FMP DEVELOPMENT LOG 2

BAND REHEARSALS

We were supposed to do a band rehearsal on Tuesday, but we found out that our teachers have a training day on Wednesday which meant we had a day off then. On Wednesdays we have production lessons and usually spend that time recording tracks for our EP or mixing and mastering ones we already have recorded. So, we decided instead of missing our production lesson, that we book the recording studio instead of a band rehearsal. This was a good decision as we managed to get the bass and keys recorded for “Illusions”, now all we have left to record is vocals and backing harmonies. Our plan for next week is to start recording our disco song “Flavour” and to finish the vocals for “Illusions”.

As college was cancelled on Wednesday, I decided to continue with my personal research project into having good stage presence as my aim for the end of this course is to get a distinction for my performance at the O2. I will be performing as a lead singer with my solo project band, and I will be performing as a keyboardist/ co-lead vocalist as part of Novacane. My solo music is very chilled out and soulful compared to Novacane’s music which is very upbeat and dancy. I need to be aware of how I can have good stage presence in both performances, so I have looked at 2 different live performances for this. For my solo project, I have decided to look at a live performance of H.E.R.:

As you can see in the video, the music that H.E.R. has is very R&B styled and chilled out, so her stage presence isn’t too active or over the top. Instead, she is just feeling the music, and you can really see that she is enjoying herself and is in the zone as well as being confident. She is moving to the bassline and drum beat of her music, which is what I am aiming to do at the O2 with my solo band. As all of my music has been written entirely by me, and each song has a different meaning to it, I feel like my solo performance is going to be a very personal one, and I am hoping that this brings the best out of my vocals and stage presence.

For Novacane, I have decided to look at a live performance of PREP as they are our bands biggest influence and we make very similar music to them:

As you can see from the video, PREP have a very similar band set out to Novacane. Bass, drums, guitar, keys, backing vocals and lead vocals. PREP’s performances never seem planned out or professional as they are always really well rehearsed but instead of following a routine, they just move with the music and interact with the audience, starting claps, doing a call and response, dancing on stage, pointing the microphone at the audience etc. My personal aim for the Novacane set is to dance at the keyboard and have a lot of band interaction with Ellie and Jack.

In Thursday band rehearsals we continued to write our seventh song which is now called ‘Hide’. We now have two verses, choruses, pre-choruses; the only thing left to write is the bridge which we want to do something different with, perhaps go into double time on drums or maybe a key change. As the song is quite repetitive, it becomes quite draining to play quite quickly, so we are just writing the song a little bit at a time.

In Fridays rehearsal we tried to continue to write Hide but we decided as a band that we didn’t like it very much and we were trying too hard with something that didn’t have much potential. Instead, we started to write a new song which uses call and response in the verse with really soulful vocals which I am excited about. I feel like this song is going to be one of Novacanes best ones. Here is a short clip of what we have so far: