In search of... The (not so) secret diary of a DIY band

So this is where we are…

2011-12-13T15:19:00.015Z

A while ago we got a new flyer done to take to gigs. It said "New album due in 2011". Well that has now turned out to not be possible. Not for lack of trying. It simply hasn't been possible. We finished recording the album in December of last year and then spent the next couple of months back and forth to Wiltshire to mix the record, do the odd spot of re-recording and get a mastered version ready to fulfil our commitments to Bowers and Wilkins.

Steve Osborne making our album sound sexy

Since then, we have been presented with the seemingly impossible question of how best to proceed in getting the album 'out'. By what means, in what format, and with what type of support. We're clearly not the only ones to find this interesting, as it has actually already been the subject of a blog by journalist Emma Hartley. Indeed this question is not ours alone. It could be argued that right now is one of the most difficult times ever for an emerging band to make an impact, or gain the industry support necessary to give yourself even a fighting chance of turning a 'glorified hobby' into a career.

In the last few weeks EMI, one of the oldest and biggest record labels in the world, completed its long and painful disappearance, as it was broken up by its owner (Citibank) and sold off to other members of the big 4; now 3.

Nevertheless, the attached article by pointing out that Adele, the biggest artist in the world in 2011, is signed to an independent record, XL. Now, while it may be true that XL are "a label that has bucked the trend for gloomy music industry stories over the past decade", this doesn't tell the full story. Adele's record contract is with XL, but her publishing is held by Universal Music, and her music is looked after in America by Columbia Records, which is part of Sony Records. Moreover, when The Guardian published their Music Power 100 in May of this year, number 1 was "Team Adele" - containing representatives of her label, her manager, her publisher and her plugger.

While, I don't think Urusen are going to be 2012's Adele, I use this example to give an insight to what we're faced with. We have no label, no manager, a loose affiliation with a publisher that was swallowed by EMI earlier in the year (so where that leaves them now even we don't know!). When we put our single out last month we enlisted the help of a radio plugger, and we are currently in talks with a 'booker'.

Managers, pluggers, bookers…What are they? What do they do? How, when and where do you get one? And in what order?! All questions we've been trying to get our heads round over the last year, whilst making sure we maintained our presence on the gigging and festival circuits. And paid our rent. Bit of honesty for you here, we haven't written 1 new song this year.

But we've still got this amazing record. A record that we know people will love. A record we believe offers something unique and special and that has the potential to, if not sell as many copies as '21', then at least allow us to turn this band into a viable business venture. That's not meant to sound cynical; it's the reality of what we want to achieve.To do this, we have to work out these chicken and egg situations and make some hard and risky

decisions about where to commit resources (both time and money) and in the right order. Everyone we have spoken to in the industry has stressed how important it is to get people around you who both believe in what you are doing and can help you do it, and then just throw everything you've got at it. In short, that's what 2012 holds for us.

At the moment, the proposal is (this isn't meant to be a 'scoop' and it could change!) to release the album (title and tracklisting almost decided upon) ourselves in spring of next year. In the lead up to this, we will be enlisting the services of a booker to ensure that we are doing what we do best, gigging, in/at the right places and times whilst also paying for pluggers and PR companies to get some "buzz" around the band. We'll be paying for all of this through a variety of methods, one of which will be pre-sales to our lovely fans. There should be more details on all of this as we get/decide them. All of it has to be timed properly as there are required lead-up times and so on so people can do their jobs. After a year with it under our hats, we're not going to rush things now.

So, there's no big cheque from mr. industry man. There's no plans for a nationwide billboard campaign or celebrity endorsements (though we were told that Lenny Henry is a fan of the band after hearing our music in Mr. B's bookshop in Bath!) It's going to be us 5, with some help from some small, dynamic, companies who specialise in offering particular 'label services'. But we'll be doing it on our own terms, in the way that we've always done things. To be honest, that suits us just fine.

On Thursday, we're playing our final gig of the year at the Star of Kings for the London Folk Guild Christmas Party. LFG involves some of our favourite promoters, Continental Drifts and The Magpie's Nest. It should be a really good night, with lots of great music and dancing. Would be lovely to have some friendly faces to see the year out with. Hopefully see you there. x

Just a quick one...

2011-12-03T23:37:00.001Z

We're away this weekend doing a couple of gigs in the south west. Today, 3 of us played a little acoustic gig in Warminster at a cracking little record shop called Raves to the Grave. They have a bigger store in Frome too (where a cool band called Ahab played last week - Urusen recommended!). We have never actually done an in-store before but really enjoyed it. There should be some videos and pics of it on the way so we'll post them when they arrive. We were invited by Reuben who works there, who's band Port Erin are playing in Bath tonight at the latest Bath Burp launch party. Ben and his mum are contributors to this wonderful independent monthly arts magazine. Reuben will be doing an interview for the blog in the coming weeks about the store, as well as maybe a bit about his band, who recently were recording in the Wood Room at real World, where we were this time last year! Also in attendance today was Rick Wakeman's granddaughter!

'Raves' does LOTS of vinyl, it's a lovely site to see. I spoke to Reuben about this, and we were discussing an article in this month's Mojo magazine about the resurgence in vinyl sales - encouraging to hear when you've just released your 1st 7 inch! The article is a very interesting read, as are the two below which I spotted recently. I will probably make a habit of posting stuff like this (in a tumblr style) - probably with the odd bit of comment thrown in for free!

From pitchfork: I really hate examples of people just taking money out of the industry with no benefit for musicians or people who listen to it. Always nice to see when, even in small ways, some of this is taken back. It reminds me a bit of the action to try and get back the illegal bank charges for overdraft fees from a couple of years ago. Maybe it would be an idea to legislate to say organisations such as ticketmaster are not allowed to profit from these aspects of their services - rather than simply forcing them to disclose that they are doing this? Just a thought.

Via the guardian: Interesting more general article about the internet age and the 'digitalisation of life', with particular references to the music industry. An area I intend to come back to in the blog is what Simon Jenkins refers to as the "potency of experience", ie what the internet and free downloads can never replicate, the feeling of seeing a band live.

Anyway, bed for me now. For the record Port Erin were great, a bit like a psychadelic Radiohead with Jack Bevan from Foals on drums. We're off to Bristol tomorrow for our debut at Communion in Bristol. The original Communion night was setup in London by Mumford and Sons, so I think we're in good company.

Hold on...how did you record in the 5th best recording studio in the world WITHOUT a record deal?

2011-11-30T12:50:00.005Z

In the Woodroom at Real World

As I mentioned in the previous entry, we recorded 11 songs last year at Real World Studios. The focus of the band at the moment, and this blog, is finding the best way to release these recordings, as an album, hopefully in the spring of 2012. What I didn't explain is how we got there in the 1st place.

Traditionally, a band would have been "signed" by a record contract, under which the label would have put up the money (possibly in the form of an advance) for the artist to record, produce and ultimately release an album. This album is then the property of the label, who can decide it needs changing or discarding altogether, as well as making most of the decisions regarding the strategy for putting it out.

We currently own pretty much all of our record. Instead of the above model, we funded the project through a mixture of a form of sponsorship and good faith and belief in the band. Oh, and we spent pretty much all the money the band had saved over the previous couple of years!

The sponsorship came from Bowers and Wilkins (the speaker company). They have a long relationship with Real World and Peter Gabriel in particular, and every year they support all sorts of artists in different ways, in return for limited exclusive use of their music for their "Society of Sound" subscribers. For us, this support manifested itself in the form as a generous donation towards our studio costs.

The good faith and belief came predominantly from our producer Steve Osborne. Having been turned on to the band by Real World Publishing (who administrate our publishing), he offered us a deal whereby there was no upfront charges, but instead he would get a greater number of 'points' on the record, or % split of the income it would hopefully generate through sales, use on TV and film etc.

It also came from other, less obvious places though. Because while there were financial costs to the band, the commitment to decamping to Wiltshire for a month had to also get the approval of partners, bosses and others. The fact is that, whilst it's nice to think of a band as a gang, separate from the world, we're in fact 5 guys with lives and dependants and people that rely on us. What was perhaps most affirming about the whole thing, was the support we did get in this department. This band has meant so much to all of us that all the other strands of our lives inevitably get drawn in to it. My boss comes to gigs, Ben's Mum is regularly our hotelier and Oscar is arguably our youngest fan. To know that we had this support was invaluable, but also made us doubly determined to make the most of our time, because it wasn't just us sacrificing things like money and time, but people with nothing material to benefit from any Urusen success were moving big and small mountains to ensure we made it happen.

