I built a recording studio!
Around a year ago, Mrs A and I moved into a coastal village to the west of Swansea. We bought our house directly from a builder and in the contract to purchase was a requirement to build a timber frame outbuilding for me to build my own space for recording and mixing.
The outbuilding prior to cladding, tiling and drainage being fitted
View from the inside March 2025
I chose to do all the internal work myself. This blog post is a journal of how I did it, and what I learnt from the experience.
I had been dreaming of creating my own creative space separate to our home for many years and as Sarah will testify, producing music inside the family home throws up many problems: Stolen bedrooms or dining rooms, late night mixing on headphones and never having enough room to record things properly, to name a few.
A separate creative space has very few drawbacks. The only obstacles being planning laws and being able to afford it. After a decade of saving I finally took the plunge.
To begin with, I had to ‘insulate’ the building not just for the obvious need to save on energy, but also to ensure that any noise made inside the studio was not going to be a nuisance for my neighbours. It would also help isolate the inside of the studio from external noise as well.
The rockwool arrives….
So with my trusty handsaw I cut and fitted slabs of rock-wool to construct a 150mm deep layer between the joists. In this image you can see a mountain of black bags containing off-cuts of this rock-wool material . I would use these left-overs to build bass traps in the final stages of the build which saved a lot of money. Also you might notice the small blocks of wood in the eaves. This helped an amateur like me make sure the foil backed polystyrene sheets (often known as cellotex) fit snuggly against the roof whilst still leaving an air gap to the roof lining.
In July 2025, the final external construction was completed. An ‘off and on’ cladding that would eventually be a theme inside the studio as well.
The scaffold tower proved very useful to me and thankfully the builder didn’t need it for a couple of months whilst I carried out the internal fit.
The top layer of the roof void was filled with 50mm foil backed polystyrene panels. These are the best solution for insulation from heat and cold, but are not the best for sound proofing so…
… another 100mm layer of rock-wool slabs were laid underneath
With the insulation complete, the next stage was to put up the drywall / plasterboard.
To contain the sound within the building, I had two options, build a first wall and then another stud frame within that wall, or…… attach drywall to the timber but isolate vibrations from the studs with specialist construction methods. I chose the second option because primarily I wanted to have a larger soundspace and a second floating internal wall/ceiling would have stolen too much floorspace.
And here was the solution. In the above photo you can see clips that act like acoustic ‘buffers’ into which you clip these long, flat bars of aluminium (known as ‘furring bars’). Drywall is then attached to the furring bars, so any sound energy is dampened by the clips. They were remarkably quick to fix, and despite my reservations, they are more than capable of supporting huge loads both on the walls and also from the ceiling.
The first two panels of drywall are attached. This was just the first layer and each plasterboard is a specialist high density acoustic drywall, 15mm thick. Each panel weighs 45kg so when I could get help moving them into place, I did, but in the main I did most of the drywall fit on my own. My back has still not forgiven me.
The next layer is known as ‘mass loaded vinyl’ with adhesive backing. It’s a rubber plastic sheet that is very effective in dampening sound waves. This stuff is a real bugger to attach and I recommend a top quality Stanley knife, plenty of replacement blades, a metal T-Square 1m ruler and if you have the space and manpower to do it, attaching the material to the plasterboard before you mount it, however that will mean a full board will weigh in at 80+kg so I when I was installing it on my own, I had to cut the MLV into manageable sized sheets and accept the inaccuracies of sticking it down.
The trickiest part was always going to be the ceiling. To build it I had to purchase a plasterboard hoist. The ones you can rent stretch to just over 3m. My ceiling was higher than that. So I had to buy one that went up to 5m.
Alfie my son, came for a weekend to help me finish the second layer of drywall (with the Mass Loaded Vinyl already stuck on)
Putting up the drywall on a sloped ceiling required a bit of improvisation. We had to wedge a block of wood in the joint of the mechanism to keep it at an angle before attaching it to the ceiling. It worked despite it being a crude method to achieve it.
So the walls were built. I had also added a double door airlock and put in 2 more windows making the number of glass panes 4. I wanted natural light, but a single unit is probably the weakest point of a soundproofing project. I also had to think about other weak spots. The joint between wall and sloped ceiling was quite problematic….
Once again I had to adapt to the dimensions of the building. Plasterboard is cut in 2.4m lengths. The height to the ceiling was 2.50m. In the end this feature of design ended up being something the plasterer adapted to, quite creatively…
He ended up fashioning that corner of the building into a curved design. The only drawback being that the plaster was so deep there, it took a couple of weeks to dry fully.
The first wash of 50% paint/water on the recently dried plaster with a hardworking dehumidifier in the corner.
Phil my electrician came back to finish the electrics. As you can see I went for quite a crude way of fitting the plug sockets. I chose to wall mount them purely to keep the means of sound escaping, to a minimum. As soon as you cut into walls to mount plug sockets flush, you undo much of the hard work of the soundproofing.
This, if you’re not a dedicated audiophile, is a half finished bass trap. Basically the corners of buildings tend to be the focal point for sub bass that emanates from the corners. As you can see it looks very much like a pork loin. But instead of pig meat I have used rock wool off cuts from earlier in the project. These ended up being about 50cm deep to the corner and because of the way I used string to secure the rock wool, I packed them very tight. According to my PhD Physicist son, Alfie, this should do a decent job of taming the low frequencies that were going to bounce around the studio.
A hard wearing carpet laid and a couple of bass traps. Things are getting close to finished!
