Grave Forsaken Blog http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm Sat, 12 May 2012 00:35:44 GMT http://bandzoogle.com Update - 11th May 2012 http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=2068783 Hi everyone, Vaughan here. We have been rehearsing for the next gig at Market City Tavern, which takes place on May 24, and some of you will be interested to know that we are adding Celebrity Judge And The Sinners back into the setlist after a long absence. I'm not sure if it will get a run at that gig, but I'm sure it will make it's return soon. Luke is doing a great job on the song, and it's sounding great. We've started the process of getting the CD release of Light The Hall II out. That will be available from our website as soon as it's released. Thanks to everybody who has downloaded the album, we hope you're enjoying it. For a bit of fun at rehearsal last night we jammed on Back To Basics. Don't discount us playing that one live at some point as well! Well everyone, have a great weekend and you'll hear from me again soon. God Bless Vaughan and Grave Forsaken
We've started the process of getting the CD release of Light The Hall II out. That will be available from our website as soon as it's released. Thanks to everybody who has downloaded the album, we hope you're enjoying it.

For a bit of fun at rehearsal last night we jammed on Back To Basics. Don't discount us playing that one live at some point as well!

Well everyone, have a great weekend and you'll hear from me again soon.

God Bless
Vaughan and Grave Forsaken]]> Sat, 12 May 2012 00:35:44 GMT EB07CCA69BC3E7C916B722BC1E04F18C Update 30th December 2011 - Light The Hall II now available http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=1668527 30th December 2011 Hi all, Vaughan here. Just letting you all know that our latest live album “Light The Hall II” is now available to download from our website. Just go to the mp3 store link and you’ll find it, along with all our other albums and EP’s. Like the original Light The Hall album, it’s a “pay what you want” download, meaning you can nominate any price, starting from $0. The first 7 tracks are taken live from our 2009 This Day Forth album launch show. Even though the recording is a few years old, we were all keen to get it out at some point. The lineup is Elias Salmela, Matt Skipworth, Simon Hoggett, Dave Kilgallon and myself (Vaughan Gregory). Track 8 is a song we recorded at my home studio while Richard Sallows was still drummer in the band. The track is called “Rockin’ At The Castle”, and it’s highly appropriate, as the gig was at The Castle. Sadly it has now shut down, but it was one of the first venues that booked us, and this song is our tribute to the place. It also represents the first official release to feature Richard on drums. We thought it would be a cool way to represent his time in the band. I should add that the next studio album is finished. We have a cool new cover and the songs are sounding great. Daniel Holmes has done a great job. We’re also recording a cover of “Too Late For Living” by Saint for an upcoming Christian Metal Realm Saint tribute album. It’s been a really great few months. We’d also like to take the chance to wish you all a happy new year, and we hope 2012 is successful and happy for you. Remember to be content with your circumstances. God has put you exactly where you are for a reason, so seek his will. Oh well, time for me to go and crank Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance. Like I always say, God Bless and ROCK ON! Vaughan and Grave Forsaken Hi all, Vaughan here. Just letting you all know that our latest live album “Light The Hall II” is now available to download from our website. Just go to the mp3 store link and you’ll find it, along with all our other albums and EP’s. Like the original Light The Hall album, it’s a “pay what you want” download, meaning you can nominate any price, starting from $0.

The first 7 tracks are taken live from our 2009 This Day Forth album launch show. Even though the recording is a few years old, we were all keen to get it out at some point. The lineup is Elias Salmela, Matt Skipworth, Simon Hoggett, Dave Kilgallon and myself (Vaughan Gregory).

Track 8 is a song we recorded at my home studio while Richard Sallows was still drummer in the band. The track is called “Rockin’ At The Castle”, and it’s highly appropriate, as the gig was at The Castle. Sadly it has now shut down, but it was one of the first venues that booked us, and this song is our tribute to the place. It also represents the first official release to feature Richard on drums. We thought it would be a cool way to represent his time in the band.

I should add that the next studio album is finished. We have a cool new cover and the songs are sounding great. Daniel Holmes has done a great job. We’re also recording a cover of “Too Late For Living” by Saint for an upcoming Christian Metal Realm Saint tribute album. It’s been a really great few months.

We’d also like to take the chance to wish you all a happy new year, and we hope 2012 is successful and happy for you. Remember to be content with your circumstances. God has put you exactly where you are for a reason, so seek his will. Oh well, time for me to go and crank Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance. Like I always say, God Bless and ROCK ON!

Vaughan and Grave Forsaken
]]> Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:00:21 GMT 13FB654541AE89B6C4386EF1A0C1155D Update - 8th November 2011 http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=1476913 Hi everyone, Vaughan here. Work is continuing on the post production of our new album. Daniel Holmes is currently doing the final edit and mix. What we have heard so far has been really pleasing. We have started rehearsing the album tracks "End Of Days" and "Master Of The World" so that we can add them to our setlist. Our new drummer Luke Gallagher is fitting in well. We've been rehearsing Monday nights and it's been great. Luke is really enthusiatic about the band, and the four of us are starting to gel. Elias and I have also been working on some new material for future albums. This is nothing unusual, since day one we've always been writing and arranging new stuff when we get the chance. We have plans to start gigging again before the end of the year. Elias is planning a gig at his church, and we are really excited about going back there. We played there a few years ago, and we feel God wants us to start playing in those kind of environments again. We've started putting the most recent episode of GFTV on the front page of our website at www.graveforsaken.com, so you can always check that out for recent info and footage. We've simplified the format to allow more regular episodes to be posted. Thanks for checking, and we'll see you out there sometime! God Bless and Rock On! Grave Forsaken
Our new drummer Luke Gallagher is fitting in well. We've been rehearsing Monday nights and it's been great. Luke is really enthusiatic about the band, and the four of us are starting to gel. Elias and I have also been working on some new material for future albums. This is nothing unusual, since day one we've always been writing and arranging new stuff when we get the chance.

We have plans to start gigging again before the end of the year. Elias is planning a gig at his church, and we are really excited about going back there. We played there a few years ago, and we feel God wants us to start playing in those kind of environments again.

We've started putting the most recent episode of GFTV on the front page of our website at www.graveforsaken.com, so you can always check that out for recent info and footage. We've simplified the format to allow more regular episodes to be posted.

Thanks for checking, and we'll see you out there sometime!

