26x365 - ego & insecurity

26 | piano tuning

2010-02-27T01:34:00.001-08:00

I have always wanted an upright piano but the good ones are seriously expensive. Last weekend though my partner came across a real bargain at a local second hand shop. An upright from Berlin, age unknown, a few keys not playing and a bit out of tune... For the bargain price of $25. Yes you read right! So last week I fixed the keys that weren't playing and also the ones that were sticking.... Not too hard a job, just some minor adjustments on the mechanisms on the dodgy keys. Job 1 done! I've been thinking all week about how I might tune the thing without the right tool??? A drum key fit but I couldn't give it enough pressure to turn under the massive weight of the strings... So I broke my drum key. ;) no biggy. But now I had to come up with something else. Pictured is what I've ended up doing... A piece of a sprocket set (not the right piece mind you), a big ass shifting spanner to turn the thing and my iPhone with th guitar tuner app on it. It's very clunky and very easy to overtune it, with one not so tiny turn of the massive spanner, but it works! So 3 hours later I have turned the bottom half of the piano and it sounds great! The top half to go... Or should I say worst half to go... Who's idea was it to make the higher notes 3 strings each instead of one????? Some ye oldie folk I guess? Well he was a bastard! ;)

So I am hoping, all things going well, you might hear my new piano on a 26 recording very soon!

Nick | 26

Play that funky iphone, whiteboy!

2010-02-21T23:23:00.000-08:00

It's very safe to say that we're not a normal band. Whether that's to our detriment is up for debate, but that's how we like it. So when we were asked to do a cover for ABC radio, we spent longer thinking of what to do, than doing it. We settled on our beloved blur. But not famous blur, obscure blur. We did a cover of Out of time off their Think Tank album. For my money, and I think Nicks, it's their best album. I am sure the Song 2 and Parklife people will argue that, but FUCK YOU! This is my blog, so Think Tank stands as king.

So we now have a track, but want it to be different. We only had a weekend to work it up, so it was challenge enough as it was. We were thinking of programing soundscapes and odd percussion etc, but it would still only be a very rough version of an awesome song. Then I got a call from nick.

"What about if you download a piano app, and play it at the studio?" said nick.

"Fuck yeah!" said drew.

So I downloaded the app, and away we went. To add to the phone theme, nick took his phone and recorded some shakers and a xylophone, then played the mp3 in the studio for us to play to.

Sound odd enough?

It was only really made a bit special when it came time for my solo. For the most part, I just played passing notes and chords, which wasn't too amazing. It wasn't till the solo that it made it a bit special. As I had an octave to play with, I was able to duplicate the exact solo of the original track, except for one note. So with a tiny tweek, the solo came out awesome. And it made it all look and sound a lot more fancy.

We know we are not the first to do this sort of thing. Not by a long shot, but we didn't just want to go into the studio and bang out an acoustic version of a metal song. As with everything we do, we strive to have a talking point. In this case, it was our phones. It then led onto conversations about technology and the band, which then lead onto the bands ethics and ideals, which is the exact kind of thing musicians like to bang on about. We hate questions like...

"What's your favourite pizza topping?" or best yet... "if you were an animal, what would you be?"

What a wasted opportunity to talk to someone! If you started a pleasant conversation with an attractive woman in a bar, would you then interrupt it with "If you were a deep fried Chinese entre, what would you be?" Ridiculous!

Back on topic, Drew! Back on topic!

Thankfully, the interview and performance went very well at the ABC. The presented loved it, played 2 more tracks of ours, and seemed to talk for ages. Nick and I now want to record it properly with better sound levels and no 'fat finger' mistakes. All in all, it was great fun.

Here is the link to the ABC website. Will post the re-recoded version when it's done.

www.abc.net.au

A New Beginning

2009-12-27T18:01:00.000-08:00

So a new year is coming around. 26 are experiencing a few "New Beginnings". We are touring "the world" for a good chunk of the first 6 months of 2010... we already have shows and festivals booked for Canada, USA, UK & Hong Kong... it all feels pretty crazy. We are also rereleasing "Births, Deaths & Marriages" through our new US & Canadian label "C12 Records". The weird thing I have found over the years of playing music is that just before something huge happens in your music career it feels like you are stagnating! I have know idea why. Call it calm before the storm... call it what you will but it is an unnerving feeling. I always have a horrible feeling this time of year anyway because it has always felt like life has been put on hold for a month or two... especially since I started working for myself about 6 years or so ago.

I'll be on here much more next year.... I hope that the other guys will too because it looks like we have much more to report from now on. I hope you are all well, I hope you haven't got a terrible hangover today and I hope you have a great year next year! I am sure 26's year will be full of high highs and low lows but I am looking forward to them all and looking forward to meeting some new people around the world.

Cheers
Nick | 26

26| Seeing great shows

2009-09-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

Seeing great shows from people you respect (or even people that you don't really respect) is always really interesting. I have been finding inspiration from a lot of female artists recently. And what female artist do is always going to be different from male artists.... I don't know why it just is. But anyway I am moving away from my point.