The next 6 months will in one, ultimately crude way, determine how worthwhile those sacrifices were. Speaking personally, it was one of the best months of my life, and more musically rewarding than anything I've ever done. The band feel pretty much the same. We are all immensely proud of what we achieved, and have a bank of shared memories that we will keep forever. But we never went in to it purely for the experience. In my next entry, I will bring you inside our current head space, getting the music we made into you, the public's, ears, heads and hearts!

As part of our arrangement with B&W, Ben put together a rather splendid short film about our time at Real World for their website, which you can watch it below.

Prologue

2011-11-28T16:17:00.006Z

It's probably best to start at the beginning. This is a briefer than brief history of the band. As a band, we are very keen to look forward, but it does seem relevant to tell a little of the Urusen story, if only so that if things come up in the blog about the past, you know what I'm going on about!

Urusen started, a while ago, as two cousins from the South West writing songs together. As it progressed to gigs and tentative moves into recording, they managed to find their way into their old school one summer to record some songs - recordings which ended up being the band's debut album Life Under Seat.

The record showed that this was something worth pursuing and plans were dreamt up for a follow up, but without a proper income external interests and commitments inevitably had an impact on the progress of the band. Pete did a Masters, Ben made his first few trips to Africa to make movies and the 'everyday life' stuff like jobs and relationships meant that Urusen couldn't always stay central and a top priority. Nevertheless, and perhaps as a sign of things to come, they still managed to build their own (tiny!) studio from the proceeds of the first record and set about a more ambitious project that would become their next release 'One Day In June'. More importantly, it saw Urusen become a five piece band.

The addition of extra musicians meant a broader sonic palette but also more lives to fit around. In Jay, the band had found (via gumtree) a full-time musician with real experience of the sharp end of the industry - having toured the world with a multi-platinum selling artist. Nick (via a mutual friend's introduction) came on board with his Cello and years of experience in bands and orchestras. Rob, an old friend, completed the line-up on drums. In addition, having been 'on the scene', the band had contacts within the industry now, as well as musicians and friends to help with the recording of the 2nd record. Recorded in Ben's converted childhood bedroom but mastered by a producer of The Who, the band self released the record on their own label, The Almighty Rooftop Record Company.

Between then and now, a new full-time drummer, Kieran (me) came on board and fittingly, the band got bigger and louder in lots of ways. A new found dynamism, a lot of hard work and the triumphant/serendipitous return of a version of 'folk' music to the mainstream has resulted in 3 consecutive summers of extensive gigging and festivals, our music used on TV and played on radio, as well as a growing, wonderful set of fans. Oh, and Nick became a Dad! A desire to make a 'proper' record after dipping our toes in with demos and twilight sessions in studios culminated in the Winter of 2010 with the band decamping to a cottage in Wiltshire, taking 4 weeks off from their lives, and recording 11 songs at Real World Studios with producer Steve Osborne; without doubt the best musical experience any of us ever had.

Just over a year to the day since we went down there, I sit writing this with the record still only having been heard by a select few people outside of the band. So what's next? A successful self release of a single and a music industry that is increasingly risk averse and development shy has lead to us making the decision to put the record out ourselves; with a little help from a variety of different people who you'll hear more about later in future posts.

So that's where we've been and how we got here. It's not intended as a full biography; I'll leave that to Vh-1. The reason I've started with this is to show that where we are now is undoubtedly at the beginning of an exciting and intriguing journey, but it is also the latest chapter in an already running story. I think this is worth mentioning because, for all bands, there is a huge emphasis on always portraying yourselves as "new", "fresh" and "breakthrough". While we will always be new to some people, and we feel like we are most definitely fresh and bringing something new to the industry, we will not ignore our history. Not only do we think it's interesting, but it's this past, and the memories that have brought us here, and make us so sure that we can make next year the best the band has ever had.

7" Vinyl

2011-09-19T18:42:00.002+01:00

Forgot to add a pic of our vinyl - so here's the cover...

Summer Summary

2011-09-19T18:38:00.005+01:00

This is way overdue - lots to tell, but not sure there's enough time to tell it - it's been a little hectic since we have our London single launch (first single from the new album) tomorrow 20th Sept at The Lexington and we'll be joined by our good friend Sam Brookes and the fantastic Imaginary String Band. Then on Friday 23rd we have our Bath Single launch where we'll be joined by the wonderful Sarabeth Tucek - both promise to be a crackers.

Since our last post, it's been a busy summer of gigging-surviving-planning-and-driving - we've taken in delights ranging from the awesomeness of The Big Chill and Secret Garden Party, to busking the streets of Cardiff and sharing beds in the Sky Plaza Hotel in Leicester ...can't recommend the latter, but it was cheap.

Mainly we've been building up to the single launch and also trying to plot the release of the album which we hope will be soon. Anyway, we thought long and hard about what to release first and went for the tracks in question as we felt they were a good intro/taster of the album (or one aspect of it - at least the aspect we felt we wanted people should hear first). Plus it seemed right to put out two rather than a single on its ow, not just because this year has gone by wayyyy too fast and we're keen for people to have something, but also cos we think that these two tracks sit really well together as stories, songs, musical journeys... So, the two tracks are 'The Islander' and 'A Once Was Tramp And Tree' and we've decided to put them both out as a free download (yes free with no strings attached) though we would like to add that we do have a rather good looking limited edition double A-Side 7" vinyl version so you can get your hands on a physical copy.

Apart from that here are a few things we've put together recently that you may not have seen yet. Here's a short film about the recording of the album with Steve Osborne down at Real World Studios: http://youtu.be/1irb5SePpvw

And following up our last post on this year's Glastonbury (to attempt to give our blog some continuity!) here we are performing 50&9 on the Bandstand this year: http://youtu.be/DiioinZ7BAE

Hope you enjoy and we'll try to write again soon.

Mud? Glastonburied...

2011-07-01T18:37:00.008+01:00

So, it turned out to be either thick sloppy mud and rain, or scorching sunshine - 2011 was a glastonbury of extremes. Which doesn't make it easy when you're carting musical equipment around the site through the throng, but going up on stage at the Avalon Cafe to play to a rammed 600-strong audience definitely makes it worth it! Of our gigs at Glastonbury 2011 this was definitely our highlight - thanks to Lisa at Avalon for giving us the slot, and I suppose we also need to say thanks to the Huckleberries for cancelling as we weren't expecting to play there this year!

We don't have and footage of us playing, but here's a clip of our crowd! http://www.urusen.co.uk/avalon-cafe-glastonbury2011.html

Our slot at the Avalon Cafe took place on the Thursday afternoon and our next official gig was not until Sunday night at The Bandstand, but we managed to fit in a backstage gig at the Acoustic Stage and also do a radio interview with Worthy FM where Ben, Kieran and Pete performed a couple of tracks live on air. We were also played on BBC Radio Bristol as part of their Glastonbury coverage - apparently our songs make people cry! But, in a good way….we hope! technically it was an exclusive too - the first radio play of any of the new tracks done with Steve Osborne.

So, it was a bit of a working weekend, but there was plenty of time to get involved…Highlights: Elbow - for awesome crowd singing (plus the sun had finally decided to show its face), Paul Simon - a total legend (and yes he did play You can call me Al), the Treetop Flyers (definitely a band to watch out for) on after us at the Avalon Cafe, and seeing our good friend Pete Roe playing with Laura Marling, who was excellent on the Pyramid Stage. Oh and Shangri la and Arcadia…still nuts, and still amazing.

Thanks to everyone who made it along to see us - it was awesome too to see lots of familiar faces. And keep an eye out for us if you're at any other festivals this summer as we'll be doing a few more, including Secret garden Party and The Big Chill.

As for Glasto, next year is a fallow year - probably just as well after most of the site this year been trampled into an unrecognisable lake of mud, it deserves a bit of time to recover…as do we ;o) Even so, roll on 2013...

Mixing!

