COMING SOON...

Due to my band Live Fast Die! recording/releasing our CD things have been pretty quiet as far as my solo stuff goes...
well that will soon be changing! in the process of getting my head around logic & will have plenty of new stuff soon & will be playing some UK shows in the not too distant future.

FAREWELL HONG KONG... LONDONS CALLING...

So, September is finally here & we will soon bid farewell to Hong Kong!
Julia starts work @ Flaming Eight next month & i face the the dubious task of finding a job in London. Looking forward to moving back, the new ambient/post-rock project with A.Mackinnon can get a bit more serious, even thoigh he's all the way up in Scotland it's still a damn sight closer than than he is right now with me stuck in Hong Kong.
Im seriously gonna miss my band Live Fast Die! & the assholes in it, those guys are a great band & we should hopefully finish the CD before i leave so there is a chance this Saturday might not be the last show.

IT'S ALL GO!!!!

Soooo, it's been a busy few weeks for me!
1st up..... i'm now world wide!

www.rsseizure.com is online!
so far it's just a "coming soon" screen with a link to here (you may have just seen that) +myspace

the main site should be up & running asap!

HAND PRINTED CASSETTE SLEEVES......

these are for an upcoming split on Rainbow Bridge with Sensible Nectar & also my "taped" project that ive been planning for a while.
will post finished pics when i have the actual hand painted red cassettes from Rainbow Bridge....

The Black Reign cd is still going ahead, should be under production asap.

Vælium 3" mini cd

Ok, all finished recording & artwork, just burning left now!

The front is basically a valium packet, with the Roche logo changed to "RSC" & the back is the new logo Julia has designed for Spliced Records!

The disc is just a giant 10mg valium!

SPLICED RECORDS

This post is a little bit late, but im finally getting around to it!
Have decided to start a label.... mostly drone, ambient, noise, folk, black metal etc.
Will be mostly cassette releases for now, few CD's/3" mini CD's..... leading towards vinyl!
Upcoming releases include the Black Reign cd from my last post, plus the following....


Nanahara Shuya/R.S.Seizure - split cassette


R.S.Seizure - "Taped" cassette


R.S.Seizure - 3" mini cd


MARY & THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB - more details soon..... EPIC project!

More coming soon.......

BLACK REIGN - CD coming soon!

So..... the 1st official CD release on Spliced Records (should have blogged about spliced before this really.... i'll get round to it soon!) will be getting pressed soon! Thats right.... properly replicated, non of this duplicated crap!
It will be available directly from me, my (soon-to-be-launched) website - www.rsseizure.com & it will also be available from www.coldspring.co.uk
A link to the 1st track is HERE

Artwork for "Ghost Town"

Ghost Town, the HK hardcore band formerly known as Bridged will soon be releasing their EP, & here is the artwork!

Nice to finally have this project finished.... what with design changes, name changes & me just being generally lame it's taken awhile!

ELECTRIC PRICK!

just thought i'd share an image someone sent me recently........

it's funny when something you knew was gonna happen happens, & you are proven right.

sent my dvd's in the mail you a'hole, coz you have a guilty conscience & are too much of a pussy to face me.

to the person who sent me the image (you shall remain nameless!) it really made me chuckle, thanks!

Black Reign - Session One

The session from March 31st, recorded @ Hot Focus. You can listen here

I'm using mxr carbon copy analogue delay, mxr bluebox, digitec delay, boss ft-2 (occasional use of a fuzz... but i forget which one!)

Arthur is playing guitar.

Will be cassette One (CASS-001) on Spliced Recordings

SPLIT RELEASE WITH SENSIBLE NECTAR

Upcoming split release with Sensible Nectar on Rainbow Bridge Recordings.......

this is just a sample print, the sleeves will actually be screen printed by hand (by yours truly!)

will be a very limited release of 33, available from rainbow bridge @ some point in the near future.

if you want to check out sensible nectar click here

Forthcoming audio cassette release with Timothy C. Holehouse!

Rather looking forward to this one........ thats right, a cassette!
also got a track on the new "Mouthful of Air" EP, 10 minutes of ambience via yours truly is the 4th track!

Black Reign in the studio!

Will be in the studio with Arthur Urquiola this week, for a 3 hour recording session.
2 hours or so will be creating source material for a new cd, and we will also be spending 45/60 min recording a live track.
the whole idea is to create a cd using only material created during these 3 hours, i'll produce a track, he'll produce a track & then release it with the live track + killer artwork. gatefold....... all artwork will involve photos taken before/during/after the recording session in & around the studio.
anyways, really looking forward to this & will keep you posted on the end results...... but expect some results within the next few weeks.