God Bless and Rock On!
Grave Forsaken
]]> Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:20:25 GMT FB6F41F00CF5269C0BCF1BCFF61393A6 Monday Mosh - 10th October 2011 http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=1380713 Monday Mosh – 10th October 2011 G’day everyone, Vaughan from GF here with the latest update. After some recent discussions, guitarist Simon Hoggett has decided to call time on his stint with the band. Simon let us know that he felt he needed to move onto other endeavours. Simon has had two stints in the band, playing a crucial role in the development of our sound over the last couple of years. It’s a shame that it hasn’t worked out long term with Simon, but we understand that he can’t continue with something that just isn’t working for him. He did complete all his guitar parts on the most recent album, so the release of that will be his swansong with the band. He has written and performed some killer material on the album. On behalf of Matt , Elias and myself, we thank Simon for his contribution to the band over the last couple of years. He really has made a difference to the band. So what does the future hold now? Elias, Matt and myself have made the decision that I will return to my role as guitarist/vocalist in the band. Those of you who have been following the band for a while will know that I played guitar from 2004 until 2009, when Simon first joined the group. I’ve enjoyed focusing solely on my role as lead vocalist for the last 2 years, but I’m really excited about picking up the guitar again. There has been a good amount of interest in the new album. Mixing is well under way and we are getting all the artwork, photo’s and liner notes together in readiness for a release. As soon as we have concrete details concerning a release date we will let you know. We are keen to get it out, but there’s always things that need to be organised before that can happen. The vibe recording this album was so positive, and that really comes through in the final recordings. Remember each day that all things happen for a reason in God’s plan for our lives. Stay focused on Christ during every hour of every day, because you never know when the enemy will attack our thoughts. I’ve been blessed to have experienced a renewal in Christ over the last few months, and it’s so true that if you draw near to him he will draw to you. Our God is a great God and he alone is worthy of our praise. Stand strong in faith and serve God. Until next time, God Bless and Rock On! Grave Forsaken G’day everyone, Vaughan from GF here with the latest update. After some recent discussions, guitarist Simon Hoggett has decided to call time on his stint with the band. Simon let us know that he felt he needed to move onto other endeavours. Simon has had two stints in the band, playing a crucial role in the development of our sound over the last couple of years. It’s a shame that it hasn’t worked out long term with Simon, but we understand that he can’t continue with something that just isn’t working for him. He did complete all his guitar parts on the most recent album, so the release of that will be his swansong with the band. He has written and performed some killer material on the album. On behalf of Matt , Elias and myself, we thank Simon for his contribution to the band over the last couple of years. He really has made a difference to the band.

So what does the future hold now? Elias, Matt and myself have made the decision that I will return to my role as guitarist/vocalist in the band. Those of you who have been following the band for a while will know that I played guitar from 2004 until 2009, when Simon first joined the group. I’ve enjoyed focusing solely on my role as lead vocalist for the last 2 years, but I’m really excited about picking up the guitar again.

There has been a good amount of interest in the new album. Mixing is well under way and we are getting all the artwork, photo’s and liner notes together in readiness for a release. As soon as we have concrete details concerning a release date we will let you know. We are keen to get it out, but there’s always things that need to be organised before that can happen. The vibe recording this album was so positive, and that really comes through in the final recordings.

Remember each day that all things happen for a reason in God’s plan for our lives. Stay focused on Christ during every hour of every day, because you never know when the enemy will attack our thoughts. I’ve been blessed to have experienced a renewal in Christ over the last few months, and it’s so true that if you draw near to him he will draw to you. Our God is a great God and he alone is worthy of our praise. Stand strong in faith and serve God.

Until next time, God Bless and Rock On!
Grave Forsaken

]]> Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:55:42 GMT F93F8A75AC603B578AB0060C5C7810CC Monday Mosh - 26th September 2011 http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=1332039 Monday Mosh – 26th September 2011 Hi all, Vaughan from Grave Forsaken here again. We hope that this week finds you well. We’re pleased to let you know that the 5th studio album has completed tracking and has now entered the mix phase. It really shouldn’t be too long until we have a final version, which is super exciting. Like we’ve said in earlier updates, the album features 9 tracks that will appeal to anyone who has enjoyed our stuff so far. We are really excited about getting back into rehearsal mode. We’re having a band social night tonight, then back into it next Monday. Once we’re back in gear, we’ll start looking at some more live performances around the Perth area. It’s been a while! For our eastern states supporters, we regret to let you know that we won’t be going to Easterfest in 2012. The decision is purely financial, and we hope to return in the future. We may consider applying for Blackstump 2012, depending on how finances are looking in the first part of next year. God willing we will be back out there with a better live show than ever. To wrap up this brief update, I want to encourage you all to be strong in your faith in Christ. God is sufficient for all our needs, and we need to understand that as Christians. We need to be watchful of our attitudes in daily life. I firmly believe that negativity smothers the effectiveness of gospel living in our own lives. We can’t gain righteousness through actions, but we can be an example to every person we interact with. It’s critical as Christians that we set a Christ-like example wherever and whenever possible. And God can provide you with the strength. So be encouraged, and we’ll catch you again soon! God Bless and Rock On! Grave Forsaken Hi all, Vaughan from Grave Forsaken here again. We hope that this week finds you well. We’re pleased to let you know that the 5th studio album has completed tracking and has now entered the mix phase. It really shouldn’t be too long until we have a final version, which is super exciting. Like we’ve said in earlier updates, the album features 9 tracks that will appeal to anyone who has enjoyed our stuff so far.

We are really excited about getting back into rehearsal mode. We’re having a band social night tonight, then back into it next Monday. Once we’re back in gear, we’ll start looking at some more live performances around the Perth area. It’s been a while!

For our eastern states supporters, we regret to let you know that we won’t be going to Easterfest in 2012. The decision is purely financial, and we hope to return in the future. We may consider applying for Blackstump 2012, depending on how finances are looking in the first part of next year. God willing we will be back out there with a better live show than ever.

To wrap up this brief update, I want to encourage you all to be strong in your faith in Christ. God is sufficient for all our needs, and we need to understand that as Christians. We need to be watchful of our attitudes in daily life. I firmly believe that negativity smothers the effectiveness of gospel living in our own lives. We can’t gain righteousness through actions, but we can be an example to every person we interact with. It’s critical as Christians that we set a Christ-like example wherever and whenever possible. And God can provide you with the strength.

So be encouraged, and we’ll catch you again soon!

God Bless and Rock On!
Grave Forsaken

]]> Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:06:45 GMT CF41FDF93450BFD1D0D8C5700354399D Monday Mosh - 12th September 2011 http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=1283804 Monday Mosh – 12th September 2011 Hi everyone, Vaughan here with the latest from the band. We are well on the way to completing our latest studio album. The album will feature 9 tracks in the familiar Grave Forsaken style. We hope to be finished by the end of this month, at which point we should be able to put up some samples for you to check out. Although there are several co-writes, 4 songs are essentially Elias tracks, 2 are Simon tracks and I’ve contributed 3. Most Grave Forsaken songs have a primary songwriter with lyrical and musical contributions from other members, and these songs are no exception. It makes for a good mix of differing writing styles, yet it still sounds very consistent. We are pleased with it. As we’ve stated in previous updates, the live side of the band has been on hold during this recording project. We do intend on getting back to regular shows once the recording is finished. Given the long gap, we are all hungry to get back out there, and of course we’ll let you know when something comes up. The last few months have been a real blessing for the band. We’ve had to work through some challenges, and the primary outcome has been a determination to return to the core values of the band, which is to be a Christ centred ministry. It’s not that we ever stopped being that, but it is so easy to get caught up in worrying about unimportant things. Our primary goal is to spread the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, and that is what we are determined to do. It is a marvel how bands like Rez and Petra managed to make such anointed, powerful Christian music. We are inspired by those bands to keep the gospel at the centre of our message. There isn’t a whole lot of other news. There will be more announcements as we get closer to releasing this new album, and we look forward to sharing those details with you as they solidify. Until next time… God Bless and Rock On! Grave Forsaken Hi everyone, Vaughan here with the latest from the band. We are well on the way to completing our latest studio album. The album will feature 9 tracks in the familiar Grave Forsaken style. We hope to be finished by the end of this month, at which point we should be able to put up some samples for you to check out. Although there are several co-writes, 4 songs are essentially Elias tracks, 2 are Simon tracks and I’ve contributed 3. Most Grave Forsaken songs have a primary songwriter with lyrical and musical contributions from other members, and these songs are no exception. It makes for a good mix of differing writing styles, yet it still sounds very consistent. We are pleased with it.

