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Louis Barabbas

~ If you don't let your imagination run away with you… it might run away with someone else

Louis Barabbas

Category Archives: Recording

Album Commentary: “Youth”

13 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by louisbarabbas in Bedlam Six, Interviews, Recording, releases

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a new band a day, album, ask me pr, commentary, joe sparrow, youth

My friend Joe Sparrow (head honcho at A New Band A Day and online coordinator for ASK ME PR) has begun a project compiling album commentaries with various artists. I recently became the first of his interviewees (aka the guinea-pig).

The full-length commentary for “Youth” is still being edited together (he’s probably trying to remove the persistent sound of clinking wine glasses) but here’s a little taster from the beginning of the interview in which we discuss the album in general terms.

For more information about the album visit www.bedlamyouth.com

The Solo Album

06 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by louisbarabbas in Recording, releases, Songs

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

album, recording, solo

WaterfallFor every ebullient, rollicking, bombastic Bedlam Six song I write there tends to be born with it a furtive, introspective and slightly malformed twin (which must be immediately shooed away into the nearest attic or coal cellar). The fun tunes are toured, arranged and recorded by my indecently talented bandmates and generally given the freedom to feel the sunshine upon their musical skin. The songs’ neglected shrunken siblings, however, must cope as best they can with restricted glimpses through cage bars.

I do my best for these sad half-creatures, staring semi-blindly through the slimy patina growing over their light-starved eyes. I try to make time for them, to give them affection. I love them as much as their muscular assertive brothers – in fact I love some a lot more, pitiful though they are. I spend awkward tender afternoons with these songs when I’m not on tour with the Bedlams, gently rearranging their thin little wasted limbs, comforting them as best I can.
A couple of years ago one got lucky and was adopted by Bridie Jackson & The Arbour, becoming something of an ugly duckling turned swan.
Most of these songs know not to get their hopes up though. Many can’t even reach the window, let alone see the view.

But now they are taking their first preparatory steps towards moving into a halfway house… AKA my debut solo LP.
Many will die along the way, many will be mocked, many will yearn for their once despised captivity. But it is time these shrunken twisted things saw something of the world.

Today I begin the recording process, ably marshaled by my friend Biff Roxby, the producer of this album.
And the name of the release?
“Gentle Songs Of Ceaseless Horror”

Wish us luck.

Album: Crypt Covers Vol 1

01 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by louisbarabbas in Bedlam Six, Collaborations, Recording, releases, Songs, Video

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crypt covers, hope and social

In 2012 some of the Bedlam Six and I joined Hope & Social in their crypt studio to record a version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Keep The Customer Satisfied” as part of the Crypt Covers series.
(I wrote a little piece about that experience here)

Here’s how it sounded:

They now have ten of these sessions in the can (also including our friends The Travelling Band and She Makes War among others) and have just released the set as an album (aptly titled “Crypt Covers Vol 1”) available here.

You should definitely have a listen, there are some absolute gems!

The members of Hope & Social have also just released a video of themselves listening and commenting along to the songs in the series.
Here’s what they said about us:

 

Washing Dirty Linen In Public

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by louisbarabbas in Bedlam Six, Debt Records, Recording, Songs, Video

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bedlam six, eagle inn, open recording session, public recording session

© Sara Harris 2014We chose to round off the promotion week for the new Bedlam Six release with a public recording session. We thought it’d be interesting if the climax to all the album launch parties up and down the UK was an open studio event in which we’d start work on the follow-up record. The circle never ends…

The logic of this decision was, with hindsight, perhaps a little questionable. Yes there’s a certain poetry to one album segueing directly into another but, practically speaking, no musician is ever at the height of their powers after a stint on the road. I’d already lost my voice once while on tour and a good half of the band hadn’t slept for about three days straight.

But if there’s one thing I’ve discovered about such poetic gestures (or “PR gimmicks” as some people call them) it’s that they have a habit of bringing out the best in us. This little project was a lot of fun.

For us the first stage of any recording is to lay down some good quality demos that we can later listen back to and start forming concrete arrangements for. Once we’ve got the guts and general character of a song in place we can get a better idea of its final incarnation. Our audience tends to only see/hear the finished version so we figured it’d be interesting for people to witness these formative stages (where we decide on tempo, argue about harmonies, work out solos etc). Our label Debt Records is always harping on about making these processes more transparent so we agreed to be the guinea pigs for a new series of public studio gatherings. Thankfully it was hardly a chore, the location in question was the lovely back room of one of Greater Manchester’s best pubs: Salford’s The Eagle Inn. Even Guy Garvey turned up!

Here’s how we got on with brand new song “Lately”

And here’s a slightly more delicate number “Let Me Down Slow”

An Open Recording Session With The Bedlam Six

07 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by louisbarabbas in Bedlam Six, Debt Records, Recording

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eagle inn, open recording session, salford

Open Recording SessionThe last event in our album release week is nothing to do with our new album at all – it’s where we start working on the next one!

