My mane aim.

AHA! It's within two months. I'm in no way proud of forgetting my blog and not writing here or anything, but here I am, less than two months after my last post. (I was going to quote the last post and be all smug, but it's below this one and you can read it yourself. That and it's not working for me).

Things to talk about this time round... Ubuntu. Brontide. Drawing and work. Church and life. Wifey wife. And AOB.

Ubuntu.
I'm drinking it now and it's good. Try some. Fair trade cola that doesn't taste like fair trade poop water.

Brontide.
THIS IS COOL.
(First of all, this is a really old picture)... Carry on...
So my brother and a few friends started a little band way back in 2007. The Drummer, William Bowerman, can be found under the 'Notable People' section of the wikipedia page for Collingham, Nottinghamshire. Formerly of 'I Was A Cub Scout', he is their drummer. At the time of writing, he also drums for La Roux.
Guitartist Tim Hancock is the band's guitarist - also from Collingham, but found under the 'See Also' section of the page for Collingham, Nottinghamshire.
Bassist Nathan Fairweather Bases/Basses on the bass guitar. Having exhausted four bass teachers of all they knew back in Southport, he moved to Brighton where he went on to learn more.
So yea, they got together in 2007 and have been chipping away at making their big mark on the scene. The niche for instrumental bands is just that. Niche. It's hard, but these lads have stuck at it and it is paying off. Air time on Radio One, tours of venues and festivals (one in Europe coming up). These are ridiculously talented individuals who put their skills together to continually blow crowds away. They have incredible stage presence. They have passion that is second to none. They have put their all into this band for four years and they are all thoroughly, genuinely uplifting to be around. (And Nathan's freakin' hilarious. Always has been. He got the funny gene).

Anyway. Brief introduction aside, THEY HAVE AN ALBUM OUT NEXT MONTH! I have already set aside the money for several copies (I'm not assuming I'm getting a free one, but if that's the case I still want to support them, so I'm going to buy a few for my friends).

This is going to be nothing but music. Obviously. But I mean if you've seen them at a gig, you'll know what to expect. They're the only band I've ever seen play a full hour of music, non stop. And they do it flawlessly.

So mark your calendars. April. That's when the album's out.



Drawing and work.
Drawing is fun. It always has been and it always will be. The fact that I've been able to make it such a big part of my life is a huge blessing. I come to uni and draw. I go home and I doodle. It's fun and it opens up a world that is fantastic. You can be anything you want to be. It's like LARPing but a little less obviously geeky. Instead of donning and cape and hitting things with foam swords, shouting and wailing and getting genuinely angry at people who aren't playing fair, I simply curl up on a sofa or other comfortable place and draw something. One day, I could be an ant with a gun. The next day I could be the best cricket herder in the whole world (of Kry'kn VI). After that, I might take some time out and chill by the huge oceans of th.. oh wait - a massive dog with a tree for a head is running at me. Good job I'm made of fire today. Ha. I can hide this geekyness from most people. Most definately not my wife. But she loves it.

My dream and my prayer is that I can get a job doing this. Whether it's drawing character ideas for a company or selling indie comics. Whether it's coming up with ideas for games and making those games or selling my work at art fairs. As long as I can remember I've wanted to make a living doing what I love.

Speaking of things that I love...
I played bass for a whole service for the first time on Sunday. I was both excited and proper nervous, but I was playing for God and that filled me with peace. See He is the creator of everything and has all power, but I know that He sees our hearts. Although I hit more wrong notes than I can remember, it was just fine for His ears. I had a blast singing as loud as I could, too - right in front of the biggest amp on the stage...

Life is good. I'm having a great time in uni and at the moment it's taking precedence over most other things. I'm finding it hard to keep a fair balance of things, but I think that's just the way things go in life. If everything was doled out in equal portions it'd get boring. Money is tight and food is low, but we're in a first world country with a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in and we're in love. It's great.

Melissa and I are off to Amsterdam and Germany for Easter. Amsterdam to be with a church there for a week to see how they do things and Germany for a week to meet her Granddad. We're looking forward to it.

Also my best friend, Tim, got back from South Africa on Monday. It's good to hear his voice again and hopefully I'll be able to get back down to Southport and meet up and catch up. Maybe play some footy.

All Other Beans.
Nothing much more to say. I've forgotten my password for one of my blogs and I've lost my video camera - which I use to record videos for another blog. But hey. There's this one and there's my design one (danfairweather.blogspot.com)

That and I need to trim my beard. It's getting pretty scruffy. I lost the length setting I normally use though, so I either have to have it longish or very short.

And also, my friend Thom is asking me to draw things for a webcomic. We have a few ideas and I'm excited about it. I just hope he is more punctual than I am with this updating thing.

Just to add the pictures to this one and I'll be away :D
Peace, friends.
Thanks for stopping by.