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Monday, 19th May 2008 - Hi there
Hello there, everyone. I apologize for not giving you some news lately but I was terribly busy on lot of things. For sure is that I finally finished my Ibanez RG450 with 2 Dimarzio Pickups, one neck the Breed DP165 and the bridge a Super Distortion F-spaced DP100. It sounds awesome! The breed one screams loud especially on solos and since this next album will have lots of guitars......oops!
Well things are progressing slow but well on the recording. I have to mention that this time I'm going in a studio for the mixing, no more messing around at my home studio so I guess I will have a much better reviews on this next CD since it will have better music and better production, well time will tell.
All of this will be possible with the help of some sponsors and so far I have to mention 2 in particular, Charlie at "Jet Express" and Saviour of "Fort Blocks Ltd." those 2 guys helped immediately without any hesitations at all, thanks alot guys!
Hopefully in the near future something else will come, we'll see, till then see ya!
Tuesday, 4th March 2008 - Just to let you know!
Hello everyone. It's been more than a month since my last few notes. Well things are progressing really well for the second album. What can I tell you so far is that there will be 5 tracks again but it will be longer than the debut even if you add "All over again - radio edit" to the first one, this new one is longer.
But anyway that's not important after all. What matters is that I have 4 tracks with all drums and keys ready and few touches to the epic tune of the CD which will be the longest one and then ready to record all guitars, bass and vocals. Hopefully it will not take so tremendousely long time to record third party parts!
A few months ago I told you that another local magazine had to publish a review about me and my music. Well it happened and the magazine was "Grip" a sort of journal printed by Malta International Airport to be distributed all over the island, at the Airport and even abroad. It was the December issue and I'm sorry I didn't mention it before but beleive me there was nothing new to read about, it was quite an old recycled review to say exactly! Anyway, NO COMMENTS! At least I had some sort of exposure.
In the meantime I'm fixing up my axes. I had refurbished the custom guitar totally new look and especially armed it with a Di Marzio DP100 Super distortion at the bridge and I left my Kent Armstrong pick up at the neck. I tried it and it sounds awesome. I have some down tunes this time and it surely fits the job. My other axe, the Ibanez RG450, I'm fitting 2 new pick ups as well. I purchase another DP100 Super distortion F-spaced version and I'm trying to find a DP 193 Air Norton for the neck. Don't worry I'll find one by the recording sessions.
Ok that's all for now, I'll get to you soon in the near future with more news, Bye for now!
Saturday, 26th January 2008 - Let's rock 2008!
Hi there to all of you. The new year started off and I'm slowly but surely continuing the efforts of my second album. A lot of work is already done. The new things that will be on this album is that this time I will leave the bass section to a great friend of mine and bass player Trevor Catania, (ex - Different Light, nothing to do with Different Strings) and another great vocalist. No there will not be Alan Mayo again. He's a great vocalist but I want to change. I don't want to mention him yet but it's quite confirmed.
I started off the year giving music lessons again since it's quite expensive getting in a pro-studio for mixing so at least I pay bills...lol!
OK that's all for today, I'll get to you again with some more exciting news, bye!
Wednesday, 19th December 2007 - a few notes!
Hello everyone, it's been a while since I've posted some news. Well that's because nothing musically important happened lately to me! I've searched a little the web again to find that there's another review to check out. Again from Progarhives but this time from Olav Martin Bjornsen. You can read that in the review section or directly from this link
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2894
At the moment I'm looking to find some good pick ups for my guitars to replace before I start recording the second album next year. This time I will record in my studio again but the mixing will be left to more professional ears since all the reviews were quite negative regarding mixing.
Well that's all for now, and I want to take the opportunity to wish all of you a great Xmas and a prosperous new year 2008, bye and see u next year!
Wednesday, 10th October 2007 - more reviews
Hi there, just to let you know that finally Tales of wonder, an Italian website that reviews prog rock cd's and dvd's, released their review on "...it's only the beginning". To read it directly from the website both in Italian, which is longer and more detailed and the English version, which is more compact, you can go at...
http://www.talesofwonder.it/cdrev/cddifferentstringsits.htm
You can also read the English version in the review section. Thanks alot and see ya soon.
Sunday, 7th October 2007 - ...some more news
Hi everybody, it's been a while since I posted a little something. Well nothing in particular happened. Still trying to gather musicians to form Different Strings as a whole band but it's very difficult locally to find decent musicians or more than that, available musicians!
