25/09/09 - It’s 7am and I’m sat at my desk at home with a cup of coffee while I check emails, didn’t sleep too well for some reason.  Thinking about it I haven’t slept too well for most of the week really, no matter I have plenty to do this morning.  Good! First job out of the way, hotel booked – there was some trepidation as to whether or not my wife and baby son would be joining me on the trip north but I’m glad she decided she would, it makes the journey easier to have someone to chat to and I wouldn’t miss out any morning smiles from my baby son when he awakens, perfect.

Second job of the day sorted, I drive my Springer Spaniel to the kennels where he’ll be spending the weekend.  It always reminds me of some kind of doggy prison, they’re all incarcerated trying to bark their way to freedom.  I secretly hoped “Wacko Jacko” felt the same way and considered his “sentence” was down to him raiding the kitchen bin and then shitting all over my lawn the previous day, one can live in hope.

Off to work, clear my desk before lunchtime and inform key customers that I’ll be out of the office from 1pm.  It has worked out pretty well actually and is one of our quieter days, this was good because I had yet to pack the kit in to the car, which I dully completed by 11am.  All going to plan, I had a sneaky suspicion that something might get in the way because this weekend’s practice was the culmination of almost 18 months work, events and unplanned exposure for the band and trying to pin 4 blokes down who have responsibilities, families, jobs and other commitments to run through some music we recorded over 16 years ago is no mean feat.  I had done it though, I’m not sure how or why it should even be happening but in less than 24 hours time Reprobate and its collective members would be gathering in an old factory building that has become a haven for bands of all genres in a Sheffield back street.

Getting close now, lunchtime - wife gone home to pack some bags and get the baby’s gear all up together – one thing you don’t think about before having kids is just how much stuff they need and how long it takes to get it all together!  My head techie is on leave this week so I do a final network check, drive space on mail servers, check bandwidth status through to our transit links and a general once-over left me satisfied I’d done everything I could to reduce the chance of a service outage.  Ok time to leave,  1pm, we should arrive in plenty of time to check in then drop the kit off at the practice room and hopefully I’ll have time in hand to set up which would save me half an hour or so in the morning.  Great, blazed through the road works at Hindhead in less than 10 minutes – amazing!  On to the M25, looking good so far holding at a steady 70mph (honest officer).

Aaah no!  Traffic, Heathrow is always busy so with any luck it’ll clear and we can get back on track.  I allow my mind to wander a little amongst all the brake lights in front of me, I wonder if we can still play this stuff and indeed if we’ll get on with each other.  A lot of water has passed under the bridge since we were last in the same room together sixteen years ago and even then the atmosphere wasn’t the best, and that was my fault - would they feel I had let them down?  I wasn’t the most reliable bloke when I was in my early 20’s and was probably a real pain in the arse if I’m honest about it… Emma and I sat having a chat about the previous week’s happenings over a drink of orange juice, but I was also becoming agitated with the amount of traffic in front of me.  It wasn’t looking good, I could see the plans I had made in my head, the schedule I had set myself and the order in which things would happen slowly slipping away in to a motorway filled to bursting point.  Roadworks… great, we just get going after passing the broken down Rover – the cause of my frustration – and we hit an average speed check  with a 50mph limit, set the cruise control to 50mph, sit back and hope the M1 is clear.

2pm – M1 looking good, but then speed limits and warnings of a queue after the next junction, great... I’m getting low on fuel now, in to the red and still 13 miles to the nearest service station where we’d stop and eat and fuel the car to Sheffield, slowly we crawled through the miles and eventually reached the services at 3.30pm – not looking good at all Simon.

4pm back on the road, full tank of fuel – I didn’t want t have to stop again, even though the price is about 10 pence a litre more, it didn’t matter – I just had to get there!  Getting closer now, 5.30pm and we were heading through Leicester, only an hour or so to go I thought just as my phone began to ring.  It was Simon Lee.  I had hoped to be in Sheffield by 4pm, it was now almost 6pm and I was nowhere near so he must be calling me to ask “where the hell are you?”  I took the call, but hold on a sec what’s going on?  I was pushing the right buttons but nothing was working, aah no my phone had decided to break, for fucks sake.  There was also a message from Joe asking how we were doing, he’d caught the train up and was already in the studio with Steerzy the lucky bastard – I was jealous, and I wanted to be there too, it wasn’t fair.  My phone had definitely taken a turn for the worst, it had done this a month or so ago on a trip to Scotland but had righted itself and I figured I’d be able to use it and get a new one later for free from the mobile company, not now though…