Details HERE

Drinking With The Bedlams

05 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by louisbarabbas in Bedlam Six, Interviews, Recording, releases, Songs

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album, bedlam six, drinking, stream, youth

20140305-124226.jpg

At 9pm on Wednesday 5th March the Bedlam Six will be convening for a live stream of new album ‘Youth’ with us providing an increasingly inebriated commentary of decreasingly relevant and accurate facts about the record.
Follow this link to listen and chat with us:
http://mixlr.com/debt-radio

Debt Radio is on Mixlr

You can listen directly on your computer, tablet or smartphone using your browser (Flash is required).

Android users can use VLC or a similar media player to listen through a browser.

For Windows, Mac and i-phone a Mixlr app is available for free from the App store or form the following link:
http://mixlr.com/broadcast/

Twelve Inches of Youth

06 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by louisbarabbas in Bedlam Six, Pictures, Recording, releases

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20140206_153139

The vinyl part of our new LP “Youth” has just arrived. It will be available to pre-order from next week and go on general release on Monday 3rd March.

Bedlam Six: Open Recording Sessions

14 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by louisbarabbas in Bedlam Six, Recording, releases

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album, bedlam six, live, release

© Sara Harris 2012

As is traditional we plan to celebrate the launch of our new album with a bunch of live shows and a lot of drunken dancing. But we’ve been wondering how best to mark the date itself. The record is officially released on Monday 3rd March. As we are all aware, Mondays aren’t the most ideal of gig days – a lot of people tend to have one eye on the clock as they wonder how painful Tuesday morning will be once they’ve dusted the last traces of hedonism from their hats and hips.
Also the buses don’t run as late.

So we pondered long and hard. Wondered about early evening acoustic shows (a bit tame), or another Bedlam social event (a bit easy), or an informal Q&A (a bit boring), or maybe even dinner somewhere (a bit… dinnery). Something that wouldn’t go on too late, wouldn’t cost loads, but could still have a certain exclusive (and yet inclusive) vibe.

So we hit on the idea of an open recording session. It seemed apt to launch a new album by starting to record the next one. We have a bunch of new songs no one has ever heard, we have a lot of recording equipment (thanks to WR Audio) and a certain predilection for eschewing the opaque.

So at 7pm on 3rd, 4th and 5th March we are going to hold open recording sessions at secret locations around Greater Manchester. We’ll record for approximately two hours each evening and there will be an opportunity for those present to contribute to backing vocals/percussion/noises once we’ve got the main body of work done. It should all be done by 9.30pm. Everyone in attendance will then be sent the songs once they’re mixed and mastered.
I hope it goes without saying that anyone who doesn’t need to get up too early the next day is also very welcome to stick around for a drink with us afterwards.

If you would like to attend one (or several) of these sessions please send me a message via the contact section with your preferred date. I’ll then send you the relevant address once we’ve finalised all the details. Places will be limited so do get in touch sooner rather than later to reserve a ticket. There will be a small fee to help cover any room hire costs.

As for the live launch parties, they will be held in London, Havant, Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester (see the Bedlam Six gig list for details).

A Look Back At 2013

23 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by louisbarabbas in Bedlam Six, Collaborations, Gigs, Recording, releases, tour

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2013, review, Year

carousel

Where years are concerned I tend to prefer the even numbers. My bones tell me this was a long year, but my memory disagrees. The individual moments concertina disconcertingly back and forth, closer and further – at times it seems like only yesterday we were boarding the ferry to Calais for our third European tour, the next minute that same instance feels like the orphaned recollection of a completely different man.

In the words of my friend Alabaster dePlume: “I hate Time. Time can f**k off. Oh… it has.”

We did a lot this year. I like years full of stuff. It’s good being able to easily account for one’s movements – after all, you never know when you might need an alibi.

© Sara Harris 2013

It began with the band all moving into a house together for three weeks and recording an album. Such activities induce in their participants equal measures of satisfaction and madness. This was no exception. It’s the best record we’ve ever made (yeah, I know bands always say that, but it’s true for the time being). For anyone interested there’s an entire website dedicated to the details of its creation here: www.bedlamyouth.com. I must admit I’m looking forward to finishing all the phaffy PR nonsense and releasing the damn thing, I can’t wait to disagree with people’s opinion of it.

© Andrew Ab 2013

Shortly after returning from our self-imposed exile we put on a big show at Manchester’s Dancehouse Theatre. It was my thirtieth birthday party and the venue was utterly packed. The gig was the usual chaos. I swang onto stage on the end of a rope and collided with Cleg, immediately detuning his guitar. A fateful beginning. We played thirty songs (one for every year I’ve been bothering people) and featured special guest collaborators Honeyfeet, John Robb, Hannah Miller, Richard Barry and Kirsty Almeida. By the end I could barely speak or move, my left hand had become a paralysed claw with no sensation in three of its fingers. It was quite a night. Putting the huge red BEDLAM backdrop in a skip the next day was a rather sad moment though.