Dont think this will be under "Black Reign" will have to wait & see, may just be under "R.S.Seizure & A.Urquiola"

Finally finished....... first "official" R.S.Seizure CD......

Finally finished this, full length, 3 track R.S.Seizure CD.
tracks are all done, artwork done...... just needs burning & printing!
fairly happy with the end result, but if youre not into drone/ambient noise then this is not for you!
Front:

Back (rough version, smoothed it out a bit now!):

Disc image:


samples from part 1 & 2 are on my myspace, but the audio quality is pretty low, so you cant really hear all the the texture & layers + the bass doesnt come thru.
http://www.myspace.com/rsseizure

Excited about my latest project!

Cant say too much about this because nothing is approved (chances are it might not even get used) but I've spent the last couple of days designing a poster for something I like a WHOLE LOT!
So..... this one is kinda cool for me & I'm pretty happy with what I've done. here's a small section from it, with all the info removed...
will hopefully post finished pics soon.

Dear Hong Kong.......

Dont expect any comments on this...... unless i happen to get some negative ones but what the hey!
Probably noticed I've been pretty negative recently as far as Hong Kong goes...... & I know I've been bumming people out (especially Julia) & the last couple of days (since I chilled out on plenty of valium so I could get on stage with a cracked rib!) I've been doing a bit of thinking & just thought I'd put a few words up......
I moved to Hong Kong over 4 years ago, bright eyed, bushy tailed & rearing to go! I'd been here a month previously for 2 weeks to see how I liked the place & I was feeling really positive I could make a home for myself & my beautiful (future) wife.
I (thought) I had made some local friends (more about them later!) + a good gweilo (yes, I know thats a negative word but have had to get used to it!) friend who although I dont see to often I still have strong feelings for (cheers Pat!)
One of my 1st Hong Kong memories is going to see NOFX, great gig, shame about the attendance but hey, dumb move to organize it the same weekend as Rockit (RIP) Hong Kong's only music festival! This was the 1st time I met 2 friends, Adam & Arthur, who would become a really good friend & Guitarist in my band. Anyways, went out for dinner that night with some people & was repeatedly told not to hang out with Arthur or Adam, as they were not good guys..... & that is my 1st bad experience with Hong Kong! I was convinced they were good guys & always make up my own mind about people.... & I'm glad I did.
Remember those local friends I talked about? Well thats bad experience #2! Got really stabbed in the back, heard comments like "you are ok for a white guy" (after thinking someone was a friend for several months) & other shit I dont wanna bore you with!
Anyways, skip forward a bit, miss out several racism issues I had (fuck you Gweilo, Gweilo go home) being told I should be more proud to white, someone refusing to give my wife a fanzine because "it's just for locals" yadda yadda.
Thought it would be a great idea to start promoting shows.... had tried to help other in their promoting but realised that was hopeless (not promoting a show coz you think that not telling people about it will keep it underground is retarded!) so yeah, what could possibly be wrong with me doing my own shows? great idea right? something I love doing, doing it for the love, to help out local bands, not for my own agenda? WRONG!
Put my all into this, really thought I could help the HK "scene" (sic) but after just a few shows, I started getting negative feedback, on the equipment (that I wasnt earning any money to replace coz I was basically not making any profits) not being good enough...... this is punk, indie & hardcore bands who anywhere else in the world (let alone somewhere as secluded & with as little opportunity as Hong Kong) would just be glad of the chance to have somewhere to play! Certain people in HK have provided advice on how things work.... well I'm telling you people, you were HUGELY miss-informed! on 2 occasions fairly famous US bands have said to me @ HK shows "wow, we are used to playing school halls & community centres, whats with all the stadium equipment? surely if less money was spent, profits would have been up....."
Next up, I have local hardcore bands demanding stupid amounts of money ($1000 plus on shows that wouldnt make a profit) + allow all their friends in for free..... this was shows that were $180 on the door with an open bar ALL NIGHT! Now, even if you only drink coke, compared with HK bar prices, thats not a bad deal! One band in particular (I'm not gonna name the douche bags) wanted over $1000 for a New Year show.... that was organised just so that for ONCE there was something happening for HK's alternative crowd! If you speak to anyone who went, it was a great night!
After this, several rumors started to float around, that I was a "typical suit wearing gweilo, in it just for the money & ripping off "local" talent. Now for those of you that dont know, "local" means HK chinese, if youre not chinese, even if you were born here, you can never be classed as local. (hmm, wouldnt you be classed as a racist if you had that attitude in a lot of countries?)
So...... had plenty of phone calls informing me of this crap being spread on local forums..... but only to show private support, but to my knowledge no one from "local" bands showed me any kind of public support. Plenty of bands did, but not "local" ones.
I'm not gonna bore you with too much of this shit, various other incidents have gotten to me over the years, stuf involving my business, people screwing over me & (especially) my wife (just recently someone REALLY let her down, showed a serious lack of respect & was very very ungrateful) & we have also had shit in the village we live in, when our neighbors dogs (wild but registered, never allowed inside but viscous & never restrained) attacked our Chihuahua Milo, almost killing him & causing over $10,000 in vets bills threatened to have me killed when i reported them, + informed me I should "f#ck off back where I came from because white people dont belong in Hong Kong" (funny, my wife might be white but she was born here, they are from mainland china & macau!) The police werent interested, neither were ACFD (even though they put down plenty of non-dangerous dogs every day)
So.... to cap it all off, I may have been very negative for a while..... but as far as I'm concerned, HK has really killed my faith in mankind! I was always the guy who would stick up for anyone who needed support, was dead against racism & believed in people in general & thought I needed to get out of London..... recently visited London & believe me, HK is FAR more racist & much less friendly once you dig under it's glossy exterior!
I'm sorry to all my friends I have brought down, bummed out & moaned @ (especially my wife!) I appreciate all your help & support & I'm going to try to make a more conscious effort to be more positive during the rest of my stay here in this beautiful city (there is a lot I DO love about it!) that I currently still call home!