6.30pm and eventually I’m able to make a call out to Joe so I quickly explain that my phone is knackered and I’d be there to drop the gear off in about twenty minutes as I tore off the slip road at junction 32 and on to the Sheffield Parkway, I made it in very good time.  We stopped outside the rehearsal complex on Bailey Street, a very familiar street but one which I hadn’t been down for so many years.  I couldn’t find the lads anywhere so I called Joe again, who barreled out of the studio closely pursued by a rather spangly looking Steerzy!  We hugged and crashed in to the steel doors and walls as we did so, it felt good, it felt amazing, like I’d been away for a very long time and being welcomed back by my family – almost emotional I guess, well not almost… it WAS emotional!

We unloaded the car, the kit was to be stored in the studio lockup and we’d take it up to the rehearsal room in the morning, it was too late to setup and we’d all arranged to go for a meal together with wives and kids and stuff. Simon Lee popped his head around the corner as we sat in the place where it all finished years ago, by the mixing desk that captured Le Carceri and Anvil.  We shook hands, chatted, laughed and went outside for a smoke.

7pm – Checked in to the hotel, sorted my boy out with some milk and then headed in to town to meet everyone, Emma and I approached the restaurant and looked in and there they were all sat around the largest table, brilliant!  Being honest I wasn’t really hungry, I don’t know if it was the journey or excitement but I just didn’t feel like eating.  I ate and drank beer and chatted to my old mates and the new people in their lives I hadn’t met before, this was exactly the right place and I didn’t want to be anywhere else.  We left at 10pm to put the baby to sleep, it was way past his bedtime anyway and he was knackered, bless him.

Saturday 26^th I woke at 7am, my son had woken me protesting that he had had enough sleep and that now it was about time he ate, I picked him up.  He smiled at me as he does every morning, it melts my heart every time.

This was it, the day I’d been so excited about.  Emma and I went for breakfast, and left by 10am.  I had arranged to be at Bailey Street by 9.45 so I think Emma could see I was getting agitated, I didn’t want to be at the hotel but didn’t like to leave them alone.  I was being stupid of course, Emma couldn’t wait to hit the shops, so off I went. My route took me past the fountains in the Peace Gardens where a lady was playing with her dog and some folks were sitting on the benches enjoying the morning sunshine, I fully intended to stop and buy some water but didn’t, I just wanted to get there.

I pushed open the heavy steel door, walked in to the studio to a hive of activity with sweaty blokes hefting heavy cabs and equipment up the two flights of stairs to the room we’d be using.  “morning” “morning” Steerzy and I passed pleasantries  “now go and setup Mick” he said, so that’s what I did thinking I was a jammy bastard to get out of lifting all that heavy shit up all those stairs!

It’s funny because in your late teens and early twenties there’s all kinds of stuff going on, you’re excited about going out, shagging yer bird, playing in yer band or whatever it is that day you’re getting up to so I never really gave much thought to why I ended up playing drums and being in a bands since the age of fifteen.  Everyone was outside in the street having a smoke and a bit of a rest after carrying all the stuff about and getting setup, “right” I said “shall we?” I pushed open the familiar steel door once again and began to climb the first flight of stairs with the lads following me, my heart was beginning to beat heavily now as I turned right, through the corridor, and began climbing the second flight of stairs to our rehearsal room. Now my heart was beating out of my chest, my breathing became heavier and my legs felt weird as I reached the room and heard Steerzy tuning up.  This is it I thought, this is why I’ve always done this and it’s why it will never leave my soul, it isn’t about the playing, it isn’t about the music really, the feeling I get when I’m in the rehearsal room with these other 3 blokes is amazing – like a drug almost – the best drug in the world.

“We’ve done Body Scaffold” announced Joe with a certain enthusiasm, him and Steerzy had been up till 1am the previous evening trying to sort out the riffs.  “Great”, says Simon Lee – showing rather less enthusiasm it has to be mentioned, followed by  “What’s first then?  Wickerman?” as he thumbed his folder looking for the lyric sheet.

And that’s what we did, three runs at it and we nailed it on the fourth – “WWWIIIIIIICCCKKAAAARRRMMAAAAAN!!!” fuck me, it sounds great! Ok it wasn’t too tight and Steerzy couldn’t remember the solo too-well but it was there, the nuts and bolts all fitted back together and the engine was running, we played it through again – better this time, by now I was hot – I’d forgotten just how hot you get playing this stuff but I didn’t mind, “sweaty bastaaaaarrrrdd!!!” I shouted.

