Hello Everyone,

Here's the latest and greatest from the Sydonia camp.

We may or may not have or will be playing an Army base on Friday 4th of December. As the Army tend to classify everything as "Top Secret", I'm not sure if the gig is officially existing or existed.

But, on Friday 11th of December, Sydonia will definitely exist @ The Espy Front Bar @ 12 midnight, entry is free as a bird. Opening the night will be Art of Wor, Cloud City and Dive into Ruin so don't dilly-dally-delay and get in early for the beginning of summer.

In other great news, we just had our first 4-piece creative jam together since this time last year... and it was awesome! As we now are all living in the same state, we can finally make this a regular thing and write the album we've been dreaming of. With at least 25 tp 30 songs and ideas all over our sleeves, we can't go wrong... there's at least 3 albums waiting to see the light of day.

So, to allow ourselves to settle into the new rhythm, we'll be doing sporadic gigs here and there on weekends until March-ish. We should know by then if our government grant applications were successful or not. Either way, we'll get out onto the road around then for one reason or another.

Thank you for all your online comments of support and lovely well-wishes when our paths cross in person.

Hope to see you again soon.

sam

:)





Just wondering if you'd like to Opt in for our ReverbNation Fan Reach emailout system, perhaps..?

It'll mean a sweet new emailout style will be coming at you via their sites control room.

It's connected to Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and what not if you go searching.

It provides you and I both the freedom to connect properly and not get lost in the Spam bucket.


If you'd like join in:


http://www.reverbnation.com/sydonia?add_email=true


Looking forward to having you on board this platform as i will endeavour to provide you with more goodies (such as "Sydgestion Box", where you get to suggest ideas, field questions and what not to us directly) for taking the time to go out of your way for us.

Thanks again.

Stay coo.


Oh, What's green and has wheels?

Grass, I lied about the wheels... or forgot, coz I'm a stoner and smoke pot man dude yeah man yeah maaaaaan yeeeeaaaah alllllllriiiiiight yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaah cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo... x

Feel free to contact either myself (samsydonia@gmail.com) or Karlos (karlos.sm@gmail.com) in regards to any of merchandise, whether it be Clothing, DVDs, CDs, Singles, Picks, Badges and Stubbie Coolers or whatever. Looking forward to hearing from you. sam & karlos :)

hey All, this is is quite self-explanatory, everything you need is right here and there. be early so as to catch the ever wonderful Cloud City and the rock pummeling of Dive into Ruin. entry is free so what's to think about? why hesitate? price is right! glove sam :)

here we are in digital form. the sooner you buy our goods, the sooner we can get to you physically... in a clean set of clothes of course. glove you. sam :)

Hey Everyone, run naked through the streets...

Sydonia are coming off a truly wonderful tour with Dead Letter Circus to perform their own side-show extravaganza. It certainly won't be the same without the extended Gypsy family we found among the DLC band and crew, but it will be a celebration none-the-less. After 15 shows of juggling balls of main support, we will now be able to open up our act and play the songs that our time-slot wouldn't allow us. Many a new track has made a plethora of new fans from the DLC crowds. So many cats have approached us and sung our us their praises and signed up for the ride. Not only that, but many have clothed themselves with our new range of merchandise including hoodies, t-shirts and DVDs... how they wear DVDs is as interesting as our travels of late.

Check it out via http://sydonia.bigcartel.com

Anywho, to be part of the spring festivities, follow the links below to their respective gigs
in you neck of the woods:


Friday 2nd of October @ Ruby's Lounge, 1648 Burwood Highway, Belgrave with Dive into Ruin & Atlantic. Doors $12 @ 8:30pm


http://www.moshtix.com.au/Search.aspx?s=0&q=sydonia&c=&v=0&p=0&from=20090923&to=20100923


Saturday 3rd of October @ Ding Dong Lounge, Level 1/18 Market Lane, Chinatown, Melbourne with 12 Foot Ninja & Cloud City. Doors $15 @ 9pm.


http://destroyalllines.oztix.com.au/default.aspx?Event=12510


Now, this weekend, if you are in sunny Queensland, you are probably going to the Sounds of Spring
Festival in Brisbane on Saturday 26th... If so, Dead Letter Circus finish around the 10pm curfew, so that'll leave your evening open to wander into the city and join us for "Thriller" @ Rosies, 235 Edward St, Brisbane City as we go on at 12am. If you're there earlier (hopefully) for doors @ 9pm , you'll see Perspektiv open @ 10pm and Taken By The Silence destroy the main support slot. Be sure to mention our name (Sydonia) or the fact that you were at the Festival for cheaper entry, $10 instead of $12, bargain.


