Runnin' Wild!

Hello hello you lot!

4470 Views? Wow.

So, yeah, it's been a while hasn't it? I hope you're doing well, if you aren't,I hope I can be a help, because we all need someone who writes about themselves to comfort us right?

However, I offer everybody here a hug, especially those that need said hug.

Where do I start? Things have been crazy cool this past fortnight, so much going on, which is precisely the reason I haven't written you all in a while, with the band, the band's wobsite, brainstorming for DFWTB's new projeKct, gaming, trimming the beard, admiring said beard, gig and so on, so forth.

I haven't managed to comment on

• E3
• The passing of Clarence Clemons & Ryan Dunn
• Duke Nukem Forever
• 19 months since I lost Dad
• The Actress & Bishop show
• How bad Duke Nukem Forever was
• Sunglasses

Which is alot to comment on in one blog, but I have time to kill and a 3 hour playlist. My back in the saddle was exceptionally long, and that got my most views ever in the history of the LCB.

E3, what a show eh? from what I saw I personally enjoyed the whole thing, Microsoft actually making some "games" for Kinect, YouTube on the dashboard and a whole host of games that aren't Call Of Duty: Modern Shovelware 3, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, Minecraft 360, Street Fighter X Tekken, Gears Of War 3, Metal Gear Solid HD Remasters are the ones I can remember off the top of my head, so yeah, the rest of this year is looking good...

We don't talk about Nintendo

Tragically this week saw the death of Clarence Clemons, one of the best saxophone players on earth who played in Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, and laid down some of the best Sax solos I'd ever heard, Born To Run, Badlands, just to name a couple any record I heard him on, I instantly knew it was Clarence, his sound was unique and he just had that effect on fans and musicians alike, I can't really pay tribute at all, all I will say is a big thank you, the legacy over the years is what you have left us, and that's a more fitting tribute than I can ever come up with.

Thank you Clarence.

Another loss this week was to Ryan Dunn, one of the guys from Jackass, he wasn't killed by riding a mattress down Everest, but a high speed collision, I've seen pictures of the wreckage and it's no surprise he was killed, what makes it worse is that he could only be identified by his beard and tattoos, he was my favourite of the Jackass guys and he provided endless laughter to me and others, thanks for everything Ryan.

*Jackass guitar riff*

Now a couple of weeks ago, the long awaited Duke Nukem Forever was released and with it came high expectations, so I went right out and bought it, and as imagined, it was poo.
Big smelly poo. I honestly regret playing it, it was that bad, I honestly think I could have made a better game.

It's a damn shame, however if you want a no holds barred FPS, that's manly and satisfying as hell, Bulletstorm is what I would highly recommend, at least Grey can hold more that 2 shit weapons at once, and now it's been out a while, you can pick it up for less than DNF.

Bulletstorm, the FPS of choice for Luke Clarke.

Duke aint got this shit!

Now I'm writing this on June 22nd, the 30th will mark nineteen months since I lost my father, it's only just hit me how quick that time has gone and how much I wish he were here to see all that's going on with Framed and everything else, it makes me very sad when I think about it, knowing that all of this that I'm doing now I know he would have loved, very saddening indeed, I miss him dearly as you all know, but nothing will bring him back.

What a daft git.

So, last Friday was a really satisfying gig, over at The Actress & Bishop in Birmingham, there was a lot of pissing around before we actually got our gear on stage, partially because of the knobbish lot of amateurs myself and the gang could see in front of us.

At a glance we thought it was a “Fender/Line 6 Showcase Evening”. Myself and Joe having a giggle at the shiny gear these other guys had brought with them, as we grew further impatient and angry, because well...they didn’t bring a bass amp for The Cardboard Man to use, however when one appeared, it was like seeing a shoebox with Laney written on it, laughs were had.

First things first I’d like to thank everyone that helped us with the gear.

Secondly, all of you fantastic folk that came along to see us, thank you for making it a brilliant night, from behind tinted shades I could see you all feeling the rhythm, singing and dancing, afterwards we got some awesome feedback from everybody there, except for the poo band that were, who I’ll be honest just seemed to ignore us, I saw them taking the piss while we were warming up with “Don’t You Ever”. I gave them the bird and carried on having a beard and outplaying their whole band.

