From the start
I've never written a blog before, or really taken much notice when i've read one, so i'm not even sure that 'blog' starts with a capital letter, but i guess it should... Let's give it one.
'Blog'... yeah... ok.
And i will be using 'i' instead of 'I' as i know it unnecessarily annoys people... ;)
Commas and Full stops (Punctuation in general) have the right to make their own decisions...
I've been reliably informed that your first blog is always rubbish, so 'sorry' in advance.
Hello, welcome to this the first Empire of the Ants 'Blog'.
Just as a start, Empire of the Ants will be referred to as EOTA in all future posting as i am constantly typing it incorrectly, thus saving fingers, frustration, and time, that being said, it is of course a great name, though not to be confused with the epic B-Movie 'starring' one Joan Collins, that predominates the Search Engine results, and is the bane for someone trying to get noticed.
EOTA started in 2013, from an online conversation regarding the mutual appreciation that one Jody Fiteni and myself had for each others music. At this point Jody was unaware of who i was and how our pasts were entwined. More on this can be found out by watching our interview with the lovely Michael Bugeja here:
A great interview, love watching this, all the way up to the point where i start talking.
It will be noted that Jody does not at all waffle in his answers, straight to the point... like an arrow. ;)
I can say that, i am the editor...
For those of you who also couldn't get past the point i started talking, or scrolled down the page, I am sure i will elaborate at some point about how our entwined history evolved.
How we got started was a simple, '...send me a track, and we'll see how it goes...' type email.
So the first track I sent Jody turned into what is still my favourite EOTA song, whether this is sentimentality or because it took so long to produce, strange because while i worked on it i was never completely happy with it, i knew it had to be right, a lot, to me, hinged on this working. So after a great deal of putting things in and taking stuff out, ghost tracks, eerie guitar... i finally sent Jody what became the final mix, and of course he loved it... at that point, so did i.
How people react to a song is one of the most important things for a musician, certainly for me, the immediacy of today's world is something of a boon or bust, you upload, post that it is there... and wait... trying not to think that this is most important event in the world... of course soon enough you become all too aware that really it isn't, as the views and likes trickle in... and then it's over, the post was yesterdays news.
I digress, though i am sure i shall re-visit this.
After working endlessly on a track i often feel i don't really wish to listen to it again for sometime, this was not and is still not the case with 'While We Sleep' i am very proud of it.
Its sensitive tender inspired lyrics and filmic big sound seemed to evolve together in such a very harmonious and fluid way. Listening to it now makes me long to be more round the corner from, rather than what is really a long distance relationship, but it also makes me smile that all this was inspired from an initial simple delayed piano chord.
It was waiting to be created.
And it cemented a collaboration and friendship that is still fertile today.
I think we both learnt a lot from this track, mostly realising that it was indeed possible to create and record from 2000 miles apart. That we both had very similar ideals, and ideas but were beautifully surprised and inspired by what one another could come up with, and how these sparks ignited new life into the tracks, musically and artistically...
So i think we will call an end to this being my first 'Blog' but sufficed to say that more on this and more on how our history weaved and entwined like so much patchwork may well be in the next blog, unless of course i get subverted and decide to tell you how bad i think the music industry is...
We shall see...
In the meantime thank you for your time ;).
Peace and Light
Tin