The next part of the job is the acoustic treatment. Up until now, the construction had been about sound-proofing but now my attention turned to making the walls and the ceilings less reflective to sound. I didn’t want to completely deaden the character of the room but I didn’t want a boxy echo to recordings as well.
I came upon these mdf wall art panels online and modified them by stapling coloured felt material to the back.
I also mounted these acoustic panels that are sold everywhere online these days. I recommend a good jigsaw if you need to modify them in any way.
Ceiling reflections were treated by these panels, continuing the colour themes of the bass traps
Out came the storage shelves that had sat in the garage for a year. And a rug that seemed to fit the space perfectly. It would never look this tidy again.
The final part of the acoustic treatment chapter was a project I had pondered over for a couple of months. I had seen online some very expensive ceiling/wall panels made by specialist manufacturers, that both diffused sound and also looked very pretty. I couldn’t really afford what they were priced at, so I decided to make one myself. I bought 900 triangular blocks of wood from a dodgy Chinese website and a 1.2m x 1.2m sheet of plywood (9mm thick). I fished out all the half empty cans of paint from the garage and set about making my own.
Painting them individually was, to say the least, a boring process. But during that time I listened to every album by Radiohead from Pablo Honey to In Rainbows. I shall pick it up from The King of Limbs later this year I guess.
The finished panel was admittedly a little more vibrant than I anticipated but a static picture does not do it justice. As you move around it, its vibrancy changes. But if was to make another I would calm down a little on the colour, for sure.
The hooks were screwed deep into the ceiling and through the furring bars that were around 60mm behind the surface. I have learnt to love this artwork that doubles as a scatterer of sound!
So what did I learn from this project?
If I could do anything again it would be to get the air-conditioning unit pipework in place at the same time as the electrician does the initial wiring. The pipes to the outside are the only ‘holes’ for sound to escape through, that exist in the building.
I’d also recommend dimensions of 8m x 5m for a studio that includes a grand piano. My Bechstein uses a lot of floor and along with a drum kit, the remainder of a 5 piece is crammed in a little. But I didn’t have the luxury of being able to build a studio that large unfortunately.
If you want to build a separate control room, maybe even more floor area would be needed. I myself want this to be a live room primarily. The tracking will have to be done with headphones and local knowledge, but again, such luxuries are things I wanted but could not have.
Apart from that, as long as you have time, I would highly recommend doing this type of project yourself and if you need any advice on how to achieve it, I would always be happy to give you my thoughts.
And here is the final image (for now). Taken just moments after I plugged it all in after a year of all my kit sitting in storage. There were gremlins. Yes the screen is enormous. But it was a second hand Samsung 4k TV that I think you’ll agree does wonders for working with a DAW! I don’t intend to do true colour Video so it’s a win.
I hope to have many a joyful moment in this room and building much of it with my own hands has been a brilliant experience for my soul. I am very aware of the privilege I have to be able to afford to do such a thing. I never intend to use this place commercially, but I hope to work more with musicians in the area over the next year or two, now I have place to write, perform and record in. Drum kit coming soon! Thanks for reading to the end.
Joe
New album!
New on Joe’s latest album
After a tough couple of years since my last LP, I am today announcing the forthcoming release of my next album - "TWO MAGPIE DAY".
It's got all the usual Joe Adhemar themes: Evaluation of the self, of my ego and introspective hints of my continual self sabotage, as well as my apposite political and philisophical stance on the hottest topics we currently endure.
It's safe to say this album is my most visceral and personal so far. A couple of the tracks were written a few years ago and at the time, were too painful to release. But I've bitten the bullet for this album and put them out there. This type of naked self-deprecation is admittedly, self indulgent. I can only apologise. I've had a real struggle with my mental health since lockdown. So many of us have. I just feel privileged enough right now to be able to convey those feelings cathartically through my music. Without this outlet I think I’d be broken.
I did promise myself I’d be very low-key when I released this. I’ve defeated the failing I had of needing widespread affirmation from strangers (just take a look at how many monthly listeners I have on Spotify to back that claim up). But I did send the album link in draft form to Bandcamp editorial and they have granted me the honour of a slot on their daily New and Notable in a fortnight. So it looks like a few more strangers than normal will get to hear my flayed persona exorcising their demons through what I think lyrically, is my best album yet.
The album will be out on Sunday 17th November followed by a listening party at 7pm on Monday 18th. If you follow me on BandCamp you will get the invite link in an email. I will have to hold my nose and announce it on Twitter. But I have the solace to know that one of the songs “Oxygen Tent” is my response to the destruction of that once powerful platform of community.
Hopefully see you soon.
Peace and Love,
Joe
PS. I have an Invisible Squirrel album coming out a few weeks later. Guest vocals by Lewca, Silvi and erm…me. It’s a banger!
Collaboration with Tom Brogan from Silver Haar Announced
SILVER HAAR / JOE ADHEMAR collaboration
It's been a while since I blogged about something!
I hope everything is ok out there and you are starting to feel a little more perky now the days are getting longer.
This is just a quick announcement about the new song that myself and Tom Brogan of Silver Haar have just produced. For those into Blue Nile, Aztec Camera and Deacon Blue, this new track will be very much to your taste. It's got that 80's power pop feel to it. A big space to be filled and hopefully we've captured that vibe together.
It will be released to the streams in April.
Joe’s 2022
Joe’s 2022
2022 has been a year where we have been slowly pulled back into what was 'normal' before Covid. I have seen quite a few new music champions call it a day after a couple of years of blogging, hosting radio shows or sharing playlists, as their lives got more complicated and time consuming. All I can say, for those who have hung up their boots, is thank you for helping us all be heard and enjoy things from here on as 'just' a listener!
