In the Funk

This one's going to be short...

I haven't had much motivation lately. There's various reasons for this that I'm not going to get into, but I'm trying to get myself out of a funk that I (in a way) put myself into.

So I'm just going to post some music that I demoed a few days ago.

Ethereal was supposed to be a stella song, but seeing as we're no longer a band, it's now the 4th song of the Fairy Album. (I've got to think of a name for that album)

Fairy Run is going to be track 6 of the album. Those of you who's seen me play in the last few months, you've heard me play this track live. Bass lines are still kinda "iffy" at parts but it's the general idea that's important. I'm definitely going to add violins to this one. The parts are undeniable.

In other Syna news, I should be playing a show at Cranky Yellow early next year (details still finalizing) as well as potentially doing an in-studio performance at KDHX.

I've also joined another band which will quench my thirst of playing music with other people. I would say who this band is...but I want to make sure this all pans out as planned. Looking forward to rehearsing with them in the coming weeks...

Hope you all enjoy the holidays!

~Syrhea

The Beginning of the End

I've been procrastinating on writing up this blog for several days now...

There's plenty to blog about, but I'm slightly still in denial, upset and angry about the main post I'm going to quickly mention.

I'm sure most of you know by now that Stella Mora has decided to call it quits after our show tonight.

Why?

Honestly I still don't have an inkling of an idea. This is by far the best line-up we've had. We all get a long with each other, and we play some pretty awesome shows. Sure our "show-load" has slowed down this past year, but that's life at times. The notion of not feeling like doing it anymore is absolutely unfathomable to me and therefore doesn't compute as a legitimate reason to quit.

But we did have a great 3 year run with many ups and a lot of downs, in the beginnings (at least for me), with a ridiculous amount of members throughout the years. I'm going to try my hardest to not get too emotional tonight at our final show. Sounds pretty stupid but the time invested in all of our songs is numerous, as well as this is the longest run I've ever played in a band. So of course I'm going to feel like a huge musical chunk has been stolen from me. But like I said earlier, that's life at times and I guess my sensitive ass needs to get over it. (Give me about a year)

So please, please, please, I implore you to come out to the Firebird tonight, find me sulking in a corner somewhere, grab me and take me to the bar, and from there we can enjoy a drink together.


*sniff*


Anyway, on the Syna front. Been doing a lot of research on radio stations in the regional area and the album should be available digitally (itunes and the like) here in the next month or so.

I'm also playing at APOP Records this Saturday with Mavis Concave, Eric Hall, .e, Evolve, and John Tamm-Buckle.



That is pretty much it.
Hope to see a lot of you at the final stella show tonight.

RIP Stella Mora: 11/29/06 our first show - 12/04/09 our feedback finale



~Syrhea

Chicago and le Wood

So, this is way late...

What can I say other than I wanted a little break. I had actually written a 'day by day' run through of our (Dottie plus me) trip to Chicago. I was going to post it...but it was stupidly long, and I didn't want to proof read it or bore you all with my overly detailed dribble. Plus I was being lazy. So I'll tell you how Chicago was in 12 short sentences...

• 1 - Dottie fell 2 hours after arriving resulting in a terribly bruised foot and ankle.


• 2- -We stayed, for 2 of the 3 nights, at Bill Tucker's apartment with another artist Derek (Mallow Hazard)


• 3 - I actually had to go to Guitar Center twice that weekend and knew it was going to be just a douchey (sp?) in Chicago as it is here in StL.


• 4 - Had some vegan pizza and it was delicious


• 5 - Bill, Derek, Dottie and I all played awesome sets the first night at Fill in the Blank Art Gallery


• 6 - a Light Sleeper helped me unload and load the gear Saturday night, since Dottie's foot was non-weight bearing


• 7 - Derek, Dottie, Bill, Kristen, and I stayed up until 3 am talking of old high school stories, Michael, how gay 2012 is going to be, as well as taking pictures of Dottie's foot.


• 8 - Dheeru's apartment has ridiculous amounts of stairs.


• 9 - Honey BBQ was delicious


• 10 - Fellow former shoegazers Matt and Julien came out to Cole's in full support on a Sunday night.


• 11 - The Sunday show was surprisingly awesome considering the day of the week, the L running every 15 minutes, and our overall exhaustion from the trip.


• 12 - We fell asleep around 4am on Monday morning resulting in about 3 hours of sleep before we loaded gear and headed back to StL.

In a nutshell, I had loads of fun and I'm confident that Dottie will laugh at the experience in the future... It's not sad, it's awesome!

This past Friday I played the Maplewood Arts Walk at the Turner Center for the Arts on Sutton. Unfortunately I didn't arrive there until, literally, 15 minutes before I was scheduled to play. I had absolutely no time to check out the event and I regret that I had to work that day. The show went ...eh... reasonably well. I didn't practice at all between the shows in Chicago and the Maplewood shows. But I still managed to reach a handful of people there resulting in a success.

I uploaded a song that I performed in Chicago to youtube and facebook today...
check it out...




I'm still struggling with the video camera.

First, at my CD Release show, I set it up, but never hit record.

Then, a month later, I forget the camera entirely.

After that, in Chicago, I repeated to set up the camera but never hit record on the first night. The second night, I set it up, didn't hit record, while on stage, asked one of the audience members to record me, only to have the battery run out after one song.

At the Turner show in Maplewood, I left it in the car.

I don't know why I can't remember to do these basic things...

...oh well.

I also revamped my website (synasoloproject.com) and would kindly appreciate any and all feedback. Just let me know what you like or don't like.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!
I'm planning on eating myself into a coma this year.

...

...

~Syrhea

What's Ahead in My World

Yo Yo Yo!

