News From The Front - October 2013

Gary writes:

Phew! What a whirlwind the last few months have been since the last update. Since the release of [seek help] - which has been well received by those who have heard it - I've been very busy remixing tracks for other artists, including Tactical Module ("Into Exile") as well as fellow SDR labelmates Machine Rox ("Night Riots") and Cryogenic Echelon ("Pandora").

Things have been a bit sparse on the gig front, with us playing only one show at the end of August, with rock band Sunsets The Day and the awesome Jesus Hooligan. If you can, I urge you to check out Jesus Hooligan - Industrial/Punk/Folk that is infectious, raucous and a lot of fun!

Away from the gig front, I've been busy devoting time to not only remixing tracks for other artists, but also mastering Cryogenic Echelon's recent album "Taste Of Failure" - you can hear the results at http://staticdistortionrecords.co.uk/album/taste-of-failure. I also have secured another mastering job with another artist I have the highest respect for, and am very much looking forward to working with them...

As 2013 draws to a close, Ant and I are putting a video of the album track "Coffin" together, to coincide with a free single release of the track. We've got some excellent remixes of the track from the likes of Haru Yasumi, Ruinizer and DEP lined up for the single release and we'll be giving out more details of this soon.

Plans are also in place for a free release of an alternate version of [seek help], which will follow the running order of the original album, but contain alternate versions of the songs, many of which have been remixed for us by our very talented peers. We expect this to be available shortly after the single release.

Until the next time...

An Industrial-tinged Summer Solstice beckons

Gary writes:

As I write this, we're two days away from releasing our debut album, after what has been a very busy time recording and mixing. The album was mastered and delivered to SDR at the end of April, and we've have three positive reviews so far, with one even scoring 10/10! Links to the reviews are below:

http://ringmasterreviewintroduces.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/defeat-seek-help/

http://crimsonmoonzine.com/defeat_review

http://www.intravenousmag.co.uk/2013/06/review-defeat-seek-help.html

Feedback we've had on the tracks we've previewed on Soundcloud has also been really positive, and the mood in the camp is buoyant as release time draws ever closer. We are most definitely very proud of this first album.

We also played our first ever London gig on 8th June, opening the Cybersonik festival. We arrived at the venue with time to spare, and checked out some of the other bands going through their soundcheck. Then our soundcheck came and disaster nearly struck. It's a bit of an in-joke amongst musicians about the reliability of Behringer gear, but our keyboard mixer (which had worked flawlessly for the past 10 years or so) decided to throw a fit in the soundcheck and went wrong - the right channel on the main mix was completely dead, meaning we only had the left channel! Luckily we were able to run our kit directly to PA, bypassing the mixer. With that sorted, we were able to soundcheck and then play the gig itself without any problems. The feedback we got from the crowd was very positive, with several people commenting on how clear and punchy our sound was. I was also able to meet many of those I only "knew" virtually. All in all, for us the gig was ultimately a big success.

I've also been recruited by Mark Haigh, head honcho of Draconic Elimination Projects (DEP) and prime instigator of the Beat:Cancer compilation to mix the next "DEP feat. MiXE1" album. Although it's early days, things are going really well, and I'm really enjoying working on the project.

Until next time.

News from the front.

Since our last update way back in February, we've been busy working on our debut album. We're now very happy to announce that the album is all finished, mixed and mastered, and we're very proud of the work we've done. The album is called [seek help] and will be released on 22nd June on Static Distortion Records. The album will also be available on iTunes, Amazon and the other usual online outlets, but the CD will only be available on the SDR webstore. There's a preview video for the album on YouTube - go to http://www.youtube.com/defeatuk and check it out.

Before the album release date, we will be opening this year's Cybersonik festival at Electrowerkz/Slimelight in London on June 8th. It's our first gig of the year, and without doubt the biggest for us to date. We hope to see as many of you there as possible.

In other news...

Since wrapping the mixing of the album, I'm currently involved with MiXE1, performing mixing duties for their forthcoming album, as well as undertaking remix projects from Cryogenic Echelon and Biomechanimal (who are also at Cybersonik). Another future project is mixing the upcoming D.E.P. (Draconic Elimination Projects) album - more on this as it develops.

Until the next time...

G.

2013 - The story so far...

We're now into the second month of 2013, having averted Mayan-predicted disaster at the end of 2012 and we're currently busy beavering away at getting the album ready for release. At the time of writing this, we have most of the tracks at about 75% completion in terms of mixing, with one track "in the bag" completely. We're well on the way to having this completed very soon.

Cybersonik edges ever-closer, and even though it's still some way off we are starting to think about getting the set together and looking at what tracks to perform. There will likely be a mix of material from the EP and the new album (which we hope to have released by the time Cybersonik is upon us).

We're also very happy and proud to be involved in a project called Beat:Cancer. Our good friend and producer extraordinaire Nik Hodges has kindly remixed a track which will be exclusive to this very worthwhile cause. Nik produced the "Outbursts!" EP, and was only too happy to provide what is an absolutely fantastic remix for the Beat:Cancer CD. Special mention should also go to Mark Haigh, the mastermind behind the whole B:C project.

Until next time...

G.