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More gigs, a playlist and pictures

More gigs afoot come April 18th at the Luna Park. This time I play support for Aleeoop and also VideoKidz. More details pending

Pictures of the gig on 22nd Feb uploaded to go. Courtesy of Aili Li, who was the cute girl in the Yukata get up kind enough to man the merch stand for spidey.

At the insistence of Mr hacked2death, I’ve decided to put up background music playlist for that night as well. Youtube links provided wherever possible see how nice I am?

Canta Per Me – Yuki Kajiura
Laisse Tomber Les Filles – April March
Flowers – Emilie Simon
新貴妃醉酒 – Li Yu Gang
Machismo – Gomez
Tank! – Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts
What Else is there – Royskopp
Sayaisha Ingoma – הפרויקט של עידן רייכל
Mushroom Hunting – Yoko Kanno
Sinnerman – Nina Simone
Fleur de Saison – Emilie Simon
Valse De La Lune – Yoko Kanno
Kioku – Yuki Kajiura
Theme from Lime Cafe – April March
Ghost in the Shell – Yoko Kanno
The Skeleton key soundtrack – Conjure
Baah Elichem – Miri Masica

Enjoy the music all, and yes details for the next gig and some goat speak coming up in a jiffy

Poltergeist and Aliens!

Poltergeist and Aliens!

** posted a week late due to to reasons in previous post :(**

Gig on Friday was great fun. We had pirates, nurses, bleach characters, inuyasha and the lot grace their presence at the gig. (Kudos to those whose ammunition got checked and triple checked by the rather bemused bouncer at the Sandringham Hotel. ” Sorry Mate!!” ) Long live fake weaponry and bouncer confusion.

Perhaps it was the invocation of the spirits and general strangeness of the day, the very talented bandmate Sofie Loizou experienced a laptop seizure, my keyboard died once and then proceeded to give me the F-word quite literally on stage….this was followed by a realisation that it would only play sounds of gunshots instead of my usual piano settings. The Hyaku Monogatari presented quite the portal for strangeness to occur on stage and we should perhaps not do this too often because I’ve read somewhere that spirits do fuck with electricals.

I’m still awaiting photos taken by the lot of you and so far I’ve found this rather disturbing one on the goat’s camera.. I swear that the real me has black irises and am very very much human so…WTF ? I wasn’t even singing anything scary…well ok, not at that moment anyways.

For the lot of you not quite familiar with the realms of Anime and Karaoke, I hope u enjoyed the stream of songs not quite found on the radio u know — all courtesy of Smash! Karaoke. And yes, yes, it is Karaoke, off key singing and general laughing on stage and off stage is allowed and encouraged. So the next time I hold something l like that, I’d expect the lot of you to stumble your way to stage. Shyness is the only crime. 😀

I’m sorry to say that I missed most of Toydeath, amidst a full day of setting up the stage and then going off to grab a bite/ shower and getting into stage gear. I’ve seen the footage of their gig kindly taken by friends and I’m making it a point to stalk their next gig. Insane costumes, crazy crying toys and above all, what seemed like olympic levels of insanity on stage. What’s not to like?

Anyways, thanks to those who rocked up again. Hope u enjoyed yourself and pictures goddammit! I demand pictures! Yes, and that includes pics of you in your cosplay costumes on the night.

I pass u on to the goat who will now host his very own lost and found section in a post soon after this.

ok I’m one week late for this but photos, photos now.

My need to remember.

Dear Ah Ma (grandma)

This isn’t so much as a eulogy as my need to remember you.

I remember my childhood at the old house, where you had a rabid goose with an arse fetish that chased us around the compound, and chickens and rabbits and a huge swing and how you took care of all of us cousins as our parents went to work. It must have been tough, all of us being babies/toddlers, but you managed. Somehow nothing was impossible for you. You were formidable to me then, you still are.

We never felt left out with you, you loved and care for everyone of us. I remember waking up to the smells of your cooking and how you made sure that the family always gathered and remained close. I still smell your cooking coming from mom’s kitchen and in a huge way I remain comforted.

I remember your stories. Especially the ghost stories. I know you didn’t like us to hear them, but you told them anyways, always after heaps of insistence from us kids, but when you did tell them, they were delivered well, like everything else you did for us. It struck me that it didn’t matter where you told them, they were always eerie, always entertaining, even when told in a bustling shopping centre when we were waiting for mom to finish her shopping. I remember my brothers and I fearing the toilet and all general dark places for months after one of your tales.

You know, Ah Ma? I still tell your stories at gigs these days, and it brings a smile to me to see that your stories still scare even the bravest of my audiences. I think you would be proud.