The show this past Sunday went really well. Half Handed Cloud's new album is definitely worth $10. Well orchestrated, arranged and executed, while each track is no longer than a minute and a half. Yet the album seems so seamless... Pretty effing genius if you ask me. Thanks to Alberto for, once again, asking me to play one of his shows. It was fun as always. My only regret was forgetting to bring my video camera to capture Kevin's awesome studio space. Something I WON'T forget to do in CHICAGO!!!!

That's right peeps...Dottie and I leave in 3 days. And I haven't told her that we're not coming back. She'll find out when she reads this. (To Dottie: We're not going back to St. Louis.|From Syrhea)

I've recently decided that I'm no longer going to solicit for Indie Record labels.

*GASP*

But WHY Syrhea? You're album is the shit!
Ah...you're sweet. It has nothing to do with me not thinking my album is good enough, but everything to do with the fact I'm convinced that I can just as easily start my own label. Of course I'll have a lot of business books to read up on...might as well enroll myself in a few classes. I figure if this endeavor is an epic fail, I can always go back to trying to solicit other Indie Record Labels. We'll see how that goes for now.

I sent a fresh new track to the peeps on my mailing list earlier this week and judging from the feedback I've received, some of them are convinced that I should start my own studio. Or at least stop paying money to use other studios. And I guess this could be feasible but I'm not an engineer and I'd rather have live drums on all of my albums. At the same time if I just save about 2 grand (which is about as much money it'll cost to go to a studio) and buy a G5 with Pro-Tools, I could have a start to my own studio. Baby Steps...baby steps... Maybe one day..

But first, I'm planning on heading back into the studio sometime, before June, of next year. This time the songs that I actually play live will be on the album and I won't feel so guilty during the release show.

I've finished the outline to the "Fairy Album" (scratch title) and I'm currently writing a couple more songs to finish the story out. I'm thinking it'll be pretty cool...

...hopefully...

Playing now is either What's Ahead, (a track you've heard via myspace or the website) or My World, an instrumental I just demoed the other day. There will be vocals on the track, I just didn't feel like recording them at the moment.

Oh and please ignore the crappy guitar solo in the middle...I was just trying to get the arrangement where I wanted to. I'm kinda torn: Should I add violin or not? I hear parts but I'm thinking I have too much already...thoughts?

I'll post more "unfinished" demos here in the future...

I figured this is a Music Blog so I should post some tunes from time to time...

Anyway, I think that's it.

I need to go practice for the Chicago shows this weekend.

Lates!

~Syrhea

The "Vacation" Ends...

So...yeah! Been a while eh? Sorry about that.

Let's do a quick recap of the last three weeks...

Friday Oct 9th: I was very excited to play a show in Urbana IL only to hit a unidentifiable canine (I'm still thinking it was a werewolf) an hour into the trip. This animal managed to render my vehicle not drivable leaving me very upset. I would later find out that my insurance company sucks ass and wouldn't fix my vehicle...

And yes, I'm still car-less but I'm thinking I'll have some good luck blow my way soon.

Saturday Oct 10th: My album was finally released and the show went pretty well. I made a few mistakes here an there but nothing to cry over. Had a great time at the Listening Party as well. Fun time all around. Glasswaves and a Light Sleeper kicked total ass and I'm still amazed at the talents of both of those bands!

This is WAAAAAY late but I'd like to thank each and everyone of you for coming out and supporting my musical endeavors. I pretty much busted my ass up to that point, and there are a few people I'd like to personally thank, who lent a hand.

• Huvona Brackins (see, I spelled your name right)- The Listening Party wouldn't have even happened if it wasn't for her. Plus she hooked me up with the talents of Kevin McCoy, a person that I'll thank next. And I might add, if you need a party planned, that's the woman to contact. She's definitely a super-human!


• Kevin McCoy
- This dude made the most badass logo for me and got my stickers and buttons made in less than a week, just in time for the Listening Party. Check it out...

I'm looking forward to working with him again soon!
website is www.stoopidfresh.com


• Jason Robinson- Hooked me up with T-shirts at the very last minute for the Listening Party as well. He had his lovely pregnant wife (With Twins!) working all the way up until the 10th finishing up the T-shirts for me. You both are awesome and thanks soo much!


• Dustin Miles- I pretty much bombarded his basement forcing him to help me assemble jewel cases...a task I was growing less and less fond of. It was mundane work yet fun times. Thanks!


• James and Brea McNally- Thanks for letting me play your venue! It was effing awesome and I'd love to do it again sometime!

Friday-Sunday Oct 23rd, 24th, and 25th: In the weeks in between the 10th and the 23rd, the stellas were practicing after a 3 months long hiatus. We had ourselves a "mini tour" that was probably some of the coolest and most fun times I remember having in a long time. Nothing like sleeping in rental vans with four guys, unloading gear at 6am, sleeping on futons and couches, and generally having a great bonding time with band mates. I could have done without unloading and loading gear about 10 times in 72 hours...that sucked, but the shows were awesome and we all had a blast.

From Oct 26th to Oct 31st: I was feverishly putting together my planned Halloween costume that I kept secret until the night before Halloween. I must say I'm pretty proud of this costume even though I didn't finish it exactly how I wanted it. But I was a Ghostbuster by day and Orora Munroe (a.k.a Storm) by night. Of course I have pictures for you!