Someone of particular note was Andy Sharman who did a regular 3 hour show under the title "Keep Yourself Nice" - He had such a melifluous voice and his shows had a consistent theme of sincere support for the artists he played. I never grew tired of Andy's GIF he regularly responded with on Twitter, of a hurtling anime character embracing with full force someone very much in need of a hug.
So, what sort of 2022 did I have? If I was to sum it up in one sentence, it would be this.
I think I got rid of my Imposter Syndrome.
2021 was such an enjoyably creative year that was rounded off right at the end with being able to produce the MindAid-2021 cover of the famous Band Aid track. But deep within me was a nagging sense of biting off more than I could chew. Watching a notable big screen actor like Robert Carlisle introduce our project that raised a superb amount of money for the charity “Tiny Changes” (set up as a legacy in memory of Scott John Hutchison, the troubled singer/songwriter of Scottish band, ‘Frightened Rabbit’) was quite a shock for someone who had learnt to be quite comfortable in my anonymity throughout 2021
Jordan (of Arcade State) rallied the troops and I was left to piece together over 25 vocal contributions into one track.
I reference the charity single from the end of 2021 because it ties in very much with a lot of what has occurred in 2022. I can remember sitting down with one of the vocal contributions by a young singer songwriter going by the name of SILVI. I was floored by it, tbh. Over the course of 2022, I have had many a lovely conversation with Jodi and as one of many passionate fans of her music, it has been a real highlight to get to know Jodi as a friend. Jods will smash it in 2023 as her audience grows every day.
The same too for Tom Brogan, lead singer of SILVER HAAR who I have high hopes for as they unleash themselves on West Midlothian and beyond with their solid tunes and a beautiful soup of jangle guitar anthems. We collaborated on a track that was well received called ‘Mountains’ in January 22 which was one of my most streamed releases of the year.
2022 was a lot about my role as a remixer and producer. I managed to collaborate with quite a few bands / artists throughout the year. Here’s a selection of them below.
DISTANT IMAGES - Echoes (Remix)
THE RAHS - Our Design (Invisible Squirrel Remix)
LEWCA / INVISIBLE SQUIRREL - Balls Out (Co-written)
JOE PEACOCK - Trace (Invisible Squirrel remix)
MIKEY J - Chasing Seagulls (Co-written)
MANTRA RAY - Forever your pleasure (Invisible Squirrel Remix)
LEIGH THOMAS - Find my way (Hammond session)
BUSHROD + SMITH - Time is up (Remix)
There are a few more in the pipeline for Voldo and Shawn ‘ChuckStar85’ Charlton and another, yet to be confirmed, with one of the brightest stars in our unsigned world. I left out the one I did for Fin Hatton which tbh was not my finest hour. One of the occasions where I failed the artist in realising a song. Took 3 hours when I should have taken 3 days. I am always learning which is one of the main reasons that keeps me toiling. Improvement through experience. Even the negative ones.
Speaking of the negative, the toughest thing (in music) to occur to me during 2022 started off around June, when an artist, who shall remain nameless, asked if I could attend as a producer for a session in London at very short notice. With only 2 days to spare I unfortunately could not make it, but tentatively agreed to do a remix of their most popular song. I did a bit of research and saw they had an astounding number of monthly listeners on Spotify (30,000). With this in mind, it seemed a fair exchange for me to do the remix free of charge on account that a ‘remix tag’ on the stream platforms would give me an enormous amount of exposure to their 30k+ listeners.
I remixed their song and it came out a few weeks later. I’d like to think it was one of my better efforts. To date this track has had less than 1000 streams in 6 months. Later on, at the beginning of Autumn, I posted a tweet that caused a minor stir in the New Music Twitter community. The remix and this tweet, to my complete surprise, collided. Tweet below. It is worth reading to understand the next part of this story.
With hindsight, I appreciate the he-shall-remain-nameless artist took the gist of my tweet quite personally, even though that was not the intention. I had, up to that point, never ‘outed’ them for being so excessive with their dodgy boosting of their listener statistics. I was just speaking about a significant number of artists out there, doing it. He just happened to be one of the most prolific at this sort of thing. I could quote you Carly Simon lyrics right now, but I guess you get the drift.
What happened next was the negative. The guy started trolling me. Hard. First of all he kept popping up on some significantly important tweets by/to me. The saddest one by BandCamp featuring my new album in July. What I would metaphorically describe as taking a shit in my celebratory punch bowl. He would always use an annonymous Twitter account for these things, but the annonymity was poorly camouflaged and from a couple of exchanges they duly revealed themselves (by using almost identically critical comments about Artwork using Artificial Intelligence as the strongest clue)
When he realised that I had worked out their identity he went ‘all in’ on the trolling. They had screenshotted a discussion I had held with them earlier that year (about another artist) and the words I used were very poorly thought through. What I said was wrong but in private. The troll responded to a tweet by the guy and there it was: Mean words said by me, that were based on half-truths, common links (our troll had done the same sort of thing to them) and my idiocy.
It went on for a couple of weeks. Got messy. Then, one day I guess I woke up without the anger that this guy wanted back from me. I had spoken to the innocent party who had to deal with reading the screenshot. He’s a kind soul and at the very least has accepted my apology. The best thing to come out of it was I wrote a dark gothic song to express myself over the whole thing. It will be appearing on the next album and I think it’s a godamn banger.
