Hello everyone! If you follow me on Twitter, and 'like' my Duckman page on Facebook, you would have seen my message yesterday regarding some upcoming releases by n-Somnia. It is true, there will be another compilation album on its way, but only after the EP that I have planned for this year.
This compilation (called "n-Somnia 2.0" - a sequel to my 2007 release) will cover all the singles and promo tracks I've released after "X - The First Decade". It may not feature as many tracks as that compilation though. A new EP (called "Harbinger") is planned for this year, and will most likely have 1 or 2 promo tracks from it. I may even consider a couple stand-alone singles/promos as well, depending on how I'm doing. The compilation itself will have 1 or 2 exclusive tracks as well. More information on this release will happen closer to the time I plan on putting it out, which I haven't set a date for at this stage. So, stay tuned for more in the future! Ciao! The first Gosney album & single for 2015 is now available for you to purchase! Click on the link buttons below to view their Bandcamp.com pages for more information. Hello everyone! We have returned from our Christmas/New Year break. Welcome to 2015. We hope you had a pleasant holiday, or are still having one. For us though, it's time to get back into motion! In this message, I'll be sharing some of the goals we have for 2015. Not all of them though, as we've left some room for any new ideas that may come by. I'm also avoiding setting deadlines for any of them (except maybe one), because my track record of doing that isn't exactly the greatest. I mean, the number of times I've wanted to do certain things by a particular date, and failed, is a little too high for my liking. The release date for Kingrow's "7-Sided Parallel" album is a good example of this (you can read about it in the Kingrow story on the website). Before I get into the details, I must inform you now that the months of January and February may be a little quiet to begin with. In less than a month's time, I will be heading up to Auckland with Aliesha to attend the first ever New Zealand concert by Sweden's own, Roxette! Much of January will be preparation for that, and I may not get into a good momentum until after our return a few days later (the concert is on the 7th). Either way, expect a review of the show when I get back! Anyway, what do we have in store for this year? Let's begin! STORIES Forbes has stated that he will be resuming his writings very soon. As a result of this, the first chapter should come our way in the coming weeks. Not sure when yet. Also, keep in mind that because of the concert, there may be some delays in posting some chapters if there's a new story released before February. If a new story comes out before January ends, I will attempt to have enough chapters released to keep you all satisfied while I'm away. However, if I don't get Forbes' next story before then, it will most likely wait until I get back before the first chapter is released. It all makes sense, really. DUCKSEL COMEDY First of all, I did post a blog with a meme the other day, which kind of counts as our first piece of new material for the year. All before the first official blog. Yay us! Anyway, as you may already know, Forbes and I started working on a sketch comedy album in 2014. We'd like to get more of that done this year. It may take some time though, but we'll get there. I'd like to do some more short comedy videos for YouTube also. If you think back a few years, I released a video under the name "Pointless Advertising #1". I'd like to do a #2 at some point (that sounds so wrong, but funny enough to keep in the blog). GOSNEY Just like previous albums/singles last year, the next release is scheduled for the 13th of the month, which is a couple days away. Meaning the next new thing we'll have for you after today will be the first Gosney album/single of 2015. There's a few scheduled for release this year. All of which will give us enough time to prepare the songs Forbes has 'trapped' on his PS2 memory card, due to the loss of his original copy of "Music 2000" after the 2011 earthquake. We've since replaced the software through means of an eBay purchase, so we're hoping to grab those songs a.s.a.p. These songs will be the last of Forbes' PlayStation music that hasn't been released yet. n-SOMNIA As you may know, I started on my next EP in December. So far I have 1 song that is nearly complete. I have planned for a total of about 6 songs this time. My goal is to have it out by the time I next go on Pulzar FM. About that interview, I was told off-air that there are plans to catch up with all the artists that have been interviewed after a year to see what they've been up to. I hope to have this EP as a topic of discussion by the time I get my second