So I've got some new shows booked and they are as follows:

Sunday Nov 8th @ Floating Laboratories with Alberto and Half Handed Cloud
Floating Laboratories
4528 S. Ohio St.
St. Louis, MO 63111


Saturday Nov 14th @ Fill in the Blank Art Gallery with .e and White Rose
Chicago IL

Sunday Nov 15th @ Cole's with .e and a Light Sleeper
Chicago IL

Friday Nov 20th @ The Turner Center for the Arts
Maplewood MO

Saturday Dec 5th @ Apop Records with a whole lotta artist
St. Louis MO

Hope to see some of you there!

I'll start setting up the album to be sold via my website soon, then I'll go digital cause that's what all you kids want to do anymore.

Thanks again all!

I need to go practice and ship disks out for more press... luck Luck LUCK LUCK!

...that is all...

~Syrhea

All We Hear Is...

...radio ga ga
...radio go go
...radio ka ka

All we hear is...
...radio ga ga
...radio blah blah

So as most of you already know, my local artist spotlight bit is being played on KDHX. I think it sounds pretty good after getting over my initial thought, which was pretentious and retarded. I always get a little uneasy when I'm described as a classically trained musician. It puts this idea in the listeners head that I'm some sort of prodigy, which I'm obviously not. Every single instrument I play, I play mediocre at best. I just have a way of putting it all together. But since I did have classical lessons as a child, I'm classified as classically trained. This is something I need to get over.

Santhem also got some air time last Friday on Thomas Crone's "Silver Tray" show. I caught the beginning of the song and thought that it was just local artist spotlight clip. Then I realized that he was playing the whole song. Surprised I yelled at work, "Oh my God! They're playing the whole song!"
No one really knew what I was talking about...except for Smalls, but she knows everything.

You can hear both the Local Artist Spotlight and a clip from the Silver Tray show in the mini iPod.

Anyway,
I've got my stage banter lines memorized for this Saturday. Taking a new approach and I think it works pretty well. I changed my mind at the last minute about doing an all Acapella set in IL. I'm going to treat that show as the dress rehearsal for the release show. If I really want to tour next summer, or ever, I might as well bite the bullet now and start playing back to back shows.

So in light of this, I've decided to play a 15 minute acapella set tonight at Friendly's to further promote the Cd Release Party. (10.10.09 @ the Luminary Center for the Arts with a Listening Party @ the Royale immediately after the CD Release)

Hope to see you all there!
And the flier as promised...



p.s. I only have 30 more disks to make!
Yay for ME!

...that is all...
~Syrhea

Down to the Wire

Boy oh boy oh boy...

Where do I start?

I haven't practiced, or played since my show on the 17th...nor have I written any banter. I've made about 31 disks, but can only sell 13 of them because I'm giving away 18. These aren't really bad things...what's bad is that I'm talking myself out of working on this right now. I'm tired of being in this hole, working all the time. So I took a few days off last week. What did I do? Well, I mailed more disks out, stopped by KDHX again, oh what was that? What did I do that wasn't CD Release related? Oh, dude...you guys. I saw this pilot that I believe is watched via television called Battlestar Galactica. Holy shit that show is amazing. I might have to start adding that to my netflix queue.

But down to some Grrrreat news! My girl Nana, who's really been pulling through for me here, (You know you're awesome!) has hooked me up with the talents of Kevin McCoy. (I'm not even joking, go to his website and click "archive") He has just recently designed a pretty b-dass logo for Syna So Pro and I would love, love, love to post it here and show you, but I'm gonna make you wait. But it's sooo friggin AMAZING! No, forget amazing, it's STOOPID FRESH!

What is he designing it for?
Ah, well I'm glad you asked. It's for the free merch that I'm GIVING AWAY (FREE!) at my Listening Party on the 10th of October at the Royale. Why am I mentioning this multiple times per week? Well I'm not sure you folks are understanding the magnitude of free here. I'm pretty much giving away easily $12 worth of merch as well as a little sumptin, sumptin, Nana was thinking about adding.

How do I obtain this free merch?
Just sign up on my mailing list. It's not that hard, I swear! Then I'll send you a ticket and then you give me the ticket in exchange for the free stuff at the Listening Party on the 10th. C'mon guys!

I've got a lot of work ahead of me, but knowing how sometimes I can be a procrastinator, I know I'll pull it all together at the last minute. I wish these damned social networks weren't so time consuming...and more importantly necessary.

Syna's adopted quote:
"Make 10 jewel cases a day, and your urgency and anxiety will go away!"

And once again, don't forget:


Tell a friend, bring a friend!
Bring yourself too!

...that's all I got...

~Syrhea

God I'm Weird...

So, despite previous circumstances, the show last Thursday went pretty well. I was testing out if I could in some way use the PA as my own monitor. That was an epic fail. I don't think I'll have anything to worry about on the 10th, and I might not have much to worry about on the 9th...

Oh yes the 9th! So, I'm playing a show in Urbana IL the night before my release on the 10th of October. Should I really be doing this? Will I jinx myself? I've actually already thought of those two questions, so I'll only be doing another a'capella set and try my hardest to fight the urge to drink and party with the rest of them. Plus I'm thinking this should be a perfect opportunity to sell some disks the night before the release. Get a little bit more exposure. a Light Sleeper hooked me up with this show at the last minute and I'm appreciative, but I only wished that I had shipped some disks out to the north side earlier to get better publicity and promotion.

But back to the show on the 17th. For those that were there, you all knew that I didn't have enough time to program "stage banter" scripts into my loop pedal. So there was unbearable, for me anyway, silence in-between songs. I'm not sure what has happened to me in the last several months...I guess working feverishly in a hermit state has caused me to forget how to be social and work a room or a crowd. I was a little bit more awkwardly weird than usual and I have no effing clue as to why. And for some reason, I'm still afraid to look at my audience while I'm playing. What is up with that? What's happening to me? Where did all this fear come from? It could have been because I was immediately following Daniel Francis Doyle because he's friggin' awesome, but BAH! I've even noticed this quirk during the last stella show. I wasn't working the crowd, just kinda sitting off to myself extremely tired and ready to play so that I could go home and sleep. Yes, I had a lot on my mind about planning this release but geez! This is something I definitely need to work on in the next coming months because I want to give it my all in Chicago. .e and I are going to rock that city, with are ethereal-like qualities.

