A few updates

Hey everyone.

I just realized I don't get around to this too often, and for that I apologize. Well okay, if you haven't noticed, I did put up a new 5 song EP called "Without Voice". Added that back in March, and had the help of Brad Cheeseman (of Like Clouds) and Shane Lannigan (of That Boy Ain't Right) for a couple of tracks. And speaking of TBAR, they're a really kick ass metal band in Hamilton Ontario. They in the running to play with the Cancer Bats in London England, and this could open so many doors for them, so if you could just do a quick favour and vote for them here >> www.supernova.com/events/11285/wildcardvoting/share/thatboyaintright

then that would be absolutely fantastic.

Anyways, I am considering some shows, but I need to equipment, and the live band to back me up. So over the next while I will be definitely looking into some new equipment and recruiting some people, and once things get going, shows will definitely be coming soon after.

Also, I have been kind of playing around with some new sounds/ideas for a while, and slightly changing direction. Not too much though, but something I feel is getting to be more of my comfort zone. I wouldn't really go by what you hear in "Without Voice" as the start of the new direction, seeing as those were some quickly belted out tunes for my failed "Project 52". But it'll be a while anyways before you hear even a whisper of what I'm playing with. In the mean time, enjoy the present songs, and hopefully sometime later this year, i can be playing shows.

That's all I got for now, so take care.

Announcement

Okay, so I think I've come to an official decision about this project. as much as it pains me to do this, I can't continue with the weekly schedule of Project 52. Recently in my personal life I have become VERY busy, and trying to come up with new ideas EVERY week for the project is becoming exhausting. I just received a full time paid internship with Canada Revenue Agency, so unfortunately it will cut back on time for the project.

As of today, Project 52 is done. BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I'M DONE MAKING NEW MUSIC! I will still be making new stuff through the year, just a little slower. the songs I have done for the project so far will be released soon enough, so no worries. I just have to finish mixing some tunes and re-tag all of them.

Long story short, I failed Project 52. It can't be helped though, it is beyond my control. Sorry.

Week 7 of 52

I realize how behind I really am on this project, mainly because there is something like 3 incomplete songs. Song 2 is still in the hands of Shane, but I may have to get to it myself if I don't hear any ideas, mainly because the deadline is fast approaching. Song 5 is just about done completely, and Song 6 should be pretty easy. Now starting Song 7 this week, I honestly don't know what I'm doing for it. I'm fairly certain ideas will come along shortly.

As mentioned, the deadline is fast approaching. The first EP is set to be released on March 1st, so I got to plan this out right. Things in my personal life are getting busy, so sometimes I find it hard to keep up. I'm currently in the running for an internship that has been consuming much of my time. Also I find myself with the first stages of a cold right now, so it has definitely slowed me down a bit. This week as promised I will be releasing song 1 in its entirety, plus a couple more preview tracks. But until I have more of song 5 done, I only have one other song to preview right now. song 1 will definitely be out today though (Tuesday February 15th). Please check in with the facebook or twitter page to find the song, also it will appear on the MySpace and Reverb nation page.

That's all I got right now, I have work to do.

Returning to Blogger

Well, it certainly has been a while since I used this blogger page. I figured since there is so much happening this year in the 25:17 camp, that I would come back here and blog about the happenings.

2010 was a very unproductive year, and I regret that fully. Inspiration was at a low and I just felt really lazy when it came to music. So I just stayed quiet and let it pass. Fortunately enough, towards the end of 2010 I started wanting to get back into the swing of things. So of course I started working on "Entity, Leaving" in November and had it out by December. After that release, I realized how much discipline I really needed. So I came up with the idea for "Project 52". One song a week for 52 weeks was/is a sure thing to get me back on track and keep me super busy. So a lot of this blog from here on in is pretty much revolving around that.

It's already February, and it's the beginning of week 6 for Project 52. It pains me to say it already, but I've already slightly half failed this project. 2 songs not entirely done yet, but I have every intention to finish them and have 52 songs by years end. I know a lot of people will tell me that yes I did fail this, but I believe if the songs come out before the first EP, then I have at least only half failed. I'm still working my ass off to get these songs off the ground. Lately I find myself busy with small jobs and a new internship program I may be starting come March, so it has definitely slowed down work, but hasn't stopped it.