My point is.... as an artist you always learn a lot from other artists if they are great performers.... I learnt a lot from seeing Clare Bowditch last night... not sure what , or even if it applies to me but it was a lesson all the same. Thanks Miss Bowditch.... if I figure out what you taught me I'll credit you on the next cd sleeve. ;)

Nick | 26

26 | Ego & Insecurity

2009-09-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

I have recently been thinking about the relevance, or more to the point irrelevance, of our blog being about the recording process of our project 26x365. 1. Because it is hard enough to finish the 3 songs every 3 months little own make a blog entry both informative and witty. And 2. It seems to me that the blog has become more about "A Day in the Life" of 26... highlights, lowlights, rabbits in headlights etc. That led me to the thought... what do we do with this blog once or if we finish the project?. It would be a shame not be able to keep on talking about what we are doing and where our heads are at on any given day.... maybe not for the interests of whomever might read this but maybe for us... Nick, Drew Ross & Iain. A life diary, mainly concerning the band but maybe concerning our lives outside the band. Who cares.... as the hippy's in my neck of the woods would say "go with the flow.... man."

So I had another thought.... "wow more than one thought in a day?" I hear you say. I have been playing music with people for quite a while and the recurring theme I have always witnessed with artists, and I am no exception to the rule, is they all have a element of ego mixed with an element of insecurity. It may not be just artists that have this but I think it's fair to say that artists have this in some sort of over hyper exaggerated way.

So what I am getting at is this..... I say we keep the idea of 26x365 being the "A Day in the Life" idea and add a slight "subtitle" element to our blog. So Drew...I put this to you. (Oh wow I should be a songwriter or something). How about you rework the header for our blog to be titled and subtitled....

26x365 - ego & insecurity

and then it can become a chronicle of our ego & insecurity.

Drew, Ross & Iain.... if you think this is a shit idea then you can go and get fucked! Actually.... I hope you don't think it's a shit idea... do you don't think I am shit? ;) You see what I did there? Clever hey?

Ego & Insecurity.

So here is my promise to you.... a new and improved, sometimes witty, always honest and definitely badly written blog about 4 people that are in a band that happen to be called 26.

Love Nick
xo

Qsong picture & sizzle real.

2009-09-06T23:26:00.000-07:00

We finally got a picture from the QSong awards. None of us stopped to think 'hey, maybe we should take a photo'. Also a little sizzle real from the night. I know there has not been much posting lately, but we are charging ahead with exactly 11 trillion things. Bare with us.

Part_2 [DONE]

2009-07-27T00:31:00.001-07:00

We finally took a deep breath, and let them go.

Hear them at:

26theband.com
myspace.com/26theband

We are still waiting on iTunes approval. But will let you know when they are available.

Enjoy
26

Bit of a funny one for us.

2009-07-20T16:42:00.000-07:00

The ghost of musics past brought this little gem in for me. It's a little known band that predated 26 called Floodboy. Lead guitar, vocals, samples, keyboards and percussion are all done by our very own Nick.

It's tapetastic!

DF26

Perth, delays and Qsong awards

2009-07-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

hello lovely people. How are we all? Are we well? excellent!

It's about time we said a little hello, and let you know what we are all doing.

Well so far, June/July has been epic. Good epic, but epic none the less. To start with, we are behind on the album by a couple of days due to life getting in the road. We all seem to be uber busy at the moment. But I suppose that's just part of this whole experience. If everything was on time and perfect, it wouldn't show anything more than our extreme timetabling skills, and how boring our lives are.

So Part_2 will be out on the 26th of this month (gee. Who would of thought we'd pick that date). Believe me when I say it will be worth the extra fews days wait. We love these songs, and can't wait to have you all hear them.

So that's the 'delays' talked about. Now onto Qsong.

We have again managed to charm the judges enough to be a finalist in the Qsong song awards. We are up for best Rock song of 09. Completely took us by surprise. We have been entering the band in whatever showcase/competition we think we may stand some kind of chance in, so we sort of forgot about the qsong submission until they told us we were a finalist. so WOO to that!

Now onto the 'perth' component of this post.

We have also been asked to play at the One Movement festival in Perth. Now THAT'S got us all excited. It will be our biggest festival so far. Having not been to the One Movement festival myself, I'm not too sure what to expect, but I am SO glad that we are going to have the chance to find out.

Now for some 'touchy feely' stuff.

I LOVE how the band is traveling at the moment. We have coped a lot of flack and criticism from various people, because of the goals we aim for, and the way we operate the band. I will be the first to admit that we probably don't do too many things by the 'rockers handbook', but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. The 'old rockers handbook' is old, smelly, beer covered and torn now. We are all about the 'New Rockers PDF' which you can edit on the run, or send overseas, or present to multiple people at one.... you get what i mean? It's vague, but there is a point in there somewhere. Maybe the way we do things is not for everyone, but it works for us. So what if people in Brisbane don't really get us, or know us!? America does! So what if we don't get airplay on Triple J!? Gotham Radio in NYC is playing us, and NBC delivered our song to 6 million people in America alone. So what if we haven't played at the Zoo for a while?! We are about to fly to Perth to play a festival, and hopefully then to the states shortly after (fingers crossed for CMJ). Get my point?