From the last update I'm still waiting for some reviews that seems to take ages to arrive (I don't know why!) but at least one other review finally appeared. This time is the turn of another very good prog rock website, and I'm referring to Progressive Ears.com. This website is synonymous with prog listeners and cd buyers. It's full of cd/dvd reviews of several bands. It was posted by Yeshead777, a member of the site on August 30th. Ok here's the link for it or you can read this review in the review section as well.
http://www.progressiveears.com/asp/reviews.asp?albumID=4086&bhcp=1
As mentioned last month, another digital distribution site (audio lunchbox) added ...it's only the beginning with there massive list of sales. For those interested in buyng digital music in .mp3 format here's the link:
http://audiolunchbox.com/album?a=143823
Ok then, that's all for now, see ya soon with more news.
Saturday, 1st September 2007 - some news
ok, how you're doin folks? I hope everything's fine with all of you. Well I just have a little news to share with you today. As mentioned last month, I am gathering some musicians to try to put Different Strings on the right track of some live performances. We're not a full band yet but we've done some work already and things are starting to have shape.
A couple of websites added my album on their sites for sale digitally. One can download the tracks at a price in .mp3 or .wma formats. Here are the links for the sites:
http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/1994411
http://www.payplay.cd/differentstrings
http://progadelic.blogpost.com used a little space of their website to submit a review of my cd with cd cover as well. Although the review is the same one by Christos Ampatzis from the Dutch Progressive Rock Page (DPRP) which I already submitted last month.
Well I'm still waiting for the Tales of wonder review, a confirmation to submit more digital tracks for sale on another website and maybe an exclusive interview on an important local magazine but nothing is confirmed yet, so I'll submit you more news as soon I'll have any!, until then...
Thursday, 9th August 2007 - more reviews
Hi everybody, I hope you're doin fine. Well I have a little news today to spread with all of you. Firstly is that there is a slight chance that finally Different Strings will go live. I'm in contact with some fellow musicians that are interested in my ideas and they wanna make some good music so we are trying to join forces and build something. We are at the very beginning but I think it's a good start.
From the international point of view, I had another review on the CD from the Dutch Progressive Rock Page (DPRP) which is one of the best review pages regarding progressive rock in the world. Unfortunately been poorely judeged because of the production and not the music, well that's what a very low budget restrains you from. Anyway you can read it yourself using this link or go in the reviews section http://www.dprp.net/reviews/200735.php#different
Some other good international interests are the websites Music TV News and Cable TV guide, both are using a local review but are featuring the cd as a broadband source. Here are the links
http://archive.wn.com/2007/02/14/1400/musictvnews/
http://archive.wn.com/2007/02/14/1400/cabletvglobe/
In the near future I will have another review from the Italian prog rock page "Tales of wonder". I'll post it as sonn I'll have it.
Ok that's all for now and see ya soon with some more news.
Sunday, 22nd July 2007 - a few words
Hello everyone, it's been a while since I wrote some news. Well what happened in these last 2 months? First of all I became father for the second time of a lovely baby girl. We named her Shannen and she's a beauty. I had a little time to think on my second effort and worked a little on it too, no particular progress have been made though.
My music is featured on another website, Airplay direct and this is the link http://www.airplaydirect.com/music/bands/14681/index.php
Another new thing goin on recently is that Different Strings might go live in the not so far future. I've been in contact with some fellow musicians that most probably it will result in finally form the band that I needed. Well we'll see what the future reserved for us. Ok that's enough for today, see ya soon with more news.
Saturday, 19th May 2007 - album on ZNR website
Hey there, ZNR Records finally put the CDs on sale on their website which has a review as well. Use this link to take a look at the CD and of course the review. http://www.znrcds.com/osc/catalog/
Anyone interested in purchasing the CD it is priced at $14.99. Regarding the second album, I took a little break before I get seriously going on it because my wife and I are expecting very soon the arrival of our second child which of course took all the space. Well see ya soon with more news.
Friday, 18th May 2007 - more reviews
Hi everyone, I have just posted the review that I had in December on the German progressive page of ragazzi-music.de. Since it was in German I had to translate it first that's why it took a while to be posted on the site. Also there's the review done on The Independent News paper by Mike Bugeja.