interview, which would probably be somewhere near the middle of the year. THE SWEDE LEGACY Near the end of 2014, I announced that I was working on a selection of songs I wrote back in high school for a band (or an 'attempted band') called Swede. This, of course, was the brain child of yours truly, which had Forbes' own input included. An early Kingrow, if you will. The first album is one that I do have a target date for. Since the project originally started sometime around August/September of 1995, I hope to have at least the recording sessions completed by those months this year. Doing so would mark its 20-year anniversary of existing. After this, I plan on giving it the final touches and having it released before Christmas. Since the band was heavily inspired (at first) by Roxette, my attendance at their concert next month will definitely help encourage me to get this album done. This is why I may take a few weeks to really get it started. I'm waiting for that spark of inspiration to light up! As for the other 4 albums I've planned, they will come along whenever they do so. No set date for these ones...but I would like to have all 5 released by 2020, if that's possible. I'd like to start the next decade with that chapter of my life completed. GAME WALKTHROUGHS Before the quake hit us in 2011, Forbes and I recorded 10 videos of a "Let's Play" series called "Ducksel Comedy Game Walkthroughs", where we focused on the id Software game, "Doom". I'd like to pick up where we left off at some point by doing the 9 levels of Episode 2 of "Doom", followed by the other episodes. Whether or not it will happen in 2015 is anyone's guess, but it's something I'd like to get back into. PODCASTS Another of the projects that got interrupted by the 2011 quake. We were only 2 episodes into it when it hit and Forbes had to step down to take care of things at his end. I was able to continue some time afterwards, but not for very long. There's only so long you can listen to one person before it gets boring. Podcasts work better with at least 2 people. When we do get back into podcasts, I'd like to take the 21st centry movie industry approach and do a reboot. As far as I'm concerned, due to the huge time gap, what was once called "The Ducksel Comedy Podcasts" is no more. Instead, I'd like to restart the series as "The Stuffed Duck Podcast". This opens up the series to more than just comedy. We could then talk about all the different things we do, such as comedy, music, stories, videos, reviews, our opinions on things, etc. No boundaries this time! QCI Little has been said on this project, but hints towards it have been out there for a while. Basically, "QCI" is one day going to be a webseries you can watch on the likes of YouTube (or anywhere else that may better suit it). It is a drama based on Forbes' story series called "Investigations", but is different to what's been written already. Think of it like your favourite series of novels that have had their own movie adaptions. They're never always accurate and/or the same. In our case, it is kind of intentional. What the series will be is (at least to begin with) a backstory to Forbes' original writing of "Investigations", which has not been released. In fact, it's an incomplete story. Forbes had trouble finding a way to give the story an ending, but hasn't gone back to it since he stopped. Meanwhile, I came along to read it. I liked it enough to be inspired to make a video version of what was written. However, I felt it also needed a backstory, which is why it will become a series rather than a movie-length epic. Once it gets to the point of the story where Forbes stopped, we will have the task of finding a conclusion to give it the perfect ending. Just so you know, the backstory I've come up with is enough to give a decent amount of episodes. There's no telling when this series will actually be seen, let alone get filmed, but my intentions for this project in 2015 is to get more involved in the writing stage. I started working on the first episode before 2014's end, and I plan to continue very soon. TRYING STUFF From time to time, when things get a little quiet on the website, we will be releasing an episode of "Trying Stuff" to fill the gaps. At 2014's end, I have an episode that remains unedited. I plan to have it up sometime soon. As for future episodes, there are 2 or 3 products worthy of featuring on our show that we have in our possession. We'll get around to filming those when the timing is right. That's about it for now. It's definitely not all the things I'd like to do this year, but as more ideas come my way, I'm sure I'll let you all know (unless it's a surprise - people love surprises). Bear in mind that there's a chance that not all of these things may happen as planned for 2015, but it would be super awesome if they do.
