I AM CLONES

And another... So, my good friend Rob has a solo project

I Have Clones

and because he's cool, he's got me playing bass and screaming for him. Which is fun.

and we're playing the first gig tomorrow night at Aston University. It's still early days (I'm learning lyrics now...) so we probably won't be as good tomorrow as we will be soon but fuck it.

It's been a while

So here's a nice update for you :)

Work is still going, I go in every day and have a little of my fun drained out of me. I should be gratful, it pays well enough and the guys are all pretty cool really. I even have time to write a blog every now and again! Still, it's made me even more sure that office work is not what I want to be going into at all, I want to be be doing things, not just typing away or crunching numbers.

I completed the sex ban, all is well and good, it didn't fall off or anything like that, which is good news. It hasn't changed me, or my thoughts on sex or relationships, which I kinda thought it would. I'm still just me, and well, that's fine by me! I still haven't quite reached my £500 target, just £40 short, so if you're yet to donate, please do it soon so I can give up nagging you all! www.justgiving.com/40days

I have more of idea what's going on in my life as well, I know I'll be moving back to birmingham in July, and probably splitting my time between there and London until I head back to Uni in October. I think the summer will be good fun, but I need to find somewhere to work so I can earn some of the money that I've spent back again. If anyone knows somewhere that could use someone over summer that'd be sweet. Although I'm off to do all sorts of festivals and shit (Slamdunk and Reading booked already!) so maybe I'd be useless!

Finally, the music thing is looking up again! After ATWE fell apart because I had to go to London (without recording the awesome new tunes unfortunately) I was in a limbo for quite a while. Trying out here and there, but nothing since the summer tour with I Have Clones. However me and Rob started talking music again, as he's now settled into his new place in London, and we formed a band via the magic that is gumtree. I was very surprised with the talent we've got, and we've pieced together 3 songs already, we're hoping to have a full set written by the end of April and then get gigging in June. Not settled on a name yet, but that be sorted soon, then we'll get to work on the old online presence.

Life has been good to me the last couple years and it doesn't seem to be stopping :D

Don't forget to donate if you haven't yet! www.justgiving.com/40days

another daily playlist :)

spotify:user:terrorvision101:playlist:6WRu0aGu6wyT51w8fiverY

pop punk, hardcore, nintendocore, adhd metalcore, hardcore, emo, alt-rock

I love my music :)

and no paramore today! (yet :P)

http://open.spotify.com/user/terrorvision101/playlist/6WRu0aGu6wyT51w8fiverY

here's what I'm listening to today :)

also, if you're on last.fm add me terrorvision101 as usual. There you can see how much I love brand new and paramore!

Go see some bands people :P

TOUR!!!!

Yeah,

I'm going on Tour! Rob, the brains and skillzzz behind the awesome I Have Clones and I are off for three weeks around the UK to play the music to 1 man and his dog in as many venues as will have us!

However, we're going in a corsa. Which will be shit for sleeping in, so if you live near any of the venues (obviously we'll see you at the gig) then let us know if we can crash with you. It'd be a massive favour and we'd do our best to return the favour.

Seriously, help us out if you can, we'll love you for it! I hope to see you all at the gigs, come and say hi if you see us :)

x0x

University

I'm sure you all know I'm at uni, and right now I have two exams looming over me. I don't have a clue what I'm doing, but I've had a few thoughts about the whole uni process.

If I could I'd do a dissertation on why most universities are plain awful and ways to improve them.

I know I'm just bitching really, but I'm sure there's a lot of you out there that think that the quality of teaching, and organization is so poor even in comparison to college.

I don't know what I want this post to achieve, and I know everyone dislikes uni, but perhaps if people realised quite how retarded it is at times then something might be done. Paying £9K for someone to tell you to read a book, or to talk about gear with your class mate seems a little steep.

Perhaps there should be a cull of universities - get rid of all the ones offering lame courses that make no sense, get rid of the ones with low entry grades. Universities should be for the kids that really want to learn, the ones that actually do what the staff tell them to. Improve the quality, increase the entry grades, really make a degree something worth having. With smarter kids, there'll be less drop-outs, and the standard of teaching can be improved.

I realise this will mean I'm out on my ass, but the fact is, universities are promising to 'teach' people when it's not really like that at all, it's just guidance. So, for all the non-redbrick unis, stop the charade, go back to being poly-technics and institutes and all that shit, stop trying to act all grown up, and stop accepting people that clearly aren't committed.

Uni is too much the easy choice for people that don't want to start work, for people that aren't worried by their huge debts, and it's not good, degree standard is low enough already! If uni was something that really had to worked at to get into, something that required real proof of dedication then those that are too lazy to make the most of it will be filtered out.

Not that there should be no-where for those people to go, the ex-universities can help there, with a more structured and college like style courses, designed to really teach these people, but courses should be reduced to one year, with follow-ups for those more advanced.

I realise that I wouldn't get into uni if this system worked, but I also feel I learnt a lot more in my a-levels than I have done at uni. It sure feels to me like I've barely learnt anything, just been introduced to a load of stuff.

