Weird Decibels review of the year 2014
January
The year started with a mixture of optimism and permission; we had started writing weird decibels 2 and it wasn’t really taking off so we had to find some inspiration from somewhere. We booked ourselves a wee lodge in Oakley for the end of the month.
Before we were due to set off we had the small matter of releasing a new music video. Speak was the song we opted for.
We stayed true to the black and white theme of Weird Decibels 1. It was shot down at the practise room with a mixture of stills and live footage. The idea was to have a bit of fun with each of us switching musical positions. The video did quite well; sitting at over 1000 views and that isn’t taking into account the Blank TV stats. A good start!.
The Falkirk Herald kindly ran a story about the video. Nice folk.
http://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/what-s-on/weird-combine-sound-and-vision-once-again-1-3271181
Moshville times wrote a nice piece for us as part of their ‘Band of the Day’; my favourite quote would be ‘not exactly radio friendly (!)’ and ‘ an overall undercurrent of folk’ this led us to utter a new genre Folking Metal!
http://www.moshville.co.uk/botd/2014/01/new-band-of-the-day-weird-decibels/
as January came to a close we headed off to Oakley with the acoustic guitars and a shit load of beer. We wrote 6 songs. ‘I Hear The City’, Little Thoughts Lost’, ‘Digital Takeover’, Curtain Hits the Cast’, ‘Quoted Not Voted’ and ‘Hit Me’ the latter had everyone reaching for their beers a little quicker. ‘Its a song about depression’ quipped Stu. We never played it again.
February
This took us neatly into February and Tommy Clark of the Third Class Ticket Show continued to do us proud by playing us on his show; ‘Speak’ getting the slot.
Click ‘like’ here
https://www.facebook.com/TheThirdClassTicket
March
We were looking forward to playing Stereo but the gig was cancelled. I was gutted at this news; A because I love playing live and B because its a cracking venue.
We also uploaded the remasters of One More Solo to limited success!! I’m not sure if its worth doing the other albums; the overpowering bass of the original master was swamping the album. I like the new master though.
Hear for yourself.
http://weirddecibels.bandcamp.com/album/one-more-solo-remastered
April
April was quiet for us. I was busy working on Morningday; an album I recorded with Kevin Byrne and Jemma Burt.
May
Derek and Ann tied the knot. Its good to have a least one celebrity wedding a year.
World cup fever was building, we continued to practise the new songs another quiet month.
June
We had a gig at Pivo Pivo to look forward to. We were sitting in the practise room mulling over the limited response to the gig (we would learn that gigs are best played on a Friday or Saturday); we got a phone call from PM promotions who had helped us have some cracking gigs in 2013 (Oran Mor, ABC 2). It was to be at the QMU; an old stomping ground for us. The big stage right? We asked the promoter.
Ah no its Jims Bar.
Mmm it still looked ok so we went for it given that Saturday gigs tend to be better. First gig of 2014 booked… in June… Anyway it was to be part of the ‘West End Festival’.
June would also see us attempt our own event. We booked a gig at the brilliant 13th Note with young rockers Ciceros secret, Miss the Occupier and The Dark Arts. Things were picking up!
The 21st of June would see us play Jim’s Bar. I filmed the approach to the gig hoping to start a documentary for the band. It was a clammy summers day, the football was on and the venue was like a an oven. Not the greatest gig; our patience with PM promotions was staring to run low.
https://weirddecibels.wordpress.com/2014/06/29/pabs-gig-diary-jims-bar-qmu-live/
July
The film I made for the Jim’s Bar gig was quickly shoehorned into a video for Joker’ we hadn’t had a presence on YouTube for a while and this was a chance to get back on.
Not our greatest video by any stretch but it was a bit of fun. Views? 120 on our page around 600 on Blank TV. Very disappointing given the success of the other videos. A fickle world indeed!
Go on click the link and make it 121 views.
August
I was with Lewis sipping a coffee at the Helix when the phone rang. James Trimble from the Falkirk Herald looking for an interview! So look out for our article in the next couple of weeks! Thanks James. This was a Facebook post I wrote the day James Trimble phoned my mobile as I sipped a coffee. You should have seen the looks of the other costumers as I was talking about writing albums and playing gigs!
It was a very good article from James Trimble.
To top off this fantastic month we played our gig at the 13th Note. One of the best we played and we met some good friends old and new that night. I also highly recommend the Notes veggie burgers!!
https://weirddecibels.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/gig-diary-22nd-august-13th-note-glasgow/
Oh before I finish August we had promised for weeks to do the ‘ice bucket challenge; the Facebook craze that had went mega viral, listen close and you will hear Stu scream like a big girl!
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=868665706491852&set=vb.128933433798420&type=2&theater
September
We booked another gig; this time at Ivory Blacks. It looked very promising; although it was on a school night…
September was a quiet month of writing and recording practise sessions. We actually started writing in the old room again and the results were pretty good.
October
We launched our very own website this month in a hope not to rely too much on Facebook. Its hard to say where this is going to go. My how did we get to attached to Facebook. Disturbing…
anyway here it is.
The website will probably evolve to become more of a tribute to our 20 years together. Watch this space.
We started drinking tea and coffee at practise; yes you read that right.
November
We hyped the Ivory Black gig as a send off to Weird Decibels 1. A very disappointing gig and a rather sad end to the live life of Weird Decibels 1. Maybe we’ll do another show and send it off in style.
As I write about the highs and lows of unsigned music life there are certain things that quickly pull you back into perspective
Our good friend and fellow musician Chris Masson passed away at the age of 37. Too young. Too soon.
https://weirddecibels.wordpress.com/2014/11/15/chris-masson-1977-2014/
On the 22nd of November the guys brought their gear around to my place and we set up the studio. We wrote another batch of cracking songs for Weird Decibels 2. This will be the way we write in the future given the success of the session.
https://soundcloud.com/weirdmusiconline/the-canine-with-no-teeth
December
The band has wrapped up early this year, work and the festive season have taken their toll on our practise sessions.
All is good, we have a batch of songs ready to be rehearsed and eventually recorded next year
2014 has been a mixed bag. Some highs some lows; I feel we lost a wee bit of momentum this year due to different circumstances and perhaps poor choices.
2015 is our 20th anniversary. A new album is due, new videos, gigs, podcast and hopefully a film. So a lot to look forward to,
Massive thanks to the unflinching support of our family and friends
The unsigned musicians work is never done!
weirddecibels.com 
2 replies on “Weird Decibels our 2014.”
Glad to have given you a January highlight! Best of luck for 2015 🙂
It was a good piece! All the best Mosh.