stuff... I love hearing that stuff, cause it’s really inspiring to hear it, and try to figure out how they did it with all the old synth gear they had at the time, and it’s also really cool cause, once again, like the Wax Trax! Records back catalogue, there is a time and place associated with it... and it’s interesting to hear where some of the songs started and then also hearing the final product that was released! If you've read my blog (here) about Skinny Puppy's "Back and Forth: Vol: 3 & 4" you would know that it is my favorite Skinny Puppy release, and you would know that the reason is cause it has this bleak sound to it... there is a certain quality to it that they don't have on the other albums and releases (probably due to tape saturation). A lot of this back-catalogue and the various "Back and Forth" volumes upon listening to for the first time have a certain quality to them, each release has a sound character to them, and they are different from each other... which I really enjoy and they evoke visions, and highly inspire me in the musical sense (for my own project)! I don't know why Skinny Puppy inspires me... I remember seeing one of their tour videos waaay back in 1996 or 97 or something like that, at an all ages goth event in Saskatoon... and I loved it! It seemed so fuckin industrial, and so visceral... Ogre looked all fucked up, I'm sure he was drunk or on drugs of some kind, he had blood all over him... there's all these props and shit, his voice... Cevin Key is in the back surrounded by synths, a drum kit and other shit... If I'm not mistaken Mr. Goettel was in the back somewhere as well... I don't think at the time I owned a piece of Skinny Puppy music... but just being in that environment (the club), with the goth/industrial community, I loved it... It made me want to dig further in the scene, find more music and really explore what all this industrial was! It was inspiring... some point afterwards I picked up "Back and Forth: Vol: 3 & 4"... and then eventually picked up "The Process" which I think is excellent, I would put that album up there in my top Skinny Puppy albums! Anyway, yes... gushing here, but I find this shit sooo inspiring, and every time I listen to it, I try and decipher their mental state (I'm sure a lot of drugs were involved, I mean they invented the term "Brap", which is to get fucked up, and write music... not that I would do drugs anymore [gave that up a long time ago], but I find that idea inspiring [although, I've found when I've written music when I was drunk, and I come back to it a day later after I'm sober, it's garbage... So, I don't do that anymore])... trying to decipher their lyrics is also fun too... what the fuck are they talking about, when Ogre strings his words together, it's quite abstract... Yeah, inspiring!
If you are new to industrial music, or are unfamiliar with Skinny Puppy, check this stuff out! Maybe you hear what I hear! OR... If you are not new, then maybe you have some thoughts regarding your musical listening or musical writing journey that you might want to share here!
Listen to Cevin Key's latest Back & Forth Volume "Brap and Forth: Vol:8"... excellent!!
What's your favorite Skinny Puppy album? And if you are a musician, what music inspired you to dig deeper and really discover what kind of bands are in the goth/industrial scene?
And hey, if you wanna hear some of our shit, you can listen to our "20 Years of Twitch" Retrospective here!
Well, being that we are on the topic of Wumpscut I thought I would tell you a little bit about Twitch's second release "We Are Here To Dance!" (2002). When I wrote this album, I was healing from being in a not too good place mentally, and this album was the transition from negative-hate to positive attitude! The album and lyrics were written between 2001 and 2002, and finally released in January of 2002! One of the songs on the album, "What Good Is It!?" was heavily inspired by Wumpscut's "War"... when I was writing "What Good Is It!?" I was trying to capture some of the feeling of "War". Lyrically speaking the song is much different than Wumpscut's track... I was trying to get across that nothing can come from war, and that it doesn't solve anything... and that we should smash all our weapons, put our differences aside, and work towards peace! The major influence that "War" had, was probably the delivery of the vocals, granted my vocals are slightly distorted, and Rudy's vocals on "War" was fairly clean, but I tried to capture a similar feeling. Have a listen:
What are your thoughts? Let us know!!
If you would like to support us, you can purchase our albums here!
