Oh, hi! How ARE you doing? I ask because I've figured out a way to open up for comments on this damn blog. Things are moderately OK over here, I suppose. But. The album-stuff keeps dragging out and I'm about to go nuts and have become somewhat of an asshole regarding the whole process. However, we are seeing more and more green bars in the studio. No, we are not on mushrooms, it's the system we have on Kenneth's computer to see how far we've come, you know, by the colours of the folders on the computer; we paint them green in order to point out that, hey, this is pretty good. Speaking of pretty good, we've actually had a couple of pretty good days and we are not far from starting the recording of vocals on a bunch of tracks – an absolutely horrible stage, comparable to the last days of a romantic relationship. This is the where the separation phase begins for me. The only pieces of gut-wrenching, skull-fucking, annoying pieces of shite that's left to do before that final, god awful stage, are solving a drum problem or two and re-recording some plague-ridden guitars, oh, and I fucking have to re-write some gangrene lyrics too – which i HATE. If writing lyrics is having to endure a biopsy, having to sing them is receiving the terminal diagnose. So basically, if I die before this album is done, I'll kill myself. All this talk serves to vent my frustration, of course. Whenever I feel this level of artistic AIDS I remind myself that the material is actually still pretty strong, and the reason I get worked up or bogged down is because I actually still care – a fact I hope will eventually be reflected in the final result. So uhm....... yeah... basically.... Both Kenneth and I will probably have to see a therapist after this is done – a fact the buying public MUST recognize and PITY by appreciating the end result. Ahem!

Hey, so I've signed with danish label Crunchy Frog. It's totally awesome! When Beta Satan played Roskilde in 2008, we had a pretty jolly time after the show, where we'd walk around the festival area, swinging a bottle of Jack Daniels exultantly, being relieved, having a job well done under our belt. I remember Kaare – of Beta Satan – kept bugging Crunchy labelboss Yebo by telling him that he totally should give my new songs a listen. He promised he would. So, being thrilled with the work Crunchy has and is doing for Beta Satan, I sent him a bunch of demos last year and he and the office was all like 'damn boyfriend, this is great – let's make a god damn hit record' – and I was all like 'damn bro, that's too cool, lemme just write a couple more dope tracks for yous, cuz I'm on to sumthin' awesome' – and so I did. And here we are. I'm proud as can be!

However, the joy is also tinged with a pinch of sadness, as this means that I am departing from Morningside Records with whom I've been for 7 years or so... Jesper Brodersen has been a totally good guy to me and my bands over the years, and he has invested time and money in my stuff and he has always been an ideological, no-bullshit-beacon to me. So it kinda bums me out. My very best to Jesper and the wonderful artists on Morningside Records!

3rd Tsunami and Jesper Frydenlund will continue to maintain the booking department of this corporation... which is cool!

In other news: the single will be mastered next sunday! I think the mix is pretty good by now. But, honestly, I can't tell anymore as I've listened to the song 500+ times. You sorta loose perspective, but luckily Kenneth is as steady as a rock and has worked relentlessly the last couple of days to mix the track. Apparently, the first song is the hardest in the mixing stages because you have give shape to the ideas you have for both the track itself, but also to the entire direction of the album. God, I hate mixing. It is the single most annoying phase of recording an album – which is itself pretty effing annoying! I become so unsure of the entire project and my songwriting and my musical abilities... yikes! Luckily, when this is over, I'm going to France with my friends Klaus and Clauern.

Oh fuck, i almost forgot! Cabin Fever is no longer the name of the band. Now it's The Malpractice. I'll elaborate on this some other time.

Best!

Ragazze! Che notte!

Hmm hmm. Going to mix the lead single this sunday. So that's just great. And then Kenneth and I will venture to Ajstrup for a week of absolutely friggin resolve to get as close to the god damn finish line as possible. I still need to write some lyrics... oh and some melody and the title track isn't even remotely arranged yet... and I have a ton of exam papers to top it off, but i'll work it out somehow. I hope... Yes. signing-things went fine last thursday. We met at Raadhuscafeen in Aarhus and had wienerschnitzels (no, not weener-schnitzels). That's a pretty good starting point in my opinion. Io sono un poco in amorato con i miei amici nuovi. Yes. The headquarters recommends the Mondo Cane album. It's pure spaghetti carbonara. Especially the first track 'il cielo in una stanza'. It has rekindled my love for the italian language and I've promised myself to start learning it properly this summer. So. Yeah. I guess that's pretty much it. Which isn't a lot really. Oh, might I add, that the Q & Hans one-off concert in May is, well not taking shape, but we are not quite as fucked as it looked a week ago according to rehearsals last night.

