A bit of an update, and some AWESOME news!

Wow, it has been some time since I blogged last! Been crazy busy at university as all my assignments/ tests start snowballing into one rather hectic schedule. Although with the rate I procrastinate I probably could have finished them all and written 3 blog posts! But oh well, we all know that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Anyway, seeing as it's been a while since I posted, I thought I'd give you a rundown on whats been going on. I'm going to have to break this into sections haha.

Study

What is this study you speak of? Apart from the fact that I'm still not very motivated about it, I'm quite enjoying university at the moment. I seem to be doing ok too - got my first lot of results back the other day. C+, B+ and an A-. How very alphabetical.

Probably the best thing about uni this year, other than getting to watch Bollywood films in Media studies (favourite paper!) and meeting some cool new people was my last academic writing assignment. We had to pick a journal article for it to write about, which in itself isn't terribly interesting. However my article was actually awesome cos it properly introduced me to the Kinks, who are now one of my favourite bands. It really is a shame these guys never aspired to the heights of the Beatles or the Rolling Stones because if you ask me the Kinks give them a run for their money, and at times even better them! Don't believe me? Go listen to "Misfits" and then try telling me that isn't one of the most well-crafted songs you've ever heard.

Life

I've become addicted to walnuts and milo and skating. Though Not all at the same time. 

Oh and I (finally) bought a new guitar! As seen above. It is one meeeeeeean axe, plays somewhat similar to my brothers Epiphone Les Paul Special but I got it for a fraction of the price. Well, half. Either way it was a sweet deal because this is such a nice guitar. Real grunty, and roars incredibly when you shove it through some overdrive. Just needs a set of new strings and I'm set to crank the metal! (Well, try). No but seriously though, I'm so excited about this. It's the first electric I've bought in years and has SO many differences to my other guitar. Looking forward to jamming this beast out a whole lot more in the near future!

 Faith

While this one's probably the hardest to define using concrete events, it's been going well. I guess? I still feel I could be so much closer to God than I am at the moment. Still, church & life group have been a big part of my life this year and it's all such an awesome space to be in. I feel really privileged and blessed to be part of it all.
Lately I've taken to reading the word when I wake up. Which is actually so good, because I can concentrate heaps better. At night I find I get distracted real easy.... It's just a good way to start the day I find. Also I've been finding so many verses which speak volumes to me about pretty much everything, so I've been underlining those! Got plenty of "Scribbles" to chose from when I write one next.

Music

As usual, I've been spending a LOT of time jamming the new tunes. Radiohead are still high on the playlist at the moment - I'm loving all the stuff from In Rainbows! Yeah I know I'm like 6 years behind the times.... but oh well.
I've weirdly been jamming a whole lot of music which isn't really my norm - funk, hiphop, metal. It's good though.
I've been getting SUPER excited about the new The National album "Trouble Will Find Me". I got addicted to these guys sound near the end of last year, when heavy into my ambient music phase (which is probably still going haha). Their song "Fake Empire" would probably rank somewhere in my Top 10 songs ever written if I ever was to compose such a list. Anyway, the new album is sounding absolutely STUNNING from the songs I've heard of it which have been pre- released on Youtube. "I Need My Girl" and "Rylan" are such good songs both lyrically and musically, and then "Don't Swallow the Cap" (which I'm listening to right now coincidentally), while taking a few more listens is actually a gem of a song. Especially the last twenty seconds. That guitar tone/effect is absolutely incredible. Can't wait till the 20th of May when they finally release it!

On a different topic, seeing as it's music month here in little New Zealand, where the whole country finally decides to pay attention to it's wealth of talented artists (or at least the mainstream ones....), I thought I'd join in the buzz. The above album cover, while being pretty hideous artistically, is for a sweet Kiwi band called Carb On Carb who are actually very good. Don't judge the cd by it's cover! Seriously though, I had the pleasure of seeing this epic 2-piece at a gig a few weeks ago and they were one of the highlights of a night which included some crazy dancing, talking to some guy who used to drive rickshaws for a living, my flatmate's band rocking the stage, and this other band who managed to pull off a decent cover of a Band of Horses song. So for these guys to make an impression during all that was pretty impressive. I was looking up some of their tunes online and stumbled across this lovely EP of theirs which can be downloaded from http://carboncarb.bandcamp.com/. It's really good, especially the last track! If you're into melodic punk, or female-fronted rock bands that don't sound like Paramore (unfortunately all to rare in todays world), go check them out!

Personally I've been jamming music a lot lately. Found out I lived next door to a drummer the other day, and we've been having a few informal practices together which is cool cos he's pretty much at the same skill level as me. So cool just to jam random tunes again!
Also I got invited to join a band at Crossroads which is going to be playing for their youth service next week! Pretty exciting stuff, but also slightly nerve-wracking because I haven't played in a band for so long and I'm actually pretty rusty.... 

And now for the exciting news...

 

Yeah. This happened.

FINALLY, after a good year and a half of living in P-town, I joined/started a band!
Considering how long I spent on the lookout wondering about it, the whole thing happened surprisingly fast. The majority of us all met each other last year during the Ucol music course, and the two months we spent playing together was truly awesome, as we gelled so much musically as well as personally. Seeing as we were all still in Palmy, we decided it'd be a good idea to get together and jam out, and Caleb invited one of his mates to come jam some bass with us. And the rest is history (or hopefully will be!).
Seriously probably the most exciting things to happen EVER! We're all super serious about our music, and the range of styles we can play is eclectic in every sense of the word. Looking forward to the future with these guys!
Go check us out at http://www.facebook.com/PreetiAndTheGentlemen?ref=ts&fref=ts and give us a like or two! Hopefully we'll have some stuff up soon!


Well, that was probably the most exciting post I've done all year! But it's getting late and I'm mega tired after a long day of uni and playing music, so I better hit the hay.

Catch you on the flipside guys! And go give my bandpage a like - you know you want to!