Deadside Manor

the name of the band is ...

Deadside Manor

Finally agreed on a name. Now onward...

First Song by the New Band

Okay, kids, here's the first song that we've decided to post from the still unnamed band. Technically, I'm actually playing all the instruments for this particular demo, but we are adding live bass guitar from Clint, and Jamie will soon be recording his live drums.

Right-click to open in new tab or window.

http://soundcloud.com/dimaensionx/mr-flynns-rockit-ride

It's a heavy, kinda bluesy tune called, "Mr. Flynn's Rockit Ride." Here's a few comments we've already heard from a few "fans" on the Reaper DAW Users Forum.

"Great rocking tune! I like the sounds too, especially the bass growl and string clunk."

"Liked your dirty 70s blues sound."

"Sounds like a great start. IMO, you should make this band all about the singer. He's got a very gritty and distinct blue-collar kind of style. Make sure that he always has interesting phrasing and bad attitude."

So far so good, huh? Here's the details on the band:

Dan Flynn - vox

Clint Mitchell - bass

James Jones - drums

Dave Lanciani - guitar

Arisen from the ashes of the "Basement Barfers" (today's color is "chunky pink"), the eternal trio of Dan Flynn, James Jones, and Clint Mitchell "volunteered" (conscripted/recruited?? lured by the prospect of money, drugs and groupies) Dave Lanciani into the mix, hoping to temporarily stave off the "revolving-door policy" of random guitar-players. The new band, now with more of a rockin' thrashy, traditional heavy metalbackground (imagine the Sex Pistols jamming with Entombed, Motorhead and Iron Maiden) forge ahead into the unknown.

Wow, that sounds really pretentious...

We're going to get a link up on Facebook, too. And we still need a name. Any ideas?

Some new music ... yet another Zappa Tribute

I managed to get a new tune recorded on Sunday, January 02, 2011

After watching my new copy of Frank Zappa, "The Torture Never Stops", which is a DVD of his great concert from Halloween Night, 1981 at the Palladium in New York, I was feeling a bit down, realizing that Mr Zappa has actually been gone for more than ten years. We'll never have another musician like him. So I pulled out my new Xaviere XV-870, plugged in, and recorded this:

Dimaension X "Ink Ero Des"

It's basically a cover of Frank Zappa's guitar solo section of his song "Inca Roads". One of my favorite solos from Frank (and apparently one of the more popular guitar solos from him, since there's a ton of different versions of this very solo).

Hope y'all like.

Burn Without Me and Moroghor news

As you may have noticed, there haven't been any news or updates for quite sometime now. Neither band is considered "active" anymore. Both are on extended hiatus. There are a few reasons for this.

First and foremost (and here's the big reveal for those of you who still may not have actually figured it out yet) neither band actually exists. Both are fictional bands created by Dimaension X. Yup, I, Dimaension X (also know my my true identity of Dave Lanciani) am the sole member of each project. I made each one up to explore different styles of music without too much of a connection to my own main Dimaension X stuff. Any other band member names in either project are fictional. Kind of like Brandon Smalls and Dethklok, or Steven Wilson's early vision of Porcupine Tree.

Secondly, I just haven't had any time to devote to either project, or even my own stuff since I joined a real band. Yes, a real band that actually does exist in reality - i.e., other actual humans who play instruments and sing. For now, this is what I am concentrating on. Quite frankly, I really needed this. It is such a blast to take part in musical creation with real people, just cranking up the amps and blasting away on simple chugging muted rock-power chords.

I'm also closing both bands' Myspace accounts. I'm just too busy and too lazy to keep up with maintaining them. I also closed my Dimaension X Myspace page. Everything you need to know about either project is still at their respective websites and blogs which are still active, as are the links to download their albums. I am going to try to upload Moroghor's music to The Internet Archive soon, so that ALL of the music I've done is readily available from there.

I'll be posting the same new update at all of the main websites, so all of our fans (all three of you!) will be properly informed.

Please note that this news does not mean that any of these projects are gone forever. When I have some time again, I may dig in and post some new music, depending of what mood I'm in. Feeling black and evil - I'll do some Moroghor tunes! Feeling generally schizophrenic and heavy - Burn Without Me! Jazzy-rock-ambient-classical? Dimaension X.

New band and more...

New band - yup, I guess that's the first big news - I've actually joined a band. I haven't played with a live band since 1994, but I decided it was time to brush up the live chops and just do it.