I'm in a bit of a - HA! FUCK YOU! IT'S WORKING! - kind of mood. Apologies if I'm offending any readers. But it's really really satisfying to see our labour of love start to give us back some love. It's cost us a lot of heart ache, sleepless nights, lost time with our loved ones, money we don't have... but now our mistress that we call music, is starting to pay us back. It's recharging us, and driving us forward with even more conviction and confidence. It's showing us the love we so dearly want to see from it. It's working, and it's a really satisfying feeling.

Enough dribble for now.
Talk to you all before the 26th

Drew and the 26ers

Final band member update

Nick's chopping fire wood.
Ross is writing ring tones about sexing up someone
Iain is gigging where they give him free dinner now
Drew is at WAR with the CRAZY BITCHFACE woman above him. 'We're here to stay bitch!!'

Part 2 Artwork... sneak peak.

2009-07-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

To make up for the release delay (which was out of our hands), here is a sneak peak at part 2 artwork.

Part 2 is very close!

2009-06-25T04:45:00.001-07:00

I heard an interview with Brian Eno recently. He was talking about how, when working on a song, you can have this idea and then you attach more ideas and you just keep on working at it... You aren't quite sure where it's going and sometimes you even doubt that the songs going to work out in the end. Then all of a sudden it hits a point at it just works! He went on to say that you can then over work the idea when it gets to that point... Blah blah blah.

Well i totally agree... And i always have the same feeling about ever song we write. I'm happy to report that the last of this next batch of 3 songs has hit that point. I was recently explaining to the other '26' boys about my feelings on releasing songs. I have a level that a song gets to when you are working on it that I call my "if I died today and you release it would I be happy". Well I am happy to say that while the songs aren't yet "finished" (in my head anyway) they have all reached the "if I died tomorrow" stage. ;) yay!

The new trilogy are:

My Quiet Revolution
World In Miniature
We Will Survive

Drew and I have been affectionately refering to them as the "revolution trilogy". I absolutely love the songs, I think they are beautiful!!!.... and can't wait for the world to hear them!

Nick | 26

Cheat notes

2009-06-11T05:53:00.001-07:00

The things we do... Just thought I'd post another little pic of a girl we played with tonight Anna Weatherup... "cheating". Gotta love the lyrics on the floor! ;)

Post show wind down

2009-06-11T05:49:00.001-07:00

Just thought I send a quick post and say hello to the 26ers. After a big break we played a show... Pretty scatchy a first but by about 3 songs in we had it sorted!

Thanks to all who came.

#4, 5 and 6. (Like Star Wars, but more musical)

2009-06-10T22:27:00.001-07:00

Time for a new post! Well, it was time for a new post about two months ago, but in our defense, this project has made us uber busy.

So what's happening?

Songs 4, 5 and 6
I think it's ok to come out and tell you all the track details now. It's close enough to the release date. ;) Track 4, or My quiet revolution , is beautiful. I created the music one night, and sent it off to nick for a little listen. He then sent it back with a melody, and soon after that, some lyrics. It was as simple as that, and yet it's a quite complex song.

Song 5, otherwise know as World in miniature is a very special little love song. The concept behind it starts quite sour, but finishes quite sweet. It also shows the softer side of the band. Iains drums are like the delicate little patter of a new ducklings wings. :P ....... moving on from that 'poetic' little piece or writing......

Last song of the batch, We will survive , has been a very interesting process. I created a drum loop at home in logic. It was very 'bit crunchy', but I thought it would make a good backbone for a song. Then we brought it into the studio, and all tried to play of the top of it. What came from that? I'll tell you what! Some smooth smooth sexy grooves came from it! Rosses bass seamlessly glides along with the loop, and Iains real drums keep it sharp. I don't have any proper keys parts down yet, but the demo parts I do have sound sexy!

In other news, we are gigging tonight at The Globe in Brisbane with some new visuals for _Part 1. Oh! that's another thing we have been doing. We created the second graphic from _Part 2. Same style as before, but with a different element in the middle.

Ok. That's enough of an update for you all now. Will post again after the gig.

Drew:26

MACWORLD MAG interview

2009-05-14T23:47:00.000-07:00

Australian rockers 26 take Apple's Logic onstage
by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld.com

Many professional musicians, producers, and engineers use Apple’s Logic digital audio workstation software to record and mix music, but one group of musicians is taking that practice a step further. Australian band 26 takes Logic on the road with them, allowing them to perfectly duplicate the sound of their recorded music onstage.

"For me you can't beat Logic," Nick O'Donnell, the band's lead vocalist and guitar player, told Macworld. "I have been a user since Logic 4 and it was the only Mac-based program that really incorporated the recording side with the MIDI sampling side of things. It is the best thing for intergrating the two elements."