Jon showed up as we were running through Wickerman, he picked it up pretty easily after running through it with Joe and Steerzy – Reprobate was complete.

Next up was Judas Cradle, a snappy track that whips through some fast stuff through to some tempo changes and back up to speed, this took a couple of runs at it till this was nailed too.  I was happy, we still had it – we could still actually play this shit and it sounded good, it felt good too – bloody good.  Next up was …Anvil, this track is the flip side on the Le Carceri EP, fairly simple riffs but technical time changes and some very intricate sections, and fast.  Curiously Joe had never really played this as he left before we  recorded it but he was leading the way, and some debate was to which key it should be played in.  Joe reckoned it sounded better in B whereas on the recoding we have it’s in C#, we always tuned down to B though so it’s strange how it came out on the EP.  Steerzy’s explanation was “we used to tune to each other so maybez it wandered a bit”, I just chuckled to myself and left them to it.  Sat at my kit, beer in hand, watching these blokes work together, Steerzy, Simon Lee and Joe, figure out the right key, where the riff went, where the solo came in and how long the bar was struck me as special.  These guys hadn’t even so much as spoken to each other by telephone in the last sixteen years, but here they are picking up from where they left off all that time ago, no bullshit or attitude. Simply just concentrated on nailing this riff, or that solo or picking out where the next time change should be, where the verse comes in and what lyric comes next.

And so it went on until we all reluctantly broke at 3.30 for a couple of hours.  I headed back to the hotel for a shower then met up with Em for lunch, as we sat outside in the town centre we ate and chatted about how it was going.  She could tell I was buzzing, I was itching to get back down there but for now I’d eat and chat, bounce Charley on my knee and enjoy their company in the September afternoon sunshine.

7.30pm finished feeding and bathing baby Charley, settled him down in his cot and made sure he was asleep. I gave Em a kiss on the cheek as I was on my way out of the door, back to it, I was really looking forward to the evenings practice.  There’s nothing quite like entering the rehearsal room in the evening with a few beers and getting down to some serious noise making.  Unfortunately Jon couldn’t make the evening session but we began by having a beer, Simon Lee’s voice was a bit mashed up too but I told him to go and suck a fisherman’s friend and he’d be right as rain again, he didn’t reply.

We kicked off where we’d started, Anvil was proving to be a bit of a bastard.  We couldn’t nail the bit between the solo and the break so had a listen through the PA at the recoded version, again Joe was directing Steerzy and me through it which was a big help, while Simon Lee studied the lyrics as the track blasted over the PA– I think Joe had been through and learnt all the recorded stuff over the last few weeks and it was a god send in all honesty.  Another listen through the PA and I found the problem, I was playing the wrong fill for the time change which left Steersy out in the cold not knowing where he should come in, I’ll take the rap for that one.  Another run through and it was nailed big time, again – starting from “ATTACK!” skipping the intro in favour of time constrictions, through again – nice one another one nailed.

9.30pm we broke for another ciggie break outside in the street, we were running out of time now and although we didn’t want to wrap it up we knew the gear would need bringing back down and storing in the studio lockup so the other bands would have room to practice in the week.  Half an hour or so later  the gear was back down stairs, my kit was safely packed away in its new protection racket cases I’d bought especially for the trip ready for the journey back down south the following day and we sat, once again, in the studio next to the mixing desk chatting and having a laugh.

10:30pm  I returned to the hotel room and poured myself a glass of wine, well coffee cup of wine, from a bottle Emma and I had picked up while we were in the town earlier, flicked the TV on and settled down to watch Match of the Day whilst reflecting on the day.  It had been a very good day, in many respects one of the best days ever and will forever be in my memory as that, whatever happens with the band from here on in.

Sunday 27^th we woke early this morning, Charley was demanding a bottle at 5am and we didn’t sleep much after that although we both probably could have.  Following breakfast we packed and headed for the car, driving round Sheffield’s wonderfully complicated one way system which always seems to take you away from the place you’re actually trying to get to!  Steerzy and his wife met us at Bailey Street to the fanfare of the fire alarm, after getting his missis to stuff a pillow in the sounder we finally managed to shut the damn thing off and checked the building for fire, thankfully it was a false alarm or maybe just the old place sounding it’s appreciation of what happened the previous day.

12pm Kit loaded in the car and with another big bear hug from Steerzy we head back towards to M1, slightly heavy of heart it has to be said but with a satisfying ache in my arms and blisters on my fingers we hit the road.  By 3.30pm we were almost home, a much better journey than the one only 2 days previously.

