STILL LIFE - BAND BLOG

Back in business...

2010-09-19T03:54:00.000-07:00

Hi guys
We're back after a couple of months hiatus and raring to go! Lately, we've been keeping ourselves busy working on a number of things which we're really excited about.

Firstly, we're very pleased to announce that we will be going back into the studio at the start of October to record some material, with a view to having a debut EP finished by the end of the year. We are extremely fortunate to be doing this at Universal Records in London - it's going to be a real thrill for us to be recording at a place where such great artists have worked. We will be recording with Mark Bishop and Dave Pollard, who have over the years worked with the likes of James Morrison, Pixie Lott and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - we honestly can't wait!!

Additionally were are in talks about filming a music video to support the EP - more on this in the near future.

We have also been busy writing and rehearsing a lot of new songs - we're really pleased with the results so far and the creative juices have really been flowing. We have put a couple of new tracks up on Myspace for you to have a listen to - the first track is a live performance of "Dark Room" which was recorded at Underbelly, Hoxton Square in July this year. Many thanks to David Ruffle who did the sound that night and also to Phil Kinman (who we worked with in the studio for the recording of "Ocean") for mastering the track. The second song is a new track, "Supernova Sunrise". Hope you enjoy them!

That's all for now, be sure to check up regularly on our Myspace and Facebook pages regularly (linked below) for more news, updates and songs in the future!

SL x

Still Life on Myspace

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"Ocean" now on iTunes

2010-06-19T01:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys

Just a quick message to let you know that "Ocean" is now available for purchase on iTunes - click on the link below!

SL x

Ocean on iTunes

OCEAN - STUDIO RECORDING BLOG

2010-05-27T13:37:00.001-07:00

May has been a busy month for Still Life. Amid rehearsals for our show at Water Rats Theatre last Saturday, we've been burning the midnight oil in the studio with producer Phil Kinman, recording a new version of Ocean. Our first time recording together, we’re quite stoked as everything seems to have gone to plan.

Luckily for us, Phil is a no-nonsense sort of bloke, a perfectionist who likes to do things properly. Working all hours, he settles for nothing less than the perfect take. As it turned out, everyone was on great form over the three-day session; all that practice we'd put in over the last six months certainly paid off.

We started the first session recording Rowan's drums, a time-consuming process of miking them all up individually, etc. With a blank canvas in front of you, starting from scratch can often be a little daunting, but with a click track in his ear and Tom's pre-production demo for reference, Rowan's job of creating the song's skeleton was made just that bit easier. A little later on that day, when all the drum tracks were in place, the time came for Dave to add his bass parts from the comfort of the control room sofa.

The second day was dedicated to the guitars. Branko and Tom's painstaking care and attention to their sounds paid off in full in the end and listening back to a very long day's work, they felt contented. Tired but satisfied, they left Phil's in different homeward directions, their minds focused on the remaining work ahead.

Wednesday, day three, was largely taken up with Tom's lead vocals which consisted of various overdubs, harmony tracks and other additional parts necessary to achieve the breadth of sound he wanted in the choruses. That evening Tim's keyboards, which consisted mainly of a string part (and a few miscellaneous finishing touches) were added relatively quickly, giving the song a wash of colour. As day three drew to a close, Dave and Tim overlaid their harmony vocals in the middle of the song, and it was suggested that Tim should sing an extra lead/backing vocal to give the chorus an extra lift.

The recording phase officially behind us, we sank into Phil's couch and listened to the song, as yet unmixed, over his studio monitors. At that early stage it already felt that our hard work would come to fruition. We believe credit should be given where it’s due and it must be said Phil is a fabulous producer to work with.

So, we hope you like the new recording! With Ocean in the bag, we feel the way forward is to record again as soon as we can. Nothing is cast in concrete yet but we'll keep you abreast of any new developments. In the meantime, following our recent gig at the Water Rats, we're in the process of booking further gigs for the summer, where we'll be showcasing some fresh new material, so keep an eye on this blog, our Facebook and Myspace pages for further information.

Take good care of yourselves and we'll be seeing you soon enough. For now, hope you enjoy the video below of us recording Ocean in the studio.

Cheers!
Still Life

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