Yeah, I'm ranting, but surely there's a lot of people that agree with me? Not nessesarily about the solution, but about how shitty unis can be.

Bah, I don't like exams.

blogs, twitter, facebook and more

Yeah,

I just watched a rather facinating video on twitter, involved Andrew Dubber and Steve Lawson (New Music Strategies Steve Lawson) about twitter and how it can be used essentially as a great marketing tool. Which in many ways supports my theory on how everything is marketing.

But, in a world of millions of people, thousands of musicians, hundreds of communities, does the impersonal twitter really make much difference. Now Steve and Andrew are both very much supporters of Twitter, and while I'm a user, I really find it rather dull (with the exception of the excellent Sockington). I don't follow anyone that twitters unnesesarily, so I don't get the really shit posts, but I still don't give enough of a shit about anyone else to really want to know what they're doing all the time!

My point is, with so many posts, no-one reads them all, and so, just like myspace the quality is drowned in a flood of crap.

Blogs are great, if you want to spend your life reading. Like newspaper columbs for people that can't get printed. Again, there's some amazing stuff out there, but again, a lot of it is shit, totall wastefull shit. I guess in many ways, mine isn't worth reading either :( but my point remains.

Sure, you'd be crazy not to be on every site in the world, it's a great way to spread your name about, but it doesn't sell records, it doesn't make you friends. It opens doors, and lets be honest, there's more than enough open doors for you already.

I've found that one of the best ways to sell tickets to my gigs is to flirt with girls on myspace. It's shameless and rather banal at times, but it comes down to basic one-on-one human interation. These people don't come to see us just on a few flirty messages, I usually have to msn them, maybe meet them at another gig.

Basically, it comes down to real face to face charm! Until you've really got some momentum, your best bet at making real fans, is by making real friends. Admittable these friends should be people that will like your band, but still. Strangers don't meet strangers much, although i expect this is less the case with older generations.

So, now I've totally lsot track of what I was saying...

Yes! Use every avaialble resource to plug you, your band, your product, but if you want true support, make new friends! Friends that love what you do, and will support that, not because they're obligated, but because they want to. These people will get you off the floor. Unfortunately, not much further, but it's a start ;)

So, use what you want, but in the end - make time for real people, you need them!

This is fucking my chances for a job with the IFPI

THIS IS FUCKING RETARDED!

I really like the band that posted this image on their myspace but if they honestly think that supporting the frankly idiotic music industry is a good thing then they as bad as fatcats that have ass raped good music for the last 20 years. Only a music industry based around such greed could ever lead to a pop-culture based around pop-idol. I am ashamed to live in a country where two of the greatest selling artists of the previous year are contestants on a show where talent is made a laughing stock.

DO NOT BUY MUSIC. YOU'RE ONLY ENCOURAGING THEM.

as NOFX put

"It's my job to keep Punk-Rock elite
this music ain't your fucking industry"

Support bands by going to see them, I don't know a band that would rather you bought their album than saw them live. Hell, if you like 'em enough, buy the album FROM THEM! The big record labels have bastardised our society enough already. Support underground bands, support Indie labels. DESTROY THE INDUSTRY!

IDEA!

My idea is the ultimate in collaboration (and stolen quite a lot from the sounds of animals fighting)

Each musician is given the Key/keys and tempo of the piece. Each musician then plays for however long they like, improvising riffs solos or whatever they want for as long as they want. This is then sent to ME! and I listen to it all, cut up all the good bits into usable samples, of varying length and whatever. Then using the samples I have, build them all up into a song. The instruments are not limited, and neither is the musician in any way, anything from the clunk of the mic to the greatest guitar solo of all time will be considered.

and the musicians? Well, it's very tempting to use my friends, and for the time being I probably will, because they're the only people that will read this post!

So, if you're interested my first piece will be based around 120bpm and [EDIT] BMajor but don't feel limited by it, I may or may not use anything and everything you send me.

Of course all profits(lol) will be distributed between the contributers, but this music will be given away free so there won't be any, I'll be releasing the work under an Attribution Non-Commercial Sharealike Creative Commons licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ (thanks Dubber)

Oh, and there's no reason not to send me drum loops, samples, quotes or ANYTHING!

and VOCALS! I imagine vocals will be the least submitted bit, so do what you want down a mic for me ;) you can even record at mine if you want

Drums as well, probablt hard for you to record, but I have a kit here and drum mics so hit me up. Or just record it however you can, even your phones voice recorder will do, and will give the whole thing a very dirty feel as well ;)


Lets do something new and different, save the cheerleader, save the world ;)

PS: link your friends here, I wan't to get this worldwide!

PPS: myspace page now made, website on the way... I hope!

Allucinere Website now up and running!

It's here!

More thanks than I can say to Forx - the most awesome guy ever.

There will be more stuff added as there's new news and shizzle, and a flash player with 'da toons' but for now, have fun reading some stuff I wrote last night :)

www.allucinere.com

I want these shoes!