Well, now apart from these fun times a-foot, Sydonia is currently applying for grants to fund our next album's recording. we don't find out the result until January, and we hope to record it in February. Should the grant be unsuccessful, we may have to take a leaf out of our Mammal friend's book and consider the option of selling presale album before the job is even done. This worked in their favour and they fully credited everyone involved in the album sleeve, as would we.
We have at least 20 songs we are currently working on, that's nearly 2 albums right there.

Anyway, just putting it out there, who would be interested in the presale album concept to help us move forward and record?

Looking forward to seeing, hearing and being there with you as soon as possible.

Slove youse.

sam

:)

Hey Everyone,

Gooderest day to you all and sundry,

Top sort of climate-changey-weather we're having, yes?

All is barometrically aligned in the Sydonia camp as the pressure builds to us wetting our pants with delight to be setting off on tour with Dead Letter Circus throughout September.
Thor knows we'll be having a thunderpants of a time around a good part of this wide brown land.

Enough random meteorological fart references, down to the nitty-gritty of it all:

“Space on the Wall” TOUR DETAILS

WED 02 SEPTEMBER – COFFS HARBOUR
The Hoey Moey –Ocean Parade Road, Coffs Harbour, NSW
Tickets on sale,  $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - Or The Venue (02) 6652 3833- www.hoeymoey.com.au

THU 03 SEPTEMBER - CANBERRA
ANU BAR -Level 1, Building 20, Union Court, Acton, Canberra, ACT.
Tickets on sale,  $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - Or The Venue 02 6125 3660-

FRI 04 SEPTEMBER - SYDNEY
The Annandale Hotel -17 Parramatta Rd, Annandale, NSW
Tickets on sale $17+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - Or The Venue 02 9550 1078 - www.annandalehotel.com

WED 09 SEPTEMBER – WARRNAMBOOL
The Loft - Shp6/ 58 Liebig St, Warrnambool, VIC.
Tickets on sale, $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - The Venue (03) 5561 0995

THU 10 SEPTEMBER – FERNTREE GULLY
Ferntree Gully Hotel - 1130 Burwood Hwy, Ferntree Gully, VIC.
Tickets on sale,  $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - The Venue (03) 9758 6544
 www.ferntreegullyhotel.com.au

FRI 11 SEPTEMBER – MELBOURNE
The Corner Hotel - 57 Swan St Richmond, VIC.
Tickets on sale $17+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - The Venue 03 9427 9198
 www.cornerhotel.com

SAT12 SEPTEMBER – FRANKSTON
The Pelly Bar - 508 Nepean Hwy, Frankston, VIC.
Tickets on sale, $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - The Venue (03) 9783 9800
www.pierlive.com.au

SUN 13 SEPTEMBER – ALBURY
Roi Bar - 491 Dean St, Albury, NSW.
Tickets on sale, $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - The Venue (02) 6023 3433
 www.roibar.com.au

WED 16 SEPTEMBER – BONDI
Beach Rd Hotel - 71 Beach Rd, Bondi Beach, NSW.
Free Entry.
 www.deadlettercircus.com
 The Venue (02) 9130 7247
 www.beachrdhotel.com.au

THU 17 SEPTEMBER – WOLLONGONG
Harp Hotel - 124 Corrimal St, Wollongong, NSW
Tickets on sale, $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - The Venue (02) 4229 1333

FRI 18 SEPTEMBER – MANLY
Manly Fishos - 270 Pittwater Road, Manly, NSW.
Tickets on sale, $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - The Venue  02 9977 4800
 www.manlyfishos.com.au

SAT 19 SEPTEMBER – NEWCASTLE
The Cambridge Hotel – 789 Hunter St, Newcastle, NSW.
Tickets on sale, $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - The Venue 02 4962 2459
 www.yourcambridge.com

FRI 25 SEPTEMBER – MAROOCHYDORE
The Sands Tavern – Plaza Parade, Maroochydore, QLD.
Tickets on sale, $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - The Venue (07) 5443 7944
 
SAT 26 SEPTEMBER – BRISBANE
Thriller - Rosie's - 235 edward St, Brisbane, QLD.


