That's how I like to think of being in this band...a series of explosions, and then contractions. I'm hoping this universe will take over the multi-verse, and that'll be that.

Anywho...before we get into our new sing, a quick mini-dissertation on being the lead vocalist in a band. As you know, Ted volunteered (and/or was pushed into it...depending on what version of events people remember). Unlike playing any of the instruments (which are, to a large extent, quantifiable), lead vocalists have this rather grey area. For instance, I personally think J. Mascis was one of the worst singers in the history of rock music. Heck...I actually remember going, "I hate this guy's voice" when I first heard smashing pumpkins. I don't think any other member of the band can create so visceral a reaction from listeners as the singer. Other than hitting the right pitch and staying in time, there's not much more you can quantify. Thus, vocals become really a huge opinion peice...one singer might be "awesome" while the next guy/gal might "suck donkey dick."
Well...Ted took on the task. And while he's finally giving up the reins, we do have to say that all things considered (snobby Ivy League kid who'd never sung in his life up to that point, with an oversized bundle of new cells to deal with), he did pretty good. We got our band advanced in the battle of the bands tourney against some pretty good competition, and we played a slew of gigs that not only got us out of the basement, but allowed to meet some cool cats as well. So, in short, despite whatever problems you may observe, think if you had to do something you weren't comfy with just to support the team. So...thanks and good job, bitchnuts.

Onto the good news: Ms. Jo Anna Von Thuyne. Here's a background video clip to play while you read the rest of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td86gO9765A. Anyway, after losing Ms. Whitworth, we quite honestly didn't think we'd find another female singer who had that "one of the guys" vibe that made her so cool. Lo and behold, 16 months later (HA! If that aint' funny in and of itself), JTizzle comes in, and during her live audition, refers to someone as a "c*% guzzling w@$re." Everything was pretty much gravy from then on out. She's got a theater background, and had always wanted to be in a band. We sent her audio, she sent back clips, and they were surprisingly good. We met in person, she made above comments, as well as others that our underage audience shouldn't hear. Then, barely two weeks after her audition, we invite to sing a song with us...live at The Fire. This when she's already at the bar to just see her new bandmates play. In other words, the only time she'd sung the songs in question was during her audition. I'll let you watch the video, but our mutual verdict is that "she killed it." Once she becomes fully operational, we'll have to set her in a death match against Inspector Minsini to see who puts on a more extravagant show. All joking aside though, we're all really excited about her...we hope she stays with us, even after the afterglow has died down.

And yes, speaking of which (not afterglows, pervs): We have SHOWS!!! With her!
- Sept 20th: JD McGillicuddys battle of the bands. PLEASE come out if you love us.
- Sept 22nd: Doc Watsons "WMMR Local shots" or something similar
- Sept 24th: Mojo 13 (opening for a band from Australia and a band from Cali)

So...lots of shit finally on the horizon. Thanks to Ted for getting the train outa the basement, and thanks to JTizzle for turning our NY Subway into a Shinkansen. Lots of new shit to come, to include music, videos, media, and maybe even MERCH! I know some of you get horny about that ...have at it.

Oh...and in case you forgot...we're eminence grey. word...

Mr. Ben Richards

PS...just copped the "new" Cynic album. OMG! How can one band hide that much goodness in mostly 4/4? As Martha Stewart would so..."it's a good thing."

Round 2 of battle of the bands is Sept 20th. Since none of the other bands know us by this old name, we'll talk shit about them here vs. at the real site: "I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have started to commit suicide under the walls of JD McGillicuddy's. We will encourage them to commit more suicides quickly." Seriously...come on out. We promise we don't suck. Balls.

While Ted is still the singer, we're keeping one ear to the ground. But singers are a hapless lot. We've got 2 of 10 singers that we have a serious interest in, so we'll see how that works out. It'd be nice to get a core lineup and start fucking shit up again.

New songs galore coming soon.

Oh...and we're still recording a demo. This is like the longest demo ever. Fuck.

EG

Ok...so our last show a couple of weeks ago was...by our standards...pretty fucking shitty. Oh well...we were young, eager, and hot to trot. So...back to the lab we went. And because we still have yet to find a singer, Ted soldiered on. However, he was smart. Realizing that "The Death of Autotune" only applies to rap music, he went out and purchased a TC-Helicon. In a nutshell, it's like a portable death-ray for vocalists: point, click, and the coolness that ensues is like death herself. Well...that is, if you've got the settings correct, and it's pointed at the right thing. Which we're still fine tuning. Details in the paragraph on the live show. Expect to see it prominently as part of our experimentation.

Writing is proceeding somewhat smoothly, albeit slowly. Have got a couple of new tracks that are seeing the light of day, and they still need some more tweaks. Am very excited about the material's potential when executed correctly. Crossing a bit more into Radiohead, and have also attempted to steal some of that intra-song genre-hopping that our friends from across the pond do...well, the Schuykill river aint' exactly across the pond, but NSN does practice pretty far from DE, so that counts. We're actually supposed to lay down drums again this weekend for a demo. After being in this band for four years, I'm gonna not say anything more until it's done.

