Heater

Session X of the burning lodge

Filed under: Uncategorized — Martin @ 9:05 am

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Back burner lodge

Filed under: Uncategorized — Martin @ 9:04 am

Hi everyone,

I’m calling a hiatus to my involvement with the heater lodge at the moment.

I realise that this is a bit of a pain having initiated a discussion about a live lodge.

The plain truth is I’ve got a lot on – a time demanding new job and the preparations for starting school in September, running the newly busy plan-c, the day to dayand night to night demands of family, as well as preparing for the ICS documentraty gig.

Its just easier to be involved with existing activity that someone else is coordinating than be running something myself.

I’ll be blogging on the plan-c website and asking burning lodge if I can work with them when I can.

Unless the Burning lodge want to run with it the live lodge idea will have to be put on the back burner for a bit.

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Lodge name

Filed under: The Lodge — ben @ 6:00 pm

Guys,

I’m willing to drop my objections to calling the Lodge “Mungo and Shoddy Lodge” on the basis that I’d rather be called something and have a logo + pithy latin motto than not have anything. Check out the Bullet Lodge - “None shall dodge the Bullet Lodge” - wicked!

http://www.bulletlodge.com/

Cheers,

Ben

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Frustrated Songwriter’s Handbook

Filed under: Uncategorized — Martin @ 10:47 am

I’ve been reading the FSH and I’m totally pumped!.

You should read this post at a canter, in a breathless rush in order to get my proper state of mind.

I had a short time when I was going to buy copies of the FSH and send a copy to everyone - I was so excited.

It does turn out though that we’ve been doing it slightly wrong. (should have read the book first). But the good news is that the vanilla 20 song game is incredibly liberating and motivating.

My own misconceptions include the definition of a song (In ICS it’s just a sketch - perhaps even just a noise), You can return to stuff after the session and polish it up for release, you must not return to songs to remix them or add to them once they’re ‘done’.

I’m really looking forward to my next session - and to the Live Lodge if we get it sorted.

Below is a quote from the FSH - recognise anyone it?

“It seemed there were talented basket-cases and unmotivated visionaries everywhere! One by One, they were coming out of the woodwork and joining the party. Isolated dreamers whose minds burned too brightly. Passionate idealists who experienced their own titanic potential not as a source of excitement, but as a crushing weight. These were the very people who should have been building, because they dreamed and hoped so desperately, sitting in some basement or attic somewhere, unable to act, unable to get started - because they cared too much - while far less idealistic minds continued to shape the music world.

But these particualr dreamers and basket cases had decided never to be silent again. Theye were playing games, cutting loose, and being prolific. They were ignoring teh voices all around them that said, “You can’t do that!” They were banding together and helping each other along.

That is why the immersion composition society was formed.”

Comments (1)

Adding a comment right here

Filed under: Uncategorized — Martin @ 3:52 pm

I’ve just listened back for the first time in ages to the tunes from session1.

Can I just say that Al’s track ‘after hopper’ is amazing.

I’m listening in on headphoens at work and it’s just blown me away!

Martin

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Founder’s day

Filed under: Uncategorized — Martin @ 11:23 am

Hey everyone,

Some of you might be in the loop on this, others might find this is news….

I’ve attached copies of the text from 2 emails sent to Ben and I from Nicholas Dobson. He and MIcheal Mellender founded ICS about 1000 years ago. As you can see they are coming over to London to make a gonzo documentary. I’m going to be down there for it. Songs from ‘Heater lodge live!’ might well lend themselves to performance at an ICS gig. Otherwise I’ll be singing to backing tracks (ulp).

ND’s messages…

“Yes. It is true. I’ve been waiting to see if it was all happening for sure

before I passed the news on. Today Michael and I bought our tickets. So it’s

all quite real.

I hope you’re going to be in town?

Oh. And we'’re bringing a film crew. It’s all getting a bit out of hand. Ha

ha. But we want to meet all the English ICS people we can while we are over.

We’ll also be spending a lot of time in Paris with the lodgers over there

(and a visiting delegation of Dutch ICS lunatics).

The dates: August 28th and 29th. I just told Prog Steve of Limey Lodge that

we’re trying to organize some sort of English ICS concert or something over

there on night of the 28th, which we’d shoot footage of. Then, on the 29th,

we’d hang out most of the day talking to people, filming them in their

recording environment, and generally making friends with all of you. Then

we’ll jump (back) over to Paris, which will sort of be our base of

operations for most of the European trip.

It’s all very sudden, and rather exciting, no?

How is Burning and Heater doing? Still writing lots of songs?”

and

“Yes, very excited indeed to make friends in person.

Yup, I am talking about a show where people play their ICS stuff. Mixing in some real bands, and letting them play some ICS stuff mixed in with their normal stuff is also typical of such ICS shows. My first thought when I was thinking about this English ICS show thing was to email “Prog” Steve of Limey Lodge (London) - since his lodge is like a rabbit warren of gigging musicians that play in all sorts of bands (chiefly heavy bands with a progressive component with names like Pigshackle, Thumpermonkey, Elephant Vs. Leopard). Steve has disappeared off the earth! I wonder what happened to the guy. Maybe he’s on some sort of vacation, although I think he’s had email issues before. This is Limey Lodge’s Myspace page. In spite of the fact of said disappearance off the earth, I guess what I’m saying is that If there were a concert, I’d definitely want those guys to get some of the action. But whatever happens, we will shoot footage of it!

