THE LONESOME BOATMAN

Exporting the ROCK out of Ballyknockan

2011-09-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

People who know me well know I'm from Ballyknockan. Growing up there was a great experience and being involved with the music scene here over the years has been a lot of fun. It all began for me as a teenager with a few of my Ballyknockan friends, Rat and Pashty and we formed a band called Cursed Earth. We played thrash metal and got to do a few international supports and a regular spins from Dave Fanning show on 2fm. The band split in 1995 and I more or less hung up my rockin boots until Glyder formed and we got a chance to open for Thin Lizzy in 2005.

Ballyknockan was well associated with Rock long before Glyder came around. Not many people know it but most of Dublin's great buildings come from the granite quarried out of the village. Anyone who every comes here falls in love with it, but because its isolated and off any main roads not many people really know of it. The recent Knockanstockan music festival has brought some more attention to the area as have the many films made in the village over recent years. I'm quite proud of the fact that Glyder began in Ballyknockan back in 2004. The village has always had a music tradition going back to the brass band in the 1800's and I think there must be more musicians in the village than any other village in Ireland. Ironically Ballyknockan's two biggest exports are rock music and granite rock. Nationwide from RTE came out to get the story about Ballyknockan and the Rock. It will be broadcast on 14th Oct on RTE1.

Backroads to Byzantium

2011-04-12T05:47:00.000-07:00

We settled on "Motions of Time" as an album title a few weeks back for the fourth Glyder album but it just wasnt feeling right so after much thought the title came to me. A few months back I was thinking along the lines of the Yeats poem "Sailing to Byzantium" as the new album has an underling theme of a journey and my slant on it was "Backroads to Byzantium"

Im sure you are familiar with the Yeats poem but the theme is the desire for escape from the hardships of this world and the quest for immortality. Byzantium is that place in Yeats poem, I see us in that quest on a different level and also taking a different route to this place as we are not mainstream therefore the backroads as opposed to the main road.

We start recording next Tue 18th April. It has been really great making this album. It all really kicked off first week in January. As Jackie Robinson our new vocalist is from Northern Ireland its wasnt practical to meet up every week for writing and rehearsals so we worked over email using digital audio recording. We bounced ideas and tracks around back and forward until we acheived the results we wanted. Pete and I would make a backing track of Guitar, bass and a drum program and Jackie would add his vocals at his home and email them back. Des and Graham the new Rythym section have been working closely with Pete and myself and we are tightening up the arrangements and getting them ready to record.

We have written 15 songs and have tightened it all up to ten that work well together.Here is a brief of what the songs are like:

1. Even if I dont know where I'm gonna go
Is a very Americana style driving rocker along the lines of a heavy Bob Seger with a killer chorus
2. Two Wrongs
An upbeat melodic rock song with a killer groovin riff
3. Fade to Dust
A very uptempo rock anthem with some killer riffs , soaring vocals and harmony guitars and shredding solo
4. Dont make their Mistakes
A classic 70's style rock number in a celtic blues Rory Gallagher vein,
5. Something she knows
A song destined for Classic rock radio, feel good, catchy as hell
6. Chronicled Deceit
Very heavy head banger like Joe Bonamassa meets Metallica, stompin!!!
7. Long Gone
Think "Fireball" by Deep Purple with some serious driving Rythym and great chorus
8. End of the Line
Cool modern rock song with a very hooky chorus
9. Down and Out
Very sublime verses with a killer riffing chorus and some slide and harmony guitars to good effect
10. Motions of Time
A ballad to end a hard rocking album with a peaceful acouctic touch.

Keep and eye on the blog for studio updates next week!

Something in the Heart of Nothing

2011-03-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

Havent blogged for a while, Its been a busy few months this year, The new Glyder album is going to be titled "Motions of time". Its written and we go to the studio next month to record it. Im very excited about it and I know the songs are killer. Also a collector edition of material comes out in May called "Black Pearl - A collection of Rough Diamonds" this is a lot of early stuff of Glyder released as a collectors edition. Great to get Glyder back on the way again,

My solo album will come out in Europe in June and Im on the covermount CD of March/April edition of R2 (Rock N Reel) magazine.

With the Glyder album written Im now looking at my next solo album and im going to call it "Something in the Heart of Nothing" I have a load of demos made and went through them today and am going to put it all together. I hope to record it sometime before the end of the year. Its going to be Raw and unproduced. The tiles of the songs so far are

1. We will be one
2. Something in the Heart of Nothing
3. A Vibe for Philo
4. I am a Rolling Stone
5. Waiting on the motion to start
6. For Henry
7. I embrace the night
8. Free youre mind for you
9. The Celestial Jukebox

The new Glyder , lost treasure and why I want to ROCK!!

2011-01-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Just to let you know that I have now got a new lineup for Glyder. You can read a little here and get a free download with the new singer Jackie Robinson.

http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/track-of-the-day-glyder/

Im overwhelmed by the support and feedback ive got for this new band. Its going to be great. There is a new enthusiasm in me for rockin out. Since late last year when Pete and I decided to carry on we have been working away on new material. Pete has been sending me his ideas via email and ive been sending back mine. We got Jackie into the loop and he has now started adding his vocal ideas. As he is based in Northern Ireland this makes writing much easier.

Last weekend we got together with the new lineup and jammed out a few of the old songs and it was a great feeling to be playing some of those songs again. Jackie hung out with us for the weekend and I went through some ideas I had stored away on the computer. Whilst doing this I discovered a folder with ideas going back to 2006 prior to recording "Playground for Life". I had completely forgotten of the existance of this folder as it was on a Mac format harddrive. I managed to get into it and I was delighted to find this "Treasure trove" of riffs and ideas that either got shelved or were not developed.

Anyway I used the first two good riffs I found in the folder and made a song out of it and lets say its absolutely cracking!!! I cant wait to let you hear it. Ive been giving some guitar lessons and it got me back in the mood to shred a little on the guitar which I havent done for years. Lots of riffage, solos and harmony guitars and its when you really get into it you realise what ROCK is all about. ROCK is about fun and energy and being full of life. The energy can be channelled into something really positive and now I remember why im a rocker. Long live Rock and Roll and long live Glyder.

Ill keep you informed on the writing process and whats happening over the coming weeks.

YULETIDE BLOG - 2010 in review and whats in store for 2011

2010-12-17T03:39:00.000-08:00

What an interesting year. I signed a record deal with SPV for Glyder and I released two albums this year, one with Glyder "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" and my solo album "A lifetime to Kill". Glyder's album got some great reviews and airplay all over the world. We even got a USA release and Alice Cooper featured us on his radio show. I believe Glyder were on the verge on going on to a bigger level but it wasn't meant to be this time. I was taken back by the amount of respect people have for the band and it really only became evident when we announced the split. However I took stock of what I achieved with Glyder and after a lot of consideration I felt I had worked way too hard to throw in the towel. I've decided to carry on with a new lineup in 2011. A few months on I realize that this split had to happen for the band to move forward. The enthusiasm was at an all time low and people had moved on to different things in their lives. I've been writing and have some material ready now to make the fourth album. Pete is still with me so at least we will keep the Glyder guitar sound with all those well crafted solos by Mr Pete Fisher and myself. We will of course have to find a new rhythm section but thankfully I have found a great rock singer from Northern Ireland. Will announce details and hopefully have a few samples in January. We are hoping to make an album early next year and get the Glyder back in the sky!

My solo album distracted me and gave me focus while what was Glyder fell apart. The solo album so far has had some good press and airplay's but its tougher now than it ever was in the music business. I think people in the business are scared to death to admit how bad it is. But I don't care I have nothing to lose... Its a fucking disaster!! Just a little bit like the prospectors that went to the wild west and soon enough the gold ran out and everyone's hopes and dreams were shattered. But aside from the financial side of it, I have enjoyed this year so much. This year I got a confidence in myself that I never had before. I got to work with some great musicians and make an album I'm so proud of. I even got Dave Roe guesting on my album. Dave played with Johnny Cash for 10 years. That blew my mind as did having Rob Strong one of Ireland's best blues and soul men working with me and Pat Mc Manus one of the best musicians in Ireland. This year I discovered my voice and I have a decent vocal range. Even since the album I'm come on in leaps and bounds as a singer. I'm making demos here and belting it out. Ive learned how to use my voice now and I'm not afraid to belt it out, I know I will hit the right note. In the past I think fear inhibited me. I gained a confidence this year from making that album and working with my buddy Rob Strong. He gave me a lot of advice and more mental coaching that anything else. I even got to do a gig with Rob this year filling in for his guitarist. I got to play with lots of different covers bands as a guitarist to help pay the bills. Aside from all the performance Ive been gathering up all my ideas. The demos for album two are going well and I also hope to make that is the early part of 2011. At least now I'm armed with the tools that will help me make my second solo album great.

I sang for the first time on live radio this year on the sadly now defunct Irish Music show on WLRfm. Roddie Cleere has been a champion for up and coming Irish bands and artists. He featured "A lifetime to kill" back in June and has played tracks on his show nearly every week since then. In fact an instrumental tune I wrote "For Henry", a homage to Henry McCullough (he showed me some tunings when I opened for him) that I played live in the studio was the very last track played on the 20 year old show on December 3rd. I felt very honoured but also very sad. I hope Roddie will find somewhere to keep his show going in the future. I was also delighted that John Creedon on RTE1 gave my album some plays on his show during the summer. He spoke highly about me and the album. More airplays came with a play on Roots Freeway with Niall Toner and some plays on regional stations and radio Nova. Some nice coverage in Hot Press magazine and a really great review there from Colm 'O Hare got my name out there in Ireland.