What’s next then?  Who knows, we’ll keep practicing and get it much tighter.  As you all know we’d like to get signed so we can re-record the existing material and bring it up to date, this will be a good way for us to get back in to writing and recording some new material.  We’ll do some gigs of course, without you lot supporting us I wouldn’t have had such an amazing day and for that I thank you.  See you very soon, keep an eye on the site for more news and I’ll post some gig dates when we’ve sorted some out.

Thanks again,

-SMJ

Hello and thanks for stopping by,

Terrorizer mag update:

Well spring is well and truly in the air and following on the back of our debut in Terrorizer mag I’m pleased to report there’s been a massive increase in views and listens so thanks to all for dropping in and supporting the band it really is appreciated.

I don’t know how we did in the Terrorizer mag vote but will check back with the guys there and (if it’s not too embarrassing!) I’ll convey the details shortly. A HUGE thank you to everyone who took the time to send a text or postal vote, it means a lot.

New stuff:

Check out the video section where you can watch a gig at the Hallamshire in Sheffield in its entirety, now who say’s we’re not good to you!!  The video is in excess of an hour in duration and features live renditions of Wickerman, Finding Solace, Canto 7 and unreleased tracks Fleshmelt and List of Unanswered Prayers.  Not to mention the “Death Metal Jam” and “Industrial Jam” which actually sounded alright, or as Simon says – “that were al’right that won’t it?”  Finally Reprobate’s popular cover of Slayer’s Mandatory Suicide,  I look somewhat reluctant to perform that one but I do remember it being bloody hot, Mac was going crazy with the smoke machine and I was totally knackered by the end of it.  Happy days!!  I will be chopping this vid up in to individual songs over the coming weeks for those of you who don’t have time to watch the whole gig in one hit.

Thanks to MySpace for increasing the number of songs we’re able to post I’ve added Finding Solace (Tranquilities Abortion) and two tracks from our first studio effort – Body Scaffold and Hardened in Sin – taken from Stew of Wounds.  Whilst these songs are a little older than TA and Le Carceri they still sound great, not quite as brutal as the later stuff but well worthy of an inclusion, I hope you like them.

Contacts:

Thanks to everyone for getting in touch, so many of you who remember the band have been in touch asking if we’re reforming and writing new material, folks from the US, UK, Europe and more have really enjoyed the Terrorizer CD so thank you for all your kind words and comments on the site and by email, keep in touch.

So far as new material is concerned it’s being talked about and we hope to have a decision for you very soon, the summer months are not a good time for this since a couple of the band have some hectic personal stuff going on with the imminent arrival of a new baby so that’s going to delay things a little but we can’t complain can we?  A new addition to the Reprobate clan can only be a good thing!

Keep in touch, keep posting and check out the Facebook pages to meet up with us and our friends most days!

Cheers to you all,

-]SMJ[-

Hello folks, thanks for stopping by and having a read.

I haven't updated this for some time so I decided this evening was probably about time I took some time out of work and added some more stuff here. 

I'm presently remixing Tranquilities Abortion, I'm hoping this will bring the sound up to a better standard and reveal much more than the old demo tape.  No new material yet but be sure to watch this space - "14 Years Dead" could be a possible working title, although nothing conclusive at this time!!

On the search for Gary, well no luck at all I'm unhappy to report - it seems our cuddly friend has disappeared off the face of the planet – no amount of googling or digging through any of the social networks has turned up anything since the photos of him and his family in their Zante bar way back in 2006.  I have posted on the site to see if anyone has a contact for them but no joy so I guess it's a case of sit tight and hope he comes across us – over 9,000 other folks have so I guess it's not impossible!

One thing I have noticed though is the amount of Gary Spooner's there are in the world, everything from company directors to mobile disco DJ's and there's some pretty interesting sites out there too, check out whatsinaname.com where you can find out loadsa information about your name, or anyone's name for that matter.  I digress, if you should happen across the large one please give him a nudge in this direction as it'd be fantastic to hear from him.

Jo is pretty busy with stuff but might be coming to the Chapel Studio for a jam and some beers sometime soon.

That's all for now, keep checking back I'll be adding vids and some new photo's shortly!

DO YOU BELIEVE?

OK time for a little update!

The big news this month has to be Joe (Bass) has been in touch so we've finally tracked him down.  He's happy and living in the south of England right now, actually not a million miles away from my place so a beer is definately on the cards.

Hopefully he'll get himself a myspace profile and be adding to the site very soon.

