25th May 2009: Monday Mosh #3
Well here we are, edition 3 of the Monday Mosh already. I’m finding that time is flying now that I’m doing a weekly update. I’m really enjoying the process however.
We have a significant Monday Mosh today. First of all, we are celebrating the release This Day Forth last Friday. People who preordered should be getting their copies very shortly, and I know a lot of people already have received theirs. So far the feedback has been terrific! Thanks to all those people who have emailed in letting us know they love the disc. The general consensus is that it is our best album yet. I haven’t had one person say otherwise! We would really appreciate you all spreading the word about this release to your metal loving mates. We are part of an extremely competitive music market, and every sale counts. I was recently reading a thread on Firestream talking about how Christian metal bands survive. Well the simple answer is that nearly every Christian metal musician I know works a full time job to support their family. The only way Grave Forsaken happens is by us doing things in our spare time on weekends, evenings and mornings before work. If we didn’t love what we do so much, the whole thing would fall apart. We all dream of being full time musicians one day, but in the meantime we will just keep doing what we have to.
Anyway, enough soapboxing for now. To celebrate the release of This Day Forth on Soundmass, we have made a new song available on myspace. Visit www.myspace.com/graveforsaken and you will hear “Holy Blood”. We are so thrilled to finally have Holy Blood recorded and released, as the song has been written since 2006. It wasn’t until we were putting together this new album that we really got the arrangement and feel right. It’s one of those slow burners, but we think you’ll agree the final result speaks for itself. This weeks www.graveforsaken.com music stream will be Mother Of Harlots, This Day Forth and Holy Blood from the new album, so head over to the site and have a listen. While you’re there, post something in the forum to let us know what you think of the new album and tunes!
Also available are the official This Day Forth t-shirts from Soundmass. I have my shirt and I think it looks great. If a big robot laying waste to a city is your thing, then this shirt is for you! Also on the clothing front, we are looking into doing another batch of our famous Mosher Crew hoodies. Keep an eye out for them in the future.
Now onto some huge news for the band. Mosher Crew members will have picked up on this in Mosher Crew Confidential last week. It is with great pleasure that we welcome our newest member Simon Hoggett from Scourged Flesh into the band. That’s correct folks, we have a new member! Simon has been a great friend of the band for the last 18 months, and has now joined the ranks officially as second guitarist. Those who have been following the band closely will have seen Simon in Grave Forsaken TV a couple of times. Simon also filled in on drums for Dave a couple of times last year when Dave was unavailable.
By Simon coming in on guitar, it means that I will be putting down my guitar and switching to the role of full time lead vocals. I love playing my guitar live, however this move allows me to focus purely on the vocals and crowd interaction. Simon is a great rhythm player and has already learnt our entire setlist, so when you see us live next, you will really notice the improvement. Our recent rehearsals as a 5 piece with Simon have been truly awesome, and we are genuinely excited about unleashing this new line up live. So from all of us at Grave Forsaken, we would like to welcome Simon on board.
From that massive news onto something I’m sure you’ll find interesting. This week we have made a rare mp3 exclusively available to Mosher Crew members. I was digging through the vaults (ie, my computer hard drive) and I came by a Grave Forsaken recording from late 2004. It is an early version of “Tribulation Cometh”, which later appeared on our first album. It is a very raw and underground version, and was recorded while we were still learning how to use my home studio. At the time we felt it was too unpolished for release, but now it is time to let you hear it. So if you are a Mosher Crew member, head over to the members area on our website and you will be able to download it. If you aren’t in the Mosher Crew, joining is free. Simply fill in the form on the Mosher Crew page at our website and you are in! When you’ve heard the song, I would encourage you to go post your thoughts on our official forum.
Well, that’s about it for this week. I’ve really been enjoying putting together a Monday Mosh each week, and long may it continue. At Grave Forsaken, we honestly strive to be a peoples band. We want the supporters of the band to feel like part of the family. We are here for you, and we really appreciate your encouragement. God has been teaching the band about patience lately. Sometimes I want to jump head first into situations and not really think them through. As we continue to build this ministry it becomes increasingly obvious that things only happen in God’s timing. We are blessed to have 3 albums and 2 EPs out, and we pray that those releases will be a blessing to you and your friends also. Until next time
MOSH ON!