On the business side, well there's no point in waiting around and expecting things to happen. So for the moment I just have to focus on being creative and also being creative on the business side of things. Some of the best success's Ive had in the music business side of things have been by thinking out of the box. The days of the artists who expect to be successful by just being good at writing and performing are gone. The new artist is a good songwriter, a good performer and a good business person. To me the business is networking, remember the cliche "it all about who you know" and that I found is very true. Its about building relationships with people both in the business and the people who like your music. Its about sending out the CD's, finding out who the right people to contact are, keeping the websites updated, trying to get gigs, knocking on as many doors as possible. Thinking of new angles to get the word out there. Bloggers and Blogging are the way forward, If people aren't going to write about me, ill write about myself. I'm building up some readers and I know from the stats a lot more people read this page that the subscribers so Ive unleashed the power of the blog. The future of music is the world wide web and keeping up with every development in social networking. I'm thankful for the demise of myspace as it seemed like rat race for every act to have more friends, more comments, more plays than the next. I still think its a useful tool for giving people a sample of your work and useful in many other ways but the designers there don't seem to know what they are at and are alienating more and more people from it everyday .I wonder what new social networking phenomena is going to emerge this year? something to do with phones I reckon.

November saw the sad passing of Larry Roddy who gave me the opening slot for Henry McCullough. Larry brought so many great folk, blues and roots acts from all over the globe to Ireland and I was a regular at the gigs he ran in Ballymore Eustace. Also the sad passing of Derek Nally, although I didn't know him very well he gave Glyder some international supports in Whelans and the Village.One of my greatest musical heroes also died this year. I was lucky to have opened for him in Stockholm in 2008 and have a few drinks with him. I also had a few drinks with him in 2007 at Gods of Metal in Italy. Ronnie James Dio was the greatest Metal vocalist and a true nice guy. The albums "Mob Rules" and "Heaven and Hell" were part of my musical youth.

What's in store for the future? Playing live is the best way of winning new fans but everyone is fighting for the festival dates and the good support slots. So until they come around the best thing to so is to be making as much awareness as possible so if I get that slot people might know the songs. I'm also hoping to get my solo thing out on the road a bit and the first gig I will be doing will be in January in Vicar St at the Vibe for Philo. I have the great honour of being part of the Pat Mc Manus band for that gig and its going to be great. I hope to get Glyder back out there and hopefully get back gigging with that to as soon as possible.

Anyway I'm off now to try and write as many songs as possible and get ready to kick off 2011 with a bang so unless something interesting happens between now and the new year I'm in hibernation so have a great Christmas and a prosperous new year!

Living your music

2010-12-10T02:48:00.000-08:00

I would imagine anyone who stumbles across this blog that doesn't know me will be confused about my musical taste. I played in a thrash metal band in my teens, a hard rock band in my late 20's and 30's and now still in my 30's playing and writing folk and blues music. Being an active musician I have always had a eclectic taste in music. When I was a small child I just liked songs and what was popular on the radio was good for me. When I became a teenager I discovered heavier music that wasn't on the radio. I started off with all the classic rock music and then I got into thrash metal as that was the music of the day. I loved the energy and sound of the music. I loved the dark side of the music as I loved horror, fantasy and ghost stories. Metal was my music of choice. I identified with it. All my pals were metal heads. We wore the leather jackets and denims, runner boots and all had long hair. We loved our hair, our beards and our beer! We worshiped at the altar of metal and you could not like other kind of music, that would be against the religion of metal . However a metal head always has songs they like that they would never admit to. When I was listening to the heaviest metal, I still always had a passion for Thin Lizzy as they fulfilled my aural needs. They had great songs, great lyrics, great guitars and looked great.

When I first took some guitar lessons I learned "The house of the rising sun" and Bob Dylan songs and they were always songs I loved. My brother and I shared a love of the Pogues and Irish music like Clannad . He was into alternative and indie music and read NME. I always hated shoegazer bands, to me they played their instruments badly , had whiny vocals and were pretentious. To me they were all college kids that picked up guitars to get laid and would diss them once they entered their white collar world.

But for me and my brother our common ground was The pogues, U2, Thin Lizzy, Van Morrison, Clannad, Planxty, Moving Hearts etc. We both loved real visceral Irish artists. There was a lot of pretenses about Metal bands too but bands like Metallica lived it, they were the real deal. They dressed like us and were the high priests of the metal religion. When they started to wear makeup I was gutted, but I guess they had substance abuse problems and their vision became distorted. I never became successful enough to have a substance abuse problem! I never liked bands like Judas Priest, Twisted Sister or any bands that wore make up or were too gimmicky. The one band that used imagery a lot that I love is Iron Maiden. I think its the drama and the storytelling aspect of what they did married with great musicianship , songwriting and energy.

When my first band Cursed Earth broke up we morphed into a covers band. We started off with stuff like Thin Lizzy, Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and classic rock music in general. Eventually the band evolved into a weddings band and that was time for me to leave. This was my early twenties and I started to explore all the music I had ignored in my teens. I even chopped off my sacred flowing locks for a few years. During this time I discovered cool guitar music like The Hellecasters and thats really how I got turned onto liking country music. I picked up their cassette tape "Escape from Hollywood" in a bargain bin. It was all instrumental music and that suited me as I hated country music singing. It wasnt until I visited Nashville that I started to understand it and grow to like it. I guess growing up and hearing Big Tom and the Mainliners and all those really terrible Irish "Artists" would put any kid off country music. My love of blues grew over the years too and I remember seeing Rory Gallagher at self aid on TV in 1986 and I loved that. It wasnt until later that I started to buy all his albums.

So I think Ive made my point now. Music for me has to be real. If a person puts heart into what they do that is very evident to the listener. I identify with all genres of music when I see art and passion. That is why I believe any true artist lives their music. People that are in it for the money and fame get spotted very quickly. Some people love that and see music for the entertainment value. Stuff like X factor, cheesy pop music and people that cover other artists songs because they want instant success. These people are not Artists, they are fakes and its very sad that its become so difficult for any true artist to succeed nowadays. I would rather die broke than sell my soul out to any of that bullshit. Amen!

My first band

2010-12-09T14:01:00.000-08:00

After I found that Cassette with the "Radiohead riff" Lol, I decided to share all the Cursed Earth recordings,

They were made between 1992 and 1995 and appeared on Demos, a mini album and preproduction demos for an album that was to be released in 1995 but never happened. The pre-production demos were all recorded live in studio in a day so a bit rough around the edges but still have a good vibe.

The members were:
Denis Dowling - Vocals
Bat Kinane- Guitar
Marty (rat) Cummins - Guitars and backing vox
Pashty Keogh - Bass
Brendan Gilligan - Drums

I wrote a lot of the riffage especially in the latter days. I was heavily into Trouble, Danzig, Pantera, COC, Thin Lizzy, Suicidal Tendencies, Sabbath, Cathedral, King Diamond, Anathema and Metallica and all types of classic rock and metal.

Gilly was a devoted AC/DC fan and loved classic metal and we slagged him for his taste in cheese. Pashty was into thrash metal especially Metallica and like me loves Thin Lizzy. Rat was into everything that was bone crushing heavy. Denis was into Motorhead, Wildhearts, Blues based rock and stuff like that I think.

The band started in 1989 when I was 15 and broke up in 1995. We started after Rat, Pashty and myself found a drummer from an add on the wall in music maker on Exchequer St. We were from Wicklow and Gilly from Cabra and we used to bring the Marshall cabs on the bus from Wicklow to the city and out to cabra every Saturday until we got some sense! We are all still good mates and Gilly now lives in our neck of the woods. All of us with family's now. Denis joined in 1992 and left in 1995 and we split up because we couldn't find a suitable replacement, Denis went on to join a few other bands over the years. That band shaped all of our lives and we have some great memories.

We never got any success but we got some airplay on Dave Fanning show and John Kenny's Metal show, Opened for Dianno, Skyclad, Paradise Lost , Primordial, Predator and a few other local metal bands. Did a few gigs around Ireland and split up and became a covers band.

I made a few metal demos with a mate around 1999 but we never did any gigs. I came back again with Glyder in 2006 but obviously not as heavy as Cursed Earth.

Cursed Earth have had a few reunion gigs over the years.

Here is the music, Ill post what I have uploaded and post the rest between now and xmas on this thread , you can download it and pass it on if you like.

Some of its good, some of its crap, Its not here for critique that was already done 17 years ago. Its here for anyone that wants it, I do get requests from time to time for it. So enjoy!

http://soundcloud.com/batkinane/cursed-earth-forbidden-tree-1993
http://soundcloud.com/batkinane/cursed-earth-exile
http://soundcloud.com/batkinane/cursed-earth-perfect-armour
http://soundcloud.com/batkinane/10-i-felt-a-funeral-in-my-brain
http://soundcloud.com/batkinane/cursed-earth-shadows
http://soundcloud.com/batkinane/cursed-earth-crown-of-thorns

Radiohead ripped off my riff?

2010-12-07T04:39:00.000-08:00

Back in 1994 I wrote the riff that Radiohead used in Paranoid Android. The songs are completely different but the notation in the riffs is almost identical. It was broadcast on the John Kenny Metal show on Irish national radio station 2FM during the summer of 1995 and I have the evidence here to back that up. I got calls the time OK Computer came out in 1997 but there wasn't a lot I could do.

