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NORTH FOR THE WINTER BLOG POSTS
De Boom Boom Boom
Message published on: January 7, 2012
After over a year of waiting, it’s finally arrived, and isn’t she just gorgeous!?!!
I’m sorry folks, but I just can’t help myself from blogging about how amazing this new kit really is. For those of you that are wondering, it’s a Jobeky electronic (yes, electronic) custom-built drumset powered by a Roland TD-9 Drum Module, sporting a rather excellent Roland VH-11 hihat and a suite of modded top of the range Yamaha triple zone cymbals. This is literally as close as it gets to being an acoustic kit. So I’m sure you can forgive me for wanting to blab about it!
Each of the drums (besides the kick) operates in dual zone fashion which allows the player to sound a note on the rim as well as the head of the drum, and the sensitivity on these beasts is just unparalleled – even against the most tippy-top, overpriced products that current industry-leader Roland can provide. There are zero dead spots! And then there’s that stunning ‘bubinga fade’ finish that my appalling photography just doesn’t do justice to. What’s nice about this kit is the drums aren’t made of bouncy rubber the sizes of saucers like most electronic kits. They’re actually real drums in real sizes made with real wood, and skinned with dual-ply mesh heads. As such, they happily accept a proper walloping like only a rock drummer can give without losing an ounce of sensitivity. I’ve played on lots of electric kits both cheap and massively dear from many brands in the industry and I have to say there’s just nothing quite like these beauties.
That said, I find it’s actually the cymbals of an electronic kit that are the hardest thing for manufacturers to get right. Either you go for triggered metal cymbals like my old Alesis Surge cymbals (but they’re way too loud), or you take the traditional rubber route. Ruling out all the rubbish pizza-slice offerings that you see plaguing the lower spectrum of the market, this gives us basically two options: Roland and Yamaha. Roland cymbals are nice but they’re absurdly expensive. Yamaha cymbals offer the same level of sensitivity without the price tag, but they’re not 100% compatible with my Roland module – thus I had to break out the soldering iron to tweak the circuitry. A resistor here and a jack socket there and you’ve got yourself a triple zone cymbal: sporting inputs for bell, bow and edge, with full choking, for under £100 a pop! Brilliant! And I’m pleased to report they’re holding up extremely well considering I’m the last person on earth that you want to present with any kind of DIY tool.
At this point, not only has a non-insignificant amount of money been spent, but also a fair bit of time has elapsed. Now, you might reasonably ask, well this is all well and good but why go to this much effort when you could just have a real acoustic? The answer is: I do indeed have a wonderful acoustic kit, but unfortunately it’s in Wales and I’m in a flat in London. An acoustic kit just isn’t practical to play* anywhere I’ve lived so far, and in fact the impact noise from most electric kits (including my previous Traps kit) still renders them too loud to play regularly. This kit solves this problem – it’s extremely quiet, it doesn’t sound like someone is putting up shelves next door, and it acts and feels exactly the way my Pearl ELX does. That’s a massive win in my opinion.
Finally, what makes or breaks any musical instrument? It’s sound. The great thing about all electronic instruments is that you can make them sound however the hell you like! I’m a massive fan of software-based drums and have recorded using them for several years. This is the approach I’ve always taken for spatial, aural and financial reasons. I just can’t afford the proper environment to host regular drum sessions. So at the moment I’m using my new kit with Addictive Drums running on my laptop. I think XLN Audio are the closest the world has come to producing life-like, expressive and articulated acoustic drum sounds and no doubt they’ll feature on the next NFTW EP. Check it out: North For The Winter Drumsounds: Lively Snare Kit 1
If you’re at all interested in learning more, feel free to send me a message. I can’t recommend this package enough to other drummers that suffer the same issues that I do, and please do check out the Jobeky website: www.jobekydrums.com
Jim – NFTW
* (or store for that matter!)
Happy New Year!
Message published on: January 2, 2012
So according to the Mayan’s, we’re all going to kick it in this year. What’s more, it’s due to happen on my bloody birthday! Fabulous. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world include “the arrival of the next solar maximum, or Earth’s collision with a black hole, passing asteroid or a planet called Nibiru” according to Wikipedia. And as we all know, Wikipedia never lies so we shall be accepting this view as gospel. With this in mind, the band’s decided to split up.
