Hi all,

I'm off to New Zealand for three-and-a-half weeks, so I won't be around. But I'm going to leave you in good hands. peter and Trevor are in the studio wrapping up the vocals for the album and it's all going swimmingly. If you have any fan mail to send, send it to the Karthartic email address and they'll forward it on (laughs).

The album's starting to sound great. The feedback we're getting from you all has been very positive indeed. makes it all worthwhile, we were hoping for a connection and it seems we've gotten it-Thankyou.

Not much for me to do when I get back, probably a bit of a 'tidy up' with some of the rhythm guitars and a solo here and there. I'm going to talk to Pete re; the soundbites and there'll be a picture or two, but the hard work is then on Peter's shoulders to mix and engineer the album. July is looking good for the release though.

I'm looking forward to the next album, (tentatively titled K2.....('groan')). Some of the songs on this one are almost 2-3 years old... Do you have any idea how many times we would have heard them in that time? Thank goodness they were 'updated' to make them fit with the newer ones. It does however, show how far the songwriting and Pete's mixing skills have come along in that time.

So, what a year!!! My son turned one on February 20th, we have another little one due at the end of the year, my business took off at the tail end of last year and I'm drawing pictures for a living at last! A very busy year, but looking like it's going to be a very fruitful one.

On behalf of the band, I'd like to thank everyone for the support so far, it means a lot to us. Also a Thank you to all the new faces in my life, and a thankyou to all those still here after all these years. I'd also like to thank a dear, beautiful friend of mine for being a tower of strength, a confidant and a soulmate, Gwynneth Reed, who passed away on the 14th April. I love you and miss you already. A great big thankyou to my wife who lets me out to play with this lot- keeps me off the streets, doesn't it?

So everyone, keep a look out in July, a great album is due. It's the kind of album I'd buy. And come back often to the website, there's always a lot of stuff to be added.

take care all, Aaron. plink, plink)
xxx

Hey,
Welcome to my very own Karthartic web page. I’m going to use this as a springboard to voice my opinions, pass on any information people may find interesting and/or amusing and generally rant and rave about the things that make me tick and tick me off.

I’ll start out this time, by talking about Karthartic, after all, that’s why we’re here eh? You’ve probably read and heard the podcast dealing with how it all came about so I won’t go into that… I’m going to take a different approach and maybe shed some light into the great big, black hole that is the studio at Pete’s house (amongst other things), this is, after all the place where creativity blossoms and the music is made.

I love playing live, but the studio is also satisfying in its own way, it’s great to develop the songs from nothing, and have a final recording, it’s also great to have the rehearsals that lead to the recordings. Jamming with the guys is a buzz unto itself, it’s amazing to me, when we are in the zone, just how easily the music flows. The dynamic we create and the mind-reading that goes on when we ARE in the zone blows me away. The guys in the band all have a great rapport musically and this is the basis for the success of the music. I don’t think any of us are in the least bit amazingly technical players, (with the exception of Ben and Nick) but the ‘feel’ each member has is worth it’s weight in gold’. Any questions?

Q) OK Aaron, tell us about recording…. .
OK, firstly, If I were to put my finger on my least favourite thing about recording, it would be that the ‘spark’ of the initial idea is somewhat dimmed to tame things down and make it palatable to the ‘masses’. The things a musician can get away with live, in the moment are far less noticeable than when they are put onto a recording. The mistakes and the freedom of a 10 minute guitar solo (that’s right… I can get away with it from time to time!) don’t really translate that well when the punters aren’t downing immeasurable amounts of alcohol and flinging their mullets back and forth. But that doesn’t stop ME trying to get away with it in the studio. Pushy me…. I compensate for this lack with my studio mantra, which is “Can I have another go at that solo Pete?.....”.

So, back to the album, (I do have a tendency to float away with the fairies when I’m on a roll…) what we have in the first album is a pretty fine effort to bottle up what the sound of Karthartic really is. A person once said to me that the secret to our sound is the ‘space’ in the music. I agree, I think it has a place to breathe and grow. The secret of how that sound is achieved are due to a few factors: Firtly, the playing: We have all done the rounds and therefore have distilled our playing to a comfortable level, a mature level, so to speak. We know our own limits. Secondly, Pete’s producing and Engineering allows for no accidents. Pete’s success in this area is to have a place for everything and make it worthwhile, this includes the use of effects and the strange ‘squiggly widdly’ noises that he loves so much (laughs). Listen to the screaming and the stair-stomping on the title track “The Healing Room’… It all fits, nothing is there by accident.

Q) So, what is the main inspiration for the songs?
The answer to this question has many layers. Firstly I’ll mention how we generally come up with the ideas. The songs often come from a riff or a set of chords that niggle and nag me to be used, or, also quite often the case, it may come from a ‘feeling’ we want to put across. I have also been known to be quite moody and if I’m feeling a particular way when I get to the studio, I may say to Pete, “Pete, I’m feeling like…(fill in the blanks)” So that may dictate the mood of whatever music is produced that day. Generally, I’m the riffster/chord merchant, and Pete comes up with the lyrics. He’s great with words… Listen to his podcasts. Very eloquent indeed. ‘Whispering Pete’ missed his calling as a radio DJ. Of course, from time to time, Pete may have an idea and I just go along and do my thing and fine tune a hook or the riff. There’s no set way we work, very much in the spirit of just ‘doing what’s right at the time’. My ‘mystical’ side really believes that we just pull the stuff out of the air at times. I’ll let Pete talk about where the words come from, the podcasts will address that side of things.

Q) Lastly, Who are you own influences?
Easy. In a nutshell- anyone who plays with soul, heart and passion. The standout players for me are people like Eric Clapton (who started the whole thing off for me), David Gilmour, 70’s Carlos Santana, Snowy White, Ian Moss, Mark Knopfler, Steve Rothery (from Marillion-my Favourite band) and an old friend of mine- David Wyatt. To me, it’s about quality rather than quantity. I’m not overly blown away by guitarists who play a million notes a millisecond and say nothing- you have a willy for a reason guys. Musically, when I first started playing, it was Blues. I couldn’t get enough of the Blues guys, I still love to play it after all these years. I bore the guys silly when we jam, but they indulge me from time to time.

Q) Anything else?
Just enjoy the album. It has a lot of high points for me, I hope you all feel the same and feel free to let us know what you think of it, it’s very important to us.