However, there are some big things on our horizon, Framed are taking some time off to write and record the album, we’ve got the time to do it and the drive to do it. With all the input we all have, I have a gut feeling you lot are in for something special.

and that's it for now folks

as usual, thanks for reading, and remember

B. Cool

Your pal

Luke Clarke

ProspeKcts & ProjeKcts

Greetings readers, fancy bumping into you here.

What a coincidence!

How're you all doing? Well I hope, it's been a little while since I last blogged, simply because I just haven't gotten around to it, however that said, it's given me time to gather some thoughts and put them into a readable format for y'all!

The past week has been...odd, to say the least, I've felt really rough in general and my head has just been all over the place, but I've (thankfully) had a lot of support from my friends, I won't name names, but a lot of you fine folk have been around to talk to and I thank you all for it.

Get clued up about the latest goings on in Framed by clicking the respective buttons!

As you'll guess from those blogs, last practice was a bit naff, click those and you'll find out why and why there are big things on the horizon, I've never been as creative as I am currently, I use music as a healer for any symptoms I suffer, as cliché as it sounds, it certainly is a big part of my life, which is why I strive constantly to be the best I can be, considering my lack of musical knowledge and my gammy hands.


Alot of new albums in the rotation this week, I'll be getting some mini-reviews up soon, along with my word on Duke Nukem Forever, which I can hardly believe I have sitting on my shelf!

Another thing that may be in the works with Rob & Chris, is a gaming based website, it's just an idea at the moment, however I think the potential is massive, so keep your eyes on mine and Rob's Blag. On a different note, me and Chris are working/brainstorming on a YouTube series based on the adventures of a UK lorry driver, which I'm looking forward to doing the voice over(s) for, it'll be similar to various conversations we've had as cockney cab drivers before.

I've got 3 songs in the work, which I intend to have a crack at with the band after the next gig at The Actress & Bishop, Friday 17th June, which is we enter our period of re-invention, so to speak, a clean slate as we write towards an inevitable Framed album!

Now that's all I can think of
B Cool, take care

Luke Clarke

Nothing Happens By Chance.

Hey Empire.


I dunno if I've told you this before, I keep coming back to this quote from "Bono on Bono"

"Nothing happens by chance. You don't end up in front of 20,000 people on a stage by accident, I had a bigger hole to fill, a rock star is someone with a hole in his heart almost the size of his ego"

 I keep coming back to it, even more so after some comments just lately about me and my "off my rocker" approach to music and life, I know I'm not a fantastic Guitarist/Musician, but I get such a buzz out of what I do, and I thoroughly enjoy having the kind of energy I have, it helps me believe in myself a lot more than I used to, being overly loud, ostentatious and sometimes narcissistic gives me more confidence in what I can do and egg me on to push myself further onwards and upwards.


If it verges on vulgar, I apologize.


So, remember last blog I mentioned how I was longing for a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier? 
Well, I went out the next day to PMT in Birmingham where there was a tasty second hand Dual Rectifier priced up at £1099, I tried it out with an awful Les Paul, and it had a brutal sound, 3 channels and I won't bore you with the specifics, but all of my rhythm bits had a really nice bark to them, and the lead sounds for solos etc were really nice and smooth, so I'll sell the AC30, my Mom said she put the rest, which shouldn't be much and Joe says he'll fit a cab up with some nice speakers for a good price, what a bloke eh? It's a slim straight up cab aswell, the kind I like!

Really excited to hear what it sounds with my Gibsons through it, with the 500T pickups? It'll demolish buildings, I'll name the finished cab "THE EMBALMER" forget branding or making up a technical name, I'll be running a Dual Rectifier into The Embalmer!

Heh, it'd keep people guessing right?

So, I've not long got in from a visit to town with a good friend of mine, Maccie, we had a laugh at his random shouts at things, while I shouted LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE from time to time, he brought a Flip camera which set alarms off in every shop we went in, so we ended up in the pub, was good to get out of the house, cheered me up and it was good to see Maccie, it'd been a while, but we have plans for  a new YouTube series, which should be a (extremely loud) laugh.