2011-04-04T22:06:00.001+01:00

Sorry for the delay in this blog reaching you all but so much has happened since our last entry we are quite not sure where to begin.

Let's start with this. We have a completed, mixed collection of 11 tracks that we are all amazingly proud of. 4 months after we entered the pre production rehearsals with producer Steve we have finished. I think we can confidently say that the album process is incredibly hard to document. It's a complete roller coster of emotions with some beautiful pure moments of euphoria and joy counter balanced by some equally low moments where you feel like your dwelling in the depths of creative despair, wondering if people will like it or not. Powerful stuff for sure!

Anyway...we did it.

Initially we had some rough mixes from Steve back in late Jan/early Feb. These sounded pretty damn good but they were early mixes and designed for us to listen to thoroughly and make notes on what we felt we would want changed. Needless to say, with five pairs of ears and five opinions to match (we are an odd bunch) there was lots of feedback. Again this is quite difficult to explain. Most people would think you just record an album and then someone mixes it and then it's done. It's definitely not that simple. We all knew that we wanted this record to be a 'sound'. We wanted every song to sit well alongside each other. However anybody who has seen us knows that we have varying songs, even though we have a 'Urusen' sound. Basically every song had to deliver the intended message as such. Therefore we had to go through each track with a fine toothed comb. What do we want the drums and bass to be doing on this track? How should the cello be used? Do we want huge vocals at this point or save them for later etc. It was a lot of work to do.

After a few band meetings and relaying lots of individual feedback to each other we were ready to go and do some mixing with Steve. For the first session Pete, Ben, Nick and Jay went back to Realworld to spend a day with Steve and of course Joe (his trusty assistant and all round top bloke). It had been nearly three months since we had seen Steve and Joe and it was great to be back. We all slipped back into the studio vibe very easily . One of the most enjoyable aspects of the month spent with these two was the constant banter we had. We instantly got back into that! It's always great when your'e working in a high pressured environment and it's accompanied by jokes and laughter. After a cup of tea (joe is officially the best tea (and coffee) maker in the west), it was time to get going.

What was interesting was that immediately Steve listened to something and said 'right I'm not happy with that come back in an hour'! The best thing about Steve O is that he is an absolute perfectionist. This was apparent in the recording process where he worked us very hard. Clearly he keeps to this work ethic when mixing too. We returned to find that he had 'tightened' up the track a lot and it was sounding amazing. We then went through other elements of the track and what we wanted from it until we felt it was complete. In fact the entire mixing process took this approach from start to finish with every track, picking them apart. Some required more work then others. We finished this first day of mixing at 2am! A couple of us arrived back in London at 5am!

The second day with Steve was a few days later. Following the same process. However this day started with Jay re-recording the double bass to a track in Steve's room. This was because we wanted a bigger, tighter bass sound and as we had recorded everything live there had been spill from the drums onto the original bass part. This meant that if we turned the bass up a lot we got more drums than we wanted. These are all part of the pros and cons of recording live as a band. Why would there be drums on the recording on the bass mic you may think? Well for this particular track we wanted a nice roomy sound to the drum kit, so we left the drum room door open. We never wanted every track to sound the same so to get the right timbre for this particular track we took this approach. Jay re-recorded the bass which meant we could whack it up on the mix to get the desired effect. The rest of the day was again spent mixing tracks and trying out different effects, reverbs, compressors etc. On one tune for example we wanted the eq of a particular instrument to be quite bright at the start of the track and then become more 'dull' in sound to blend in the mix better later on. To achieve these sort of effects something called automation needs to be used which is actually 'drawing' in the level of whatever you are changing, then the software 'reads' this and automatically adjusts the levels for you. Things like this can be either really quick or take ages. If you read our last blog you will know we dubbed Steve 'ninja ears'. Well he is also 'ninja editor' as well, so actually it was very speedy.

Jay had to head back to London later that day, and Nick later that evening, leaving Pete and Ben to continue with Steve and Joe into the early hours again. The last day of mixing was the next day, where there was one more track that needed a lot of work to it, involving a bit of impromptu guitar and piano recorded that day in Steve's studio, which seemed to make a big difference. Especially with the use of an old 'space echo' unit Steve owned - totally sorted the end of the track out. With the last track done and dusted, there's was time for one last listen through everything, before another long day was over, Steve went home declaring 'I'm taking tomorrow off!', and Joe, Pete and Ben drove into Bath for a late night celebratory drink!

Right now, we don't want to go into more detail regarding the individual tunes as we really don't want to give anything away! But we can safely say that we're all blown away with the results and that we have at last captured the 'Urusen Sound'. We feel that we have created a body of work that all of us are incredibly proud of and one that we hope will connect with people and take them on a whole sonic journey from sparse landscapes to colossal oceans of sound! There's definitely lots of the textures and sounds present that you might know if you are already familiar with us, but there are also some sounds and approaches that venture into new territories for us, with different instrumentation and effects. The main thing is that we feel have completely encapsulated the sound we have been striving to achieve for some time.

So all that remains to be said is a massive huge thank you to the inspiring and dedicated talents of Steve Osborne as well as the indispensable Joe and all the lovely peoples at Realworld studios. Now we just need to get it out there!

We'll be back soon with more...

Calling all Urusenettes and Urusenaires!

2011-01-10T13:08:00.001Z

Lots of exciting things coming up in 2011 for Urusen - and we want you to be a part of them. If you'd be interested in helping us out with some exciting little events and ideas we've got, as well as some general promo and exposure things, then read on!

We're looking to put together a crack commando unit of Urusen die-hards to carry out our evil bidding as we embark on our mission of world domina...not quite. Basically, we'd like to have a group of people who love the band who we could call upon when we have things to promote or when we could do with a bit of buzz around the band on certain sites etc. We always appreciate how much people talk about the band already, so this is just us trying to "organise" a bit for maximum efficiency! In return, you can expect (aside from massive kudos!) some exclusive goodies and Urusen-related fare, plus some freebies!

If you would be interested, please send an email to contact@urusen.co.uk with the words "Promo Team" in the Subject. If you could tell us your name and location that would be great too.

Thanks alot, see you all soon,

Urusen x

Week 4!

2010-12-22T16:39:00.001Z

On Monday we started the final week of recording. Having wrapped up week 3 by finishing the tracking for at least half the album in 4 days we felt pretty good! However we knew that we still had a load of songs to record plus all the overdubs for them and most of the overdubs for the previous weeks work, the pressure was on.

Steve's approach as a producer is all about the vibe and there could be many takes before he felt he had the best one. As a band we like to feel that we are all about the vibe too so this was great news for us. However, take after take can be an exhausting affair not just physically but emotionally. It's really hard to create an amazing energy when playing the same song, over and over again, in a studio environment. Also the studio can be an unforgiving place for a musician as everything is under the microscope and it can be a very revealing experience as things that you have been playing for ages suddenly don't sound so great when you look at them in detail. Steve kept all our spirits up and was an incredibly positive person to work with, never once letting the energy die. He was forever spurring us on and generally created a wonderfully positive atmosphere for us to create in; the man never stops moving and grooving to the tunes! This inspired everybody to give it their all and dig into their energy reserves and we managed to get all the tracking done by late wednesday night (about 1 am!)

This left us with 2 days to do all the extra bits and pieces that the songs needed. These ranged from backing vocals to more cello lines and a few other surprises that you will have to wait and hear. It was great to have those 2 days at the end as it was a chance to experiment with sounds, layers and any other strange things we wanted to have a go at. It also gave us time for Steve to make some suggestions of things to try and adapt for the songs. By Friday night (just!), everything on the whiteboard had been cleared by about midnight. It was decided that we could have our first real drink in 4 weeks and we headed into Bath to celebrate what can only be described as a truly epic 4 weeks.The celebrating led to some sore heads on Saturday but hey, we had been very good boys for 4 weeks solid!

So all the potential songs for the Album are done and now its up to producer Steve to mix them and see what we all feel makes it onto the actual record. We have had an incredible time and would like to thank everybody at Realworld who made it such a memorable few weeks. They really are a lovely bunch of people and it's a very special place. We all feel incredibly privileged to have had this experience and feel that it has really improved us as a band, both musically and as people. Plus we didn't kill each other; always a bonus !!