I often thought about it over the years but I found the cassette today and decided to let you decide? Now with the power of youtube and my blog I can let everyone know. I wrote Radioheads' greatest riff before they did, I'm not discounting their talents as its most likely a mere coincidence. I have wrote lots of killer riffs and music just check out www.glydermusic.com and www.batkinane.com to find out more about my music

I edited the riff down and pitch shifted my one to make it the same key of A , they arent the exact same but very similar!

Shadows-paranoid-01 by batkinane

Im looking for a Bail out

2010-11-29T07:52:00.000-08:00

Dear folks,

I'm looking for you to bail me out and purchase my album .
I hate to have to put my hand out but it seems that us Irish are now adept at that, now I'm not asking for charity, I'm offering what I consider a valid forty minutes of art and entertainment for less than 10 euro. That's 6 text votes for the X factor , the price of a cinema ticket or two pints of lager in Dublin city. Does music and art have any value any more?

Im trying to sell 8.5 billion copies at approx €10 so I can give the money to the Irish state interest free for the next seven years and try and save us from the evil bankers and corrupt politicians. It can be purchased from HMV, Amazon, Itunes etc

I can promise you that this is a worthwhile investment and what speculators have already said:

"sometime hard rocker goes prog-folk on impressive solo effort" 4/5 Hot Press Magazine

"a fantastic and welcome change of pace from an extremely talented songwriter", Steven Reid, Fireworks

“this is the kind of album that could soundtrack a laid-back road trip…Kinane contributes a worthy addition to the Irish folk and blues scene” Students Journal UCD Dublin

Peace

Bat

Is Uplaya the tool for discovering Hits of the future?

2010-11-23T07:24:00.000-08:00

I came across this site called uplaya. They have developed software that analyzes songs in mp3 format and gives their hit potential .

According to uplaya site:

"Music Intelligence Solutions’ patented algorithms analyze the fundamental characteristics of all music, such as brightness and tempo, and measures how they change over time. Often, these characteristics are perceived unconsciously by the listener, and the correct mix of parameters is more important than any individual parameter by itself.
Artists use the Hit Song Science™ technology to compare their unreleased songs against hits of the past and present, allowing them to see how well their music fits into the current market as well as to identify potential hits.
The technology also spots new trends and highlights how new songs fit in with these new trends. So a song containing mathematical patterns that are becoming more prevalent in new trends is detected as having high hit potential"

I uploaded two songs from my album "Making a fool out of me" and "Voodoo Bones" to see what their hit potential was and "Voodoo Bones" scored a Platinum Auddy Award (uplaya rating system) as a potential hit and "Makin a fool of of me" got a silver award as a potential hit. I was intrigued so I decided to upload the whole album and see what happened. I got seven Platinum awards for my album of eleven songs and a Silver award. The songs that scored the best were "No turning back" and "Light of my Life". The two the scored the lowest were "The Intrepid Fox" and "Jeremiah Jones" . Its funny as the two that scored the least are possibly my two favorite but I do know that "The Intrepid Fox" does not have hit potential but I thought that "Jeremiah Jones" would have scored well as most people seem to like it. I feel that the melody in the chorus of that song is very unique and maybe that's why it didn't score so well. I then uploaded "Voodoo Bones" again under a different name and higher bit rate and it got exactly the same score. So there is definite science in it that is working. I looked further into it to see how other artists fared out and wonder do they tell everyone they have potential hits to get them to purchase credits?, I'm still not sure. One thing is I really do like the layout of the profiles there as they are far superior to any other band networking site I've seen anywhere.

So when I'm ready to make the next album I will use it as a tool to get the best possible songs on the album and maybe even consider the running order. I think its an application that could take off big time but there is still not much about it around the web. Lets see where its at this time next year!

In the meantime check out this widget that has some of my "Hit" tunes on it!

My last word on Glyder

2010-10-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

After a day of walking in the hills and thinking:

There are things that will take time for me to come to terms with. The guys are my friends and family and as I said to the boys them last night, I don't blame them for their decisions. I hope they understand mine... I have stuff to sort in my head and I'm sure they have too. Tony, Pete and Davy are great musicians, writers and people and it has been great to work with them. We have all moved on and time will put it all into perspective, peace...Bat

Glyder Split

2010-10-03T04:37:00.000-07:00

The writing has been on the wall for some time and I regret to inform you that Glyder have decided to call it a day. I want to stress that this is nothing to do with my solo stuff and I am the one that has wanted to keep Glyder going. We were offered a tour with Molly Hatchet in Germany for December by our lable SPV. I asked each of the lads did they want to do it , I got two positives and a negative. We met last night and I got a change of mind from one of the lads and when that happened the third one gave me a negative as he felt he could not continue without the others. I thought about the idea of getting a band togther and doing the tour but that would be just too difficult and it would not really be Glyder with one member.

You see I call this blog the Lonesome Boatman, that's how I've felt in Glyder since the second album and since then I have felt more and more isolated within the band. Things changed for Glyder before the making of the third album and since then its been a struggle to keep going. Signing with SPV seemed like the Holy Grail but the year it took to finalize the deal saw us all move in different directions. Financial strain and other factors wore away at the band for the past two years. The band seemed to be surrounded by incompetent people who did not fulfill their roles. I don't want to make personal attacks on anyone or get in to bitter feuds but you all know the story of the rotten apple and that's part of what happened to Glyder. Its a long story and as my ties to the band are deeper than music so I wont be airing my dirty linen in public. I am a little sore as I put so much effort in to this band but I will be taking a positive approach to the future and continuing on writing, recording and performing, blogging and doing what I do. I have made a lot of friends during this time and I will continue to keep in touch on facebook, www.oneforthelost.com and keep you informed on what I will be doing. I want to thank all the members of ww.oneforthelost.com that kept me going which in effect kept the band going. In particular I would like to thank my wife Linda who has supported me through all this. I would like to thank my mother who also gave me so much support and courage over the years. My two brothers who have always supported me. Eamonn Mc Cormack for his effort and belief in Glyder and his friendship to me. Donna Attrill for her continuous effort in promoting Glyder online and her husband Rob for taking us around the highways and byways of Europe. Ger Hallihan for www.oneforthelost.com. Paul and Bev O Connell who helped out in their way when times were tough. Phil Osborne for his commitment and support of Glyder. Also thanks to Helena Larsson, Eric Coubard from Bad Reputation and Olly Hahn from SPV and Jon Freeman . There are lots more who I would like to thank and I'm sorry of Ive left you out but you know who you are and Ill never forget all the positive vibes from all of you. All the supporters and believers and people who helped along the way I thank you sincerely.

I have material written for what to be Glyder's fourth album. I am a serious songwriter and I have chosen to make music my career so if any international bands out there want a serious player to get involved with my options are open.

Don't be a Sheep

2010-07-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday night I came home late from doing a gig and flicked on to BBC4 and there was a great documentary by Rich Hall, an American comedian about the deep south and how the south is portayed in Hollywood films. He went on a tirade about the Johnny Cash film "Walk the Line" and how Joaquin Phoenix raped Johnny Cash's corpse. Very acerbic stuff , but the bit I loved was that he asked why do people need a film to tell them that Johnny Cash is good. To quote Hall "If you do not have the innate ability to seek out someones music on your own and you have to wait on Hollywod to do it for you then you are some kind of hillside grazer of culture, you're a sheep, a cow or as biologically classified, a ruminant ........fuck you!!"

This is so true. People need to be told that music is good, we are all guilty of it. If its not in all the tabloid press and on the most popular TV channels or in mainstream media can it be good? Bollocks!!

Last year I got a subscription to emusic.com and they have mostly independent artists there(including Glyder ) and you get 30 downloads a month. I'm constantly seeking good music and encourage you to do the same. Don't wait to be told whats good, to quote Tony Cullen from Glyder "make a change, make a decision, make your mind up for yourself"

If you want to see the clip watch this:

Why Music Matters?

2010-07-03T05:28:00.000-07:00

Came across this great site yesterday. http://www.whymusicmatters.org/ . Back in the 80's Roadrunner used to have a little the slogan "home taping is killing music" on the back of LP's and cassettes to try and create awareness of illegal copying. Im surprised it has actually taken this long to happen again since illegal downloading has actually killed it. This is something I had thought about a few months back myself after our album was released all over the torrent sites, I suggested the idea to our new label SPV to do something similar. The time has now arrived that the artists and labels are fighting the same battle. I believe that most people are good and that this campaign will work. In fact the only thing we can do to win the battle against illegal downloads is to touch people's consciences. I think bands and labels should also display the logo on CD's as most of the music that makes it to torrents in the first place comes straight from the CD. If there are no copyright issues I will be displaying the logo on my solo album whenever I get it out. Please check out the awareness videos on this site they are amazing. Here is one that is very good

Music Matters - Blind Willie Johnson (23-3-10) from Music Matters on Vimeo.

A lifetime to Kill

2010-06-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

Bat Kinane - A lifetime to Kill on myspace

The songs on the player are an example of what I do, they are still to be mastered but with the compression that myspace puts on them ruins the sound anyway so you get the picture.

This album represents a year in my life from the beginning of writing the first tracks to having the CD ready. Id lost my day job and was waiting on a contract to be signed for Glyder so I had a lot of spare time and I started writing material during this downtime. I put anything that was not suitable for Glyder into a folder called "Yellow Moon" and soon enough the folder was huge. The itch to record this material became unbearable and I knew if I didnt do it I would just end up frustrated and unhappy. Eventually after a lot of courage I decided I was going to make a solo album. I was not going to let the songs just stay in that folder forever and gather dust. So after this whole experience I have managed to work with some amazing musicians and people. Money was never a motivating factor as for me on this project (is there even any money to be made in the "Music business"anymore? and this record is about something greater than money.... happiness and I found so much inspiration from the people I have worked with who are true musicians who love music and art and in this day and age that is so refreshing. Listen at www.myspace.com/batkinane

Great reviews for Glyder

2010-06-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

Many Great reviews are coming in for the new Glyder album all over the world but I really love this one its so on the money:

Sea of Tranquility review

The reviewer contacted me and we did an interview:

Sea of Tranquility Interview

so please go out and buy the album!!