Anyway, I guess you all need a little bit more poking than usual. Do you guys not want free merchandise? How could you not want free stuff? Well, If You Really Want It, sign up on my mailing list and I'll send you a ticket that you must present to me on the 10th of October at my Listening Party. Give me the ticket, I give you free stuff. It's not that hard peeps!

Once again, in case you forgot: (I'll be posting this every week until the show's happened)



Tell a friend, bring a friend!

...that's all I got...
~Syrhea

The Question I'll Always Hate

Most of you know that this past week I had a little interview with KDHX for the Local Artist Spotlight, and I think overall it went pretty well. I may have gone off in my little tangents and side acting stories a bit much, but hey, that's me. I did, however, encounter a question I'm learning to hate more and more twice this week. The first time was obviously in the interview at the radio station. Just one simple question that I don't think I'll ever be able to answer confidently or with any absolute idea of what I'm talking about.

The question is:

"What does your music sound like?"

Not that this question isn't already hard enough to answer but we all know what that really means. It means, "Who do you sound like" or "What artists that I've heard do you sound similar to?". I'm not sure why we must always compare music with other music. It's true, I do it too, but can't our vocabulary extend beyond this general comparison?

I stumbled over the answer for about 3 minutes before I finally said, "I hate this question...I don't know how to answer it."

The same thing happened this past Saturday at bar. I can totally understand an owner wanting to make sure a disk doesn't sound like shit before he agrees to host a party, but God I hate that question! Just listen to the album! I got you a free copy! I could say that I sound like a female fronted MUSE with drops of Queen's vocals, Trail of Dead's rhythm's, and arrangements touch to the like of John Williams, but I won't. Why, because I'm not that sure that it even sounds like that.

I can say confidently that I don't think my recorded album sounds anything like Imogen Heap. I get that comparison quite often and Imogen has been a huge inspiration to me, but her music sounds more like the music I WANT to make but somehow falls short and in a whole different genre. Maybe the next album I could agree with that common comparison I get.

Anyway, enough about that riff-raff.

I booked, with the help of Nana, (actually SHE booked) a Listening Party at the Royal immediately after the Release of the Cd on the 10th of October. The Party is obviously free, and we'll sit and drink some beers and listen to my album...for free! But this is not the end of this news. For those of you who are already on the mailing list, you will receive a little ticket in your email that you can print off and bring to the Listening Party. In exchange for this ticket, you'll get a free (did you see that...FREE!) grab bag of Syna So Pro merch because, let's face it, you're special. I'm very appreciative of all you who willingly signed up on the list.

So if you want to get a freebie bag of Syna So Pro merchandise, you need to sign up on the mailing list. So easy.




And here's the flier for the CD Release show! Whoopie!

click to enlarge




Plus I'm playing a show at Lemp Arts Center with the awesomely talented Daniel Francis Doyle, and .e this Thursday! Come out if you can. It's a night of loop-de-looping!

...that's all I got...

~Syrhea

Just Watch the Video

Yeah,

It's Labor day...

I ain't postin' nuthin...

Just watch the video!

~Syrhea

Pep in the Step

So...

Despite the fact that I'm still very, very tired, I've gotten energized about what I've been doing with this project. I pretty much forced myself to sit down, on Saturday, and finished the animated music video, as if The Goblin King himself would crown me Princess of the Bog of Eternal Stench. (Yeah, I just recently watched that movie...classic)

Like I've posted a million times before, it consists of 834 frames and I did it all by myself. Whoo hoo!

I probably shouldn't brag too much. It totally looks like children animated the video. But I kinda like that look.

The people who's already signed up on my mailing list has already received the video...except some of you Hotmail peeps... Apparently the attachment is "too large" and I have to resend the email to you. Lame...


In other news, I shipped out some disks of the album to local press and I'm sure I'll be playing the waiting game until the very last minute of hearing anything back. Thanks to all who wished and wishes, and continues to wish me luck.

The next step is to send out about 10 more disks to local noteworthy bloggers...I know of about 4, if any of you actually read music blogs in the area and dig them, send me a link! I need to get on this pronto!

But first, I need to wash my hair...

...it stinks...

...that's all I got...
..except...

♫♫You remind me of the babe
What baby? baby with the power
What power? power of voodoo
Who do? you do
Do what? remind me of the babe♫♫


~Syrhea

This Case is a Jewel

So...

I'm not going to lie...

This blog is dated 8/23/09 but it was actually written today. (8/25/09)

My head is spinning, face pale, eyes swollen, appetite gone, liquid drained, and joints aching. I feel so far behind when in actuality I'm doing fine. I guess the sensation of being overwhelmed is hitting me...pretty hard. Somehow, on top of putting out this disk, I've managed to be responsible for building my company a website, and making fliers for a co-worker's baby shower.

*inhale*

*exhale*

But, on to the task at hand...

Somehow when ordering jewel cases and printable disks...instead of receiving 100 of each, I received 200. That's great an all, but geez, what the hell am I going to do with all of these? It literally took me an hour and a half to paste, cut, insert, assemble 5 disks...

FIVE!

Still no progress on the animated music video, as well as actually practicing any of my songs...

