Torque

Shepherd's Bush Empire!!!!!

2009-05-19T13:05:00.000+01:00

We've entered a competition to get a support slot for esOterica in September at the Shepherd's Bush Empire!

Go here:

www.battleforshepherdsbush.com

Simply type "Torque" in the band name field and fill in your email address. Click the confirmation link in the email you recieve. That is it!

This will be the biggest show we've ever done and with it comes lots of things. Massive exposure, more fans, the chance of doing other big name shows!

This a Roll call for everyone who likes our stuff. Please vote!

Check ouy esOterica here:

They're playing the Download festival this year.

Also, tickets for the show are available here:

http://www.stargreen.com/events?id=23421

They are cheap so if you vote, buy a ticket too and support us!

G£

What do I do....?!

2009-03-20T10:44:00.002Z

That's the thought that ran through my head when Gary's string broke last night between songs!

ha ha ha

We all knew something like that would happen at one point, thankfully early on in our career.
Thankfully Jerome and I decided to have a jam between Twisted In Love and Breathing Underwater last night as it's Gary's "swap guitar" gap... I was in a hip-hop/soul mood last night so we busted out a bit of "I ain't going out like that" by Cypress Hill. Then when we were getting to the end I noticed the string break

eeeek.

Erm... Sugarhill Gang?! Yeah, let's get on it... not bad. Low-rider by war? tried it... failed. Battlestar Scralachtica... failed. NWA's Express Yourself... failed.
unsuccessful jam session :o(

To sum up:
Despite the technical hick-up and the miserable attempt to jam (on my behalf) the actual show went really well. The tightest we've ever played on stage. Jerome was a machine last night, hitting all the fills, adding some and throwing in some sauce at times too. We seemed to get a good response as well, the two other bands that played stayed and watched to which was really cool of them. They both put on great shows too.

Check out: www.myspace.com/chaoscallingmusic and www.myspace.com/2feetwide

So... Working on stuff to do when we have technical problems is something we really need to think about.

G£

Purpose, direction and random thoughts.

2009-03-13T14:34:00.003Z

The Writing Process
We're still plugging away!
Our newest (finished song) is called "Fooling No-one"
It's not on the myspace because we want people to experience it in the live situation first... We opened the Saphire and Purple Turtle with it but did you know that for the duration of it's incomplete life it was known as "da da daa" ?

We're working on two tracks at the minute. They've got project names: "Tres bien" and "New Minor" I bet you're wondering how we come up with names for these things? Well; Actually so do I... but I do know the story of one of the older songs though:

A load of progress was made with either Save yourself or Twisted, which one it was is irrelevant, but Gary was making a few changes before saving it (we're working on PC to record you see) Mike was sitting listening to Incubus and Gary asked:
"What's the name of this song again?"
"Mexico"
Save-as...

As far as miss understandings go... that was awesome. For a little time either Twisted or Save Yourself was known as "Mexico"

We've also got a third song which we aren't recording for the time being. It's finished! But until the time is right it's lodged in our memory. It's a very special song.

Shows
We've got a few shows lined up, they're up on the myspace front page now. The Horn in St Albans and The Marquee in Hertford.
Like I said in the last blog we decided to take some time out of gigging, this is mostly (but not entirely) because Chris has a bad arm. We kinda decided that the Watford show was going to be the next "big one"
We were offered a couple of short-notice fill-in slots, we couldn't really turn them down.
We want Chris to have a speedy recovery so in a joint decision we've committed to these next two shows as a four-piece.

Personally: It's a little dis-heartening. It's going to be weird without Chris on stage so with all sincerity I hope all is fine soon so we can get rocking at full strength!

New Music?
This month is a really good month for new music. A couple of new releases I want to draw your attention to:
Steven Wilson - Insurgentes
Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Papa Roach - Metamorphosis

I'm sure there are more, but for my tastes... Hell yes!
My copy of Insurgentes came through the post yesterday, I've been waiting for it for what seems like a life time. Steven Wilson is the lead singer for Porcupine Tree. If you don't know who they are... you really should.
Here's how conversations go when I talk about them to the rest of the band:
They're from Hemel!
Really?
Yeah!
Did I mention they're from Hemel?
About every time you talk about them.
Oh
Yeah
Did I mention they were from Hemel? It's not far from Watford...!
*Everyone slaps their forehead.

They're incredibly good in my opinion and this album is true to form. Packaged with the CD is a DVD with a surround sound mix of the album and an excerpt from the movie/documentary of the same name.
It raises an interesting point about the music industry, the MP3 era and the throwaway mentality of people who download. It seems like it could be a very interesting movie so I'll be keeping an ear out for it's release.

Buy the album if you're a fan of PT, if you've not heard of them or him... give it a try.