Yesterday Today & Tomorrow

Foreign Exchange

2010-06-04T02:22:00.001-07:00

I wrote a letter to Hot Press the other day and its printed in the latest issue:

We all know the music industry is now on its knees. Most bands/artists don't sell any more than 5,000 units. The arena fillers are mostly all dinosaurs and soon there with be no acts to fill the o2. Its impossible to make a living being an artist and to have any chance of breaking through you have to give it ten years of virtual poverty. I'm on my sixth year now as an artist trying to break through and Ive released three albums with Glyder all to critical acclaim all over the world in the hard rock genre and I'm about to release a solo album in the folk/blues vein. All these have been self financed and none of them have recouped yet.

I got statements of accounts from a collection society in the post this morning. They have six million euro in their bank account and that got me thinking. All the money that is collected for live performance, radio performance, unclaimed distributions could be put to good use rather than lying dormant in a bank account. I suggest a tax on foreign artists getting airplay in Ireland. Our national radio is bombarded with foreign artists so if we took a little off each of these performances and put it into a scheme that would help fund Irish artists. Then a scheme could be set up where money is lent to a band/artist to make an album once they meet certain criteria. The loan can be paid back to the scheme to best of the Artists ability. Obviously most wont recoup so the foreign artist Tax with meet that shortfall. This would also give studios business who are also on their knees.

Its a very basic idea but I think all the players in the Irish music industry need to come together and everyone play their part to help in some way. We need to be innovative rather than always looking across the pond for guidance. In this way we stand a better chance of having the next arena fillers coming from Ireland.

Rock in Ireland

2010-04-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday "The Ticket" a supplement with the Irish Times printed an interview with me. Ronan Mc Greevy the journalist that wrote the article picked up on Glyder through our slot with Metallica at Marlay Park. He like many other rockers in Ireland did not even know of our existence until Marlay. We are very grateful to MCD for taking the chance and putting us on this bill as it really helped give us some credibility here in Ireland.

Like Phil Lynott, Rory Gallagher and Mamas Boys before us we have a love/hate relationship with our motherland. Of course we are proud of who we are and where we come from but the frustrations of being a Rock band in Ireland are many. From reading old magazine articles, books and listening to old radio interviews nothing has changed since the glory days of Lizzy and Gallagher. In the article I may have come off slightly nonchalant about our interest in working in Ireland. That stems from years of fighting for recognition in an industry thats dismissive of our genre and is caught up promoting either Rap and chav culture or the snobbish indie and singer/songwriter culture depending on which rag or station you chose to subscribe too. Having said all that it is refreshing and exciting to see a paper like the Irish Times taking a chance on something different. While all a bit of fun, programmes like Karl Spain wants to rock just reinforced the stereotypes that exist and what happens is bands like us get lumped along with all of that. Anyone with any interest can see that we are a band with songs and lyrics that go deeper than a lot of traditional hard Rock bands. We like to feel we carry the tradition of Lynott and Gallagher who were able to ROCK with the best of them and deliver poetic lyrics and engaging music. Some people might be quick to accuse us of being copyists or not doing something new. My answer to that is that they just havent looked close enough. The tide is changing and we are on the crest of that wave. Thanks to all our supporters and friends at home and we will continue to make good music and put Ireland on the world Rock map again,

The Wicklow Mountains

2010-03-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

"Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow", the title track of the 3rd Glyder album. It was a beautiful day last June (June 2009) The album was just mixed and I went for a drive out in my back garden with the camcorder!! This is where we live, the Wicklow mountains and this is breath taking scenery that I often take for granted. I often think as I walk in the beauty that our grandparents once knew this scenery so well and now they have passed on but the scenery still remains the same. Its like you only borrow this beauty for your mortal existence and then the next generation inherit it. Thats why we have to try and respect the land, the dead and our traditions and pass them on. This is what I wrote this song about. I also mixed in some images and clips from Bluebird studios.

Bat Kinane 15/3/2010

YESTERDAY TODAY AND TOMORROW

In this Dark and lonely room
Hanging on the wall
A souvenir of yesteryear
Faded by the sun

A photograph in black and white
A family once full of life
The generation has moved on
The old ones are all gone

The aroma that fills the room
Is Nana baking bread
And somewhere in my head
I’m bringing back the dead

Yesterday today and tomorrow
The life that we have we only borrow
Everyday I wake I will say
I’m going to make it a better day

In a field not far away
The withered flowers in the clay
An epitaph on a grave
Story of the brave

Now we are living history
Remember it’s not mystery
I'll do my best and
Keep it in my memory

Through the fields that I roam
Through the hills I call my own
I feel their ghosts
Shadows of the past
We have our pride in the ones that have died
To the oceans we will sail they lead us now

Glyder Sign with SPV

2010-02-22T11:16:00.000-08:00

Well folks the news is out Glyder signed with SPV. I'm looking forward to having our new release on a label that has had some of the finest names in rock over the years.
The team at SPV love the new Glyder album and between them and us we are going to take this to the next level. You can see the great Mark Wilkinson cover for "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" at www.glydermusic.com

The album will be released on 26th April in Europe and it will get a USA/Canada release in June. This is the first time we will be properly available in the USA and that excites me!

Were hoping to have a release party in April in Dublin so more about that later.

As most of you who read this blog know we recorded that album almost a year ago now. Well more good news is we plan to go and record album 4 later this summer.We have lots of new material in the pipeline.

Online Overload

2010-01-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

From what I'm picking up its seems like myspace is dead in the water and people are now twittering and facebooking to keep in touch with their fans or are they? I have twitter set up for Glyder but to be honest I never spent enough time at it to figure it out properly. I have also been told that music sales went up 2.1 % during 2009 in the USA and album sales in general are up again....what does this say are we going back to basics? I have found personally if I want new music to listen I would prefer the CD. The CD is far from dead. the high street shop is dying but people now purchase their CD's from amazon etc. I bought some albums on itunes but I feel robbed when I buy them. I can get them on amazon and have them for the same price 3 days later. I know it only takes a few minutes to read the sleeve notes and look at the art but thats what I feel I'm paying for. No wonder no one feels like paying for it.

I want out of the office to listen to music, I want to enjoy music like I did in the past. I'm tired of handling all these online sites...all this online presence...there are people that come to our forum everyday for a look and people read this blog and I'm happy that way as the right people are in those places and I can connect to them...there are all the wrong people out on these social networking sites that have other agendas and its not Glyder or even music for that matter. I need to keep the info in the one place as its easier to manage. I have to use my time to best effect. Ive got to manage a band, write songs, keep in touch with people do all the stuff I do but I want to get back to basics.

Sure the internet is great and there are so many ways to connect with people but its hard to concentrate on the music when you are online all the time. Ive written in my opinion the best songs in my life because I felt I took time away from the internet. But I do understand the importance of having a strong online presence but its also as important to strike a balance between being online and writing. I feel the two don't sit well together. So the point I'm making is everyone (bands and music fans) feeling online overload and want to go back to basics?

The Random Event Factory

2009-11-27T05:58:00.000-08:00

The only positive thing to come out of this recession is time to do things that weren't otherwise possible. Since Glyder started I've had bits and pieces of jobs to keep me going but now there is nothing out there. With lots of things holding back Glyder from global domination there is a lot more time to kill. Instead of allowing these things to frustrate me as they did in the past I'm channeling energy into other places. It seems that a lot of whats coming out will not be suitable for Glyder. The approach I've always took to writing is to demo what comes out naturally. In this way nothing is forced or contrived. I haven't been listening to a lot of heavy stuff in a long time and my love affair with The Band and blues and country has led in other directions. I always liked the idea of not being stuck to one kind of music. Its always what I loved about Phil Lynott, a rocker at heart but he could explore any musical avenue he wanted without losing any credibility. Although through this period there are some tunes that will undoubtedly make it to the fourth Glyder album.

Last year a publisher asked us would we be interested in writing for other artists and it sparked off something within me. Its something I considered in the past but getting into that game is extremely hard. Now with Glyder starting to get some attention its something that could keep me going through the tough times.

About two months ago Shane my cousins Fiancé contacted me to look at a contract he got from a music Library. He got a few placements and as he too in a similar situation to me so he has been spending his time writing. We had discussed collaborations as far back as three or four years ago. With both of us on a similar mission we decided to pitch our resources and put whatever we have that is unsuitable for our bands to other uses.

We are both set up with laptops and basic equipment for making demos in our homes. So we have been emailing back and forth and meeting once a week. Our first few efforts can be heard on our myspace page.

The first tune "Rise above it all" was wrote in 5 minutes two weeks ago its along the vein of what modern pop rock bands are doing. The second tune "College rock Bash" was originally a library piece written by Shane and I put words to it. I love the music Shane has here but In general American college rock is a genre I despise but who knows maybe it will be the soundtrack to some college rock film in the future. "Jeremiah Jones" is one I recorded here on my own but we are going to rework it and if you listen closely you can hear all the edits! I think The Band have influenced this one! "Tribal Musings" is something I came up with in a few minutes that is intended for library music. The last two pieces are Shane's and are library style stuff. A lot of Shane's work is in the style of the last piece "Flight of the Cylon Raiders" and sounds like it could be on extreme sport style programmes.