Are you still reading? Wow. You are AMAZING. Really. I’d have given up by now.
What about my own tunes?
Now we’re talking! I released 4 albums in 2022. Yep 4. Ridiculous I know. But I had a bit of a backlog with both artist profiles. Under Joe Adhemar I brought out Existential Dreadlocks in February. It’s an album one or two out there have a real affection for. Me too.
About The Soul came out in July. As I alluded to in the sorry troll story above, this album had a particularly lovely thing happen to it. I pitched it to the BandCamp editorial team. They apparently receive 1000+ uploads every day, so the odds felt very slim. I learnt 3 days later (via email) from the Director of Editorial that I had been chosen. This is still for me, the most important achievement so far in my musical career. And for 2 days on the 18th July, anyone who logged into BandCamp would have seen my album in the New and Notable section. Sales and ‘reach’ of this album were obviously a lot better than previous works. I have enjoyed regular soothing ‘pings’ as the BandCamp app on my phone notifies me of another sale. I need to sell around 30 more vinyl albums to break even. So even with a BandCamp feature it’s really hard to make money from this mullarkey. One of the tracks, ‘Put it all back’ got played on Tom Robinson’s BBC Introducing Mixtape on BBC 6 (19th December) so if you’re quick you can still catch it on BBC Sounds. Check out the album below.
Under my Invisible Squirrel profile I released Sonder that is quite a mix of dance genres. Funk, Electro, Breakbeat and Trance. The title track was picked by the Fresh on The Net team this summer. So it’s had it’s moments as an LP. Invisible Squirrel was created to not really care too much about image. Just write what I like and make you all bop.
I mentioned earlier the BandCamp feature for ‘About The Soul’?
Well….In August, you wouldn’t bloody believe this, but my album / mixtape ‘Chief and McMurphy’ got picked too! It was a totally new song-writing concept for me. I write a tune. Then I delete 90% of the elements in the track, keep a couple of key sounds and use the same BPM and then start again in a new direction. At the end of this process (around 6 months for this album), I have a bunch of tracks that have similar beginnings and endings. Mix them together and what you get is a mix-tape with an extra dimension. And for that reason, I hope, the musicality of those cross fades caught the attention of the BandCamp review team. Of all the things on this blog/end of year review I’d like you to listen to, it’s probably this. I have 2 more ready for release and I think they are stronger than this one. Yeah I know, we always say that don’t we?
So to round off my self indulgent / congratulatory end of year thinkpiece, I must say a few thank you’s. Thanks to my wife, Sarah and kids Alfie and Lucy and all my friends who are too long to list here. Thanks to Midge Phillips for the artwork. Thanks to everyone who bought the albums. Thanks to John Michie for having a dabble at promo for the About The Soul single. Thanks to Moby Tanner and Danny Milner who have to spread themselves thin with a lot of artists, but always seem to find sufficient dollops of banter to keep me occupied. Thanks to everyone who used me as a producer / remixer. And thanks to anyone involved in New Music who helps keep this part of Twitter, on the whole, a kind place to be.
My next album will be out sometime in the first few months of 2023 that will blow your socks off as it includes the excellent guitar of Jim Sanger. Have a great Christmas and New Year and stay warm as you can.
About The Soul - Album Vinyl has arrived!
ABOUT THE SOUL - Vinyl has arrived!
The vinyl has arrived, the lyric sheet has been printed (Thank you Midge for your beautiful design!)
To purchase it just head over to BandCamp.
If you purchased the digital version or CD, you can now get a discount of £5 if you fancy upgrading.
The next 'BandCamp Friday' is Nov 4th so if not for me, get yourself over there and spread some love.
For all of those who have already bought it: It was posted today! Thank you for your support.
The Best UK Bloggers and Playlisters
In a UK Band? Feeling unheard? This list will help
Unheard and don’t know how to get your music out there? Here is my own list of bloggers and playlisters who might be into your tunes. There are plenty of others so if you want to be added or you can suggest others, please contact me via Twitter and I’ll add them
BBC Introducing by @bbcintroducing
Purple Macaron Playlist by @MacaronPurpl
Keep Yourself Nice Playlist by @KYN_POD
Cool Top20 Weekly Chart and Blog by @CoolTop20
Rebirth of Cool by @MobyTanner
Old Indie Kid Blog by @OldIndieKid1
Old Indie Kid 2022 Playlist by @OldIndieKid1
In Your Ears New Releases by @InYourEarsMusic
Slacker Shack Blog by @Slacker_Shack
Unheard Indie Podcasts/Playlists by @UnheardIndie
Top of The Radar Show Podcast by @TopOfTheRadar
The Bucket Playlist Blog by @PlaylistBucket
Pen Hits Paper Blog / Playlister by @PenHitsPaper
New Indie Sounds Playlist by @NewIndieSounds
Backseat Mafia Blog by @BackseatMafia
To Indie and Beyond Playlist by @WhatRickySaid
Fantastival Podcast by @FantastivalP
Indie Disco Show by @IndieRob9
Platinum Mind Blog by @PlatinumMind
Robert Carlyle Tweets every Saturday @RobertCarlyle_
Billy Brown Indie on Mixcloud by @BillyBrownSongs
Jarhead Emo Playlist by @JoeAdhemar
Listen Up Music Podcast by @ListenUpMusic_
Mangowave Blog by @djangoralph
Brits & Pieces Compliations by @BritsPieces
Peter Greenwood Show by @PetGreShow
2021 Thank You’s
Shout out to the Coastguards
It's been an interesting New Year for me. My Electronica 'not-trying-to-give-a-fuck-or-at-the-very-least-pretending-to' alter ego, Invisible Squirrel had the temerity to release his first album on the 1st January. Some may say it was a cynical attempt to get one of his/my tracks first dibs on yearly playlists by people like Old Indie Kid etc and those people would be spot on. You're cynical but very astute too. Although the Indie behemoths, The Heavy North did it too, so if you've got a gripe with that, you can tell that hairy bunch you're not impressed with such mercenary behaviour as well ;-) and there's 5 of them and they all look like they could be very handy in an arm wrestling competition.