As an audience, we have become accustomed not to hear all of the same sounds from a live performance that we do from a band's recordings. Typically, there are percussion, strings, extra guitars, and other instruments on the album that most bands just can't recreate in a live setting. But that's not the case for 26.

O'Donnell said that it is Logic's ability to recreate the same sounds live as they have on their CDs that make for such a great show. The band's keyboard player, Drew Fellows, has a MIDI controller onstage to trigger the sounds during the live performances.

"We use Logic and the laptop live for our keyboard sounds, backing sounds like strings and percussion, changing my guitar effects, and to supply a click track," said O'Donnell. "We also have a MIDI track that wirelessly sends patch changes to our lighting and visual guy's PowerBook to trigger our visuals and some lighting cues. It all sounds pretty crazy but it makes the show really run smoothly and look really pro on our mini budget."

The band is using an old PowerBook and a Power Mac G5 tower for their recordings and live performances. In fact, they do much of the songwriting on the PowerBook, although they are purchasing some new gear soon, including a MacBook Pro.

O'Donnell said there are a lot of benefits to using Logic in a live performance, beyond having the ability to play back so many instruments in their songs.

"I think other than having to lug a grand piano, Fender Rhodes, a full Hammond Organ, an orchestra, and a choir with you everywhere you go, it is the best option," said O'Donnell. "I used to have to take so much gear out on the road and now I don't even have to take a guitar amp, if I don't want to. And, I think the sound quality is great."

After recording a session in the studio, O'Donnell and Fellows will often take their projects home to work on them. They will record vocal tracks or polish up some of the guitars and not have to be in the studio to it.

This brings up another small problem—with only the two of them, sometimes there is nobody left to push the buttons in Logic, but they figured a way around that using the iPhone. O'Donnell said they use the iPhone to change the keyboard sounds wirelessly, adjust the mix, and arm and record tracks.

The band is currently looking into using Apple's MainStage, which was designed specifically for live performances. They are testing the capabilities of the application to make sure it matches with everything they currently do with Logic.

The band makes use of a lot of other Apple technologies as well.

"Our lives revolve around Logic and Adobe's design suite, but we also use iLife a lot as well," said Fellows. "We have used iMovie to create the occasional video, GarageBand to create podcasts, and iDVD to create promo DVDs. I even prefer to use TextEdit over Microsoft Word."

The band's latest hit "A New Beginning" was just featured on NBC's (recently cancelled) drama series Life. All of the band's music is available on iTunes.

Article on MACWORD website

Deadlines inspire creative songs

2009-05-11T17:27:00.000-07:00

Article from: The Courier-Mail

Noel Mengel

April 30, 2009 12:00am

THE digital age is all about speed of delivery, instant information, instant shopping, instant entertainment.
The thing that hasn't sped up, on the surface at least, is the act of creativity.

In the '60s and '70s, bands worked fast in the recording studio. Would Lennon and McCartney really have written all those great songs if The Beatles didn't have to deliver those 11 studio albums plus soundtracks and numerous EPs and singles in a recording career that spanned from late 1962 to 1970?

Some might say that good songs will only come at their own speed, but there is no doubt a deadline can inspire creativity. Thus the adage, "Inspiration doesn't lead to work, work leads to inspiration."

Lennon and McCartney and George Harrison were on an incredible hot streak as songwriters and they had every opportunity to get those songs out, sometimes only weeks after recording.

During his golden era, Elton John often released two albums a year (in 1971, two studio sets, a live album and a soundtrack album!). In the same year David Bowie recorded two five-star albums, Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust.

It's a pace that seems unimaginable today, when major bands might release an album every three of four years, with no singles-only releases between. The cycle now is blockbuster album, three years flogging it around the world, a long holiday and then back to the studio.

I've often thought how frustrating that must be for modern bands and wondered how many potential great songs just don't get finished or are discarded along the way.

Down at the DIY end of the scale, the internet has been great for artists who find a way to communicate with their audience in a very personal way online. They can connect with fans around the world and release tracks at will. The very day that the song was written and recorded, if they want.

The downside of course is that so many artists are doing that and it's tough to be heard among all the electronic chatter.

Brisbane band 26 has been thinking about this too. Their second album, Births, Deaths and Marriages, was a couple of years in the making before its release last year.

But who says a band has to wait years to release a completed work? Not 26.

Their next album, 26x365, is being released online in quarterly three-song instalments, beginning this month. So fans can buy the songs from iTunes and accumulate the album piece by piece, or wait until next April to get themselves a hard-copy release.

Says the band's Nick O'Donnell: "It's a real challenge but people who like the band feel a part of the process. Plus you can introduce the songs to the live set and people know them rather than having to sit on them for years.

"The deadlines just make us work harder and faster. You have less time to think about the music but that's an interesting approach. It's more honest."

It's also in synch with the way the band write their songs, where the music for the songs is recorded and then O'Donnell digs into the subconscious to find the lyrics that suit.

"We've just finished a new song, World In Miniature, that works that way. We had talked about a few concepts, about how your world gets smaller when someone new comes into it.

