What have I been up to? Recording mainly. The original idea was to record simple demos of the band versions of my songs with the current line-up of Johnny and Naomi. So we’d have something to show people as an example of the songs with the new line-up. As is the way with most things I do, the idea quickly escalated and it now looks to be some kind of DIY home recorded release. Maybe two. It will also involve all members of The Dead Set, past and present as Jon and Steve helped me record a bunch of the songs the new line-up hasn’t yet worked on.

Here’s Johnny ‘in the studio’ working out his parts:

I’ve been dawdling on recording my parts though, so things are progressing slowly. I hate recording vocals and I only marginally less hate recording guitar. Today I managed four vocal takes each for three songs. Hopefully, some of it’s usable. Here’s a photo I took earlier to try and convey the sense of boredom and despair I feel when recording. Instead it sort of looks like some Wall-E-esque home studio character:

In other news, the band played a pretty decent gig in Bournemouth recently. Naomi couldn’t make it, so Jon stepped in on bass. We didn’t have a chance to rehearse so we went straight up on stage and just plowed through a six song set (including two new songs) and winged it. On the night I was satisfied but not over the moon. Watching the video back, we were so much tighter than I thought. Makes me wonder how good we could be if we can nail down a solid lineup and get gigging/rehearsing regularly. Mad props (as the youth would say) to Johnny and Jon for being solid enough musicians that they were able to just jump right in from cold. Also, it was great to see so many friendly faces and we oddly had the biggest audience of the night, despite being the out of town opening act. Huge thanks to Paul, Hannah, Liam, Dean, Georgia and the one and only Poet Hi-Ho for coming out and to any of the other people who saw us and didn’t run off to the beer garden. A few new people signed the mailing list. As usual though, I can’t read their handwriting all that well. D’oh!

Lastly, I’m still looking for a bass player. London based. So if you know anyone, email me – adam-at-adamboucher.com. There must be someone out there? Preferably willing to commit to regular gigs/practice and hopefully recording and ideally someone who already plays bass. But don’t let that put you off getting in touch if you’re willing to give bass a shot.

Another video from the Brighton gig. Possibly the fastest this song has been played live so far. That’s not to say that it’s all that fast and we’re unlikely to morph into a speed metal outfit anytime soon, but y’know.

Anyway, for now, enjoy:

Everyone say a virtual hello to Naomi on bass and Johnny on drums.

Naomi has been a friend for ages and we previously played in a not-very-good-but-fun-for-a-bit garagey rock band together. Her main musical endeavour is the awesome Naomi Hates Humans and she can also be found partaking of lots of side projects like Mothers Opposed To The Occult and Baby Streuth.

I have the lovely Mike Only to thank for putting me in touch with Johnny. As well as now drumming in The Dead Set he plays in the rather excellent Will Tun & The Wasters. Go check them out. He also currently lives in Reading, but has an incredibly sunny disposition despite this.

The band is sounding fucking great so far and we played our first gig together on Thursday and I have to say it went even better than I could have hoped. The previous Dead Set line-up rehearsed for quite a while before gigging. This new line up had just two and a bit practices, but we still managed to pull off a pretty decent set at The Cobblers Thumb in Brighton. Definitely the best we’ve played so far in our short time as a band. Stay tuned for more info and hopefully more gigs. In fact, if you fancy booking us, do get in touch.

Finally, I should say a massive thanks to Jon and Steve for all their efforts in the previous version of the band. Prior to us jamming I was pretty resolutely against having a band for my solo stuff and now I can’t really imagine not having one. You may have noticed that they still appear in the banner at the top of the site. That’s because there aren’t any pictures of the new line up yet. I await one of them bitching about using their likeness without permission or other such tripe! And to that I say, bring it bitches!

Seriously though, there wasn’t a single crap moment playing in a band with them and the highlight had to be our tour with Dave Hughes. We played to practically nobody, made no money and had the best time ever. Keep an eye out for them in the ‘Behind The Music’ episode in years to come!

If you don’t know her already, Jenny Owen Youngs is a fantastic singer songwriter and you owe it to yourself to check her out:

Click here to find out how awesome Jenny Owen Youngs is

5. Jenny Owen Youngs: “Fuck Was I”
This came about through Adam Boucher’s lovely live rendition of a song which staggeringly summed up much of this month for me. It sounds like biting your lip and singing with your gut, and Jenny in the accompanying video is – although censored – pretty much adorable

15. Adam Boucher: “Exceptions”
It’s ACOUSTIC and a BOY with GREAT LYRICS, and of course I’m going to fall in love with him.

Head over to the blog to read the rest of the post and to download the mix. It has loads of other great artists on it including Dan Bern and Frank Turner. Great to see that my cover of the Jenny Owen Youngs song led to someone checking out the original. Jenny Owen Youngs is an incredibly amazing songwriter and it’s nice to see my far rougher punk rendition didn’t just send people running screaming out the venue in horror!.

Last Year’s Girl – February 2011 mix

Or here’s the links to the individual parts on youtube:

Adam Boucher/Adam Bennett/Dave Hughes Tour Video – Part one

Adam Boucher/Adam Bennett/Dave Hughes Tour Video – Part two

Adam Boucher/Adam Bennett/Dave Hughes Tour Video – Part three

Enjoy!