AustriaThe following month we boarded Bessie the Bedlam van to tour Scotland and the north of England, getting back into the rhythm of regular playing, reacquainting ourselves with each others’ aromas and temper triggers. Then when Spring came around it was time to venture South, playing shows in London and along the coast before crossing the channel for gigs in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium. My tour diary for this period is here if you’d like to read about our adventures on the continent. Upon our return we teamed up with our friends Hope & Social for a brace of double headliner shows in Leeds and Manchester, climaxing with a combined set of both bands playing together. That was quite a squeeze but a lot of fun!

Around this time things got a bit weird for me as the fame of our friends Bridie Jackson & The Arbour burgeoned following their well-deserved Glastonbury Emerging Talent win. The song they had entered into the competition was one I’d written so it was a rather surreal experience listening to the likes of Dermot O’Leary discussing its lyrical symbolism on BBC Radio 2 in the aftermath of their victory.

Then, of course, came the heat wave. We filmed part of the music video for “I Ain’t Done” outside on one of the sunniest days. Look closely at Fran’s face during the dance sequence as it flits back and forth between pale, pink and bright scarlet. The director even got sunstroke. We have a habit of making people suffer for our art.

© www.debing.de 2013That Summer we performed at festivals across the UK, Ireland, Germany and Holland. We also played to our biggest crowd so far – nine thousand people in Nuremberg. That was quite something.

Away from the band I travelled over to Barcelona with Un-Convention to speak on a few panels at Primavera Sound and played a secret gig with Pete Shelley from The Buzzcocks in a little underground club (bit of a “Dear Diary…” moment that one!).
Later I rejoined the Un-Convention crew for a special project bringing together musicians from the UK, Brazil, India, Uganda and Nepal to form a supergroup. We performed sets at Shambala and Festival No6 and had a lot of fun rethinking our own styles within the context of such a wide range of international influences and techniques.

Autumn brought with it a couple of firsts. Our debut show in Italy was a real highlight. We were flown over to Milan for a one-off performance at Teatro della Contraddizione and afterwards ate the biggest pizzas we’d ever seen. We really thought the Milan crowd would be too cool for our brand of silliness but we were pleasantly mistaken. They danced through the whole thing and then demanded three encores. A wonderful weekend.
PerthOur music also finally made it to Australia as I embarked on a solo acoustic tour of the coastal towns. During this time I performed in a jungle commune, acted in a Lynchian surrealist short film, fought over a grocery bag with a beguilingly strong quokka, had a free cutthroat shave from a stranger and didn’t die even once.
Back home we released the first two singles from the upcoming album (“I Ain’t Done” and “Waiting For Bad News“) and were featured in the BBC 6Music Mixtape with the latter. Our final show of the year was in Manchester and included an onstage wrestling match between me and label-mate Felix Hagan. Sometimes making good on the “every gig is different” promise can be painful work!

And now we approach the end of the year. A year that has at times been frustrating and at others absolutely exhilarating.

As I write this the UK is being ravaged by storms. What was supposed to be a quiet Christmas is now soundtracked by the clatter of falling roof tiles, rainwater dripping from the ceiling into strategically placed buckets, the scream of car alarms outside and the creaking protestations of trees bent double by the wind.
Now the lights have begun to flicker overhead and I suspect the ghosts of Music Past, Present and Yet-To-Come are queuing up outside my bedroom window to teach me the error of my ways.
I’d better go let them in…

See you in 2014 (weather permitting).

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The Difficult Second Album

28 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by louisbarabbas in Bedlam Six, Debt Records, Pictures, Recording, releases

≈ 3 Comments

IMG_4360

The new Bedlam Six album has arrived. All bazillion copies of it. This is the album we recorded last January. It feels like so long ago. Some delays are predictable. Others, less so. It’s so good to finally hold the thing in my hand!

Anyone who’s ever ordered the pressing of a record will be familiar with that strange expectation (and slight dread) – part Christmas Eve, part dentist waiting room. One can check and double check the designs and templates, employ a dozen people to proof read the sleeve notes, sketch out diagrams of printers pairs to make sure the lyric booklet corresponds to the track order… but there’s never a guarantee what comes back from the pressing plant will be entirely what you imagine it will be. I remember the horror of discovering a “their” where “there” should have been in the liner notes to our live album. I still wince at the thought.

But this one seems fine. It’s got a nice weight to it, the lyrics are all legible, the music plays on my ancient stereo as well as more modern devices and all the component parts seem to be where they should be. To say it’s a big relief would be a gross understatement.

I like this album a lot. I’ve never been more happy with a recording. It will be on general release through Debt Records on 3rd March 2014. Members of the Bedlam Six mailing list will have the opportunity to receive the CD before Christmas (as a reward for occasionally sitting through my tedious newsletters). To subscribe just send me an email through the contact section and I’ll add you. The next email will go out this coming Monday and will include a password to a secret album link.

Youth

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