Cheers for 2012 here's to 2013

Hey all,

I hope you've all been having a great Christmas break and are gearing up for some party fun on New Years Eve. I'd just like to say a big thank you to all who have supported and helped us over the last year. having released our debut album last year and then getting together a new set of musicians to perform as a band live has been an enjoyable and interesting challenge. Adam and Mike have helped to give us direction and have brought there own unique styles to the song writing which just wouldn't be there without them. In the latter part of the year we have added Helen Togher to the ranks to bring a bit of sweetness to the mix and it couldn't have gone any better as the new tracks coming out next year will show.

We went into the studio in January to record in Reading's Silver Street studios with producer Bobby Bloomfield from Does it offend you, yeah! The results have been great and we're booked in for two more sessions in the new year to finish off the second album 'Lord of the empty Manor'. This album is being released in a somewhat different way in that we will be releasing a track a month, some of these will be via the usual outlets and some will come out as free downloads on Noisetrade, Band Camp and Soundcloud. We'll keep you up-to-date through the year as each track appears on here, our website, ReverbNation etc... or if you like you can join our Facebook Lord of the empty Manor group page.

We all wish you the best new year and hope to see you sometime in 2013.

Cheers
JC


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Recording 'Lord of the empty Manor'

Hey All,

This weekend we're going into Silver Street studios to record the tracks for our 'Lord of the Empty Manor' EP. The recording is being produced by Bobby Bloomfield who has produced a number of artists including The Adelines, SixNationState, Kamikaze Test Pilots, Jackson Caged, Does It Offend You, Yeah? and Vienna Ditto as well as being the drummer in Does it offend you, Yeah?

we're really looking forward to working with Bobby as we think he's going to bring something a little different to our sound that will compliment our rougher stripped down three piece. The tracks we're recording will be new songs from our set that have been going down well, Blood Red Lips (a song of passion, love and just a little lust), Dead Weight Walkin' (an allegory of the times we find ourselves in) Glowball (dedicated to nights spent at this legendary Reading night) and finally there will be a version of the mournful lament The River (fast becoming a live favourite)

I'm not usually one for wishing away my life but I counting the days down this week. Once the recordings done were going to produce a couple of video's to go along with it and then it'll be released first thing in the new year. Followed shortly after by the next EP which is already in the planning.

I'll keep you posted over the next week as to how the recording has gone and may well post up some pics and sound files...

Catch ya later

JC



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News update

Hey All,

It's been an age and then some since I last wrote some words up here, shame on me, but then it's been a busy old time as I've been helping out the Collision label as well as playing a variety of gigs with and without the Everyday Sinners.

We had a great time playing The Big Day out festival in the summer as well as the Caversham Festival. On the downside we're pretty pissed that our gig at the Abbot Cook in Cemetery Junction was cancelled at short notice, without telling us, so apologies from us to all those who had planned to come along.

Coming up we have a couple of gigs to tell you about, firstly we're playing at The Retreat in Reading this Thursday 1 November and at The Global Cafe on Friday 16 November. At the Global gig we've got two top support acts firstly William Trevelyan who possesses a brilliantly deep and smooth vocal delivery (think Tindersticks), followed by Luke Paulo featuring Maija on piano, Luke has been building a growing reputation in the Berkshire area with his beautifully written songs and lyrics delivered with an Eastern European folk feel.
In between these two gigs we'll be in the studio recording our new EP 'Lord of the empty Manor'. It's been a bit long coming but finally we're getting there, it's due for release in the start of the new year and will feature two live favourites 'Blood Red Lips' and 'Dead Weight Walking'.

Finally I'd just like to say congratulations to my label mate Steve Morano who has been getting a lot of coverage over in the States, most notably from Indie Artist Magazine where he has received over 200k views of his video for the single Donna. Wow!

Hope to see you at a gig sometime.
JC
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A new video from Jack Cade and the Everyday Sinners

Hey all,
It's been a while since my last post. I've busy writing and rehearsing new material with the Everyday Sinners which is coming along extremely well. We gigged at the weekend playing Corkey Burgers Ramshackle last Thursday and Caversham Festival on Sunday. both gigs were excellent, Caversham festival in particular was great as the crowd was large and very appreciative and to top it all the sun made an appearance.
Saturday saw the release of our long awaited first pro video for The Fiery Road, it's been planned for a while but took a bit of regaining to get everything sorted, but finally we managed to get ourselves organised. The filming took place on or around the Oxford road, the very road which inspired the name of the song. It features a bunch of friends and my local coffee house, Reading Carnival and the whip wielding and devilish looks of Fritz Elhers. Check out the video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M43Nat8OFBU&sns=em
If you like the video please leave a comment and hit the like button on YouTube, it all helps.



Catch you soon.
jack
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Location:Reading

May in the Rain

Hey All,

Just a quick update on all that's been going on. All in all we've been busy rehearsing up new material ready for a new release in the next couple of months. For live performances myself, Mike Muggeridge (bass) and Adam Perry (drums) have been joined by the very talented Tom Anderson who produced the 'This Fiery Road' album and is playing a mix of guitar, keyboard and sax.

I was hoping things would be moving on a bit quicker, but hey that's the way it goes,  gigs are slowly starting  to roll in although it would be nice to get a few more festivals this year. Don't forget if you want us to come play in your area just drop us a line and suggest a venue/promoter we should approach.