No word on the Spoonster yet, although he was last seen with his missis in his Greek bar a couple of years ago, check this link for a look: http://www.justgreece.co.uk/gallery/viewer.asp?img=Z97641-S.jpg 

I have managed to track down a couple of email addresses but so far nothing has turned up.

On the band front, well as its summer (or so they tell me) nothing much happens but thanks to Century Media for getting in touch via myspace recently.  I'm compiling a new CD which will be released through this site and will feature the current discography plus a few exclusive "never before heard" practice sessions from our Trippet Lane base.  Unfortunately it seems that the masters for much of the stuff have been lost over the years but I'm hoping the original material I have is up to CD quality.

The "Ego" has been mumbling about writing some new material, but that's all I know so as usual keep checking back for new stuff and hopefully news on what's going on.

Thank you all for your support, it really does mean so much

SMJ

Le Carceri added

Howdy and thanks for dropping by!

It's been a week or so since I last posted so I guess I'd better comment on some of the new stuff that's been going on!

I added the Le Carceri EP, thanks to Simon L for sending me a copy so I could rip it up for the site.

Le Carceri was recorded at Jump Studios in Sheffield, originally recorded and put out on GWB records it's another shining example of what you can do with hardly any money!  As with all of Reprobates recordings, they were generally done over two or three days or evenings in a local recording studio for a couple of hundred quid, generally before real digital technology was available too so it's even more surprising that the quality of the recordings really isn't so bad.
I do think one thing that stands out across all the recordings is diversity, probably because they were recorded at different studios with various degrees of technology available.  "Death Metal" engineers and producers didn't hang out in Sheffield either (I think they all went to Finland :) so the guys (with the exception of Tranquilities Abortion) were not generally used to recording stuff of this type. Tommo, the guy twiddling the nobs on Le Carceri, was in fact something of a pop/indie fan and I swear he was sick of the sight of us!

The first recording "Stew of Wounds" was recorded at Blank Tape studios in Sheffield and was our first attempt to get something aggressive down on tape, although it does sound somewhat dated now, it does show some great potential.  Leaning more in to the thrashy american metal style but stumbling over something with more aggression came across very well.  The opener (once you get past the crap intro) Body Scaffold ambles through some really nice phaser and harmonies, this came in to its own later when the sound was tuned down and became a live favourite.  FiloFucked was really a crappy thrash song without great meaning but I seem to remember it was thrown together for the demo anyways, needless to say it was dropped pretty quickly. Finally Hardened in Sin chugged through to a cool bass solo with Joe leading the whole song to its crescendo.  The production, again it's amazing to think how good the sound is here considering it took a couple of evenings to record and mix, isn't the strongest of packages but it was an opener and the leap to Tranquilities Abortion was immense.

Tranquilities Abortion was recorded over 3 days in Doncaster, probably the hottest 3 days I've ever lived through!  You can hear the improvements in the production here, but I still feel the drum sound isn't so great.

Le Carceri is over-modded, I was never happy with the finished production and anyone who's been to a gig will tell you how different the songs sounded with Steersy and Gaz in full flow and tight crisp drumming holding the back line together.  It's really hard to get the sound right I guess and I'd love to know what Mr. Skogsberg could do with this stuff!

Rant over for another day, thank you to everyone who's added and posted - it really is amazing!!!!!

SMJ

Good evening,

As I write this there's a massive thunderstorm going on outside, it's pitch black and really hot - dunno if it means anything, but that concludes the weather...

Righty on to bigger and better things, The lads have come good with some content.  Simon Lee has provided colour cover art for Stew and Tranquilities along with some fantastic photo's taken on location in and around Sheffield (1995 ish).  Whilst Steersy has sent a bunch of live stuff plus some photos, I personally have never seen before, of the recording of Tranquilities Abortion at Bayou Studios in Thorn, Doncaster.  As you can see it wasn't exactly high end stuff but that probably added to the finished sound of the tape.

I remember (some) of this, although as you can see from the shots there was an awful lot of sitting (and gooning) around once the drum track had gone down, I seemed to resort to reading at some point - I wish I could remember what it was but sadly my pea sized brain doesn't hold too much.

I do remember it was bloody hot the whole time we were recording that tape, incredibly hot in the studio.  Luckily dehydration was kept to a minimum by the enthusiastic consumption of various beers, fizzy drinks and ciders available from the local spa shop.  aahhhh, happy days!

I don't remember exactly how long this took but will ask the others, the only thing left to do was thump on a floor tom along to Steersy's penny whistle for the intro to "Wickerman" (like I said, Hi-Tech it was not!)

C-ya next time, thanks to everyone who's added to the friends list – please check out their sites.

SMJ