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Hello everyone. Long time no speak. Last time you looked here, you may remember the infamous rant gracing this forgotten corner of the internet, tearing into the "music industry" machine. You know i'm not really that angry, it's what you call marketing on a budget of zero ; ) I figure it's time to update this monstrosity.

Don't get me wrong, I meant every word of that, ahem, diatribe, but it's out of date and things change - I don't live in London anymore, i've got different songs on here now, and pretty much all the bands I tore into (The Kooks, Franz Ferdinand, Gossip, Zutons, Kaiser Chiefs e.t.c) have now either been dropped, or are residing in bargain bins across the country. I take no joy from that though - they might not be my cup of tea but i'm sure they're all good people and I find their situations quite sad - anyone who can get out of bed and create for the sheer love of life is a hero of mine. You know, you really can't blame anyone for choosing to sign away their rights to a record contract rather than work in McDonalds. I've had a huge response from it since I stuck it up in 2007; many applauding it's passion, many misunderstanding it as some kind of skewered bitterness. I'll copy and paste it to the blog for prosperity ; )

Truth be told, I think it was just a huge eureka moment for me, a moment of clarity. Up until that point, I thought the only way you could possibly make records is to whore yourself out to a record label. When I figured out that you don't need to do that at all anymore, it just blew my mind apart and, I don't know, I felt I had to share the revelation! I'd never sign myself away to anyone for all the money in the world, and all these well-established musicians are now beginning to see things the same way, jumping ship (or at least trying to) from the dying wreckages of EMI e.t.c and starting their own labels themselves. It's only evolution, that's all.

So what's killed the "music industry"? I think everyone's just got tired of the endless roundabout of fads, the cycle of artificially created movements. I mean, what are they trying to pedal now? La Roux?? I would never have believed you even a year ago if you told me that the 80's were making a comeback! (I'd love to meet the brains behind this one. I'd set him challenges - "I want you to storm the top 10 with a combination of Skiffle and Reggae") I mean, THE 80'S?!! The Human League, Paul Young and co. are no doubt pouring away the Whiskey and having a shave, time to dust off the purple suits and tour! Instrument shops around the country are whooping with joy that they can finally scrape the mould off the Fretless Basses in the storerooms and sell them to the bandwagon jumpers that labels will no doubt desperately sign over the next year. And then.....boom.....2010, the cycle would have passed, and poor La Roux will unfortunately be back at Asda. Still though, she'll have had a diary entry worth reading.

I don't know why I never update this myspace thing. I remember writing that i'd publish a blog every sunday - I managed two before losing interest! I know better now not to try and make myself disciplined. As soon as I try and schedule something to a timetable, my inner voice screams "don't tell me what to fucking do!". I've thrown away my alarm clock - time is a man-made invention. I get up when my eyes open and go to bed when I get tired. From now on, i'm living like a caveman!

Aaaaaanyway. What have I been up to? Well since my last blog in february 2009, I blew up my 24 track by overloading it. I was fucked for a good while, trying to find a replacement for months. Then somehow I managed to find a huge Pro Tools set up for very little! (God bless the credit crunch!) I thought, fuck it, I'll have that! I'm now utterly skint, and sure, it's not Abbey Road, but I now possess the tools to create music forever! And of good quality too! (hopefully) How cool is that? Nothing else matters now I own the canvas and the paints.

Not much else has been happening round here other than trying to figure out how to use this Pro Tools thing and getting all the sessions from the broken recorder onto it. Next target is to get a good camera to record music videos for the singles, but i've got to finish the album first. I'm still going to set up my label and market it as planned, but i'm going to put out the early songs I wrote first as a testing ground as I know nothing really about how this music industry thingy works. I was toying with abandoning some of these tunes and cracking on with more recent songs, but I feel like I owe it to the teenage version of Kai who put his heart and soul into creating them. So, the tracklisting for the 1st LP at the moment reads something like :

1. I See The Sun (and The Sun Sees Me).

2. The Sound Of Music.

3. There's A Love We Can Find.

4. Talk Of The Weather.

5. What's In Your Head?

6. Crystal Waterfall.

7. Move With The Times.

8. Answers In My Head.

9. Talk Of Love.

10. Another Day.

The LP now exists from start to finish, but in a very rough form of scratch tracks and guide takes e.t.c. I'll start uploading versions of the songs on here as they become listenable. Though I might not feel quite so attached to some of these songs anymore, i've got to admit hearing them develop into something approximating the sound inside my head is pretty exciting!

What's even more exciting though, is how the 2nd and 3rd LP's are going to turn out. : ) After all is said and done, a whole lot more is said than done, so i'm going to prove i'm not all talk and daydream - i'll upload some unfinished sessions I did on the old desk before it died just to keep you occupied. These recordings for the next albums are nowhere near finished (No Need To Worry, I Don't Belong Here, She Knows, Pete Doherty Blues, Show Me How To Love, When The Night Gets In Your Mind e.t.c), but they're listenable so i'll stick them up for a limited time as a stop gap whilst I put together the debut. Be prepared to bask in the turbulence of my magnificence!!! ; )

I joke, but I genuinely believe i'm onto something. Hope some of you agree : )

Love to you all, and thanks ever so much for your support,

Kai.