chris h

well, 'chocolate and cheese' is indeed a good album, but I would maintain that 'the pod' and 'the mollusk' are both better. 'Chocolate and Cheese' is more straight forward than their other stuff, apart from 'white pepper' which is total pop all the way. But they're all kind of cool so just buy a random one, and if you think it's a load of shit then chances are you wont like any of the others

they're an extremely eclectic band, who've incorporated most styles of popular music into their albums, and kind of twisted them all up. they're a pair of stoners messing around basically, who every so often make something quite brilliant. well worth checking out, but takes a little time to get into. Try 'The Mollusk', maybe their mosts accesible album, or if you want something really twisted get 'The Pod'.

awww, shucks! i love you guys now go buy it!

i like your attitude though i don't really like speed metal. often.

oh well, guess my blow jobs aren't getting any better...

god damn junkies. I'm all about speed metal.

Sometimes I find it hard to decide whether I like you or not. I have no such qualms about the lostprophets though.

You strike me as a bit of a retard. Could you please at least learn to operate the Caps Lock key?

I've seen a lot of these ads lately come to think of it - 'Young Talented Girls Wanted' and things like that. It was for a female 'real rock' band as well. It's all a bit creepy. Plus, i saw the flyers in drum central - do these people think they'll find attractive young women in a drum shop? I quite like the idea of inventing a fictional 'talented young girl', complete with biography, photo and demo tape and seeing how far we could get her in one of these things. I might have to send Craig along in drag if we made the audition.. Anyway, back to the point of the thread, I think it's a great idea!

I actually played at one of the first gigs at the old Drakes. I was still in school so it must've been late '97 or early '98. My mates Justin and Scott (now Risactonia) were supposed to be playing in a band called Dreadwater, so I went along to watch, but the singer and bassist from that band didn't show up (they subsequently split up because apparently justin had been rude to the singer's wife...) So there they are at soundcheck, with no band. Rather than let the fledgling venue down, the bastards drafted me in on bass and we ran through an impromptu set of unrehearsed Sabbath, Type O Negative and Metallica covers along with a few Dreadwater tunes I'd never even heard. Deary me :O I have lots of fond memories of the old venue after that though, it was great. Didn't you used to get pizza in Drakes back then? Took me a while to adjust to the new venue, but it's definitely grown on me now - a lot more headroom on stage for us lanky types! Anyway, well done to Aberdeen's best venue on reaching another birthday - here's to many more

I can't believe you did the song about soup and the song about Burntisland - you are a man of your word! My computer's refusing to download music at present, but I'm looking forward to hearing the track when i get my lazy ass down to the Uni computers.

I don't think anyone can argue with that really. Anyone who helps to get unsigned music out there for largely selfless reasons deserves praise and support from the underground music community in general. If only there were more people willing to do the same! OK, so you might not like every Fat Hippy release, and you might not like the artwork, but at the end of the day at least they're doing something productive to help bands and to introduce people to new music, rather than starting threads on the internet with such stimulating and constructive comments as 'load of scrote if you ask me'. Honestly, get some fresh air!

Yeah, it means you got to go to Austin and I didn't

Craig, have you been on the crystal meth again? Since when did deadenstereo 'get girls wet'? Anyway, I reckon you should try out the Zakk Wylde pedal. Surely a well known rock guitarist wouldn't put his name on a piece of shit pedal just for the money?

I've always felt that as long as there are people turning up and paying to watch live music there should be some payment for the bands. I mean, no one comes to watch the bar staff (well, not normally!) but they get paid if no one turns up! Personally, i don't object to getting no money if there's a really bad turn out, it's a free gig and we've agreed to do it for free, or it's for charity. Otherwise, if a promoter has booked bands and is charging on the door they should at least give you a token payment, just whatever they can manage. It usually makes bugger all difference financially (apart from paying for the next round), and none of us are in it for the money anyway, but i think it's a good gesture if there's been some money taken on the door that the people who are actually up on stage entertaining (or terrifying) the crowd should get something. There's no point being unreasonable - we once played a gig where the turn out was so poor that the promoter filed for bankruptcy next day, so we weren't too fussed about not getting payed then! Still, in such cases part of the blame surely lies with the promoter? I mean, if you stick on three out of town bands on a Tuesday night and charge 4 on the door, no one's gonna come, but is that the bands fault? I don't know, there has to be some give and take between bands and promoters, because at this level we're all kind of in it together. Apart from promoters who give you a gig on the condition that you sell fifty tickets or more than turn off their phone for three weeks and don't put up posters. But i digress... and anyway, that sort of shit doesn't happen too much in Aberdeen anyway. Anyway, the person who made the comment that inspired this whole thread, if they are in any way involved with putting on local gigs they should perhaps consider doing something else with their time. So, don't do pay to play, play free gigs only if you're happy not getting paid, and if you play a gig where money is being taken on the door you should always look for a payment, however small, and not have to feel like a pretentious rock star asshole for doing so.