Vaughan and Grave Forsaken
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
18th May 2009: Monday Mosh #2
18th May 2009: Monday Mosh #2
Thanks everyone for your awesome response to the first edition of the Monday Mosh last week. It’s really exciting to have a solid way to present the latest news to all our supporters.
Of course the big news this week is the imminent release of This Day Forth on Friday the 22nd. It has been a long time coming, but well and truly worth the wait. We’re hoping this new release will really excite thrash fans out there. I listen to a lot of thrash, and I feel this is one of the most old school and authentic thrash albums to come out of the Christian scene for a long time. We are very pleased with it. We can’t wait to start getting your feedback over the coming days and weeks. So don’t be a stranger and drop us a message.
We have recently taken advantage of myspace allowing 10 songs for streaming, and have added some more tracks. The songs uploaded represent good cross section of our material. If you’re not familiar with all our songs, head over to the myspace page at www.myspace.com/graveforsaken and have a listen. I’ve included tracks from all 3 albums and both EPs.
Yesterday we went to Fattdog Studio with the band to put down some new song ideas with Daniel Holmes, who has produced our last 2 albums. Even though This Day Forth is being released this week, the whole recording process started over a year ago, meaning we have quite a few new things we have been working on. We’re currently at the stage of consolidating riffs and putting together some arrangements. I imagine most bands would do the same thing as us, that is, have a cycle of new material in development all the time. Not to mention the fact that we absolutely love going to Fattdog and hanging out!
As well as working on ideas at Fattdog, Elias and I quite often demo our own ideas at our houses. I have North Wind Studio in my backroom. I have a Roland desk and a quadcore computer, so I am working on developing my own production skills. Since I got this setup up and running, Elias has inherited my old setup. That setup is what we used to record the original EP, as well as Harder To Hate from the first album. Between the two of us, we put a lot of ideas down. We are more than likely to make some of these available to the Mosher Crew as free downloads over the coming months.
Speaking of the Mosher Crew, I have just uploaded the video file for Mosher Crew Confidential Edition 1. Mosher Crew members can head over to the members area of our website www.graveforsaken.com and download the video. Currently I have it as a wmv file. If anyone can’t play the file, please email me at graveforsaken@graveforsaken.com and I can attempt to put it in a format that you can play. Remember that it is free to join the Mosher Crew. You just have to sign up at the Mosher Crew page and then you have access to the members area, as well as getting our monthly email newsletter and special offers on merch.
I have started posting this weekly blog on blogspot. It can be found at www.graveforsaken.blogspot.com for those who are interested. In fact, I’m doing my best to spread the blog as far and wide as possible. If you have any good ideas on where I can publish it I’d be happy to hear your feedback. The more people we can get reading the better obviously!
As promised, there will be an album or EP streaming each week. This week we are featuring the Horror And Sadness EP from 2007, so hang around at the website and have a listen. On the subject of the website, we are working on a lot of stuff behind the scenes to keep adding features. One of the next things will be a complete catalogue of lyrics, and the band bio isn’t far off either. We’re also thinking of resurrecting the editorials from the old website. Basically, we want to make the site a really interesting source of all things Grave Forsaken. A lot is happening, so please check back regularly.
Well people, that’s it for another week. Until the next mosh
ROCK ON
Vaughan and Grave Forsaken
Thanks everyone for your awesome response to the first edition of the Monday Mosh last week. It’s really exciting to have a solid way to present the latest news to all our supporters.
Of course the big news this week is the imminent release of This Day Forth on Friday the 22nd. It has been a long time coming, but well and truly worth the wait. We’re hoping this new release will really excite thrash fans out there. I listen to a lot of thrash, and I feel this is one of the most old school and authentic thrash albums to come out of the Christian scene for a long time. We are very pleased with it. We can’t wait to start getting your feedback over the coming days and weeks. So don’t be a stranger and drop us a message.
We have recently taken advantage of myspace allowing 10 songs for streaming, and have added some more tracks. The songs uploaded represent good cross section of our material. If you’re not familiar with all our songs, head over to the myspace page at www.myspace.com/graveforsaken and have a listen. I’ve included tracks from all 3 albums and both EPs.