Out of the New-Music ether came a wonderful review of 'Sonder' by Mr Moby Tanner. The new director(?) of operations of In Your Ears Music (To be honest everyone at IYEM is a team player but Moby is probably right now taking up a bit of slack by the stalwarts Lewis + Dan who've been hard at it since early 2020) I might have to get him a special plaque for his desk/battle station/studio for what he wrote, as he has penned a pretty enthusiastic piece on this 12 song release. Rather than me explain what he wrote, I urge you to have a gander at his marvellously worded blog.
https://therebirthofcool.news.blog/2022/01/03/invisible-squirrel-sonder-album-review/
Whilst we're on the subject of Playlists by Mr Old Indie Kid, or as I know him, Danny 'Daft Pom' Milner, it is worth looking back at his 2021 playlist.
As someone called it, 'the sort of playlist you bury in the garden of Blue Peter'. A time capsule for the generation of New Music artists sharing their art throughout 2021. It reached the incredible tally of 2020 songs which, for the sake of any latent OCD sufferers, was one short of the perfect tally. If you get to read this Danny, I strongly suggest you go back and add one more track. To make the circle perfect. I look forward to in a decade, reading who exactly leapt out of the obscurity most of us inhabit, into at the very least, a brief period of 6 Music A-listing. My money's on either Dictator, Sky Diving Penguins or Novelty Island purely for the fact they comprehensively walk the walk and talk the talk with brilliant live performances backed up by stellar studio output. Danny's playlist below.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/50QsPU8tdNuLHvqpgQR9nj?si=78907f23eaba4168
Finally I want to pass on a massive thank you to Lean at cooltop20.com who does the reverse concept to Old Indie Kid of keeping a playlist small and introducing a small amount of competition to proceedings. She updates every Saturday her, you guessed, Top 20 of unsigned recordings. I had the honour for a few weeks of reaching the top spot with "Be My Coastguard" from my album 'Found Ourselves' which is ironically a lyric that describes the relationship New Music has with those that support it. Lean is one of those who has a massive speedboat and lots of life-jackets for people like me flailing about in the Ocean of streams. Obscurity is so much easier if you get the occasional spotlight cast upon your art by people like CoolTop20. Link to their site below to an interview I had with Lean late last year.
https://cooltop20.com/2021/11/19/in-the-spotlight-joe-adhemar/
So to the handful of people who subscribe to my blog, hello and Happy New Year. I have about 4 'producer' projects in the pipeline, one of which is a collaboration with Silver Haar which will be coming out on the 14th Jan called 'Mountains'. It's got a Scottish vibe to it: origins of Mogwai and Snow Patrol with Tom Brogan's stamp on it. Tom has brought on board Deliberator Records (hello Cammy!) who is a man who converts his passion into action with his new Record Company. The future looks bright for Silver Haar and I'm looking forward to working with this talented bunch of lads this year a LOT.
Finally as a non-gigging studio monkey my heart goes out to all the acts trying to gig and finding Omicron impediments put in their way. Stick with it people. I, like a lot of people, intend to watch live streams this year so plug those guitars in, hit live stream and get playing. The audience will be there when you emerge again. All you need is a matched pair, a decent laptop and a geeky cousin who can explain how to get a decent audio into the interweb. If you're gigging you should at least have a PA desk. A couple of overheads for the drummer and you can live stream a set, surely? Bring your audience along for the ermmm.... journey!
Sky Diving Penguins Album Review
Album preview
skydiving penguins.com
As someone fortunate enough to get a listen of Sky Diving Penguins' album coming out on Bandcamp on Dec 1st I thought I might tell you in words what your ears will be blessed with in a fortnight.
I Don’t Want, I Don’t Care
If you follow me on Twitter, you already know what I think of this track. I had this cranked up in my studio and it will always sound epic. Every detail in this track is sublime. Whatever that hypersonic reversed kazoo embellishment is in the breakdown, that sort of quirkiness is the sort of motif that makes albums like this a classic.
Seratonin
This is powerful. The dynamics and stops in this song are absolutely brilliant. Beck Hansen brilliant.
This is Breaking Me Apart
Beautiful and understated. The drop out back to a 'pock pock pock' sound at the end is genius. I guessed it was a ping pong ball with the transient wiped. I wanted a biscuit if I was right. I was wrong
Hating Waiting
This is beautiful. The Rickenbacker Liverpool-sound Bass and the Mellotron strings. Hat tips to Abbey Road are not so strong that a purist would frown at them. They are absolutely spot on. This, like ‘I Don’t Want, I Don’t Care’, is the sort of song writing that very few achieve. Genius if you don’t mind me saying. I hope the Penguins are very proud.
Run Boy
The hard panned stereo intro is superb. Really worked. Great lyric. I loved the female voice revealed at the end. It made me smile. This is a great pop song.
About One Hermit
This track is so well balanced. The intimate acoustic that just explodes into the choruses. Then the cello and French horn begin their duel in a similar way to ‘I don’t want..’ - I welcomed that in to my heart with joy. This would make a 6 music A list in a heartbeat if you found the person to get it on there. Bravo.
