Selwerd 2 Flatbar Performance

Yesterday we had to perform in Selwerd in a small bar. Selwerd is a small place in Groningen, which has three big flats, called Selwerd 1,2 and 3. With the band we played in the flatbar of Selwerd 2.

We all had the same problem; we weren't feeling like it. Although we were going to play, everyone's mindset wasn't pointed towards playing for people. And if you count in the fact we hadn't played much the past weeks, it wasn't looking particularly pretty.

But once we were there, everything fell into place. There was a jamsession from 9 until 11:30. I played bass and guitar, and just had a nice time screwing up every song we played. I didn't know any of the songs, so I just tried and failed miserably, but it was so much fun.

Because of this I wasn't that nervous, but as soon as some friends of mine arrived I could notice I was getting nervous. And in the end I did make some mistakes, but overall it went well. People really liked it, and we all felt so happy and glad we played there!

We even played a new song Promise and in the end we decided to play Wake Up! as an encore , which went terrible, but was great to play.

I just can't believe how good it felt, and how we all felt the same way; just completely extatic!

Recording in Amsterdam

Yesterday we went to Amsterdam to record a Demo.

At six in the morning I woke up, at seven I was picked up by Frauke. We had to take all our instruments, so we took my piano with us (Frauke's cello was already in the car). Then we proceeded to go to Anne, to pick her up, and we went on our way to Edam, towards Roemer. In Edam we picked up Roemer's Drumkit, while leaving Anne and Roemer behind (there was no more space in the car, and Roemer knew how to get to the studio via public transport).

We arrived at ten minutes to ten. At ten past ten Faber arrived (he's the guy who was going to record our Demo. He hadn't recorded something on his one, so this was a first for him as well). Frauke and I just finished putting everything inside when Roemer and Anne arrived.

The studio was a nice little basement which consisted of two rooms, divided by a corridor. One was the recording room, the other the room which had all the devices and such. Also, a little isolated room was there for vocals (or in our case; for the cellist).

We set everything up, got the drum right (after replacing Roemer's drumkit with a drumkit from someone else), and after about four hours or work everything was good. Until Faber fired up the computer and the program failed to open. Luckily it started working soon, and we could begin recording Loveless.

Idiots as we were, we decided we wanted to use a Clicktrack after recording it without first. Normally you use it every single time when recording but Loveless starts a little bit slower, and gradually picks up the pace. This decision resulted in one hour of trying desperately to use the clicktrack but failing miserably (though it sounded tighter, the emotion wasn't there and it felt flat). Finally we gave up and agreed that we wanted to use the one we recorded without clicktrack.

We then went to grab some food and to just take a break.

Then the program refused to start again, and this time, for quite a long period. In the mean time my sister swung by and that made the day a lot better. We went upstairs to a cafe which was next to the studio, and grabbed something to eat while waiting on the boss who would fix the darn pc.

We then proceeded to play the newest song On and on. That song went really well, though the song itself was quite hard for Frauke to play over and over again.

In the end we recorded two other songs as well within an hour and went home at around eleven. At a quarter past one I was home again, and went to bed.


It was an exhausting day, but it was great fun, and we learned so much from it. And poor Anne, who came with us but didn't even had to sing (we will be recording the vocals next week).