And I'm still tired as hell

I need a vacation, and needless to say, a little bit of help. If any of you fine folks could find the kindness in your heart to donate you house, home, shack, garage, whatever you have to a CD Assembling Party for my benefit, I would, greatly, greatly appreciate it. And obviously, throw in an album and some beer for free.

Let me know!

And thanks to all who made it to the Jovian CD Release Party...

...it was neat...

Anyway,

I've gotta jet...

...that is all...


~Syrhea

Slow Burn...

This past week has been pretty interesting...

I pretty much stopped working myself ragged from Wednesday to earlier this afternoon. This wasn't by choice. I suddenly feel like my mid 20's body has been replaced with the body of a frail and frigid 60 year old man. I find myself being hungry, getting something to eat, and falling asleep before I even finish my meal, and waking up confused as hell and still hungry. I fell asleep from sheer exhaustion twice (that's right twice) this week before 9pm.

I'm yawning right now...and it's barely 9:30pm.

Friday night I went to El's place to catch up on new mailing list subscriptions (You guys are awesome!) and a little Linux education only to fall asleep on the couch while watching Arrested Development at around 10:30pm. I mean seriously, who the hell falls asleep on Arrested Development? And once again I have to thank the person who invented the striated concrete on the shoulders of interstates. If it wasn't for those loud, god forsaken vibrations, I would have sustained serious injuries trying to drive back home, on Friday, while sleeping.

Saturday I made it a point to actually get out of the house and act like someone in their 20's. Had a few beers, hung out with a couple of friends, saw a few bands, and was in bed by 12:30am. Still a bit early for a Saturday, but baby steps...

...baby steps...

I'm pretty much burn out on this music video. I've got one more minute to animate, but I can't bring myself to do anything with it right now. So I ended up doing what this project is supposed to be about...playing music. Practiced for about 2 1/2 hours today (too tired to go longer) working on some new stuff and trying to perfect the old. And jotting down a wave a lyrics that came from nowhere..as if they were there the whole time. I was going to post some new music here but... yeah, I'm effing tired...

But I did make a couple of paintings that will be printed on the album discs.

I dig it...

Took a wooden turn table, taped paper to it, got a few colors of watered down acrylic paint, spun the table, dropped some paint and Voila!


Test 1


Test 2


Combination of tests with the aid of Photoshop

I dig it a lot...

Another quick reminder that Jovian's CD Release party is this Friday @ the Firebird... It would be cool to see some of you out. Let's hope I can stay awake for the night of music...

*yawn*


*smack* *smack*

...

Yeah, I'm going to bed...

~Syrhea

Listeners and Parties and Releases OH MY!

Many things to say but only 2 things are really important.

First the unimportant stuff. (In my opinion...not that's it's unimportant, you've already heard or knew it was coming...I don't know...who cares/ SHALL WE?)

I'm proud to say that I've successfully animated 318 frames to my music video!

Oh yes!

Is it finished?

Well...no but it's halfway! BOOYAH! I've got 1 minute and 20 seconds (and counting) of it finished, and I'm very confident it'll be entertaining your beautiful eyes in about 2 weeks.

The mastered disk is back in the hands of Jack. There were just 3 small things that weren't sitting well with me. Although I've had a few close friends listen to the album,and they have no idea why I'm sending it back, I know I'll never be able to listen to two songs without shaking my head. I would never forgive myself.

Having regrets like,'What did I see in you?', 'Why did I eat that chili before this meeting?', 'Why didn't I slap that bitch in the face?' is one thing, but this?...nononono. No regrets.

Jack did an awesome job and I'm lucky he's willing to work on the changes.

The album art. Well it's done...kinda. You know it looks nice and stuff. But my poor band mate Jim is totally slammed at his job. He's been slammed for a while and I feel bad for him. So for now, I'll print maybe about 10 cd's or so for the press and promotion and save the REAL ONES for you listeners.

And speaking of you listeners... the first of you who signed up on my mailing list last month will be receiving a free mp3 from this album next week. Think of it as a thank you for putting up with my weekly emails and reading this blog. I appreciate every last one of you! If you aren't signed up to the mailing list but you want to receive a free mp3, you can either send me an email @ synasoloproject@gmail.com or simply sign up on my mailing list by visiting http://www.synasoloproject.com/contact.html

Soo exciting!

---

The Important Stuff!

---

The Jovian Chorus will be having it's first CD Release Party this month (08.21.09) @ the Firebird! I think you all should come and give Mr. Moseley a big pat on the back. He pretty much recorded all the instruments (except a few) himself as well as arrangement and composition of the songs. (Trust me, that shit's meticulous) With Mr. Jones at his side pounding out the mixes, and production, I can very well say the record sounds pretty sweet. Plus Jack did that whole magical mastering thing again!

You're wondering where I come into this equation, and the answer is simple: I don't. I'm just the bass player for the live shows.

You can stream his whole album via myspace @ http://www.myspace.com/thejovianchorus. And I've heard something about T-shirts and digital downloading directions can be purchased at the show. It starts early (9:00pm) and I hope to see you all there!

And last but not least!

Syna So Pro (that's me) CD Release party will be on Sat, October 10th @ The Luminary Center for the Arts. (10.10.09) It will be a night of live looping with Glass Waves and a Light Sleeper from Chicago. I'm pretty excited/scared/anxious/nervous/relieved/stressed and any other adjective you can think of. More details as the date approaches.

And...

some pics...

Glass Waves


a Light Sleeper


...that's all I got...

~Syrhea

Deadlines in Sight

A few of you may have seen that I just spontaneously decided to make my own music video...