Until next time, stay safe in this crazy world and check back here regularly for more! Well, hello there everyone! I hope you all had a pleasant and safe Christmas break. We're still on ours, but as promised, I have returned today for the recap of what we've been up to for the past year (or in this year's case, since March). This will not be as detailed as the previous recap blogs, but will merely serve as a reminder of how 2014 played out for us. Let's begin! MARCH The site is launched. I give a few food-related blogs that aren't "Trying Stuff"-related. Forbes delivers a handful of Black Sabbath album reviews, while I give a movie review. The first of Forbes' online stories is added. APRIL More Black Sabbath reviews, plus the first of my own album reviews. n-Somnia continues to prove its worth via NumberOneMusic.com. Forbes' first story concludes this month. MAY The follow-up story by Forbes is released in its entirety throughout the month. Our current YouTube channel is created as plans to move our video archive from the old one commences. The long-awaited release of our "Comic Wit" video is announced and the date is revealed, trailer and all. Another of my short films, "Pilgrim", is made available on the website. JUNE Footage from this year's Armageddon Expo is made available. "Comic Wit" is released at long last. Hints towards a special n-Somnia-related event are revealed without spoilers. Blogs about spam via text messaging, and a very important one about escalator safety. JULY "Trying Stuff" makes a brief return with 5 episodes filmed in a single day, which would be released gradually over the following 5 months. n-Somnia finally reveals and takes part in the first radio interview this month. A recording of which is available for streaming online. Forbes and I started working on the so-called "Gosney Tapes", leading to the creation of several albums of previously unreleased material. The first Gosney single to be released in years at this point was also released. AUGUST Forbes becomes more active in his "Weasel Words" blog entries this month. The next of Forbes' stories, "Angels & Demons - Rebellious Nature" commences. Gosney's first album since 2009 is released this month. In 2 separate blogs, Forbes and I remember Robin Williams as we mourn the loss of such greatness. The first recap blog appears this month. SEPTEMBER Forbes continues his blogging, particularly with a politically-themed series. Gosney releases its next single. The "Angels & Demons" story concludes. For the first time anywhere, the "Expressions Talent Scan 1998" concert video is released via our website. The Memes page is added. About halfway into the month, we split our blog posts into 2 separate pages to avoid any confusion amongst new fans. We both post a blog about the end result of NZ's general election. Forbes blogs some info on the Gosney project. OCTOBER n-Somnia continues to do well on NumberOneMusic.com, while Gosney releases the follow-up single and album. Forbes introduces us to his next story, "An Unusual Case". NOVEMBER After a bit of a delay, the follow-up single from Gosney is released. n-Somnia's success continues. Gary releases a video of him trolling some seagulls with his food while inside his car. "Trying Stuff" concludes for 2014. DECEMBER "An Unusual Case" concludes and puts Forbes' stories on hold until 2015. n-Somnia reveals new material is in the works for a 2015 release. I typed a lengthy blog about our high school project, Swede, and the intentions I have in giving it a proper conclusion in the coming years. Our official SDP merchandise store opens. Forbes posts only 1 blog this month. We take a break for Christmas/New Year. So, there you have it! We didn't do too badly for about 10 months of the website's existence. Here's to the remainder of the site's first year, and to many more!
That's all from both of us this year. Our next posts won't happen until 2015. Have a safe time celebrating, wherever you are and whatever you do. Happy New Year, folks! God bless. Hello everyone. It's December 21st now in New Zealand, which means that we have reached our cut-off point for 2014 when it comes to new material. I think we've done enough this year to have earned a bit of a break.
There won't be any further recordings or writing sessions from us until January (probably the 4th...maybe?), but I'll still be posting the final blog of the year on the 30th (too busy on the 31st) giving a brief summary of what's been going down since we launched the website in March. I may not be able to post much this coming week due to the last-minute Christmas planning, etc, so just in case that doesn't happen, on behalf of 'Team Stuff' (Forbes, Aliesha, Gary and myself), have a very merry and safe Christmas. With the exception of my final blog on the 30th, we'll all see you again soon in 2015! Blessings to all! Want to own an official Stuffed Duck Productions mug, stein, hoodie or cap? Well, now you can! Click on the link button below to check out our merchandise store at PropellShops.com!
Greetings to you all! It's been a while since I last posted a blog about anything other than updates, new releases, etc, and since the end of 2014 is nigh, now is a good time to do something about that!