Only kidding.
I’m actually really optimistic about this year. This might have something to do with an impending drum kit delivery and the fact that 2012 marks the year when all band members complete their various educational commitments. You never know, we might actually start playing again…
Happy New Year.
Jim – NFTW
Merry Christmas!
Message published on: December 26, 2011
Hi all!
Sorry its been a long while since the last blog post. We don’t really have an iron-proof excuse; only that we’re still looking for a new singer, I’ve moved to the nation’s capital to start work, Chris is now ploughing ahead with his photography business and Andy is, well, still Andy…
I do have some good news though – while its been pretty quiet here at northforthewinter.com, I’ve been busy redesigning a website for the truly lovely Colin and Jane over at Jobeky Drums. I’ve placed an order with them for a shiny new (you wouldn’t know it) *electronic* drum kit which is due to arrive in the next few weeks. I’ll be writing a short review for anyone interested in getting one. These guys really do make blow-your-head-off great kits so I’m massively excited. More to follow soon…
So here’s to wishing you a very merry moose and a happy 2012 (wow – it really has been quiet around here for a very long time!).
Our new years resolution is to get playing and recording again – so if you’re a bandless singer who shares our vision, please please please get in touch!
All the best!
Jim – NFTW
R3m0t3 b10gg1ng
Message published on: May 18, 2010
Just discovered that remote blogging is now possible via these amazing new internet phones. Wow! Will keep you all posted marginally faster than before all thanks to HTC’s app store! Glorious!
Much love.
Jim – NFTW
Just can’t seem to get the singers these days…
Message published on: March 20, 2010
And sadly the band is in the market for a new singer again. This time, hopefully someone that will stick for a while.
If you, or anyone else you know are interested, please give us a heads up. We don’t have a gender preference, so long as you can sing to a high level and command a stage we’d be very happy. We can play the songs in different keys should they not suit your range. There’ll very likely be more new ones to come as well (that can be written for your range), song-writing influence is a plenty after the last 9 months!
Other possible plus points:
If you can sing and play guitar/keys/something, that’d be wicked as we were considering expanding our numbers, but its not essential.In the meantime we’re putting Andy on lead vocals to scream our way into the charts.
23 Jan 2010 :: Rosie Malone’s now with Such Modern Ways – 8PM
Message published on: January 4, 2010
Yes, it’s that time again!
We’re up in Coventry, playing the Kasbah’s sister venue “Rosie Malone’s” on the 23rd! We were due to be playing with our good friends, local punk rock band “Fly By Night”, but sadly they had to pull out. So instead I heard through the grapevines that we might be playing with another local Warwick band, “Such Modern Ways” – expect some killer vocals here! More details to follow as soon as we know them.
http://www.myspace.com/suchmodernways
Sadly they have no recordings yet (hopefully that’ll change soon *wink*) but their myspace is very pretty!
22 Jan 2010 :: Golden Cross with Sunlight Ascension and The Black Dogs – 8PM
Message published on: January 3, 2010
Excellent! We get to play with Hannah’s flatmate’s band, “Sunlight Ascension” (who we think are awesome) and the pressie’s band “The Black Dogs” at the Golden Cross in Coventry, on Friday the 22nd of Jan! This’ll be really good, check out t’other bands:
http://www.myspace.com/sunlightascension
http://www.myspace.com/theblackdogswarwickMore details to follow…
A New Myspace, A New Guitar and A New Hope.
Message published on:
Welcome to twenty-ten chaps! Everything seems to be going swimmingly our end; we’re all happy and the new music is sounding great. We’re planning on releasing the new EP on ITunes (check out our sample track on the music page or on our newly updated myspace) in the coming month.
We’re also due to play a couple of gigs in the next few months, starting at Rosie Malone’s (the Kasbah’s sister venue in Coventry City Centre) on Saturday the 23rd of Jan. And in addition to that, we’re looking forward to this year’s Warwick University Battle of the Bands competition in February – we’ll get to play in the newly built Copper Rooms, yay!