"I had a melody and I knew I wanted it to be a loving song, but the lyrics came out in one take when I turned the microphone on. It just flowed."

Still, not everything is instantaneous. You will have to wait until July 1 to hear World in Miniature with the next instalment of 26x365.

New press shot

2009-04-28T19:40:00.001-07:00

EMBRACE THE ART-ROCK! That's our new motto. If we think projecting pictures onto our faces would be cool... then pictures projected onto our faces it shall be!

26 | World In Miniature

2009-04-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

We have had a little break from the "playing" part of being in a band while we worked on the "career" bit for a couple of weeks. It was so nice to get back into the room and make noise with the guys again! We tried out a new idea "World In Miniature".... a concept Drew had told me about and I loved straight away so I had been inspired to write something about it. So on Saturday just gone I put together a musical idea I had recorded some drums, keys and acoustic (of all things.... not like me) and a vocal melody (miraculously with lyrics attached!!!). I have no idea where these things come from I swear! I think I may have been channeling some of Drew's ideas, mixed with the right melody, mixed with the tiniest bit of talent and a large bit of luck! I love it when that happens! So tonight we played the idea as a group and it is sounding like..... a song!

Let's see if it makes the cut.... I love it.... and I like the fact I wrote the majority of the lyrics in my first take ever of the song! Whoo!

I will attempt to explain the concept one of these days.... if Drew allows me. ;)

26 loves the states! Our new best friends!

2009-04-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hello hello hello!

Well the good old USA has put us in a whirlwind of emailing, phonecalling and myspace-ing. Our numbers continue to climb on all our digital communities. Myspace, youtube, flickr, facebook... even this blog has a couple of subscriptions now. It's been fantastic. I find it hilarious that only a few blog entries ago we were having real confidence issues and were reaching maximum frustration levels over the lack of attention we were getting. Then suddenly BANG! 5 million televisions play our song. It's always darkest before the dawn.

So what else has been happening in 26 land? Well we have 1.5 songs written for next release. First song is bliss! I love it. Second song is still in development, but so far LOVELY. We also have 2 other ideas kicking around, but are yet to be examined to any great extent.

In other news

• Ross had a baby boy - welcome little Will to the 26 family
• Iain has been Cover gigging less - He is not quite sure what happens on a friday night, and just ends up air drumming to comfort himself
• Nick has been speaking to Americans. A LOT of Americans. He is thinking of taking up Gridiron
• And I have started to rage war with my neighbours. STOP LEAVING ME FUCKING NOTES UNDER MY DOOR!!!!!

That's about it for now. Hopefully tomorrow we will have some more news about 26 on American airwaves.

You all come on back now, you hear?
Drew :: 26

Cracking the US of A!

2009-04-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

26 are very happy to report that about 3 hours ago, we got our first foot in the American door. NBC featured A New Beginning in the second season finale of the TV show LIFE. After about a week of waiting for emails with our Sync company and NBC, we finally got the 'LOCKED IN' email. WOOO! This is VERY exciting news for us. It is a great way to sneak into the US market, especially for an independent band on the other side of the world.

It aired in the states at 9pm on April 8. It will be broadcast in another 24 countries, including Australia on the 29th of April.

The 26 US onslaught has commenced.

Drew :: 26

*life image taken from the NBC website

Done & Dusted!

2009-03-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

Songs are being uploaded to iTunes as I type.... for better or for worse PART 1 will be available to the world on Wednesday! Whoo hoo!

Vocals?

2009-03-29T03:18:00.000-07:00

To redo vocals or not to redo vocals????

It's crunch time again.... the release.... the time you have to commit your heart and soul (and voice in this case) to the final take before people hear and judge you. Not so much from a technical point of view but more from an emotional one. It's ok thinking of strangers hearing your thoughts and taking what they hear and making it their own story. But if you happen to be sitting in the room with someone you know and knows you listening to a new track for the first time it can be VERY unnerving! For me at least being the vocalist and the chief lyricist you wondering what people are thinking.... are they wondering what part of the story might be about them or "what is going on in that fucked up little brain of his" or will my mum notice the swearing in this one? ;) I don't tend to worry about the musical bits now.... I feel like we have that sorted! I just want to connect.... and hopefully not make too much of a fool out of myself while trying.

I am really excited about the new tracks.... I think they are our best.... and yes everybody says that about their new stuff but I truly think we are on the upward climb in terms of our songwriting as apposed to a band like U2 where they hit a peak at Joshua Tree, stayed there for a couple of albums, and then just relaxed into well crafted but not as "special" songs as there predecessors.

So it's time.... release the songs to the world and to your friends & family. Speaking of which I wonder how the latest addition to the 26 family is coming along? (Ross... any news?)

Let's hope one or more of the songs strikes a chord with people and they decide they can't live without buying the song to put it on their music player of choice!

Nick | 26

1... and... 2... and... 3... and... BLOW!

2009-03-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Just a quick pic upload. The recording of the band. Not sure if it's going to work yet or not. Will keep you posted.

