Self Tort
Self Tort
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New Collab with Carol Douglas


By selftort, 2008-09-10

Carol sent me the lyrics for a Two Grand Wager some time ago. Although the structure and the melody pretty much jumped off the lyric page at me it's taken a little while to get it all together.<br /><br />It's based on a true story, although Carol's subsequent research has revealed that the wager was only 800 pounds. But at the current conversion rate that pretty much equates to $2,000AU, and anyway Two grand" scans better than "eight hundred pound sterling".<br /><br />Not sure of the present mix. The violins, violas, cellos and accordions may be a little bit too far below the guitars, and I'm not convinced about some of my guitar work. So feel free to offer any suggestions for improvement.<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Brian

Radio Interview in 2.5 hours time


By selftort, 2008-08-13

Just letting you all know that I am to be interviewed <strong>this afternoon</strong> on a local radio station. The interview will start at 5pm Sydney time (which as best I can work out is 7am GMT/UTC or 3am EST - hmm maybe the odd night owl will be up).<br /><br />I will be taking some CDs of recently recorded material including some collabs with my friends on mixposure. I will try to get a few plugs in for the site.<br /><br />Unfortunately there is no chat room or forum on the station's site.<br /><br />The url for the site is <a href="http://www.skidrow.com.au/">http://www.skidrow.com.au/</a>&nbsp;and just click on the "Click Here To Connect" button to stream.<br /><br />Sorry for the late notice and my absence here of late but my mother passed away last week after a mercifully short illness. Mum had 93 great years and was mentally alert to the end. She was a great lady and will be sorely missed, but as she said a week or so before she died "I'd rather have had 93 wonderful years than drag on and have another 7 awful ones". <br /><br />Am getting back into the swing of things and hope to be on deck more next week.<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br /><br />Brian

Posted in: 2008 Blog 1 | 6 comments

Comfort Zone


By selftort, 2008-08-05

Gary Carciello, Doctor C and I have got a new track up that may have slipped through the cracks. I may be biased but I think it's pretty good.<br /><br />Gary came up with the backing track and asked Doc and I to add keyboards and lyrics/vocals respectively. On the first listen to the backing track I was hooked and it just got better with each version.<br /><br />This is our third collab and hopefully a full CD is not too far away. I'm certainly up for it if Gary and Doc are.<br /><br />The song is up on Gary's page. Here's the link<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mixposure.com/Gary_Carciello/music.php">http://www.mixposure.com/Gary_Carciello/music.php<br /></a><br /><br />Any assistance with the choice of a name for our collabs would be welcomed. Carciello Doctor C Self Tort is a bit longwinded. I toyed with "CRC" (Carciello Ralston Doctor C) as it was the name of a product that used to be available over here. It was a spray that you used to clear gunk from your distributor caps on cars or even get rust off guitar strings. But if anyone has any bright ideas let us know.<br /><br />I've been away with family issues of late but will be back hopefully in the next week or so.<br /><br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Brian

Posted in: 2008 Blog 1 | 5 comments

Some new posts


By selftort, 2008-07-22
Some new posts

<p>I've just posted another song from my debut CD "N.I.C". The track is called Get it Right This Time. It was written after I got home way too late from a gig.</p>
<p>I've also posted another video from a live performance I gave in Darling Harbour Sydney last November. The video is of my Paris Hilton Tribute (lol) "What's the Attraction.</p>
<p>And check out the photo of "The Butcher of Bosnia". I used to think it was bad being told I look like Kenny Rogers, but to have people calling me "Butcher" or "Bos" is a bit rich.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Posted in: 2008 Blog 1 | 2 comments

Hallelujah I got the SG back


By selftort, 2008-07-14
Hallelujah I got the SG back

<p>A number of site members (both here and at the old mixposure) have asked me about the white Gibson SG that appears in some of my photos. Each time it has been raised I have felt a trickle of tears run down my cheek.</p>
<p>I bought the guitar in 1973. In about 1975 after a particularly good gig, our bass player, who had drunk more than usual that night, tripped over the guitar causing it to crash to the ground and snapping it at the nut. The first attempted repair was a disaster. I think the guy just stuck it back on with Perkins Paste and it only lasted about a fortnight. Then&nbsp;I found a really good luthier who did a great repair job. It lasted from 1975 till a few years ago. Unfortunately the old case had disintegrated and the replacement I got for it was a bit tight. That wasn't normally a problem because being lazy I rarely put it into its case. But just before going on holidays some years ago I decided to put it in the case and when I came back from holidays it had snapped again.</p>
<p>I took it to a guitar shop and they sent it out to a luthier for repair. I needed to have a replacement and being unable to justify the purchase of another Gibson I got a good deal on a PRS which has served me well. After some months the luthier got back to me with a quote which seemed reasonable and I asked him to go ahead. Heard nothing. Had lost his number and couldn't remember his name.</p>
<p>As luck would have it I was looking for someone to give my acoustic a bit of a service and googled luthiers in Sydney. I saw a name that jogged my memory, and sure enough it was the guy who was repairing the Gibson. I emailed him and he rang to say he'd finished it years ago and it had been sitting in his workshop. He'd lost my contact details too.</p>
<p>So today I went and picked it up. He seems to have done a great job on it. It appears seemingly undetectable to my "failing eyes". Anyway, nice to have it home.</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>Brian</p>

Kids' Songs


By selftort, 2008-06-03
Kids' Songs

<p>I thought I'd upload a song I wrote when my kids were in Primary School. At the time I had the idea of a "Rock Opera" for kids but only got as far as three songs. The first one's "I Hate Homework" which is pretty much every kids' mantra. I posted under "Humour" only because I couldn't find a "Childrens" genre.</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>Brian</p>

Posted in: 2008 Blog 1 | 9 comments

Apologies for my absence


By selftort, 2008-06-02

<p>Sorry I haven't been around much of late. I've had a busy time at work for the last month and with my wife away overseas for the month I took a few extra acoustic gigs that I wouldn't normally do. But she's now back and I've just finished the last of my current workload and am going to give myself a couple of days off to catch up on what's been happening around here and return a few outstanding reviews</p>
<p>If anyone has something special they'd like me to listen to, just send me a PM. Otherwise, once I catch up on my returns I'll just start working through the new songs.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>Brian</p>

Posted in: 2008 Blog 1 | 7 comments
New Collab - A Paris Tale with Rapster - mastered by DiCarlo

This new collab with Rapster has a bit of history to it. I've set it out in the info section if you're interested in reading it. It's based on a short "news article" I found in a Murdoch rag in the mid 70s. I part finished writing it, then abandoned it as it was appearing likely that it would take about 10 minutes to complete the story.

Pulled it out of the drawer last year and came up with the idea to add a rap section to speed the storytelling up a bit. Rapster (Joey) agreed to join in and to do the rap sections, adding some additional words of his own.

The track was mastered by Di Carlo who did another fantastic job on this. This is the third track that Di has mastered for me and his work has on each occasion been top-rate. Not only is his work of a high standard, but his prices are very, very competitive. Thanks again, Di. It won't be the last time I use you, bro.

Thanks, Joey for being involved in this and for waiting patiently (ok, maybe at times not all that patiently) for me to post it.

Hope you enjoy it.

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