Last year Tony complained that he had to do all the singing in the covers band so I started to sing a few tunes, something I hadn't much confidence at but was always comfortable singing harmony in the background. I started singing songs by The Band and I always tend to cover songs that not much other people sing in covers bands. Now its starting to feel easier. I know I'm not great at it but good enough to make a few demos for the purpose of this project.

The Random Event Factory

The Yellow Moon

2009-10-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

Its seems like there is not much happening at the moment but that’s so far from the truth. As plans are being made in the background to the release the new album there is not much else we can do. Touring has been put on hold until we get an official release date.There will be more on that when the time comes but for now its back to what ive been at.

Maybe this is my creative time of the year and I’ve written over 10 songs in the past few weeks. About this time last year I was writing for the yet to be released “Yesterday, today and Tomorrow”. I didn’t think the creative juices would flow so easy as I felt that the trip to India inspired something. I’ve learned that there is always water in the well and its just a matter of focusing and getting it out. Since last year I picked up a Project mix desk and Pro Tools. Pro Tools keeps crashing on my laptop so I stick with Cubase. In fairness Cubase is great and rarely crashed if ever. I can run lots of plug-ins and effects and it works great.

I have an old bass belong to Tony and a valve mic. I plug straight into the desk and use some plug-ins for guitar tones. I’m using some midi drum patterns and its very easy to create good drum backing in cubase. I’m enjoying writing and I guess that not everything I do is suitable for Glyder. I like a lot of different music and for a long time now ive loved blues and I like some country folk and lots of other stuff. When it comes to album four for Glyder I will have a lot to offer. The rest I’m not sure what to do with maybe someday ill do my own album. I’m really looking forward to going back into the studio again and making another album so maybe early next year we will have the fourth album ready to go.

I’m very pleased with the songs I’ve written so I might write a little about them while the ideas are fresh in my mind. It’s weird how just a simple musical idea can inspire a song. I find it best to come up with a riff and let the mood of that inspire the lyrics. I often write lyrics but they usually never make it to a song as I don’t find it easy to write music for lyrics. I think the lyrics should suit the music and its easier to get the lyrics to suit the music rather than the other way round. When I’m messing around on my guitar I often come up with a riff or chord sequence, sometimes a melody or rhythm. I record them on the laptop or on my mobile phone and forget about them. When I’m ready to write I go through everything and find some of my old ideas and with a fresh mind see what I can do with them.

I came across this riff I had that reminded me of Rory Gallagher mixed with Horslips. It brought me to a place ive never been but could visualize as ive watched Rory Gallaghers 74 Irish Tour video and spoken to so many people that saw Rory and Horslips, Lizzy etc back in the day. It’s about a kid queuing up to see Gallagher and going to the show and his emotions and experiences at the show. It’s the feeling you have when you are 17 or 18 and going to a rock show and the excitement of it all. Its also about an era in Ireland pre Celtic Tiger when the simplicity of a good rock show was the highlight of most rock fans lives, the night Rory came to town. I think I might call it “Stage Struck 74” .

I wrote a song about an idea that’s been banging around my head for some time. Im calling it Voodoo Bones, It’s a bit funky and its about the rich musical heritage of the Mississipi Delta and how it brought us Elvis, all the Sun recording artists which inspired the Beatles and UK blues scene and created a musical revolution. There have been spin offs over the years like the Seattle grunge scene etc etc but lately it all seems to have gone wrong. Artists don’t seem to have time to develop anymore. Kids are groomed for success, winners of these reality shows have been groomed all their lives, they never danced with the devil at the cross roads, they went to ballet lessons when they were 5. It’s making for a very stagnant musical era. Having said that there are some great artists emerging and im very excited and loving Joe Bonamassa at the moment. I will have to look into his back catalog. The truth is there are lots of great artist out there but they aren’t getting near the mainstream as we as a society are reading trashy tabloids, watching bad television and subject to even worse radio. In Ireland it bemuses me why we have to listen to amercian rap artists on the radio all day who sing about materialism and slapping up their bitches and we cannot have some decent home grown artists instead. Anyway the point is who’s going to save rock n roll?

“High time to die” is a heavy rock song about a fictitious singer that had been around a long time. He is bored and has no time for his audience and fans. It so happens that he dies and his album start selling like hot cakes, what good is that when you are dead? Sometimes the best thing an artist can do for their career is die and of course the vultures will be waiting for the take.

“The yellow moon” is a working title for a very psychedelic song inspired by some of those experiences a long time ago! This one was the first of the batch so all the songs and files are under a folder of this name hence the blog title.

“You know you have a friend” is a folky one written about a very dear friend on mine.

“The big prize” is a bluesy song kinda mixed with Iggy pop and is about “making it”

“Among the faceless” is a rock song about sexual and physical abuse and how some people who are abused as children often end up in abusive relationships and it’s a never ending cycle. Some people’s lives are like horror stories.

“The quiet revolution” is a bluesy feel like some Mark Knopfler style songs and its very personal song about how I’m feeling at the moment and I might talk about that sometime in the future when the time is right!

There are some other tracks too that are not there yet but im excited about this stuff so I decided to blog it!!

The Photoshoot

2009-08-09T03:19:00.000-07:00

We have never been ones to have much luck or fun doing photo shoots. We had a bad experience with photographers on our first album and that put us off. The two guys that did the photography on our first album thought they were going to get rich off us and turned out to be nothing but conmen.

One thing I have learned is it takes more than a photographer to get the band to look good. It depends on what you are wearing, location , lighting etc. Its amazing how many bands have bad photos, this time I didnt want us to be one of those bands. This time I wanted it to be right. Ive always felt that our photos have never done us justice. The sad truth is people judge you on your appearance as much as on your music . I read a bit about it and was advised by more than one music industry professional that its crucial to have a good photo.

The Knightess(if there is such a thing) in shining armour came to save the day. Rachel Fox is a great photographer. She has been a good friend of Glyder for a long time and I played in a band with her husband. She also did my wedding photos! Rachel has an assertiveness and has a knack of getting the job done. Its all done with a casual ease and professsionalism that makes it all very enjoyable. The fact that the location was the Guinness hop store and museum made it all the more pleasurable. I got to drink a pint of the finest back stuff at 10.30am overlooking the Dublin city skyline before any shots were taken. Its hard to beleive than in all my time and the fact that four of my grandfathers brothers worked there I have never been in the place.

We went straight for the sky bar before the tourists arrived so we could get a good shot of Glyder overlooking the city. Its amazing to see the 360 degree view of the city, its makes it all look so small! Its hard to believe that Croke park and Landsdown road are so near to each other yet in traffic it would take an hour to get from one to the other. The Wicklow mountains could be seen at one point and the hill of Howth at the other. I think im going to have to visit Dublin one day as a tourist and not as a native Irishman. There are some amazing places to see in Dublin and Ireland that us natives dont bother about.

Rachel couldnt have picked a better location. There are about eight floors all detailing the history of the place and the proccess of brewing the mighty porter. Each floor had a uniqueness about it that made the shots interesting . Photoshoots are generally boring but I have to say this one wasnt, it was the most interesting one I've ever had. The place was soon full up with tourists and getting shots became more difficult so we soon left and took a few shots out on the cobbled street before departing to Blanchardstown GAA club. The last of the session was done there as Rachel wanted to get some dressing room shots.

2009-08-06T02:57:00.001-07:00

This time last week we were gearing up for the biggest gig of our career and it was all very exciting! How quick life reverts back to normality! The whole event for us kicked off on fri night at the local pub where we played some tunes and finished off the night with "Gamblers Blues" and "One of us". Pete was selling Glyder t shirts and they were going like hot cakes. It was 3am before I got home after loading the band van and getting everything ready. Even though I was excited I slept solid which is unusual for me in those circumstances.

I rose early the next morning and picked up our crew for the day John, Des, Jerry and Kevin. The lads are all brothers and good friends of ours that play in a local AC/DC covers band called MC/DC or mac /dc as their surname is McEvoy. We headed for Marlay Park and after 10 minutes getting clearance with the security we entered the grounds.

Murf our sound engineer arrived as did Fist our keyboard player. We got acquainted with our dressing room which was adjacent to Metallica's and Mastodon's. the guys from Mastodon were roaming around and the drummer came in to say hello. Shortly after we were driven to the stage where we set up our backline and did a quick line check before the crowds came in. It was tight and we were running through "Gamblers blues" as the first few people arrived.

We then went back to the dressing room and got changed into our rockstar attire and chilled. After about 30 mins were were driven back to the stage and Metallica's engineer came up in the car with us to check out our set! I was waiting back stage ready to go and I was a lot less nervous than I expected, infact was wasn't afraid at all! There were chants of "Glyder, Glyder, Glyder!!" and that was reassuring! we kicked off into "Gamblers Blues" and the place was hopping. An incredible reaction! It wasn't an easy gig for me as I couldn't hear the drums loud enough through the monitors with the level of my amp so I tended to veer towards the center of the stage to hear Davy above the deafening roar of my guitar. We just didn't get enough time to get it right earlier and I didn't want to turn the volume of the amp down and mess with our sound engineers head. Also the sun was shining which of course is a great thing but when you cannot see the LED display on your foot pedals it can be very difficult.

