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In The Studio…

The Commander in Chief

Down to record her next single in the rainy beginning of August was 23 year old shred guitarist The Commander in Chief. The Norwegian singer/guitarist laid down some highly technical solos and vocals, producing the track herself with the aid of engineer James Mottershead. The track – 5 years in waiting – was finally finished at Monnow over a 2 day intensive period. The track is out today, along with an accompanying video featuring MMA fighters and carries a ‘very important message…[of] freedom of speech’.

Only 23, she’s the official Ibanez artist, playing the prototype Falchion 7 string, the only one of its kind in the world. Support from MetalHammer, Firebrand and Revolver, as well as some major metal festival slots has put this talented young lady on the map.

See the video below by clicking on the image.

In The Studio…

Tour tickets – http://www.brotherandbones.co.uk/live/

In the Studio…

H A R K
21/07/2013

In the Studio…

Bloodflower 

A combination of brilliant hair and musical prowess make up the duo that is Bloodflower. A Monmouth/mid Wales combination of multi-instrumental talents from producer Tom Manning and singer Jonnie Owen. Both have impressive musical CVs already, and their current project – only beginning last September – is already achieving exclusives on Radio 1 and a growing amount of hype and airplay.

Meeting at Monnow where Tom previously engineered and where Jonnie recorded with his band The Last Republic, the pair have created dirty pop perfection with forward thinking production and impressive vocals. This week in the studio saw the pair celebrate Tom’s birthday with a BBQ in the 29 degree heat, take a few splashes in the river, indulge in the odd pub lunch and begin work on a new set of tracks soon to reach our ears.

Find them here @iambloodflower, their new track ‘Horizon’ is out now.

In the studio….

Karu

A rather blurry Karu L-R, Phil Jackson session assistant, Eliot Shiner, Ben Davis, Lloyd Woodroffe (Elliot Sheen not pictured).

In the first of two sessions Forest of Dean-based band ‘Karu’, laid the foundations for their 5 tracks, even pulling an all-nighter in the process and completing vocals at 6am. It’s lucky their beds were only a few metres away. To shake off the late night effects, lead singer Ben went for a morning dip in the river (it was 12pm the next day and a roasting 28 degrees, but it counts as a morning dip if you went to bed at 6am).

Combining all four of their musical influences – drummer Eliot a successful producer and composer in his own right – their sound encompasses Ben’s impressive voice and their acoustic grit with a far rockier sound than anything they’ve embarked on previously.

Find them @KaruMusicUK and https://www.facebook.com/KaruMusic

In The Studio…

Funkestra

Funkestra avec toilet paper and masking tape from L-R; Rupert Christie, Dave Limina, Eran Kendler, Stefan Redtenbacher, Mike Sturges, Rob Taggart,

In The Studio….

Made In Monnow

Future of The Left

 We love to have return clients and even more so when they’re as talented and lovely as Future of the Left. The 2012 Welsh Music Prize winners returned to us at the end of June to record their next album with another Monnow Valley regular – producer Charlie Francis. They worked at an incredible rate, completing insane amounts of recording, writing, sampling colourful language from the vocal outtakes and also had time for a bit of a BBQ too. This band especially were all running fiends, legging it round the countryside most mornings or lifting weights in our gym – it’s a hard life.

Let’s combine our ‘In the Studio’ post with a little Made In Monnow throwback. Future of the Left have not only done work here before, but two albums worth of work.

First came the 2007 album –

‘Curses!’

“The Lord Hates a Coward” – 3:34
“Plague of Onces” – 3:03
“Fingers Become Thumbs!” – 1:50
“Manchasm” – 3:54
“Fuck the Countryside Alliance” – 2:06
“My Gymnastic Past” – 2:30
“Suddenly It’s a Folk Song” – 2:55
“Kept by Bees” – 1:54
“Small Bones Small Bodies” – 2:22
“Wrigley Scott” – 2:06
“Real Men Hunt in Packs” – 3:27
“Team:Seed” – 1:19
“adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood” – 3:09
“The Contrarian” – 3:02

Buy ‘Curses’ here.

They then followed this up with 2009’s ‘Travels with Myself and Another’

“Arming Eritrea” – 2:57
“Chin Music” – 1:56
“The Hope That House Built” – 3:41
“Throwing Bricks at Trains” – 2:36
“I Am Civil Service” – 2:17
“Land of My Formers” – 2:47
“You Need Satan More Than He Needs You” – 2:46
“That Damned Fly” – 2:07
“Stand by Your Manatee” – 2:08
“Yin / Post-Yin” – 2:54
“Drink Nike” – 2:33
“Lapsed Catholics” – 4:15

Buy ‘Travels with Myself and Another’ here.

Check out Future of the Left out on @shit_rock. We love their twitter handle.

Made In Monnow

Black Sabbath Month

Heaven and Hell

Back in 2010 following singer Ronnie James Dio’s death, Heaven and Hell‘s planned tour was cancelled, and the three remaining members of the performed a tribute to Dio at the High Voltage Festival on 24 July 2010 with three guest vocalists: former Black Sabbath andDeep Purple vocalist Glenn Hughes, Norwegian singer Jørn Lande of Masterplan and former Pantera and Down vocalist Phil Anselmo.

‘Heaven and Hell’ were the members of the Dio Black Sabbath era, reuniting in 2005 after their years together in 1980 to 1982, and again from 1991 to 1992 as Black Sabbath.

You can see ‘Die Young’ here – click the image