Yesterday we went to Fattdog Studio with the band to put down some new song ideas with Daniel Holmes, who has produced our last 2 albums. Even though This Day Forth is being released this week, the whole recording process started over a year ago, meaning we have quite a few new things we have been working on. We’re currently at the stage of consolidating riffs and putting together some arrangements. I imagine most bands would do the same thing as us, that is, have a cycle of new material in development all the time. Not to mention the fact that we absolutely love going to Fattdog and hanging out!
As well as working on ideas at Fattdog, Elias and I quite often demo our own ideas at our houses. I have North Wind Studio in my backroom. I have a Roland desk and a quadcore computer, so I am working on developing my own production skills. Since I got this setup up and running, Elias has inherited my old setup. That setup is what we used to record the original EP, as well as Harder To Hate from the first album. Between the two of us, we put a lot of ideas down. We are more than likely to make some of these available to the Mosher Crew as free downloads over the coming months.
Speaking of the Mosher Crew, I have just uploaded the video file for Mosher Crew Confidential Edition 1. Mosher Crew members can head over to the members area of our website www.graveforsaken.com and download the video. Currently I have it as a wmv file. If anyone can’t play the file, please email me at graveforsaken@graveforsaken.com and I can attempt to put it in a format that you can play. Remember that it is free to join the Mosher Crew. You just have to sign up at the Mosher Crew page and then you have access to the members area, as well as getting our monthly email newsletter and special offers on merch.
I have started posting this weekly blog on blogspot. It can be found at www.graveforsaken.blogspot.com for those who are interested. In fact, I’m doing my best to spread the blog as far and wide as possible. If you have any good ideas on where I can publish it I’d be happy to hear your feedback. The more people we can get reading the better obviously!
As promised, there will be an album or EP streaming each week. This week we are featuring the Horror And Sadness EP from 2007, so hang around at the website and have a listen. On the subject of the website, we are working on a lot of stuff behind the scenes to keep adding features. One of the next things will be a complete catalogue of lyrics, and the band bio isn’t far off either. We’re also thinking of resurrecting the editorials from the old website. Basically, we want to make the site a really interesting source of all things Grave Forsaken. A lot is happening, so please check back regularly.
Well people, that’s it for another week. Until the next mosh
ROCK ON
Vaughan and Grave Forsaken
Saturday, May 16, 2009
11th May 2009: Monday Mosh #1
Hi, this is Vaughan Gregory from Grave Forsaken. Welcome to the first Grave Forsaken Monday Mosh. I will be endeavouring to post a Monday Mosh each week on, you guessed it, Monday!
The purpose of this blog is to keep you up to date with what Grave Forsaken are up to on a weekly basis. We have some pretty exciting plans for the remainder of the year, and we want you, the Grave Forsaken supporter, to be part of what we are doing.
The first thing I need to remind everyone of is the need to rejoin (or join for the first time) the Mosher Crew on our new website. You simply need to go the Mosher Crew page and fill in the form. This will allow you access to the members area, where you will be privy to Mosher Crew downloads and video. You will also receive our monthly Mosher Crew newsletter via email.
Once a month we will be putting an unreleased studio recording or live track in the members area of our website. If you go there right now you will find a rough mix of “The Calling” from our live recording due out later in the year. This is not a final version, but it gives you a good idea of what the recording will sound like. I’m actually right in the middle of mixing the recording here at North Wind Studio. There are so many jobs to do in a band like ours, so it’s a matter of constantly plugging away on things.
Another monthly feature in the members area will be our new video series “Mosher Crew Confidential”. Unlike Grave Forsaken TV, Mosher Crew Confidential won’t be posted on Youtube – it will be only available to our members. It will be a video news update, bringing the crew completely up to date with the latest happenings in the Grave Forsaken camp.
Speaking of Grave Forsaken TV, if you go to this location, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFmrrSGPZpQ you will be able to watch Episode 8 – The History Of Grave Forsaken: Part I. This is one of my favourite episodes so far. It takes you through the early history of my old band Sanctified. There is some archival footage from 1996 in there, so look out for that. It was made with the cooperation of my good friend and former bandmate Chris Connor. Thanks Chris for supporting my vision to tell the full story of the origins of the current Grave Forsaken.
