www.myspace.com/lesvalentinemusic
Tuesday
& Wednesday of the past week saw Les Valentine go into a recording studio
for the first time. We emerged with four tracks from the original EP made brand
new and shiny under the watchful eye and skilled production of Rob Quickenden
at Ford Lane Studios.
The
new tracks can be heard on our MySpace page (www.myspace.com/lesvalentinemusic)
and are a marked improvement on our previous home made efforts, particularly
with the inclusion of a live drum kit, bass guitar and excellently recorded
vocals. Rob was also very quick to make suggestions and point out possible
improvements for the songs we recorded, lending an objective ear and some great
ideas which improved the final product.
The
solid practice put in prior the recordings proved vital as this enabled the
track to be recorded in relatively few takes, making the whole process much
more efficient. Due to the limited amount of time we only had one day to play
and record the music, thus allowing Rob to polish and work his magic on the
Wednesday.
The
recordings were available from last night (Sunday 16th) when Les Valentine
headlined a new acoustic night at the Pitcher and Piano in Brighton. As usual
the CDs were given away to anyone who wanted one, and we are pleased to say
quite a number of people took one home. To go with the new CD there is also an
exciting much smarter sleeve designed by our web site, media & marketing
consultant Joanna Walters - BA (Hons).
One
of the most important things for an unsigned band is to make themselves heard
absolutely everywhere they can, hence we are working hard at expanding our
online presence and making sure our music is heard by the maximum number of
people (8). Our new songs, profiles and this very newsletter/blog are now
available on number of sites – try
searching on Google for ‘Les Valentine’ and see what comes up!
The
online profiles and new tracks have already paid dividends as one of the best
known venues in Brighton, Komedia, have invited us to play there. We will be
there at the end of September as part of their acoustic programme, simply on
the strength of the online work. Hopefully a sign of things to come.
Another
of the sites we are featured on – www.beatthemix.co.uk – run both a weekly and
six monthly contest with excellent prizes for unsigned artists. We have entered
too late to have a realistic chance of winning the six month prize but the
weekly prize includes radio exposure and the chance to have our name and song
featured on the website’s front page (and more). Text votes cost only 50p, and
every vote is entered into a draw for an i-Pod Nano.
So please text ‘mix
339’ to 83070 to lend us your support and it will certainly be much
appreciated! Thank you!
Dates for
the diary
27th
September – GIG – Laid Back and Latte, University of Sussex
26th
October – GIG – Sanctuary Cafe, Hove
9th April
– Steve's Birthday
19th
April – John's Birthday
And
remember – SPREAD THE WORD!
If you
like our music, tell people about it. Copy our CDs for friends who you think
would be interested, bring people to gigs. The hardest part really is getting
heard, so if you can help in any way, please do. As always, your support is
very much appreciated.
Thank
you,
Les
Valentine