As we’ve stated in previous updates, the live side of the band has been on hold during this recording project. We do intend on getting back to regular shows once the recording is finished. Given the long gap, we are all hungry to get back out there, and of course we’ll let you know when something comes up.

The last few months have been a real blessing for the band. We’ve had to work through some challenges, and the primary outcome has been a determination to return to the core values of the band, which is to be a Christ centred ministry. It’s not that we ever stopped being that, but it is so easy to get caught up in worrying about unimportant things. Our primary goal is to spread the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, and that is what we are determined to do. It is a marvel how bands like Rez and Petra managed to make such anointed, powerful Christian music. We are inspired by those bands to keep the gospel at the centre of our message.

There isn’t a whole lot of other news. There will be more announcements as we get closer to releasing this new album, and we look forward to sharing those details with you as they solidify. Until next time…

God Bless and Rock On!
Grave Forsaken

]]> Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:52:05 GMT BEDB069D2B304027490DA12BBACF29D9 Monday Mosh - 10th July 2011 http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=1095534 Monday Mosh – 10th July 2011 Hi everyone, Vaughan here on behalf of the band. You will be pleased to hear we have started recording the new album with Dan Holmes at Fattdog Studio. So far we have recorded 2 songs – Kill Your Idols and Victory Or Death. We plan to head into the studio to cut another track tonight. As always, we can’t wait to get there and get recording. It’s the best time you can have as a band I reckon. If all goes to plan, we will be recording a song called Ghost Light tonight. This has been written by Simon, and is a really cool tune if I don’t say so myself. Mid paced with an epic feel, and I can’t wait to hear the final version. We were privelaged to have Rowland “ironguardian” Gwynne record backup vocals with us last week, and that was a lot of fun. I’m sure he will turn up a few more times to contribute his talents to the project! We have submitted the pencil sketch of the cover to Ari, our colorist. This cover is probably our favourite GF cover yet. It’s very topical, and it relates closely to the themes in some of the songs. Not to mention it follows nicely from the last two album covers. We can’t wait to see what Ari does with this design! In other developments, we continue to work on the band archive. We’ve had a few ideas about how we can some projects moving along. Once the archive is done, we will be releasing heaps of stuff on youtube and on our website. We will also crank up GFTV again for those who have enjoyed it through the years. There’s not much more to say at the moment other than we will continue to record and hopefully have the album out by year’s end. If we don’t manage it this year, it will definitely be out by early 2012. Thanks for your continued support, and you’ll hear from us again soon. God Bless and Rock On! Grave Forsaken Hi everyone, Vaughan here on behalf of the band. You will be pleased to hear we have started recording the new album with Dan Holmes at Fattdog Studio. So far we have recorded 2 songs – Kill Your Idols and Victory Or Death. We plan to head into the studio to cut another track tonight. As always, we can’t wait to get there and get recording. It’s the best time you can have as a band I reckon.

If all goes to plan, we will be recording a song called Ghost Light tonight. This has been written by Simon, and is a really cool tune if I don’t say so myself. Mid paced with an epic feel, and I can’t wait to hear the final version. We were privelaged to have Rowland “ironguardian” Gwynne record backup vocals with us last week, and that was a lot of fun. I’m sure he will turn up a few more times to contribute his talents to the project!

We have submitted the pencil sketch of the cover to Ari, our colorist. This cover is probably our favourite GF cover yet. It’s very topical, and it relates closely to the themes in some of the songs. Not to mention it follows nicely from the last two album covers. We can’t wait to see what Ari does with this design!

In other developments, we continue to work on the band archive. We’ve had a few ideas about how we can some projects moving along. Once the archive is done, we will be releasing heaps of stuff on youtube and on our website. We will also crank up GFTV again for those who have enjoyed it through the years.

There’s not much more to say at the moment other than we will continue to record and hopefully have the album out by year’s end. If we don’t manage it this year, it will definitely be out by early 2012. Thanks for your continued support, and you’ll hear from us again soon.

God Bless and Rock On!
Grave Forsaken

]]> Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:50:36 GMT 4AFDE3C045E832169FEF479DBBCBAC68 Monday Mosh - 20th June 2011 http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=1045863 Monday Mosh – 20th June 2011 Hi everyone, Vaughan here on behalf of Grave Forsaken. Since the last update, a few things have changed in the band. After discussing our options following Easterfest, it has been decided that Dave won’t be involved in the next album after all. The plan had been for Dave to drum on the album, but he has a very full schedule with his other band Cold Fate, meaning he can’t focus on this batch of songs. Dave also feels that if he isn’t the live drummer, then he really shouldn’t be drumming on the album. We understand and respect his point of view. It was great to have Dave back with us for a few months, and we greatly appreciate him helping us out. Dave made significant family and financial sacrifices to drum for us, and we all want to publicly acknowledge that. Thanks again Dave, from all of us. To fill the drummer void, we have been rehearsing with a young musician by the name of Luke Gallagher. Luke is primarily a guitar player, but he is also an excellent drummer. Luke already has a recording credit with us, having performed a ripping guitar solo on “This Dying Day” from the previous album. We will watch his progress with interest! Due to the changes in the drumming situation, we have elected to record the entire album with Daniel Holmes at Fattdog Studio. Those familiar with the band will know this is where we have recorded the last 3 albums, so this is an exciting development. In fact, we are going into the studio tonight to continue work on the album. The first song we are working on is called “Reap What You Sow”, and it’s a GF thrasher in the style of “This Day Forth” and “Fight To The Death”. The other song we are currently recording is called “End Of Days” and it is a bit like “Punishment” from our second album. All this is very exciting for us, as recording albums is probably our favourite thing to do as a band. And working with Dan is always a lot of fun. We aim to deliver the perfect follow up to “Fight To The Death”. It’s impossible to say exactly what will happen, but the album recording does put the live aspect of the band on hold for the time being. We need to focus our efforts on recording, meaning we won’t get as much chance to rehearse over the coming weeks and months. We are keen to get back out there, but it’s been a bumpy 12 months or so, so we really have to focus on one thing at a time. Having said that, if a gig comes up and we decide to can do it, then we most definitely will. We have been working hard to put together a definitive archive of band information. We have done so much over the years and it’s fun going through it all and trying to put everything in the right place. We have uncovered stacks of old demos and live recordings, as well as video, photos and flyers. We are aiming to put together some kind of accessible history of the band for people to access. To that end, we have put up a “downloads” page on the official site. This site has all the downloads from the old Mosher Crew page, and now that we have found all these old recordings, you can expect regular free downloads to be available. The first “new” demo posted is the original version of “Warriors Of Light”. Check it out. There’s a lot happening, and it’s such a blessing to still be doing this after 7 years. While we’re having a blast, this band will continue. Thanks for sticking with us everyone! God Bless and Rock On! Grave Forsaken Hi everyone, Vaughan here on behalf of Grave Forsaken. Since the last update, a few things have changed in the band. After discussing our options following Easterfest, it has been decided that Dave won’t be involved in the next album after all. The plan had been for Dave to drum on the album, but he has a very full schedule with his other band Cold Fate, meaning he can’t focus on this batch of songs. Dave also feels that if he isn’t the live drummer, then he really shouldn’t be drumming on the album. We understand and respect his point of view. It was great to have Dave back with us for a few months, and we greatly appreciate him helping us out. Dave made significant family and financial sacrifices to drum for us, and we all want to publicly acknowledge that. Thanks again Dave, from all of us.