All Goes Back in the Box in the End
So I’ve got this blasting out of a pair of decent studio monitors and the sub bass on that flappy kick sounds lush. The whole room shook in a good way. I’m hoping that the average Bluetooth speaker or car stereo manages such transparency too.
Depressed of Bored
Loved this. The slide solo was a particular highlight.
Headache Will Cause Migranes
Totally get how the sound of the muffled acoustic is the throb motif. This is an excellent track. Pavement. Mogwai. Husker Dü ?
Trippin
Another great track. It trips. Great mix. The only song where I was found wanting. I wanted them to go on for another few minutes and totally rock out.
Go get the album when it comes out. It's brilliant.
Fires release date 26th Nov
Joe Adhemar - Fires coming soon
Click on the Image to PreSave on Spotify
Image by IMOGEN PHILLIPS
This is my favourite track off the album. There was nothing too complicated about it: Me noodling with my Fender. The minor chord that appears half way through was originally an accident.
I'm not a guitarist.
And from that lack of skill comes the accidents that make melodic sense. As for the outro. This is what happens when someone who doesn't know how to use an eBow uses an Ebow. I think there's 4 of them going on by the end. You can have a listen on BandCamp where the whole album is there. Or presave by clicking on Imogen Phillips wonderful artwork above.
"Off and On" came out on streams today (29th October 2021). Maybe check that out too?
Singing live and it’s frightening
This weekend I noticed a tweet from a popular internet radio station that champions unsigned Indie music. They are called 'InYourEars Radio'
It mentioned it had been asking it's favourite bands to contribute to a whole day of 'live acoustic sets'.
Let me get this straight: I don't expect an invite from these guys.
They like loud, raucous, original and energetic bands. Not just the one 50 year old guy doing everything by himself in a studio. A left wing Mike Oldfield with shit hair, so to speak. I cannot expect excitement from people who like pogo-ing at an IDLES gig.
So, I took a gulp and replied to their tweet, to ask 'Does a bloke singing at a piano count?' They, quite charitably, said yes. I had to be careful about how I did it. I thought why not try for an Iggy Pop doing 'Perfect Day' vibe? - Then and only then, I might get a slot. Nothing fancy. Anyway this is one of the songs of mine that I sat down and recorded live. Warts and warbles included. Lockdown hair was looking mighty fiiine too if I may add. I'm thinking Bamber Gascgoine 1998, with a small amount of muddy Boris too
Muddy Boris: Sounds like a fish in Bermuda or something on Urban Dictionary.
Righto, my tiny army of RSS feeders. The train of thought ends now. I hope you enjoyed the video above. Here is one below too, which I also recommend that you read the YouTube video description about. It's a cool story in which I feature as a supporting role.
A story about a new guy trying to promote himself
Don't click on the link to Spotify until you read this.
When I put out my first album I was an innocent newbie. Unsure about what to do to promote my new album. I chose on just the one occasion to pay $12 for an album review. A company called AnRFactory. A guy called Jim Esposito wrote some nice words about it, spelled my name wrong (standard) and I thought ‘That was nice. He thinks I sound like Depeche Mode’ - To this day his companies SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) must be very good because when you put ‘Joe Adhemar’ into Google, his article is 6th on the search.
Still with me? Good.
So, I followed Esposito for a week or so. His reviews came in thick and fast. Always very positive. I would click on them and usually it would be to my ears, often mediocre. He was a generous soul, our Jim. But one day he said some very nice things about a track by a lady known as ‘Alila Pop’. Hesitantly I clicked on the link and this tune (link below) came out of my headphones. There is a moral to this story. No matter how tempting it is to try and promote your art, the moment you pay someone to review it you're not going to get an honest account. Or maybe there is a genius to Alila that I am missing. You decide. By listening to the link below.
Remember: There are 40,000 new tracks added to Spotify EVERY DAY
Thoughts on a new EP
Hello to you all.
During the infancy of a blog, I guess the best way of describing this process is that I am 'shouting into the void'. Such an overused phrase but how about you think of something better? The best I could come up with was 'quietly grumbling in the middle of a forest'. See? It's not easy creating metaphors once you're sat at a keyboard, is it?
So what is today's thought?
It's two things.
- The first thought is about the name I chose to release my music under. Having been called Joe Adhemar since I first emerged from my mother in 1971, it is not a leap of imagination to work out that my music released under the name of Joe Adhemar did not take too long to come up with. It is not a deceased Chilean Civil Rights Activist or a type of Gecko found in Namibia.
So what the f___ am I on about?
It's this...
In the music world I want to inhabit you do not release music under your own name unless you're called Jonny Metalhead or Buck Thunderpants. Scratch that. Buck Thunderpants is a shit artist name. A few have managed it. But on the whole, the artists of Indie and Alternative music need a mystique and I hate to say it, a brand. Using your own name is very POP. Very X-Factor.
So if I could just put this on record now. I regret putting my stuff out there under my name. But it's too late now. It's out there. My first album was a bucket list ego squirt during the first few months of lockdown 2020, when I suddenly had time to transform 15 years of bedroom demo's into a realeasable format after getting my shit together as a recording engineer (Still many miles to go!)
- The second thing is this. I want to release something that's more pop than grrrr. Less politics, more love. So I have been tinkering away for the last few weeks trying to write or remix some of the more feel-good tracks. And I think I'm close to releasing an EP. I will call it 'Unashamed Pop EP'. Becuase it will contain, you guessed it, unashamed Pop. Think Squeeze, Blondie, Texas. That sort of thing. Foot tapping, pentatonic, predictably chorded sing-a-longs.
