hiram.k.hackenbacker

Another video of a Bowie classic. Bit of an odd song this one, but I love playing it.

Tickets for our next show at Brentwood Theatre, Brentwood, Essex are now available via this link. New venue for us and it's a bit on the smallish side for a theatre, so if you want tickets I would get them sooner rather than later as they are selling quite well.

Thank you most kindly 😀 Thanks. I think it works, doesn't it? I don't think it would quite as effective without the 'Ken Burns' though.

Well, this was an interesting and extremely time consuming video (for a numpty like me) to pull together. The reason that it exists at all is that we wanted to record something for Paul, our keys player, as this was his final gig with us before moving to Spain. There was nowhere to place my Zoom other than at the far left or right side of the stage (more on that later) and it wasn't possible to get any audio mix from the desk. The footage from the Zoom was OK and I have used segments of it in the video, but as it was a festival and half the joy of performing there was the large crowd, I knew it wouldn't serve the video very well by just having that footage alone. I decided that Life on Mars? would be a good opportunity to grab some stage to crowd perspective on my phone camera. I only play on the last section of the song anyway and I thought it would also be nice to get Paul's piano solo on camera from up close as well. As Nat also wasn't singing on the song, she did the same. On reviewing the recording from the Zoom, the video was as well as could be expected from the poor camera position, but the audio was dreadful. On hearing it, I remembered that I hadn't even raised the mic's on the camera, let alone placed them in XY position. I'm blaming the very quick turnaround we had between bands, but ultimately that faux pas was on me 🙄. The Zoom audio was extremely bassy with a bit of keyboards and drums with very little in the way of main/backing vocals or any guitars. At that point I didn't think I would be able to do anything with any of it as I was relying on the audio from the Zoom, which is normally excellent, to be the audio over which I would edit the video. All those times I've moaned about the audience taking videos with their phones rather than watching the band - well it turned out to be a blessing in this case. A couple of videos turned up on Facebook of Life on Mars? and as a result I was able to create an audio file for this track that was just about usable. It's still not great, but it's loads better than I had to start with. So, all I had to do now was stitch the video together. After finding the audience videos I also found that there was a selection of pro-shot photographs of us that I didn't know existed. I've wanted to incorporate still photo's in an edit as I hadn't tried that before. This seemed to be the perfect opportunity. So here we have it, Life on Mars? from Witney Music Festival, Oxfordshire on 17/8. The video that almost didn't happen.

You could be right there, but all the gigs I’ve done have been well attended with a crowd that are well into the music and scene. There are also quite a few songs in there that would keep me on my toes even if I was playing them regularly (Too Much Too Young/Baggy Trousers/Night Boat). I'm a bit gutted they’ve dropped Poison Ivy as I really like playing that one, even though I have to detune for it.

It's Ska time again! Just starting to refresh my memory on these for a dep gig next month and learn the four new additions. I think this is the best set out of all the ones I've been given so far. I highly recommend depping for a Ska band if you ever get the chance. So much fun 😀

No worries guys. Catch you at another one somewhere. There’s a few videos floating about. I’ll put some up in the ChangesTwoBowie thread in due course.

Are you here?

Thanks for the tips guys 👍

We were discussing this the other night at rehearsal. Is there a limit to how long you can leave a car parked at Sainsbury’s?

Ha ha. I did have a Basschat polo shirt once, but I’m not sure where it is now. I’ll keep a look out for someone wearing a Grateful Dead shirt. I have got that right haven’t I? Apologies if not 😀

I’ve played there before and it does get busy, but that was on a Saturday. They’ve never had the main stage running on a Friday before, so I really don’t know what it’s going to be like today.

Ha ha. Well, it’s free so you have no excuse not to be there 😀 (unless you’re gigging yourself of course).

Great stuff. Look forward to meeting you.

Get to see us for free at Witney Music Festival, The Leys Showground, Witney, Oxfordshire this Friday August 17th 2018. We're on at 8.35pm just before Noasis.

Our long time keys player is emigrating to Spain in the near future and Total 80’s are looking for a permanent replacement. We have managed to cover some of the gigs we have in our diary with deps, but we have been unable to find someone suitable that can permanently commit to the band. As the name suggests, we are an 80’s tribute band of some experience and have an agent who sends us far and wide. There are well paid gigs that we need to cover in Derbyshire (Sat 22 Sep), Sheffield (Fri 9 Nov), Stroud (Sat 10 Nov), Hartlepool (Fri 16 Nov) and Bedworth (Sat 17 Nov). You will need your own transport and equipment capable of dealing with a fairly complex sounding 80’s set. We rehearse at Mushroom Studios, Rayleigh and you will be required to put some decent studio time in prior to these gigs. Given the distance of some of these venues, it is essential that the Friday night gigs are not an issue as load in’s are quite often mid-afternoon. Message me or ring me for further details on 07841-104409. Warren.

Yes, there's only one Lulu!

This is an oddity (excuse the pun) in that I can't imagine many, if any, Bowie tributes would bother with it. David used to do this song in several different ways, but I don't recall him using this format himself, although I believe Lulu still uses it in her set. We usually use the 'Bowie at The Beeb' version as a template, but it was quite refreshing to do it this way for a change. What do you think?

Yes, I think you’re right. Unfortunately we just didn’t have the gear to get that done at this gig. I’ve not inserted still images into a video before, so I might give that a go and see what it turns out like. There’s an effect called ‘Ken Burns’ which pans across a video clip or still frame to give it a sense of movement, so I might try that as well at some point.

Thanks Jack. Much appreciated. That means a lot 👍

I'm beginning to get the hang of this video malarky now. Apologies for the quality of the video as I had to set the camera up right at the back, but I think the audio makes up for it.

Madness 🙄

There’s a couple of colours there I really like - Ivory White/~Maple, Jet Black/Rosewood, Burnt Apple, Dropped Copper, but the one I like best is Charcoal Sparkle which is unfortunately a bit too close to two I already have i.e. the Sledge and Starry Night 😬

Aw, don’t do that bless her.

@lemmywinks - as I know you're a fan of the version 😀