Stormcellar Band Home Page

Friend of the Band Monte gave us a surplus screen and it is huge and HUGE and I was well..and it was...GREAT A great idea. Now the other guys can see WTH the show looks like and I can see our guests.
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So....Episode 1,  Season 2. We called off Date 1 for restart due to COVID precautions (someone had a fever).

This time, it looked like the Weather was going to do for us and we did not strictly have a Wet Weather Plan. Well...Theo Suggested Bongos so I guess we did.

As I didnt know if we were on/off until pretty much last minute I gave up on promoting it. I think that was a wise move. Not cos things went wrong (they did) but cos promoting stuff in the old way may not matter anymore (separate discussion).

All things considered it was still a hoot. 

Now, to do it better for Ep 2...we have to look at what went wrong.

The nutshell was, without doing a technical rehearsal, we were overwhelmed on the day by gremlins and it makes it hard to troubleshoot down to an on/off level of testing. 

With so many moving parts, clearly being able to see where the problem is can be a task in itself. As we had not done our prep, the episode was called No Homework.

We had:

- Network issues (had to drop my net altogether and go Hotspot from my freaking phone omg)
- Server Issues (things went wrong, the server issues an error code but Bec tells me that doesnt mean it isn't working. I understand that and it still makes me go um...)
- Platform issues (what the heck is the new error code from Twitch or was it just our bandwidth sucked or was it the server or was it ARGH)
- User Issues ( I need to write myself a manual on how to reboot the server properly)
- Sound issues (Monitoring PC had issues, recording gear was fussy and wanted reboots)
- Weather issues - I was all for canning it but Theo wanted to push through. We are ok on the electrical front but he got a wet butt. 

The upshot was that it took as 30 min to manage the ARGH and we didnt get it all right. FOTB Dion says 'thats the joy of live TV' so maybe it's an inescapable part.

In true Stormcellar style we managed the disaster. Before we do it again, we are going to rerun the gear again and I have to do some more training to remember my Linux  basics.

I am Ok with the errors and learning how to do this. It's a challenge to get my brain in a new mode. It's a new type of 'gig' and there is a learning curve. 

It's not just the 'how to' it's the 'how now' as the environment, the software, network, time zones it's all variable.

I love it. this is just our thing.

Oh yeah recording/mixing process underway on 3 projects. Plus Other Stuff. I'd show you faster but there's only one of me and some of this stuff is hard :)

Help out here. Paypal.me/stormcellarband

Videoclip? Covid.
Gigs? Covid.
Other work? Ok.

It's HOT today.

Everything is going. Going....slowly.

Best of Downtime Season 1 is in mixing. Two more projects moving ever-so-slowly through mixing and development.

I expect with luck we'll get season 2 of Downtime up this week. 

Paypal.me/stormcellarband, you know you want to.

Somewhere in my car, my room, somewhere...there is a bunch of lyrics in a blue folder. Scraps of paper. Things stapled together.

 

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Stuff that sucks. Stuff with lines through it. Stuff that I think is great, right now, which I will later dismiss. 
It has been said, poems are never finished, merely abandoned.

As we have been in Development Mode, this folder has been following me around.

Oh where, oh wherefore art thou folder?

Or...maybe it's not really such a bad thing to be lost for words. Or those words. Or to have lost some words. I'm fairly sure the universe will not notice the inconvenience. I'm wondering if I will. 

Imma need some lyrics though cos TERRY IS ON FIRE.

I get one more email from him with a song i'm just going to have to...err..encourage more songwriting! Terry's stuff is great and he's in a major output mode. I feel like we're the Beach Boys trying to keep up with his Sergeant Peppers. Which makes us due for a Pet Sounds.

BTW that was a highly dense series of 20th century musical references. No time to unpack.

Oh it's on. Yeah you better believe it's on. Where's that folder!
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Meanwhile, there are tech things to do and they're taking me some time to learn/think/work out.

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My brain objects to additional information.

With COVID etc there are not likely to be too many gigs for a while. If any. Thus, we need to transition to other ways of doing this.

Downtime is on the way back for Season 2 and there's more good stuff to do, if circumstances prevail.

We have the technology (mostly) and it works (most of the time...sometimes...well pretty well really...except for...anyway).

It's not that it's strictly that hard, it's that there are a lot of moving parts and putting it all together is a thing.

And it's not even so much about the tech. It's about where we fit into the scheme of things.

COVID will be with us in one form or another for a while. Venues? Gigs? Touring? What does that look like at the end of this?

Does it exist? Is there really a return to normal? 

Sydney went back into fast lockdown recently. Venues are still at limited capacity.

Stop. Start. Stop. For a while.

That does not preclude us from trying to catch some of Terry's prolific output vibe so we'll do that for a while.

When I am ready, we'll also be introducing a few changes to the site and some other stuff that may/may not work, but really, who knows at this point?

New Years/Covid Slow down kicked in again
Depatched the plans 'o mice & men
We'll play a show
yet Can't say when
for the coalescing future
we do  not ken

Why thank you Spirit of Robbie Burns. Ach.

Watching the news. Hoping for better.

Meanwhile Terry keeps sending me his new (good) work and it spurs me to want to keep up. he's in a big creative patch.

While we try other stuff (so far some technical probs) and other-other stuff, we are also in solid, reasonably paced development. No rushing the good stuff.

We need to transition into 21st century model. Long story. Meh. I'll show you when I get it sorted.

Fox has found some joy in the new songs and has shared some stuff with his mates in the Old Country and now we have some international cross action happening. That's right. We're big in the Balkans.

All our planning has been going pffffft. Yay! Slow and steady at this time. A little calm here and thank heavens for a cool summer. Last year we were on fire, remember? Yow!

I'm still working out how to do the next stuff so if you dont see an immediate post, havent disappeared, working slowly and carefully and kind of in a very chill manner.

Peace is where ya find it.

More Articles …

  1. Recording with the Collective
  2. merry xmas 2020
  3. On again. off again and new schedules
  4. Zuck you facebook.
  5. Location Scouting, Development, Calendars
  6. swings and roundabouts
  7. Got a stage we can use? Now all we need is a location.
  8. From void to fullness - opening up continues
  9. The Kid Stays In The Picture
  10. Blessed last quiet time
  11. The new new normal. Ish. Sort of. Dead cat bounce?
  12. Stormcellar Collective at Cowra Civic Centre, Sunday 22nd November with Michael Hawke!