This is proving to take up more time than I had originally anticipated. I thought I could make a little cheap video with pictures and toys in frame by frame movement, but I decided not to deal with issues of lighting and scenery etc. So I'm drawing it. Got the story board finished in about two hours and started the animation right away. Story board images are below...

click to enlarge












It will have ducks, water, cliques, planning, motivation, excelling, and back packs...Don't ask, you'll see.

So, I'm not too terrible of an artist...I can dabble a little, but what I can't do is dabble with a mouse. The software I've been using requires me to draw with a mouse and only with a mouse...I don't even have shape tools to my advantage. I could just open up photoshop and import the frames in that way, but I actually like the way the video looks in it's childlike cartoonish form. I've animated about 120 frames so far...which is about 20sec out of the 2:38 seconds of the song.

Will it be done before the release of the cd? With everything else that's going on, I can't make any promises...but I really should fine time to practice while I'm doing all of these promotional projects.

In other news, I got the mastered disk back from Jack yesterday. El and I had a little meet with him at his effing awesome pad! I must say, I'm pretty impressed with his work and I'm excited that the rekkid actually sounds like a record. I'm going to let the disk soak into my brain for about a week before I decide if it's a no or a go. Just like what my boss says,
"Take your time, go slow, and do it right!"

Plus I still have a crap ton of research to do, as well as the finishing touches on the album insert...I need to clone myself like Michael Keaton in Multiplicity, so I won't be so exhausted from working my 9 hours, then going home and working the remaining 7-9 hours on this release. I'm tired! But like Mrs. Schwartz says, "You've got to get off of your butts and your buts!"

Hmm...but if I were to clone myself...it's best to clone 5 of me...

...then I'd really be my own band...

I'm off to do more research...

...I've got deadlines to meet...

...that all I got...

~Syrhea

The Reveal

So, as promised, I'm posting pictures of Big Blue. I received many compliments on his construction at the show last night, as well as comments of my overall sexiness for building it...even in my spider man t-shirt. And without further ado, here are external picture of the new male in my life...


He barely fits in the trunk...




Some nice corner blocks...


My favorite feature!

More to come on his sweetness from the inside. I meant to snap a few with a new, but old, camera I just purchased today, as well as a laptop and some headphones, from my friend/old band mate Dan, but I wanted to hurry and get this laptop to El so that he can work his magic of make it a Windows-less Operating System.

Sure enough, he fixed it up in about 30 minutes and I'm currently at his place, typing this blog, watching Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas, and uploading the new teaser Syna video to facebook on the laptop, all at the same time, with no lagging! I'm glad I've snatched this up, even if it is about 5 years old. It will just make it that much easier "stay connected" with everything, for I have another reveal...

I finished the website and would love for you all to check it out and pass it around. (www.synasoloproject.com)

But wait, there's more, I also opened a twitter account, as well as a facebook account for Syna So Pro.

...

*sniff*

...

That wasn't as climatic as I had hoped...

Anyway, Bliss City East, Panda Riot and Fractured Army all kicked some ass last night. It was a lot of fun, and the night seemed to speed on by. Thanks to all who made it out and stuck around!

I really don't have much else to blahg about but I want to keep playing on this laptop...

Who's going to tell me what kind of operating system I'm running? #! (psst...alan...that's your cue)

...that's all I got...

~Syrhea

A Year Ago Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow...

I was nervous, excited, moody, unsure and very, very anxious. The night before a year ago yesterday, I couldn't sleep too well. I couldn't wait to get up at 0730 and start cooking breakfast for El, Will, and Shae because that would mean that I was that much closer to recording my first debut album.

Sleeping that night was like sleeping the night before Christmas when Christmas was the most important thing to a child. Even on the "couch of lethargy" I couldn't drift away. I was up, mind racing:

"I think Shae can knock out the drum tracks in about 5 or 6 hours"
"...I really hope I get halfway done when this weekend is over..."
"...you should have practiced the violin more..."
"...and your guitar parts..."
"...you should really start with these songs first..."
"...I hope El will help me with distortion sounds..."

Sleep finally came and recording started with only a little bump in the road. The drums took most of the first day, leaving me with about 2 hours to squeeze some bass lines in. Bass and guitar was all day the second day, and guitar the remainder of the third day. I remember being disappointed that I didn't get at least halfway through all the instruments to be recorded. I also remember being in slight disbelief that I could forget to add a part or two to a song. (How could I completely forget about parts, not the parts themselves, but putting the parts in the songs?)

Looking back a year ago, I learned that nothing, nothing ever goes as planned...EVER! El said it best: "You can't record songs when you have time booked. You have to record when you feel it...when you're in it." I agree 100%. When I started recording, I didn't want the process to take a year to do...and here we are a year later with the final product to be release in a couple months. The whole process was time consuming, tiring, difficult, monotonous, frustrating, and tedious in every way possible. But I couldn't be happier with how everything is finally coming together.

It's been a long time since I posted some music on the blog. I thought it would be fitting for me to post a song that I wrote a year ago, and still haven't gotten total lyrical inspiration. It was my attempt to write a riff... I think it's kinda funny... It's got anvils...they're always funny... I especially like the ebowed guitar parts... Hope you guys dig it.

Last night El and I went driving around to capture some footage for a video idea I have. I not going to say much more than that, but since you are following this blog, I figured I could at leas post some stills for your pleasure...




















Two questions before I "sign off" here. Of the few of you who actually read this, how much more or less inclined are you to buy a jewel case of the album, as oppose to digital? (this is if you were going to buy the album of course)

And are you coming to the stella show this Saturday? You can finally see my pedal board! (this is if you didn't already see it earlier this month) I did, however, add a new feature to Big Blue...you'll see.

Ok...

...that is all...

