The Throne of Blood

Bliss [1999] had a strange evolution. Samples were stripped from a Roland dance module (an 808, I think) and the Sirens started to create using the rhythm patterns. Once they were happy they let the guitarist loose. As usual the one-take wonder ran amok. Makes for an interesting listen.

Montevideo Bllues [1999] was a jam, again with mad Santana-meets-Zappa guitar. What were they smoking?

BVB always had a plan. Always knew what they were going to get from a session. The attention to detail is scary. Blistering lead guitar shreds the demo of Cities Of Gold & Steel [1999]. The eastern-flavoured Hanging Gardens [1999] was heavily-sequenced. I distinctly remember having to use the pencil-tool in Cubase to write the sampled flute parts. Nicotine Rush[1999] has backward guitars and strange whistling. Cool. The main riff at the end has just turned up on an Alice Cooper track [2020]. Even cooler. Great minds.

Next up a light-hearted distraction. The youngest-ever recording artiste?

 A very short cover of ‘Sorrow’ [1999] was caught on 8-track at this time. Renamed ‘Grief’ it lasts about 30 seconds. A cover of ‘The Visit’ [1999] was also done very quickly to test some condenser microphones.

A fantastic version of ‘Three Kingdoms’ [1999] finally appeared, alongside most of ‘Moving On.’ [1999] They were fitting monuments to the last days of the bedroom studio setup. It was becoming very tight in that room with all the new gear arriving!

It was at these sessions when ‘Mental Excavation’ [1999] originated. A sample had been lifted from an album by the New Jazz Aliens, an odd-timed drum pattern. It was looped and should not have worked at all. But some blistering lead was put over the top of it and forgotten. Its working-title was ‘Overdose.’ Nice. Alternate takes were definitely completed where it’s known as ‘The Throne Of Blood.’ Neat.

About 20 years later the tracks were discovered on CDs which had been archived from Cubase Audio. The guitars were duly separated and reorganised and a bass line was added to fill the aural vacuum. You can hear the result in the project section Halo of Trout: Stroke My Poodle. Could be the longest-ever gestation for a track.

There’s a good chance that some of these treasures will be revamped and turn up in future projects!

At the Xmas period a joke track was produced privately for the drummer of the above sample. It was called ‘Mrs Pearl.’ [BOP 2000] Enough said.