In preparation for both of these events, Chris got over excited and bought a rather expensive new guitar to complement his set of other rather expensive guitars – all of which he intends to smash up and throw at unsuspecting victims during one of the mental sections of live renditions of our new material… you better watch him like a vulture. Das ist gud, ja!? We think so.
Yum. Fender Jaguar taste nice….
It’s like you’ve been deepthroating stonehenge!
Message published on: December 23, 2009
So, tracking is done, we’ve got rough mixes, it all sounds rather awesome… but I would say that. Jim and I are now locked in a small room sorting the final mixes, tomorrow we’ll be mastering. If you’re lucky we’ll post some teaser clips as a Christmas present.
I’d like to take the opportunity here to properly introduce Hannah, our new (ish) vocalist. Over the summer we had a bit of a fall out with Chazz*, the short story is that we weren’t clicking as a band; the longer story isn’t suitable for our younger readers. So the super-wicked-awesome Hannah offered to step in and yelp for us. We didn’t really know at the time quite how talented she actually is. She brings with her a bucket load of enthusiasm, the lungs of a free-diver and 1337 violin skills that would make Steven Segal** cry. I’d totally post a picture of her here, but she’d probably get a bit pissy, so here’s a picture of Gary Coleman instead:
She doesn’t look exactly like Gary, but it’s close enough as far as I’m concerned.
Jim and I are heading back to the mainland tomorrow. It’s been a nice 7 degrees here this week, where as back in Hampshire everyone has been snowed in. We spent yesterday on the beach (true story). Jim isn’t looking forward to going home though; he’ll have to leave behind his newly found companion. Who knew that a pyrex jug from the Isle of Wight could capture the heart of an upper middle class Berkshire blue-blood:
The thought of leaving the jug behind reduced jim to a canine like state:
As penance for posting that pic I’ve been told that I have to post a real pic of our loverly Hanners… Sorry!
* Hi there if you’re reading, I know how you like to keep up to date with your favourite people!
** This is not of course possible as he has no tear-ducts.
xmoose cheer to all.
Chris – NFTW
Trapped in the Closet
Message published on: December 22, 2009
Dear intarwubs,
Echoing the sentiments of Jimothy over there, I hope you are having a joyful christmas break. Recording the new EP is going scarily well. So well in fact, that I think aliens have beamed down from another galaxy and replaced the old Jim and Chris with terrifyingly genial chaps who get along with each other like a house on fire. So far ther have been absolutely no major disagreements over how much crossfadey reverabated magical technology things there should be on this .5 seconds worth of a song and bla bla bla… (I am a simple vocalist – it all sounds the same to me…). They’re getting along so well that I’m beginning to suspect that they might be secretly boning each other or something. Because that’s never happened in this here band before… *cough cough*
Also because they are innovative young chaps they have made an impromptu vocal booth out of an under-the-stairs-cupboard and some bedding. Which means I have spent most of my time trapped in a closet listening to my voice go round and round and round and round singing the same phrase over and over and over again. It’s like being in a tiny padded cell with only myself with a limited vocabulary for company. In brief: I am going madder than I was before. And the madder I get the better the results seem to be. Some of the harmonies we have recorded are so good I want to lick them – and I think Chris will attest to the fact that I have tried. Apparently electrical equipment is dangerous and you shouldn’t lick it. Oh well, lesson learned. Didn’t taste that good anyway.
Anyway, I hope you like the results of our recording seclusion as much as I do. And we didn’t even have to kill each other to get it. Definite plus. The only thing that possibly made me happier than the harmonies is the fact that the EP has been named after an epic Ghostbusters quote. In case you didn’t know, Ghostbusters is the best movie in the entire world ever. I think the EP totally deserves its title.
I’m off back to solitary confinement. “It’s not funny anymoooore….”
‘Til next time,
Hannah
X
Back Off Man, I’m A Scientist
Message published on: December 20, 2009
Well good day to you chaps!
