Logo evolution – existing (A), rough (B) and my final idea (C)
AN early Zoom guitar session with one of my students before I get stuck into the daily emails and socials.
I’m distracted by a need to finalise my idea for a logo revamp and decide how and when to start phasing it in.
Backdrops, existing merch, socials and all other branding instances need to be identified and planned. Ooofft.
In the office I pack another batch of Kickstarter rewards until I run out of vinyl mailers. They should have been here before now…and I’m also running short of boxes for the pledge pins.
Fulfilling the rewards is probably the most laborious part of the Kickstarter project…even more so than selling the campaign and producing the album!
With Hellbound Train dropping on the streaming services on Friday I need to give the folks on my mail list a chance to get it early via Bandcamp. Members of my Wildcats’ Facebook group got the link yesterday.
The mental heath nurse calls from our local surgery bang on time …we chat through my ‘issues’ and meds and both positively agree there’s no immediate change required in anything.
Next job is submitting the next single – Walk the Walk – to my aggregator (digital distributor). Not a huge task, but tricky to get things right, especially as we’re adopting the ‘waterfall strategy’…timing is of the essence.
I also start the edit of the official video for the track. Wanna get all my ducks in a row on this one.
Finally I get out for walk..or at least the beginning of one before a rainstorm sees me scuttling back home….
We rescue a struggling bee with a little sweetened water…
I’M UP early to get the sourdough in the oven then back to bed with a coffee while it bakes.
Our pal David rocks up early to check out the problem with the power feed to the studio.
After much deliberation we find that I have indeed damaged the armoured cable while trying to dig some edging for the wee flowerbeds in our front garden. Done so much damage, in fact, that it’s a muscle I didn’t electrocute myself!
While we’re outside Margaret spots a bee in trouble. We manage to revive it with a little sweetened water.
The electricity‘s fixed in time for my first online guitar student of the day. I thought I was gonna have to revert to the iPad.
After lunch Margaret’s drives me round to drop off some more Kickstarter rewards and I walk home form the village.
I’m back in time for my afternoon guitar student and her mum arriving.
AFTER a bit of a long lie we have breakfast and I get busy.
There’s no power in the studio – the fuse in the house that controls the power to the studio has tripped again.
Definitely something amiss somewhere. I reset it, go back to the studio and a few minutes later it trips again.
I get video premiers set up on Facebook and YouTube for Friday’s release of Hellbound Train and most way through the way through a vertical edit when the power goes off again.
I call Margaret in the house and get her to reset, but it trips another couple of times , throws out some sparks and we decide to leave it off!
Hopefully our pal David will be able to come tomorrow (Monday) morning and check it out.
With the studio out of action I hit the office and. Start sorting the Kickstarter reward orders. A big job.
After spending a while working out how to organize the ‘backer survey’ results in a spreadsheet I email the folks that haven’t replied to the survey. I need their addresses to send stuff out.
I mange to get some of the reward packages parceled up and postage printed for pickup tomorrow (Monday) then make some wild garlic pasta…
NO SATURDAY long lie – we’re off into Glasgow for some shopping and I wanna drop off some Kickstarter rewards en route.
Before we leave I make up the reward packages. Three initial stops, then Helensburgh for coffee with our pals Alastair and Karen.
I’m keen for Alastair to have his vinyl and CD ASAP as not only did he make a contribution to the campaign with ‘your name in the credits’ but he is featured in the back cover photo.
After catching up we continued into Glasgow and do the usual Costco, Tesco, Waitrose stops…plus an extra one at B&Q.
We picked up some stuff for Betty which we drop off then get home and put the shopping away.
After dinner we watch a few episodes of a Scottish Netflix series Department Q…and fall asleep in front o the telly.
I’M BUSY with emails and stuff when the APC courier rocks up with the vinyls of new album.
I got a message on Wednesday saying they were to be delivered yesterday (Thursday)…then yesterday morning at 9.30am I got an email saying my request to change delivery to Friday (ie: today) has been successfully processed.Except I didn’t request a change in delivery day and started to think I was going crazy…or had I accidentally pressed a button when trying to track??
Nope. When quizzed the delivery driver said they(…he? …APC?) had changed it yesterday because they had too many deliveries to do! By fluke our front door security camera caught both him and the conversation.
While on this occasion a day here or there on delivery hasn’t caused much hassle it irks me that I – and, I guess Seabass – have been charged for overnight delivery that didn’t happen. Even more so at the reason being intimated was that it was at my request! Not the case as evidenced by the driver’s statements.
Onto the vinyl. As promised the boxes have been marked so we know which is transparent violet…and which is transparent violet and black marbled. There’s also some pink ones they did before checking the colour with me!
The sleeves and labels are good. The black and violet marbling is OK….but the transparent violet almost looks marbled too – violet and purple tho’. I check some more and it’s kinda weird.
It’s so different to what I expected that I check Seabass’ colour charts and guide on the website in case I’ve missed something – but nothing there about transparent colours being ‘mottled’.
