I don’t remember whether I told you this but one of the things that shut down the old band was our last tour around Europe, in the back of a van in Spain where some youngsters in front of us were giving someone shit for just touring the same songs and videos every year. After a lot of this bullshit I quietly explained to them that I was the someone and how every time we appear the entire show has been rebuilt, reprogrammed and re-rendered for many many months. The latest show has taken years to develop, and no we are not fucking Kraftwerk.
I then quit. Because no one notices the effort, no one cares. It’s obviously my fault for not advertising every thing I do on social media. Promotion! Get in the cage and punch everyone else out!
Currently I’m looking at 25 plausible tracks for Germany (about 70min) and the UK (70-90min). This being billed as the third Séance I’ve started by looking at the first two. There’s a fair bit that’s not suitable (needs a guitarist, or a dead band member). Some of it is needlessly sonically accurate to 1982 – with renovation it’ll fail in a live context. But there’s enough there that we can probably do a grand sweep of music from 1982 to 2024.
The Germans want older stuff – OK – but it needs a contemporary sound. London I think are hoping for something a bit more artful. Thing is – they will want the old bits as well.
All the older material will get a refresh. That can sometimes make it more different to the recorded original, and in some cases completely rebuilt. How would you know what changes have taken place? Gee, wouldn’t it be great if there was a place where videos could be made available?
So right now it’s a spreadsheet, a folder full of elements, Davinci Resolve, Nuendo and time. December might seem a long time from July but it will take that long.
All very exciting! The second Seance was great, though I felt next time it’d be nice to have more stuff from outside the 80s or a certain period of time. Then again, difficult to balance in stuff from the 90s onwards when there’s only 90 minutes and most people will prob be expecting Dead Eyes Opened and Bless The House and so on. Nice to know there’ll be bits from old Seances with new bits, and that preview still looks promising.
I did have a question about the Jazz Cafe, specifically the dinner table views on the first floor balcony… do those get incorporated into the Seance at all?
I have very little idea of what the Jazz Cafe will be like. I do know that we are probably doing two sets. Unlike the German gig it can be a wider range of material, video construction willing.
Get some promo in up front, especially for the London gig (Germany will do most of its own promo, I imagine). Contact Electronic Sound magazine with some promo vinyl or cd’s and see if they can do a feature beforehand. I have their editor’s email addy if you need it.
Seeing a feature in Electronic Sound would be great.
I hope you know that some of us appreciate all of your efforts. I can’t thank you enough for continuing to give us something new and exciting. I understand it’s probably not possible but, I’d love to see you play the US again. My wife and I would fly to any city to see you perform.
We really aren’t in the mood to go back on tour. This is an odd mission to go support a label that supported us a long time ago – and to hopefully see some old folks. Coming to the USA – the problem is it takes a few shows simply to pay for the work visa. No other place is so paranoid about music entering their country. Even though our USA promoter offered a little visit it would lose money, just to keep Taylor Swift et al. safe.
I’m always here for guitar work…. well, bass that rarley sounds like bass and sometimes climbs into shrill knuckling.
Can you fit into a suitcase? Just asking.
those who don’t notice and don’t care about your efforts are undeserving, you are THE BEST, you are a hero for your art. I would gladly attend every show and have a great time at all of them. 🙁 i love you, tom ellard! don’t ever let the human parasites keep you down.
Not the best but trying to be worth your while.
Hi Tom.
How could I get Lonestar, the version on that plastic trinket Millennium Cheesecake album that’s promo’d on some commerical sites, as opposed to the one on your site.
I’d rather order it directly from you, in part because I am also leery about doing so through a lot of these sites.
If you could send me a decent copy of the file at my email address (I assume it should be attached to this note), I would be willing to then snail-mail you some coin for your trouble/the song if you give me your addy.
Thank you.
– Neil
Do you mean this:
https://severedheads.bandcamp.com/track/lonestar-2
I need to be sure if it is the right version.
Lonestar is WOW.