It is at this moment that I can almost see that wry smile you wear when you don’t quite know what to do with us.

I remember your attempts to do my chinese homework for me. Most times you would sit beside us, an old dictionary in hand and a string of colourful curses bestowed on my well meaning Chinese teacher for setting impossible questions for us. You were always so patient, no matter how mischievous we got.

I remember the sleepovers. They were always fun, sometimes we would go for short car rides or just sit together watching telly while I asked you all too many questions about the times before and fairy tales, I did love your fairy tales. It didn’t matter how many times you told the story because you were a gifted storyteller. You were a great listener too, and always you had a consoling word for my less than enjoyable times in school. Somehow you always made my days a little better, you were great like that.

I remember sitting at the back of the car with you sharing an ice-cream or a packet of chips. You’d sneak a bite here and there like the rest of us and buy us more when mom wasn’t looking. To us, you were always the cool friend that we were all too lucky to have. Remember how we all ended up playing the ouija board together despite your misgivings, and the scary tales of the ouija you told to top it all off?

I remember the games we played and it seemed only yesterday, we stood in awe when you slammed us at a game of badminton when we were arrogant teenagers. (Full disclosure: you didn’t tell me you were a national sportswoman in Malaysia, basketball wasn’t it?)

I’m sorry I wasn’t around more when you got ill. Denial, general artistic poverty and lack of time took me away, and yes I always thought you would get well again. You always bounced back from the worst of things and I was sure you would this time, now I wish I got to see you more before you left even when you stopped telling the stories, even if to just hold your hand.

Your funeral brought all of us back together again, for awhile it was old times where my cousins and I were doing things together again. It’s never going to be the same though, and everyone is missing you in their own way, because bits of your stories continue to be told amidst the silent tears. In a way I guess, the storyteller in you lives, even if through us.

Last friday, I thought I heard you say goodbye while I was on stage, when I was telling a story that was one of yours. I’d like to think it was really you, leaving me with one more story to tell.

I’m proud to have known you Ah Ma. The honour was all mine. Go in peace now. I love you.

Gathering of 100 Supernatural Tales

Right now I’m a spider dipping her little pinkie toe out of her writing cave.
Right now I’m a ball of excited fluff
Right now the new year’s crystal ball sees singles released and album peeking second half of the year.

Summer’s here. So I’m out of my cave and gigging soon enough. First shows start in Sydney. Details as attached. Tickets can be purchased right now online.

We will be doing something special for the hot summer nights by invoking the Hyaku Monogatari, known as a gathering of 100 supernatural tales.

Where: Australia, The Sandringam, Newtown
When: Friday. 22 Feb 2008
Doors Open 8pm.

Smash – Sydney’s anime convention will also be hosting a mini Cosplay/ Karaoke competition. This translates to a cosplay invasion on a very unsuspecting pub. Mostly I can’t wait to see the faces on the regular pub goers. All this entertainment for $10 which is really less than the price of a movie ticket. (woohoo!)

For those who do not know what cosplay is. Wiki here.It is essentially people who dress up as their favourite characters on anime shows. So there, dress up, it’s halloween all over again, and for those who don’t dress up, it’s still a feast for the eyes and ears.

This gig’s a rather exclusive one. Only a limited 100 tickets are available. These things evaporate real real fast! Get them here now.

This event is proudly sponsored by

Celestial bodies take note…

note to all: If and ONLY if, on one of the Sunny days that Spidey decides to venture out of her studio and brave humanity. All religious types/ celestial bodies will do very well to keep their opinions to themselves unless humbly asked for.

Because Spidey is just as vocal about how she feels when you violate her sky-space.

*now humbly waits for attack of hatemail from humourless deity representatives

Creeeaaaakkkkkk……!!!

*Opens a creaky dusty webby like looking blog door that has been abandoned for weeks*
Hello
How’s all?

Still here?

It’s been a good coupla weeks, hasn’t it? Your royal madness had to resort to silence while the writing machines are being fired. So here I am now almost done with my demo phase of the new album. Actually, the recording of the first of 13 tracks starts in the next couple of weeks, I’m a mixture of relief and happiness.

There have been a couple of beeps from you regarding what the hell the next album is to be, and I have been silent. Some of the more enthusiastic amongst you have thrown expletives at me in frustration, at which I can only cackle.

Patience I say. It will be revealed soon. The curse of a concept album (yes concept, u heard right…old school shit) is that u don’t say u are doing one until u have finished writing most of the demo tracks and your producer likes them. This is so that your muses don’t seize up from performance anxiety and start not…performing. (Note: this is not an invitation to Viagra spammers) So here I am, mostly finished with 13 tracks, and writing more tracks in case some don’t meet the cut.

