[Open Your Soul, 50% reached and more to come]

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Hi Everyone,

Again its been a pretty intense and amazing week in the [debut] camp. First off is the news that the Kickstarter campaign to fund “Postcards from Berlin” has hit 50% today. Thank you for all the support. We’ve got 2 more weeks to go to get to the minimum of $7.5k so if you have not yet pledged please do. There are only 2 signed lyric sheets left as these have proven to be popular. Limited edition CD’s are going fast too from the back catalog. Anyway, here’s the link – go deep :) : http://kck.st/R53tNo

OUS mix sessionOn that note, (no pun intended), I’ve just finished the latest [debut] song, “Open Your Soul”. It’s quite a dark track so I look forward to your comments and analysis of the lyrics! It’s quite a different sound from past [debut] works and will give you a good insight to the palate I’m using on “Postcards”. Big drums, pianos, dark bass synths, big dynamic changes and some surprises. It’s also a first for [debut] in that I, that’s Me, yours truly, has stepped up to the microphone and delivered the lead vocals. A few people had suggested that I step out from behind the keys to give [debut] a more obvious leader (thanks Janine and Chris for the push). In fact, not wishing to blow my own trumpet (another terrible pun, sorry) but I did almost everything on this track from the writing to recording, production and playing all instruments – I’d normally bring in a few more peeps but this time I just got on a roll and couldn’t stop.  My trusty and genius engineer buddy, Adam Schiff helped me to perfect the mix and mastering. Adam did try to replace my voice with a Monotron synth (see Facebook video) but alas he knew he was beaten. A new collaborator, the amazing Miss Sammidoll provided backing vocals. You can be certain that there’s more to come from this collaboration. In fact, we did a live acoustic set last year and we just found the video so PERHAPS we will make it public soon. Perhaps.

Backers of the Kickstarter campaign can get a Free “thank you” download of a special “LA version” – check out the teaser at this link : https://soundcloud.com/debutsounds/open-your-soul-teaser : once you pledge you will get access to a backer only update and the download link. I will also do a “Berlin Bunker” version at UFO studios in September where the drum sound will be enormous. plans are also afoot to do a video for the track.Soundcloud screen shot

so lots to do – the work is never ending BUT it’s totally worthwhile when I get to share it all with you

Peace, love & mischief

Gx

 

 

[Kickstarter Day #6] …… on the way

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Well here we are 6 days in to the Kickstarter campaign and wow. Off to a great start with about $3k pledged so far and 40% of the initial goal reached. I have to say that it was sooo much work to even get the campaign ready that I was exhausted before we even launched. The video took about 2 weeks to get right and the actual process of creating the campaign, though logical and straight-forward, still took hours of thought and prep. So it was quite a relief to see the support and $ start to come in on Day 1 and the thoughts went from “OMG, this is never going to work” to “OMFG, I think we are going to do this!!!” video

The online blogs and magazines have also started to step up and help. Spill Magazine in Toronto and DJ Candy on the US East coast wrote about the campaign and are spreading the word. All this leads to a nicely positive feeling, though in reality all the hard work begins in earnest now.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/debutsounds/debut-s-new-ep-postcards-from-berlin-featuring-you

So 25 days left to go and still 60% to raise which is no mean feat but we can do this. Please folks keep spreading the word and the URL posted here. I can’t do it without you. And once you’ve pledged don’t forget to email me your “note” – remember, you don’t need to be a singer to do this!! Send me your note, any note, even if its not in tune and I’ll take care of the rest – you will sound perfect in my “berlin choir” :)

cheerio :)

Gx

 

 

[It’s been so long] ….

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yes, I know I’ve been quite silent for the most part of the past year or so but I’ve been busy preparing new things for you! First off, I needed to take a little down time after the craziness of early 2013. The whole process of creating EVERYTHING for the “Starting to Love it” and “Sweet Little Girl” releases was so manic and full on that it caught up to me and I basically needed a month off. Renewed I did a private studio live session with Sammidoll for friends, family and management in August to test the waters and start the creative process. We had a blast and there will be more from the two of us together in the future. Next up, I had to focus in on what I wanted to really present to the world and realized that I had to write the script for the “Home” film. One month later after many hours of sitting in cafes “being a writer” I finished it and I’m super excited to get to film it and share it and the music that goes with it with you all …. but not yet!!! one day! Next up, I was songwriting for the RedOne production team which was quite the experience, penning tracks for J-Lo. Not my usual thing but we wrote one track that I think might just be amazing! we’ll see whether or not miss Lo records it won’t we! And now, its time for the new EP or maybe album (depends on budget to be honest). It’s called “Postcards from Berlin” and you’ll be hearing about it VERY soon. ok, I’m off for a jack and coke …..

[Exploration of Layers]

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As we continue to work on all things [debut], the idea of “layers” has sprung to the fore. The music is significantly layered in a vertical and horizontal sense. Vertical meaning that we use one hell of a lot of instrumentation on pretty much every song – “Starting to Love it” had our mac pro at 97% – 3 basses, 3 hihats, 4 snares, etc – layer upon layer of music, stacking upwards to create the soundscape. Horizontal referring to the fact that as you move through a song that it will change character from perhaps an entirely electronic start to a live band and then on to something else – check out “Headf$#k” to see what I mean. Then there’s the layered meaning of the lyrics. What at first may seem to be a simple set of words often has hidden meanings  – a layer beneath the surface.

This layering concept of course applies to the film and art side of [debut]. We are now planning the video for “Sweet Little Girl” which will be directed by Danny Drysdale (The Killers, IAMX, etc) and we are very excited to share with you what will be a multi-faceted theme to a song that has been controversial since day one. Lastly, we just finished the art for the “Starting to Love it” EP (thanks to James and Sandbox designs) and thank heavens we had the foresight to know that “layers” we key to [debut] as this design took shape. It’s all coming together :)

[Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll and ommmmm]

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It occurred to me that as I try to write my blog each day that it should truly reflect who I am and what I think, rather than be some cheap slant on getting popular to sell records – not an obvious conclusion if you look at how people operate in the world today.

So, today, I’m feeling rather “ommmmm” or spiritual I guess. I often do. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m as rock and roll as the next person. I enjoy drinking too much, naked girls, mischief and plenty of questionable behavior but I also have a very active spiritual side that is a living part of my daily consciousness.

To clarify, I’m not at all religious. In fact I’m largely anti-religion from the perspective of it’s “controlling and judging” nature, though I do get the common theme of “be a good person” that runs throughout. I just feel that if I need to worship a god to be acceptable then that god has a bigger ego than most rockstars and I know which I’m rather get all excited about! Which brings me back to me, today and my music work……

My music was never planned to be spiritual and certainly not preachy. Most of my lyrics are quite twisted and dark in many ways, however, I started to notice a theme of “globalness” to my work. The size of the productions, the collaborations with artists around the world and the desire to share it with many, many people. Quite simply, this feeling of “being connected” and that I’m one cell of a giant universal body and that I need to help nurture that body has started to show in my work, streamed from the universe.

It’s led to the “Home” album project which will be discussed more over the coming months of blogging but at it’s essence is the idea that the universe sends us signals to get us on track in life and to find our purpose. When we don’t or won’t listen we end up in situations that cause us pain (emotionally and physically) and never quite feel fulfilled. “Home” is about getting back on track, finding peace and fulfillment but at the same time enjoying this amazing 3rd dimensional existence that we are currently having and that includes sex, drugs and rock&roll