The set was "Gamblers Blues", "Colour of Money" "PUP" "Knockout" "Love never Dies" "Sweets" "That Line" "One of us" "Die or dance" "Make a Change". We got a great reaction. I felt personally It wasn't my best performance but Ive seen a video of it and it doesnt come across that way. The rest of the guys felt they had a great gig and it was a great gig!! Pete's sister Catherine made a short film documenting the day from the initial stages of the rehearsals to the actual gig. We hope to share it with you soon and Ill get it up on youtube when its ready.

After the gig we went back to the dressing room and had a cold beer. We hung around for a while and chilled out. One of the highlights of the day for me was meeting James Hetfield on the stairs shaking his hand and having a quick chat. We also got to watch Metallica from the side of the stage which was incredible. After Metallica finished we cleared the dressing room and went home.

Illegal Downloading and Metallica

2009-07-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well is been a whirldwind of a week. A great week!!

Ive been holding down a part time job in between tours and recording. I got let go officially 2 weeks ago so Ive a little more time to kill. I was lying in bed last week listening to the RTE1 morning show "The Tubridy show",. Ryan Tubridy is the Irish equivalent to Letterman and its a current affairs program. There was a good interview with Horslips, a band I really like so that kept my attention. After that interview there was a guy talking about illegal downloading. I decided to send a text about Glyder stating he fact that one of our albums was downloaded illegally off one torrent site 15,000 times and I was sitting at home broke. (It was months ago that i checked but i had another look this week and its increased to 30,000+) To my surprise he read out the text on air. A few days passed and I got a phone call from Aonghus Mc Anally (I remember him as a presenter on "Anything goes" sat morning TV..nice bloke and good guitarist too!!) who is a researcher and producer for the show and he asked me would I come on the show and talk about it from an artist perspective and how it has affected Glyder. I was delighted to and it is of course great exposure for Glyder.

I was scheduled to be on at 9.40 but Chris De Burgh stole my airtime!! :-)
I don't have a land line anymore so I went to my Ma's house to take the call. the volume on the phone was very low so it was very difficult to hear and I have to admit I was a little nervous. I would have liked to answer some of the questions better. I had plenty of time to ponder over my answers today as I mowed my Ma's lawn (which is about an acre on the side of a mountain)...not very rock and roll but hey us rock stars do have to do the dishes , make the dinner and mow lawns especially when we have no choice but to be kept men!!

Concerning the quote from Wilco. I know these guys are big as the name is familiar and that quote is familiar to me too as I'm sure ive read it somewhere before. I must look into them and their circumstances but they must have other means as they can make music for the sheer art of it or maybe they are being payrolled by their label.... Good for them!! Im going to be honest im stone broke and so are the rest of Glyder. I love what I do, I live for it, Ive been a songwriter since I was able to play the guitar. I'm very sure I will be successful at it someday as I believe im good at it but it has to eventually pay or else its not feasible anymore. I believe what I do is worthy of a mere tenner for our CD. Whats a tenner..two pints of beer that you wouldnt even remember you drank the next day. A good album is a work of art that you can admire and that can take you away to a different place for 40 minutes. Thats alone is worth a tenner....a CD should cost no more than a tenner...and if everyone bought one or paid for one then at least bands would be able to hone their craft and get to make 5 or more albums. Notice a lot of band today don't get beyond album 2. We have made 3 and unless things change it might not be feasible to get to 5...but I believe they will!

As for the guy that texted into the show Alan is his name. I would like to have said that Alan is probably in his 30's or 40's and bought Vinyl in the day and had that excited feeling coming home for the record store, that feeling that the download generation will never have. He likesto have the CD in his hands and fair enough he downloads it and if he likes it he buys it, he is of his generation and knows the value of music. People like him are the only people who are keeping it going for band like Glyder and thankfully there are enough of them to make it feasible to hang in as long as we have. The problem is the new generation of under 20's..they have no value for music and why should they are constantly been reminded its free by the tabloids...FREE CD!!!

I am an Alan and have 100's maybe near a thousand albums between Vinyl, tapes and CD's. I dont have a lot of disposable income at the moment so I havent been buying much lately. Yes I downloaded stuff but I don't do it much, the last time was The Answers new album "Everyday Demons" as I couldn't wait to hear it..I went out the day it was released and bought it because I want to support them and give them a chance.

There are a lot of bands from the 80's and 70's that got to rich and gave artist's a bad name. I think bands should speak up and why not..whats the shame in saying if you like us please support us, please pay for it...its not begging and we should never be made feel like beggars. If enough artists speak up and be honest and say yes downloading is ruining it then maybe their fans will listen.

When Lars Ulrich came out about Napster he was right but he was shot down and now listening to him its almost as if he is ashamed of what he said. Its seemed no one listened to him and no one backed him up and then the music industry crumbled into sand. Maybe he was the wrong person to speak out as he was such a wealthy rock star but who was going to listen to anyone below his status anyway? More people should have stood behind him and said yea Lars you are right.

I read an interesting quote on a site and someone described the internet as the Wild west. the internet is in its infancy and it will like the wild west eventually be policed. It is going to happen and I think sooner than you think...the service providers will have to block all the torrent sites. Someone is going to take a landmark case against the likes of megaupload etc, Laws change, we have lawmakers and they are probably drafting up Laws that will shape the future of the music industry.

Also on this day we announced we open for the mighty Metallica on our own turf.. amazing! My phone was hopping all day, emails coming from all over the place. So much goodwill out there it was astounding!! I though we were the nation of begrudgers...not so.. I think us Irish will slap you on the back and say "Fair Play"...once we feel you have earned it!! and we did earn it I guess. We have been working hard writing, touring, recording, promoting for 5 years now and its such a joy to be able to play at something like this in our own country. As most of you that know me know I'm the ould lad in the band (mid 30's) and the other three are mid 20's. Well I was just pondering the thought that the first gig I was ever at was Metallica in the Top Hat in Dun Laoighre Oct 88. I was blown away by them and i dont think I could have even imagined that one day i would get a chance to open for them!

Anyway enough of my ranting, if you want to listen to the interview follow the link below. Its the last 10 mins of the show!

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thetubridyshow/1285670.html

Final mix

2009-06-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Unusually for Ireland the sun is beating outta the sky and im still recovering from a crazy weekend in Ballyshannon at the Rory Gallagher festival. I wasn't playing but was watching and having a good time. Was going to post this blog yesterday but was way too tired and wrecked.

A good start to the week as the final mix arrived of the title track "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" all intact with Dave Meniketti's from Y&T's solo. Its a damn cool solo too. Its great to listen to a track with Pete, Dave Meniketti and myself all doing a solo!! We are very honoured to have him on this album.

Otherwise on this song Peter Brander did some nice effects in the mix on the vocals at the end of the song and they are very ghostly sounding which suits the track. The song ends abruptly kinda like "She's so heavy" on the end of Abbey Road by the Beatles. That was Peters call and a good one too.

Ive been listening and contemplating what the track running order should be. Im getting there and it will be mastered in the coming week and the all we need id the art work. Normally ive got ideas in my head and I do the inside graphics myself but im not sure what to do this time. Maybe next week that will be my project to get it all ready before Mark Wilkinson tackles the artwork.

Declan Lonergan did a great job engineering at his studio and both he and Peter Brander went the extra mile to make this album great. This album was a pleasure to make. Recorded in 2 weeks and mixed in 1 week. Some of it is live and a lot it is first takes. It has a live feel and I have no doubt it is our best work to date. Some of it is very different to what you would expect and some of it will undoubtedly bring on some criticism but we are happy and hope you will be too!

When I get the mastered CD back ill give a rundown on the final song list and some more indepth thoughts on the songs and discuss about the lyrics and musical ideas.

Copenhagen minus Bat

2009-05-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Its been back to reality here. Have listened to the work so far and am delighted with it. The other lads are very upbeat about this album too and we all know in our heart of hearts that this is our best effort yet. Now I think we have found our sound and I gave a few people a listen and they are impressed.

Peter resumed mixing yesterday and completed "Back to the water" he worked on "Knockout" today and "That line". He rang me this evening to say "Knockout" is a knockout and its a real rock mix which means its balls out, I cant wait to hear it. He was very excited about "That line" as you know there is a rough mix on our myspace page. Fist put his keyboards on after that mix and Peter has worked a little of his magic on it. He is very excited about this tune and he reckons its the top track of the album and he reckons it should be the opening tune on the album. MP3's are coming my way tomorrow and I cant wait to hear them. Peter will start on the title track "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" after he finishes a few touches on "That line". I'm still waiting on our guest to complete his solo on it so I hope that will be soon but I know it will be worth the wait!!

Day 3 Copenhagen

2009-05-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

As usual we started off by listening to the previous days work. All sounding great but Peter decided to make a few changes before he went on any further on "Innocent Eyes". We worked at it for another while and all I can say is WOW. This song is our first "Hit" Single without any doubt. It wasn't meant to be, It wasn't planned or premeditated but this song has evolved into something monstrous since the first day Davy made his original demo on Cubase. All I can say is that it will blow you away. This album will blow you away. Im writing this after returning home from Copenhagen. I put the CD on in the Van on the way home form the airport and a shiver went down my spine like nothing ever before after hearing "innocent eyes" and also with this album we really are after making something very special.I know of bands say this but you know when you know and I know we are after making a very special and great album. Its like when you write an essay in school that great and you know it or the feeling that a footballer gets when he puts the ball in the net. Anyway back to Copenhagen, We then mixed "Always the Loser" and "The bitter end".Peter is just magical, I cannot praise this mans talent enough...It was late when we got finished and we were both so hungry We went to get some food after we finished up, every place we went into had finished serving so we decided to get a bus into the city and we got some grub in Hard Rock cafe and had a few beers we discussed more blues and the videos on the telly. I reckon we have similar tastes in music except Peter knows a hell of lot more than I do and we are from different eras. After the food Peter brought me to one the the Blues clubs he played in and we had a few beers and watched the first set by the house band. They were very talented musicians but it got a little boring. It was close to midnight and I had to be up early for the flight back to Dublin so we headed back to Peters place for some rest.