THU 1 OCTOBER – ADELAIDE
Jive Bar - 181 Hindley St, Adelaide, SA.
Tickets on sale, $14+bf.
Available from: http://deadlettercircus.oztix.com.au/ - www.deadlettercircus.com
Phonecharge 1300 762 545 - The Venue (08) 8211 6683
 www.jivevenue.com



In other news,


After a crackin' short but sweet East coast tour launching our latest DVD "Through a Lens is All We Are", we discovered a seriously warm bunch of friends, yahooing and screaming at our shows. Those friends brought a bunch of their friends and we brought a bunch of friends called Mushroom Giant. It was such a pleasure having them at each and every show. Check out their musical biscuits and visual treats as soon as humanly possible.

Anyways, we can't thank you enough for love and support at these shows.

It was nice to hear positive feedback from those who'd bought it then come to a following show. That kind of dedication to our good times is so humbling. It was also good to hear that our travels abroad are finally coming to light, so many fans had no idea we'd toured the States with Stone Sour. The DVD mini-docos show the highs and lows in a down-to-earth way, no glitz and glamour, just a camera and the real deal.

Of course, if you want it a copy or seven, feel free the accost our Doug Bear of Rare Records for the goods. He has always been there for us, from letting me stick up crappy A3 black and white photocopied posters in his Poath Road shop to playing our album in his store when Lamb of God wandered in and subsequently bought some to now, backing us and releasing the DVD on his label. Glove you Doug... right in it.

Oh yeah, here's the link to our page of goodies and the DVD itself on his soon-to-be-totally-online store:

http://www.rarerecords.com.au/search/index.cfm?action=results&format=&cat=artist&key=sydonia&CFID=8979439&CFTOKEN=68617504

http://www.rarerecords.com.au/dvd/index.cfm?action=item&id=56511for the "Through a Lense is All We Are" DVD... some are signed by we nongs.


What's really standing our hairs on end is our "Given to Destroyers" on the Kraken Label in Japan. Apparently the first box has sold out on the amazon.jp site, which is sweet. Our friend Robyn, went into Tower Records (3 levels of music) in Osaka and bought a copy. And the sweetest of all is feedback comments on our mixi.jp site (a site similar to facebook), one in particular has Sean garnering his first gay fan... damn Sean and his handsome devilry. Check out the site if you can read Japanese and tell me what's happening and if get any man-handling prospects.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/s/ref=nb_ss?__mk_ja_JP=%83J%83%5E%83J%83i&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sydonia&x=23&y=20


Oo oo, we have a whole new line of merch ready for your beautiful bodies. I know the weather is weirding out, but we'll have plain and zippered hoodies, beanies, stubbie coolers, picks, and a bunch of new t-shirts with different designs.

But hey, before you go ordering online like crazy shopping spree credit card collecting fun baggers, please realise that it's just we the band who control the merch, and it's arriving in a van on the day we begin this big tour... all I'm asking is bare with us if you place an order, we will get to you for sure. It is way easier to find it at a show and our Karlos will surely size you up and have you warm and cosy before you know it... he may even sell you some stuff.

The link to our first online store is here:

http://sydonia.bigcartel.com


OK, I tried not to inundate you with too much info, but it is all happening in the land of Sydonia.

Please come and join us for some good times in a venue near you.

Stay tuned to our Myspaces and Facebooks for new news.

See you soon somewhere.

I may be wearing pants.

sam

:)

Given To Destroyers - Track Listing

By Dana (& Sam in brackets)

Adornment

So the boys were writing this percussion piece, convoluted and seething, and I’m thinking "would big and clean work over this?" Previous to this, our percussion had belonged to the more crushing tracks like RUBBER BULLET or to BATERIA, which is a drum-based instrumental. In comparison "Adornment" is a big eerie sound floating over interweaving drums. It is the most recently written song on the album and was originally deemed "perhaps not ready" when we were first deciding which songs to record. It turned out that ADORNMENT is a defining song containing many of the elements that make Sydonia what it is. It’s a twisted, lost, love song.
  

(The wind sound effect segue is there to represent my element of Air. As each of us in the band has a different and consecutive zodiac sign, we in turn each have a different element. In order to capture Air, we decided the sound of the wind coming off Rye Back Beach would be appropriate. You can vaguely hear Dana being absolutely quiet in my moment to shine by yelling something like "I reckon it’s far too windy for this to record"… see what I have to contend with.)

 

I Will Not Serve

Apparently these were Uncle Lucifer’s last words to God. I WILL NOT SERVE is an angry evolving number written by combining a night’s worth of improv then churning it over time.  It is about those who obey and those who don’t.

