D R E K K A N E W S : APRIL 2010
[ A MESSAGE FROM THE RABBIT BEHIND THE SCENES : TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF APRIL ]
My Spring as a Salvation Soldier
In two weeks, Sarah and I will get on a MegaBus and fly to Iceland for the first of the 'Matters of Tone' 2010 tours.
Well, first we'll take the bus to Minneapolis and fly from there, but you know what I mean.
DREKKA will be doing a tour of the entire island, the whole ring road around Iceland, for the first time! Coming with will be our good friend, Thorir, who performs under the name MY SUMMER AS A SALAVATION SOLDIER... check him out, it's gooooooooood!
I am still working on ideas, but I *may* have a new live cassette with me special for the tour. Maybe... I'll let you know, if it happens.
Tonight, I did a bunch of updates on the site...
... I added a new REVIEWS section, which I will add lots to as time allows.
... I added a couple new live things to the SOUNDS section, incl a whole live concert from the first leg of the 'Matters of Tone' tour, and an exclusive collaboration track with DREKKA and ANNELIES MONSERE... I also added links to various YOUTUBE videos of DREKKA out there.
So, for now I am going to get back to work on a couple things that may or may not be done before I leave... I just last night completed my track for the upcoming BLUESANCT comp, entitled 'TWELVE-FOOT WIZE' and including exclusive tracks from most of the bands on BLUESANCT including CINDYTALK, RIVULETS, DREKKA, ANNELIES MONSERE, CAETHUA, VOLLMAR and lots more...
I'll be posting lots and lots of photos on the DREKKA FLICKR while we're in Iceland, so check it out if you are bored at work.
D R E K K A N E W S : JANUARY 2010
[ A MESSAGE FROM THE RABBIT BEHIND THE SCENES : TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF JANUARY ]
Welcome to the Drekka Soundsystem
2010 is here... a new decade and there is always that built in pressure to 'make this one count' or some sort of nonsense.
Here at Bluesanct HQ, we are going to simply keep on keeping on... and we hope you will come along.
2009 ended with a lot of exciting travel for me... first was the MATTERS OF TONE tour to celebrate the 13th Annivesary re-issue of my first two cassettes from 1996... then came a two week vacation in Jamaica to relax and listen to dancehall (photos of the trip can be seen HERE
I just updated the discography with three new items, all of which are also AVAILABLE NOW at the Bluesanct Mail Order site.
There are not one, but TWO new full-lengths from Drekka... one of which is even a DOUBLE CD with a hand-made book! The other is a full-length cassette, out on Digitalis Limited and already SOLD OUT at the label site. SO, get that one now, or forever hold your peace (or go find a download of it somewhere).
The other exciting new release I am involved with is the second full-length album by ANNELIES MONSERE! It took almost as long as a Drekka album to make (ALMOST), but it was worth the wait... and it features all sort of guests, from Drekka to Vollmar and rivulets to Jessica Bailiff, Circle Brothers and Puddle Parade! A Day2 Alliance all-star ensemble!
As my mind and mood allows, I have some goals for this year which I think should be reasonable and achievable:
1) Finish new Drekka album, entitled 'Tarwestraat' and begun over two years ago.
2) Finish second collected works set, with everything recorded in 1997.
3) Get rid of over 1/2 my stuff, incl most of the Bluesanct back catalogue.
4) Tours... a small east coast tour in March to see my folks, a two week tour of Iceland in June and a full month of Europe in autumn, hopefully including Scandinavia.
5) As Wim put it, to have some sort of life outside Bluesanct/Drekka.
Lots of stuff to do... and a huge list of other possible things likely to happen as well... two things coming up are a live cassette on El Tule and a live collaborative track by DREKKA and ANNELIES MONSERE for FRIENDS & RELATIVES... both are culled from recordings from the MATTERS OF TONE tour, taken from shows in Belgium... more info on those soon.
For now, welcome in 2010 and I'll be in touch soon.
As always. sorry for the rambling.