I would like to share a few things about a little (understatement) music project that Forbes and I attempted to create back in high school. There is a reason I'm bringing this up now. That reason is because in 2015 close to August or September, it will be 20 years since it all began in 1995. Technically, this makes it the longest incomplete and unreleased project we've ever done. A brief history of a band we once named Swede... At first, Swede was my own doing. For a few years building up to its conception (mentioned above), I would listen to my music collection (which was quite small back then, especially compared to my recent list...that's another story), and as I would lay there (or do something else while it was in the background), I would imagine (or daydream) that I was one of the band members playing the song I was hearing, while I would picture one of or a group of my friends as the other bandmates. During this, I came up with a vocal trio (much like The Bee Gees or TLC) with me as one of the 3. The other 2 would be a couple of my school friends (bear in mind that none of these other people knew about this). So, as I would listen to selected albums, I would imagine the 3 of us were performing the tracks. I even 'assigned' certain types of song for each member - myself singing the ballads (I had a major crush on someone at the time), friend #1 singing the breakup songs (as he had someone, but lost her), and friend #2 would be in charge of any songs I didn't really like as much as the rest (cleaning up the scraps, you could say). Because some of these albums I'd listen to had songs by female vocalists as well, I even came up with a female equivalent of my trio - my crush singing the ballads (open for duets!), friend #1's ex singing the breakup songs (would make an interesting duet, for sure), and a third female filling the same role as friend #2 (this role had more than 1 female fill it as I didn't know if friend #2 liked a particular girl, so I picked her at random...more than once). All of that took place in primary school, so as I got into high school it would change ever so slightly. By this time I was getting into a particular band called Roxette. Their biggest hit, "It Must Have Been Love" was on one of the compilation albums I would play to death while imagining I was in the trio. After having the song grow on me so much, I got my first Roxette album (their 1992 release, "Tourism"), and - while referencing a Roxette song to help tell the story - things would never be the same. The days of the 2 trios were no more. I decided to keep my imagination flowing by merging the 2 together and forming a single band, assigning certain people with instruments. My role emulated Per Gessle, the male half of Roxette, while the girl I had a crush on at the time was to fill the role of Marie Fredriksson, the female half (obviously). Taking my role seriously, this lead to me considering taking guitar lessons. This didn't take place until sometime in 1995, my second year of high school. By the way, Swede was named after the fact that Roxette are Swedish... For a few years by this time I had been imagining myself in a music group performing cover songs. But one night in either August or September in 1995, I was reading a book called "Love & Marriage" by Bill Cosby (and if you want to know what my thoughts on his recent news stories are, here's the short version - "Where's the proof? It's yet another celebrity witch-hunt"). In this book, I came to a passage that would change the direction of my musical fantasies forever. I can't remember at the top of my head how it goes, but it contained the words, "Overnight Arrival". This became my first song title. It wasn't long after "Overnight Arrival" appeared when I suddenly had a flood of other song titles, such as "Time Traveller" or "Do You Have to Go?" It seemed that Bill Cosby's book had opened a new door in my life, and it wasn't even relevant to the book's subject. Life is weird like that sometimes. After more and more titles came to me over time, I got into a new musical idea - creating album tracklists. "Time Traveller", one of my first titles and the first song to actually have my own lyrics, would be the name of the first of these fictional albums. Little did I know in late 1995 how much larger the list of 'albums' would be over time... Jumping forward to the crossover period of 1995/96, Forbes learned about my intentions in the music scene and offered his assistance. Keen on getting things started as soon as...yesterday, he was basically hired on the spot. Together we would create something so big, almost nobody knew about it. Either everybody was blind or our marketing skills sucked. On a serious note though, we were far from ready in 1996. I was still a beginner with the guitar, which was more than I can say about our vocal skills back then... The original line-up of the 'band' before Forbes came along was very similar in structure to Roxette (intentionally). After he tweaked it a little bit, the end result was a 5-piece pop/rock band consisting of myself on vocals and guitar, Forbes on vocals and bass, 'Woody' (we won't use real names) on keyboards and backing vocals, 'Bob' on drums (trivia: I originally had him listed as a second guitarist), and 'Toad' as the trumpet player...yes, you read that correctly. The only reason I enlisted a trumpet player was because he was the only other person