Part Time Heroes (...in the making)

FINISHING TOUCHES...

2011-10-04T05:08:00.001-07:00

So, we're rounding the final bend and clearing the final hurdles...etc,etc. And it's sounding NICE!

We've got plenty of little snippets from the final sessions to play/show you, so we'll be slinging them up over the next few weeks.

We're very happy and our ears/brains are pretty warn out, but we're not complaining at all. It's been a long time coming. Everyone involved in it has been wonderful and like you incredibly patient, so thank you endlessly.

We hope you dig it! xx Ross and Toby.

Here's a little tickle of brass from one of the instrumental tracks called 'Holy'. Performed by members of the Jubilee Brass Band; Nathan Thomas (also arranged it), Richard Taylor and Lorna Chamberlain:

Oh my, oh my, oh my...

2011-08-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

...we're in string heaven!!

As I sit hear typing, both Toby and I are utterly speechless and more excited than ever about finishing this album. Every new session that we do, things seem to dramatically take shape in front of us. Amazing new dynamic and life is constantly breathed into the LP and we suddenly start hearing the songs as though for the first time. It's beyond thrilling to contemplate how they're going to end up.

On Tuesday, we had Amy May and Ben Trigg in the (hottest) studio (in the world) and they nailed twelve tracks in a six hour session. Absolutely incredible stuff and we're forever in their debt for working so damn hard and for making such beautiful sounds. Extra shouts to Amy for the arrangements. We drove her slightly crazy with our nutty jazz chords, but 'holy-string-quartets' did she deliver. Stunning.

Here's a tiny untouched, snippet of one of the sections along with a few snaps from the day.

Next up on Monday, Sarah Scott again...life is good.

x R

Coming Together Nicely...

2011-07-06T05:58:00.000-07:00

As a little treat here is proof (as if it were needed) that we didn’t spend the whole day just drinking tea and discussing the plight of some of our favourite festivals.

A chance to hear a very, very rough snippet of a little bit of the Sadler magic, backed up of course by the amazing Jason ‘Superboy’ Reeve.

Watch this space for more sneak peaks and other album updates !!

www.rmsadler.co.uk

The mighty Jason Reeve throwing down hard...

2011-06-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

Solid as a rock is our Jay. An amazing musical talent and recent Guildhall Graduate...we love him!

He breezed down to the studio at the end of April and nailed 14 tracks in a day and a half (apart from one really good one that Toby and I forgot!!), an absolute soldier.

Here's a little slide-show of a few recent snaps accompanied by one of his takes for a track with the working title 'Flight', which has a huge outro on it. We were really nervous about doing this one as it's quite out there beat-wise and we had such a clear idea of what we wanted it to be, but we needn't have worried as Jay smashed it in a couple of takes.

Enjoy it and you can check out more Jay-ness here: http://jasonreeve.org.

xx R and T

Some more Stevie for you.

2011-05-24T03:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a lovely little taster of Mr. McCleery gracing our ivories once again...

xx

PTH MACHINE GRINDS INTO ACTION

2011-03-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Part-Time heroes are pleased to announce that after a lot of serious, analytical and well presented debate (fannying around), the recording sessions for the 2nd album are beginning this week, with piano savant Stephen McCleery.

This will be closely followed by Dylan 'ROOMSHAKER' Clarke on bass, and on the 18th & 19th of April, PTH are honoured to welcome back drummer Jason Reeve, who, after showing those boys and girls down at Guildhall what jazz is really all about, steps up to bless another PTH long player with his mind-blowing grooves and extensive knowledge of Clerkenwell boozers.

Keep the other eye on www.parttimeheroes.co.uk and http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=426572104 for exclusive materials and other behind the scenes business....

Ross & Toby.

How to build a Hideout

2011-03-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

Hello all, looks to me like spring is springing !

Just so you don't think your brave 'heroes have been bunking off all winter, here is a short film to show you the building of the new studio - 'Zanzibar'.

We christened it last week, fleshing out some of the new tracks for the new album and recorded a couple of bits for the podcast.

Gawd bless 'er and all that sail....... etc etc.

Redz kills it again and Sarah Scott blesses us!

2010-08-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

Evenin all!

I hope this post finds you all having a perfect summer (or winter) and thanks for baring with us yet again...

I'm going to keep this super short because it's all about getting you up to speed without my usual excessive waffle. So, in the last month and a half we've had another session from the mighty Colonel Red and our first session with the gloriously talented Sarah Scott. Both sessions exceeded our wildest expectations and filled us with a renewed excitement once again...