I will end this telling you a story about a very obnoxious local man (lets refer to him as "A'hole" we met around the time of the last U.S. election..... he was convinced we were american because of our tattoos (apparenty brits wear suits & work in banks) & wanted to know who I would vote for..... I dont normally get involved in political discussions but did say that Obama seemed to have a brain in his head which a lot of U.S. presidents seem to be missing..... to which he replied "but he's a negro, do you not feel it's irresponsible for a white person to vote for a negro? do you really feel they are capable of running a country?"
Now I was pretty sick of this A'hole, & went inside to use the toilet & the manager of the bar we were @ asked what the problem was, apparently A'hole was a "nice guy, just a bit drunk" & when I told him what A'hole had said he replied "oh, dont worry, thats not racist, thats just discrimination"......... that says a lot about HK's attitudes & explains why HK is so racist (look @ the way maids of a certain race are treated & people not wanting to sit next to certain races on buses)

p.s. If anyone reads this & feels I'm unfairly talking about them, take a minute to think about: A, do you really need to worry? am I really talking about you? & B, do you deserve it? is something making you feel guilty........

LATEST CUSTOM MACHINE

It's been awhile since I did any machine building...... but I've finally got my ass in gear!
While we were in London in August, our buddy Andras gave Julia a machine with a really nice hand made brass frame made from an old key..... but it ran like crap! The main problem was the hole in the key that made up the front post of the frame was way too big, so whoever built it had mounted the front binding post on fiber washers that had too much give so it was impossible to keep it in tune.
Took me a while to figure out what i was going to do! 1st up, took the whole thing apart & pretty much threw everything out except the frame. the problem with the washers was solved by drilling holes in a pair of old 1948 Hong Kong coins, then used a copper binding post with a nice brass key head contact screw:



I have used Phenolic Washers brass screws (except rear shelf & a-bar) & a copper spring & binding posts, with a 1950 Hong Kong coin for the rear shelf washer:

The coils are hand wound 6 wrap, finished with dollar bills, then given a heavy glaze:


The end result seems like it's gonna be ok, the frame dimensions aint great, it's basically too damn short! took me a bit of work but it works! still needs running in but it's looking good.

Now all I have to do is make a machine for Andras! I've got most of the parts together & should hopefully have it ready by the time he arrives in a few days. For now, here are the coils:



Here are some more I've got ready for future use:


I'm lovin the dirty cherry red's, got them looking a bit worn & old before the glaze you cant really see it in these pics (bit better if you click on the pic to enlarge it) but the glaze is really heavy, gives them a really nice shine!
Think I'm gonna have to get hold of some old British coins to use when i build something for these.