Monday, January 30, 2006

More bad things, and some good ones

www.betika.co.uk


Our run of bad luck continued into sunday; Chris still couldn't get his car going, in spite of Imogen's attempts to fix it, and the van hadn't miraculously repaired itself either. I decided to do a spot of gardening, and while raking up some leaves I trod in some fox poo, which I didn't notice until I'd walked it all through the house. I cleared it up, and in doing so narrowly avoided being electrocuted by the Hoover, the mains cable of which had been mysteriously sliced open, exposing both the live and neutral, as I found as I was coiling it up. I attempted to record some singing in the afternoon, but my voice had dried up to a reedy thin squeak of a thing (most likely the result of my caffiene-binge on Saturday), so we recorded Caz doing some oboe and melodica instead. Which was good.
Other good things have happened since, in the form of some very exciting gigs we've got lined up for the next couple of months, more on which when we're in possession of all the pertinent facts. There's going to be a couple of chances to catch Betika this week if you live in or are prepared to travel to Southampton. Caz and I will be popping into the open mic night at The Talking Heads to do a couple of songs tonight, and the whole band is playing at The Joiners on Friday (Feb 3rd) night in the company of Toupe, Stout and This Black Static.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

And how we beat it...

www.betika.co.uk


Well, Imogen and Richard got back safely, Imogen succesfully repaired her damaged hands with superglue, Rich and Gary dragged their ruined bodies into the recording room and we set to the task in hand with only two of the six hours we'd allocated remaining. And we did three almost flawless takes of "25" straight off the bat, and nailed "Hatred" in seven. Vocals and overdubs tomorrow, mixing next week, job done next weekend! Or that's the plan.
I've made myself go a bit mental tonight, I've been drinking tea non-stop today, I've had a couple of beers over the course of the evening and I haven't really eaten since breakfast, now I'm simultaneously dog tired, hyper to the point where I'm shaking, incredibly happy about the way the session turned out and yet somehow really sad. It's not very nice and I wouldn't reccommend it.
I wrote a new song this week called "The taming of the shrew". It's about small animals.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

The Curse of Betika

www.betika.co.uk


Today we're supposed to be doing the last recording session for the album, however;
First thing this morning I wanted to go to the guitar shop to buy a new lead - I got in the van, it started first time then died abruptly and wouldn't even turn over after that. I was in a hurry, so I jumped into Lexi's car. That didn't start, but after much coaxing finally got going. Meanwhile;
Hubcap (producer) stood up at home and pulled something in his back which left him in agony.
Rich (drummer) was angle-grinding some metal racking at work, and knackered something in his shoulder.
Carrying these injuries, they arrived at the session. However;
Chris and Imogen had gone out for a walk, and in the course of a game of frisbee Imogen managed to tear two of the nails of her bass-playing fingers. She tried cutting them back, but decided that they really needed sticking back together with superglue. After much hunting, no superglue could be found, so she decided to go back to her flat to get some. Her car has been broken for some weeks, so she borrowed Chris'. Or she would have, only guess what? It wouldn't start! Not so much as a squeak would it make. Exactly the same as my van. So Rich has taken Imo home to get some glue so she can fix her hands so we can start recording, some four hours after we originally intended. I'm praying they make it back unscathed.