As you may or may not have heard, we reached the final of the Walsall unplugged competition.

Kieran isn’t a fan of playing unplugged, but he arrived at my house nice and early holding what I believe to be an Indian tabla drum.

We ate Bacon and set off down the motorway to Walsall.

A short while later we got to the old square shopping centre and were greeted by a Beacon radio stage.

The stage was small, the lights were a gazillion degrees and we were ready!

Three songs later (So Alone, Morals and Hey) we were finished.

I can honestly say I’ve never felt more like Tiffany in my entire life. We played a decent set, but obviously it would have been much nicer to play full band.

The band following us turned up. Full drum kit, stacks the works.

The absolute gits.

We’ve watched a few of the other acts, there was a decent rap/rock outfit, a female fronted lady gaga covering band (big no no) and a talented 18 year old Ellie Lawson esque singer songwriter.

The final band taking to the stage now, then we find our position.

Wish us luck!

So how’s it’s sounding I hear you ask?
Fan-bloody-tastic.

But you’ll have to wait a while before you find out, we have all sorts of things to get done – photoshoots, cover artwork, mastering and all that shite before we’re ready to launch – but to find out information before everyone else join our newsletter (use that green box in the top right!)

In between recording, fighting the monster and working hard for the rhesus cause, what’s occurred? Well let me tell you…

Chilled with Studio Cat.
Completed Goldeneye on 00 Agent and unlocked all cheats.
Found the world’s worst supermarket.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s 10,000 words!

While Neil is working his bollocks off, we’re doing the same by taking the rest of the week to tie up loose ends, keep working on some design pieces, make sure we blog and update the fans on what we’re up to, and we’re getting together some more video clips to post (hopefully) in the next blog.

In the mean time, here are some random pictures from on stage at the Beer Festival, and another siting of the monster (cheeky bugger ran in, played a wicked guitar solo, and ran out again). Yeah, I don’t know either.

Fun things to come, watch this space.

x-Linz

In the studio day 12.

Yesterday we finished yet another track for the album and Rich had somehow lost his voice for talking but strangely could still belt out the notes needed to record the vocals. Rich has been working on all sorts of extra stuff, but we decided to take a break from all the music making and Rich, Linds and myself went out into Kettering for a few drinks.

The first bar looked like, and to quote Rich, “A few council houses pushed together to make a pub”. But we went in and it was quite nice inside.

After a drink in there we found the obligatory Weatherspoons. We had a drink in there and then went next door to what I think was a sports bar/restaurant. Now bear in mind this is a Friday night, the place was dead, there was us and about 4 other people maximum yet it was such a nice clean and friendly place with the comfiest sofas.

By the time we finished our drinks in there we decided it was time to come home because we still have recording to get done (its the worst thing to do with a headache) so we came back and watched last night’s IT Crowd before deciding to finally go to bed. All in all a good night.

Today we are pushing to get 2 more songs out the way, but Lindsay’s ‘one take’ status was taken from her yesterday, hopefully it will pass onto myself or Rich. *(Note from Lindsay: “Not a chance, Ben.”)

I know I am 100% biased but the songs are already sounding amazing and I really cannot wait for you all to hear them.

Tonight we may be watching another film but we are yet to decide which one. A horror may be on the cards as we have already watched and action/comedy and a family film.

We will also be uploading some more video blogs and maybe another Rhesus challenge.

As an extra bonus here is a video from the Beer Festival we played on Saturday.

Ben

Today has been a long and arduous day for us all. We’ve been putting our all into making this album, and to be frank, most of us are fucking shattered.

Kieran’s alright though. He’s running off pure chocolate bar power.

Ben, Linds and I are taking it in time to get our parts down – Neil Haynes (our producer) is putting us through our paces and the bloke won’t except anything less than perfection, which is why we came back and why we love the bloke – we wouldn’t want to be in any other recording studio right now!

On Saturday, in between recording, we played a festival (yeah we’re that rock and roll). It was a beer festival in Oxfordshire, and ended up being a right laugh, thoroughly enjoyed playing there and the free beer!

I’ve attached some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Rich

It’s been brutally hot in the studio today. So we’ve been recording, playing beat out in the car park, and generally sitting around between takes moaning to each other about how hot it is.

We’re currently enjoying a little flashback to 1991 by watching “Hook”. What an ace film. Nearly 20 years later and it’s still as good as it was when I saw it in the cinema when it first came out. (God, I’m dating myself now). But yeah, if you haven’t seen it, whether 1991 was before your time, or you just weren’t into it at the time, I totally recommend it. Amazing cast (even if the kids are annoying), and the script is brilliantly written, especially as I’m understanding more of the jokes as an adult.

Back to reality. We sent out our newly branded newsletter yesterday, so hopefully you’re signed up to the rhesus army and you’ve received it. If not, get your email address in that green box to the right. When you sign up to receive the rhesus newsletter, you’re entitled to sneak peeks and inside goss about the band. We’ll even be sending a couple video blog outtakes that will not be publicly posted anywhere. So sign up for that newsletter, because you’re in for a treat!

x-Linz

An early start today for the band (I refer to them as the band because I’m not doing anything recording wise at the moment – I was done in 3 days). Rich had a bit of an off day yesterday, but it happens. However, I’m not happy about having the blame! Apparently I kept him up all night by talking to him.

Rich: (*Off day for me.)

Anyway, the recording is coming along very nicely. Whilst they are recording I’m busy doing all the rhesus admin work. Fun!

The evenings are more bearable now I have found a football, too! Although it’s a childs ball and it’s nearly flat, it keeps me entertained well enough! Last night consisted of trying to find something intellectual to watch via BBC iplayer or 4OD, but we found nothing except Junkmail Britain; which was shit.

No other sign on the monster lately, either. I’ll be honest, I’ve been missing him on the night time.

Anyway, I’ll leave it there. You should all be getting a newsletter today, assuming you have signed up to the rhesus army. If not, do so! (It’s the green box on the right!)

Take care,
Kieran.

Recording has been long and hard, and yesterday after packing down, we drove 2 hrs to go and play a festival (more about that in tomorrows update).

To help stop us climbing up the walls, I set us a challenge – an art challenge.

30 minutes to recreate the Mona Lisa in acrylics – easy right?

Watch the (massively sped up) video below, and let us know who you think did the best job!