Perhaps it's time for a wee update. Things are looking up! Slightly. A lot of stuff has fallen into place in the last 48 hours. Tomorrow I'll be puttin' my signature on a new record deal, some shows are as good as confirmed, the first track is all done and now only needs mixing and mastering, oh and – on a personal note – May looks as though it is going to be the busiest period of my life ever. Tons of exams, record stuff, the INTERspot-art-concert-thingy with q, and a remix-track I am working on for my friend Marie. I'm totally redoing a new song of hers called Difference. It's sleazy and funky and delightfully disgusting.. like, lenny-kravitz-makin'-slo-mo-love-to-barry-white-sleazy. Here's a little teaser.

And:

Here are some videoes and some photos of the last couple of days in the studio :)

Ohai. So. Album's still pulling teeth. However, we've set some deadlines that look possible. Hell, they bloody well have to be, because – honestly - I'm fucking fed up with this piece of shit right now. The songs are friggin killer, but we just need some coherent time to get into the grooves, man. Time is being eaten by university and work, and that sucks. So, we've worked out a trip to Kenneth's summer abode on the eastern coast of Jutland come mid may, and the aim is to finish the first single, entirely, for release june 1st. The deadline for the master is july 1st. So the release is set to be, like, mid-september, or something like that... Depending on my new label's release schedules. I'll tell you more in a month's time, when everything will has been put down in writing.

In other news. A brilliant idea has popped up. Arh, a sort of brilliant idea... See, I used to love the concept of b-sides back in the day. Some of my favorite tracks in all the world are the contorted, ugly songs bands hid on the flip-side of their singles. Like a peak into the band-abyss. So, when I'm not doing album-stuff, I'm working on a couple of exclusive extra tracks for the iTunes singles that will come of the album. I think the tracks will be cover-songs and outtakes, just recorded at home. It's gonna be great, and I hope I find enough time to follow the idea to the end.

Oh, and in these troublesome, woesome times... The headquarters look to this track for strenght... as a good friend put it earlier today: it is hell disguised as the heavenly blessing. Jesus Christ. Just fucking listen to it! It makes me want to kill myself again and again and again and poke out my eyeballs and shove them up my ass. Horrid, indeed. Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF7H9Ri7o-0

CIAO!

Stuff

So what's new? Nothing much. We had three consequtive days lined up, but the first one was abandonned because Figurines and Q had to use our ”studio” to mix some new tracks of theirs. It turned out excellent, and y'all should consider yourselves lucky to be blessed with such beautiful music soon. We met up with them in the evening and had a great night out. Good times.

Day 2 was marked with heavy hang-overs from the night before, so Kenneth and I spent the better part of the day staring at the guitars, and feeling guilty for not getting shit done. Or perhaps the guitars we're staring at us. Fuck it, all I know is that there was a lot of guilt! However, a meal and a six-pack later, we got working on the track Oh, The Irony. We had been post-poning it indefinitely because it's really difficult, but perhaps the hang-over facilitated the session – we did the entire thing A to Z in just a matter of hours. Totally awesome. It went from the bottom of my list to one of my favorite tracks, like this *snaps fingers*.

Thinking we could pull off the same with brand new track The Human Condition on Day 3 proved fullblown, outbreak-AIDS, though. No progress. Kenneth worked on the aesthetics of the song Spasm instead. I think it turned out OK, but we have to re-record the guitars now, because of the shift in aesthetics. Oh, and this morning my throat's all tied up. Coming down with a cold I guess, for the fourth fucking time in the past six months, dammit! Anyway... Now, I'll work a bit on the Krautrock-track. I still haven't written a single word or fleshed out a melody yet, so that needs to get done. Happy easter. Here's a little thingy that got cut:

A moment of clarity