Though I can’t say much of what exactly it is I’m writing, (because it is a surprise) but I can tell u that writing these tracks have been twice as fun as writing the ones on the first album, which consequently means that it was twice as difficult. The key difference was that the first album was a personal,i.e cathartic one, while this one involves writing other people’s stories, which translates to ton loads of research. Having a mild case of self induced multiple personality disorder helps.

On average, 1 song has taken up to 2 weeks to research and conjure. The worst of the lot has taken 8 weeks because my brain implodes everytime I think about it. A songwriter traveling around with a concave head is not a good look whatever some might say. To top it off, there was an attempt on my end to build the musical styles around the characters/ stories I write about in the songs, which means some new musical territories for me. Whether I have pulled this off remains to be judged, by you, minions. There, the highness has become the all pleasing slave.

All this research and sometimes painful song wrangling also means that as the singles get released, I have heaps of stories to tell about them like a proud rabid parent with a screaming child. Not all is a pretty picture, then again it never is. That’s why you are here isn’t it?

So there it is, singles will be released starting febuary next year and u have an album in waiting. I have said this for a good part of last year and I’m glad the process is finally falling into gear.

On another note, the blog frequencies will be back to a near weekly basis from now, I’m a spider out of her cave.

Updates about the blog:

for those on myspace: start subscribing from www.yunyu.com.au or my livejournal

myspace has continued to taunt and torment me by not letting me log in when I need to and then crapping all over my formats whenever I try to post shit. So yes, this is a last post on I will sync on myspace blogs which is a real dog to use.

for updates through the week: I’m a twitter away

Just so you can still track me down

Yes quietude. But you can still track me down in the following locations

www.yunyu.com.au
livejournal
myspace
twitter

Quietude now…except for the chickens

No I haven’t gotten kidnapped by anyone made of initials, I haven’t become suddenly rich. I am still spinning here and though you might be able to choke some album details out of me by im-ing me I am sure as hell going to try and not spoil the surprise for you lot.

My biggest achievement of the months of silence is that I have perfected the art of quiet recording by following the schedule below.Ok other than the fact that I am also about 6 tracks into the album….sorta thing.

9.15am – chicken truck. parks with idling louder than harleys for 30 mins av ( no recording but can do midi stuff)
9.45am – chicken truck leaves
3am – rubbish truck belonging to chicken man parks in truck engines run for 20 min as they empty dead chooks
6.45am – rubbish truck here for florist – more truck noises

any other time makes for uninterrupted recording zones except weekends

10-ish. neighbour’s lawnmower butchering the garden and my recording time
11 – neighbours want to kill each other, usually it’s an argument about money. still waiting for them to kill each other so I can record some screams…so far no success

Friday nights –

kids and their doof doof cars – sometimes I borrow their beats to make new tracks. most times I envision making voodoo dolls of them and disconnecting their spinal cords with much relish.

at times I want to feed the voodoo dolls to my imaginary cat to play and eat.

yes yes yes, other than that my recording process is pretty noise free once I follow the above schedule.

No…other than that it’s slow news day. I’ve stumbled upon very interesting pieces of research for the sake of this album but then if I told you, the smart arses amongst you would piece it all together now and tell me what my album is going to be about and I will have to be doing the rather inconvenient thing of having to silence you.
which would be decidedly inconvenient for all of us. wouldn’t it?

Solving musical riddles

So far I’m writing about someone who takes very colourful pills and thinks her doctor is a funny bunny. I don’t know why she’s assumedly gone mad or why she’s talking about repression and everythign that rhymes.
and there’s this thing about red shoes being good things.

But I don’t know why. I don’t get a say in this I suspect. My pen is moving, I have no idea what I am writing and you thought I was a clever songwriter. Random words I tell u random words it is….! Muhahahahah

It’s a week to another gig this saturday and if you are in Sydney Australia, UNSW Roundhouse, 10 am. Which is a rare occurance in itself. For mornings for spidey are indeed mythical times…as some of you have so rightly put it.

Just me and the goat this time. Sofie’s still chasing musical gnomes somewhere in Europe.

Here you go …a peek in my cave. bigger pics are available at source.

Contorting realities

Writing.

did I say that for the last millionth time?
It’s a lull between shows at the moment so I thought I’d take the time to write while I can. Ideally I’d like a whole block of time clocked out for me but I can live with less. Fun with the camera while I cook up lyrics is a way to start. Writing is a distracted process for me. So far I’ve ended up dissecting a doll somewhere in the midst.

I did get some writing done

More here. It’s probably going to be more pics than words at this moment when everything that needs to be said by spidey needs to be sung. 🙂
later minions.

your royal madness.