We are now less than 2 weeks away from the release of our new album “This Day Forth” on Soundmass. We are very excited about this release, it is a massive step up from “Destined For Ascension”. Please support the band by heading over to the Soundmass site and picking up a copy of the album. All preorders receive our feature length documentary on “The Making Of This Day Forth”. This is one of the most comprehensive documentaries about a Christian metal band you’ll ever see, so don’t miss it! If I can indulge a little, countless hours were spent filming and editing this documentary. It might not be Flight 666, but we are pleased with it none the less.
You may have noticed we have been streaming the debut EP on the site. From now on we will be streaming a different EP or album each week. This week it’s Beside The River Of Blood, so have a listen when you get a chance, especially if you don’t yet own the album.
There has been a bit going on behind the scenes lately, as always. There is an interesting bit of news that will be coming up in the next couple of weeks that we feel will greatly enhance the band. Stay tuned for that announcement.
As I sign off this first edition of the Monday Mosh, I’m listening to a mix of the live recording I’ve been working on through my studio headphones. We still haven’t worked out exactly how this recording will be released, but I know the hardcore supporters will be really keen to hear it. It’s one of those recordings that is flawed, but there is a raw honesty to it that I’m really digging. I hope you will to.
Until next time…
MOSH ON!
Vaughan and Grave Forsaken
The purpose of this blog is to keep you up to date with what Grave Forsaken are up to on a weekly basis. We have some pretty exciting plans for the remainder of the year, and we want you, the Grave Forsaken supporter, to be part of what we are doing.
The first thing I need to remind everyone of is the need to rejoin (or join for the first time) the Mosher Crew on our new website. You simply need to go the Mosher Crew page and fill in the form. This will allow you access to the members area, where you will be privy to Mosher Crew downloads and video. You will also receive our monthly Mosher Crew newsletter via email.
Once a month we will be putting an unreleased studio recording or live track in the members area of our website. If you go there right now you will find a rough mix of “The Calling” from our live recording due out later in the year. This is not a final version, but it gives you a good idea of what the recording will sound like. I’m actually right in the middle of mixing the recording here at North Wind Studio. There are so many jobs to do in a band like ours, so it’s a matter of constantly plugging away on things.
Another monthly feature in the members area will be our new video series “Mosher Crew Confidential”. Unlike Grave Forsaken TV, Mosher Crew Confidential won’t be posted on Youtube – it will be only available to our members. It will be a video news update, bringing the crew completely up to date with the latest happenings in the Grave Forsaken camp.
Speaking of Grave Forsaken TV, if you go to this location, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFmrrSGPZpQ you will be able to watch Episode 8 – The History Of Grave Forsaken: Part I. This is one of my favourite episodes so far. It takes you through the early history of my old band Sanctified. There is some archival footage from 1996 in there, so look out for that. It was made with the cooperation of my good friend and former bandmate Chris Connor. Thanks Chris for supporting my vision to tell the full story of the origins of the current Grave Forsaken.
We are now less than 2 weeks away from the release of our new album “This Day Forth” on Soundmass. We are very excited about this release, it is a massive step up from “Destined For Ascension”. Please support the band by heading over to the Soundmass site and picking up a copy of the album. All preorders receive our feature length documentary on “The Making Of This Day Forth”. This is one of the most comprehensive documentaries about a Christian metal band you’ll ever see, so don’t miss it! If I can indulge a little, countless hours were spent filming and editing this documentary. It might not be Flight 666, but we are pleased with it none the less.
You may have noticed we have been streaming the debut EP on the site. From now on we will be streaming a different EP or album each week. This week it’s Beside The River Of Blood, so have a listen when you get a chance, especially if you don’t yet own the album.
There has been a bit going on behind the scenes lately, as always. There is an interesting bit of news that will be coming up in the next couple of weeks that we feel will greatly enhance the band. Stay tuned for that announcement.
As I sign off this first edition of the Monday Mosh, I’m listening to a mix of the live recording I’ve been working on through my studio headphones. We still haven’t worked out exactly how this recording will be released, but I know the hardcore supporters will be really keen to hear it. It’s one of those recordings that is flawed, but there is a raw honesty to it that I’m really digging. I hope you will to.
Until next time…
MOSH ON!
Vaughan and Grave Forsaken
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