Not dead yet

It wouldn't be the true Ironside way without a good old fashioned set-back. For those who didn't already know, Graham has relocated to Liverpool. In fact, that's pretty much most of our motivation for attempting our tour. We figured that since one of us were already over there, why the fuck not go visit and do a tour!? So anyway, after the buzz of the UK tour and subsequent jetlag had worn off, we found ourselves minus a key element of a 3 piece band: the drummer! This makes for the 4th lineup change for the band and it kind of makes me look like a bit of a Billy Corgan. Make of it what you will.

Thankfully, we didn't have to search too far and/or wide. Both myself and Disco also play in another band, called GUTTER, playing trashy gutter rock that can get quite obnoxious at times. It's a great release. On the trip back from overseas, we quickly threw about the idea of asking GUTTER's drummer, Ben, to join Ironside and he was more than willing to take part. He can play and he's not a douchebag: that's the 2 most redeeming features you could ever look for in a drummer! Ben also plays in a band called Raygun Mortlock, who are really quite worth checking out.

So we've spent the last month or so getting Ben up to speed and now we're back and gigging again with a run of dates through July, including a couple of New South Wales shows. We're also in the middle of trying to organise a quick tour to Melbourne and Geelong in late October, playing with The Dukes of Deliciousness and hopefully Jackson Firebird if they're available (very busy lads!).

Before Graham returned to the motherland, we made the rather sensible decision to record some new tracks for our album we're planning to release later in the year or early next year. Hey, you can't rush these things. 3.5 years in existence and still no album: what's another 6 months going to matter, right? Anyway, we hired out one of Brisbane's greatest live original music venues, The Beetle Bar for a day and recorded drums (great room for drums!) and guitar for 6 songs with Murray Paas. We then went back to Murray's studio, Foundry Sound in the next couple of weeks to finish off the bass and to lay vocals for a few of the songs (some didn't have completed lyrics). We had every intention of getting back into the studio and laying more percussion parts with Graham before he left, however that never came to fruition. Unfortunately, we didn't have a listening copy of what we had done yet, however I have just this week obtained one from Murray. Listening to it with fresh ears has really sparked a desire to get this album finished. Even though it's a completely raw mix, it's sounding amazing and just needs to be heard. We really, really want to complete the album with Graham, however with a large amount of uncertainty surrounding his return to Australia to undertake the task, we may well proceed with Ben, but we're not sure yet.

In any case, you should really get along to one of our shows in the near future and catch up with us and to check out Ben's mad skillz! Hey, he's got a beard, so he fits right in.