We very much hope that your christmas break is going as well as ours. We’re currently down on the sunny, sunny land of Wight recording our latest EP with our new singer, Hannah. And very good it is. Well, at least we think so..
Here’s a sample of track 1:
Fraiser Vs PredatorIt’s certainly a lovely place down here. Being right on the coast (we can even see the sea, how wonderful!) with plenty of pubs in close proximity makes us very, very happy people. For the last few days Hannah has been locked in a closet, Chris has had his fill of photo opportunities and I’ve been slowly drifting into insanity (it’s probably the air down here?), however, things are definitely progressing. Itunes here we come.
Our super space shuttle fuel powered neo-dynamic new 4 track EP, “Back Off Man, I’m A Scientist” will likely contain the following new tunes:
“Fraiser Vs Predator”
“Bored Of The Dead”
“If Die Hard Taught Us Anything…”
“The Sum Of All Wrong”More blogging to follow as the week continues… Let us know what you think.
Jim – North For The Winter
North For The Winter on BBC Radio’s “The Session, Introducing” – Sunday 7PM
Message published on: July 10, 2009
So it would seem that we have inadvertently stumbled into some sort of BBC local radio competition! Apparently we’ve made it through the initial selection process and will have our latest track, “She Self Medicates”, reviewed by the presenters of BBC Berkshire’s “The Session Introducing” – a show designed to shine light on local unsigned acts, such as ourselves! Excellent!
So, if you’re near a PC (or radio for that matter) on Sunday evening tune in to BBC radio Berkshire at 7PM and listen to a local radio ‘expert’ tear apart our hard work in the review section! We’re looking forward to it!
In other news, we have a few gigs lined up this summer so catch us at one of the following venues, or don’t… either way we’ll still love you!
Friday 24th July – Plug n’ play, Reading
Thursday 30th July – The Hobgoblin, Staines
Saturday 22nd August – Reading Fringe Festival (Face Bar all-dayer)Also, we’re now listed and have been played a large number of times on StudyVoxFM, a global radio station designed and run by students. Visit/listen here: http://www.studyvoxfm.com/
BBC Introducing…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/ (listen live here on Sunday 7PM)http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2007/10/03/demo_panel_new_feature.shtml (here’s the other 2 demos being reviewed!)
30 July 2009 :: Hobgoblin supporting SION – 8PM
Message published on:
So we’re playing at the Hobgoblin in Staines on the 30th of July! We’ve never been happier!
Supporting Feud and Sion (who are really great live and have toured with Oceansize as well as supported Air and QOTSA and other acts at various festivals). We’re REALLY looking forward to this gig, it’ll be a fantastic show, maybe the best of the year. Entry is only 3 quid and will definately be worth it!! (Note: ID required)
Fucking Excellent!
22 August 2009 :: Reading Fringe Festival – 4-11PM
Message published on: July 2, 2009
We’ve been booked to play a set on an all-dayer gig at the Facebar as part of the Reading Fringe Festival (in the run up to Reading Fest) on the 22nd of August!
Roughly speaking the event runs from 4pm-11pm, entry is £5 and there will be probably around 10(ish) acts playing. More details to follow shortly…
24 July 2009 :: Plug-N-Play Reading BOTB – 7.30PM
Message published on: June 29, 2009
NFTW are playing some kind of crazy BOTB competition at the rather wicked Plug-N-Play (RG1 8LG) in Reading on Friday 24th of July.
Entry is a massive 2 quid if you mention our name. Running order is at random on the night. So we could be on at any point. Doors are at 7.30PM. Do it!
Album Review by Rob Himself of NineHertz
Message published on: June 4, 2009
The ‘stoner rock’ webzine, NineHertz, have recently reviewed our new album. If you haven’t had a listen yourself yet, here’s what ‘Rob Himself’ thought:
Incredibly, despite playing maybe ten or twenty gigs in their 5 year + existence, Hampshire post-hardcore types North For The Winter have released FOUR (count ‘em) full-length albums. What they lack in live experience (with the exception of bassist Andy, formerly of Mfkzt and largely studio-bound stoners Cicadas), they make up for in prolific songwriting and you have to admire their tenacity.