We now excitedly look to 2011 and what it may bring. Needless to say we will be gigging and promoting the Album and just trying to raise the profile of the band as much as possible. Thanks for all your support over 2010, it makes doing this worthwhile. There'll be another blog up over Christmas reviewing the year, plus some more photos and hopefully some videos from our time in the studio. But for now have a lovely christmas and a great New Year, and we'll hopefully see you all next year.

Lots of Love,

Pete, Ben, Nick , Jay and Kieran

Week 3: Recording!

2010-12-13T20:52:00.000Z

Monday saw us move in to the Wood Room at Real World to begin the recording progress. Pete had been struck down with a cold over the weekend so was left at home to try and get over it whilst Nick finished off some of his parts and Ben, Jay and Kieran came in with all of the equipment for a day of setting up. This initially consisted mainly of building dens (officially 'booths') within the studio for each of us. The Wood Room is a beautiful and intimate space, and certainly a lot cosier than the rehearsal studio we've been cooped up in for the last 2 weeks.

Set up days in studios are always relatively drawn out affairs, and with the mix of instruments we are using on the album, it meant there were a lot to do, from housing the drum kit to microphone placement, building boxes to put amps in and finding somewhere for Nick to sit! The end of the day saw us run through some stuff as a band to get all the levels sorted for Tuesday - when the red light would get turned on for the 1st time.

We knew from the outset that we would have to be working hard over long days to get everything done in the time we had. This means we had to hit the ground running on Tuesday and make the most of every day. With Pete still not at 100% this meant starting without him singing and working on stuff that Ben sings lead on and songs we were planning on doing the vocals for afterwards. As mentioned in previous blogs, Steve's approach to getting the best out of the band is all about getting the vibe right within the band and with each song. This has so far meant everything to dancing sessions in the studio, football analogies and watching belly dancing videos whilst playing; all a bit mad but it seems to get results!

As the week progressed we got into a good groove of doing the basics of two songs a day - the pace we had agreed we would need to work at in order to leave enough time at the end of the final week to do various overdubs and backing vocals etc. Each song is different though, and requires different amounts of time. Sometimes this is because we're trying to capture the live sound in a relatively artificial environment with no crowd and only headphones for company. Sometimes it has been because the recorded versions contain lots of extra parts that we want to do straight after the skeleton of the song has been laid down so that the vibe of the song is still fresh in our minds when we do them. Sometimes, it has been simply because various members of the band needed some whisky.

The week ended really well with everything on schedule and all of us very excited about the way everything was sounding. We all know that the final week is likely to be even more intense as it gets closer to the end of the session, so a weekend off certainly felt deserved, but we're all already excited about getting back in on Monday morning to carry on!

Week 2!

2010-12-05T12:52:00.001Z

The week got off to a less than ideal start with Nick returning from a weekend with his family with a stinking cold. He was quickly dispatched into quarantine and the rest of us got back on with getting the 12 songs we have selected for the album into shape.

Some of the songs were pretty much ready to record from the day we walked in but other ones have taken a lot of work. Steve has been very keen to sort out 2 aspects of the sound of the album. Firstly, what was the "urusen sound", and how we wanted to get that across, and secondly to make sure that album has a flow and cohesive feel to it.

Whilst some people may argue that albums are now a thing of the past in the age of itunes etc, we still feel very strongly that we want to be able to produce something that people will want and be able to listen to as a body of work. Having been playing the songs for 2 weeks non-stop now, we are all pretty sure we are achieving this with the, as yet untitled, album.

As far as the "urusen sound" goes - we are definitely clearer on that after this process, and all very excited about how the album is shaping up, but you'll just have to wait for it to come out to find out what it is!

With Nick missing 2 days of the week recovering from man-flu / not infecting the singers with it, we were sad to have to cancel the showcase we had planned for Thursday evening. We were all quite excited about playing some of the tracks to an audience, but producer Steve took the executive decision that we needed to concentrate all our remaining time on the album. So again, an apology to those of you who were planning to come along, rest assured we will be coming back to the South West in the new year to make up for it!

Nick coming back into the studio did signal a change in focus for the week, as we started to separate to concentrate on particular things. Firstly, Nick started on an intensive writing session with Steve and his assistant Joe in order to make sure he had all his parts ready and in place for recording next week. At times, this has run to 3 and 4 parts - sounding rather "epic"!

The last couple of days have been quite stop/start as we've been required to do things like mic tests for Steve. All of a sudden, having spent the best part of a fortnight in old hanger playing music, the prospect of making an album at Real World Studios has become very real. Getting to see Steve and Joe in their "natural environment" also gave us an insight into quite how lucky we are to be working with them. Nothing is being rushed or done half-heartedly with this record and we've all agreed that we've never worked as hard as whilst we've been down here.

Another weekend of relaxation is in store - plus some updates on our online pages so check them out. Then on Monday it all beings in earnest!

Urusen x

Hello from snowy Wiltshire!

2010-11-27T18:11:00.000Z

We've been here for almost a week now so thought we'd do a little blog to let you know what we've been up to. We came down on Monday and moved into our lovely little Cottage for the month on Linleys Farm. And what a great little place, Jay's got his wood burning fire, we've all got our own bed's (Ben and Kieran are in "adult-sized bunk beds"!) and its perfectly placed to allow us to get back and forth to Real World quickly.

Monday afternoon we moved all our music equipment into the Millside where we are doing our 2 weeks of pre-production. Its quite an odd place, a converted agricultural "hanger", but suits us perfectly - especially after the heating had been on for a couple of days! As most of you will know, we have a lot of instruments so to have them all in one room is quite a horde - especially when the plan is to add MORE sounds to the band for recording!

Tuesday was a long day as we were determined to get all 22 songs we were putting forward for the album up to scratch. To break up the days, we are having lunch in the Real World Canteen, lovingly and expertly prepared by the on-site chef, Jerome - our small piece of luxury in what are long and taxing days! It's all worth it though, as we are all adamant that this album will be as special as we can make it.

Wednesday saw the arrival of Steve Osborne, who is producing the album. Having only met him once before, and knowing he had worked with some very well known artists and produced some massive records, the morning was a mixture of excitement, nerves and trepidation as we awaited his arrival.

As it turned out, we had nothing to be worried about. Steve has at times seemed as excited about making this record as we are. To explain the role he has played thus far is difficult, and also the part he plays in the creative process that we go through with every song, but in short he has what we have dubbed "ninja ears". He isn't changing our sound, or making us "un-Urusen", but bringing the best out of us, both in terms of the songs and their arrangements and instrumentation, and each of us as individuals as far as our roles in the band and in each song.

We don't want to give too much away, but the process has thus far yielded electric guitars, a cappella vocal sessions, plus some potential string quartet action! More importantly we're very excited with the way things are beginning to shape up, and we're relishing the fact that we have another full week before we start recording.

On the subject of next week, we're going to be doing a special showcase gig inside the rehearsal studio on Thursday night. The event details are on our facebook page, so let us know if you're local and fancy popping along for a sneak preview of what you might hear on the album!

That's it for now, the weekend promises a bit of relaxation, and so far the odd snowball fight with our neighbours, but we have some homework for Steve due in on Monday so not all rest! Keep in touch through all the usual channels, we're going to try and put some videos up soon so keep an eye out for them!

Urusen x

We're making an album!

2010-10-25T20:05:00.002+01:00

For anyone who doesn't know already - this was the rather cool news we revealed at our gig at the Slaughtered Lamb earlier on this month. In November we will be de-camping to the Wiltshire Countryside for a month at the glorious Real World Studios. Naturally we're all quite excited.

Looks ghastly, I'm sure you agree...

We have been down to the studios a few times in the last year or two, so we feel quite at ease there already which is good. We've had a really good relationship with the place since they started looking after our publishing a couple of years ago. The surroundings are truly idyllic (anyone from around that area can vouch for that) so we think it will be the perfect place for us to get completely immersed in the recording process and hopefully produce something a bit special.

To help us along the way with this, we have enlisted the services of a producer by the name of Steve Osborne. We've been in talks with him for a little while and had a session with him a few months ago to see how we got on in a music environment. It all seemed to go well, and now we can't wait to get in a room with him again. You can check out who he's worked with via the link, but without over-egging it, his track record and reputation precede him somewhat, and we are thrilled he wants to work with us. Hopefully the results of it all will be something you all (and lots of other people) approve of!