I've got a whole lot of new albums I've been getting into, below is a montage of all the covers!

They're all very good, a nice variation, something for everybody there, they're all worth a listen, however, some of them are VERY hard to get a hold of. I really had to search high and low to get these albums in reasonable quality (I say 320kps reasonable). They are out there, and they are great albums!


South of Sheol is a solo album by a guy on YouTube called Dave "Dingle" Reeves, He's a brilliant guitarist, a big user of Bugera amps and all around top bloke, go pay his YouTube channel a visit! His album is £7-ish on iTunes, totally worth it, a truly brilliant sound!


Dingle 'Ere


Just a quick update this time
Catch you later
B Cool
Luke

A week left in limbo.

Hiya guys.

How're you doing? Well I hope, it's been a frustrating week, but at the same time one where I've felt I've been left hanging, where? I don't know.

I've had to deal with a couple of packages being all over the place. My pre-order L.A Noire only arrived today,  a week after the initial release day, and get this it came complete with no pre-order bonuses, whether that was a problem with Play.com, or someone tampering with my mail (like it looks) I have no idea whatsoever.

The case of the missing pickups continue. Where are they? who knows, at least I'm not at a loss with those now, but either way I was looking forward to beef the Telecaster up with some hotrails!

Practice with the band on Monday was great, I used some new silly sounds of mine, making one of the slower songs sound like a 50's B-Movie. Me & Joe have been working on some tracks that we will be putting together over the coming weeks. Speaking of the coming weeks, our gig at Plug has been cancelled, blame our promoter, however on June 17th we are playing at The Actress & Bishop in Birmingham, as long as were playing you're in for a great show, seriously.

I was hit by a sudden realization when drinking the other night, do I spend too much time developing these sounds? If so, am I cutting myself off from everybody except for the band and my work colleagues? Alot of people have been texting me and I'm at a point where I feel I have nothing to say to them anymore. I can't put my finger on why, or if there's been a distinct change, I know these people are there and I love them to bits, but honestly, I have nothing to say to them.

Monday, at band practice I turned on the lights in the rehearsal room and there, sat a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier, the amp of my dreams, I'm glad to report that it wasn't a case of "Never meet your heroes" because after having a twiddle with all the dials, I tried the amp on the third channel, gain cranked, I played a few riffs and stuff and it sounded like the norse God of Thunder beating ten tons of shit out of the worlds dictators!

You can understand that now I have G.A.S and wish to acquire one, there is a flaw to my plan, a £2000 flaw. I'll be honest, I struggle to have any kind of focus at work, because of the atmosphere I just tend to feel really distant from what I should be doing, hence why I couldn't even consider saving that biblical amount of wonga to buy one...unless of course I rob a bank...Banco El Rob maybe.

I have a couple of new YouTube videos up!

Enjoy! Tutorials will not be available, unless the secret handshake is applied.

Lots of new music and stuff, I'll do an album review blog like I did before, you dig?

This week saw the completion of Framed's official website too, go and take a look and bookmark it for future updates!

Now, I've found myself doing alot of thinking just lately, which isn't good for me, this isn't helped with a stupid amount of mindgames going on, so please if you're causing grief via text, quit speaking in riddles and being suggestive, and just be straight please. I have enough on my plate dealing with fluctuating symptoms/side effects.

On that note, I'll be leaving you for the world known as 'Bed'
Take Care, B.Cool

Your mate
Luke Clarke

Insight into my guitar style.

Welcome back readers.

I'd just like to give you a little insight into my recent playing style, as I mentioned in my latest blog, I've come to realize I won't be a shredder, even though I have the Buckethead Les Paul, it doesn't mean I can play as fast as the guy does, as much as I'd love to and as much time as I've put into trying, my wrist cramped and swelled up when I got to just half speed of one of his solos, that was when it hit me, that I wont be playing 32nds at 130bpm.