As far as where we’ll stay, Michael and I will be on the scrabble for couches to sleep on that one night we stay over - since we are doing this insane movie plan in gonzo no-budget fashion. We’ll see if we get lucky. I’m sure the Londoners would be the people to ask about that one. And in any case the location will no doubt be central. London also seems like the right place to do the show to. Hmm, I *really* gotta get in touch with Limey Lodge. I will devote tonight to it…

Glad Burning Lodge is crackling mightily. And dividing, heh? That happens sometimes. Lodges also fuse sometimes. Origin and Wig are practically the same lodge these days.

Here is Limey’s Myspace.
http://www.myspace.com/limeylodgeuk

Ok, more news as I orient with old friends and contacts.

This is going to be really fun. I wish I had more time over there, as England is my ancestral homeland.

Woof,

-ND”

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Live lodge

Filed under: Uncategorized — Martin @ 11:12 am

Folk with their hands up so far include

Me,

Ben,

Ed (welcome to the fold!)

Joe.

And John (as previously reported has his hand half up - which means that he might submit sounds and loops to be used and he might be there in person, but he’s not up for ‘performing’)

Also burning lodge have been keen to join in but I thought we should just keep it to ourselves initially. And, it might get out of hand with too many musicians.

So that’s just a show of support at the moment. What need next are Dates, venue, rules for the game.

I’ve given some further thought to the rules (and bearing in mind Ben’s comments about ‘big ICS balls’) I want to suggest a system.

I think by ‘Big ICS balls’ Ben is reminding us that the game is about making songs (in whatever fashion) under time pressure and without critiscism. For this to work in a collaborative setting I think we’d need to clear about the game or it might descend into self consciousness and/or spacerock noodling (I’m talking to you, Joe!).

ASIDE: I’ve been reading the frustrated songwriter’s handbook (The ICS bible) and its inspirational! I recomend getting a copy (you’re welcome to borrow mine when I’m done).

Thoughts on the game:

The lodge meets up at a decent sized venue.

At least 2 rooms are in use; a writing room and a performing room. The losge splits into 2 fact finding groups; ‘writer’ and ‘performers’.

Members take it in turns to be the ‘writer’ and compose on their tod in the writing room. They will produce something, anything to present to the rest of the lodge. It could be chords, a lyric, a loop, an idea (e.g ‘play as little as possible in the key of A’ - remember that Al?) a riff - whatever.

After a specified time (~30mins to 45mins?) they take it to the performance room for the rest of the lodge to work on.

At this point the writer becomes a performer and one of the performing members disappears into the writing room to compose. In the 30 to 45 mins in which they are composing the rest of the lodge ‘perform’ and record the song. The preformerss grab an instrument (not nessecarily their favourite instrument) and bang it out.

And so the cycle continues with one person always composing and the others always performing and recording.

I’ll kit the performing room out from my mobile recording studio and be ready to record all the performances in multitrack to be mixed later.

Whadya think?

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Heater Lodge Live!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Martin @ 4:55 pm

Its been too long.

Its hard trying to fit stuff in around fatherhood and the birth of 2nd child - but that’s one of the points of the exercise in the first place! i.e. to force us to do music when we otherwise wouldn’t.

I was reading the posts on the ics hub forum and read the ‘live game’ post.

This inspired me to think about an extension of this game for us - how about a live meeting of the lodge?

We could have a collaborative composition/recording phase!

It’d be realistic to reduce the number of expected songs I think.

We’d need a sort of structure so that it wasn’t just a big jam and so that everyone contributed.

We’d also need a good venue - (invading forest house when the owners are on holiday seems a good idea!)

We could set up to record using my mobile studio gear in the living room and pool all our gear. Synths, guitars, effects, drum kit (Al!). It might make sense for all the gear where possible (except stuff like vocals, harmonica, melodica, recorder, trumpet!) to be DI’d so that recording is easier.

Who thinks this is a good idea?

I quite fancy charging the old defibrillator and applying to the fluttering chest of the Heater Lodge. “CLEAR!” FZZZKKKK

SHOUTING: We need more members!

I wonder if this is an opportunity for us to drag in some new folk (D’ya think Duncan would come over for the event?)

SO what we need is some people to say “Yes I’m up for it!”

then we can agree some rules for the game and a time and venue

Martin

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December meeting

Filed under: The Lodge — Alastair @ 10:13 am

Brethren!

Perhaps not unexpectedly, I am sending my apologies for our planning joint meeting with Burning Lodge in London this coming weekend. I hope you will all understand. I would also like to thank you for your kind messages of support to Abigail and myself. The last few weeks have been hard, as I’m sure you’ll appreciate, and there is very little to offer us any real consolation, but knowing that friends having been thinking about us has been an invaluable source of comfort and support.

Finally, I hope a good lodge meeting will be had — please post reports so I can learn of events. I would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a prosperous and peaceful New Year.

Alastair

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Thanks

Filed under: The Lodge — ben @ 11:51 am

Hi guys,

Thank you again Alastair for putting us up this weekend - really enjoyed hearing everyone’s stuff. Thank you also for ‘Selected Recordings’ - enjoying listening to it while I work this morning.

The songwriting book I mentioned is called The Songwriting Sourcebook (Paperback) by Rikky Rooksby (Author) (Amazon link)

Cheers,

Ben

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Heater

June 6, 2008

Session X of the burning lodge

Back burner lodge

April 24, 2008

Lodge name

Frustrated Songwriter’s Handbook

April 22, 2008

Adding a comment right here

Founder’s day

Live lodge

April 10, 2008

Heater Lodge Live!

December 10, 2007

December meeting

October 1, 2007

Thanks

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