Drew \_26

26 | 26x365_Part1

2009-03-16T04:44:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well.... Yes we had a shit week last week.... I am not even sure if Iain has recovered yet? But anyway we press on!

I have been listening to the 3 new tracks today..... I have been recording vocals and mixing what we have and much to my surprise I think it is fucking brilliant! The only thing left to do is record the marching band for 'Bring On the Colour Guard' on Wednesday night and then do a final mix... maybe a vocal here and there if I can't live with something.... then we are done! I am so happy with these songs.... I LOVE THEM!

'Bring On the Colour Guard'..... that's what we are waiting for I guess? 26's Colour Guard (flag bearer in a marching band)..... a sign, some direction..... a glimmer of hope that one day we might be able to crack this thing and actually make a living out of something that seems harder than winning the lotto on the New Years Eve Super Draw! Making a living from our collective "calling".

For me.... I have no choice, colour guard or not, I can't seem to shake the ambition to communicate with people through music.....I don't know why.... sometimes I wish I could fuck it off and get on with life like the rest of the folk my age but for some reason I have an itch that hasn't been scratched yet. See I grew up catholic and I had to go to church once, sometimes two or three times a week, so I have these memories in my head. I always remember the priest, brothers or nuns talking about "their calling" (probably trying to convince young kids to consider the life in the priesthood, brotherhood or sisterhood as an appealing option). But anyway it has stuck with me for some reason.... not the idiotic idea of becoming religious in anyway but the idea of a "calling".... I feel like we at the very least have a reason for being here.... again not religious.... just that it would be a waste not to have a reason to be here. If you love being a carpenter and you a re fucking good at it then you should be doing it! And so on and so forth..... So I think the job of an artist is to be a pointer, a marker, someone who can help you see things differently, feel things stronger, see life more vividly.

So I keep pushing on.... not because I want to or that it is the easy option, because it isn't.... I just feel compelled! So in this next batch of songs or the one after.... I hope we find our "lucky break" because I'd just love more than anything to be doing what I LOVE doing for a living not what I HAVE to do to pay the bills.

BRING ON THE COLOUR GUARD!!!!!!

Music is a harsh mistress.

2009-03-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

In the interests of staying faithful to the idea of taking people on the creative journey, this post is a little bit somber and yucky. Thankfully not too yucky, but something that we don't want to be repeating in a hurry.

This week we had probably our first notable argument. So far in the 26's career, we have escape bickering, fighting, scratching, bitching and name calling. But the culmination of life stress, and band stress, came together last night to ignite a mild to medium sized tiff. It was NOT a nice feeling. The mild to medium tiff was about 'Old school practices' vs 'New School practices'. It became quite heated. Not scolding your mouth with coffee heated... more like hot microwaved pizza heated. You know when you bite into the pizza, and it's too hot to swallow, so you juggle it in your mouth for a while in a vain attempt at giving it time to cool? But then you eventually swallow it, having learned your lesson, and continue on with your meal.
Well that was the type of tiff it was. We had it, juggled it for a while, got a little burned, then moved on. (all be it in a somewhat somber mood)

We are in a bit of a dark place at the moment. We are putting in a lot of work, but seeing little reward. And whilst it is a terrible and obliterating position to be in, we are finding hope and encouragement with our new songs. In the end, that's why we do it. We love the music we produce, and love producing music. We may end up being the world best unknown band, but that won't stop us from trying.

We will always have music, even if music won't have us.

Ok, enough touchy feely girly nonsense.

Drew | 26

P.S. NEW MUSIC ON OUR MYSPACE PAGE.

Meet 2 new members of 26

2009-03-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all. NEW ART TIME! I know I have already said this before, but we have NEW ART for the project. This time it's staying. I LOVE it! Plus it's all over everything now, so it has to stay. Here is the new website.

I wasn't really happy with what I originally did. It seemed too 'best of' artwork to me. I liked the idea of glimpsing photos of us working on the songs, but it was all a little too Powderfinger for me. Yeah!! YEAH I SAID IT! Take THAT Bernard Fanning!
So I went back to what the album is loosely themed around, connections. Connecting to fans, connecting to the music, connecting with each others, the connections in the brain that create ideas, ALL SORTS of connections. I have always liked the scientific and medical type of connections, so I tried to do a more 'scientific/medical design.

I came up with this.

The couple needs names. Free music to the person who can come up with the best names.

Drew | 26

26 | Valley Studios Show

2009-02-24T16:10:00.000-08:00

Well we did our first show of the year the other night and it all went really well! I really enjoyed watching Hunz (as always) and The Pryor Theory (Matt from TPT was in the band Floodboy with me for years). It was really great to see what Matt is doing these days.... so different to what we were doing in Floodboy but it is obvious to me that he is really doing what he loves. The other notable thing was that the venue that we were playing in used to be Floodboy's old practice room.... so it was a sort of home coming.