Alas, I've been looking and listening to my style just recently and I've come to realize I'm at a good middle ground, I've got a nice thick sound that compliments how I play, the kind of style is around people like Peter Frampton, Carlos Santana, David Gilmour, Billy Gibbons, The Edge, Mark Knopfler etc and that's just my general Lead/Rhythm style. As Framed will mention, I do alot of ambient stuff, creating moods using swells, loops and synths with the guitar, which is all based off the work of Robert Fripp, sure it may sound boring to most, but I use it for a reason to really create and set the tone in the background of a song, using it to expand the sound and compliment the atmosphere that the song is aiming to achieve.

I tend to avoid the Pentatonic & Blues scales where I can in fear of sounding like Slash or Zakk Wylde , more times often than not using the Phygrian & Dorian scales, sometimes tastefully going out of key, adding quick triplets over a stupid amount of frets (12-15-19 the other night)


I may sound like I know what I'm on about, but I really don't. I've been self taught for the entire time I've played guitar, so my knowledge of theory and application of said theory is ridiculously low. I just thought the price of lessons was horrific, just to spend months learning "Knockin' On Heavens Door"

To be able to do what I do, when I do, I use my Boss GT10, which a year ago I would have classed as taboo, I was a tone nut, using many analog pedals to achieve a tone I'd be happy with, but that was proving difficult and VERY expensive, and I was nowhere near the tone I wanted, not by a long shot.

And I fell over while trying to switch sounds on the fly, that was when I realized I can get what I want and need from an effects unit. the ability to switch from a U2-like shimmer delay sound, up to a hot rodded "Frampton Comes Alive" sound to the soft swells of a Frippertronics soundscape patch.

The tones I can achieve are exactly what I hear in my head, with minimal feedback into the FX loop on my AC30, it's all there and live, it's very easy to operate which is a big bonus.

Alas, that's just something I've shared with you.
I'll leave you with a song.

Thanks for reading.
Take care
Luke Clarke

Rain, Vinyl, Music And Contemplation.

Welcome back, to another edition of the blog.

Been a busy week for me and also a very interesting one.

The Wednesday just gone me and my old friend Rich went into Birmingham, as we often do, much to my own surprise, I found I was skint, except for the £10 I had in my wallet, £6 of which I'd spent on food, so that's £4 to throw around, so we went down past the Bullring and FairDeal music, to a record store we had spotted while we were avoiding The Island Bar when we played there.

So we went in there and it was a proper retro record shop, I picked up Peter Frampton's Classic "Frampton Comes Alive!", Bruce Springsteens "Greetings from Asbury Park" and a rare 90's U2 CD single "Last Night On Earth". and spent £4! which in my books is pretty damn cool.

You know people say "Vinyl quality is superior"? Well, in this case, it really is. I listened to FCA start to finish and it blew the 320KPS MP3s I have out of the water, it sounded like utter perfection to me, I think we'll be returning to that shop...

That evening as the dark fell, I was stood in the doorway of my back door the rain lashing down, I had a whiskey in my hand and I was doing some thinking, about how I'm gonna have to do all I can to keep myself sharp musically and mentally too, but I was not only things that are to come, but inevitably the past, I mean sure, it cannot be changed, but it doesn't mean it's easy to forget and with the constant haziness that comes with my tablets, it kinda amplifies everything to the point where I was so zoned out, I didn't hear my phone ring, but I think that's for another blog...


But hey...

HA BISKY!!!

This week sees the release of one of my most anticipated games, LA Noire, I had it on pre-order, it was dispatched the other day, I thought "lovely job, weekend on LA Noire",  release day is here, do I have LA Noire, no.

Hopefully, I'll get it soon, Rob (of Rob Cotton's Blag fame) says I'll love it, and he very rarely gives that kind of opinion. (Soon being tomorrow, or the postman will be embalmed)

I digress...
Last night me and the band, Framed, played at The Adam & Eve in Birmingham, or as I recall last night "The Morgue" we got all of our gear there (albeit a little late) set up, soundchecked, went and got food, we were on at 10pm so we had time to kill, we had a laugh, I got onstage and realized someone had left my AC30 turned on all night, wasn't happy.