~Syrhea

Probing the Biz and the Brain

In this past week I've come to the realization that I have no idea of what I'm doing:

How should I list the album info?
Do the little things really matter?
Should I include the people who helped my stars align or not?
Should I get the album registered with the Government?
Or is my post dated copyright enough?
Does it need some sort of publication?

I have no idea...

...then the paranoia sets in, with all these different scenarios coming about and what I could do to prevent it. It took 2 phone calls and a IM chat to calm my ass down. Not that I was really freaking out or anything...

...you know...

I also found a website that answered all of my previous (legal) freak outs above. Very helpful...so the wheels have slowed to their normal pace and my brain can function once more.

But I need to find a way to kill the little voice of doubt. Of all of the "nay-sayers" she s the most threatening to my success. If there was a way to shoot her (we'll call her Cyrhea...'Mario:Wario' anyone?) out of me, much like what Ed did to Brad in Fight Club, I'd jump at the chance. But, obviously, that isn't a valid option and I'll have to find my own way. I do know that she feeds off of the negative energy from others and I need to surround myself with more "successful" people to fuel my drive...in the positive direction. Lucky for me, I do have two people who's been supportive of me since day one. One of you were even behind me before the was anything to get behind. Two is not a lot, but it's better than zero and I thank you both.

This sudden reflection of my overall conscience of myself has caused me to wonder of the stage banter is taking it's toll on the issue. I think it works, and it's kind of my own way of making fun of myself. I know my close, close friends kinda get the pun/joke but when strangers ask, "Why are you so hard on yourself", it's probably time for a different approach.

I did, for the first time in ages, go out this past Saturday. My Brodurr came up to visit and we hit a Drum N Bass BBQ at a park in St. Ann. (he's a DJ by the way...ahem...A REAL ONE... ...*cough*) We then chilled for a while at a house party and I got to do something else I haven't done in a while. JAM! It ain't...It ain't too much to JAM! It ain't too much...IT AIN'T TO A MUCH FOR ME. LET'S JAM!

I jammed a little on the bass...
Then a little on the guitar...
Then a little on the drums...

Definitely needed the release and collaboration with others. After the session, my bro and I headed to The Upstairs' After Party, which, sadly to say, I ruined the rest of the fun to be had. I can barely stay up after midnight anymore from working myself ragged for the rekkid release. So we promptly left after last call and snapped a quick pic of us.



Awwwww....

The last time we were in a picture together was at least 5 years ago. INSANE!

I will be "getting out of the cave" again for the Sonic Youth show this Friday. See you there? Plus the stellas has the final show before recording fresh demos the Saturday after. (07.25.09) And last but not least, Jovian's Cd release show is slotted on 8.21.09 at the Firebird. So yes, I'll leave my cave for these events but I must stay focused on what needs to be done.

...that is all...

~Syrhea

Tests, Tributes and Flashes

Once again, thanks to all who made it out to the show last Friday. It was a lot of fun and it made me realize that I need to play out more often. And a special thanks to .e for asking me to play the show and Bill Tucker for just being himself. You both are awesome!

It was also a test to see if Big Blue could survive being transported, and if I need to re-think any elements within him. He passed with flying colors but I do need to make one minor adjustment. I put Easy Liner on the actual board of the pedal board and thought that industrial strength Velcro would keep it in it's place. Well, apparently the weight of all the pedals, pulling downward on the Easy Liner when the case is upright, pulls the Liner from the Velcro.






The Velcro is strong enough, but the adhesive on the back of the Velcro isn't. So I'm thinking I should just use some cabinet liner that has an adhesive backside and cross the fingers... (still not going to post pictures... probably after the stella show on 07/25/09)

I was going to get some today, but I was too lazy...

Plus the thought of having to go to a Walmart/Kmart (insert any other chain mart) makes me annoyed, impatient, and dreading every second I'm there. So I watched (again) Michael Jackson's live in Bucharest concert instead. And speaking of the late MJ, I have to give mad props to all the people on Friday who sang their asses off during my performance. I made a little video for your enjoyment. I'll definitely have to play that song again sometime in the future.



Oh yeah and those business cards that I printed and were feverishly snatched up has the incorrect link to this blog. It's synasoloproject.blogspot.com not blogspot.synasoloproject.com. Not sure why I'm even posting it here, but I'm hoping that some of you already knew the correct link or can use a search engine.

I watched the footage of the show to critique myself and to get newer media up for viewing and I was absolutely horrified at what I saw. The performance was pretty good...confidence about as normal as it can get with my solo shows...but the wardrobe... uh oh. Talk about a wardrobe malfunction that I not only didn't notice, but not one person who witnessed the show informed me of this. Not One! Dude, I practically flashed a group of people on the left side of the room...for a long, long time. By far the worst 1.07 seconds I never remembered. It was hot in the room...but geez, you'd think I'd notice something like that!

And the image...edited of course!




I'm very surprised El didn't zoom in on the atrocity.

Anyway, hope you all had a great 4th and mother nature (we're not on good terms) didn't ruin too much of the festivities for you.

Plus I just uploaded another video from my last show.

Check it out.

...that is all...

~Syrhea

The Saga Ends...

YAY!!!

Big Blue is finally finished and boy is he heavy! I still haven't figured out how I'm going to get him out of the basement...even with his wheels.

I would post a picture, but I'm really wanting you folks to come out to Cranky Yellow this Friday(07.03.09) around 8:30 to see myself, .e and Bill Tucker and friends. Then you can see my new pedal board, listen to some sweet ass tunes, and hang out with me. I mean c'mon! There should be no thinking...just GO!