I knew who could play a real instrument. I'm not joking about this. I was 14 going on 15... Stop laughing! Only 6 months into the year, Forbes and I had a falling out. Swede as we knew it back then was over, but not out for the count. In Forbes' absence, I continued writing for the project until I joined a real band, Supertrip, in late 1997. Eventually in 1998, Forbes and I found ourselves placed in the same class as each other for one subject. With the hopes of making the year a pleasant one, we decided to bury the hatchet that very moment. We had 1.5 years to cool off, so it was pretty easy. At that particular time, we had no desire to resurrect Swede. Besides, I was still with Supertrip then. Sometime in 2001, Forbes made a phone call to me one night. He had this idea that would give Swede a proper ending. This, of course, is funny in hindsight, as the band never really existed in the first place. But I went along with the ideas we discussed that evening. Little did I know though, this 'brief' reunion wouldn't be as short as we'd planned. More ideas came to me, and history tells what happens when that occurs. Meanwhile in 2005... Yeah, I was still going. My inspiration for Swede-related titles/albums has been quiet since the mid-2000's. This is mostly because of my involvement with Kingrow and n-Somnia, as well as our Ducksel Comedy projects. But Swede would always be in the back of my mind saying, "These songs need to be made. Do eet!" In the meantime, I would make numerous attempts at writing a fictional story about the 5-piece band from Christchurch, but compared to Forbes, I'm not that much of a novelist. If I'm to tell a story, it's through either videos or songs. The latter of which is the only way Swede can truly exist. So, I came up with a plan... In the last year or two, I decided that time is ticking on and there are many songs going to waste in my overweight archive. It was long overdue to do something about it. The 20th anniversary of Swede is approaching after all, dang it! Which is why I've come to this particular blog post. You may be thinking by now, "What's the point? That's old history. Why make me read all that stuff?" A single statement should settle the argument right here, right now... As of Tuesday 16 December 2014, the first recording for what will be called "The Swede Legacy" has commenced! That's right, I have started recording some of the Swede material dating as far back as late 1995, and I intend on making them sound as close to their age as possible as well. It's time to get this thing over and done with! I also said 'some' of the material. That's because there's so many titles I've come up with over the years (trivia: I counted more than 600 titles once, and that was in 1997...), and also the fact that a lot of them weren't that great (ask Forbes about "Grimace - The Big Purple Thing" and "Fruit Salad"). Therefore, I came up with a plan to make no more than 5 albums in total. Only 1 of them will have enough songs to fill a single CD. The rest may be capable of filling 2. Neither of which will actually be released on CD, as I'm kind of exclusive to Bandcamp.com these days. The first album will be "Time Traveller", respectively, and will feature 'most of' the songs from the fictional version, but adopting a few from another one to fill the gaps. Album #2 will be called "The L Word" (disclaimer: the TV series of the same name was made many years AFTER we came up with the music album concept). This album will be a collection of ballads I wrote between late 1995 and mid-1996. Both albums up to this point will be pop/rock. Album #3 will be called "Revolution". This is my collection of guitar-based rock songs I wrote (along with a few collaborated songs with Forbes) written in 1996. Album #4 is to be called "The Dark Ages". Forbes and I refer to the time period we weren't talking to each other as The Dark Ages, and this album represents the songs I wrote during that time. Finally, album #5 will be "The Return of the Time Traveller", which is one of the concepts we came up with in the mid-2000's and is a sequel to the first album, which will make a good conclusion to the project overall. For those interested in which song I started off with on Tuesday, the song of choice was... "Visitors" ... not the title you expected, right? This track was one I wrote for the fictional follow-up to "Time Traveller", called "Didn't See You Coming", so I guess the song is living up to its parent album's name by being the first instead of "Time Traveller" or "Overnight Arrival". The song is currently in its 'demo' stage, and will probably stay that way until the new year begins. These are exciting times and I can't wait to have this chapter of my life complete. It's taken long enough! Sorry this blog has taken longer than expected, but I feel that context is important and you needed to know the backstory of the project before you could fully understand what's in store for 2015 and beyond. In saying that, if you're a fan of my solo project, n-Somnia, I'm still doing that! Bear in mind that I even started the next EP for that project recently as well. But now, I suppose, you understand why I'm doing a solo EP instead of an album this time. Time for me to go. It's late as I type this, but it wasn't when I started...typical. Ciao! Hello everyone. Just thought I'd update you all on what's going on with my solo music project lately.
