what happened next? we did.

behold - the fruits of our labours, we have indeed been busy little bees. that is, if bees had only two legs each, weren't exclusively reliant on pollen and incapable of flying when sober...

FORTHCOMING MATERIAL
rather than whack off a quick 'rush job' since confirming the new lineup and spurt out a paltry two minute riff-o-rama over your pretty & expectant faces, we've decided to cancel our beer funds, call off our boat trips, get the sherry in and spend some time together in the studio making sure we write you all some decent, firm & obstreperous tunes. the 4 songs (masquerading as the 'reason & abstract' EP) are now ready to record, and we'll be doing so over the next month or two at berry street studio under the watchful ear of the reassuringly tall james dunkley (he does have ever such nice hair and a lovely car, you should see it). you can hear some of the new material, in demo form, in the video posted below.

NEW PHOTOS & MYSPACE
in the meantime, we've had some available hours to whip out a photo shoot & myspace design. the young, talented and inexplicably blonde ross wildish pointed his lens at us in a public park and it all turned out wonderfully (thanks also to donna stapley for painting our faces with pretty-dust), he also supplied some positively fantastic shots of our then immediate surroundings which you can now see incorporated into the new design of our myspace page, skillfully rendered, tweaked and pinched by adam cutler of motionless visions designs. our 'design chap from across the water' has also fashioned us a nifty new logo which you'll hopefully be seeing a lot of in the future.

PRE-PRODUCTION VIDEO BLOG
never give people like us a camera. having sifted through the hours of anatomical footage, we've finally managed to pull together enough that will provide a good idea of what we've been up to all this while and what's ahead, interlock's mart anthony has been kind enough to lend his midas touch to the editing & post production (he was responsible for the 'parasite' podcast & 'straight' video). there'll be plenty more like this to follow over the coming months leading up to the release of the EP, alongside some predictably pointless ridiculousness.



SANDWICHES
nice, aren't they? we like the cheese ones.

hal, ewan, duff, josiah & joe

i'm as pleased as punch to give the news of another of my ex-colleagues from interlock confirming a forthcoming live date.



interlock's last bass-mistress, syan, will be lending her low end rumble to none other than london's electronic-tinged metal vandals tribazik for their album launch on april 28th in central london:







the old street-based noiseniks will be releasing their album 'all blood is red' through eastworld recordings and is currently available at such places as amazon, featuring guest vocals from industrial legend jaz coleman (of killing joke fame).  syan tells me she'll be playing through her now somewhat notorious warwick rig for the show and has otherwise been dallying with her own brand of programming alongside her regular appearances throughout the capital as DJ request denied.



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and what better time would there be to update on what myself & others from the ex-interlock camp are currently up to...



HAL

the main pursuit-du-jour currently flipping my lid is talanas.  this is the prog/death outfit that joe & i had set up around late summer last year, in order to flex some musical muscles and scratch some tech-metal itches, and that on the advent of the interlock split took over as our main project.  we're set to record throughout may at berry street studios (the last home of interlock) with james dunkley and will shortly be launching a new myspace & series of video blogs covering the recording process.  gig offers have already started rolling in with the first confirmed being fusion '09 at the elgiva theatre in september.



next up is my work with beth ryan, also featuring mart from interlock and noise:tek / bad sekta / anticulture recording artist tom whiston.  beth is currently writing for her debut release through eulogy media this summer and has been performing several new songs at various venues in the UK, she's also confirmed to play fusion '09 this september.



a number of other projects are on the go including some black metal nastiness with ex members of dam & horrid face, some breakcore / noise / death metal crossover with tom whiston and something of a strictly hush-hush 'meeting of minds' with a few metal veteran / pie-eating types (cryptic isn't yet my middle name, but i'm working on it).  the now award-winning signature series 7 string from roter custom guitars has seen a lot of work over the past few months, to say the least.  weirdly enough, as has my gormless visage for such companies as spiral direct & attitude clothing in the likes of metal hammer & bizarre magazines.




JOE

still holding the mantle of having the single largest kit ever custom ordered in one piece by a mapex europe endorsee, joe has been honing his talents for a more organic (as in, not tied-down to a backing track!) approach for the talanas material.  expect some big sounds over this summer.




CHRISTINA

since interlock's demise, christina has been fielding a wave of requests for guest vocals.  her continued guest work with london-based black metal legends abgott has fulled yet further interest in the appearance of her rasps, roars & ramblings, however she's executed fair selection in her decisions and is now working with a particular few artists, not to mention developing her instrumental skills and working on her own material.



people can expect to hear christina's vocals in some pretty surprising formats over the coming months, best to stay glued to her myspace blog, needless to say it'll be bloody & brutal.




MART

joining us on beth ryan's work, mart has been part of the live set for a number of months now and has already performed at a number of beth's shows.  those wishing to see the results of the infamous forthcoming ran custom 7 string guitar he has arriving some time soon this year can hopefully expect to see it at shows such as fusion '09 at the elgiva theatre in september.



following the response to his cinematographic work on the latter interlock video output (the 'straight' video & 'parasite' blog etc.), mart will also now be pursuing future audio-visual work.  i'm also stoked to say that he's handling the editing & post production of the forthcoming talanas pre-production video blog.



H

BACKGROUND

hal sinden (vocals) & joe butterworth (drums) from interlock have formed a new band since the split.  both have experience as signed artists and have toured the UK & US extensively as well as having performed at european festivals, with a number of internationally distributed releases to date.  the new band sees hal transferring to vocals & guitar, joe continuing on drums, ewan from sredni vashtar on guitar and duff from no heroes on bass.  talanas is based in london, although several members travel in from outside the capital.




STYLES / INFLUENCES

- influences include: akercocke, morbid angel, evergrey, stam1na, gojira, scar symmetry, cynic, porcupine tree, necrophagist, meshuggah, mudvayne, immolation, tears for fears, dām, aborted, the police 

- there is existent material which is currently being finalised for a studio recording shortly 

- the general feel is progressive death metal, however not the style for keyboard solos (a la dream theater)




CURRENT / FUTURE PLANS

- the band have a slot each week at berry street studio in central london from friday 6pm until saturday 9am, this includes practice space, storage and full use of recording facilities 

- currently, practices run from 7pm until 10pm every friday

- recording for first promo is penciled to start in approxinately 2 months at berry street with production from nathanael underwood (dam, candlelight records) 

- label negotiations to follow with managerial representation from eulogy media ltd.

- 1st album to be recorded ASAP

- touring tentatively scheduled for summer '09, overseas gigging offers have now been received




REQUIREMENTS

- own hardware essential, although the band have a (coal powered) sampler if needed

- ability for sound & sample manipulation

- strong stage presence

- regular funds for upkeep of studio (this is an equally shared cost amongst all members)

- time / practice commitment (things are flexible at this stage, but will inevitably tighten)




www.myspace.com/talanas

management@eulogymedia.com

log on to maz star's post-download show at www.totalrockradio.com tonight from 8pm (GMT) onwards to hear full length versions of 'screaming underwater' and 'cataclysm' from the forthcoming album 'parasite'.  and cider...:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O />

J