First up here's a tiny little teaser of Red's track, which was the instrumental that I put up in the last post, so you can get an idea of how it's shaping up:

AND THIS...is a glorious snippet of one of the three tracks Sarah recorded. Unfortunately I was away DJing, so couldn't make the session which I'm very sad about, but I think there'll be a few more based on the goose bump generating outcome of this one...LOVE IT!

Thanks as always for your support, patience and attention...all our love and we'll catch you soon,

Much love...Ross & Tobe xx

P.S. The photos that accompany the Sarah Scott teaser are the reason for my absence from the session. I was DJing in my new favourite place, Casper Bar in Montenegro. It's all about the Adriatic people...seriously...get. on. that! x

Toby gets the horn...

2010-05-21T06:30:00.001-07:00

Thank god!!

Summer seems to have finally landed on our shores...long may it continue. So here's a new little snippet I've been meaning to post up for a couple of weeks. Working title is 'Hidden' and we've got our man Colonel Red working on a vocal as we speak. Can't wait!!

Hope you enjoy it. It's a bit of a pointer to the direction we're heading in with this LP. It's a bit darker, a bit tougher, but still tugging at the heart strings...we hope anyway.

Much love and speak soon,

Ross xx

P.S. If you haven't checked out our Radio Show, The Hideout Sessions yet/recently, please do. We now feature on Space Invader Radio (www.spaceinvaderradio.com) and we will be on Straight Up Radio (www.straightup.com.au), by the end of the month. You can check it out on our Soundcloud site (http://soundcloud.com/ross-pth) or subscribe via iTunes here: http://web.mac.com/theparttimeheroes.

You can also get in touch with us on: hideoutsessions@mac.com.

Colonel Red in the house...

2010-04-29T02:12:00.005-07:00

So, at long last we've got some tracks really taking shape. Yesterday we were blessed with the vocal talents of Colonel Red who recorded two tracks with us. Toby and I sat completed awe struck as Redz absolutely smashed it!! The first track, one take...the second, two takes. Seriously, we're just blown away with this man's talent.

Here's a couple of shots of the man at work:

Next up...Sara Scott and Stacc!

W'hooooooooooooooop!

R xx

A new snippet...

2009-12-18T03:39:00.001-08:00

So after our not so brief hiatus, we're both feeling super pumped about getting on with things in 2010 and as promised here's a tiny glimpse of one of the tracks from our recent writing efforts:

I'm sure I'll be writing some kind of half-cut, full of food Christmas message, but in case I'm too full/drunk to move, have an absolutely wonderful Christmas and speak to you soon,

R xx

MY GOSH!!!!!

2009-12-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

We are breathtakingly rubbish aren't we?

It's now been five months since we last posted any LP developments. What can I say...It's been a pretty insane few months and progress has been desperately slow and sometimes stood totally still.

For starters we, like everyone else in the world have been 'credit crunched', the summer was tiiiiiiiiiight man! So, unfortunately our focus has had to be elsewhere to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, but things are definitely easing and looking better. Also, Toby moved down to Winchester, so getting together to write every day just ain't possible at the moment. I think above all though we both just needed to get our own shit in order first too, before we really got down to business for the next LP. Which hopefully, we now seem to have taken a huge step towards getting moving again. Sweeeeeeet!

I've spent the last week or so down at Toby's studio and we've got a cracking bunch of new ideas down. Lots of listening and digging and sound building and a few drinks and things are looking/sounding tasty! The fires are definitely stoked. We've been getting right back into sampling, which is how we first started working together so things are sounding a lot rawer. Compared to the demos we did at the beginning of the year the sound has definitely progressed too...all's looking good.

So, endless apologies for our utter crapness (AGAIN). Lets hope our fingers are well and truly pulled out!

Will get some previews of the new stuff up by the end of next week!

All our love...R xx

P.S. If you don't already, please do subscribe to our monthly podcast. We promise you'll dig it:

I know, I know....we're slack!

2009-07-28T02:29:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say apart from a huge SORRY! Progress has been desperately slow for the last month or so. We've been incredibly distracted for lots of reasons. Some bad, which I won't bore you with and some good. We've had a fair few gigs and festival performances which have all been great fun. Below is a video of Stop Fade Blur, filmed at the Jazz Cafe in June, (The quality's not brilliant, but it might be of some interest or at least proof that we've actually been doing stuff!!).

The other distraction is a little side project that we've been working on that seems to be morphing into quite a large project. It called The Secret Future Love. It's a colossal departure from what you may expect from PTH...or maybe not, I'll let you decide. It may turn some people off, but hopefully it'll do the opposite for the vast majority. We thought we'd have a crack at flexing our dance-floor muscles a bit more and have some good honest fun in the process, so see what you think of this little teaser:

You can also check out the project as it unfolds at: www.myspace.com/thesecretfuturelove

Much love and I hope to catch you at our Notting Hill Carnival knees up maybe!?