I spent most of the day today at El's place making the final edits on the album. Why has this taken so long? Well, there are a few reasons...the main one being, I'M SO EFFING TIRED OF LISTENING TO THIS ALBUM...IT'S MAKING ME CRAZY...ALMOST TO THE POINT THAT I DON'T EVEN CARE ANYMORE! Seriously, it's getting pretty old...but it's work that has to be done. Editing is a very important aspect of the flow of an album and it cannot be overlooked...plus I'm picky. And having a sense of pickiness (yes I'll make up my own word) and monotonous redundancy causes me to fight with myself. Either I don't care, or I have to do this right...Pick one!

I then spent the rest of the late afternoon/evening memorizing stage banter lines that I've written for myself. I wish I had more time before this show on Friday, but I think all will be fine. Just trying to think of ways to entertain you folks while I'm setting everything up for the next song. So I'll be rehearsing for 4 hours each night until Friday to make sure that I don't even have to think about what I'm doing anymore. Did I already mention monotonous redundancy?

I also just want to quickly mention while I'm finally gained my composure and self. Michael Jackson is one of the best things that could have ever happened to me as a child. Just listening to his music brings me back to my family, summer days, bbq's, dance off's, and all around happiness. Janet's Control and Rhythm Nation does the same. So when he passed last Thursday, it felt like those days left with him. I'm glad I had this experience with him, although I've never met him, nor been to any of his concerts. (watched all the live videos 5x over with my papa though) This was something that was shared by not only blacks, but ethnic groups and generations of the world. Although I'm absolutely devastated that he's gone, I'm even more saddened at the people who cannot relate. He was the most unique entertainer I ever seen, and probably ever will see. And a handful of you missed it.

That is the real shame.


...and I still love him...

~Syrhea

Sempre Con Calore

Happy Father's Day!

Ahh...First off I'd like to make a quick little note:Big Blue still isn't finished! Remember me bitching about how I've waited a little over a week for a manufacturer to ship in an item that I ordered from the ma and pa hardware store? Well it turns out the so called manufacturer stop producing this item and decided not to ship it to me. This doesn't bother me as much as the fact that no one at this said ma and pa hardware store bothered to call me to inform me this. And even that doesn't bother me as much as it took 5 phone calls, from me, to them, to get this explanation. So I got my refund and a name of another hardware store located in downtown Kirkwood...Yeah, I'm getting it from the internet this time around.

I started and finished the front cover of my album art this past week. I wanted the art to be full of layers to compliment the album but at the same time, I want it to be more about expression and impression as oppose to definite objects/images. So I got canvas, paint (no brushes) and worked in my little laboratory until the wee hours of each morning. It was a lot of fun to make, and to attempt to put the images, my songs create in my head, on paper. It's about as close as I can get, but I'm please. I have to admit, about half way through the meshing of paint, I panicked...convinced it was crap. Determined to not let myself stop me, I continued with the project and finished it today. I'm also graciously, thankfully, (insert other synonyms) accepting help from my fellow band mate (stellas) Jim Harper. He's agreed to design the album artwork as well because let's face it...I've only got the cover and I'm sure he can bring out other textures that I can't. And I'm tired...geez this shit his hard work. But the work must always be with feeling...or there's really no point in doing it.


Check out some of his stuff here and here.

Beginning:



and untouched end:




Each square represents a song on the album...could it be a bit too artsy for the content on the record? Ehhh maybe, but I think it's cool and so does my father. For this was his Father's day gift. Love that JOKER.


The website is practically finished...just need a little bit of help on the html/css of mail list forms...Anybody...anybody?


Also, the show on 7/03/09 @ City Art Supply has been moved to Cranky Yellow which is a little further east of APOP on Cherokee street. Hope to see some of you there!

...that is all...

~Syrhea

Shoot Me Once, Twice, Five Times. HOORAY!

Photo shoots and fun!

My good ol' dad has been wanting to get out to new areas in St. Louis to shoot people just to stay loose and to feed his artistic needs. What better person could he shoot, other than his very photogenic daughter... That's right. I jumped at this opportunity, because not only have I been slacking on just getting new media out about this solo project, but just to have some professional looking photos would be nice.

But why would you need these photos? It's not like your solo project plays out that much...

Yeah, thanks...I'm aware of this. And I'll take the time to explain to some of the 'Debbie Downers' out there.


You're right, I don't play out often...I've got three other bands to practice and play for...plus my set up is a bit more complicated...Don't want to play when I'm not ready. But what I am doing with these pictures is building my own website.

I've already got my basic layout complete, as well as a few of the tabs in the navigation bar...A few tweaks on color scheme, setting up shop, and actually writing something of substance and VOOWAHLAH! A website.

I'm heading into Yellow Hat tomorrow (hopefully the last time) to fine tune 4 more songs on the rekkid, pass the rekkid to Will so that Will can pass it to Jack to let him do his magic mastering. YEAYUH! But what good is an album if you have no means to sell it digitally? Ahhh...the website.

Indeed...

Still doing a bit of research on digital downloads but the ship is in motion. I will press about 100 and I plan to use them as I see fit. (Sell Sell Sell!)



But let's get back to the photos...

Fun times with dad...
Difficult times changing in the back seat of a car and praying no one can see...and if they do, no one will call the cops. And it was Hot...in the car. (No air conditioning) Here are several pictures I'm willing to share.


Whu-whu-Whoooaah!


Dad, I have no idea what you want me to do...


Loungin'


Your soul is mine!




Wheee!


Wheee agaaain!




Model wannabe




Unattractive close up...


And another...


I have no idea what I was doing



And now, the one I'm most proud of. I call it the Barack Obama meets a JC Penny Model...Enjoy!



...that is all...

~Syrhea