I learned so much about music and mixing from watching Peter do his work, he is a true master and I got to know him very well in the few days here, a kinder, warmer and more humble man would be hard to find.

There are four more mixes to be done and Peter will do them in my abscence and I completely trust him to do an amazing job.

Copenhagen day 2

2009-05-14T04:15:00.000-07:00

We finished off "One of us" and started into "Jack Strong". Peter really knows how to make everything sound great. Its amazing how important the mix is and is great to have the flexibility of pro-tools. Being able to move things around add bits , delete bits etc is amazing. I think because Peter is a Blues musician he understands the art of Subtlety. Its all about space and knowing when too much is too much. I subscribe to that philosophy completely. We had some visitors to the studio, Manser , a fellow Thin Lizzy fanatic his wife Bettina and daughter Amanda called in to pay a visit. After "Jack strong" was completed we started on "Innocent Eyes" , Im not sure that will be the title of song but it is for the moment. Well if Glyder are going to have a hit single this will be it. Very U2 everyone thinks. This one is Davy's baby and a great song. Its amazing the way this song has developed from Davy's original to what it is now. Peter really did some amazing stuff in the mix. After the days mix Peter and I went for an Italian meal and discussed Blues everything from Santana, Peter Green, Cream, Clapton, Gary Moore and everything else in between. After we went back to Peters place where he has a second studio in his basement which is awesome. We listened to Santana and some American guitarist that Gary Moore apparently stole "Still got the blues" from and a Santana song which is a ringer for "Parisian Walkways". But I suppose thats the thing with Blues music there is a fine line between originality and plagiarism. We then listened to Peters music and he is such an amazing and intelligent musician and writer. He is a gifted man and a great soul. After our great listening experience I hit the bed to get ready to make some more great mixes!

Mixing in Copehagen Day 1

2009-05-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

Headed off to Dublin airport, a painless two hour flight to Copenhagen and I arrived in the Studio mid afternoon. I was greeted by Peter Brander and one of his studio engineers Christian. Peter was half way through mixing "one of us" and was being very creative. We spend the next few hours trying out different things. Peter knows his stuff and is a wizrd at pro tools. A practising musician and songwriter he has the creatyive spark needed to make an interesting mix. Its sounds amazing!! He gave me a listen to the previus days mix of "Make a Change" and its sounds BIG!

After a few hours I was worn out and Peter was too. We went back to his place and his wife Trina made us some traditional Danish food, what its called I dont know but it was really good. An early night to get stuck into a serious day of mixing!

Doing the Guitars, Keys and Vocals

2009-05-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

Well I got stuck in Guitar land and neglected the blog,

the next day or so we finished off the guitars. I had some solos planned and other I was in the deep end. I got a pro-tools set up recently so I used the tracks laid down already as backing tracks. Overall im happy with my solos and im proud of my effort in "Jack Strong" It starts off sounding a little exotic, as Tony said I took a little trip to Egypt and then the next few bars I do some nice licks kinda/ Country/Blues like Billy Gibbons and then a melodic passage to end it off. My other solos im proud of but that one is for me the best. I took the Billy Gibbons approach on thsi album,less notes more feel and tone so I guess that will come true. Petes solos are all melodic and harmonius as you would expect and lots of fast runs. A special guest will doing a solo on the title track "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow"so ill announce that once its completed. The rhythm guitars are nice and meaty like the first album so I think this album will please fans of that album. We have a more contemporary sound on this labum but that really comes from teh songwriting. There is still the retro stuff big time but some of the tracks are very modern. This was not intentional it just happned and its seems like a natural progression. I guess we are developing in the songwriting department and as much as we are steeped in the past we are now looking to the future. Its exciting really to hear these songs develop.

John "Fist" Mulrooney called up on Wed and Thursday to do his Keyboard bits. Its great to be able to work with an incredible musician like John. He even played with U2 and Def Leppard on sessions in his time as a working musician. I think having him do the keys has helped our sound in a big way and although he wont always be with us live he is now a part of Glyder and what we do. I think it will be a very happy and fruitful relationship. Anway the Keys are tasty and fab so what more can I say!!

Tony had a little throat trouble on Wednesday so that delayed the vocals for a day. We got stuck in on Thursday and we got 4 songs down. We tried out different mics with different tones and the vocals sound very impressive. Like Phil Lynott Tony sings Hard and soft so there is an interestinng mix of moods on the album. Be warned some of the songs are VERY VERY catchy, is that a good thing? well you will decide but you will not be able to get them out of your head , some people like that some hate it.

Being so close to the music is a difficult thing. We did a rough mix off the desk to get some perspective and ive listened carefully. It now time to start considering track runnimg orders etc.
Also some of the music is not what you would expect from us particularily "A lifetime to kill" and the re work of the people so we are considering doing a bonus disc. The first disc will ahev 10 rock songs as you might expect from Glyder and then a second disc with a mix of all the other stuff and maybe some tracks from "weather the storm" too. A lot of people havent heard that as its only been available from our site. That will not be re-pressed so if you have a copy keep it safe.

There are lots of decisions to be made over the coming weeks and days and making an album requires a lot of thought. Sometimes its difficult to make decisons but at the end of the day, its our music we are proud of it and we want you to hear it. The critics will say what they like but trust me its all from the heart and as Yatta said to me if it comes from the heart you cant go wrong.

I will post some more thoughts and memories as they develop. It all seems like a blur now.Im off to Copenhagen Tuesday morning to mix it. Will let you know how it goes.

Day 6 Monday April 27th

2009-04-28T12:57:00.001-07:00

I was feeling a little rough this morning. I went out Sat night and Sun night to see some of my friends bands, the exhaustion from last week and the Guinness were taking their toll.
We got stuck into the guitars again and overall it was productive day. At stages I felt we might get bogged down into guitar hell but progress was good. It was just Pete and myself for most of the day and Tony paid a visit to see how things were going. We spent the day laying down as much of the heavy rhythm parts as we could and later in the day some clean ones. Both Pete and I are in the rooms that we laid down the guides in.

As I explained in an earlier post we were tracking guitars as the drums went down. This way we managed to keep a lot of takes thus minimising the amount of time on re doing stuff. Because we took this approach we have a live feel on this album. We have our amps set up in different rooms this way Petes overdubs and mine can go down at the same time. This really has saved us so much time. While doing the clean guitars we noticed spill from my clean guitars coming into the overhead mics on the drum kit. Too late nothing that can be done now. But luckily it was very faint and there were no noticable mistakes or tuning issues on the guitars anyway. Declan the engineer has great ears and is a great musician and singer so I trust his judgement. He doesnt let bad takes pass but also likes to keep the feel in the sound. I like this approach and I think its the way to make a great record. We have spent very little time editing and although we have the benifts of pro-tools we arent relying on it. Its great that so much of this album is first takes and takes that are consisient and not all chopped and changed about. This will be a feel record and I think it will have a lot of character because of this.

We got slightly bogged down in "Innocent eyes" as I felt some of the guitar overdubs on Pete's instrumental section weren't working. he went back to the drawing board and came up with a harmonic wah bit that was much more simple and worked better. We covered a lot of ground and all the heavy guitars were completed by the end of the day bar "One of us is gonna go down" and some clean parts.

Day 5 Saturday 25th

2009-04-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

Our first day of guitars. We did a gig the previous night of the "Cabaret" variety, our bread winner. Tony and Davy didn't have to be in the studio but Pete and I were so tired from our previous late night. I was wondering why Pete didn't eat any lunch and then I realized that the punters kept buying us drink the previous night and the Jager bombers were having the next day effect!

Aside from that the Guitars were going down and we got off to a good start with "Knockout" going down on a first take. Things slowed up a little on "Jack Strong" and getting the rhythms precision tight was a little difficult. Its amazing how discrepancy appear between two guitarists and how they play riffs. The other lads arrived after Lunch and we got another two songs done over the course of the rest of the day "Make a Change" and "Always the loser". We finished up early as it was Saturday and we were off to kick off a bit of steam.

We got both our Marshalls serviced and revalved before the session and I have to say it was a great move. We shelled out on good valves. The guitars sounds are serious!!

Picture of Petes effects from our rehearsal studio in Elverstown:

Petes Set Up:

Marshall 2000 with a TV 4x 12 cabinet
Gibson Les Paul Tobacco burst Les Paul,

My set up

Marshall Silver Jubilee 25/50
JCM 800 Cabinet
Marshall JCM 900 Combo for clean sounds
Marshall EL34 100/100 and JMP1 for other sounds
Marshall governor pedal to add more gain for certain songs
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Cort
Fender Strat "Eric Johnson" signature model that belongs to Declan Lonergan.
My Fender fat strat USA is all off intonation wise. Declans strat is spot on.

My effects from our studio in Elverstown:

Day 4 Fri 24th

2009-04-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

Firstly we went through the drums to check for any glitches etc and Davy felt unhappy with his performance in the title track so he went back to do a few takes as the kit was still set up. After an hour or so we moved on to Bass. Tony patched up takes he had done the previous few days as Davy was laying down the drums. The rhythm was under heavy scrutiny. Over all this was a great result and Tony's solid Bass playing sounds punchy as hell over Davy Kit. Tony used his Fender percision into the best Bass pre-amp you can get, a millennia Twin Direct TD-1. He changed the bass line for "Jack Strong" and to my ears it now has a ZZ Top feel which is great!! The rest of the Day was spent putting down Bass.

