Two weeks, too many practices!! Too much to keep track of!

Well it’s been about two weeks since my last blog, and if memory serves correct, the last adventure we were swept into was a rip-raunching-leg-busting-drum-gutting-guitar-slashing-mic-slipping and finger-cutting experience! Well in the space of those two weeks, a lot has happened! Where to start!

Mini-chapter 1 - So it begins

In Comrade Wright’s absence (well, while he was trying to rediscover the nerves he took out of his finger), Jebediah and I decided to crack on with the prep for the new album, it sucks to move on without the Comrade, but he’s pretty understanding and we both knew he would catch up and learn the songs quickly when his finger was back to working condition. Anyway, jay and I cracked and practiced 3 times in the first week, which was pretty taxing and tiring, but we soon got in the groove and the songs followed suit. Not to give anything away, but if you thought Watching and Waiting was rad, wait till you hear this album. Jay has moved up a notch and written a song for every emotional badge on your jacket. The structure and lyrics are a step above his previous and evoke just as much excitement, enjoyment and all-round good fun!

In the process of working out the new tracks we also used our limited interior design skills and refashioned the Boneyard. It looks like an Arabian carpet stall found in a Prague Christmas market! Picture that if u can. Because musicians, like vampires are sensitive to light…we took them out and threw in some fairy/Christmas light in instead. Conclusion, a band room we don’t pay rent for, a band room we can get into without climbing walls, and a place to leave my kit, although I fear that when Bones Jnr starts getting in touch with his superior motor skills, I mite pack it up J

Mini- Chapter 2 - Box

Very short chapter this. I’ve been designing packaging for Mr. Spooky Toonz’ (Ryan Bolton or Buster) hair-dye range. Exciting little project for me on the side. Check out the box!

Mini- Chapter 3 - The assault on 2011 begins

As the new songs have begun to take shape, Jay and I have been discussing a strategy for the album launch next year and an all-on assault of everything Ramblin’ Bones and the Bloody Agents. Unbeknown to Comrade Wright, his role in this master plan is on a much grander scale that only he can achieve!! We just have not told him what it is yet, but the one project will be for him to design the Bonefort. A fortified mammoth of a construction that will become our new practice room and studio, equipped with beds, recording equipment, coffee machines, a bakery, fridge and a listening room that is also actually a sauna. Huge project like I said before, which is why we leaving it in the Comrade’s capable hands. He just needs to find a location and funding…small details! Second is that he is going to promote us in his coffee shop, the Post, by offering items on the menu, such as ‘Danger’ coffee, ‘Ramblin’ ham and cheese sandwich and ‘Wright’ cookies in the shape of a wing! Lots for him to do haha…we just still need to tell him. But on a more relevant note, in our preparation for next year, the one new exciting venture was that we decided to film the recording of the album and almost do a documentary of the whole process and how Ramblin’ Bones has evolved in a year and abit. It’s really exciting for me, as I’ll be heading up the project with my good friend Annie ‘Pinyata’ Stapelton behind the camera and in the editing suite. Also in the pipeline is some awesome shows setup for next year, which I am not going to give away until we have confirmation and new merch ventures which I am particularly ecstatic about. I would love to tell more, but I want some concrete evidence of all these projects before I spill the beans, just so that there is an end result. Keep your eyes and ears posted!!

Mini- Chapter 4 – Friday mayhem, Sunday silence

So this last weekend, if some of you attended it, was the colossal onslaught of Souljah, Hog Hoggidy Hog and Fuzigish. Bones, Cami Scoundrel and myself all road tripped to the far north of Pretoria and per usual (this is literally every time I go to Pretoria) we added a few minutes onto our trip because we could not find Hotbox studios at first, but I think Bones was not too dismayed as he got a chance to keep cruising in his new wheels.