In the meantime, I've been writing a whole load of new songs, some of which I've been posting up as video demo's. The latest is 'The Seven Lives of Thomas Lee' this song is based on a graphic novel I've been working on, more of which I will tell you about in the coming months.  The video is up on You Tube, you can check it out here:



Well I'm sitting here writing this by the window looking over my small garden, watching the rain tumble down. I have to say it seems to have been raining non stop for months now, which I guess is how it used to be at this time of year. With any luck we'll get a great summer this year.

Cheers for now
Jack

New Song - Whiskey Girl

Hey all, yet another new song posted up to You Tube
Facebook and Reverbnation

http://www.youtube.com/jackcadeness

Or View it here:

New video demo for Dead Weight Walking

The River - demo video

A new song that we will be rehearsing up over the next few weeks. I'll be posting 5 songs in total over the next week, let me know what you think, your comments will help us decide which two songs will be going on the new EP and will earn you a name check on the cover art.

2012 kicks off with a gig at The Retreat

Hey All, Well, Christmas and New year already seem an age ago as we hit the middle of January, a month that always seems a little bleak, mainly due to being strapped for cash after the aforementioned celebrations. Still to keep you entertained during this month we've organised a Jack Cade and the Everyday Sinners gig at The Retreat in Reading. For those who don't know The Retreat is an excellent ale house in the back streets of central Reading which apart from serving some mighty fine beers put on a lot of great acts generally playing blues, country and folk. I've seen a fair few great performances down there so am very pleased to have been invited along to play. I'll be performing a short acoustic set to get things rolling, playing a few covers that have inspired me over the years and playing a few newly written songs too. After that I'll be joined by Everyday Sinners Adam Perry on Drums and Mike Muggeridge on bass for a run through some songs from the 'This Fiery Road' album. The gig is free entry, but fairly small so be sure to get down early to get a place. Music kicks off at 9pm.

In separate news label mate Steve Morano is in the Collision Music studio in Cholsey this weekend laying down rough demos for his forthcoming album which will be out in the middle of this year. I'll be dropping in on the session with a few beers for a listen at some point, really looking forward to it. Cheers for now Jack - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fender Champ 600 mod

Hey all, A bit of a departure from my normal posts as I'm going to run through the guitar amp mods I've just made. A bit geeky maybe , but what the hey.

For those that have a copy of the 'This Fiery Road' album you will, on several tracks, have heard my burns steer guitar crunching through my fender champ 600. As small guitar amps go I love it's portability and astonishing loudness for such a small thing. The only thing that really let it down was the harshness of the tone and in recording terms the amount of hum coming from the amp.

As is the way of things I Googled to find out if there were any remedies and in so doing ended up spending the next month running in circles deciding what was best to do. I first toyed with the idea of ditching the amp altogether and buying a Blues Junior a Peavey Delta Blues or to be honest any number of other amps. But ultimately everything I read led to the conclusion that any number of these amps would need some kind of additional investment in valves or speakers or even mods, and to be honest I wanted something that would offer flexibility as well as portability.

Having read more blogs than I care to mention I decided on the following;  

1. The stock tubes Fender use are rubbish, particularly the Chinese 12AX7 and to be honest the Electro-Harmonix 6V6 whilst not awful is a bit harsh. I decided to change these to Cryo Valves from Watford Valves. Namely a Harma ECC83 (£16) and a Brimar 6V6GT (at £40 a bit pricey I know but I read some glowing reviews)  

2. Having decided to splash some cash on these I didn't want to install them in an amp with no standby, so some form of modification was going to be needed. I decided on the Alnicomagnet kit available on EBay. I was impressed by the write up explaining why the mods were needed and there were a few good videos too. All in all it made me feel like I could achieve the mods needed even though I'd not previously undertaken much more than soldering leads or repairing my guitar.

The kit came with excellent instructions and pictures which made it very obvious what was required. I had most of the tools I needed apart from a meter which I bought from Maplins for £8. A bit of advice on how to use one of these would have been useful as the instructions that came with it weren't that great, however I worked it out.

Having steeled myself for several days of frustration and swearing I managed to complete the main mods in the kit in around 5 hours. These mods removed the annoying hum, adjusted the voltage from the Euro standard 230v to the UK 240v and added a standby switch along with a few other items. For more info go to http://bit.ly/x6rDsv

Mods completed I tried the amp out with the stock valves in place, there was a noticeable difference in the tone of the amp and all the hum had gone. The overall sound had great clarity without as much of the harshness and I was very pleased with the result.

Next I swapped out the old valves for the two new valves and wow what a difference, it really is hard to describe how much the clarity, depth and quality of the tone improved, with the mid and the valves installed all harshness had been removed, and I have to say the power of the amp seemed to jump up several notches with the use of the Brimar 6v6gt, it really is a great tube. Where before I didn't care too much for the sound of my Champ 600 now I love using it and seem to be rehearsing more at home with my electrics now rather than my acoustics.

3. Phase 3 of the project is the addition of an extension cab. The main difficulty here was the impedance of the amp which is 4 ohms. Most prebuilt cabs are 8 or 16 ohm not a problem as such but the higher impedance will effect the loudness and given it's only a 5 watt amp anyway I really didn't want to lose anything if possible. Another factor was the speaker configuration, I had set my mind on using two 10" speakers rather than a single 12 or 2x12. this was partly to do with weight and size but again also to do with the sound, as 10" speakers are more responsive than 12's.

Being that the amp is 4ohm I have decided to go with two 8ohm Jensen P10R wired in parallel, so creating a 4 ohm cab. The cab itself I'm having built by a guy in Ireland who sells hand made cabs on Ebay, check them out they are beautifully built. The cab will be with me in two weeks, when it arrives I'll add a review to this post. Cheers Jack