I think we played really well? I had lots of energy. I attribute it to the fact that the hard drive in my computer, which we use for backing and keyboard sounds during our shows, died half way through practice the other night. So we were very under practiced but it made it a bit more exciting and negated the risk of being stale from over-practice. Talking about stale.... I really feel like it is time to add the new material into our live set! It will make all the older songs fresher too.... win win!

So bring on 31 March so we can blast some new songs from the stage!!! I am so very excited at the idea!

Nick | 26

318 days, 8 hours, 42 mins, and 40 something seconds left

2009-02-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

Hells horses what a task!!! Please excuse the delay in posts, but as you can imagine, we are quite loaded up with work to do for the first release.

"But what is this work?", I hear you ask. Well let me give you a quick rundown, track by track of the first .

Track 1. 1 x 1
This is the first track off the first release. It's a fantastic little track that introduces the album by exploding your ear drums. The most notable element to this track is the actual heart beat of Ross's soon to be born child. Thankfully, has just as much rhythm as it's dad, and beat in JUST the right time signature for the track. How good of the little bambino.

All that remains to do on this track is some backing vocals, and then MIX MIX MIX.

Track 2. Bring on the Colour Guard
'WE HAVE SPIRIT, YES WE DO! WE HAVE SPIRIT, HOW BOUT YOU!?!! WOOOOO! GO TEAM!!!!

Ok, that out of the way, 26 has now got a marching band. Last album it was a 100 voice choir, and a cathedral pipe organ. Track 2 on this album sees a marching band and drums! VERY excited about this. We have recorded all the tracks, and arranged our band parts. Now we just have to take them to the band leader, and find out if it is doable. So far, all signs are pointing to YES!

Most notable new element is the cymbals that Iain and I made out of my shoe lace, and a pen lid. We were both rather pleased with our efforts.

Track 3. Sod Off
Drums are now fully recorded, and all that remains is vocals, bass, and some mixing. The best way to describe this track is by telling you that when Iain got off the drums after his first take, he was panting and catching his breath. It is a seriously vicious groove. It will one day be the groove that kids start to play in music shops to show off, instead of Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Most notable new element, the sound of sweat hitting the drums as Iain powers through the song. : )

Briefly in other news

1. 26 is currently on the feature playlist of Tripe J's Unearthed. And as of today, made it to #18 on the Unearthed chart.
2. Gigging this Friday at the Valley Studios
3. I saw Leonard Cohen and loved it
4. Iain is having a birthday
5. Nick had his millionth coffee
6. and Ross went out west to play some country shows with 'The Good Old Boys' (ok, not really... but close enough).

That's it for today.

Drew | 26

2009-01-29T17:06:00.000-08:00

My BIG MUFF has been giving me grief for too long now (that sounds really weird). Well over the weekend I decided to take a look and try and come to the bottom of it. I even bought a new soldering iron (God knows why), t’was dry solder joints!!! Dam Russians…again!

I’m happy to report she’s now purring like a kitty again, after 10 years she’s still going strong.

I even put new dials on it (which are the same as the VOX dials) and cut a hole in the front side of it and mounted a 9v DC adaptor in there permanently (from one of my old BOSS pedals)

She’s me pride and joy she is…..mmmmmmm!

I LOVE BIG MUFF!!

Ross | 26

Iain Recording Drums

2009-01-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

Recording again at last!

2009-01-22T03:39:00.001-08:00

So at last we get to record my favourite thing in the whole world.... DRUMS! To me they are the thing you base everything on... obviously the rhythm, but also the sound of a kit for me determines the whole production of a song. See I am a drummer at heart. Although not the drummer in 26, I grew up as one and it's still pretty much where I build all of my song ideas from. Plus I am addicted to microphones at the moment so the whole recording drums thing seems to serve my addiction to both perfectly!

Last night was really productive, not only did we do the kit (9pm) for "Blame Myself" (working title) but we managed to get some bass down (11pm) as well. Ross has the most crazy bass sound in this song sounding more like a synth than a guitar. Then, while the kit was still set up and miked up we put down an idea that Iain has had in his head for the last week (about 12pm). So drums, keyboard bass and a dodgey first take guide vocal for Iain's new song we got back to work on what it was we came in for..... "Blame Myself" (1am). So we packed up the kit and set up our marching band set up.... i.e. Iain and I playing dual snare drums and multi-tracking them over and over!.... yay I finally got to play drums on a record again! (1.30am)

So the horrible bit (2am ish).... exhausted and delirious we pack up, lug Iain's kit out, pat each other on the back, Iain heads off for his 6 minute drive home and I head off for my 1.5 hour drive home.... why must I live in the "country"??? I am really feeling it tonight.... that and the fact that I got up at 2am the morning before to see my man-crush (Obama) get put into power.... whoo hoo! I hope things are going to change! A New Beginning maybe? ;)

Nick | 26

'I don't like Mondays'

2009-01-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

It's Monday, and much like Bob, I also don't like Mondays. Usually it's because I am back at work, and I'm tired/hungover from the weekend. But this year, it also means that another week is gone from the project. We are not in 'super stress mode' yet. We are probably more in 'slightly anxious' mode.

Report time!