To fill the drummer void, we have been rehearsing with a young musician by the name of Luke Gallagher. Luke is primarily a guitar player, but he is also an excellent drummer. Luke already has a recording credit with us, having performed a ripping guitar solo on “This Dying Day” from the previous album. We will watch his progress with interest!

Due to the changes in the drumming situation, we have elected to record the entire album with Daniel Holmes at Fattdog Studio. Those familiar with the band will know this is where we have recorded the last 3 albums, so this is an exciting development. In fact, we are going into the studio tonight to continue work on the album. The first song we are working on is called “Reap What You Sow”, and it’s a GF thrasher in the style of “This Day Forth” and “Fight To The Death”. The other song we are currently recording is called “End Of Days” and it is a bit like “Punishment” from our second album.

All this is very exciting for us, as recording albums is probably our favourite thing to do as a band. And working with Dan is always a lot of fun. We aim to deliver the perfect follow up to “Fight To The Death”.

It’s impossible to say exactly what will happen, but the album recording does put the live aspect of the band on hold for the time being. We need to focus our efforts on recording, meaning we won’t get as much chance to rehearse over the coming weeks and months. We are keen to get back out there, but it’s been a bumpy 12 months or so, so we really have to focus on one thing at a time. Having said that, if a gig comes up and we decide to can do it, then we most definitely will.

We have been working hard to put together a definitive archive of band information. We have done so much over the years and it’s fun going through it all and trying to put everything in the right place. We have uncovered stacks of old demos and live recordings, as well as video, photos and flyers. We are aiming to put together some kind of accessible history of the band for people to access. To that end, we have put up a “downloads” page on the official site. This site has all the downloads from the old Mosher Crew page, and now that we have found all these old recordings, you can expect regular free downloads to be available. The first “new” demo posted is the original version of “Warriors Of Light”. Check it out.

There’s a lot happening, and it’s such a blessing to still be doing this after 7 years. While we’re having a blast, this band will continue. Thanks for sticking with us everyone!

God Bless and Rock On!
Grave Forsaken

]]> Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:35:15 GMT 41BA579154B8F42CFE9BBAD6078E4381 Mosher Crew page back...sort of http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=1039463 You may have noticed there is now a downloads page on the site. This used to be the Mosher Crew exclusive area. We decided to make it open access, as we don't want anyone to be put off by having to sign up to a list to access stuff. The Mosher Crew mailing list will still be in use, but we should get more downloads if any casual visitor can download  material for free. Ultimately it's just about putting the band out there so people can be blessed by the message. We have some exciting stuff for the downloads section. We're slowly but surely organising the GF archive, and we're finding a lot of stuff we'd forgotten we'd ever done. We have hours and hours of video footage, plus heaps of live and demo recordings. There is so much to share. We'd also like to make exclusive studio recordings available on the downloads page as well. In fact, we are even considering releasing a future album track by track for free. Details need to be finalised, but that is an exciting project down the track. For now, you can download a newly posted "Warriors Of Light" demo from the downloads page. It's rudimentry, but we think it's pretty cool nonetheless. God Bless and Rock On Vaughan and Grave Forsaken You may have noticed there is now a downloads page on the site. This used to be the Mosher Crew exclusive area. We decided to make it open access, as we don't want anyone to be put off by having to sign up to a list to access stuff. The Mosher Crew mailing list will still be in use, but we should get more downloads if any casual visitor can download  material for free. Ultimately it's just about putting the band out there so people can be blessed by the message.

We have some exciting stuff for the downloads section. We're slowly but surely organising the GF archive, and we're finding a lot of stuff we'd forgotten we'd ever done. We have hours and hours of video footage, plus heaps of live and demo recordings. There is so much to share. We'd also like to make exclusive studio recordings available on the downloads page as well. In fact, we are even considering releasing a future album track by track for free. Details need to be finalised, but that is an exciting project down the track.

For now, you can download a newly posted "Warriors Of Light" demo from the downloads page. It's rudimentry, but we think it's pretty cool nonetheless.

God Bless and Rock On
Vaughan and Grave Forsaken

]]> Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:15:23 GMT 33119CDC81984E987FDE85B331361DFA All the latest http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=1000201 30th May 2011 Hi everyone, Vaughan here with my latest blog. I’m really wanting to plug our “new” official forum at www.dansoutpost.proboards.com. I’m making a deliberate attempt to revive the forum, so I encourage you to head over there and start chatting about all things GF. There’s a bunch of other forum topics there as well, and between 2005 and 2009 it was quite a popular site. I think we can make it so again. I had a late one on Friday night working on the new album tracks. I recorded guide vocals for the remaining songs, which I pleased to have accomplished. I’m hoping to complete my mixing this week so that I can get them to Dave for drum recording. This album is taking longer to compile than our previous efforts, but I’m fairly sure it will be a relatively quick recording process once the preproduction is finished. The thing that excites me is it will be our first “pure” GF album since our debut. Every subsequent album has used guest players on some tracks, whereas this one will only feature band members. My thinking on how to record changes from album to album, so I’m not saying we will never invite guests to perform again, but right now I want this to be just the band. We have our weekly Monday night rehearsal tonight, and I’m optimistic we are getting a good groove happening. We are focusing on 8 or so songs to get them really tight in preparation for future live shows. I’m excited! On another note, I’ve been getting a lot of correspondence lately with regard to international radio play and reviews. It’s always encouraging to know that people around the world are taking an interest in the band. Hopefully we can deliver more pleasing metal on this next release. As always, I will do my best to keep you up to date with developments as they occur. Keep rocking, and thank you for your continued support. Just by reading this you are doing us a massive favour. God Bless and Rock On! Vaughan and Grave Forsaken Hi everyone, Vaughan here with my latest blog. I’m really wanting to plug our “new” official forum at www.dansoutpost.proboards.com. I’m making a deliberate attempt to revive the forum, so I encourage you to head over there and start chatting about all things GF. There’s a bunch of other forum topics there as well, and between 2005 and 2009 it was quite a popular site. I think we can make it so again.

I had a late one on Friday night working on the new album tracks. I recorded guide vocals for the remaining songs, which I pleased to have accomplished. I’m hoping to complete my mixing this week so that I can get them to Dave for drum recording. This album is taking longer to compile than our previous efforts, but I’m fairly sure it will be a relatively quick recording process once the preproduction is finished. The thing that excites me is it will be our first “pure” GF album since our debut. Every subsequent album has used guest players on some tracks, whereas this one will only feature band members. My thinking on how to record changes from album to album, so I’m not saying we will never invite guests to perform again, but right now I want this to be just the band.

We have our weekly Monday night rehearsal tonight, and I’m optimistic we are getting a good groove happening. We are focusing on 8 or so songs to get them really tight in preparation for future live shows. I’m excited!

On another note, I’ve been getting a lot of correspondence lately with regard to international radio play and reviews. It’s always encouraging to know that people around the world are taking an interest in the band. Hopefully we can deliver more pleasing metal on this next release.