Been listening to :Wumspcut: a lot these days (yeah, for now I've put down the Ministy, lol), and I remember my first :Wumpscut: purchase and how I felt about it... the very first :Wumpscut: track I heard was "Soylent Green" (it was being played in the clubs at the time)... but my very first :Wumpscut: purchase was actually "Dried Blood of Gomorrha" (went into the store hoping to find "Music For A Slaughtering Tribe", but unfortunately they only had "Dried Blood of Gomorrha", so I picked it up, without actually ever hearing any of the tracks off of it)! I remember listening to this on CD way back in the day (probably late 2000 early 2001), and the feeling it evoked for me... well, there's a long story that goes with this... if you purchased our "20 Years of Twitch" retrospective, included in that is a digital booklet that details the story of Twitch from the early days (1999) until now (2019), and I get a little into detail about struggling mentally in that story, well it was during that time that I had purchased "Dried Blood of Gomorrha" and it was really weird feeling, I really liked the music on this, but in my mind it's associated with bad memories... and every time that I had listened to it in the past, it would evoke the feelings I had when I was not doing very well... obviously now new memories are being formed, and as I've started to listen to it again, I am actually starting to really love this album, it's creepy and dark, it's bleak... the imagery in the CD artwork is a combination of what is, I do believe, World War II and possibly photos from the Vietnam War, and various images of decaying bodies... I typically don't look at them anymore, but I think the music and the whole package is very bleak. I will say, the sound quality and the ambiance that the album creates is quite different... at the time my only exposure to :Wumpscut: was the album "Music For A Slaughtering Tribe", (maybe "Embryodead" too) and I loved it! This was very different... I would say it almost seems mellow and dark compared to any of the tracks off of "Music For A Slaughtering Tribe"... (I realize some people think this album was a lot harder than "Music For A Slaughtering Tribe", but this for me was definitely a lot mellower sounding), I will also say this album definitely creates an ambiance that isn't there on "Music For A Slaughtering Tribe"... "Music For A Slaughtering Tribe" was definitely more harder electro-industrial. Right now, I'm not sure why I'm starting to love this album, but my feelings around it are changing and I'm starting to form new good memories (probably because things are good right now). If you haven't yet, please listen (maybe you hear what I hear?), and let me know your thoughts on this album!
Also, if you have the cash, please support Rudy, and purchase this, or any of his other albums on Bandcamp!! You can find them here!
P.S.: Wumpscut slightly influenced Twitch's sound back in the day... but that's a story for another time! ;)
Well, this last week has been a week long birthday celebration! It started on the 1st, which happens to be my solo endeavors 20th Anniversary (yep, 1999 – 2019)! Then on the 3rd, which is my actual birthday, I spent it having drinks with friends and then went to a showing of “What We Do in the Shadows” at the local independent movie theater here in Calgary, and then capping the evening off with even more drinks. Then Friday the 5th, I spent once again drinks with friends! Saturday, I spent preparing this next album I’m working on getting live parts down for the live show (figuring out what exactly I’m going to play, and perform live)… then in the evening spent it with other friends and a couple of glasses of gin and sparkling water. Sunday, I went for a nice walk…and spent the rest of the day educating myself on music production! This year’s birthday celebrations were pretty low-key, but I’m ok with that. Sure, last year 40 was a big number, but 41… not really, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind celebrating, but this year, it just didn’t seem as important... I just wanted to be with good friends and have a low-key celebration this year… although, next year might be different, and it might involve going to the bar in a house-coat and a towel or something like that (Apparently, 42 is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, 😉 lol!). I think the one thing I realize as I get older is, my musical and artistic endeavor’s becoming more important. As the year passes, I realize there is so much more work to do, and less time to do them in… which means I have to step up on achieving these goals and pushing my endeavors forward! I will say though, this year went by quite quickly, it feels like the forest fire skies of last summer were just here, and Terminus Festival just happened, and here we are... fortunately the forest fire situation doesn't seem as bad this year, and Terminus Festival is almost upon us again... I've got lots of plans, some of them already in the works! Love you guys!!
Sunday, 30 June 2019
Well, we are a day away from being 20 years old (yes, Twitch started on Canada Day with it's first "Self-Titled" tape release), and we are excited, and can't believe we've been around for this long! It's been quite a journey, and to be honest, I feel like it's just getting started. There have been definitely some up's and some down's over the years... Twitch started on a negative note... but then after dealing with an unhealthy mental state, Twitch grew and changed into a positive attitude! I knew when I started that I wanted to do this for the rest of my life, my mind and heart won't let me do anything else (and quite frankly I don't want to do anything else, I love music!) and after 7 albums, 7 EP's, 5 singles, and a bunch of other stuff... I can't give up now, I'm too invested! Here's to 20 years of Twitch! Cheers 🍻!
