Recently in Grok Category

If you'd have sat me down, lo these thirteen years ago when I was a sweaty, excitable teen, and said to me: "Listen, you know your favourite band right now? In over a decade, you're going to be mates with two of the guys from that band, and you're going to be in a band with them, and that band is going to put out an album, and, and this is the kicker, that album is going to not only be really unique, it's also going to be really good." I'd have thought you were barmy. But I'd be eating my words right now, dear reader, because I was, and we did, and it is.

That band was Grok, and, as I may have mentioned previously, last year we spent two days in a studio making a hell of a lot of noise. This was unrehearsed, unplanned, made up on the spot, never to be played again, the way all Grok songs are. What... what's bizarre is that it works, it totally works. I am so immensely proud of this album. It's quiet, it's noisy, it's happy, it's sad, it's angry, it's ofttimes hilarious. It contains a hundred beautiful accidents that you just couldn't get from planned songs, rehearsed songs. You can listen to it over and over and hear something new every time, and it will take you somewhere differen,t every time.

And... it was released today! And you can buy it - and you should.

You can order the cd digipak album online at Amazon, Play, Zavvi and others.

The album can be downloaded from iTunes, Amazon, emusic, Rhapsody and others.

More info on the album here.

As mentioned previously on this very blog, last year Grok absconded to the studios for two days where we turned on the recording devices and played whatever came into our heads at the time. This raw creative output has since been mixed, remixed and edited (primarily for brevity, and I must say it cuts like a knife turning a beautiful twelve-minute epic into a three-minute pop-punch) into an album and a single! the album is coming out soon, but the three-track single is out now! You can buy it (and...you should!) from:

iTunes

eMusic

Rhapsody

So there's really no reason not to.

Also, if you're in London, join Grok to celebrate at the single release gig on Friday 23rd May at The Spice of Life, 6 Moor St, Soho, W1D 5NA. (unfortunately, I can't make it).

Spent a very enjoyable and productive two days in the studio this weekend, making-up and recording songs on the fly, as is the Grok way. We ended up recording 31 songs, which Daryl the studio guy said was a record for the studio 'by a fair bit'. Each song about about 8-12 minutes long, so we must have recorded at least four hours of music. However this was just the first and probably easiest step in a very long process. Just listening to all the songs and deciding which ones we do and do not like will take a fair while, then we have to mix the track, re-record the vocals, and in many cases re-cut the songs so they are not all insanely long. Still, that part of the process should be fun as well, and you can all rest assured that, somewhere down the line, a Grok album awaits you.

Hot (well, warm) on the heels of our performance at The Secret Garden Party (which I will go into more detail about soon, I promise), Grok (the band that I am in) will be opening for the album release of Ghostclub.

As usual it will be held at your favorite pub, and mine: The Spice. See y'all there if you can make it.

UPDATE! Nat & Ian are both also having their birthdays at the gig, which is very cool of them, so do come along and wish them a Happy Birthday if you are a reader.

This is cool. Grok, the band that I am in, has been asked (yep, they came to us, we didn't even lobby for it) to play at a live music festival. I am in a little bit of shock about this. I mean, we've only played before a live audience twice, we don't have any songs, and we practice maybe twice a month if we're lucky. We seem to have fallen ass-backwards into a gig that most bands would fight tooth-and-nail to get a hold of.

Er, not that I don't think we're worthy. We kick ass.

Anyway the Secret Garden Party sounds awesome. Superior to your run-of-the-mill festival-in-a-field because it's held in a loverly garden with trees and a lake and ducks and things (check out some of the photos from last year, it looks great) but also because tickets are limited to 5000 so it's more about the music than getting stood on by millennial hordes.

It's from August 18th to August 20th, you have to come for the whole time, and it looks great. And tickets are limited so get yours now, I say!

If you missed our last, first barnstorming two-level gig a few weeks ago (or, indeed, if you didn't), don't miss our potentially triumphant SUNDAY gig....THIS SUNDAY!!!

Sunday? FUNday more like!

Where: Downstairs at the Spice of Life, Soho
When: 8.30 PM Sunday 12 February, 2006
Who else:

Karim Fanous
@ 8:00 pm (Singer/ Songwriter)

Grok
@ 8:30 pm (Experimental)

Lucid Oak
@ 9:00 pm (Acoustic Rock)

Well the gig was ah, a lot of fun, certainly an enormous turnout, the venue had two floors and they both seemed to be packed to the walls (admittedly each floor was about ten square feet but still, it looked impressive). Thanks to all the loverly people who turned up- I hope you experienced even a fraction of the entertainment levels that I did.

Happy New Year, team.

This is the flyer for a gig on Saturday, featuring Grok, the band that I am in. You should ah, come! Cause we're really good. I mean, I think we are. No-one's actually ever heard us play before, so I may be totally fooling myself.

Do come along.

UPDATE:

8 music from the Depressing Crew
8.30 Mathew Sawyer
9.15 GROK
10 James III and the Courtesan
10.45 Bib
11.30 Zerox Teens

and then a crazy disco party into the small hours (fingers crossed)

Depressing will fill the changovers with tunes.