odd one out

77.08

Mr. T.M.F. van de Wijdeven celebrates his 31th birthday today, april 25th. This man is terribly important to Spider James, eventough we suspect he still hasn't figured out who he wants to be in this band. We don't care. He's more than a guitarist. Band-diplomat, financial manager, concept artist, funky rhythm guitar player, mr. tambourine man, noisy avant-jazzist vs. mainstream pop fan, a great guy. Congratulations.

drenched

saturday 19th

A huge amount of black coffee, some good conversation and new music turned Yesterday into a good day. As for the music, my idea of a 'Olé Coltrane'-style groove and Boyke's reinterpretation of a piece of music that has been around for some time (the coda to a song we don't even play anymore), seem to fit perfectly together. That's what is great about this band. Ideas get melted together - partly through composing, partly through jamming - and things never turn out the way you'd expected.

attack release

popular music

I was just looking back on the two nights of live music, Portishead in HMH Amsterdam on Monday (simply marvelous) and dEUS in Doornroosje on Tuesday (very loud, lots of attitude but where's the magic gone?). Seeing these bands and their audiences, I couldn't help thinking about this record we've made. Will we sell out Doornroosje one day? Will we be loved? Misunderstood? Overlooked? Maybe some journalist at some magazine will say our album is rubbish. We'll try not to care, but of course we'll do. At this point, everything is possible. Let's hold on to that thought and stay optimistic.

music marketing and promotion

end of part I

WJP did an excellent job recording his backing vocals Yesterday. So this means the work is done. We have finally finished recording and we can prepare ourselves for the second chapter, which is mixing the album. With Mr. Kloos engineering, we're not worried. Time to wonder though what we're gonna do with this album once it's mixed and mastered. Would be a shame if no-one gets to listen to it...

neu!

dinger

Just last week I mentioned the 70th birthday of Can-man Holger Czukay. Today I read that Klaus Dinger, just as much a Krautrock legend, has died. Klaus Dinger was 61 years old. Dinger played drums on the first self-titled Kraftwerk album in 1970. In his Kraftwerk-period Dinger met guitarist Michael Rother with whome he formed Neu! in 1971.
I only discovered Neu! three or four years ago. I clearly remember hearing the hypnotizing 'Hallogallo' - Dinger's motorik drumstyle and Rother's spacey, mellow guitar sound - for the first time. It blew me away. Without a doubt one of my favourite pieces of music ever made.

back to mine (24)

three

And then there were only three last Saturday. A case of no show from the DB-camp. Something to do with books, islands, the flu and wedding bells. We missed 'm, sure, but shit simply happens and the remaining three of us did manage to have some very fruitful hours. Rob brought his 8-track and we worked on some (of his) material. Rob's track 'Alley' (dark and dubby) seems to fit perfectly with my reggae-ish 'Illuminate', which makes it a song. Hoorah. 'Cottbus 9' and 'Say Smith' are instrumentals and could become more than worthy successors to 'Kam'. That's all for new music. Coming Saturday it's back to business. Next stop's The Void.

70

white easter

Fact. Yesterday two of my all-time favourite musicians - Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz etc. etc., 1968) and Holger Czukay (Can, 1938) - celebrated their birthdays. You wouldn't have guessed it, due to all the rain, hailstone storms and snow, but it was also the second day of Easter. I didn't find any hidden eggs. I did travel to Den Bosch and joined Ted and WJP to work on the backing vocals which resulted in some beautiful harmonies that will give the intro of 'On a Breeze' a touch of pastorale sixties psychedelia. 'The Charm', on the other hand, was given a less listener-friendly treatment. It will be hard to distinguish WJP's spaced-out vocal from a noisy distorted synth. It's the total opposite of 'Breeze'. Come to think if it, that does sound rather schizophrenic.

boyke-in-a-void

good friday

No rehearsal this Saturday, which is a shame. Some of us will see each other, as we're getting together in 's-Hertogenbosch for another round of doing backing vocals. Don't expect your typical oooh's and aaah's. We will fuck things up. Promise. Of course there will be room for some Beach Boy-style harmonies. You can't beat your Diasy Glaze out of your Spider James. We will drench WJP in reverb though. It sooths him.

spiderman is having you for diner tonight

six

Spider James rehearsed today and, for the first time in months, all six of us were there. I wasn't up to singing yet, so WJP took over. We messed about, played a bit of The Cure and worked on our 'live versions' of Del Kinky and Make a Move. All went well, considering we hadn't played together for ages. The last hour or so we spent on WJP's backing vocals as we're going to record the man (well, his beautiful voice) on April 5th. That's our last recording date and from then on we'll finally be mixing and mastering our album. Can't blame you if you believed if would never happen, but we're actually there. Almost almost.

back to mine (23)

the visitor

Still recovering from the removal of my gall bladder, a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't up to playing along with the James last Saturday. Did pay a short visit to our rehearsal room though. Witnessed an impressing opening jam: Boyke was doing some great chord changes on rhodes - reminding me vaguely of Portishead or, even more, a stripped down Boards of Canada (think: hi-scores) - backed by Rob's solid drums and with JL and Ted just freaking out. I only stayed for one cup of coffee and a nice chat. Left as soon as the guys resumed their work on the revived Beatnik. One should never interfere with men at work.