This isn't our Cottage.

In addition, we can confirm today that we have booked a lovely cottage for the duration of our stay in the Wiltshire countryside. More details will follow shortly (along with lots of pictures and so on) but for no apparent reason the 5 of us seem about as excited about this as the recording itself. Jay was adamant we had some form of open-fire, which we have secured, whilst there was also a hard line taken by the non-snorers in the band to secure sufficient sleeping quarters to separate them from the snorers! Sure you'll enjoy the photos/videos that emerge; probably more than we do making them!

So for now, we're sad to say that does mean we have no more gigs booked for 2010 - but what a year it has been. Thanks to everyone who's made this a truly special year for us - we look forward to seeing you next year.

Fret not tho, if you are worried about not getting your urusen "fix". We plan on trying to stay in touch online as much as possible during the recording process. Through the blog, facebook, myspace, the newsletter as well as potentially some video diaries - we hope to keep you all in the loop. Likewise, please keep in touch as we miss you when we don't see you often!! We should have some other exciting stuff happening on line in the next month or so - so keep your eyes pealed and fingers cross we'll tide you over until we're back on the road again in 2011!

Lots of folk about...

2010-05-23T18:27:00.002+01:00

Relatively quiet week for us, but still a lot going on. Keen to keep the live shows fresh going into festival season, we had two 2 writing sessions this week to work on some new material that will hopefully start to creep into a set soon. Naturally, we find the newest of our songs the most exciting, so needless to say we're looking forward to getting some reaction to the new songs. With the album recording process set to start in the forthcoming months - its great having brand new material to work with as we head towards that.

We all take an active roll when it comes to writing now, so there is a real feel of collective accomplishment when we see songs come into their own. One song in particular has been kicking around for over a year now in various guises but has never been finished properly. Its working title has always been '3four', and it wouldn't be surpising if that changes, but we have finaly had a breakthrough with it so look out for it at a show soon!

On the subject of shows, we have confirmed a few more dates this week for over the summer, so check out the listings and see if you can come along. In June we have some very exciting gigs to look out for. On the 4th, we're playing with an exciting new band / project called Mt Desolation at The Luminaire in Kilburn. The brainchild of Keane's Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin, the contributors read like a who's who of the British indie-folk scene (with the odd US mega-star thrown in for good measure). One of them, who will be playing in his own right on the 4th is Pete Roe. Pete has been on tour recently with Laura Marling (both as her opener and as a member of her band) and seems to be garnering glowing responses wherever he goes. We really like him and are looking forward to the whole night - which should be quite an event. We're informed that the night is very close to selling out, so grab yourself a ticket here.

The following week, we are playing 2 gigs with our friends The Magic Lantern. They are currently on tour in support of their debut album "Shine a Light On". A stripped down Urusen will be joining them at the Lansdown in Bristol on the 9th, then the following night in Bath for a special evening as part of the Bath Fringe Festival. The gig will take place in the Little Theatre Cinema and will feature full sets from both bands, along with usherettes & popcorn. For more info go here - should be another special night.

Compering for us that night will be our friend Sam Brookes. Sam is not only a great singer-songwriter in his own right, he also runs a beautiful monthly night called the Unplugged Sessions at the Windmill in Mayfair. It really is one of the loveliest atmospheres you can find for an acoustic gig, and the quality of act is consistently high. We played at the 1st ever night, so are thrilled to be going back on the 14th.

Lastly, and cheekily, a request. We really want to play the Green Man festival this year. In order to do so, we need 2 mins of your time. Go here, register with the website (un-tick the newsletter subscription and they shouldn't ever bother you) and then vote for us to open the festival...please! You can win 2 tickets by voting, along with our eternal gratitude!

So all in all, lots to look forward to - see you soon!

P, B, J, N & K x

And we're back!

2010-05-12T22:37:00.002+01:00

Sorry for the radio silence, but rather than dwell on that, or try to come up with an excuse, let's just crack on!

For those of you who don't know, things have been going rather swimmingly for Urusen of late. In the last few months we have played some of our biggest gigs to date, as well as seeing some rather exciting off-stage developments occur (more of which later). I'm writing this having just come back from a meeting in a rather nice North London pub where we were attempting to map out the next 3 months of our lives (apologies in advance to girlfriends, family and everyone else for the neglect you may begin to feel!) Having already been confirmed for 9 festivals this summer (go here to check them out as & when we are able to announce them) with a few more to hear back from, we also have some potentially exciting City gigs to fit in to our schedule, as well as the small matter of recording our as yet untitled forthcoming album...and breathe.

At this stage we cannot divulge too much regarding plans for the album, but rest assured we are working our behinds off to get everything and everyone in place for it to be rather special. When we have more pieces in position we will obviously share more. What we can say (as some of you will know) is that there will be a very important and hopefully rewarding way in which all of you can get involved with the album. Details on this will be revealed shortly, so keep your ears pricked!

Other things to let you know is that a lot of our web presence is in the process of being overhauled, so make sure you keep checking the various pages over the coming months and let us know what you think. (Quick reminder that you can be a fan of ours on facebook as well as follow us on twitter).

In addition to the new album, we already have a new demo that we have recently made available at gigs. It features 4 of our songs for a very recession-friendly £4. It is a limited run, so grab one while they are there (never know how much it might be worth when we turn into U2!) we are also sorting out some other rather funky merch for the summer, so be sure to check it out (if you come see us, or on-line when its up and running) as we're quietly confident you're going to like it. What's more, its all being designed by Pete - too talented for his own good!

To finish and bring you right up to date, last weekend saw us open our festival account at the Dart Music Festival in Dartmouth. given the distance from London, we stopped halfway the day before in Box for Lunch at Real World Studios (When in Box, as they say...) and played a little gig at the lovely Queens Head. Without going into too much detail, the gig acted as a little bit of a showcase for us, and went really well. Was nice to see some friends there too (such as Sam Brookes - we like him) as well as getting some local support from Gareth Hale of The Black Swan Effect. The rest of the evening was mainly made up (for me at least) of drinking STRONG cider in the Royal Oak in Bath where we shall be playing later on this summer - think I like the place.

The next day saw us journey down to Dartmouth for what turned out to be a really great day. The festival had a lovely atmosphere and the setting could hardly have been more picturesque. We seemed to go down a storm (as well as my thunder drum seemingly bringing on a storm at one point!) and would certainly like to go back and play again. We then soaked up the atmosphere for a while, as well as lined our stomachs before making the long journey back to London.

All in all a great weekend, next gigs in June are in Bath and London and should be nothing short of spectacular so make sure you come along!

P, B, N, J & K x

You're too kind...

2009-12-17T13:18:00.002Z

We've recently had our music used for an ad that's due to be broadcast from the end of this month. Below is a link to the head of the creative agency behind the ad talking about why he likes us so much. Which is jolly nice!

Click here to have a gander.

Hope everyone is feeling festive and almost ready for Christmas, we are!

P, B, N, J & K x

What...who?

2009-11-13T12:58:00.004Z

So we've been beavering away over the last couple of weeks and I thought I'd tell you about it.

We are in the process of getting some of our new material mixed (mostly stuff you will have heard if you've been to a gig in the last few months) in demo form, as we don't really have anything recorded post- One Day In June, which is going back a bit these days.

The new songs have been songs that, in a way for the 1st time, we have written as a band. Musically, especially after the summer of festivals, the band has probably never been as tight as a unit and that shows in the way these songs have grown and evolved. Now we are close to having a good representation of them, it feels like we are clicking the pieces into place in the big old Urusen jigsaw.

To go along with the new recordings, we've been trying to get a better idea in our heads, and on paper, of what we want to project as a band. What is Urusen, what do we sound like, why should people listen to our music, all these sorts of questions are, I'm sure, questions all bands have to answer (or get answered for them), but it isn't easy.

We aren't a band of clones, perhaps the best thing about the band is the different personalities and stories the 5 of us have to tell. Nevertheless, we always agree there is something about the band that keeps us all attached, strong, and keeps us unwavering in our belief that we will be doing this for a long time to come. If we could bottle that effect the band has on us, I'm sure we'd never have to work again, but for now, we've just been trying to work out how to explain ourselves.

