Well hello!
You've been very patient over these past few months. There's no excuse for my absence, although if I were to blame anything it would be my degree. Who would've thought taking English Literature would require so much reading and essay writing? Should've forseen that one. Anyway, you'll be glad to know that there's been a fair amount of Hailstone activity of late.
Although I still haven't recorded anything, Owen and I did invest in some pretty smart equipment, and this Christmas the Red House is going to be a hive of melodious activity. We plan to record all the drums and probably some trumpet before christmas, and once that's done I can really begin to tackle this thing.
Another fun item in the news is that a couple of weeks ago I got together with my pals Janoh (of Tisso Lake fame) and the infamous Mr R. Spottiswoode and we played a show in Otto Retro, an awesome antiques shop in Exeter. It was the first time I'd played a lot of my new songs to an audience and the first time I've ever played with drums AND violin so it was a momentous occasion, and much fun and mulled wine was had by all. The best thing about that show was that Robin recorded it on his stereo dictaphone, and so a preview of my new songs can be heard by all for FREE! Just go to our record label's myspace page on the left for a link to megaupload in order to download it (Just scroll down the page and you'll see it). Or alternatively click here. If you have problems downloading, do let me know and I'll sort it out for ya.
Because I've been away so long, I have TWO more presents for you. Firstly, here is the actual, official, definite (maybe) final tracklisting for the album:
01. The Garden Below
02. The Bedroom Above
03. Kite Song
04. Over the Ocean
05. A Trip to the Acropolis
06. The Museum
07. Someone Else's Moon
08. Zwarte Piet
09. Failand Story
10. It's a Lonely Life at Sea
11. The Call to Return
Exciting times. And secondly, if you click on this little link here, you'll see a rough preview of the album artwork, as designed by the world-famous...me. Remember, it's only a sketchy demo version of the cover so don't criticise me too much yet!
Alrighty, I hope that'll do you for now. Don't forget to listen to that live show!
George