Being that it is May now, we've switched over to the "20 Years of Twitch" stuff! This last week-and-a-half I've been very busy with family and friends in town... so haven't had a lot of time to work on stuff, but finally got back in the studio (today) to start putting together "20 Years of Twitch"! Had a very productive day in the studio... got vocals down to two songs that needed to be done for this special project! Also, recorded something special for the final piece of this endeavor! It's all put together, and now all that needs to be done is artwork, photographs and editing some written pieces, then to finally upload to the interwebs! I'm sooo glad this project is almost done, cause out of all honesty, I would like to get back to working on the new album as soon as possible!!
Some thoughts: I can't believe it's been 20 years since Twitch started (the official day is actually in July... happens to coincide with my birthday)! Time has passed so quickly, and some of that time was lost to not being very healthy mentally (but that's a story for another time)... so, I would say I'm a little behind where I thought I would be, but that's ok, cause I'm in a better state now... and things are moving at a nice (comfortable) pace... I'm not planning to do a show for the actual date of the very first release (although, if somebody asks us to play around that time, we are definitely open to it), but I am going to have a get together with some friends and celebrate (and being that it is my birthday the same day, well... that makes it even better)!! This journey has been a very rewarding one, and I'm glad you folks have come along! There's a bunch of surprises in store over the next few months... I'll be making some announcements soon, if you are a part of the Twitch Newsletter, you will be receiving those announcements a little sooner than others!
Today was productive! Worked exclusively on "DFY?". Messed around with a weird "data" sound. Added a static type sample to enhance percussion parts... glitched it a little bit, sounds awesome! Messed around with pad(ish) type sounds... will listen to it once again next session to see if it fits properly, may tweak here and there. Finally, used a ring mod synth sound and seems to fit in intro and outro parts... next session will tweak if needed. Overall feeling from this session; very productive, things are coming out quite naturally... this song is coming along! Not quite in a finished state yet... but feeling very confident about where the song is going!!
Back in the studio after the Easter Holiday. Had to go back and tweak levels in "STF", think it is ready for guitars now!! Worked on "DB" for majority of session... tweaked things here and there, didn't like a certain arppegiation, so took it out, left another minor background arp... did vocals... got vocals in 4 takes. Track is now in a rough finished state... sent off to have guitars added!! For the last little bit of this session, listened to "DFY?", now I'm getting to the harder (difficult) tracks that I've been having problems finishing... next session will sit down and take a good listen, to see if I "hear" anything that belongs in the tracks!! Overall feeling of session: Today was good! It's good to be back at it after the holiday's/trip to Edmonton! Was very productive! Just want to put it out there, I feel a lot of gratitude for the people I have around me in my life right now! Not sure where I would be without you guys!!
It's been a few days since the last studio session... it's weird, when I have such long periods of time between sessions, I wonder if I can still get into the mentality of album creation... then as I get into the session, that worry goes away and I start to feel productive! Today was indeed productive, exclusively worked on "DB"... song is taking it's time to getting done. Feel I'm around 70% completed for the arrangement of this song, I've flipped around a bit with this song... I thought it was sitting close to completion... then after a long time of putting this song aside, and then coming back to it... I feel it's not even near being done... still have a lot of work to do! Added a weird fucked up partial arp to it... then added another more atmospheric sounding arp to it for other parts... not sure if it fits properly, but I got it in, cause I didn't want to lose the idea while it was in my head! Overall feeling of today's session: Good to be back at it, but there's an overwhelming sense of dread in me right now, cause of the current political situation here in Alberta... but we'll see what happens... maybe it won't be as bad as I think it will be...
Spent the majority of the day in the studio! Worked exclusively on "STF"! Sooo, many ideas!! Recorded some choral parts. Also, added some weird atmospheric sounds. Added a background melody, and fucked around with a weird distorted key part! Recorded vocals... track has been sent off to have guitar added... definitely going to be tweaking things after guitars come back... get a proper mix... maybe redo some vocal parts! Track is almost done... just want to hear what Elijah comes up with, and we'll see where to take track after that!!