Friday, 11th May 2007 - My space community
Hello everyone, like many music artists in the world I have made my own my space page for all of you to view. There's 2 full length tracks, "All over again" from "...it's only the beginning" and "Dead man walking" from the single with the same name. Here's the link to enter so you can make a comment, or find it in the links section.
http://www.myspace.com/differentstringsmalta
Tuesday, 1st May 2007 - Showcase your Music
From a few days Differnt Strings is officially on the Showcase Your music website. This website features young and not so young but very talented bands and musicians that aren't signed to any label. This website is an alternate to myspace.com in which I am as well. For those interested, you can find a full length sample of "All over again" and "Beyond infinity" which is not on my website yet. So log in and take a listen, this is the link: http://www.showcaseyourmusic.com/differentstrings
Monday, 30th April 2007 - Big Balloon Music
As mentioned last week, Big Balloon Music bought a few number of CDs to be sold online and hopefully as mentioned on their website at NEARfest Festival. This festival is held every year in the US and is one of the best prog rock festivals world wide. Here's the link to NEARfest: http://www.nearfest.com
Monday, 23rd April 2007 - Big Balloon Music
Another US established prog-rock CD distributor is interested in merchandiising "...it's only the beginning". This is the 3rd foreign act that loved the music on this album. Hopefully there'll be more. The link to this website is http://www.bigballoonmusic.com
Sunday, 22nd April 2007 - Second album news
Well I didn't get in details yet with the engineer I have in mind but regarding the album I can say that it will have another epic track like in the first one, this time quite longer. It will be some 30 min. app. There is another instrumental but softer than "Beyond infinity" and a few more tracks. More information in the future.
Monday, 16th April 2007 - "...it's only" at ZNR Records
ZNR Records had officially bought a number of CDs "...it's only the beginning" to merchandise on the internet as one of the foreign bands represented on their website. This is not an official distribution contract but is surely sometihng to start with. ZNR is the second foreign label after Musea Records that showed interest in this album, hopefully there'll be more in the future. This is the link to ZNR Records http://www.znrcds.com/osc/catalog/
Sunday, 8th April 2007 - Started work on second album
Today I officially started works on Different Strings second album. I actually already have 90% of the material written, I have to put things in order and start re-record them with the better technology that I put up. So far it's just basic because I have to get in contact with a pro studio for the mixing. The reason is to adapt with the engineer I choose to work with, to avoid working in vain and start from the beginning because of audio formats or recording techniques.
Sunday, 1st April 2007 - Interest from US label
Good news finally from the foreign side of the prog-rock world. ZNR Records is interested in merchandising a number of the album "...it's only the beginning".
Wednesday, 21st March 2007 - Web reviews on "...it's only"
For a couple of weeks I've been having some good reviews of my album on a few good prog-rock websites. Besides Progarchives, here's some more European sites. Here's the links of what I gathered so far.
http://www.proggnosis.com/MUSIC_DBCDInfo.asp?txtCDID=21679
http://gnosis2000.net/reviews/diffstrings.htm
http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=14735
http://www.ragazzi-music.de/differentstrings.html
http://www.lib66.tk/ find under articles
http://www.ytsejam.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=1153
You can submit a rating and review on progarchives.com. Subscribing is free and it will only help Different Strings get more listeners worldwide. Thanks for your help.
Thursday, 1st March 2007 - Different Strings on Progarchives.com
Progarchives.com, a very well established website that review great bands of progressive rock and other styles from the progressive era had the pleasure to add Different Strings in their very extensive band list. Classified under the neo-prog rock category and reviewed by their neo-prog specialist, Andrew. In a few days I will give you the link with the review when it will be on the site. There will be an audio sample of "All over again" as well.
Monday, 26th February 2007 - Musea Records distribution deal?
After less than a month of its release, the debut album "...it's only the beginning" gathered an international interest in the progressive rock world. Musea Records of France are offering an interesting distribution deal that will cover 500 retailers world wide. More information will be added in the future.
Sunday, 18th February 2007 - Launching day
Hello there for those that came to the launching and bought the CD, especially Trevor and Mauro and families, and of course for those who showed more interest in surfing the web and log into my website. Well I wanted to thank you all for coming there and buying the CD. Actually I thought that it was going to be a larger audience but every beginning is difficult, anyway thanks again and see ya soon!Oh by the way I added a few pics of the date.
Thursday, 18th January 2007 - "...it's only the beginning" launching date
The official launching and release date of the debut album "...it's only the beginning" is finally done and it will be on Sunday, 18th February. The venue will be Exotique Record stores at Baystreet at 4 pm. Everyone is invited to listen for the first time. The price of the CD will be Lm 3.95 or Lm 4.95 bundled with the previously released single "Dead man walking". This price will only be for the launching date.
Friday, 1st December 2006 - Ready for launching
Finally the copies of the CDs are finally ready. After a lot of misunderstandings both CD copies and covers are ready to be launched, although a new date have to be set considering it's reaching the festive season, most probably early next year. More information will be added soon.
Sunday, 29th October 2006 - Album finally ready
The debut album is finally ready from mixing and mastering. This is for those, most of you friends that were looking forward to hear this. Thanks guys for waiting so long!
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