Happy Welly - Radio Bumface

We have released a new Happy Welly EP called Radio Bumface on Haunted House Records. It contains 8 crazy new tracks and is completly FREE, because we are nice like that. You can get if from here.

Kawai R-50 Drum Machine

Amanda did a bit of EBaying for me the other week. She got me an old 1980's Kawai R-50 Drum machine. It looks all nice and old and retro. It contains 12bit samples, which at the time was a high bit rate.

Unfortunately I can't use the machine yet as it didn't come with a power adapter, so I will have to nip to Maplins during the week.

I am suspecting that it will sound quite shit on its own, but most drum machines really come alive when you add effects processing after them in the signal chain, so expect some creature tracks to contain this machine :-)

Birds of Prey

After our walk to Derwent Edge yesteray we stopped off at the Rowsley shopping centre near Bakewell to look around the shops. Whilst there we saw a stand showing off some birds of prey. They were collecting money for their charity.

In return for a small donation you could hold one of the owls. The owl we held was called Muggle and is from India. First Sharon had a go, then Aamanda, and then Me.

The owl was quite heavy, you couldn't hold him for too long. Even though you got to wear a leather glove you could still feel his talons as they were very sharp. Ideal for tearing his prey to shreds.

This little demonstration was also a good chance to try and get some nice pictures. I am really pleased with the photo above. I caught him looking at me just at the right time.

This was a nice surprise to round off a good day walking (the ankle spraining wasn't to great though). We had all earned a good fish and chips dinner and a few drinks :-)

Walk Along Derwent Edge

This week our friends Sharon and Mark came down to visit. They liked the idea of going for a walk to we picked a walk that wasn't too difficult yet was very scenic. Derwent Edge fitted the bill for this. This is the 3rd time Me and Amanda have done this route now, so we didn't need to refer to the book, even though we took it with us.



We set off from the house just after 8 and drove to the start of the walk. The weather today was forecast as being sunny. But it turned out even hotter than we thought. It was a good job we put sun cream on first although Sharon still got very burnt.

The total walk from the car and back again it around 8.5 miles, so it was good for clearing out the cobwebs from the previous week in the office, and the drinks from the night before :-)

Being the clumsy prat that I am, I slipped on a stone half way around the walk and sprained my ankle. Luckily I was wearing decent boots and had a walking pole which took most of the weight. I could still walk and finish the route, but after I took my boots off later, my ankle started to swell up. It's not as bad today, but I don't think I will be going kick boxing tomorrow. Ho Hum.

We got back to the car around 2.30 and had an ice cream, which was well deserved. We then drove to the outlet shopping centre at Rowsley for a look around. Whilst there, we saw a falconry charity showing off some birds of prey. They were collecting money for their charity and in return you could hold the owl. More on this in the next post though :-)

By the time we got home we are all starving hungry, so instead of cooking we went to Georges fish and chip shop for a take away. They make great fish and chips. It's worth moving to Belper just for these.

After dinner we settled down with a load of drinks and watched a couple of films. The first was called 'Just like Heaven'. This was definitely a girly film. After this we watched 'Next'. This film was more for mine and Marks benefit, although Sharon and Amanda enjoyed it :-)

I am still knackered to day and my ankle is hurting but at least the swelling has gone down. Not really going to do much today except be lazy. Although to be fair, that is normally what I get up to on a Sunday.

Hopefully my ankle will be better by next weekend. If so I will probs go for a short walk with Amanda if the weather is nice!!! It is normally nice during the week wen at work and then crap at the weekend. This weekend has certainly bucked that trend.

Blackpool

Yesterday Me and Amanda drove up to Preston for her old school friends, Carolines, 30th birthday party. The party was at the cricket club and we stayed in the Ibis hotel which was pretty much next door.



Amanda's other school friend Kim and her husband Graham where there also so we spent a lot of time chatting to them. Preston is only a short drive away from Blackpool, so Me and Amanda, Kim and Graham decided to meet up the next day around 11am. We thought we may as well make a weekend out of the trip instead of going straight back home.