‘Perfect Automation’ is an 11-track slice of succinct, melodic indie, displaying all their tricks in one handy, highly listenable package.
Benefiting from the recent addition of a teenaged, female vocalist, the songs are well layered and dynamic – album highlight ‘She Self Medicates’ is built nicely round an bizarrely Cranberries-esque vocal line. Sharing singing duties with guitarist Chris, the two-part harmonies tend to waver at times, but the solid, busy drumming and sturdy basswork keep things moving.
Four albums in (it makes less sense the more you say it), the band bare their influences a little too much given their longevity, with Biffy Clyro being the most obvious and prominent. That said, the likes of ‘You’re Ruin’ call to mind parts of the Deep Elm roster and elsewhere there’s an honesty to Chris’ songwriting that outshines any lack of originality. There’s no pretension or desperate image maintenance here.
‘Perfect Automation’ is the sound of a band struggling against a tide of apathy, but if honestly tuneful, ambitious indie-rock is your bag, you’ll be rooting for them on first listen.
The album is available to download for free at www.northforthewinter.com
Click below to view the article on their website:
NFTW – Perfect Automation Album Review @ NineHertz.co.uk
Perfect Automation – Album Released
Message published on: May 15, 2009
Good day to you!
We at NFTW HQ are finally pleased to announce the release of the band’s 4th album to date, entitled: Perfect Automation. This production is available FOR FREE in both CD and Digital Download format.
To grab a free CD, come to any of our upcoming gigs we’ll be handing them out, or track down and shout at one of us until we surrender a copy to you. If you’re an interwebz fan, visit the Media section of the website to download the album zip.
Enjoy, and if you like it, please drop us a line!
Jim – NFTW
30 May 2009 :: Fleet – The Point 7.30PM
Message published on: May 14, 2009
North For The Winter, A Downfall To Last, The Last Words, Flyright, The Clarity.
Interesting mix of genres here. Should be a good night, hope to see you all there! NFTW x
Tickets: £4.00 (ADV) or £5.00 (DOORS)
Album Artwork
Message published on: April 20, 2009
It’s rocking along. We’re nearly there with the album, here’s some artwork!
Okay, so I’ve now run out of “other” things to do besides mastering this thing. Damn. Next post I make will contain a link to the finished product…
…unless I can find more things to do…*thinks*
Jim – NFTW
x
NEW TRACKS UP!
Message published on: April 19, 2009
As promised, I’ve uploaded a couple of the tracks from the new album:
She Self Medicates, Talking Until Dawn, One Year Longer, Always.
You can listen to them (not in great quality) here: www.northforthewinter.com/audio.phpIf you happen to own any previous NFTW albums may recognize the odd song – we didn’t want to give too much away at this point! We’ll be releasing the entire album in the next week or so…
Jim – NFTW
Episode ???? – How many days has it been?!
Message published on: April 11, 2009
Well the thought of doing more mixing and mastering is just making me feel ill so I thought I’d post a blog up first (no-one wanted to talk to me on fuzzbook!).
It’s been around 4 days since the rest of the band left the studio to return home while I’ve been left here to finish work on the tracks. So far I’ve managed to complete 8 out of the 11 tracks, come up with some funky album artwork as well as complete the single player of TrackMania. Umm. Can you spell productive?! Pot noodle cans litter the room…
The website update is next on the to-do list; you can expect that to happen somewhere between track 9 and 11 – I’d say in the next few days. We’ll also be releasing the album artwork shortly in conjunction with the website once we’ve settled on a track list.
This album is easily the best sounding set of recordings we’ve done, we hope you’ll like it.
Jim – NFTW
P.S. oh, and the beard is making its return.. ..slowly.
Episode VIII: Running Out of Star Wars References
Message published on: April 7, 2009
So we’ve been mixing for a couple of days, I’d forgotten just how repetitive this shit can be. However it’s all been worth it, the mixes are sounding great and certainly a big step up from anything we’ve done before.