sounds like they've cahnged the entire line up save for the drummer, so they may well be an entirely different band. Unless the singer guitarist is the old singer/ bass player?

5 hours?! Man, our last three track session took two days to record, another for the mixing and mastering, and then another for a remix. And that was us in a hurry. You maybe don't have to spend as long as that, but five hours is definitely not enough time! We payed 15 an hour at Split Level studios in Edinburgh, but for that we got a really good quality recording, much better than anything I've heard from either Tom's or Exile to be honest (I'm talking sound quality here, not music!)

sometimes working out the harmony part, or at least the first note or two, on guitar is useful, but it's not strictly necessary. Sometimes you just sing something that feels right, and hey presto! Although sometimes you just sing something that feels right and look up into the horrified faces of your bandmates It does take a bit of time though, because when you first start trying to do harmonies the overwhelming tendency is to hit the same note as the other singer, as you said at the start. The best thing to do as a beginner is to work out the part and then practice it over and over along with the song, until it just comes naturally when you step up to the microphone, and eventually you'll get into the habit of looking straight for the harmony part and resisting the temptation to sing what the other person is. You just have to keep persisting, and as you get better it will come more naturally. Practising along with a recording of the track, even just a basic acoustic one, is a good idea. This is a really useful thread, by the way. I was never realy aware of the method behind the madness myself (not much of a theory man!). I'm sure it will come in handy in future. Does anyone know of any more unusual harmony tricks?

Yeah, I agree that Midasuno were the better band, but they were both really good. Both bands had really good stage presence and played with a lot of conviction, which is always good to see. Plus, hearing someone yelling 'this songs all about rockin' with your cocks out' in a Welsh accent fairly brightened up my night! I was talking to the guys from Midasuno, and they kept saying how impressed they were with the general quality of bands they were playing with in Scotland compared to elsewhere on the tour, and made particular mention of how much they enjoyed playing Drakes. What a nice bunch of fellas

Hi! we'd love to do it. we know loads of people in Gala (including my grandparents...) and have a single about to come out. e-mail deadenstereo@hotmail.com

whatever are you talking about, you crazy man?

hey ho, there are some new downloads at our site www.deadenstereo.co.uk of an acoustic gig jon did last year in dundee, featuring the softer side of the deadenstereo rock machine in action. Check them out if you like and feel free to feedback Coming soon; full band acoustic set and some tracks recorded live at Edinburgh students union. Oh, and while I'm here (tsk!) our split single with Stigma should be out in the next week or two, and will be available in One Up and Fopp. cheers m'dears

no,my idea of a proper Sg is one made by gibson. i used to play them a lot. anyway i guess it's all about personal prefernce but i find i cant play your guitar, it's really heavy and the string tension is all weird. And it's not so much that you knock it out of tune with your incredible guitar heroics, more that i've never found it stays in tune at all, even when just playing chords. well, i'm getting bored of this now. each to his own. except me, cos my guitar blows and i want another one

Chill! I wasn't sayiong my guitar's better than yours, that'd be crazy! Though it used to be quite good until a succession of my philanthropic friends took turns to set it up, clean it up etc. and fucking broke it (i don't blame you for this, the damage was done long before). Anyway, my point was that yamaha's are not as good as gibsons. your guitar is quite good, but it's a total hog to play and doesn't have the same low down dirty sound as a proper SG. That's what i think anyway. Plus, it doesn't stay in tune, which kind of sucks

Yamaha SG's are not gibson quality without the price. i don't care how many internet sites you've read that on, it simply isn't true.