 

(I remember sitting by Dana’s Mum’s old wooden upright piano downstairs on Ross Crescent in Sunshine Beach whilst the then 3-piece (Dana & Adam with old drummer Eric) was bangin’ out the intro to a piece called "Lusty Bitch" from Sydonia’s very first EP Sojourn. They were mulling over the numbers involved in the riff and what sounded best before the big come in riff. I made some suggestions like "make it a little less smelly" which they took on board and made it so. Anyway, years later, I’m in the rehearsal room with that riff in the back of my mind as the perfect finishing move and voila’, I WILL NOT SERVE needed just that. A little tweaking by Sean and it’s rockin’ the socks off our cocks… which are unfortunately overbearingly smelly without decent covering… a small price to pay for riff-thuggery.)

 

No Woman’s Land

An old song in quite a different form... Most likely about sadness and the freedom from it (I like to leave interpretations open, even for myself). It was a song we liked but it always had extra parts dragging it around. "No Woman’s Land" wasn’t originally penned to be on the album, but I’d done a simply arranged electronic version of it and was playing around with it during some down time in the studio. dw Norton (our fellow producer) heard it and said "you’re recording that song aren’t you", when I replied "no", he quickly responded with "you have to!"

 

(I remember this chorus from way back in the day when I wasn’t even in the band and was hangin’ around Sydonia on the Sunshine Coast. It always stuck in my mind as this wonderful uplifting piece of music that they would never play enough for me. Hell, it even had this second half to the song that was all riff-a-rama. Years later, I convinced them it was two separate songs… there used to be a tendency to add riff after riff. Anyway, the second half became some of RUBBER BULLET and the first half became something kind of similar to what it is today. dw took a real shine to the mix, even creating the cut-loopy kind of drum thingy at the start. Now it has finally come to light so many cats have fallen in love with it, as have we. Who’d have thought Jim Root of Stone Sour/Slipknot would take so much of a shine to it that he’d share the stage playing it with us? Not us... we barely think at all… except that time I once had the after-thought relating to the no-pants-in-court-to-plead-insanity defence. Nude judge… never could have picked it.)

 

Sorry

This song wrote itself.

 

(It really did.)
 
Obviously the song is about an apology… but who knows why or who it’s from…

Dream Kiss
 
A shifting love/lust song I demoed with poxy drums and bass lines. The boys, bless their souls, could see the strength within, so we started playing around with it. Sean came up with the "glory" riff, Adz created the bridge section with a distorted bass solo and Sam actually managed to recreate sounds with his guitar that weren’t guitar sounds to begin with. During recording dw cut the end off and cut a second "glory" riff in its place making the song more beautiful and flowing.
 
 (The first time I heard Dana’s lead part on the opening riff I was instantly stoked and said, "play that again, but more gooderer". It was ear-catching from the beginning and I was hooked. Originally the arrangement had some Adz riffage on the end, bringing it to a crunching halt. You can hear that version on the "Sorry" single. We use part of that finishing move riff when we play it live coz how could we possibly do a live fade out?… especially when Sean has all the dynamics of a jack-hammer. Anyway, in the studio, the one chance I got to have a midday nap, after relentlessly recording for 10ish days straight, 16 to 18 hours a day, I awoke to them all yahooing saying they’d put the glory riff on the end and it’s all way better and your opinion is smelly so like it or you don’t get any curry we’ve also prepared for you to choke on. Like a little brat, I chucked frumpy and stormed off for a walk down the beach. When I simmered down and returned, I realised it was just the one little piece they’d added a bit of delay to my part that was bugging me, not the new ending. Without too much brew-haha, dw stormed off to the mixing desk complaining it’ll take hours to re-mix that one insignificant bit out, rardy rardy rar. I didn’t care, I wasn’t havin’ it, it’s my part and I know how I needed it to sound to be happy. I then ate the curry peacefully and it was awesome.)

 

Life in a Cup

There was a period when we played a lot of acoustic gigs… some of our songs didn’t work quite as well in this format so we needed a few more. When we stopped playing acoustically so often we took the best of these acoustic songs and incorporated them into our normal set. This is one of those songs. This song could mean a myriad of things… one interpretation is it’s about leaving someone.
 

(The fire sound effect over the Hang drum was recorded from the huge bonfire we lit next to the studio toward the end of the recording session. As we danced naked around it, covered in each other’s blood, someone had the thought to capture Sean’s element of fire… and his tears.)

 
3 Tongues

A journey.

