Goodbye 2023 and hello 2024!
When Carollyn and I braced ourselves to publicly launch Storm Deva in the autumn of 2023, it’s fair to say that we had inside us a swirling cocktail of feelings: excitement, trepidation, hope and fear. We have worked on this material for years to hone the sound world of the band and the technical recording of the album. And we searched high and low for the right bass player and drummer to bring the bottom end of these songs to life – but those are stories for another one of these updates!
As an independent artist, everything has to be self-financed, and that means that we could not afford to hire a professional studio. Instead, we learnt the art of recording ourselves; understanding what sounded good – and what didn’t! It took longer for sure but it gave us more flexibility.
Neither of us were that experienced at recording with the clock ticking, and the last thing we wanted was to have a track that did not quite sound as we imagined but that we could not afford to go and record again. Recording ourselves allowed us to take some of the pressure off; we could rearrange a part if needed, tweak a sound if it was not quite sitting right, or (whisper it) tighten up the odd performance that didn’t quite speak in the way we wanted it to.
We invested in a few key pieces of studio-quality equipment such as microphones, pre-amps and audio interfaces, and then we set about building these songs into the forms that you hear today. It was a learning process for sure, lots of trial and error and thank goodness for YouTube tutorials and the array of truly extraordinary teachers that can be found there. It was also a lengthy process that I’m sure drove some of our friends to think it was never going to happen.
Having finally recorded everything to our satisfaction, and received fantastic tracks from our chosen session players, we knew we needed an experienced and talented helping hand to mix and master the album. We turned to John Mitchell who displayed patience and talent in working with us to achieve the sound we were chasing.
And so on 1 December 2023, our debut album Storm Deva was released. Much to our great relief, there has been nothing but positivity from so many surrounding the album. That strange cocktail of feelings has resolved into excitement for the coming year: playing more live shows and recording more music.
It is a joy to finally be sharing this music with music lovers – and to have played at various support gigs during the course of the autumn and winter.
So we would just like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who has either bought the album, followed us on social media, recommended us to friends, or listened to us in concert (or all of the above!). You have welcomed us and we are are very grateful.
There will be a lot more coming from Storm Deva in 2024, starting with a support slot for Frank Carducci and the Fantastic Squad at The Bedford in Balham on 28th February. For all the news, sign up to our newsletter and follow us on facebook.
Carpe Diem!