Monday Mosh - 10th July 2011
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
Monday Mosh - 20th June 2011
Monday Mosh – 20th April 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
Monday Mosh - 23rd May 2011
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
Monday Mosh - 9th May 2011
Monday Mosh – 9th 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.
Grave Forsaken Update - January 2011
January 2011
Hi everyone, Vaughan here. Welcome to the first update for 2011. The first order of business for the band is to get ourselves prepared for Easterfest in April. To that end, we are thrilled to let you know we have Dave Kilgallon (drums) and Simon Hoggett (guitar) returning to active Grave Forsaken duty for the tour! All of us in Grave Forsaken are excited about having the “Fight To The Death” lineup back on stage together. It will give us a chance to play the songs from “Fight To The Death” by the band that recorded them, and we can’t wait. Matt, Elias and I are wrapped to be working with the guys again. We have maintained close ties with each other, and that has made this possible.
Rehearsals are beginning later this month, and I’m in the process of booking some local gigs here in Perth in preparation for the event. So if you’re over here in WA, keep an eye on the website and try to get along to some shows. We have been discussing what songs to rehearse, and it will be a mix and of old and new, with one or two songs thrown in that we’ve never played live before. Bring it on!
I’d like to conclude this update by thanking all of you for your support through the last 6 months. Things have quiet been for us lately, but we’ve always had every intention of getting the ball rolling again. I’d also like to once again thank Richard for his contribution behind the kit. Without him, we would not have been able to successfully continue the band through 2009 and 2010. So thanks all, and we wish you a safe and happy 2011. Until next time…
God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan
Grave Forsaken update - 30th November 2010
Hi there, Vaughan here again. Thanks for checking out our latest update. On November 19th, my wife gave birth to our second child, James Edward Gregory. We are very proud parents, and James has been a delightful newborn so far. As a result, we’ve taken a couple of weeks off band practice. However, we should get going again next week.
The next thing we have lined up is the recording of a cover version of the classic praise and worship song “Fear Not”. We have been asked to do this for a project we are involved with and we are very much looking forward to it. All things going to plan, we should be recording the song sometime in January at Fattdog Studio. Who knows, we might just get a chance to record another song while we are at it.
Just last night, Elias and I were in deep discussion about the songs for the next album. We want to get some official guide tracks recorded as soon as possible so the album can enter the next phase of production. I can’t wait to unveil the concept, but I just want to hold off until we are certain it is going to happen that way. I’ve burned myself in the past by announcing things before they are confirmed! But if all goes to plan, it’s a good one.
Just a short update this time, but I wanted to finish by saying there’s a lot of good in our world. We hear all the bad news, but tend not to focus on positive news. So as you read, I encourage you to think about something good in your life right now. While we mourn with those who are downtrodden, let’s also rejoice with those who are joyful. And most importantly, let’s show God’s love to everyone we encounter.
God Bless
Vaughan
Grave Forsaken update - 26th October 2010
G’day everyone. Vaughan here with the latest from the Grave Forsaken camp. Even though not much has been happening on the live front of late, there has been a lot going on behind the scenes. The most significant event is that our drummer since August 2009, Richard Sallows, has decided to move on from Grave Forsaken.
In his 14 months with us, Richard has made a huge positive impact on the band. When he came in, the band was going through a spiritual dry patch. We had been going through some internal strife, and Richard came in and gave encouragement through difficult times.
Significantly, Richard travelled with us to the 2009 Blackstump Festival, performing in the show that many consider Grave Forsaken’s finest hour thus far. He also set about designing new t-shirts for the band, as well as business cards and flyers. He took on a big role in the band and we are grateful for that.
It wasn’t long before Richard became our bookings man. By this time last year, we were playing a great number of shows in a large variety of venues around Perth. This was thanks entirely to Richo’s efforts in securing us the gigs.
So you’re probably wondering why is he leaving. Well, in the end it probably comes down to the oldie “musical differences”. Matt, Elias and myself have increasingly come to see ourselves as a Christian thrash band. Certainly that is the direction our sound has gone in over the last 2 albums. Richard will freely admit he saw the band going in more of a hard rock direction, and in the end it was starting to affect the way in which we were developing new songs. I strongly feel the next album needs to continue in the thrash stylings of “Fight To The Death”, and Richard felt he couldn’t provide the appropriate drumming for that style. Over a very long phone call Richard offered his resignation on those grounds. It was an amicable and mutual decision, with no hard feelings whatsoever.
We were working on a batch of songs before he left, and those are the “solo” songs I mentioned in the last update. Richard will still provide the drums, and indeed he wrote a significant portion of the lyrics and contributed musical ideas as well. Last update I mentioned I would post them free of charge on our website as they are finished. I have no set time frame to get them online, but that certainly remains the plan. I really hate leaving projects unfinished, and I really do like the songs (remember I’m a longtime Kiss and AC/DC fan). For a bit more info on the songs, check out the latest episode of GFTV at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E-n9MHqWqY
It is appropriate that I finish this update with a sincere thank you to Richard on behalf of Elias, Matt and myself. We have appreciated everything you’ve done and look forward to a long and enjoyable friendship with you for many years to come. One chapter in the band ends, but as we all know, another chapter will begin soon.
God Bless and Rock On!
Vaughan and Grave Forsaken
Grave Forsaken Update - 8th October 2010
Hi all, Vaughan here. Well, it’s been pretty quiet in Grave Forsaken land of late. We are all enjoying a bit of downtime from the band while Matt recovers from his broken leg and settles into married life. His wedding was a great day, and he and Kirsten are quite literally a match made in heaven.
As many of you know, I’ve put together a bit of a home studio called “North Wind Studio”. Over the course of the last few months I’ve been tinkering with some songs that were written with Richard and Matt, and it’s been good fun. These songs aren’t really in the normal GF mould, so I’ve decided that I will put up a “Vaughan solo” page on the GF website and make the songs downloadable as I complete them. Richard has played most of the drums on the songs, and I’ll probably get Elias to come in a record some solos. The material is more hard rock in style, like the very early GF stuff from the EP and “Beside The River Of Blood”. So if you’re interested, keep an eye on our website in the coming weeks and months. I honestly don’t know how many tunes I will get fully recorded, but whatever does get finished will be there for you to download and (hopefully) enjoy.
I want to encourage you all to listen to Christian metal podcasts if you get the time. I really get a blessing out of listening to podcasts such as Full Armor of God, Metal For Christ, The Master’s Metal, Warzone, RoxxRoweMass and Metal Blessing Radio. And don’t forget Untombed Radio, Refinery Rock and Cross Stream. These DJ’s are true servants of God, and they all do a great job. I’ve been introduced to SO MUCH cool music listening to them. I’ve even surprised myself by some of the more modern metalcore type stuff I’ve been enjoying.
I just want to share something on my heart. I’m feeling a little uneasy that our current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, is a professed atheist. I have nothing against her personally, but her stance just doesn’t sit right with me. I’m just praying that God will be with her when she has to make the tough calls, even if she is not with God herself. I don’t know what you all think, but I felt it was important to share my true feelings with you all.
That’s all!
God Bless and Rock ON!
Vaughan