I have a pair already, but they're knackered! (not naked) and they're almost impossible to get in this country. So if anyone can find them, or a way to get them to me. please please please, let me know. I want them for x-mas!

just a link will do. so Go minions go!

also. Circa Survive = good
Saosin = good
Envy on the Coast = also good

go listen to them.

finally, Em is ace.

EDIT: These Shoes!

the end.

I'll rant about something I hate soon, probably my fucking coursework DX

Pay to Play - fucktarded

Yeah, so my friends band asked me to play drums for them for a gig.

The gig they were playing was for a colleague as a favour as the night needed another band.

After hearing very little about the gig they were told hours before the details (location, times, little bits like that) and that in order to play they would have to bring their own gear, or pay to hire the gear that was there...

I think any of you reading this would think at this point "Fuck this" and I agree.

It worked out that we played, the members of the band have to work with the promoter in the future, and the hire costs were £30 between 3 bands (although it was charged per person rather than band) so not too much to worry about. 

However, the simple principle of having to pay for gig seems riduculous. I'm sure you all agree.

BUT

How many of you have play a Surface Unsigned gig? How many have sold tickets for a venue without seeing any of the money? How many have you have worked your ass of to get your mates to a gig only to see no credit or reward?

STOP FUCKING PAYING!!!!

Allucinere paid the £25 entry fee into Surface Unsigned two years ago, we brought over 30 people to the first show @ £5 a ticket, all pre-sold. We brought over 25 people to the next show @ £6 a tickets. We saw none of that money once SU got hold of it, and we recieved nothing, not even a fair judging system. We gave them over £300! For two gigs... We could've held two gig on our own, and used that money to record another 3 songs to make our EP an Album. But it was wasted.

My advice - Anyone ever asks you to pay - SAY NO!

This industry is shitty enough without giving the money you are earning to a fucking company! 

PS - this is not a dig at the promotor, he was only trying to re-coop his loses, and the gig was free. I got a free pint out of it, and the gig was fun, this post is about trying to stop shitty companies and asshole promoters fucking bands over. It's bad enough the record companies are doing it...

Marketing

Everything is marketing

Marketing is everything

Every person you meet is judging you, so make a good impression. You need to behave and appear to be exactly how you you want them to think you behave and appear. I get a fair few digs for my emo fringe - but I play with a band, my fringe ties me to my music as does my sense of dress. I'm polite and well mannered, reasonable and fair and this sells the product of Ben Duff well to everyone. People who meet me may then listen to my band based on my recommendation, or perhaps listen to other bands I suggest. This is simply one example of how everything we say effects other peoples opinions of us, and how they make further judgements of what you say based on those opinions. 

I suppose this is very obvious to a lot of you, but it's something that has a huge importance to our lives. While I'd love to say I don't care what others think, what other people think is what my living depends on. I need people to like me, like my band, think I can do the right job, trust me etc.

Apologies for the last post, I know no-one else was confused, but I had set out to write about one thing, then forgot what it was and wrote about something else entirely! Meaning Tim had no relation to the post really. I'm sure the original content will come back to me and then I'll blog about it!

love n peas ;)

Birmingham Music

So yesterday I was a little miserable, I'm definitely happier today, Claire is nearly here!

Also, been thinking about the brum music scene again - I think I finally worked out one of the key problems. Promoters that put on crap bands! I blame them. Obviously there's more to it than that but hopefully, by emphasizing high quality music and pushing the brand name the promotions company I'll be starting next year with Steve-O (of L!EX fame) we should be able to re-build a scene for birmingham. Thats the plan anyway! Fingers crossed.

I also joined drowned in sound today, terrorvision101 is my username as usual so please come find me!

adverts

most of my best mates have blogs, and they're better at it than me so go have a look

Rob Moore AKA I Have Clones - awesome guy, amazing solo artist and general funny drunk
http://ihaveclones.wordpress.com/

Ina - I still can't spell his surname, but he is the best at guitar hero I've seen, and awesome Jazz bassist. Comics here http://www.tiedyeheart.com/ and blog here http://www.tiedyeina.com/

Tim hates blogs so he doesn't have one, he's my pet drummer.

I think thats everyone with a decent blog, I do have other friends, but I'm lazy and don't like them enough

Surface unsigned is pure evil

I'm kinda hoping to get a ride shut-down letter about this, simply so I know someone reads it... but, if you are a musician - DO NOT PAY TO PLAY!

Surface Unsigned is awful, for both you and your fans, if my band had put their own gigs on, and charged the same amount, with room hire we'd have made over £200 for the two gigs we played. Put on your own shows, do it your own way, give no-one money.

I believe in a DIY ethic, but don't let that stop you listening to me.

Birmingham Music Live!

So, I wrote my first review for Birmingham Music Live tonight, it's a review of Story Of The Year (who are very good BTW) and it should be up soon, if it's good enough that is! Go check it out at http://www.brumlive.com/ run by a nice chap called Steve Gerrard, link on the othe blog.

Also, while I'm recomending things, go look at new music strategies http://newmusicstrategies.com/ and slicethepie https://www.slicethepie.com/Signin.aspx?ReturnUrl=/Home.aspx

night x