Wherever you may be. No matter how tough it is for you, take the greatest care of yourself. And if there is no one around to give you a bit of support then connect with me by writing something highly sarcastic in the comments section and we can chat shit over very little for as long as is necessary.
I do not have a persona. I am this idiotic in real life.
Lyrics to new album ‘Found Ourselves’
Lyrics to new album ‘Found Ourselves’
Be my Coastguard
It’s getting busy and I’m staring at the sea
An ocean full of promise that means a lot to me
They said that they would listen I’d be smothered by the throng
True enough it happened in the silence of this song
I’m entering this ocean and the dot you see is me
Am I waving as I fade into the sea?
All they could teach me was exactly how to drown
And the cruelest aspect is they can’t hear my sound
Skip the playlist and love the things you lack
Learn to know the artist, don’t blindly follow back
You’re the fade out and I’m the sudden end
If you be my coastguard then I will be your friend
You can see me waving from the edges of the sea
If I could keep on floating I could learn to shelter me
You’re getting smaller every time I stare
I feel these waves and I’m learning not to care about you
The Trip
It’s 4:18 in the morning and the first smile has arrived
As I light my first cigarette - The only one I need
The coffee is Italian and it’s bitter as betrayal
And the froth’s as white as seagulls that are standing in the hail
I’m going on a journey - I’m free within my car
I’m playing Death Cab For Cutie and I’m travelling so far
And the tempo makes me faster in the slow lane of my life
And the sun still makes me dizzy as I drive away from me
Blindfold the sun and our laughter’s on the run
From emotion hidden well from those who fear to think themselves
Mindful the one who gives without asking for the truth we belong to
We are coloured through our spirit selves
Found Ourselves
Turns out this was the last day we could see
I’m in need of some mortal strategy
Gonna sit out on this crumbling balcony
And stare towards the waves
We could walk yet another hundred miles
Just to find another one of those unforced smiles
That would make it thoroughly worthwhile to find the hope
They’ve been teaching us to want
So that time is always lost
We’ve been learning how to find it
And not caring about the cost
All the stable introverts with the brains that smell the dirt
Writing songs that like to flirt with all the haters
They’ve been teaching us to want
So that time is always gone
We’ve been learning how to find it
And not caring about the cost
We could give it all away
If it showed the way to love
We know a day ain’t wasted
We might have lost the summer but at least we found ourselves
Mother’s Domain
Another question from the boy
He is inquisitive yet knowing
And she shelters his tiny soul
She knows there’ll be a broken heart
And fear may break his longest stride
She’ll do her best to nurture anything called courage
She might try to hide him in the rushes
When her embrace doesn’t seem quite enough
We are restrained
Try to contain
Sheltered from pain
This mother’s domain
From where he came - It feels the shame - Keeping her sane - This mother’s domain
He’s kicking little pebbles along his Brighton Beach
Oblivious to sorrow and joyous to the now
The point of being present so natural and devout
Is a boy who knows no weapons
And she’s singing him to manhood
She’s is showing him a type of man who’s naturally curious
Who can channel him to kind
She just knows it’s third time lucky bring a child it’s inner peace
This time it feels so natural with a boy who knows no weapons
Gaia
Here we are so contained as she will drift away
Open space as we embrace what we thought she’d lost
Watch the nature. Watch the fuss
This all seems so irrelevant to us
All these dots that fuse and spin
Hoping for a silence whilst the chaos seems to win
Hoping she still loves us. Hoping she still cares for us
You’re feeling safe without a signal
Now there’s nothing more
Hold the branches towards your body
Feel them in your arms
This is Gaia she feels unsteady
She is asking to be alone
This is Gaia she is not ready to die upon this throne
This Chaos
Your regression to the mean your bias and your leaning
To support the hidden meaning
Whilst we fade to the final scene with our spectacles made of rose
These spectacles and shows
When everyone knows pretty well what’s pushed out from this citadel
Is a message without feeling
I keep wanting to tear the pages
I get ridiculed for my rages
Our views have no redeeming features
I guess these creatures must meet us upon a chosen hill yes they will
Have the will to find the treasure in our hearts
Will the soul be taking part? Is the soul afraid to start?
Their flags are on the stage with shirts of fearful slogans
They’re triggered can’t you tell?
They scaled the hallowed walls but they cower in the basement
This history will never sell
I guess these creatures must meet us upon a chosen hill yes they will
Have the will to find the treasure in our hearts
Will the soul be taking part? Is the soul afraid to start?
