No its not spring in Sydney, its actually the dead of winter – but its been a time of creative rejuvenation for me. I’ve been putting the finishing touches to the music for my Storm Pilots EP – all the drumsguitarsbass has been laid down and mixed, although I’m yet to record the vocals (always the most trying part for me). I felt that I was too focused on the concept of creating an album length work with The Life and Times so my mission with this EP was to do only three or four songs, but work them until each one was sonically detailed and the arrangement was just right. It will probably track in at just under 13 minutes.

After a two-month hiatus I’m starting to reform a Thomas North group (and am looking for a better band name, than just plain old Thomas North). I’ve been playing with a very facile violinist, who I think will be a good addition to the group and am putting out feelers for other interested muso types.

On the subject of Thomas North, Top of The World has been getting some pretty good rotation on FBi radio (been playing for about a month and a half now). Plus a number of the other tracks have gotten some air-play.

I’ve also started playing guitar for a band that occupies the diametric opposite end of the spectrum – a heavy, epic, intense post-rock group; Which has been a-lot of fun. This dyed-in-the-wool folkie finally gets a chance to rock out!

University has actually been quite good. I’m (finally) enjoying my course – fingers crossed there will be work for me at the end of the line

Well I’m supposed to be writing a philosophy essay – till next time, keep your ears to the train-tracks (you might hear me a’coming!)

A relative gap since blogs so theres a fair bit of creative news updates.

Starting with music. The opening track from Thomas North’s The Life and Times was, posthumously, chosen as a song of the week on FBi 94.5fm (the local indie radio station in Sydney). Too late to save my enthusiasm for the album.

However seasons turn. Work has began on a new EP for a new branch of music. ‘Thomas North’ has joined up with some other semi-fictional characters to form The Storm-Pilots. Distorted guitars, big-boy bass guitars, thunderous drums and no Beats-Per-Minute under 120. Hopefully music that one could jiggle around to. New songs have also been written for another Thomas North recording, probably only EP length this time though.

I’m back to university and have started working two days a week doing web design again. Also Riversend 8 is slowly developing as my flash skills develop.

In the Art Department. I began one large painting but then stopped because I felt like I wasn’t justified spending time painting when other things had made no progress (I know that probably sounds silly). However I still sketch in all spare moments and my sketch book fills slowly.

Ok, I’m off too see a band. Adieu. (Oh and real soon I’ll put a link to the full Life and Times somewhere).

So after much research I’ve finally gotten a handle on some technical understanding that has eluded me for quite a while – database driven Flash! So I’ve begun work on Riversend 8.

The new site will be run from the same MySQL database that the current Riversend 7, is running on. Except now the PHP files will generate XML documents to feed into the Flash player which will dynamically generate the interface. This is something of the web holy grail for me, as I always loved the crisp Flash renderings but hated the workload to get large sites running. So expect much more from Riversend 8, think slick alpha-fade transitions, nice typography and even some audio to accompany your visit.

After feeling very listless and unfocused for a week or two (which is standard procedure for me after any major long-term creative project) – my brain-cogs have switched gears from frets and keys to brushes and colors.

My initial plan for the post-album-come-down was to do a short stop motion animation I have storyboarded, but unfortunately the still camera I borrowed from a friend turned out to be in serious trouble (two pins are missing from the card-reader) so that has been postponed and in its place I’ve started painting again!

I’m nearly finished with the under-painting of quite a large portrait and I’m working on two others as well. I have noticed an increased patience in myself that was not present during my last paint-phase. I have an easier time leaving the easel, where before I might spend hours and hours straight. I’ll upload a work-in-progress photo in a blog. Also I’m hoping to improve upon my glazing technique, which suffered significantly from my lack of patience last time.

Anyway I’m up-up and away.

I went to the Big Day Out music festival and got to watches performances by Josh Pyke, Pnau, Battles, Augie March, The Arcade Fire and Rage Against The Machine. The highlight of the day (by a country-mile) was Battles. Normally technically prog-leaning music is a big bore for me, but these guys were so incredible to watch and listen.

In Creative Newsdom: The mental transition is slowly being made from music to visual as I plan for my short-film. I have hatched a rather grander scheme for it (which I cannot share currently) but I don’t know whether it will come to fruition in full scale.

I’ve made most of the deliveries for my album to friends and acquaintances (Phase One – and I hope to sell a-few copies at the Vanguard show, to pay printing costs for a batch of properly printed CDs to send to labels and managers.

Its Australia Day and I have a friend’s barbecue to attend so adieu.