As always, I will do my best to keep you up to date with developments as they occur. Keep rocking, and thank you for your continued support. Just by reading this you are doing us a massive favour.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan and Grave Forsaken

]]> Mon, 30 May 2011 19:46:04 GMT BCA6F340E89BBFE6414A6EAC3124713E Monday Mosh - 23rd May 2011 http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=989779 G’day again everybody – Vaughan here with the latest update. We’ve got a few things on the go right now within the band. We have started rehearsing on a Monday night again. I mentioned in the last update that Dave won’t be available for live drumming for the foreseeable future, so we’ve started looking into options for a live drummer. We have been discussing names and throwing around ideas, and I don’t think it should be too long before we find someone to stand in. In the meantime, work continues on the 5th album. I’m currently in the process of preparing guide tracks for Dave to drum to. I don’t get as much time these days, so it’s a bit of a slow process. I need to get Dave a demo with and without midi drums. Each demo also needs guide vocals, so all the lyrics need to be written and reasonably complete. I’m working on 10 songs at the moment, most of which have been written by Elias. When the guide demo’s are ready, I need to get them to Dave and his brother Todd. Todd will engineering and producing the drum recordings for us. When the drums are done, I will import the raw files back into my demo multitracks and then we will rerecord everything in my home studio. Once the drums are done, it should be a fairly speedy process. We will just camp out in the studio over a few weekends and nail the tracks. I’m really looking forward to it. Musically it follows on where the last two albums have left off. In other developments, I’ve decided to try and reignite the old Centurion Outpost forum. Many of you will remember that it was our official forum in the early years, and there used to be a lot of discussion on the GF board over there. We’d love it if people decide to start posting there again. The url is www.dansoutpost.proboards.com so head over there. I will also create a link from our official site. It might not work, but I’m going to try to post something there most days, even if I’m talking to myself for a while! Hope to see you on board. Obviously no gigs for the time being while we are without a live drummer, but as soon as something develops I will let you know. In the downtime, Elias and I have been in discussion about finishing of some our non band projects. We have both been working on our own songs over the years, but nothing has been finished off properly. They exist halfway between demo and final versions. Sometimes we think of them as solo songs, then other times we think “maybe we can use them in GF anyway”. My latest idea is to pool them as Gregory Salmela Project, or GSP, and release them online as a collective package of songs. Ironically, as a combined project, they would strongly resemble the style of our first EP and album. Longtime followers of the band will have heard me talking about these tracks before! They are kind of an enigma, and I do want to do something concrete with them. Anyway, time to stop rambling. As always, thank you for your continued support of the band, and you will hear from me again soon. God Bless and Rock On! Vaughan and GF
In the meantime, work continues on the 5th album. I’m currently in the process of preparing guide tracks for Dave to drum to. I don’t get as much time these days, so it’s a bit of a slow process. I need to get Dave a demo with and without midi drums. Each demo also needs guide vocals, so all the lyrics need to be written and reasonably complete. I’m working on 10 songs at the moment, most of which have been written by Elias. When the guide demo’s are ready, I need to get them to Dave and his brother Todd. Todd will engineering and producing the drum recordings for us. When the drums are done, I will import the raw files back into my demo multitracks and then we will rerecord everything in my home studio. Once the drums are done, it should be a fairly speedy process. We will just camp out in the studio over a few weekends and nail the tracks. I’m really looking forward to it. Musically it follows on where the last two albums have left off.

In other developments, I’ve decided to try and reignite the old Centurion Outpost forum. Many of you will remember that it was our official forum in the early years, and there used to be a lot of discussion on the GF board over there. We’d love it if people decide to start posting there again. The url is www.dansoutpost.proboards.com so head over there. I will also create a link from our official site. It might not work, but I’m going to try to post something there most days, even if I’m talking to myself for a while! Hope to see you on board.

Obviously no gigs for the time being while we are without a live drummer, but as soon as something develops I will let you know. In the downtime, Elias and I have been in discussion about finishing of some our non band projects. We have both been working on our own songs over the years, but nothing has been finished off properly. They exist halfway between demo and final versions. Sometimes we think of them as solo songs, then other times we think “maybe we can use them in GF anyway”. My latest idea is to pool them as Gregory Salmela Project, or GSP, and release them online as a collective package of songs. Ironically, as a combined project, they would strongly resemble the style of our first EP and album. Longtime followers of the band will have heard me talking about these tracks before! They are kind of an enigma, and I do want to do something concrete with them.

Anyway, time to stop rambling. As always, thank you for your continued support of the band, and you will hear from me again soon.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan and GF

]]> Tue, 24 May 2011 19:15:56 GMT FE72EA31111F138DE77C881B63114BB9 Studio albums http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=972834 <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal.dotm 0 0 1 373 2131 Murdoch University 17 4 2617 12.0 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 {size:595.0pt 842.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> <!--[if gte mso 10]> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> Good morning everybody, Vaughan here. Just thought I&rsquo;d fill you in on a bit of behind the scenes detail. As many of you know, in the last few years various band members have gotten married and had kids. Anyone who has kids will realise just how time consuming it is, and what a massive change it makes to your lifestyle. In my own case, I&rsquo;ve found it extremely difficult to maintain band activities to the level I once did. &nbsp; At times this can be extremely frustrating. There are many dreams and visions I have associated with the band. I want to do more albums, more shows, more shirts, more DVD&rsquo;s, more of everything! But I just can&rsquo;t sustain the level of work I want to achieve. So it&rsquo;s caused me to consider &ndash; what is the core focus of the band. What matters in the long term? &nbsp; Throughout the 7 years of GF, I have received hundreds of emails from all over the world telling me how our music has had a positive influence. I&rsquo;ve realised that our supporters are few in number, but they really appreciate the straightforward nature of our lyrics. I&rsquo;ve realised that part of our purpose is to provide that encouragement. Now, we don&rsquo;t always feel the strength of conviction we sing about in our songs. Of course we go through daily struggles with our faith &ndash; but if we can help those people who listen to our music, then we are achieving something purposeful. &nbsp; So in these times of split priorities, as a band we have decided to focus on recording albums. The key goal is one studio album per year &ndash; no matter how challenging. Everything else is a bonus. Playing live is great, but we rarely play to more that 50 people. The real impact zone for our ministry is our studio albums. So where possible we will attempt to do those extra things &ndash; GFTV, DVD&rsquo;s, shirts etc, but the focus must be on putting out studio albums. &nbsp; I&rsquo;ve always stated that I want to do one album per year with the band. I think it&rsquo;s an achievable goal that keeps us focused on the task. With all my favourite bands, if they did one album a year and nothing else then I&rsquo;d be happy. Obviously there are other aspects to music, but for me, studio albums form the cornerstone. &nbsp; So to that end, we are aiming to get this next album done. Finding the time to record is a constant challenge, but we will somehow find a way. We want to continue encouraging our supporters with our take on faith and life and everything in between. It&rsquo;s a tough world out there, and hopefully we can continue doing our little bit to encourage anyone who wants to listen. &nbsp; Thanks for reading. &nbsp; God Bless and Rock On! Vaughan <!--EndFragment-->

Good morning everybody, Vaughan here. Just thought I’d fill you in on a bit of behind the scenes detail. As many of you know, in the last few years various band members have gotten married and had kids. Anyone who has kids will realise just how time consuming it is, and what a massive change it makes to your lifestyle. In my own case, I’ve found it extremely difficult to maintain band activities to the level I once did.