Currently starting Song 5 and 6 together, have 2 separate ideas for them, so it should turn out fine. I'm thinking that Brad Cheeseman (who collaborated with me for Entity Leaving) is probably going to be joining me for one of them. He's an on and off helping hand, since he's always looking to keep himself busy, so he's offered to collaborate when he has a chance to. Song 2 is still kind of in the works... all my parts are done, but I'm still waiting on Shane Lannigan (of That Boy Ain't Right) to get back to me with his bass track(s) for that song. He's currently in the studio with TBAR working on their own EP, so he's fairly busy. So song 2 is on hold until at least the dead line for EP 1. (which it will be before March 1st). But 1, 3, and 4 are sitting comfortably in my completed pile, so those are good and ready to go. I'm think songs 5 and 6 will be ready around the same time, just in time for the second round of previews.

I'm actually taking a small break right now from Song 5 to write this blog, so i guess it's back to work. check back here often for updates!

First UStream video!

I go live on UStream for the first time Thursday February 25th, 2010 at 4pm until 4:15pm! It's just a test video for now, but I will be making new shit with Ableton Live 8 and iZotope iDrum. Check it out wont you? Watch me Live at 4pm! I may decide to extend it to half an hour, we'll see. It's not too much to ask, and you dont even have to sign up to the site to watch, also, there is a chat/social media stream, so feel free to use that as well. Hope to see you out there!

Interaction

So, my first official blog update of 2010. I guess the whole "Happy New Year" thing is way over due. Oh well.

I actually make this blog today because recently (thanks to one of the people I follow on Twitter), I've come across a website that not only adds on to the collection of the vast pile of 25:17 internet accounts, but this could quite possibly (besides Twitter) be the most interactive tool I could get myself into. It's a website called UStream.com. In a way, it's almost kind of like youtube, except for the fact that this website is for live, real time streaming video. So like most sites I join, I went on a little adventure around it to see what it was like, and sure enough I saw the top three things that didn't surprise me. One, underground/local hip hop artists trying to cut a demo. Two, People eating food and looking at the net, explaining what they're eating and looking at. And three, people playing video games.

Yes, I know, it sounds utterly pointless, but I thought about it and how something like this could actually be used to quite an advantage. I thought of a few examples of why this would be a good move on my half as a musician. A) I could do live streams of work on new music I'm doing at the time, just as sort of a teaser. B) (When my fan base is big enough), have a live stream chat doing some Q, C, and A with people who want to tune in. And C) All I have to do is hook a video camera up to the lap top, and when ever I am finally able to do live shows, I stream them live onto the site. As I have already said, I think this could be one of the most interactive things I could do to reach out to a fan base, and/or actually gain many more fans. Obviously everyone will be notified of when I plan to do a live stream, so you would know when you could watch it live. Can't watch live? It's okay, the videos are immediately uploaded to youtube after streaming.

So if you wanted to check out the account, it's at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/25-17 (or where ever hyperlinks are accepted, click here). Now at the time of posting this blog (which is February 10th, 2010 at 6:20pm, there are no videos to see currently, and I have no scheduled streams yet, but sure enough, they will start coming. Also, I forgot to mention one thing I truly like about it is that not only is there a chat window next to the video screen, there is also a social media link, so you can also chat via Twitter, as long as you use the hash tags provided on the video screen. Wow, technology is awesome.

Anyways, that's all I got for now. New material is still being worked on, I'm just getting picky with how it sounds, so it's taking a little longer, which sucks, I kind of wanted to have something out in time for the one year anniversary of Reborn. Oh well. So follow me on Ustream, and on twitter (@twenty57teen), and keep caught up with me.

Website is going crazy!

So I spent a great deal of time yesterday discovering some tools on my website builder that I've never looked at before, and wne tcrazy and added a bunch of new things. Two major updates to the site include the Widgets page which shows my feeds from Twitter, Youtube, Blogger, Reverbnation, and Facebook. The second big updates is a new experimental thing I have going on called "25:17 fans". Signing up is free, and it gives you the benefits of Hear new and rare tracks long before it hits any other site, seeing new videos before they are uploaded to Youtube or a Vlog, getting to view new pictures and ideas for album art before it hits anywhere else, and also a new/rumors portion that has small clippets of things I don't normally tweet or blog about, and sometimes there's some pretty interesting things to be said.

I am thinking of adding more, but it's still a new concept to me, so it will take time. There is also a forum widget on the fan page where you can interact with me and other people. I understand it will probably be empty for a while, but it's okay, it'll build over time. Also, it's only a small page for now, but I do plan on expanding it within the next while, so give me time.

So go on over to www.2517.mfbiz.com and check it out!