It’s 1933 again and the boots are on the ground
The simple men are coming we can hear their angry sound
The sound of their angry whining (they got guns for your complaint)
They claim it’s about their freedom but dark is their intent
They whipped you to a frenzy they whipped you up real good
And moulded all your tiny minds to think they stole from you
I know that nothing’s perfect but you think we’re less than you
The shrinking of your privilege when equality steals from you
He hides inside his White House with his sycophantic men
Choosing hate instead of love to enrage compliant men
I’m not sure how we’re going to soothe these stinging wounds
Keep trying to be kind
Your Phone Does Not Love You
Give me love Give me Love NOW
Tendrils
This language is designed - It zooms through the ether
And no time for the earnest kind
It is guilty and we are lost
The deck of this cruise ship is glinting in the frost
These glimpses of their gamma rays
Their Rome is collapsing from the anger of the slaves
Floating villages avoid the throng
This quartet of commoners just get told to play the song
We’re the snowflakes in the sand that have melted by your hand
Coliseums start to fall these sorry Romans that own it all
We’re the snowflakes avert your gaze
We have melted in your haze
Your Rome is falling into the sand
We’re the tendrils from the land
They’re shuddering in their getaways
The Rome that’s collapsing from the anger of the slaves
The avoidance of all the doubt
Whilst their money lies idle in a vault we’ll empty out
Mr Gaslight
Her mind a graveyard let’s pay a visit
To touch the granite to make it real
The flowers are wilted within her memory
A force of habit that she can’t heal
So hear the image of pathetic rage
He calls at midnight and storms the stage
The door is bolted from outside
He wants her zeroed and terrified
The fist-shaped holes in walls she’s a thousand yard stare now
Mr Gaslight runs the show but she will learn to run one day
She will find herself standing on her own
Without this demon sucking on her soul
She feels the panic setting in
The reddened skin upon her wrists
The skinless knuckles and tightened fists
An unholy monster with bloodied shin
Conceal with makeup the tears she hides
Force the smile - Her brave face on
Worried friends sensing something
Sense the fray (but not quite yet)
The fist-shaped holes in walls and his pleading midnight calls
Mr Gaslight can make his claims but she will learn to run one day
She will find herself standing on her own
Without this demon sucking on her soul
She may feel there’s no escape but there is dear girl
Hold on for us
Those fist shaped holes in the walls and his pleading midnight calls
Mr Gaslight will make his claim but she will learn to run one day
Those fist shaped holes in walls
Muffled cries behind the doors
Mr Gaslight will meet his end
And she will learn to love again
She will learn to love again
Zul
If you ask him how he is the quickest one to answer
And he answers it with love: the natural thing to do
He’s got a champion smile and if he could know his power
And if the clouds could beckon him he’d only know his worth
There’s so many that miss him so many open doors
But he’s shackled to his loyalty on these Canadian shores
He’d run to the fire that burned within your soul
And he would hold his hand out for you
C’mon Zul don’t you go we’ve got time for another more
We’ve got cash and we’ve got time so grab yourself another wine
C’mon Zul it’s looking great there’s another bar in every state
So keep on smiling like you do - you’re the champion of being cool
Icarus
I was staring at the son and his light so bright it blinded
How this Icarus collided with adult world
With a life that’d just begun and my pride upon his sleeve
Things were so hard to believe could this be true?
This chaos is too hard to bear
Finding it hard to show that I care
Don’t you dare keep it all inside
This is not about duty, this all about your pride
This song is for the ones who fall
Sometimes the trauma that feels hard to bear
Will carry you forward to a place you can share
Look back at this chaos with eyes on a prize
You’ll learn to feel privileged whilst you learn to be wise
This chaos is too hard to bear
Finding it hard to show I care for you
Don’t you dare keep it all inside
This is not about duty, this all about your pride
This song is for the ones who fall
So the wax upon your wings melted by their sanctions
And their business-like reactions my dear Icarus
And the iron fist’s are gone so now Icarus can move on
And it’s time to say ‘So long’
This chaos is too hard to bear
Finding it hard to show I care
Don’t you dare keep it all inside
This is not about duty, this all about your pride
What you’re sensing, what you felt
Your fragile wings weren’t supposed to melt
As you watch them fade from view you should now what to do
Such bad timing that happened but they were thieving your oxygen
Stand up tall now you’ll make it through
Keep on shining the sky’s so blue
Keep on falling Keep on shining
Faded Grace
Faded Grace. The mirror can lie no more. These jaded faces staring back at us, etched and forlorn. We shadow box our virtue, knowing youth has run the line. Blame it on those sleepless nights whilst cornered by the advance of time. We all need sincerity to admit to the crime of wasting our youth in the passage of time. Let’s focus on beauty that is hidden within, so dish out the kindness (don’t spread it so thin)
Faded Grace I’ve come to love you so. Now youth’s escaped, you’re all I know. Faded Grace? There was a time we could do no harm . Our secret place of peace and un-fractured calm. We’re oblivious to rusted emotions and hearts that have dried in the wind. To be fond of the march towards older must relinquish the beauty that’s thin. We all need sincerity to admit to the crime of wasting our youth in the passage of time. Let’s focus on beauty that is hidden within, so dish out the kindness don’t spread it so thin Faded Grace. I’ve come to love you so. Now youth’s escaped you’re all I know. I must accept my fate and go with your flow. This faded grace I love you so, Faded Grace. Please hold me in your arms. Surrender to your embrace and I’ll love your stubborn charms.
Melancholy Words
This crowded prison : My broken mind
Make room for wisdom when they’re not kind
Should I feel open?
Palms to the sun?
If I should envision. Can this be done?
I feel things closing. We’re running scared
Blistered heels: we run towards the beauty to find that nothing’s shared
We all desire a lifetime of Sunday’s buried deep beneath the quilt of knowing
Please let us all sleep
They keep creeping in like a cold hand on the back
How I wish I was unknowing! The cracks are showing
These melancholy words keep on flowing…
Neowise
Time to open up the houses ‘cos the Coliseum is dead! They’ve dithered with your life again (forgotten what they said) Your herd is in the killing pen and they’re moving far away. Here is the proclamation: Rome will be burnt on this day.
I know that he is watching looking straight at us.
I can hear him sighing
He can’t hear your pain I know that he is watching
Looking straight at us
I can’t hear him sighing He can’t hear your pain