I call Seabass Vinyl to let them know delivery and also to query the transparent violet. Normally I’ve dealt with Dominque but her husband – and partner in Seabass – Dave answers.
He’s immediately flippant about my query and tells me it’s a characteristic of the vinyl they use and happens with some non-standard colours. Some colours are not affected by this mottled finish.
I explain that I’m a bit disappointed – and particularly so that the chance of this happening was not mentioned when I discussed and made my order.
Dave is getting a little short with me and unwilling to take my concern on board, finally telling me no-one else has ever complained about it and that he’s busy and needs to get off the phone.
My disappointment with the vinyl has now developed into anger at the way my query (not a ‘complaint’ as such…not yet anyway!) has been handled and that I’ve been made to feel a fool to expect anything other than what I got.
I email Dominique outlining the situation and expressing my disappointment.
Before the call an apology and an acceptance that this should maybe be flagged on their website and/or ordering process may have kept my dissatisfaction at a manageable level, but the flippant and patronising discussion have minimized by willingness to suck it up.
I await a response.
Meantime, I head out for a walk and some fresh air to try and calm down.
Back home I start packing and sorting out orders so folks will start getting their vinyl/CD/pledge pin rewards next week…
My DIY Still Friends pin options to replace the botched mass produced effort…
OUR pal Beryl in Darlington has asked for some help getting t-shirts printed.
I did the deign for her a few years ago and they’ve been messing around with various digital and transfer printing onto shirts with limited success.
After getting a quote from my pal – and t-shirt maestro – Kenny, I prep the artwork, seek Beryl’s approval then get the order off to Kenny.
Main job today is radio promo for next Friday’s (6 June) release of Hellbound Train – the second single from the forthcoming Still Friends album. I’m using it as a hook for promoting the Glasgow show at The Glad Cafe on 12 June.
Mid-afternoon Paul the plumber arrives to put in an outside tap at the back of the house. I take a break from the promo to finish another wee batch of the Kickstarter/Still Friends pledge pins.
Betty’s coming for dinner and I’m making her favorite – fajitas. There’s no flank steak so I’m using chicken and get it marinading….
ANOTHER relatively early start to get to the village for my 8.30am haircut. Long overdue.
I pick up some stuff from the shop on the way home then get back to the pledge pin production.
Margaret’s having a load of computer and phone issues so I try to start helping. I can’t help but get frustrated at the mess her computer’s in – partly bad housekeeping, but mostly the fact that it’s over 10 years old.
More work on the pins in the afternoon until my guitar student arrives with his mum.
I made a batch of ‘special’ dough the other day to try out super-thin crust Roman-style pizza. The dough itself is really simple and quick to make but it need a good 48 hours in the fridge.
I ball up the dough and put it in a proving tray to sit until we eat later.
There’s some help required with the local hall website. The folks that took it over aren’t particularly savvy and have made a bit of an arse of what should have been some simple admin. I’ve had a shout for help.
Time for a short walk up the lochside then I get the pizza oven lit and prepare dinner. While I’m a big fan of artisan Neapolitan dough, Margaret’s not so keen on – hence tonight’s experiment with Roman-style thin crust. I’m pleasantly surprised how good they are!
WHILE my sourdough cools I take a look at Karen’s guitar to find out what the problem – no sound – might be.
I try the obvious and plug in with a decent cable. Nothing. A bit of shoogling, though, and I hear a crackle…a crackle of hope!
On removing the jack plate the socket is wrapped in insulating tape and there’s various oddly placed lumps of solder. Not only is one of the contacts held on with the tape, but a huge dollop of solder attaching a random piece of flex has burned through the core shielding and seems to be shorting out the while shebang. A bit of a fucking mess.
There’s not much spare wire and it’s a tight space but I decide risk cutting off the botched wiring, unwrap and strip then add some heat shrink before resoldering the jack socket. It works!
I’m finished just in time for my first Zoom guitar student of the day.
Karen comes to pick up the guitar which, incidentally, is a rather nice 1978 USA Fender strat then I get on with making the pledge pins. Still some way to go.
After lunch pin production continues and I edit up the video from Friday’s BBQ rib prep to spin into tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook.
I have a break when my late afternoon guitar student arrives at the same time as the plumber to look at putting an outside tap at the back of the house.
No time for a walk –besides, it’s horrible weather – as I need to get my ducks in a row for the livestream…
AN early start to make some headway with the Still Friends pledge pins.
Some good progress before our pals Tom and Helen arrive with Tom’s folks Leen and Willie. We’re recording Willie singing Travel These Ways – which he sang beautifully at Tom and Helen’s wedding last month.
We have fun in the studio and a nice afternoon chatting before they head off and I get back to the pin making.
In the evening we wander along to Betty’s for dinner – she’s got Greta, Karen and Rachel staying. Karen’s brought her guitar – a rather nice USA Fender strat – to see if I can fix it…no signal/sound…and it’s not been out its case for about 35 years! I bring it home to investigate in the morning.