We have a couple of gigs coming up before Christmas in London, one acoustic and one full band, which we will probably use to keep bedding in some brand new stuff (one track, 'The Woodsman', is fast becoming a favourite), so if you can, check out the event details on facebook or myspace and come along.

2009 has been a very special year for all of us in lots of ways. The band has hit new heights and grown more than any of us could have hoped for. To close it, we're going to make sure the final two shows of the year are crackers, so that we keep the wheels oiled and at full speed into 2010, which promises to be an even bigger and better year for the band. Hopefully.

We are the shadows of the night

2009-11-02T18:27:00.002Z

Just a quick one that we thought was too cool not to let you know about.

Verity Sharpe hosted a special Hallowe'en edition of the Late Junction on Thursday on Radio 3. To open the show, she played a track recorded in the 80s by Ben's Dad Peter Please called "We are the Shadows of the Night". It was from an album he recorded called "Uffington" to go with a book he published around the same time called "Chronicles of the White Horse".

The story is that "We are Shadows of the Night" is so scary that Ben used to hide under the kitchen table at home whenever it was played. I say used to...

Anyways, its online here, so have a listen (and a laugh or a scream depending on how easily spooked you are!)

We'll be waiting....

Whoa there, what's all that racket?!

2009-10-23T19:43:00.004+01:00

...its the sound of us being REALLY busy! Lots of stuff going on of late in Urusen land, quite a few good gigs (where were you?!) and then lots of meetings and planning and practising and recording and...and...I'll tell you all about it!

So since the last blog, we played at the single launch of our friends Trail. it was in North London and was lots of fun and there are some lovely pictures from the night that are up on our facebook page (not group - that's closing soon so if you're still using that, get with the programme, the changeover is coming!) so have a look, some great ones of Nick and Jay - helps when your playing 100 year old beautiful instruments!

We also recently made our debut at the renowned South London venue, The Bedford. The venue is genuinely one of the most special small venues in London, with a startingly good sound system and lighting rig. The gig went really well and it was lovely to see some faces not seen for a while - we've already confirmed to go back in February so hopefully see you again then.

Last night, we we're back on Pete and Ben's home turf, playing at the infamous Moles, supporting up and coming indie-folksters Stornoway who are currently touring in support of their new single Unfaithful. We met Rahul from the band at the Larmer Tree Festival in the summer, so was great to see him again, and the night was really good all round, bpth bands on top form. Thanks to Steve and 13th floor, and everyone who came down, hopefully be back again soon.

Lots of other things going on behind the scenes at present, but nothing too set in stone yet unfortunately so will let you all know when it all gets confirmed.

In the meantime, check out this - nothing to do with us! But if you stumble across any funny urusen-themed links then please let us know!

2009-09-24T16:48:00.001+01:00

Wake up John

2009-08-29T12:07:00.003+01:00

As promised, there is a recording of us playing new song 'Wake up John' live at the WOMAD festival here and here. Have a listen and let us know what you think.

In other news, we are now confirmed for 'Not the Packhorse Fair' in Somerset next weekend and will be playing on Saturday afternoon - looking forward to getting back out to the South West so if you know anyone who's coming, tell them to come say hi!

Also, on the 14th of September we will be playing with Trail at the Purple Turtle in Camden for the launch of their new single Prism. T'will be our first gig in London for a while so come on down!

Big news!

2009-08-21T02:03:00.004+01:00

All been a bit quiet on the blog of late but lots has been going on behind the scenes so thought you were all due a bit of an update.

First things first, a big congratulations is in order to Nick and his lovely partner Ellie who we are now the proud parents of Oscar Morris Tibor Ullmann. We're not going to post OK style pictures or anything gratuitous like that, but rest assured he is a beautiful baby and we all couldn't be happier for the 3 of them.

That, along with various members of the band taking some well earned down time, has meant we haven't had any gigs of late, but they will be building back up soon enough. We are confirmed for a charity gig in September for an amazing cause and will be playing alongside the legendary Mark Knopfler. Thanks again to Helen for allowing us to be a part of it.

Also coming up, we will be playing a little festival in Somerset, more details on that when its confirmed, and we will also be playing at a single launch in London for some friends of ours that promises to be a big night - again more details when we have them.

Other than that we've been having a string of seemingly endless meetings with the lovely people at Real World and just as a band, discussing everything from band outfits (no really!) to producers to what we do when the last copy of One Day in June has been sold - a fast approaching situation! Aaaaand we've also nearly finished the new recordings AND worked on some new choons - PHEW!

Needless to say there is lots in the pipeline. So keep in touch and we shall hopefully see you soon!

Urusen x

P.S. Almost forgot! Live recording from our WOMAD set will go on-line in the next 7 days. Will be a newbie so make sure you have a listen and let us know what you think!

WOMAD (by Ben)

2009-07-30T17:39:00.011+01:00

This week Urusen played at WOMAD festival. It was a last minute booking from the organiser. A new stage had been planned in the Real Ale Bar and the organiser, Paula Henderson, had sent us an email inviting us to play. Sunday night, 7.50pm, in the bar. Cool! Work cancelled, shifts moved, and we were good to go, except of course Nick, who couldnt shift the due date of his and Ellie's baby, so we were playing as a 4-piece for this one.

I arrived on Saturday afternoon, catching a bus, then a train, then a bus, then another bus. I was feeling quite smug as I had just bought a trolley and bag for all my gear. Except that the trolley adds another 10kg to the whole wait, and Chippenham train station is ALL STAIRS. The nice bus driver wished Urusen well as I disembarked for the long walk to the Artist's camping area, same as normal camping, just a lot further. Having hoisted up my little fake tee pee I then realised I'd left my phone behind, so for the next 24 hours it was going to be a big wander, as the rest of the guys weren't arriving till Sunday afternoon. What an idiot!

A cider, well, three, later I finally bumped into someone I knew. Sarah, who I went to school with since I was 5 years old. She was heading for home with her children but gave me a hot tip to look out for purple and pink wigs in the Sian tent which were donning her sister Kathleen and mum Caro. Sarah's family actually RUN Womad so I felt pretty chuffed to be hanging out with them for the rest of the evening. Had a retro-boogie-reminisce to Peter Gabriel and was blown away by AMAZING beat boxing later that night.

As the inevitable rain eventually passed over us I headed to sleep, carefully positioning my mat between the four puddles that had already strategically collected themselves under the window's of the tee pee. It was a cold, wet night.

Skip forward 13 hours and the first car to arrive was Jay and Little Pete, slightly shaken from a high speed chase through the back streets of Kilburn as they were coming out of London. "Never talk back to aggressive drivers" is the lesson. But if anywhere can relax you, WOMAD can. Despite the rain, the atmosphere is warm. With some cider and food inside them, we swayed to high-octane bass clarinet by the BBC 3 stage. As the clouds drew in we headed back to meet Kieran who had just arrived and load our gear into the Real Ale Bar. It was one of these huge long marquees, could probably hold about a 1000 at a push, but the poet before had meant it had emptied a little. But then, as a way of a gentle push, the heaven's opened, and people flocked back in to drink. The drum kit was missing a floor tom, so while the sound engineer Steve ran off to find one, I lugged Peter Gabriel's stage piano into place which we were using. (Thanks Peter!).

After a surprisingly nice floor tom arrived (more on that later!), we sound checked, beckoned the crowd forward and set off with 'Now that she has flown'. It always takes a song or two to get the levels right, warm up our voices, but each song flowed. The crowed cheered, and cheered. I spotted Rob from Realworld (our lovely publisher) and his wife in the middle. I think I even saw him dance, just a little. During one song I saw a guy running across the front of the stage with a another floor tom. Didn't think anything of it. We played all the new ones, except Step off the Train, arguabley the most delicate song we do. We thought the mood was too high for a slow quiet one, and Nick has a nice little solo which we couldn't replicate. The set ended with 'From this country' and we filed off the stage to much applause, which I have to say, feels great. The crowd pulled us back on, so we went with Train Song as our encore and made sure we got a big cheers for Nick, Ellie and the forthcoming baby. It actually feels like a good song to end with.