As you will have seen, I've been posting screenshots of e-mails I've been receiving from NumberOneMusic.com, one of many sites where I promote my material. It seems I've been doing well with some of the tracks from my second album, "Urban Decay". I've also seen some similar activity on Reverbnation.com, which I posted directly onto the n-Somnia Facebook page. The main reason I'm giving you all an update on what you should already know is actually regarding n-Somnia's future. Only a day ago, the first recording of my next project had commenced! I posted some photos on the n-Somnia Facebook page as a surprise announcement. This blog makes it more official because it's on the SDP website. The photos can be viewed at the bottom of this blog also. Some more information on the upcoming project, without too many spoilers, of course... The third photo in the images below gives a sneak peak at the title of this first song I'm working on (that's right, it's not finished yet). It's called "The Only Race is 'Human'", and it will indeed be a promotional track. This song will be a part of a 6-track EP. I'm hoping it'll be released by the middle of 2015, but anything's possible. There is a chance that a total of 3 songs from this EP will be promos. The reason I'm only doing an EP this time around is because I'm planning on working on a bigger project with Forbes. A project based on an idea for a band that we had back in high school. More will be revealed on this in the new year. That's about it for now. Keep a close eye on the blog for more on n-Somnia and other things, and don't forget to like the appropriate Facebook pages (found on our Links page), and follow us on Twitter while you're at it. Ciao! The conclusion to Forbes' story, "An Unusual Case", is finally up! Check it out at the link button below.
Hello everyone! Sorry I'm a bit late posting this. Technically it's December 1st here as I type this, but it's still November 30th in most places in the world, so I think I'll be fine. As I mentioned in a previous message, it's that time of the year when things get a little hectic for us and we may not get certain things posted online on time. Usually between late November and early January things will get a little sloppy, so bear with us!
I'm gonna jump straight into the recap for November 2014, so here goes! We kicked off the month with the second chapter of Forbes' latest story, "An Unusual Case". I've only just put up the 6th (of 7) chapters before posting this recap. Soon afterwards, Forbes followed it up with a couple blogs about necrophilia, space cowboys and much more. Nothing out of the ordinary for the one and only Weasel. Throughout the month I posted a few chart updates for my solo music project, n-Somnia, and how well I seem to be doing on NumberOneMusic.com. Forbes posted a blog about Care Bears and 'sex hi-fives'. Not in the same message and nothing to do with each other, I promise you. I caught a bit of the meme bug this month and made a few snappy visual jokes regarding depressing jobs, the FCUK clothing brand, and even a meme created by my wife, Aliesha, referencing the Outkast song, "Ms. Jackson", and the FurReal toyline. Gosney released "Webbed Death", the second and final single from the "If Death Comes Knocking...Will You Answer?" album. More blogs from Forbes talking about 'Buddicles', Jungelo, Excalibur, something awesome that happened, and other things. He had a lot to share this month! I posted a video, courtesy of our good friend and graphic artist, Gary Fox, of him trolling a group of seagulls while eating fish & chips in his car. Make this one go viral, people. You don't want to miss it! Finally, I released the last episode of "Trying Stuff" that I filmed with Gary and Aliesha this year. It was the highlight of the entire filming session, which is why I saved it for the end. That pretty much wraps up this edition of the monthly recap. Obviously, next month's will be the last one for 2014. Instead of just focusing on December (which will be covered in more detail), I will also include the highlights of the entire year since the website launched. It won't include everything, but also won't bore you (we hope). Stay safe. See you soon! The next chapter of Forbes' story, "An Unusual Case" is now available for your optical pleasure. Its conclusion will be revealed next week as the 7th chapter arrives. Stay tuned! Until then, read the rest!
This episode makes up for the previous as the trio taste a selection of sodas they've been waiting on for such a long time. Filmed by Gary Fox, he decided to have a little fun with the local wildlife after a visit to a Fish & Chip shop.
Chapter 5 of Forbes' story, "An Unusual Case", is now available for your reading pleasure.
It's up earlier than usual due to an upcoming busy week. You will witness this more regularly as the year's end approaches. After the Christmas/New Year time period ends, things will ease back into their usual routines. In the meantime...ENJOY! |