John Michael Stevens - Vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, percussion, emergency fabrication of home-made triangle for Brett to hit (once).
Brett Rogerson - Acoustic guitar, electric bass and double bass, african thumb piano, and he whacked a cardboard box to see if he could make a cool drum sound. He couldn't.
Influences
Bruce Cockburn, Jeff Buckley, Neil Finn, Coldplay, Beachboys, Beatles, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, Queen, The The, Police, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Jeff Beck, Supertramp, Larry Carlton, Dead Can Dance, Sarah McLachlan, Beth Orton, Portishead, Toni Childs, Radiohead, Lamb, Split Enz, Led Zeppelin, Dave Dobbyn, Spinal Tap, Scritti Pollitti, Japan, Weather Report, Deep Purple, The Fixx, Underworld, Jimi Hendrix, Talking Heads and many, many more.
'A Year of Wednesdays' - is an accomplished debut Album from As U R, (pronounced As You Are) based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Beautifully self-produced and recorded by the band, you could be forgiven for thinking that the group was made up up of 5 or 6 musicians - all with many releases behind them. However, As U R is all the work of just 2 people, John Stevens and Brett Rogerson.
After building their own studio, they spent a year writing and recording, meeting every wednesday evening to develop their songs, using acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards and percussion to create multi-layered atmospheric backdrops to the vocals.
The album definitely has a classic British rock sound to it, this is understandable as both musicians have strong British roots. John was born in Brighton and moved to New Zealand in 1979, while Brett is a first generation New Zealander but has lived in the UK.
[John] 'We met was I was doing the sound for a covers band that Brett was playing in at the time. Once we started playing together, initially just on acoustic guitars, it was pretty obvious that we could work together and we had a lot of similar music ideas and influences'.
The result is an album they are both very proud of.
Hey how are you. Hope you are well. I was wondering if you would like to have a free album? You can get it at http://www.megaupload.com/?f=3NNQTYF1 I really hope you enjoy it Speak soon
Thankyou As U R, coming from the talented, creative, magical genius's like yourselves, I am humbled, and truely thankful. xx Love your video, brilliant, watch out world...the best, Im sure, is yet to come................
Hey John, I think I can still vote, but having been away nearly 6 years now it would seem rather pointless - as you point out..who to choose anyway? We're also in election mode here, but as I am not a citizen I am not allowed to vote, but we have the same thing ... dumb, dumber, hopeless case, idiot.... hehehe
Yeah.. can't wait to get stuck into some gardening. My MIL loves her garden, so I will simply tidy it up and maybe put in some more plants :) Our apartment is looking like a storage warehouse now with boxes stacked everywhere. A tricky move when the family house is also still full of stuff. Wheeeee... the fun!
Hi guys, thought it was time to pop in to say hello and wish you a happy spring..hehe.. How's all the music coming along? We've not been up to much creatively lately with all the bad stuff that has happened in the past few months, but things are starting to look up. Moving out of the apt at the end of Oct and into the family home. A garden at last!
Hiya John, Well we have rain and thunderstorms, but with that we also have humidity.. yuk! Today is one of those days. So who is your singer/songwriter? And yes, I have the posh certificate.. and am now slowly putting all that I learned to use, but I reckon it could be 10 years before I have it sussed! Fun though. Been a shite week here with my father in law being admitted to hospital - he has dementia - so things have been a bit stressful. Off to see my mother in law tomorrow and go visit father in law and see what they have done to him! Hugs Sally xxxx
Hiya guys, taking a break from painting and thought I would just drop by to say hi. Enjoying a lovely spring day here although some guy has been carving a tree across the street, so it's been a bit noisey. Doing a great job though - can't wait to see when it's finished.
Hiya Guys, Hope you are still relatively warm down there :) We had a glorious week last week, but now it's back to wet stuff - which of course is good for the grass! (and ducks). Well we bit the bullet last weekend and bought a full blown version of Cubase Studio 4 - got it up and running even with Vista..lol.. and well, let's say we're addicted now. I started my home recording course this past Wed, so we are on our way! Our spare room is now more of a home studio than an art studio though :((
Hiya John, hehe - yeah, the $$$ you can spend!!! We played about a bit today and finally, after yet another 'update' download for the mixer, we have audio in and out - the playback is very low though, so off to sort that out tomorrow.
Looking forward to the video! It all takes time eh? We really know how that feels. Last night we had a jam with the guitar/vocals/drums, and it was lots of fun. Hopefully we will have something to upload by Christmas..lol
Hope all is going well down there in Godzone - we are finally getting some lovely spring weather which always 'lifts the spirits' after such a dull and dreary winter.
Hi John & Brett, Lovely to hear from you. Yeah, you know it has been hard to get used to these extremely cold winters, but I do enjoy going out for a walk in the minus temps and filling my lungs with fresh air ... and car emissions.....lol
Wow, that would be great to see a preview :)) Thank you!!! Always nice to see 'friends in action' so to speak. It all takes time eh? I'm slowly getting organised so next month is all about tying up some loose ends, seeing where I am at, and get MOVING!
Hello guys! Thought it was time to drop in to say Kia Ora :) Still enjoying your lovely summer? I've been told there's plenty of drought about tho. Come on over here, lots of snow, rain and melting as the temps go up and down. No chance of anything going brown here. Been busy with the painting, as usual, and signed m'self up to an online gallery thing in the UK as well as getting myself organised with a portfolio. IT all takes time eh!
How's the video going? I am sure you said a while back you were working on one? Or has my only brain cell deceived me yet again?
Stay cool and next time you BBQ think of this poor misplaced Kiwi living in an apartment :)))
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