Last couple of weeks have been a total nightmare as I have been very busy handing in assignments for the SAE degree, preparing for exams in my distant learning course and preparing my band’s debut release.

We recorded 3 tracks with Paul Savage at Franz Ferdinand’s Govan studio in late 2009, and the dry material sounded excellent. I got the honour of mixing the tracks which was a bit of a challenge. However, it was my first real professional job as an audio engineer so I was pretty psyched about that. John Cornfield mastered the tracks for us. His service was amazing. We couldn’t have asked for a better turnaround time, and the tracks sounded really nice once he was finished mastering them.

I was naive enough to think that as soon as the material had been mixed and mastered, we would be good to go to releasing the tracks as a download EP. Boy was I wrong. Digital distribution, PPL licence, PRS licence, ISCR codes, promotional copies, press release, press kits, press packaging, postage and packaging, finding the right contacts and getting in touch with them is the path you need to take, and this is all after the actual hard bit – getting the material to sound good!

Writing the press release was particularly painful. Finding a proper description for the band and the music is one of the toughest jobs I have had the pleasure of doing. There should be a course every kid has to take in school where they have to write about themselves, for job applications and press releases. This is what we ended up using:

“Inspired by the long hot days of a Belgrade summer and too many rainy nights in Glasgow, the gypsy-driven piano, clipped guitars and tankard-swinging rhythms push and pull Charlie Milne’s soulful baritone in a reckless, bruised euphoria. After global economic meltdown and as the lights go out across northern Europe, this post-industrial Balkan rock train might not provide any answers but it’ll at least help you forget some of the questions.”

I’d prefer not reading over it anymore. But I guess it is the kind of stuff which you have to create, even though it might sound a bit lame.

Anyway, we will release it on iTunes, Emusic, Amazon and through all the other digital retailers on May 3, 2010. We will be hosting a launch night for the EP at Bar Bloc+, 117 Bath St, Glasgow from 8pm on 6th May with support from John McFarlane (Sluts of Trust) and a DJ set from Glasgow PodcART.

You can have a listen to the tracks on myspace.com/fearthefives. If you like what you hear, I would be thrilled if any of you could come along for the launch.

Press Release Raggi - out.