nineplanfailed

So here we all are - Christmas Eve Eve - just forty eight hours and this sorry mess will all be over for another year. Thank goodness for that.

Hey, sorry for those of you that enjoy xmas. Don't want to take any of your enjoyment away. But personally, I have a strange reaction to the festive season, and the big day itself. Seems to me to be built on nothing but expectation, and the hope of what it could be...but reality and expectation can often be poor bedfellows. 

But ignore me! I'm always grumpy around this time of year (well, more tense/anxious than grumpy, but you get what I'm saying). Inspired by npf's good friend Matt Knott and his review of his year (what sweet comments, thank you!), it seems only appropriate that we/I should follow and so, here, for your (possible) enjoyment:

Despite the writer of this message obviously having some issues, Gareth and I auditioned the young fella on a cold January evening. He was, on the whole, rubbish, but he had a mouth that said 'no' (and eyes that said 'yes'), so he won us round.

Of course, in reality, Nathan turned out to be the perfect fit for nineplanfailed. Despite his tender years, he provided block-rocking beats from the off, and 'got' and was excited by our songs as much as Gareth and I were. Without him, we wouldn't be the band we are today. He recently celebrated his twentieth birthday with a bottle of champagne and a couple of prostitutes, so happy birthday Nathan!

I guess the next thing that springs to mind is the formidable presence of Abertawe Road Studios' Pez Anderson ('Snoochy' to his friends). Gareth and had met him in late 2008, as we'd used his rehearsal facilities a couple of times, but it was in 2009 that we saw his recording/engineering/producing/mixing skills in effect.

It was roughly in June that we agreed to record a couple of demo's with him in his studio, and no one in the band imagined how good the finished products were going to be. 
Ok, there have been some hardware issues that have prevented us from mixing the final tracks (namely 'perfect'), but just have a listen to 'Happy?'. GodDAMN if that doesn't sound like three times as much money was spent on it than actually was. Seriously, if we had another £1000 given to us and we were told to improve it, we wouldn't know where to start.

He's also been a constant guide, and I've jokingly referred to him as the fourth member of the band, but again, we wouldn't be the same band that we are now without his support. Unfortunately we've needed to swap rehearsal nights for the last couple of months, so we haven't seen him so much lately, but, like Obi Wank Enobi after he has been struck down by Darth Vader in Star Wars, his spectral presence is still very much felt. 

(The way I'm talking about him, it sounds like he's dead, doesn't it? He's not, for the record)

A chance meeting with Lance from Darling Waste and the lads from Our Innocence Lost led to a handful of gigs with them in July. These guys have been doing this for long enough to become so polished, so professional that it was a real inspiration for us to raise our game. And it was a real bonus to receive the invite from Lance to accompany/support them all again on the Wales dates of their tour in April 2010.

Another highlight of the year was getting videos made to accompany both 'Happy?' and 'Transiberia!'. Damon Packard was cool enough to edit and produce the eighties/MTV influenced piece to accompany 'Transiberia!', and Oanis Rawbone recut his short film 'Terminal Planet' to fit 'Happy?'. Both of these videos can be found on our youtube page (amongst other places).

We were so grateful for these talented film-makers to help us out, and create something that, whilst are completely different to each other, suit the songs completely.

More recently, a big shout out to all at BRFM for making our session possible, and so much fun. Ok, we didn't break any viewing figures (we got five people viewing it live), but it was great a experience, and thanks to the very talented guys (Jim and Peety) of Lakeside Studios we got some awesome sounding recordings of the session (you can hear them on our main profile page).

Finally, I want to thank anyone that has taken the time to check us out either online, or at gigs. In these times of apathy and recession, its a real deal to us to see faces when we're performing, or see the figures (from myspace today):

...I mean, COME ON! Over a thousand song plays? Three and a half thousand profile views? That's just awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I'm going to sign off now as my fingers are seizing up due to the subzero temperatures of my house, but I guess its traditional to wish everyone a merry Christmas. I hope that you all get what you deserve. ;p

Right I'm off to do some carol singing with that well known xmas song, 'Killing in the name of'. All together now;

Till next time,

Dim