After the gig lots of people came up to us. It was quite funny (and nice). All the organisers from the big festivals we'd played at seemed to be there. First came Lisa from Avalon at Glastonbury festival. She apologised for not seeing us when we played there, but gave us all a big hug and said she really enjoyed it, and see us next year for sure. Then Amy from Larmer Tree Festival came up and echoed the sentiment. And of course Rob, representing WOMAD came up too (rumour has it Dave T, one of the head honchos of WOMAD was their too). Big smiles all round. I wonder if Peter G made it too?

Kieran came up to me afterwards. He had had a great gig, but there was one moment when mid-song I guy had come up a switched floor toms, virtually mid-beat! Apparently Steve had mistakenly taken a floor tom from the Main Stage kit, worth about £1500, new skins and all. Whoops! Still, we had a great floor tom sound for at least half the gig. Steve made good by giving us a recording of our gig, which we'll pop up some tracks from soon on myspace.com/urusen.It had gone way better than we could have hoped. Great crowd, great gig. Apparently we'll be "as big as Stornaway by next year!" We all retired for a nice cider, except poor Kieran and Pete who had to drive back, for work the next morning.

Jay and I finished off the evening wandering around with Jay's girlfriend and her family, watching WOMAD slowing down as the night drew deeper, and the ever more manic attempts of the WOMAD revelers to catch the last glimpses of each tent, trying to find that elusive bar that stayed open those few minutes longer. People didn't want it to end. Happy and tired we all eventually headed to our respective tents. I crept into my tee pee, dodging the creeping puddles that would chase my foot every time I put it down into the groundsheet. I lay down onto my mattress island and fell into a deep dream filled sleep.

The next morning it was back to reality. I waved goodbye to Jay, and then tramped across the fields, out the wrong exit and onto the main road, walking along the verge crushed up against the nettles and thorns as the lorries tor by. A little wake up call, don't get above yourself Ben. No limo here. Finally I reached the bus stand heading home, happily munching away on the best bacon sandwich I think I have ever eaten in my life. There were two ladies standing in the queue behind me, chatting about what they had seen at WOMAD, their highlights, what CD's they had bought. I stood there eating my sandwich thinking. Hmm, wouldn't it be nice if they mentioned us, little laugh at myself and continue munching away. Back to reality Ben. But then... "oh, yes, and there was this band called, umm, Urusen. I saw them at Larmer Tree last week, twice. They were amazing! Then I saw their CD in the WOMAD shop and had to get it as they had sold out at Larmer. You should check them out." Ha ha, maybe REALITY is starting to change after all!

More positivity!

2009-07-28T14:42:00.004+01:00

Just a quick note to let you know we are the featured artist today on www.amazingtunes.com. Rather nice of them, so check it out if you fancy.

P.S. keep checking back for info from WOMAD plus possibly some videos from eyefest and some live recordings!

One Crazy Weekend

2009-07-21T14:37:00.018+01:00

3 festivals, 4 performances, 350 miles and a lot of cider.

On Thursday the madness began at the Larmer Tree Festival near Salisbury. The festival was sold-out and with headliners including The National Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and Dreadzone, it was likely to be a good start to the weekend. After unpacking the tents and gear (more on that later) we had a look round what has to be one of the coolest festivals in the UK. The atmosphere was very relaxed and there were so many cool things to do and see (including the horticultural sitting room, right) we all agreed it would we would have loved to have stayed all weekend.

Our first set was in the Arc Tent which was a good size with a real listening crowd (sounds silly but a lot of festival crowds aren't!) One thing I particularly liked was the fact that they ran an open mic at the side of the tent during band changeovers. I thought this was inspired, and much better than bombarding people with the sound engineers i-pod all day.

Anyways, we had an early evening slot so took the spare time to have a quick rehearsal next to the tents as we hadn't played together in 2 weeks. The gig itself went really well. The stage crew in the tent were great (especially Tim the Jimmy Page look-a-like stage manager!) and we were very well received by the crowd, who we did a bit of a meet and greet with after the gig (including our competition winner Nigel and his son - lovely to meet you both!) which was a bit surreal but hopefully a sign of things to come! We then partied the night away to Dreadzone and, from what I remember, we indulged in playfighting in a big tent, ate dirty burger van burgers and met the irrepressible 'Mad Mick', a toothless farmer who imparted wisdom on subjects such as going bald ("hair today, gone tomorrow") and his love for Tina Turner!

Friday morning we got up 'lateish' and waded through what had been the festival site but the rain had turned into a bog. After getting some sustenance inside us, we watched some great acts including The Travelling Band who Ben and Pete have played with previously. Then it was time to pack up the tents and head south to Dorset for our second performance of the weekend at the Tolpuddle Martyr's Festival. Celebrating its 175th anniversary, it promised to be a good gig, irrespective of the inclement weather. On arrival, we noticed two things. Firstly, although we were aware of the likely political leanings of many of the punter's at the festival, some of the t-shirts were still a great sight to behold.
Secondly, we can say with a certain amount of confidence that, as far as 5 piece bands go, we must be pretty near the top when it comes to abundance of equipment. The scale of the operation only really becomes apparent when you see it all piled together, and thus I decided to document this. For scale, we put Pete in the picture. While he may look like a relatively diminutive chap the photo is misleading. He's far smaller than that.

We were opening the festival so whilst the crowd needed a song or two to get in to it, the gig went off really nicely. The sound was brilliant in the tent, and a special thanks to Keith and everyone at the festival for making us feel so welcome, would be lovely to come back next year - if only to sample what had to be the best festival showers I've ever seen! It was also lovely to again meet people after the show, be great to see you all again at some point!
There may be no rest for the wicked, but the same applies to Urusen, as we had to pack up again and head North to Bath so Ben could help to apply the finish touches to the mini-festival he has run for the last 3 years, EyeFest. So half of headed that way to set up camp for the night, whilst Nick went back to Larmer tree with our roadie for the weekend 'Colin' (or as he is normally known, Nick's brother Max!)

EyeFest is set in the beautiful surroundings of a farm overlooking Bath. In its 3rd year, we have been and played every year (it helps when one of the band books the bands for the festival!) and although I'm sure I'm biased, it is great, for a good cause, and we always enjoy ourselves. This year was nautical themed and luckily the weather held off on the whole, so we were treated to a Saturday in the Somerset sun. Dinner and breakfast is provided (Hog roast for most, bean chilli for non-meat eaters like me!) and the music included the welsh rockers 4th Street Traffic, returning to headline after their triumphant set last year. Other notable mentions were the ever-wonderful Naomi Roper, The irreverant Stanley Forbes, and the guys from Lindy Hop, who taught everyone (including my mum and aunty a few 1950s dance moves!) Must also give a mention to our friend Chris the sound man for his sterling work throughout the day.

So with our final slot of the weekend starting at 11:15 back at the Larmer Tree we rose early, more than a little sheepishly, and loaded all the gear back into the vehicles and got back on the road. We arrived with a certain amount of trepidation, a lot of festivals don't even start until midday so what sort of crowd could we expect on the final day of a festival at just after 11? Needless to say, Larmer Tree did not let us down. In what was probably the best gig of the weekend, we were given a standing ovation and sold out of albums in the signing tent within 25 minutes. To all the people who signed up to the mailing list for albums - we will be in touch soon! It was also cool to meet one of the guys from Stornoway. Would be great to do some gigs with guys at some point so get in touch!!

The gig also had added significance as it will be the last one for a little while with Nick, our Cellist. He and his girlfriend Ellie are expecting their 1st child in August and thus he will have more than enough on his plate for the near future. The rest of us are all excited about becoming Urusen Uncles and we wish Nick and Ellie all the best.
And that was that, another weekend of great gigs, wonderful people and not a lot of sleep. WOMAD next week!!

2009-07-11T13:27:00.004+01:00

Just a quick note to say we're featured in The Independent newspaper today in their 'Ten best gigs' section under 'Jazz, Blues, World and Folk'. This is due to us being the opening act of next weekend's Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival, celebrating the 175th anniversary of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. You will see on the picture that the 3rd event listed is the Larmer Tree Festival, which we are incidently also playing at - how on it are we?!?!
Seriously though, very cool to be mentioned, and hopefully see some of you down at the festivals. Next weekend promises to be fairly manic with 4 performances at 3 festivals across 4 days, so look out for a full report and pictures and the like!

