Rehearsal everything I could have wished for....

Rehearsal everything I could have wished for. We made great leaps and bounds, more like ten steps forward and one back, the backward step being the new song Democracy's Dead. Marc was struggling with the rap section at the beginning. We discussed this and decided to ditch it and that I would attempt something different and get it to him asap. I went home and came up with something that I considered infinitely better and in fact it may shape the development of the entire second half...we'll see. That's the thing isn't it, a step backward may just be twenty steps forward in disguise! Back to rehearsal. We blocked almost the entire second half and everyone left much relieved I suspect... a very positive vibe. We inch closer to a video clip, possibly to be filmed this week albeit more probably next. Mark's recording session with Pete P went beautifully, two great songs in the can. At this point I'm reminded of an interview I watched on Youtube with Tim Minchin speaking about Matilda. He used the same phrase throughout the interview when saying as an 'Artifact, you do the best you can with the time you have". How very true. Miguel Miranda took three years to get "My Shot" the way it is in Hamilton. Now I usually say if you haven't written the song in three minutes, it's no good. that's ok up to a point and i think I mean the basis of the song, the roots that make it good. Listening to Tim Minchin, I started thinking about Clytemnestra's Rationalisation and it's taken six months to get it to where we're happy but it hasn't been orchestrated yet. The point is we all want more time, it's the most precious of commodities as we stare into the face of performance dates with a lot still to do!

Yesterday a group of us put down some backing vocals in the recording studio with Pete. We don't have an option here because the harmonies would be overly challenging in a live performance situation. Therefore, the voices are simply another instrument in the final mix. We're well pleased with the result although again you start with a notion of how much you want to get done and realise how much is possible in the time allocated. It was a batten change session with backing vocals making way for Mark who arrived to get new songs down. I left for my day job as he was tuning up, so as usual I can't wait to hear what they've come up with.