We were nursing hang overs this morning after a full on night of boozing at the party, so the COLD sea wind helped blow out the cobwebs. I have never been to Blackpool before, well, not that I can remember anyway. I think it is safe to say Blackpool has a certain rustic charm, with a capital Rust :-) It was just how I imagined it, very cheesy and like something out of a Peter Kay sketch. But there was definitely a fun ambiance in the air.

We took a walk down to the pleasure beach for a look around. We decided not to get the day pass as it costs £27 each and we wasn't going to be there long enough to make decent use of them, but we had a good look around. I was feeling a little too rough to go on a roller coaster as well, although I didn't admit this at the time. :-)

After walking around the pleasure beach we got some fish and chips and walked along the sea front braving the very bracing breeze (force 10 gale). We then went into one of the amusement arcades (FunLand) for a bit, where Amanda played some fruit machine and we then spent some time shoving 2p's into a machine. It was more fun than it sounds, Kim managed to win about 6 key rings. I suspect she has spent a lot of time before playing these machines :-)

After a nice warming cup of coffee we all went our separate ways for the drive home. We are both knackered. Amanda has had an early night already and I don't think I am far off. Good weekend though, relaxing and fun. I would like to go back to Blackpool for a weekend as the pleasure beach has some really mean looking roller coasters and Me and Amanda do love white knuckle rides!!!

New Creature Album

A little while ago I mentioned that I was going to do a series of EP re-releases. Well the first of these is ready. I have repacked the Daisy Cutter and Twilight EP's along with some remixes.

This wasn't just a case of putting both EP's together. I have mixed both records from scratch using the original multi track recordings. The result I think sounds great. The album is winging its way to the digital stores as we speak. It is already available to Napster subscribers and Amazon.com.

Artwork was again provided by Neil Duffin Photography. The CD release will be following shortly. The final track list is as follows:

1. Nexar

2. Daisy Cutter

3. Tempest

4. Nightmare

5. Ferrite

6. Nox

7. Twilight

8. Twilight (Bootstrap Mix)

9. NoExit

10. Rhino

11. GeoSwitch

12. Mechanical (Click Mix)

13. Neptune (Planetary Mix)

14. Nexar (Raxen Mix)

15. Terrapin (Slow Walking Mix)

The next re-release, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, will follow later on in the year. I am also working on a brand new Creature album too. One of the tracks, Glide, can be heard on the free promo1 album.

Family Wedding

Last weekend we took a break out of our busy house re-decorating schedule to go down to my parents in Essex for a family wedding. My uncle Trevor and Aunt Gill were celebrating there 25th wedding anniversary, so they decided to renew their wedding vows.


I got the train down Friday night as Amanda had to drive from Wales. On Saturday I had to go out to get some new trousers and a shirt, as I have lost so much weight this year that my old suit doesn't fit anymore. In fact you could probably fit both Me and Amanda in it :-)

The wedding started at 4.30 so we drove to Basildon in plenty of time with my Dad. After the churchy bit we went back to there house for a piss up. They made a very strong punch which seemed to be never ending. I think it was 4 parts alcohol and 6 parts rocket fuel. Well good it was. I had a bit of a sore head the next day.

The next day Me and Amanda had to drive back to Derby so we could carry on decorating the house. I have had the past couple of days off work to concentrate on it. Over the past week we have repainted the small bedroom (my office), both hall ways, the bathroom, and down stairs toilet. This includes walls, skirting boards, stairs and ceilings. Today we had a professional carpet cleaner come around to do all the carpets. We are nearly done, just some small jobs left now. The kitchen floor is hopefully being replaced next week too.

Electronic Critters Review In Computer Music Magazine

Today has been quite exciting. My circuit bending sample library DVD, Electronic Critters, has received it's first magazine review. It got a score of 9 out of 10 in the August edition of Computer Music Magazine on page 109. You can click the image above to read it in more detail.

Champagne all round!! Well perhaps not, maybe a nice cup of tea instead. :-)