Glastonbury Diary: Day 3 (4 & 5)

2009-07-04T12:35:00.008+01:00

Saturday was the day of our last gig and thus I will truncate the rest of the days into this bit of the blog. We were moving stage again onto the bandstand stage. given it is situated in the middle of the site, getting there with all our gear involved a land rover, some wheel barrows and a fair amount of sweat; I wish I had pictures but sadly I don't. Anyways, gear safely dispatched we had a few hours to kill in order to buy silly hats. (See picture right of myself modelling the classic "straw trilby and wife-beater look!) There was lots more elaborate headgear on show throughout the weekend so if you'd like to see it, plus all the other pics from the festival, check out our facebook group ( http://www.tinyurl.com/klyvun ) for all the pics we didin't have space for here. (While your at it, join the group, and our artist page, and our myspace, and...and...)

Moving on...the bandstand is quite a special space to play on. because of its location (in the middle of a thoroughfare with no "front" (its a bandstand) you really get the feeling that you're playing to the festival rather than a particular crowd. Either way, it seemed to go down well. With it being our last performance of the weekend we gave it everything and by all accounts rocked it. I also received one of the most beautifully worded compliments for the band from one of the bandstand staff who told me that he felt "privilged to have seen [us]." Certainly a step up from "yeah mate...great gig." or my personal all time favourite "your keyboard sound is sick!"

We got a load of stickers printed to bring to the festival that spawned the game: "phantom stickering". Basically, it involved trying to sticker someone without them noticing - and everyone on site was fair game. The best ones of the weekend were two coppers, who removed them from their behinds and stuck them to their cans of MACE (whilst delivering the chilling line "it'll be the last thing someone sees!") and also a certain Mr. Newton Fawlkner, who was happy to take one on the front of his chest, but blissfully unaware of the numerous one stuck to his back (abit like Pete, right)

The rest of the festival was a blast, band member highlights included Blur, Florence and the Machine, Bat for Lashes, Bon Iver and stumbling across a tiny Johnny Flynn set in "The Snug" (plus seeing a rather worse for wear looking Keith Allen in Arcadia at about 3am, on a stage, baning a drum!) And then it was over.

To get serious for a minute it certainly felt like this weekend was a big step for the band. We know now we can play on big stages to big crowds and they, and we, love it. We've always suspected as much, but now we've done it. the newer songs in our sets are getting the biggest responses which shows we as a band are getting better in not only how we perform, but what we are performing. Onwards and upwards, the summer has only just started.

Glastonbury Diary: Day 2

2009-07-04T09:40:00.010+01:00

Woke up with a small hangover and a little damp (cheap tent!), but still buzzing from the prevous nights excitement and raring to get back to the Avalon Cafe for our second show there. We knew the festival had offocially begun when we heard the sweet sounds of Bjorn Again travelling over the breeze from the Pyramid Stage and so headed into the arena to sample the Glasto atmosphere (after a quick trip to a camping stall to purchase some waterproof trousers and a gazebo!).

It is impossible to explain (for those who haven't been) the sheer size and scale that Glastonbury operates on. Almost a quarter of the 177000 people on site are staff, security or performers, thats over 40,000 people. The term organised chaos comes to mind, but it does not even begin to describe what Michael Eavis has achieved.

With Neil Young and Fleet Foxes both playing the Pyramid Stage today, it seemed fitting we were playing today - treating the crowd to an extra helping of harmonies and country/folky loveliness!

So we headed back to the Avalon Cafe for our 3pm slot. We changed the set up slightly for this gig, and knew that while the crowd would undoubtedly be smaller (the previous night we hadn't had to contend with, amongst others, the Pyramid Stage, the Other stage, the John Peel Tent, the Jazz World Stage...) but we still pulled a crowd in, including people who had come the night before, and also some people from some bigger stages regarding next year - we will let you know if/when we do!!

We had the rest of the day "off", so went off to enjoy the festival and took in some amazing music. I won't gloat by telling you how amazing Neil Young was, but istead just give you a couple of pictures of the rest of our day - including a super cool lady playing guitar-umberella!

Glastonbury Diary: Day 1

2009-07-02T12:18:00.010+01:00

So this weekend was a big one for us as we we're off to Glastonbury! It was the 1st time at the festival for Urusen as a band, as well as the 1st time ever for Nick and I. So stocked up with rum, face wipes and pepperami (150% pork - figure that one out!) we set off down our favourite stretch of British tarmac (the good old M4) for Worthy Farm.

We arrived at the sight after some negotiating with security to ensure that my van Valerie was allowed to park in the special reserved area (not because she's ugly, she just had the wrong ticket!) where we were met by Colin who ferried us down onto the site (1st bit of luxury!) along with our gear. We were joined in transit by a band called Mik Artistik who had been travelling since 11am the previous morning and were taking it easy this year after having played 14 times last year - we thought 4 on our debut was impressive!

Anyways, campsite made (Ben arrived the night before and literally hoisted a Urusen flag to mark our territory) we sped off to our 1st gig - a 2pm slot in the backstage theatre stage bar. It was a perfect way to open our Glasto account, a really chilled affair with cajon instead of drums and doubling up on mics for harmonies. There was a moment of excitement when I thought I'd spotted Johnny Lee Miller in the audience, but it turned out to be a false alarm!

With a couple of hours to kill until the next show (8pm in the Avalon Cafe) we went for a bit of an explore. The sun was baking and there was already 1000s of people milling around the site - a trigger for us all to very much get into the
festival spirit. Meanwhile, Ben slipped off to do a quick interview for Glastonbury Radio, which led to an interesting meeting that could end up with Urusen doing a Ministry of Sound chilled session - who'd have thought!!

The Avalon Cafe is the second stage in the Fields of Avalon. It had doubled in size since last year and was a great venue for us. When we took to the stage the crowd was a good one but then, as if things couldn't get any better (we were playing at Glastonbury after all!) the heavens opened, driving ever more people into the shelter of the tent and by the end of the gig the whole place was rocking - in a Urusen-stylee! We all agree it was up there with the best gigs we have ever played - we were all walking on air for the rest of the night, and so a big thank you is in order for everyone who braved the rain to come out and see us. We celebrated with a few Ciders and a bit more exploring, before heading back to the tents to escape the rain. What a day - and the festival hadn't even begun yet!

Welcome!

2009-06-21T23:16:00.004+01:00

Hello there!! This is the first blog by us - but rather than talk about who we are and what we're about I'm just going to plough straight into what we've been up to.
I have spent most of the last two weekends driving (almost 1000 miles in total thus far) taking us back and forth to some very cool little festivals in the South West as we begin our summer of activity.

Last weekend saw us pop our 2009 festival cherry at a brand new festival called Tea On The Farm.Set in the gorgeous surroundings of Box in Wiltshire, the festival was great fun with a lovely atmosphere, and it was a shame that we weren't able to stay for the whole weekend. Special mention must go to Alex the quad bike man for ferrying our ever increasing array of instruments to and from the stage!

On Tuesday we headlined our last London gig for a while at the new Proud Galleries in Camden. The gig was a real success, we're all very aware that the new songs in the set are getting better and better and really lifting the live show to a new level - just need to get them recorded now!! Also lovely to be able to sit and have a drink and a chat with the lovely Helens (you know who you are!) as well as having my mum down for the gig!!

This weekend was the Gold Coast Ocean Festival in Croyde, North Devon. We were meant to play this festival last year but were unfortunately unable to make it work so it was good to get back there this year and play. Pete and I came down on the night before and had a lovely, if slightly chilly evening at a local camp site where we tried, and admittedly failed, to savour the local cider. It had a taste which neither us, nor the people in the neighbouring tent, could fully come to terms with and so I say to the people of Georgeham: fair play, but I'll stick to the lager.

Sunday the rest of the gang came down and we wandered around the site and checked out some other artists (Jim Jones in particular was cool) and played our set around 3ish. The vibe was very chilled after an apparently heavy Saturday night at the festival for all, but we really enjoyed the gig (lovely playing on a big stage with great sound!) Filled with positivity & red bull we set off for home, via our second home the M4.
Next week...Glasto!!!!
Kieran