Minnis' Blog

New year. New Vistas and that.

Minnis — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:42:30 +0000

Greetings earthlings! Have a great 2012. The end of 2011 was all feasting, production marathon, playing to a click track. Theme tune vibes. Large diaphragm in the kick, NT2 looking over the side of the hat and toward the snare, 57 around the edge for the crack. Have you heard of the Drum Tunnel? Go try it. I haven’t! This is drum day done randomly in the control tower in Dee’s Ginger Music Company studio. Thanks! CM

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Minnis — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:49:17 +0000

Running out of milk but a lot of microphones are set up. Much to do and only the remainder of time to do it! It’s not long. Be careful out there. Zadok blog is here. Live and Dangerous, Monday 19th, Trillians in Newcastle at the Insangel Christmas special. If anyone knows any special snare micing and remicing technique, please share! 2012 holds a lot of change and challenge so get your speedos on. CM

The Berk Rig

Minnis — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:04:07 +0000

Here’s a photo that Al (presumably) took of the Berk rig. Berk were probably the loudest band on the earth, backline wise. RIP Berk. There is a blog post here commemorating them. Other excellent bands to come out of the room include Moleck, The Flowers of Evil, and Mass. More soon. CM

Pitcher Plant, Bladderwort, etc

Minnis — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:10:31 +0000

“Pitcher plant, Bladderwort. Acacia Barracks, fighter ants…. Burbank, Luther – heredity.

Pea family alliance – Nitrate Buddies. Carbon fixers. This could get murky.

To spend years learning to listen, and run into a wall of static array.

Pitcher Plant, Bladderwort etc”. CM

Tipographica are amazing

Minnis — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:50:24 +0000

Bach’s arco Pitcairn

Minnis — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:01:06 +0000

Halloween was massive thanks to Empty Shop Crew. Go and see one of their things please. We zombied up and headed out en masse, then watched D.O.T.D in a shopping centre, amongst many other things at Zombiepalooza. Al’s outfit was incredible but I was rocking some good fake wounds too, and visited a photo booth for posterity. The reason I hastily sewed the legend ‘Bach’s Arco Pitcairn’ on my found-sounds suit jacket is because of this guy:
Here’s my completely misguided jacket lettering, before I put it on the jacket using thread first, then glue.

Glue is faster:

Why do I make myself late for stuff with things like this? CM

This is Sinbad Crelm accompanied by Derrick Bostrom

Minnis — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 07:20:20 +0000

This be Sinbad Crelm. He says ‘Help me fight the shoes, Julie”, and is a contemporary of Mr Pin. This is a find, a real lost gem from my late teens which were characterised by a lot of characters like this. Here he is accompanied by the intrepid explorer, Derrick Bostrom cat. Later, I became more interesting, I think. For instance, I kind of invented skiffle-core (purposefully never recording this sound just in case it caught on) and also painted the excellent “Blamencan Scrub Fish accompanied by 6 x Aqua worm”. So you see, if you try really hard you can do things that will last way beyond your own human existence. The only problem is that however good you think you are at something, blu-tac always dries and pulls the paint and plaster off your walls. Do your best, scrub fish fans. Look after your ears too, they’re pretty complicated and nature never bargained for fuzz bass. CM…zadok.wordpress.com

Still making the molecule

Minnis — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:36:30 +0000

We’re working really hard. If unfamiliar with the Zadok band, check em out before it becomes uncool to do so. This particular bit that I have photographed is super good like. CM

More from Napoleon Hill?

Minnis — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 06:34:28 +0000

“There is one weakness in people for which there is no remedy: It is the universal weakness of lack of ambition!” Think and Grow Rich, Chapter 5

This is almost as good as Shardik.CM

Now Reading. Napoleon Hill.

Minnis — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:05:58 +0000

Dee lent me “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. It’s an old classic motivational book which is actually totally buzzin, as you might say. Quote of the day:

“Man’s only limitation, within reason, lies in his development and use of his imagination. He has not yet reached the apex of his development in the use of his imaginative faculty. He has merely discovered that he has an imagination, and has commenced to use it in a very elementary way.” Chapter 6, Think and Grow Rich

It’s a good un – up there with Bret Hart’s Hitman. I also think about Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance at least once a day. The thing that stayed with me most was the idea of romantic and classical mindsets. I thought I was a fairly luddite romantic model for a long time, but I have since lived more and met more people that confirms that actually I am more of a classicist than previously thought. The underlying properties of things and how they work, when applied to human relations, creative situations, trying to get better at making and doing things….

I think T.A.G.R. is going to be another slow one. Zen took me about three years to get through and really get it chewed and swallowed, I don’t mind admitting. I never finished Lila, the sequel, although it had some great stuff about the native American peoples. It just wasn’t as gripping and unnerving as Zen was. Will persevere. The longest I ever spent grappling with a book was The Ecstasy of Communication (this isn’t the version/translation I read – whole Sheila Glaser translation here on Amazon). I’m a newbie to this avenue, comparitively, but Baudrillard seems to me a brilliant scholar who smoked a whole tea bag and read FAR TOO MUCH Philip K. Dick all in one go. The results are absolutely great and will give you plenty to think about for all time.

Will return to banal blog concepts soon. Bye! CM. Zadok blog here.