It was really good to see the Hogs again, both on stage and just to hang out. They all a bunch of great guys and we had a really wicked time with them when we toured in Bloem. As per the norm they put on awesome show and it was one of those classic shows where each band set the pace and atmosphere and then built on it as the night went on. By the time the Fuz hopped up on stage, the crowd was bursting at the steams with energy and the boys did not disappoint!! Lee was on FFFFFFFFFiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnne form on the kit, and I’ve always said that watching him play is like pressing a button on a machine and just watching it go to work!!! Like a steam train he was!!!

Skip the remaining drinks that were had that night, the Saturday bender with my mate Paul (Bassist from Ignorance Is Typical days) who was out from London and I found myself feeling very tired, hungover and un-energetic for a show in Pretoria. But I was (as I always am) excited to play.

Got to the Stone Lion Café around 3:30 (its the old Cool Runnings in Hatfield) and caught a very attractive and saucy acoustic set from Cortina Whiplash and was very impressed with the show as I have never seen them play before and I look forward to them performing in their familiar habitat of electric guitars, big bass sounds and banging drums! Now because Comrade Wright was still unable to report for duty, it meant that Bones and I were doing the two-man bone-stomp act, which I always do enjoy cause I get to be more energetic on stage, but when your told that you got to keep your playing to a minimal, it just puts a grey cloud over the performance before its even begun. I could not blame the manager though as I would as the same of a performer if I had the residents in the surrounding area up my backside! I did not play standing up, although now I wish I had and we have a pretty decent set except the audience was slightly subdued and when you forcing your style of playing to fit into something, it always takes something away from the performance!

In the end, we have fun for the most part, got some rad feedback from people we could not see (and its not like there was a full house either) and they probably heard us from across the street or something. Another enjoyable weekend that in end deserved some much needed rest!!

FI racing, Kitcheners, 70 juta street and the case of the bloody finger!

So...just catching my breath, cos man what a weekend!!! Insane. In each each member's respective pathway its been crazy which is for us a band, kinda awesome. Cos we use the practice as an outlet and let the creative juices flow!! Well after a chilled Friday, Bones and myself headed to the eastern borders of johannesburg and went to go check out Rev Wright and the Mystery Train Gamblers, Pistol Whip 45 and of course our own Comrade Wright in Swivel Foot.
The venues was Woody's which is located in Edenvale just above the harley Davidson shop. The show was pretty rad and unfortunatley we only caught a little bit of Swivel Foot's set, before we headed further in the deep dark east, On to CCHQ!!

True to North-Western-suburban-boys style, Bones and I got horribly lost trying to find the venue and have ultimatley come to the conclusion that Bones and I have the navigation skills of a drunk directing people to the correct platforms at the bus station! Needless to say miss Bow stepped in and pointed us in the right direction. Looking classy (in our own special way) Bones, who looked liked he was dressed for an awards ceremony of farmers monthly and myself, auditioning for the latest emo band with a new set of emotions to whine about, we entered the club ready to bring the house down!!

I'm gonna leave this part of the adventure out and just say that we put down some dance moves that even Michael Jackson would find impressive, did one shot too many and consumed way too much pink champagne, which I've now realised makes an exceptional substitute for an injured F1 driver. As I Nigel Manselled us back to our respective and familiar territories, we took stock of an awesome night out (Not behind out instruments for a change)...and then passed out.
I woke up this morning and found a receipt from PPC for the cement that they had lodged into my skull during my passed out state! I also encountered for the first time ever and inner-body argument between parts of my body that were not impressed with other parts of my body. After coming to terms with my hungover state, I chilled out and panted for air like a dog panting out a window and waited for 3 pm.

I won't bore u with the minor details and rather just speed up to the juicy bits. Collected gear from the Boneyard (practice room) and made my way to Kitcheners. Upon arrival, I got really excited for the show as there was a mass number of people socialising outside and the vibe just seemed so chilled but brewing with a feeling of excitment. Its so rad to see that the city is making a revival in becoming a place of not just business, but socialising events as well. The crowd was very different and that always excites me when we play because we get to expose ourselves to a new audience and see their reaction. Tha band has been in fine form latley and I know Comrade Wright was eager to get rid of some unwanted stress (from setting up the coffee shop), and Bones and I needed to exercise the hangover out of our bodies from the night before.