We didn't record the drums last week as I thought we were. They are happening THIS week. I got all confused and got Ross all confused when he read the blog. Sorry about that Ross-Eisley. So what did we do? Well musically speaking, there was a some orchestration done for one of the songs. It will be sousaphone-arific! That's all I am saying.

As well as that, there was a bit of admin and housekeeping, and the art department got a bit of a lashing. More progress was made on the new official website, which will be launched late Feb/early March. The image is a little sneak peak at the new website, and just how long we have left to complete the project. YIKES! As a band that likes to sit on albums for a while, this project is really pushing us out of our comfort zone. But so far, it's giving us some excellent results.

Loving our music making at the moment.

That's it for now.
laterz skaterz

Drew | 26

P.S. If there is an abundance of blog entries done by myself, it's only because I live on the internet. Not literally. I'm not made of pixels. That would make playing the piano quite testing. I will hassle the other boys to do some writing.

'Welcome to the Working Week'

2009-01-12T19:11:00.000-08:00

I am glad to report that it is all engines ahead for 26. We have now got a MICRO-SITE at the beginning of the old website to stir up some interest for visitors. And we have also developed our artwork style for the project. HOORAY! (thats always a stressful one for me)

The artwork will consist of 'glimpses' of 26 recording, playing and working in the studio. As a rule, we generally don't like to focus artwork on the band, but rather the theme or feeling of the albume/track. The focus is the song, not the players. But in this case, the theme will be more around us as music makers. The artwork will change for the hard release at the end of the project to better reflect the album as a whole. We are currently calling this our 'default artwork' in the meantime.

Go to www.26theband.com to see the new artwork.

In musical news, we have all had a week away from our demo we did last week and are LOVING what we did. We are going back into the studio tomorrow to do some better takes and record some actual parts. This will be a big production piece in the end, so we better start collecting our pieces now.

That's it for today kids. Talk to you after the recording.

Drew | 26

Week 3

2009-01-11T02:45:00.001-08:00

Ok we have to get moving now otherwise we'll run out of time very quickly! Once we get this first lot of songs out of the way and know we can do it I think we should be right?

It's getting better all the time

2009-01-09T02:42:00.000-08:00

Had a creative moment today and feel like I may have sorted out another part of the puzzle in the new song we were working on the other night. I figured out a new chord sequence and a structure that I am really hopeful will take this new song to the next level.... hopeful not sure yet tho?

Can't wait to record some drums and bass next week!

Marching bands, union jacks and sushi trains.

2009-01-07T17:43:00.000-08:00

Morning/evening everyone

Last night was our first night of demoing a song idea that Nick has been conjuring up. It was BLISS to get in a room and work on new material.

Iain and Ross had fun going to town with a new wicked groove. Lots of unique little bits and pieces in Iains drum groove, and Ross got an awesome fuzzy bass sound that grooves along nicely.

We demoed a few variations of some grooves, and will now sit on it for a week and work on a more solid structure. It was a VERY promising start to the song. We have big plans that, without giving to much away, involves lots of drums and percussion.

As well as demoing the track, we also have further discussions on our UK tour and how HUNGRY we are to take our sound overseas. We think its where our music will work best. We have always thought, and are continually be told, that our sound is very UK/European. So we are salivating at the thought of putting that to the test, and taking our live music to a global audience.

We also had some killer sushi from our favourite sushi train. :)

I grabbed a couple of shots last night on my phone so you can see the space we are currently demoing in. It's full of great artworks and goodies.

Thats about it for now kids
Talk soon

Drew | 26

The night before...

2009-01-06T03:14:00.000-08:00

It's the night before our first pre-production for the new tracks for the first batch of 3 songs. I don't know if Drew made it blatantly clear but just to be sure.... the plan is to record and release 3 songs every 3 months (Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring) for 1 year (i.e. 26 x 365). We are also planning on doing shows in Aus, touring the UK and possibly the USA, having a baby and holding down full-time jobs. Are we nuts or just really keen?

We have some song ideas hanging around that might be contenders for the first batch and I am very excited about our new direction and the way we have been writing. Drew has been coming up with some great musical ideas which is really refreshing because I get sick of my own voice (in my head) sometimes. ;)

Well my hope for this thing is that someone writes here every day..... lets see what happens.

Nick | 26

Action!

2009-01-05T22:40:00.001-08:00

First entry! It's 5 days late... but the first entry is here. We known it's not the strongest of starts to our project, but christmas, holidays and painting apartments all got in the way of the starters pistol. That said, it proves what a daunting task we have taken on, and the album has to content with.

Ok, excuses aside - WELCOME to the 365 blog. If you are not sure what it is, then have a look at the profile story to the right...... Read it yet?...... ok good. Moving on.

The project is underway, and songs have started to come together already. We are unexplainably excited to record again, and feel a really strong and different album within us. Early signs already show another step up for 26.

As well as the music, we are also plugging away at the new websites and the blog. It's ALL HANDS ON DECK for 26, and can't wait to serve you all up with your first taste of the project.

Talk to you all soon.

26