Another day in the studio! Spent the first little bit listening to "WAWP"... was feeling stuck, but grabbed a coffee and wow... Spent the entire day working on track... Recorded some choral parts, couldn't get the right effect on them... spent a lot of time fucking around with them... after all the fucking around, I realized I liked them the way I originally recorded them, with a little fx here and there! Recorded vocals as well! Track is done! Has now been sent off for guitars to be added! Today was very productive!! Definitely motivated!! Next session... not sure when it will be... maybe tomorrow, maybe Monday after work... by the end of April, I will be kicking into "20 Years of Twitch" mode! Lot's of stuff I have to do, but lovin every minute of it!!
Spent the evening working on "DC"! Tweaked things here and there... then did vocals. Tweaked vocal parts a bit. Track has now been sent off to have guitars added!! I'm sooo excited!! Once again, being that I'm in the studio almost every day now, things are getting done waaaaay faster! I'm feeling quite confident about these tracks, and I can't wait to show you folks this stuff! This album really is shaping up to be Twitch's best so far! The reason why I'm doing these daily(ish) blogs, or rather studio diary entries is, I want to be productive, and I'm finding doing these entries is helping me stay motivated... and I hope you folks are inspired in your own creative endeavours and share in the process too! If you folks are reading these and want to share your thoughts or even want to share your links to your own blog or creative processes please leave them in the comment section!! I would love to read or hear your thoughts!!
Studio session today was very productive!! Spent time on "DC". Initially when I went into the session and opened "DC" I was expecting to immediately load a different song and work on something else, but I thought, I'll just give it a listen... made a lot of progress!! Added some very subtle noise fx that all the low end is EQed out... gives the song a really cool effect and gives it an atmosphere. Also added a weird "spooky dark pad" to certain parts... already got ideas for next session!! Overall feeling from this session: Made a lot of progress, very excited!! I love these almost everyday sessions... everything is getting done faster, and ideas are coming out a lot quicker! Can't wait till next session!!
Worked on "DC", did some tweaking... not sure where to take it right now... also worked on "WAWP" listened to it a lot. Not a lot of progress, but next session will be different!! Have some ideas for "DC" that want to try out for next session! Despite the lack of progress, still feel positive and confident with the direction I am going!
Another half-day in the studio! Spent session working on "DC". Tweaked things here and there... added some metal percussion sounds... not really sure I like it... needs to be tweaked, or changed into a completely different part. Gonna leave it for now. Overall feeling from session: Even though didn't make a lot of progress today, still tweaking things here and there, I'm still motivated! Tomorrow should be completely different!
Not sure what day we are in here of these studio sessions, but spent the majority of session working on "R". Vocals are done, got it all in one take. Sent off to have guitar done! Also, messed around with "DC", tweaked things here and there... not sure where to take track, and not sure about the direction it is headed currently, but we'll see what next session brings!! Overall feeling from today's session: Very excited!! Tracks are coming together nicely, can't wait till it's done!!
Spent the first part of the evening rehearsing for a potential show that may happen this Easter! Have a nice setlist. Gear is paired down to a more compact and on the go setup for this potential show! Quite excited!
The rest of the evening was spent in the studio working on "MH"! It is now finalized arrangement-wise and vocals have been tweaked slightly. It has now been sent off to have guitars added! The more I work on this album... the better it gets... sooo excited!! Overall feeling of today's session: Progress! One more track down, many more to go, but with every track that gets completed, the more excited I get about the album! As I mentioned in the last diary entry, this is probably Twitch's best album yet! I feel like I'm making great strides in all aspects of this album... the production, the writing, everything!! It's all seeming to flow quite well!!
Very productive day! Spent the entire session on "MH". Was right, I knew the direction I was going last session was the right one... song structure has changed completely... Lyrics are done! Vocals were done in a few takes. May need to tweak them a little bit, everything is sounding good! Arrangement is in a more permanent state... after some minor tweaks next session, this will be sent off to have guitars added!! Overall feeling from this session: I feel very productive, I feel very good about the way things are going! This album is shaping up to be the best Twitch album yet! Very Excited!!
Messed around all day on "MH" trying to get "perfect" sounds... not satisfied with result, but... next session should be better, have a general idea of what I'll be tweaking / adding / and perhaps recording! May have to synthesize a human voice... we'll see... Overall feeling about today's session: Despite not really finding / creating the perfect sounds, still full of ideas and still inspired! Can't wait till tomorrows session!! Love you guys!!