We just won a round of battle of the (3) bands this past weekend. That was real nice. 4 judges gave us an aggregate of 3.5 stars (out of 4). We play again in a couple of weeks. We got kudos for playing original music, with ebb/flow, that was technically challenging, and rocking out with our cocks out. Bad points were we misdialed on the Helicon (settings were off, and set to "stun," not "black-hole-gravitron-crusher), and we were quite sloppy in 2-3 songs. Obviously not enough to hurt us too much, but still. Oh...and when the lead judge mentioned that we sounded like a mix of Helmet and Tool, I temporarily fell in love with her. Heck...if she had started discussing short-selling, options, or derivatives I might've asked her back to my place for tea and scones.

Back to the battle of the bands...I think one of the reasons we were really surprised we won is because one of the other bands there was really good and tight. Their sound was very akin to most of the pop-punk movement, and they executed really well. However, apparently the judges weren't looking for that. Gives us a little bit of hope, ya know? And is there any other currency we have in this original music scene other than hope?

Well boys and girls, that's that. We'll properly promote the next show, since hopefully we'll do well and can get to the next round. Ultimate prize is allegedly a slot at SXSW. Allegedly. Could be a slot machine that was once in a bar that happened to be open during SXSW. We'll see. Until then...

EG

1. We're now Eminence Grey. If you really liked us, then please add us at myspace.com/eminencegreymusic. We'll probably try to add you anyway once we get around to it, but none of us have the gumption for myspace adds like Rae did.

2. Sounds: we'll be posting some demos (lo quality) so we can prove we're actually not just masturbating all day long. Couple o' new tunes, couple o' old.

3. We'll be gigging soon...have solicitations out to some venues so we can get used to consistently playing live again. Lots of interesting shit. Probably the most interesting is that due to our inability to find THE vocalist, we're now using lots of samples, keys and sparse vox (primarily Ted) to fill out our set. Luckily, our newer music has more rawk to it, so we can mask that insecurity of ours. Anyway...if you've played with us (musically that is, not during masturbation), and have a gig lined up, please consider us.

(I just realized we sound like poor starving Ethiopian kids with those big brown eyes and distended stomachs, but hey...beggars can't be choosers).

And that is all.

od

Couple of things, superfiends.

1.  New band name: Eminence Grey.  It's somewhere online, but I don't know how to find it. 

2.  Singer situation: had one, lost one.  Currently looking.  However, we've got an interim solution that will allow us to play out really soon, and it involves coolness beyond measure.  Sparse, but rather..."unique." 

3.  Music:  Writing is going super-swell.  Exploring lots of new concepts, but still trying to fit everything into the sound of a uniform band. With any luck, if this temporary configuration works out well we may actually record some tunes soon.

4.  Shows:  In our current format, shooting for May.  If you need someone on your bill, holla. 

Eminence Grey

Folks...shortly, we will be signing off here forever.  That's right, auradel will be no more.  Things are being melted and remolded as we speak, but the new configuration is very nice.  And, with new folks comes a new moniker.  So, we'll be sure to let you know what that is when the time's right, but until then, we thank ya very much for 3 years of listening to us in all our forms.  Once we get the new internet presence up, along with some songs (some familiar, some not), we'll let you all know.

Until then...
Ted, Serge, OD (now joined by Gooch and Rosa).

If things go as planned, there will be some significant updates to the entity soon.  The entity is not dead, or dying.  Great changes are planned.  Whether we make it through the crucible though remains yet to be seen.  But only with great risk comes great reward.  More to come.

//signed//

for vocalists. unmixed, unedited. pure and nasty. it's not like we have a gazillion people who we need to keep this thing a surprise from.  .

So here's where we stand

1.  Our new drummer continues to integrate himself; we're currently looking at 13 songs that are 2-3 practices away from being gig ready, and another 6-7 in the wings. 

2.  Auditions continue.  Amusing...the instrument that costs the "least" to own/operate is proving to be the most ellusive.  My new theory is that the music gods know whenever you're looking for a bandmate, and at that time, the available pool shrinks rapidly as a function of "n," where "n" is the amount of intensity that's being expended on the vocal search.  Therefore, effective immediately, we will only concern ourselves with vocalists in those rare instances in which we accidentally meet one that literally falls into our lap at an office meeting, or some other totally ridiculous act of "the random."

3.  Studio:  Again...see problem 2.  Otherwise, minor recordings, and then we can get back into the pro studio and start the FUN stuff.  In fact, we've actually started the lovely in-house debate on studio versions vs. shortening of songs.  Oh...and with the loss of Rae, we're now floundering on the artwork front.  Don't be surprised if the album artwork is like some of the artwork here:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=irule

Otherwise, things are finally picking up.  Moving to this dual-guitar format has allowed us to do some more experimenting.  Wait 'till you hear some of the amazing lead guitar solos that Ted has come up with.  They'll remind you of your cat running across your guitar, then pouncing on it in anger; with distortion, flange, and delay all maxed out. 

Oh...I played Guitar Hero finally.  The Aerosmith model.  It's cute.  However, I immediately went home and destroyed some more shit on COD 4 and Halo 3.  That felt more satisfying.  That really has no place here, but I just felt you all needed to know.  And now I'll sign off using another random sci-fi lit characters name, 'cause I hate my name showing up on Google searches.  Till next time

Hari Seldon