Ross PTH xx

www.parttimeheroes.co.uk

More Nuggets...

2009-05-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks!!

Progress is still slow, but steady. Things are gradually taking shape. I think we're pushing twenty or so instrumentals at the moment. We're still going to keep writing for a couple of months in case some extra magic happens.

We've had a couple more sessions with our keys player Stephen McCleery and vocalist Laura Vane. Some great stuff came out of them, so we're beginning to get a clearer picture of how some of the tracks might pan out. Mind you, I say that now, but absolutely nothing is set in stone.

We need to write some more up-tempo beats. Coming out of winter, there's A LOT of down beat stuff in there. See what happens over the next month or so I guess...

Anyway, here's a few nuggets for you to peruse:

All our love as always!

Ross & Toby xx

As promised...

2009-04-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a snippet of 'Never Last' (working title), along with a few nice pictures from the last couple of months to help it along.

Hope you enjoy it!!

Much love...R & T xx

The pictures look a bit nicer in this slideshow-

Dance of The Faders...

2009-04-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

Evenin' all...

I'm just at the end of a relaxing couple of days visiting my Mum, brother and Grandpa down on the south coast. Finding it impossible to move after what seems like 2 days solid eating and drinking, I've just gone through my phone and found this little video of some nice E-Bow action from a new idea we penned last week. I'll stick a proper snippet up of the demo, along with some pictures later this week...but we thought this fader dance was pretty!

...and this is us trying some mic experiments with our Rhodes on the same track...which has a working title of 'Never Last', at the moment.

A very, VERY happy easter to you and yours!

Much love...

Ross xx

Staff Knees Up!

2009-02-27T11:51:00.000-08:00

So, last Tuesday we had a very late PTH staff outing/xmas party..or early depending how you look at it. We spent a very drunk evening at The Big Chill House in London and were endlessly entertained by the incredible Excentral Tempest and her live band, Sound Of Rum (www.soundofrum.com) along with a breathtaking set from Jono McCleery & The Dans. A top night was had by all and heads were suitably sore the next morning...

The album's coming along nicely although progress was halted somewhat by my incredibly selfish decision to disappear off on holiday to Thailand for two weeks. However, I'm back, rested, re-couped and ready to wade in! Very excited!

Hope everyone's well and 2009 is blossoming nicely!

Much love and I'll be back soon with some actual musical posts for you to check out rather than bad behavior!

Ross xx

String Trap RUFF Vid

2009-01-19T09:06:00.000-08:00

This might be the first post of any interest to you folks. This is Toby laying down some guitar in the soon to be vacated Queens Terrace Studio. It's for our newest demo, working title 'String Trap'. Don't ask why it's called that, demo titles are literally the first word or two that pop into our heads. We mostly leave the song titles up to the vocalists, we just do the music bit...

It's all incredibly rough, but it might give you an idea of where we're aiming somewhere down the line.

See you soon,

R x

The plan so far...

2009-01-11T05:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry...this is what happens when you have a bit of time in your hands!

Rx

First installment...

2008-12-31T04:48:00.000-08:00

Well...here goes. It's new years eve and this possibly daft idea struck me at about 4am this morning as I lay in bed unable to sleep pondering, planning and pontificating as is often the case. I'm not the greatest sleeper.

But, anyway, the second album. Truth be told we began work on it at the end of November, so this blog doesn't quite start at the beginning. However we are still in the VERY early stages. So far, we have written about six or seven sketches, which basically consist of drum loops and some very rough guitar and keyboard outlines. We're excited though. After numerous conversations in various fine drinking establishments we've thought long and hard about where we want to take this album. I'm sure it'll turn out completely different to what we're planning, but we're aiming for something a bit more melancholy with this one. Perhaps it has something to do with writing in British winter time, but it's definitely nodding towards that at the moment. We'll see though.

Highlights so far...

1. Toby bought himself an E-Bow. Which is basically an electro magnetic guitar gadget that you hold against the strings and it creates this beautifully haunting feedback, which certainly seems to be featuring quite heavily in the early demos. Gotta love a new toy!

2. Excentral Tempest. I recently stumbled on a wonderful poet from saaaaf east London called 'Excentral Tempest'. A staggeringly talented young lady who, we're hoping will grace one of the recent demos we've penned. Really excited about it so we've got everything crossed that it'll work out.

Low points...

1. The very bad decision I made to try and grow some poncey jazz facial hair (see photo).

Have no fear though, it's long gone and so is the microphone hair. Back to the jazz thug look for the time being then...oh well.

That's it for now...all that's left to say is have a wonder-filled new year and all the love and luck for 2009! It's going to be a corker!

Much love...Ross xx