in the closet

let's roll

Five out of six Spider James members teamed up Yesterday for an actual rehearsal session. Our first rehearsal in months. It sure was good fun and we didn't sound as bad as I'd expected. Not by far. We ended our session with Beatnik: the supposed to be Spider James club classic that didn't turn up on the record... Glad it didn't. Yesterdays approach takes the song away from the 4-to-the-floor and on to a whole different level.

what you lookin' at, boy?

almost there

Is this bloody album finally ready for mixing? Almost almost. We have only WJP's backing vocals left to record. Apart from that, we've finished. Mixing is gonna be a hell of job, I reckon, but a job we're looking forward to. We would start as soon as today, but right now we don't have the money. This whole DIY thing is gonna leave us flat broke...

drums, please

wood

Having heard the saxophone and bass clarinet that Boyke's dad and brother have recorded in The Charm I can honestly say they did a pretty terrific job. I've only heard a pre-mixed version that doesn't sound great, but what could and will be, shines through. As I've said to WJP, I think after mixing the song will sound like an exciting combustion of 'bigbeat' and pop drenched in psychedelia. My cup of tea.

back to mine (22)

try again

Yesterday was great. It was all tambourines, handclaps and percussive singing for RJ, Ted and myself. JL added some fine pedalsteel notes to Morninghead and he and Ted also recorded some guitars to take Del Kinky, MKMV and Try Harder to an even higher level. Yes, that does sounds cocky, but we're proud of what we've done. What would be the point of continuing this mission if we weren't? Today is for WJP and the Kooijmans family. All love and good luck to them.

charming

update

As posted a couple of weeks ago, the first week of February will see us returning to The Void for what I may have called 'a final recording weekend'. Truth is I'm not sure if we can pull it off in one and a half day. I was a bit optimistic and wouldn't be suprised if we need one or two days more. We'll see.
We'll gather in Eindhoven Thursday to do some the last guitar parts, pedalsteel, perhaps some bass and loads of percussion. Friday is for The Pet Shop Boykes. WJP will do his backing vocals. This time around Boyke will not only bring his brother with him. I've been told he also has invited his dad. The Kooijmans family will add saxophone and bass clarinet to The Charm. Right.

plug in

b-b-b-birthdays

Today is WJP's 30th birthday. Congratulations! Thanks to wikepedia.com I found out that Baby Spice, Goedele Liekens, Jeff Koons and some of our favorite singers (Billy Ocean, Freddy Breck and Placido Domingo) also celebrate their birthdays today. So now you know too.

road trip

it's never enough

With Boyke and WJP behind a computer in 's-Hertogenboch doing some pre mixing and Rob still on some Thai beach, JL, Ted and I decided to revisit some guitar parts. One last attempt before our (final) recording session at The Void, to make what's already good even better. JL percussive, distorted ramblin' in Try Harder could be just what was missing. MKMV already had a great 'Autobahn' feel. What we came up with Yesterday makes it sound like the perfect soundtrack for a highway cruise through the desert. Adding some extra guitars to The Charm didn't work out though. What's already there, simply seems to be good enough.

say smith

saturday afternoon conversation

With Rob far and away and without Boyke due to a combination of flue and a hangover, we spent the afternoon in 's-Hertogenbosch. Listening to the music, we discussed where we stand at this point and how to finish the album.
It looks like there's going to be one more recording sessions at The Void, early February. In March and April we'll be mixing, hopefully to be ready for mastering in May. Getting it done earlier is simply impossible. We're behind on payments already... Hey, we've got artwork, a new website and a live set to worry about. Perhaps we can even get a label interested. We won't be bored.

back to mine (21)

the information

The special guest in The Void I was refering to in Yesterdays entry was Thom Kooijmans. Thom is Boyke's brother and a great saxophone player. Can't say anything about what he did as I wasn't there. Got an enthusiastic text message from WJP though. Translated in English it goes something like this:
"Decisive steps have been made in The Charm and Make a move. Think Kraftwerk. The sax is great! Think John Coltrane. Pieter is making some mixes for us to take home".
Well well well.

echo and the spidermen

lost and found

We resumed our work yesterday morning, starting with the lead vocals on Try Harder, Umbrella and On a Breeze. I must admit I was a bit shaky about it. I'm not the most self-assured person when it comes down to my singing. My increasingly bad health is certainly not approving my singing voice. Do believe things turned out rather good. Space echo and distortion may have something to do with that.
In the late afternoon and evening Ted and JL did some dreamy, dub flavoured guitar work. I loved it, but we kinda lost Pieter here. He really is a great person and a fantastic producer, but when it comes to taste in music he's not exactly living on the same planet as we do. That's okay, he's keeping us sharp, he makes us sound good. That's what matters.
Boyke and WJP are busy in the studio as I'm writing this entry and I've heard they've brought a special guest with them. More on that later...

up in flames

back on track

So it's 2008. Great. We're starting the year with a recording session at The Void. That'll be coming Friday the 4th, and not Thursday as I've said before. We'll be mostly doing some guitar, bass and vocals on Friday. The next day is for keyboards and who knows what else. We'll keep you posted.