 

At times this can be extremely frustrating. There are many dreams and visions I have associated with the band. I want to do more albums, more shows, more shirts, more DVD’s, more of everything! But I just can’t sustain the level of work I want to achieve. So it’s caused me to consider – what is the core focus of the band. What matters in the long term?

 

Throughout the 7 years of GF, I have received hundreds of emails from all over the world telling me how our music has had a positive influence. I’ve realised that our supporters are few in number, but they really appreciate the straightforward nature of our lyrics. I’ve realised that part of our purpose is to provide that encouragement. Now, we don’t always feel the strength of conviction we sing about in our songs. Of course we go through daily struggles with our faith – but if we can help those people who listen to our music, then we are achieving something purposeful.

 

So in these times of split priorities, as a band we have decided to focus on recording albums. The key goal is one studio album per year – no matter how challenging. Everything else is a bonus. Playing live is great, but we rarely play to more that 50 people. The real impact zone for our ministry is our studio albums. So where possible we will attempt to do those extra things – GFTV, DVD’s, shirts etc, but the focus must be on putting out studio albums.

 

I’ve always stated that I want to do one album per year with the band. I think it’s an achievable goal that keeps us focused on the task. With all my favourite bands, if they did one album a year and nothing else then I’d be happy. Obviously there are other aspects to music, but for me, studio albums form the cornerstone.

 

So to that end, we are aiming to get this next album done. Finding the time to record is a constant challenge, but we will somehow find a way. We want to continue encouraging our supporters with our take on faith and life and everything in between. It’s a tough world out there, and hopefully we can continue doing our little bit to encourage anyone who wants to listen.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

God Bless and Rock On!

Vaughan

]]> Mon, 16 May 2011 19:45:56 GMT 210FBA85A84EBF7980EF3D54447E64DD Monday Mosh - 9th April 2011 http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=957922 Monday Mosh &ndash; 9th April 2011 G&rsquo;day GF supporters, Vaughan here. Welcome to the latest update! We have had a hectic couple of months of band activity, culminating in our recent performance at Easterfest in Toowoomba. In January, we put the lineup of myself, Elias Salmela, Matt Skipworth, Simon Hoggett and Dave Kilgallon back together to play the Easterfest shows. We played warm up shows at Swan Lounge, Railway Hotel and Market City Tavern, then headed over to Queensland for Easterfest. The warm up shows went fairly well. In my opinion our best performance was the first one at Swan Lounge, and we also played pretty well at Market City Tavern. The Railway gig was hurt by some technical difficulties, but overall we played well.&nbsp; So we got on the plane on the Thursday before Good Friday and headed across the country to Toowoomba. We arrived at Easterfest at around 10.30am and began getting ourselves organised. We were all pretty tired, but we got it together and were ready for our set at 5.50. I was fortunate enough to see Petra play a set before our gig, and that was every bit as good as I thought it would be. Unfortunately come gig time, the tiredness got to us somewhat, and we made some pretty bad mistakes during the show. It was a shame, and I&rsquo;ve got to admit, I was pretty disappointed with myself for forgetting some of the lyrics. Still, the 50 or so people in the tent really seemed to enjoy it, and we got a lot of very positive feedback after the show. That was cool. It was also really good to meet some new people who hadn&rsquo;t seen the band before. So we went back, got a relatively early night and prepared ourselves for the next day. It&rsquo;s funny, we all woke up feeling pretty good, and ready for the show that night. We spent the day chilling out and having a bit of a look around Toowoomba. It was a nice day, and a good vibe, and we couldn&rsquo;t possibly realise what was going to happen later on. At about 7 o&rsquo;clock, just as we were getting ready to load in our gear, the rain started. We&rsquo;re from a pretty dry city, and I knew straight away this was no normal rain. Add to that the fact that Toowoomba had badly flooded just a couple of months earlier, there was a degree of concern coming from the locals. It wasn&rsquo;t long before we realised that there was no gig that night. The ground quickly went from slushy underfoot to ankle deep in water. Security came into the tent and demanded that we all get out. I&rsquo;m forever thankful to the individual who moved my camera gear from the ground to the stage, as this certainly saved it. Having been evacuated, the 5 of us then met up at our tent and loaded everything we possibly could into the hire car. We were fortunate that Simon has relatives in Brisbane, so we got some accommodation there. A huge thanks to them for their hospitality! Our Easterfest adventure was over basically before it began. We went back to Toowoomba the next day to collect some leftover bits and pieces, and then we were pretty much done. The festival had been officially cancelled, but there was a pretty positive vibe around the place under the circumstances. The whole site was covered in mud. There had been 50 mL of rain in just 30 minutes &ndash; a massive amount of water! It was one of those things that was disappointing, but character building at the same time. We can file the experience away in the collective memory of the band and have a good laugh about it down the track. Easterfest draws to an end our stint with Dave back in the live lineup. Dave is very busy with his other band Cold Fate, so he won&rsquo;t be available live for the foreseeable future. We had all hoped that Dave would be able to do both bands, but it is just too much for him and his family. I understand entirely, as there is no way I could play in two bands either. We hope to find a replacement drummer in the near future for live work, but fortunately for us (and you people) Dave will still be in the recording lineup of the band. We are working on a new album right now. We hope to get Dave&rsquo;s drum tracks recorded later this month, followed by guitars and vocals throughout June. I&rsquo;m still hopeful of a late 2011/early 2012 release. The material follows on directly from This Day Forth and Fight To The Death, so fans of those albums will enjoy this one. Elias has drawn the cover artwork, and it is getting sent to Ari in Finland for colouring. Ari is responsible for the colouring of all our album covers, and we see his final touch as an essential ingredient of the Grave Forsaken look. Well, thanks for reading the update, and you&rsquo;ll hear from us again soon. God Bless and Rock On Vaughan and GF. <!--EndFragment--> th April 2011
G’day GF supporters, Vaughan here. Welcome to the latest update! We have had a hectic couple of months of band activity, culminating in our recent performance at Easterfest in Toowoomba. In January, we put the lineup of myself, Elias Salmela, Matt Skipworth, Simon Hoggett and Dave Kilgallon back together to play the Easterfest shows. We played warm up shows at Swan Lounge, Railway Hotel and Market City Tavern, then headed over to Queensland for Easterfest.

The warm up shows went fairly well. In my opinion our best performance was the first one at Swan Lounge, and we also played pretty well at Market City Tavern. The Railway gig was hurt by some technical difficulties, but overall we played well. 

So we got on the plane on the Thursday before Good Friday and headed across the country to Toowoomba. We arrived at Easterfest at around 10.30am and began getting ourselves organised. We were all pretty tired, but we got it together and were ready for our set at 5.50. I was fortunate enough to see Petra play a set before our gig, and that was every bit as good as I thought it would be. Unfortunately come gig time, the tiredness got to us somewhat, and we made some pretty bad mistakes during the show. It was a shame, and I’ve got to admit, I was pretty disappointed with myself for forgetting some of the lyrics. Still, the 50 or so people in the tent really seemed to enjoy it, and we got a lot of very positive feedback after the show. That was cool. It was also really good to meet some new people who hadn’t seen the band before.

So we went back, got a relatively early night and prepared ourselves for the next day. It’s funny, we all woke up feeling pretty good, and ready for the show that night. We spent the day chilling out and having a bit of a look around Toowoomba. It was a nice day, and a good vibe, and we couldn’t possibly realise what was going to happen later on.