DAY 3 Thursday 23rd

2009-04-24T01:58:00.000-07:00

As usual we kicked off at 10am, Davy had the drums down for "One of us is gonna go down" in 1 take so by 10.15 we were working on how we were going to stick the 20 minute piece together. There are lots of different tempo changes and dynamics. After a 20 minute discussion with Declan Lonergan we figured out the technicalities of it and how we could do it using the great technology of pro-tools. We also decided that we would like to keep a live feel to it so we decided to track all the instruments at the same time and do overdubs later. Davy has all the songs tempos worked out in advance so we had to make tempo maps for each track and put it togther right to the bar. We ran through each tune first to get its length and insert the tempo markers. This piece will be a great pice of work and ist not prog metal or anything like dream theather but more like the end of "Abbey Road" in my book, obviously with a slighly harder edge but there are lost of styles in it we have never explored before.

Its kicks off with "yesterday, today and tomorrow" the song which has a very epic feel to it anyway. That morphs into "time to fly" which starts with a guiat peice that I wrote on the Fish tour so it has that Fish- Marillion vibe. The time changes at the end of that and the key changes at that point to where we go into a solo section that I think has a Celtic feel and its a progression that is very melodic and I wrote that years ago!! that eases off and it goes into a tune Pete wrote called "all youve done" which is a little like Rush as he loves them. then it goes into a pice called "Elverstown" which Pete also wrote and it reminds me of Ennio Morricone , that builds up into a crecendo that is kinda like "American Trilogy" by Elvis. after that it mellows down into "A lifetime to kill" which is a Neil Young/Springsteen vibe and then at the end we rework a song that we had on our demos called "The People" . Its new territory for us and I know a lot of people are going to dig it.

The first 9 songs on the album will be full on high octane rock.

Tony started on the Bass later in the day as Davy is so good he did the drums for the whole album in 3 days!! Tony started on "Jack Strong" and he altered his bass line so now its sounds like ZZ Top to my ears, feckin awesome!! He then did "Knockout" , I love this tune. it makes me want to grab a pillow and have a pillow fight and jump up and down on the bed. " Make a change" came next and that is punchy as hell, probably going to be the opening tune on the album. "Back to the water" was next. This is a vibey tune somewhere between the Who and late 70's punk , its hard to define.

A very productive day!

DAY 2 Wed 22nd

2009-04-23T02:18:00.000-07:00

With everything in place it was just a matter of starting to lay things down straight away.
Davy is just a machine, his timing is impeccable . All the drums went down for the album today bar the 20 minute piece and "One of us is gonna go down" which was recorded earlier this year but We decided to redo the drums with a different feel. We discovered that the timing was off on the guitars in places and as it was only a demo at the time we let them pass, we will re do them next week.

the kit sounds tight, the bass drum is thumping and without any compressors of revers etc it sounds great. I can only imagine what it will sound like when its mixed and a little production added to it.

We are recording with a little bit of a live feel. We are all set up in separate rooms and have our own mixers so we can get what ever headphone mixes we like. I saw this before on an Iron Maiden DVD where they recorded with Kevin Shirley. I think its a great approach as there are guitar takes that are good enough for the finished album. we has been rehearsing for the last 3 weeks solid so everything is worked out and in place.

The songs sound pumping especially "Knockout", "Make a change" and "Always the looser" , because we are laying down the guitars with the kit we are getting an early picture of the sound
as it will be. the guitars have a sound of the debut album I think and it will be interesting as some of the songs would have fitted in perfect on the first album and some on "Playground" so I think the album will be good for anyone who likes the two albums and the 20 peice at the end will keep the prog fans happy.

Davys setup

Tama superstar kit
24 inch bass drum and 10' 12' 16' 18' inch toms
14' snare
Pearl maple shell free floating snare drum

20' sabian bounce ride
17' legacy crash
17' vault crash
19' Neil Peart signature china
18' B8 pro China
16' AAX Dark Crash
16' AAXplosion crash
14' AAX Stage hats

Remo pin stripe heads

PHOTO COMING TOMORROW!!!

DAY 1- Tuesday 21th

2009-04-22T02:41:00.000-07:00

We are the first band to record in the newly refurbished studio and its top class. All the top of the range pre amps etc. I dont know much about outbaord gear or whatever but I know its great gear and Declan Lonergan the studio owner and engineer knows his stuff and takes great pride in his work. The Studio is a 20 mile spin from the hills down on the low lying plane of Kildare. So set off at 9am for a 10am start. We spent most of the day setting up the drum kit and getting the sound right. then we set up the bass and guitars. We are all in separate rooms and all have our own headphone mixes so everything is going to tape and we can patch up an guitar or bass mistakes after. Once Davy is happy with his take we move on. The fisrt song we worked on "Jack strong" went down in one take. Then it got complicated. The next song was "Knockout" which went donw perfect until the great drum fills at the enad and it just wouldnt happen. Davy is doing some serious drumming and I guess he was tiring out. We moved on to "Always the looser" and that went down ok but we did a few takes. We are striving for perfection I guess but there is a live feel too. When you are making an album you want the best. So Tomorrow we will spent the whole day laying down songs and we are hoping to get 5 done but maybe thats ambitious.

Ill get some photos and video hopefully later in the week.

Keep it lit!! Bat

Welcome and Pre Production "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

2009-04-18T03:53:00.000-07:00

Hello welcome to my new blog.

I decided to set this up specifically for letting you all know about the studio and Live performances of Glyder.

If you are reading this blog you probably know im the guitarist with Irish rokc band Glyder if you dont please check here www.glydermusic.com and www.myspace.com/glyder

We had done some serious touring in 08 which brought us all over the place from Ireland to the UK to Europe, Scandinavia and the to India and back to the UK again. After this heavy schedule in support of the second album "Playground for life" and the EP "Weather the storm" It felt like time to make some new music. "Weather the strorm" was an EP to keep the ship aflot so to speak and comprised of material that was left around from prevous recording and material that didnt make it to either of the other albums. We didnt feel the material was inferior but not fitting the vibe of the first two albums. As 08 was coming to a close it felt like time to start work again.

The journey for me began in India in October 08. India was an inspiration to say the least but note there wont be an Indian sound on the next album, we didnt meet the maharishi and we didnt bring a sitar home. Going to the Taj Mahal and absorbing Indian culture and something that wast western culture was something very new to me and over all is was a positive experience.

When I came home from India I had a lot of time on my hands and after all the touring it was now time to reflect and chill out and let the creative juices flow. The business side of things quitened down too so I set up a basic studio in my office at home. Using cubase and an electric drum kit I demoed 6 songs with Davy. He played the drums and I did the rest, guitar bass vocal. I had never taken this approach before with Glyder but as I felt there was a lot of inspiration I wanted to get it down fast and have something to show the lads. I brough almost finished material to the table. Some of the songs written were "One of us is gonna go down" "Time to fly" "Always the looser", "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow", "The bitter end", "Knockout" and later on I wrote a few others "A lifetime to Kill" and "Jack Strong". This has been the most productive period of my life. Its very strange but necessary I think for any level of success. We worked into Christmas and started to do pre production demos. We went into the studio in January and put down a track that Tony and I had worked on called "that Line" and Tony rewrote the lyrices to "One of us is gonna go down". The result was very good and we decided to use the studio we recorded these tracks in to make the rest of the album. Its near home and remarkably world class.

We decided to enter the studio the last two weeks in April so it was going to be intense. We all have managed to hang on to part time jobs and beween the day jobs and rehearsals its been hectic. Getting up a 6am in the morning, working all day, getting the dinner and going straight to our studio in Elverstown where Pete lives.

We made a big list of the material that we had. Tony and Pete worked on a song which at the moment is called "Make a change" but that is a working title. Davy came in with a song called "Innocent eyes" and we reworked it musically and its sounds great. Tonythen brought a tune that we call "Million" to the table. Pete also brought his first lyrics to the table in the song "All youve done". I brought a peice of music im very proud of which I will call "One in a million white crosses" but its now part of the song "Time to fly". Pete brought a great peice of music which is very influenced by Ennio Moriccone and we worked it up into a very climatic peice like "American Trilogy" by Elvis. All this music and some of the songs have been peiced together into a collage that will beon the end of the album. Its 20 minutes long and I know its something we are going to be very proud of. Its ambitious but I just wanted to do something differnet on this album. I was listening to an old favourite of mine "Abbey Road" by the beatles and I love the way the music is liked on the second part of the record.

I think on this album there is going to be the vibe of the first album in most of the first 8 or 9 songs and then at the end the progressiveness of "Playground" and "weather" but I think overall its a very positive album with a positive message. "Playground" was dark and I think we have entered a little into the light again. Some of the music is heavy but its very melodic.
I feel this album will the the one that defines us. You will hear the Glyder sound. Yes, our influences are there, In my opinion there are influences of Lizzy, Fish, Floyd, AC/DC, the who, Metallica, Bad Company, Elvis, Ennio Moricone, the Band, The foo Fighters., Pat Mc Manus, Y&T,
Its everything we have absorbed over the past 2 years.

this is Saturday 18th April, Im off to see AC/DC tonight in Dublin supported by The Answer. Monday we hit the Studio. I will be blogging when ever I get time and will let you know how this album progresses.