Gig Reviews
I saw Nightwish the other night at the Brixton Academy.
They really were good. I'm in two minds about the show though, it was the first show of the new tour, I'm not sure if Annette missed some of the high notes on purpose to preserve her voice for the tour or because she couldn't hit them... She's very very talented though, I have the utmost respect for her, stepping into Tarja's shoes must be daunting for anyone. Not an easy job either.
I must mention however that the songs they played from Dark Passion Play (which is the first to feature Annette) She sang almost perfectly throughout.

I'm not sure I like the way Annette has changed a few of the vocal melodies, a couple were at iconic parts of the songs... The Siren for instance was just plain odd.

Despite this I really enjoyed the show, they played with a sense of urgency. Absolutely immense.
The quote I like to use to emphasize how I feel about their performance is "Tight... Like Anus!"

I can't feel I can talk about Nightwish without mentioning Marco's bass. If you've seen my equipment you'll know I dig the Warwick brand. He has been rocking a Warwick Infinity for the past number of years, it sounds beautiful.
If I ever get an endorsement deal with the big W: I'll be asking for one. If not: well I guess I'll have to save my pennies!

Have a good weekend folks.

G£

Woooo Woooo

2009-02-23T15:38:00.004Z

That's the sound of the Torque train a'coming!

We're booking shows, the next to put in your Calendar is this:

We received confirmation this morning, so once we know ticket prices... so will you.

Purple Turtle

On Thursday we played the Purple Turtle in Camden and I must say it was awesome!
We played six of our songs, Me and Jerome had another little jam... But what was the highlight of the night I hear you ask...?!
Looking out into the crowd and see people singing the words back to us.

Utterly incredible.

The Watford show will be a bit like a "home-coming" for two of us, Me and Mike are from Watford so a lot of Family and Family-friends will be there, as well as school and college friends... It's going to be the biggest night of my career for sure. Which is also pretty humbling.

For the time being though we're taking a quick break to have a rest, although we've only done the two shows we've been very busy. New songs are coming, new... well: Everything. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled to this blog, myspace and facebook.

I've got my own Twitter now so if you want to know anything... hit me up: www.twitter.com/TorqueGav
I'm trying to convince everyone else to get on there too... so gimme a hand ;o)

Song of the week:

Until next time...

G£

What happened here then?!

2009-02-13T15:11:00.006Z

Alright peeps, It's big Gav on writing duties. First thing I have to do is apologise, I/We've been meaning to update the blog with a ton of new information but a day turned to a week, a week - a month etc...

It's worth the wait though...

So what have we been getting up to in the past few months?

Peep this video right here:

*Jerome has a bit of a potty mouth... be warned

We're back in England now, rehearsing for our upcoming shows.
So what's next?
We're playing the Purple Turtle in Camden on Thursday 19th Feb:
We're actively booking shows so keep an eye on the myspace for instant knowledge.

The Torque song of the week:

Have a good weekend folks.

G£

Wales

2008-12-05T14:43:00.002Z

Alright peeps

We're heading across to Wales between the 17th and 25th of January next year to do a few shows and some recording.

We're confirming the details of the shows as we speak. The first show I can officially announce is:

Tuesday 20th January - The Saphire, Bridgend, Wales CF31 1EH

So if you're in the area... Check us out. If not... Come and check us out.

On this mini-tour not only will we be playing the songs from the myspace, but debuting a bunch of new ones too! So if you want to be among the first to hear them come and see us!

I'll be doing some music reviews next week, so you can get an idea what I'm listening to and what inspires me.
The rest of the guys will do their own at some point

G£

Welcome!

2008-11-11T13:32:00.006Z

So here we are, the very fist article on this: The Official Torque Blog!

Welcome one and all!

My name is Gavin and I'm taking up the role of communications manager for the band. Actually, that's a lie. There is no such title, however I do have the honour of writing the first blog!
I supply Torque with the low-end rumblings and can usually be seen on stage just nodding my head to the rhythm keeping the Torque train running.

The Band

Torque is the brainchild of Michael and Gary. In the early days the music was written and recorded in Mike's bedroom studio, knowing they were on to something good they started looking to complete the band and get out on the road. So after months of auditions I introduce to you:

Michael Sylvester - Vocals and Samples

Gary Baldwin - Guitar

Gavin Jefferson - Bass

Chris Lewis - Guitar

Jarome Maree - Drums

I'll try and get everyone to give themselves a proper introduction over the coming weeks.

You'll no doubt have either come from the Myspace or Facebook page. If you've just stumbled onto this blog by chance, have a listen here:
Myspace
Facebook

We've also set up a Youtube channel too! Here It's empty at the minute but over the coming months expect to see both rehearsal footage and video-blogs of our travels!
Eventually I'll create some funky graphics and create buttons for all three so you can easily find them!

So what's the purpose of this blog?!

Well, unlike some of the big bands who cut themselves off from their fans we've decided to use this medium as a way of bridging the gap. To keep us in touch with our fans, share ideas and build the Torque family. Here we'll be feeding you tid-bits of information, announcements for upcoming shows amongst general band news.
Not only will we be hosting in regular Q+A sessions, we'll be doing many other events, so keep em peeled to this site. The official source of Torque news

G£