At about 7 o’clock, just as we were getting ready to load in our gear, the rain started. We’re from a pretty dry city, and I knew straight away this was no normal rain. Add to that the fact that Toowoomba had badly flooded just a couple of months earlier, there was a degree of concern coming from the locals. It wasn’t long before we realised that there was no gig that night.

The ground quickly went from slushy underfoot to ankle deep in water. Security came into the tent and demanded that we all get out. I’m forever thankful to the individual who moved my camera gear from the ground to the stage, as this certainly saved it. Having been evacuated, the 5 of us then met up at our tent and loaded everything we possibly could into the hire car. We were fortunate that Simon has relatives in Brisbane, so we got some accommodation there. A huge thanks to them for their hospitality!

Our Easterfest adventure was over basically before it began. We went back to Toowoomba the next day to collect some leftover bits and pieces, and then we were pretty much done. The festival had been officially cancelled, but there was a pretty positive vibe around the place under the circumstances. The whole site was covered in mud. There had been 50 mL of rain in just 30 minutes – a massive amount of water! It was one of those things that was disappointing, but character building at the same time. We can file the experience away in the collective memory of the band and have a good laugh about it down the track.

Easterfest draws to an end our stint with Dave back in the live lineup. Dave is very busy with his other band Cold Fate, so he won’t be available live for the foreseeable future. We had all hoped that Dave would be able to do both bands, but it is just too much for him and his family. I understand entirely, as there is no way I could play in two bands either. We hope to find a replacement drummer in the near future for live work, but fortunately for us (and you people) Dave will still be in the recording lineup of the band.

We are working on a new album right now. We hope to get Dave’s drum tracks recorded later this month, followed by guitars and vocals throughout June. I’m still hopeful of a late 2011/early 2012 release. The material follows on directly from This Day Forth and Fight To The Death, so fans of those albums will enjoy this one. Elias has drawn the cover artwork, and it is getting sent to Ari in Finland for colouring. Ari is responsible for the colouring of all our album covers, and we see his final touch as an essential ingredient of the Grave Forsaken look.

Well, thanks for reading the update, and you’ll hear from us again soon.

God Bless and Rock On
Vaughan and GF.

]]> Mon, 09 May 2011 19:55:29 GMT 476349FEDC82A86768044D2EDFE9714E Exciting week http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=916119 As you all know we are headed to Easterfest this week. It's feels hard to believe that we leave in just a couple of days - I have so much to do before then. I'm really looking forward to hopping on the plane and just heading over. Luckily most of the pressing business has been taken care of, and all the extra stuff I have to do is details. We are playing on the Friday on Saturday night, so it should be really good. I started my new job at Murdoch University yesterday. As far as first days go, it was pretty amazing. Good people and and a nice environment.&nbsp;I feel very blessed to have gotten this job, and I'm going to do everything I can to make a good impression over the coming months. It feels weird yet totally familiar to be back at Murdoch. I'm not going to type too much, because I'm working through a huge backlog of emails at the moment. I've had hassle with my broadband account but things seem to be sorting themselves out now, meaning I can get back into keeping you guys up to date with all things Grave Forsaken.&nbsp;I sense the band is entering a new phase at the moment,&nbsp;and we have some cool ideas happening. Stay tuned!&nbsp;
I started my new job at Murdoch University yesterday. As far as first days go, it was pretty amazing. Good people and and a nice environment. I feel very blessed to have gotten this job, and I'm going to do everything I can to make a good impression over the coming months. It feels weird yet totally familiar to be back at Murdoch.

I'm not going to type too much, because I'm working through a huge backlog of emails at the moment. I've had hassle with my broadband account but things seem to be sorting themselves out now, meaning I can get back into keeping you guys up to date with all things Grave Forsaken. I sense the band is entering a new phase at the moment, and we have some cool ideas happening. Stay tuned! ]]> Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:08:58 GMT 5902B366D9DBA19C3FB008D644413947 Where to start? http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=913488 Hi folks, Vaughan here. &nbsp;Today is a bit of a momentous day for me. I start a brand new job at Murdoch University. I feel a real sense of making a fresh start. It is super exciting. I've restarted my 5am starts to get an hour or so of band work in before going off to work, but truthfully I just can't decide where to start. I've had such a busy few months that band matters have taken a bit of back seat. I have 100's of emails to catch up on, as I had lost access to one of my key email accounts for several months, but I've always just got my teeth stuck into the archive. Even as I type though, I'm getting some good ideas about what to do. So my hope is now that I'm starting this new job my work life balance will improve. That will mean more time to focus on my family, and of course, the band. There is such a backlog of tasks to do that it will take me awhile to get everything sorted, but steady she goes. I will keep you all posted!
I've restarted my 5am starts to get an hour or so of band work in before going off to work, but truthfully I just can't decide where to start. I've had such a busy few months that band matters have taken a bit of back seat. I have 100's of emails to catch up on, as I had lost access to one of my key email accounts for several months, but I've always just got my teeth stuck into the archive. Even as I type though, I'm getting some good ideas about what to do.

So my hope is now that I'm starting this new job my work life balance will improve. That will mean more time to focus on my family, and of course, the band. There is such a backlog of tasks to do that it will take me awhile to get everything sorted, but steady she goes.

I will keep you all posted!]]> Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:23:05 GMT 9D3B2882DDF82BBA9D55CD23BCB58B98 Started the archive...finally http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=905290 Well people, I've finally properly started the Grave Forsaken archive. For years I've been collecting video footage, pictures, flyers and everything else I can muster for the eventual purpose of having everything we've ever done nicely organised (and available). Recently I've started going through the hours and hours of band footage I've accumulated. There is some amazing stuff in there I've gotta say. One thing I've never acknowledged is just what a good drummer Tim was for us those first 3 years. He is underated because Dave came in after him and developed our sound in a massive way. But watching some of our earliest shows, Tim really did a fantastic job on the drums. I miss having him in the band circle, and watching these old tapes has reminded me we really must reconnect. I have all kinds of long term plans with this material. You may not realise, but music films are a pasison of mine, so I'm really keen on making a series of GF movies covering different eras of the band. I was totally inspired by the amazing Zao&nbsp;film &quot;The Lesser Lights Of Heaven&quot;. I rarely listen to Zao, but the film was a great watch, and really essential viewing for anyone serious about the Christian metal and hardcore scenes. Whatever you think of Zao, they have a fascinating story. The GF story is not as important, but it's a story I'm keen to tell over the next few years. Part of the idea is to catalogue and rate every filmed live performance we have in terms of 3 criteria. The criteria are audio,&nbsp;performance and video. I then plan to compile high rating clips into a &quot;through the years&quot; type package, showing different songs by the various line ups we've had. There is also massive potential to make some downloadable mp3 tracks of good live performances that we've captured. Like I say, we have hours of live footage, so there's some really good stuff amongst it. Maybe there's even material for a future live compilation album. All ideas at the moment, but all things I'm keen on looking into. So keep an eye on the site. We've been below the radar lately, but we plan on making a splash with album 5 later in the year. Thanks for staying onboard!
One thing I've never acknowledged is just what a good drummer Tim was for us those first 3 years. He is underated because Dave came in after him and developed our sound in a massive way. But watching some of our earliest shows, Tim really did a fantastic job on the drums. I miss having him in the band circle, and watching these old tapes has reminded me we really must reconnect.