It was at this point, that the winds of change took over and a smooth afternoon was cut down to one of unpredictability. I received a call from Comrade Wright to inform me that he had cut his finger and was currently on his way to the hospital. I will still struggling with the fact that my car was double-parked outside and Bones was nowhere to be found…and my hangover added no comfort to any of these scenarios. The cut bassist-finger episode presented me with just one solution…go see what is happening across the road and have another drinkJ.  The atmosphere across the street was amazing, people hanging outside, having drinks talking just soaking up the excitement of this small rebirth in the city

Reminded me a lot of my year I spent in Glasgow and the streets of Glasgow town were constantly filled people just having a damn good time.

Back to the mini-horror fest that was in motion. I unloaded all my gear and finally found a parking close to Kitcheners that took at least three trips around the block! Now that I had finally settled into state of accepting that show was in the capable hands of whoever wants to deal with it, which meant that I would pass the buck onto Bones…when he got here, I needed to find out where he was…so I phoned him. I informed of Comrade Wright’s late-horror-addition to Halloween, which was now a week old. Bones’ took cognisance of the info I passed on but was still just trying to make his way to Kitcheners, so he had not properly processed it yet. In this period I did a couple of meet-n-greets and casual chats with a few of me pals and enjoyed a delicious Prego roll from Comrade’s coffee shop and then encountered Mr Bones crossing the street. Looking his usual bewildered and wind-swept-self, we unloaded his gear and took a moment to analyse last night’s F1 performance through the streets of Johannesburg.

Having heard nothing from Comrade Wright, we concluded that the only way to proceed was a two-man effort with a stand-up setup for the drums. Usually when this unique setup of ours comes into play (from the vast arsenal of setups that we have) it turns out to be very comedic and I am required to move my body more than usual! Eventually after rustling through the copious number of cables on stage (about three) and setting up the drums to the point of stand-up perfection, Comrade Wright graced us with his presence, him and his stitched finger. Much to my delight, he will only be out of action for 10 days and not a number of weeks as I had feared before.

After 2 cups of coffee, a few beers (shared by Bones and me), one more Prego roll to confidently squash the fading hangover and the successful search-and-then-found expedition for a plug…we were ready to play some tunes. Now if you are reading this and were there then you don’t need to read any further. If you were not there, then its no big loss either because I don’t have many words to describe the amount of fun that the three of us have on stage (well in this case the two of us), it sometimes just cannot be put into words. However after a colossal set that lasted for about an hour, I came to the conclusion that Bones needs a new mic-stand, as his has just gotten lazy and collapses entirely on its own without any assistance at all. The only-plus side to this is that it forced Bones to get very acrobatic on stage and really embrace the ‘power-stance’ as Jack Black would call it.

It was the perfect end to an enormous and spectacular weekend but credit can and must go to the people who came to watch us play and the support that they show to all these new ventures happening in the city. The three of us have an awesome connection on stage but the enjoyment that people get out of our songs is what creates and holds the atmosphere together, and what an awesome atmosphere it was. Thanks Kitcheners, see ya again soon!

Get The Bones rolling.

Hi All. Von Danger Here!

So this is my blog to keep u all informed of our advertures as Ramblin' Bones & The Bloody Agents. The reason I've been put in this precious position, is for a number of reasons: I have the time, while Jebediah and Comrade Wright conquer the world in other arenas, I keep my on the events, on the frontline talent and some think I have a knack for telling good stories. Whatever that means.

But enough about that. The exciting news on the horizon is that the 2nd albumn has made it out the starting blocks and slowly progressing down the track. We've just begun learning and rehearsing all the new songs and are aiming to start recording in the beginning of December!! So watch this space and keep your eyes glued to all of our respective social network sites! Alright!? Laters all