I saw crank for the first time last night, its retarded but in a good way. After spending 8 or 9 hours mixing it was the perfect antidote, no really. We’ve watched a several really shite films this week, but the medal has to go to “Hercules in New York”, Arnie’s first movie. On its original release it was dubbed by an American as ¼ of all of the lines are completely indecipherable but we managed to watch the real 100% Arnie version. Epic! Seriously, go and watch it… do it, do it now.
Chazz hinted at the departure of the bands fifth member yesterday. Well, I can confirm that it is a sad day here in NFTW’s secret midlands recording HQ. The photo below should explain all.
Jim is beardless, I repeat, BEARDLESS! Defcon one people, batten down the hatches, lock up your daughters, deploy smoke, repent! REPENT!
This was my reaction:
… and for the purposes of fair a balanced reporting, here is a picture of a fish.
The next post by one of us should actually contain some worthwhile news on the progress of the album. By then we should have confirmed a track-listing and the thorny issue of what to name it. My suggestion of “Stolen From The Granary” was dismissed, although Jim was dead keen on “2” Maximum Diameter”.
Rock On
Chris – NFTW
Episode VII: Lucas Gave Up!
Message published on: April 6, 2009
Well hello again all you fine people!
Good news- the album is now done! All we’ve got left to do is mix down and pick an order for all the awesome tracks to go in… let the arguments commence!!
Still, to have done all the vocals in 2 days isn’t half bad, even if we did nearly bite each other’s heads off about MORE harmonies….Oh well.There was sadness in the early hours of the morning as our fifth member sadly left us, but more on that later.
But I do have a question to pose you, and what of your loyaltea? Yes, tea is no longer the loyal beverage as we once thought, and shall soon come to dominate the world; at least it will in Chris’ eyes, as opposed to loyaltaay, which is just lovely =]
Anyway, Chris will be back later with a vengeance and some shocking photos for you all!!
Peace. Chazz – NFTW
Episode VI: Return of the Balls
Message published on: April 5, 2009
‘You have balls… I like balls’
Yes, yes that is the quote of the day, and as cabin fever inevitably sends Jim spiraling into the depths of insanity, the recording of the vocals begins at long last. It seems that the efforts of last night’s recording transcended into lan gaming madness, and todays conclusion leaves us in… well exactly the same place really.
There was some progress made in the 8 hours i’ve been here though, weve managed to burn through 5 songs and get them finished, with a few ‘minor alterations’ that mainly consisted of the inclusion of 5 dozen extra harmonies, vocal octave changes and even MORE epic guitar wanktro. And yes, that IS possible… honest.
It has been discovered that whilst Jim loves balls, and we are pretty sure that he would have eatten a ball burger instead of a screamburger for lunch had it not been for the amazing ammount of mayonnaise the screamburger offered, he doesn’t think the creation of a mayonnaise swill roll is a good idea! Shame I wasted so much time making one really…
Anywho, having completed Always, The Fall, She Self-Medicates, Questions, You’re Ruin and half finished Talking Untill Dawn, (having added a million and one new Harmonazz’s… yes, I have my own jargon- woo!!) we have decided to call it quits for the evening, and go watch Team America…
‘I LIKE BALLS’
… Chazz – NFTW
Episode V: The Screamies Strike Back
Message published on: April 3, 2009
Day 5. Today we took a fairly relaxed approach to the session but still managed to do all the remaining bass parts and complete the backing vocals including the occasional magnificent ”screamy” line from our resident song writer and hunter-gatherer: Chris, despite suffering from colds. I imagine any mucus entrenched in his vocal chords did not remain there for long after we started the screamies. Who needs Lozengers?!
All in all, I’d say it’s been a pretty productive day and we’re in a good position to make a final few additions to the tracks in preparation for Chazz’s arrival on Sunday.
The tracks are all sounding pretty good and it shouldn’t be too long before we meet the finishing line. It’ll be nice to get out of this studio – it’s starting to smell like musicians! Quick, someone open the window. Oh god!
Jim – NFTW
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Website designed by an angry drummer, NFTW, 2010.
NFTW at Facebook | NFTW at ReverbNation | NFTW's WordPress | NFTW at Myspace