My next-door neighbor's band, "The Screamin' Barfys" broke up, or the guitarist was kicked out, or left, or a little of both, due to personality and musical conflicts, etc., so the left-over band, Clint, my neighbor on bass, Jamie on drums (also the drummer for Musclecah!!), and Dan of vox asked me if I'd be willing to step in and help out.

Since I've known these guys for a while now (Clint does live right frickin next-door!), and helped record their first album/demo, I said "sure." And it's been a blast. Really.

Where the Barfys' sound was more like 90's grunge-meets-hardcore, we're a bit more classic/traditional/early heavy metal/hard rock-meets-classic punk rock. If the Sex Pistols, Motorhead and Rollins Band fell into a blender ... well, that's kinda what we're trying. Maybe mid-to-late Entombed with clean singing?

We're pretty much sticking to all-original material (eleven songs written so far), and perhaps an odd cover tune or two if we ever get around to it. Dan has most of the lyrics done, and we're refining things as we practice. I'm also working on demo recordings as we progress, so we can do full versions when we're ready. I'd personally like to try recording the whole band live to capture that "energy."

Oh, we still don't have a name yet.

More news ... new toys - since my Schecter sounds so great with the GFS Mean 90 pickups, I've been oggling other stuff at the Guitar Fetish website, and finally gave in to my G.A.S. disease (Gear Aquisition Syndrome). In the clearance/blemish section, I found a very cool guitar, a Xaviere XV-870 Darkside Edition on sale for a ridiculous low price, plus I had a 15% off coupon code, so I dove in, along with ordering a set of Lil Killer Rail pickups for it. The guitar is basically a Strat-copy, but it looks like David Gilmour's strat, the black one with Maple fretboard and white hardware. It will hopefully be ready in less than a week. Can't wait to crank that thing with the new pickups. I already gave it a test-run with the band, and it really sounded great with the original stock pickups (which are GFS Vintage Alnico Staggers), but I had to adjust the amp and effect settings for traditional single coils, which tend to be a bit thin and trebly. But it did sound great, so these new pickups should really kick butt.

I also upgraded the firmware in my Line 6 Spider IV 75, so I added a bunch of new effects to an already great amp. They finally included their great simulation of the Tube Screamer, which I use all the time in my POD XT Live. There's also a bunch of new delays, and other stuff that I just haven't gotten around to yet. Gotta live Line 6. Yeah, I'm a walking advertisement, but I love their stuff.

And in other Interwebs news - I cancelled/closed my Myspace pages, including the Moroghor and Burn Without Me pages. I am still online here (duh, obviously), and Moroghor and Burn Without Me still have their regular websites where you can still download their albums. I just found that I totally lost interest in Myspace. I guess the new un-named band might still make a Myspace page when we're ready, but for now I'm done. Hmmm. I think I'll probably cancel my account over at last.fm, too.

New Toys Update

Wow. That's how everything sounded when I jammed with my next-door neighbor's band with my new amp and Mean 90 equipped Schecter.

The Mean 90 pickups sound great - they do sound like a cross between a single-coil and a vintage humbucker. Granted they do hum like a single coil would, but not as much as you would think. Very clear and crisp, yet with plenty of crunch. I had the pickups installed at Wavelengths Pro Audio Studios by Dianne Redstone, who is also a guitar instructor at the facility. I highly recommend this place to anyone looking to have their guitar adjusted or setup, pickups installed, etc. Very professional and not expensive.

The Line 6 amp performed well beyond expectations. I don't think I even had the master volume up to "ten-o'clock"(there are no actual numbers on any of the control knobs) and it was PLENTY LOUD. There were a few moments when the drummer got really loud, and I may have gotten drowned out a bit, but other than that, it sounded real good.

So all has ended well with these new toys, and I have kinda started a new band with these guys. We're writing a bunch of tunes, hopefully recording them, and then we're gonna try to get some local gigs in Worcester. More on that in later posts.

My new toy

Yup, I bought myself a new toy, kids. A Line 6 Spider IV 75 Watt amp.

Here she is:

75 Loud watts of output into a custom 12" Celestion Speaker - hundreds of built-in presets, 64 user locations to store your own sounds, and I also bought the FBV Mk II Express pedal control board so I can switch thru 4 of the presets at at time.

Can't wait to really play this thing loud and test it out!!!

I am also looking into replacing the stock pickups on my Schecter Omen 6 with some GFS Mean 90's, which are a humbucker-sized version of a vintage P-90 pickup. This may drastically change the sound of that guitar, but I want something with a bit more clarity and "spank", as opposed to the loud, but kind of dull sound I get now.

Any opinions on pickups, let me know whatcha think.