Watchin the rain in the rain

Finally had some rain in Mudgee last night and its still raining now.
So, we got to finally doing the film clip of Watchin the rain, which is the lead track from the album. The house I rent is a gorgeous big heritage thing over 120 years old and it was lit up like a christmas tree [we shot at night in black and white]. Even with the rain we had to rig up a sprinkler or two on the roof to really make it look good and we all got very wet. Mark Chatterton from Elite Ventures did the production in between his gig as a photographer for the Mudgee Guardian.
The gigs at the Wine Bar and Mudgee Markets were good, though numbers were down at Roths Wine Bar. We have played there almost two years now as a residency and figure its time to give it a bit of a rest. Andi is fitting in seemlessly and we can mix up the set to give more light and shade with a bit of mandolin and pickin guitar.
Really looking forward to this weekends Sydney gig at the Merton Estate hotel on Sunday where Ged will join us. He also has some friends Rebecca Hancock [ex Ed Kuepper] who will be guesting on the night. Have worked out a set that moves around a bit with different instrumentation and featuring the bulk of the album which we have kept under wraps until now.
Fiona did her final vocals on Wednesday in Sunpower Studios and it is my turn on Tuesday coming. I also have to fix up one or two things then we mix and master.
The Lime Spiders have just mastered their Live CD at Tim Greigs, who used to mix the Hoodoo Gurus. It was mixed by Jason Blackwell who does front of house for the Spiders, at his real job place down in the recording studios beneath the Sydney Opera House. Its a departure from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to say the least.
What struck me was the difference in sound that mastering makes. Its like a blanket has been taken off the mix and everything is louder, brighter and more in your face. I cant wait to hear the Blue Valentine CD mastered.
Have a meeting with our Webmaster, Cletis Carr on Monday after our get together on Sunday night to talk marketing and promotion with a view to him doing CD publicity for two months or until we take over the world!?

Starting to hot up again

Had a nice little sojourn out at Coonabarabran at Maria and Boukhardts solar powered pottery
It was a great few days in the bush and even played a song or 16 to some of the 'WWOOFERS' who seemed to enjoy the spontaneous gig.
We have a busy few days coming up and a lot of gigs are starting to come in and with the studio and film clip we should be well occupied.
Play Friday night at Roth's Wine Bar then Saturday morning at the Mudgee Growers Market. Have a few rehearsals with Andi over the next few days and next week have a day or two at Sunpower Studios.
Solar power seems to bookend this post

A few debuts.

Well a few more firsts for Blue Valentine.
Andi Garland did his debut gig with us at a Simon Gilbert Wines gig on Easter Saturday. Also I played Mandolin for the first time as I have been threatening to do for a few months.
To say we were a bit nervous would have been an understatement but it turned out better than we thought.
Had on jam with him on Thursday and that was the FIRST time I ever played the Mandolin. I can only really get my head/hands around CDAG and a bad E at the moment but was surprised how many songs that opened up.
Andi is a very good guitarist and seems to have the Mark Knoppler style down pat and a great ear to match. We were able to do a lot of new songs and it will certainly open up a few new avenues.
Hopefully should be able to post a few photoes from the gig so you can see how suave and good looking he is.