I have all kinds of long term plans with this material. You may not realise, but music films are a pasison of mine, so I'm really keen on making a series of GF movies covering different eras of the band. I was totally inspired by the amazing Zao film "The Lesser Lights Of Heaven". I rarely listen to Zao, but the film was a great watch, and really essential viewing for anyone serious about the Christian metal and hardcore scenes. Whatever you think of Zao, they have a fascinating story. The GF story is not as important, but it's a story I'm keen to tell over the next few years.

Part of the idea is to catalogue and rate every filmed live performance we have in terms of 3 criteria. The criteria are audio, performance and video. I then plan to compile high rating clips into a "through the years" type package, showing different songs by the various line ups we've had. There is also massive potential to make some downloadable mp3 tracks of good live performances that we've captured. Like I say, we have hours of live footage, so there's some really good stuff amongst it. Maybe there's even material for a future live compilation album. All ideas at the moment, but all things I'm keen on looking into.

So keep an eye on the site. We've been below the radar lately, but we plan on making a splash with album 5 later in the year. Thanks for staying onboard!]]> Thu, 14 Apr 2011 22:47:38 GMT E156096C53B6580A52F6B09947699EBE Gig at Market City Tavern on 7th April 2011 http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=886584 Tomorrow night we are playing our final warm up gig before we hit Easterfest. The gig is at Market City Tavern in Canningvale, and I've gotta confess I'm quite excited by it. The venue is pretty low key, but I'm hoping we'll get enough time to work through all 10 songs we have planned for Easterfest. On each night at Easterfest we will be performing slightly different setlists, taking each from a pool of 10 songs. There will be a few tracks we play both nights such as The North Wind and Death On The Cross, but we do want to mix it up a bit for the benfit of people who come to both gigs. Not long to go now, and I know everyone in the band is looking forward to the event. It will be the culmination of a series of circumstances for us, and we are all pumped. After Easterfest we will be hitting the studio to record our 5th albm. There will be more details on that to come. Keep rocking and God bless you all. Vaughan
On each night at Easterfest we will be performing slightly different setlists, taking each from a pool of 10 songs. There will be a few tracks we play both nights such as The North Wind and Death On The Cross, but we do want to mix it up a bit for the benfit of people who come to both gigs.

Not long to go now, and I know everyone in the band is looking forward to the event. It will be the culmination of a series of circumstances for us, and we are all pumped. After Easterfest we will be hitting the studio to record our 5th albm. There will be more details on that to come.

Keep rocking and God bless you all.

Vaughan]]> Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:27:15 GMT DA691B0495EAA95E68890FFC574E736D First rehearsal with the Easterfest lineup http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=732739 On Saturday just gone, we had a rehearsal with the lineup of Vaughan, Elias, Matt, Simon and Dave. I've gotta say, it was monstrous! We rehearsed a couple of songs we've never played live before, and I'm pleased to say that they are ready to go. We have a gig at the Swan Lounge in North Fremantle on February 19th. I can fairly safely say we will be playing stuff mainly from Fight To The Death at the gig, plus a scattering of material from the previous 3 albums. After playing with the band on Saturday, it was honestly as if no time has passed since we last jammed together with this lineup in July 2009. If you're planning on getting to Easterfest this year, I'm sure you won't be disappointed if you come and check out our set! Will blog again soon, catch you then. God Bless and Rock On! Vaughan
We have a gig at the Swan Lounge in North Fremantle on February 19th. I can fairly safely say we will be playing stuff mainly from Fight To The Death at the gig, plus a scattering of material from the previous 3 albums. After playing with the band on Saturday, it was honestly as if no time has passed since we last jammed together with this lineup in July 2009.

If you're planning on getting to Easterfest this year, I'm sure you won't be disappointed if you come and check out our set!

Will blog again soon, catch you then.

God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan]]> Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:09:15 GMT 5B5A376145323CA59D814E9DB37318B4 Happy New Year! http://graveforsaken.com/blog.cfm?feature=1994036&postid=672117 Hi everyone, this is Vaughan from Grave Forsaken.&nbsp;Welcome to a new feature we are putting on the website this year - the Grave Forsaken blog. Those of you who are regular followers of the band will know I put out a regular news update and email it to everyone, however I also wanted to do something a little less formal and regular. Hence the creation of this blog page. The idea is just to post quick bits of info here whenever I have the inclination. So it won't take the form of a formal news update, but rather a more spur of the moment thing. Also, I won't be emailing this blog - the only place I will post it is here at graveforsaken.com. The news emails will still go out as normal, but this blog will supplement them for people who want to know a little more about what's going on in the band. As it stands I'm looking to 2011. We are planning a good steady year, with regular live performances around Perth, and the usual songwriting and recording activities that we always do. As you possibly know, we are in the process of replacing our former drummer Richard, who left the band a few months ago. That has been the reason for our lack our shows recently, but once we have that situation resolved (and it is very close to a resolution), we plan to resume business as usual. Such is the nature of band life, we can't always announce things online until we know for sure what's going on, but I can promise you we have plenty in the pipeline. We are committed and booked to play at Easterfest in April, and we can't wait for that. The next few months will really be preparation for that event. Last year was a highlight for all the guys in the band,&nbsp;and this year will be no different. As you know, we regularly put out new material, and I have no intention to stop&nbsp;making music. It's hard to make guarantees, but I'd like to think for the life there will never be&nbsp;more than a 2 year gap between albums. It&nbsp;is challening, but we simply love&nbsp;making music, and don't want to stop, not&nbsp;for the foreseeable future anyway. So thanks for checking in, I hope to make&nbsp;this blog a regular&nbsp;informal thing I do. You know I appreciate your support, and so do the guys in the band. So from Vaughan, Matt, Elias and Simon, God Bless and Rock On!&nbsp;
The idea is just to post quick bits of info here whenever I have the inclination. So it won't take the form of a formal news update, but rather a more spur of the moment thing. Also, I won't be emailing this blog - the only place I will post it is here at graveforsaken.com. The news emails will still go out as normal, but this blog will supplement them for people who want to know a little more about what's going on in the band.

As it stands I'm looking to 2011. We are planning a good steady year, with regular live performances around Perth, and the usual songwriting and recording activities that we always do. As you possibly know, we are in the process of replacing our former drummer Richard, who left the band a few months ago. That has been the reason for our lack our shows recently, but once we have that situation resolved (and it is very close to a resolution), we plan to resume business as usual.

Such is the nature of band life, we can't always announce things online until we know for sure what's going on, but I can promise you we have plenty in the pipeline. We are committed and booked to play at Easterfest in April, and we can't wait for that. The next few months will really be preparation for that event. Last year was a highlight for all the guys in the band, and this year will be no different.

As you know, we regularly put out new material, and I have no intention to stop making music. It's hard to make guarantees, but I'd like to think for the life there will never be more than a 2 year gap between albums. It is challening, but we simply love making music, and don't want to stop, not for the foreseeable future anyway.

So thanks for checking in, I hope to make this blog a regular informal thing I do. You know I appreciate your support, and so do the guys in the band. So from Vaughan, Matt, Elias and Simon, God Bless and Rock On! ]]> Sun, 02 Jan 2011 01:58:02 GMT AE42FABED76DC5DEFEE1109AC53151F1