But we went on to play a really tight set, I really fluffed up one of the tracks but the rest of the set was flawless and we showcased a new song, to a crowd of about 5 people who we didn't bring with us, which at the end consists of an all out rockfest, Me & Joe trade solos, Matt really pumps through on the bass, Kim is really kicking it and I saw Andy go jumping off the front of the stage, and not being big headed or anything, I played one of the best solos I have in years!

I'm told it's all on camera and someone was taking snaps, ready to get the wobsite going, so keep your eyes peeled. As stoney faced as the crowd was, we enjoyed it, had a laugh with it, but there are big things on the horizon, and you'll be the first to know. We're building the foundations ready for what's to come as a single unit.

I'm excited, seriously, I'm playing better and better stuff, constantly jotting down ideas for future use, ticking over, I've realized I'll never be a shred-level player, but I'm happy being in the middle on Frampton/Santana/Gilmour level, and with me constantly swapping around sounds to get the right one for me I know I'm doing well.

Tonight though, I recieved an odd text from somebody unexpected, so I'll figure that out when I can be arsed.


That'll do you for now
Thanks for reading
B.Cool
LC

Launching "The Soundscape" + A Rant

It's very rare, here on the Luke Clarke Blog, I have a full on rant, but here I go, about Call Of Duty: Black Ops (Hereon mentioned as Blops) and Mirror's Edge. Now I've been playing Mirror's Edge on my downstairs Xbox 360, so my Mom & Sister have been watching most of the time, and I've started to really hate the game with an unbridled passion, it;s a real challenge, the objectives are very vague, and the controls are hard to work with, but my Mom raised a good point "what's the point if it doesn't challenge you? you'd only moan if it was over in 5 minutes" which is true, but when does a game go from challenging to annoying? when you hit the start button on Mirrors Edge's opening screen. Never has a game sent me loopy to the point where I shout at my big TV and call the main character a whore, though I still say it's a pretty game, visually engaging at least.

Now onto Blops, now the Campaign, I really enjoyed, but my main complaint is the pathetic map expansion packs that are a constant cash cow for these repetitive games Activision churn out year on year. After a right laugh on Double XP weekend with the guys, I figured the new Escalation pack would be worth the investment using my remaining Game Loyalty Points, but no, 5 Terrible maps, 1 is an unplayable zombie map, and the rest are all miserable rehashes of what could have been decent maps, I've played them only once, because there are only 4 game modes, £10 for that? at least I didn't pay for any of it, because I would slag myself off in a mirror if I had wasted £10 on them.

RANT OVER

So, I hope you've all been well, I have, this past week has been great, I caught up with Chris & Rob when we went to see Thor in 3D, it was a right laugh, and Rob (of Rob Cotton's Blag fame) had a chat with me about life and everything, which we've never really discussed, so it was kinda cool, while we were all in Walsall though, we were in HMV and there was this Boogie Woogie track that came on that grabbed us as soon as it started, was it Jools Holland? No... Dr.John? No... out came the Shazam app, it turned out to be Hugh Laurie! 

All I can say is wow, I have the album, and it's been on my playlist non stop ever since, it's an eclectic mix of blues, folk & jazz that must not be missed, review coming soon from both me and the Cotton Blag soon I assume (right Mr.C?)

Work continues on the Framed official page, alot of work is going in, it's been a while since I made a website, but it's looking great so far and there will be a new branch of my blog there. "The Soundscape" and it's co-blog "The Soapbox" are two blogs written by me and the other guitarist in the band Joe, (mine being the soundscape, Joe's being the soapbox) so if you want to know my take on music, The Soundscape @ Framed-Online.co.uk will be where you find me, Akimbo Blogging!

For now, that's all there is to know, but how about you go to this page, and register on the petition to get NASCAR 2011 released in the UK? It's made by a UK company, but publishers Activision won't release it here, It looks really cool, so do a guy a favour! Tweet @Eutechnyx @NASCARTheGame and go and sign this Petition

Thanks for reading

B Cool

Luke Clarke