Out Of The Blue…

Sometimes, life is all about getting kicked in the shins by Murphy, as he looms over you after you’ve keeled over, shaking his head in disapproval before walking away without ever explaining why. The past two weeks were not of a good kind, due to a variety of things that I won’t go into detail about; all I can say is that the situation is being contained and monitored properly. It’ll work out and that will do.

But today, that was different. No Murphy, no crap happening, nothing. Just a phone call from Ben, Sylvium’s guitarist, asking me if I were available this coming friday for performing as support act for Haken in Oberhausen, Germany.

It took a bit of tinkering with all my plans ( and mind you, I’m still not done figuring out logistics and whatnot) but so far, the board is green and we’re scheduled to perform with Haken. Just wow. I cannot believe the luck we’ve had with this chance, as they are without a doubt the hottest progressive metal band in Europe at the moment. To open op a show for them is a dream come true!

So right now, I’m working out logistics, as this weekend I’ll also be camping with friends as I always do when my birthday nears. Both events will occur, it just means a bit more driving is involved and after the weekend, I’ll be royally knackered. It’ll be worth it though!

Also, I was pointed out today that on Progwereld ( a superb Dutch review website on progressive rock & metal releases) in their top 20 best releases of this year, we’ve come in at #17 with ‘The Gift of Anxiety’. I am just still stunned because of this news, but in a most positive way! So tonight, once my logistical planning is over, I’m having a beer. Slainthe Mhath!

Live And Surrounded

Our first gig has come and gone and the band is still stunned by all the positive response we got so far with ‘The Gift of Anxiety’. Our live show was in front of a sold out crowd and they loved it 🙂 So I’m quite chuffed about the whole thing so far 🙂 For those of you who couldn’t be there, here’s a video of Sylvium live playing ‘Surround’ and ‘Falling’, both from our new release ‘The Gift of Anxiety’. Enjoy!

A Taste of Anxiety

For all you people out there who are wondering what Sylvium’s upcoming album sounds like, here’s a trailer for you to enjoy 🙂

Gears of War

I wanted to post this about a week ago, but real life© got royally in the way and mucked up all my plans. That is, until now.

I’ve been gearing up for the Sylvium CD presentation of ‘The Gift Of Anxiety’ which will be held on the 13th of September in Alphen a/d Rijn, but even here it’s a constant battle against Murphy and his indescribable hatred for musicians. Normally, with the internet and most music stores having a decent stock of proper equipment, this seems irrelevant, except for my issue: my left handedness.

I’m what you could call an extreme lefty, meaning I do 90% of all manual labor with my left hand predominantly. When playing soccer, I’d stop the ball with my right foot and always kick with the left foot. With music, this translated itself to me having to rebuild the drumkit every night when I’d play for the school band ( and put it back to a right-handed kit the minute my time was done for the evening) or playing keyboardscross-handed ( although with time I learned how to avoid this). With guitars and basses, this requires me to only play left-handed models.

Seeing as I have specific demands on what my instruments should be able to do ( or not), it’s been an absolutely nightmare to find the equipment I wanted to use for my music and other projects. Truth be told, I’m still having difficulty with getting a set of particular guitars left-handed, but at least the main problems have been solved when this week I picked up my touring amp and a second guitar for different tuning. Below will be a description of what I’m using with Sylvium live ( as well as other projects, though that depends on my sound needs), so if you’re not a gear anorak, you can skip that part.

For the upcoming Sylvium gig(s), my rig will consist of my Marshall MA50H amp, with the sounds coming from my Boss GT-10 effects unit. For guitars, I’ll be using my LAG Arkane and a Schecter SGR C-1. My previous amps were all transistor amps and thus, lacked warmth and a bit of depth as well. With my MA50H purchase, I’ve got the sound I want plus enough power to play a sizeable gig.

Guitar-wise, the LAG will be tuned to E standard and will be used on at least two of the six tracks. It’s got a lot of power where I need it ( and is my preferred guitar for solo’s due to the fast neck) but I can do amazing clean sounds on it as well. The Schecter will be tuned to Drop D and used on the remaining four tracks ( although during one song, I might switch back to the LAG halfwFor the upcoming Sylvium gig(s), my rig will consist of my Marshall MA50H ampay through to get those clean sounds I’m after). The guitar is slightly different due to having only two pickups and no tremolo, but it’s a powerful guitar and allows for quick retuning should the need arise.
I’m still due to program the rest of my sounds into my GT-10, along with an Ibanez DE-7 Delay pedal ( a golden oldie, not the current sh*te they retail nowadays) and maybe a chorus pedal, so I can easily switch back to clean sounds, but I’ll work that out this coming week before we have our second and final rehearsal before the show on friday.

After the gig is done, it’s back to Nur Amata for me and write/record some cool tunes we have. So here’s hoping Murphy stays the hell away! 🙂