3 tongues is a song about music… the sharing of music.
 

(So true. The segue here features Adam’s element of Earth in the form of him moving rocks around in a stonemason’s quarry pile just down the road from the studio. It is laid amongst one of the many Fruity Loops tracks Dana created in hopes of landing on the album. Many of his sound scapes and effects are mixed in to the album giving it so much more depth… that creeps up on you later… like Dana when you’re sleeping.)

Incoming

I remember the first time all four of us played together. We played SORRY and INCOMING and I had a very real sensation that the room was way up in the sky flying about at ridiculous speed. I also had the very real sensation that this was the beginning of something special. Incoming is the oldest song on the Album, filled with twisting Adam riffage, it concerns our herd mentality as a race and how we do horrible things to each other.

 

(Who’d have thought we’d have the pleasure of having Randy Blythe of Lamb of God sing the last verse with us live @ 3 shows around Oz? Not us. Who’d have thought Roy Mayorga of Stone Sour would pop out on his kit to play the last verse with us live in Florida, USA? Not us. We couldn’t believe it… I mean, how rude of them, they didn’t even ask our mums, just jumped up and surprised the rarely-worn-pants off of us. This is one of the oldest songs in the Sydonia repertoire… a main-stay for its ability to incite a crazy moshpit.)

 

Rubber Bullet

The fact that people feel the need to protest or worse, riot, means that there’s a problem. Rather than fixing problems, let’s shoot them with rubber bullets, what a shitty joke. And in some countries they use real bullets.

 

(We forgot to get Sean to yell "Yep" at the start like he did on the (Man)ipulate E.P. and does live. D’oh! One of the only things we forgot to do in the studio. The midget harvesting by the full-moon light tends to leave the mind wandering into the inevitable nude fruit juggling and therefore mistakes can happen. Sean hates himself anyway.)
 

Lonely Soul

Sometimes the memory of lost love is so real that it is intoxicating.
 

(I love this song. The solo I get to play takes me right back to the homes it was created in. It is really quite a simple and yet epic build up track with a classic Sydonia re-set to finish it off. That final riff was written by Sean. He got one more riff than I did on the album. The outro thunderstorm and rain represents Dana’s element of Water. I recorded it on Matt’s old video camera at our Dad’s on the Sunshine Coast over that summer. Originally, we had the ocean sample but it got eaten by a machine. When those ripe midgets are dropped, they become goblins that live in computers and eat sounds and time. Many an occasion did the dreaded goblins eat our sessions and time, they’d crash computers constantly to make room for their insatiable appetite. So sneaky they can be that I awoke one morning without my watch. There was nothing left in my bunk but tiny clock-springs. Dana tells me now that they were his pubes he’d placed in there to trick me and in turn giving him the chance to hock my watch at the pawn shop for sweets. Ol’ Sweet-Tooth McFlychaps will rue the day I take sour revenge on his hot dish of life caramels. The piano piece is played by Dana. It is the basics of an old, old Sydonia piece called "Eros". It was to be the end of the album but due to much debate between dw, jENK the assistant engineer, Tania and ourselves, we placed "Taste More" on as a secret-esque type song. The entire mastering and arrangement process caused great debate, and should really, as it is an important part of the art. In hindsight, I’m glad we did include it as many have taken a shine to its sweet, sweet melodies and complete lack of typical Sydonia epicness-ness.)

 

Taste More

I pressed record and started to play and sing. I had never played those chords or sung those words before, it just flowed out. It’s about being lonely and hung-over. We then played it in our acoustic set and Adz wrote a sexy bass solo. Upon it becoming a song in our regular set, Sean played a solid chilled beat and Sam sang enhancing harmonies. It is a beautiful song to hear people sing along to.

 

(Who’d have thought such a simple song would get past Sean’s defences and trick him into playing something so sweet and stripped back that it works as well as anything we all know and love in that similar vein? Not him… sucker-bum-punched him in the brain. Don’t worry, he’ll never read this. He can’t read as I poked his eyes out with a small laptop computer and sawed his fingers off with a butter-nut pumpkin… and pulled his teeth out with a pair of 3’s I got in a hand of Texas Hold’em… all for the sheer thrill of inflicting an abstract form of pain on Sean. Anyway, all those books he owns are purely for insulation as he’s too poor to pay for heating or clothes for that matter. And we spit on him and laugh as he cowers in the corner in his torn threads. Coz he’s drummer, that’s why. Yeah!)

p.s. Sean hates Sam a lot.