About Time For An Update!

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Tim

Lots of things have been going on and admittedly we have been a bit lazy about keeping the blog up to date, opting to use Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter. Those things are great but they are still like drinking through a fire-hose. So I thought it was time for consolidation and cohesion with an update on all things Victim Cache.

First up, Kickstarter! Currently we are waiting for Aardvark Record Mastering to cut a reference lacquer and send that to us so we can give it a good listen before moving forward with the final record master and electroplating. Most other things are waiting on this, but we can go ahead and work on the label design while this is going on. Aardvark’s turn-around time can be two weeks or so to cut a lacquer. It may be a bit longer for us since we are having them master from our high quality digital masters and that requires an extra step. The wait will be worth it, though! I would much rather they take their time and produce the best master they can!

Though we are incredibly excited about our 7″ single, we have been working hard towards live shows. It is hard to put a timetable on things since there is still much to do, but we do have a set-list put together for our first round of shows and are hard at work with both original songs (that will appear on our next album) and covers. The idea is to start doing shows while we work on our next album and, in fact, we will be playing most (if not all) of the album live before we make a studio version. We wanted to do this for a few reasons.

For one, we received a huge amount of feedback that our fans want live shows. We do too! For two, it is a way for us to get used to playing the songs well. Our next album will involve a fair bit of open mic recording and playing the songs well means we can focus more on mic setup and mixing than having to keep doing takes. We also think it will make the results sound a lot more fluid.

We still want to give folks an opportunity to have a copy of our music so to appease though that prefer albums over shows, we plan to offer up recordings of all our shows to our fans. The catch? We will only offer those recordings to the folks that showed up. We will probably end up taking a really good show and turning it into a live album for everyone since we know not everyone (in fact a big majority of our fans) cannot make it in person. So what will it sound like? Well, that is something we are keeping secret until we finish at least one of our songs. We did agree that if our Kickstarter project had funded that we would release a song off our new album, and we will plan on doing that.

As far as the logistics go when it comes to small shows, we are mostly there with some odds and ends. One thing we don’t want to rely on is a computer. Right now software (Ableton Live) is being used for MIDI sync, MIDI routing, effect processing, and recording. The MIDI stuff we want to move out to an MBSEQ which will also handle patch changes for the synths that need it. Live will still handle our send effects but those effects can be controlled via MBSEQ at least for the near future. If Live crashes, the show can still go on. The plan is to house the MBSEQ, as well as rackmount versions of our synths and GameBoy interfaces, in a live rack of sorts. Right now, we have a ton of small modules (some without even an enclosure) that we have to carry around and that’s not going to work out well for lives shows. As a result, the live rack is something we’re focusing around when it comes to hardware that we need.

This is a bit from left-field but for recording, we want to eventually record at least the mixdown to tape. The reel to reel kind. Why? It sounds good! But it also means that, if we ever release that show on an analog medium (such as a record), we can say it was recorded 100% on vinyl. How awesome would that be!? Apart from that, there are some other nice to haves that we won’t have at the onset (such as wireless monitors – those things are expensive) but we can likely get by for a while with what we have.

So when will we have our first show? The most hopeful estimate is 3 months, but I suspect it will be at least 6 or more in practice. But we will see! We are getting close to finalizing the songs for our first set-list which means we can start working on some of the odds and ends and other show content. After that it is a matter of getting some of the hardware we need and we will be good to go! Know of a venue that might like to have us? Do let us know!

So there you go! That is a whirlwind update over the last few months of Victim Cache. Sorry for the delay in keeping things updated! It just means we have been busy hammering things out! We can’t wait for our 7″ and live shows and I assume neither can our fans! For the moment, though, thanks for your patience while we work on things! If you want to help support us, don’t forget you can buy the digital version of our last album, Chipsurf Pipeline, on our Bandcamp as well as all the usual suspects (iTunes, Spotify, etc.).

If you read this whole thing I can only assume you’re a pretty hardcore fan. So thanks for that and supporting us!

Updates on the Single

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Tim

Admittedly in all the excitement, we neglected to update our blog and make mention of the fact that our Kickstarter project funded! And then some! Our minimum goal was $750, which would have been a pretty small and simple release. In the last week of funding, not only did we meet goal, but we ended up blowing that out of the water! We raised at total of $1,040 which, after the Amazon and Kickstarter fees, gave us a total of $945.51. With this, plus some funds we have been able to come up with, we are going to be able to do a pretty nice 7″ release!

We have already said we are going to do a small run of colored vinyl in addition to black. The costs for it were a tad more than we realized but we committed to doing it and that’s what we will do. We are still going back and forth a bit, but so far we are looking at a red/yellow marble with some black thrown in for the colored version. The label will then be either blue or black with silver ink. We also want to do a simple fold-over jacket sort of thing. It will be white on black ink and will feature our band logo. We could not afford record sleeves but I think a fold-over plus a bag is still pretty good. If we have anything left-over, we will also include nice plastic inner sleeves instead of paper to help keep the 7″ in good condition.

Before we can do anything, though, we get to engage the backers of the project in a pretty personal way. Each and every person who pledged support will get to vote on which two songs they would like on the 7″. We are doing a weighted vote such that the amount pledged will be applied to that persons vote. So those that pledged more, get a bigger say. Anyone who does not vote will be giving their votes to John and I. I think it’s a neat idea! So far, we have had 10 responses (although one of which we do not know the identity of and so that one may not count) so far out of 43. Voting ends July 3rd.

If you missed out on Kickstarter and still want to get your hands on the 7″, fear not! While we will not be selling the extra colored vinyl (we are saving those for special occasions), the black version will be available online after the completion of the project and after we have given everyone who backed the project their goods.

Finally, we will say yet again, thank you so much to all who believed in our project! We are incredibly excited about this and we really hope you are too!

We were in the paper!

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Tim

This last Wednesday, the Bandera Bulletin gave us a featured article on the front-page of the paper! That was huge for us and a massive thanks to James and Jessica and everyone over at the Bulletin that made that happen! For those that are unable to grab a paper copy, the article is now available online. For the curious, Bandera, TX is Tim’s home-town that he still visits from time to time and which is often know as “The Cowboy Capital of the World” and a pretty nice place to go when you want a change of pace. Of note, our friends from Fifty Dollar Dynasty are also from Bandera and went to High School with Tim.

We’re Almost There!

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Tim

This morning I woke up to a pleasant surprise! Our Kickstarter surged up to $835, a full $85 above our minimum goal! This is awesome and while we don’t want to celebrate just yet (folks can still back out up until Monday – we understand, stuff happens) it’s looking really positive that the project will fund. And that means we will be pressing a record!

It’s incredible! But also an important responsibility. We did this because we believed in the idea and hoped our fans did too. Turns out that you do! And we want to do our absolute best to give you all something that is special! Lots of work to do after the funding cycle ends, but we are excited!

And it’s not over yet! If you want to get your hands on a limited edition 7″ single, there is still time. The 7″ is likely to be fairly special as well as we have decided that we will be doing a small run of colored vinyl that will largely be exclusive to backers of the project. If we do end up raising enough money, we will instead go for a full 12″ album instead of a 7″. That is still a fairly lofty goal, but is certainly possible! If we can do it, we will! I think if we hit those numbers, we will likely ask those who pledged which one they would prefer (a 7″ single or 12″ LP) just so we get our fans what you want.

All that said, again, huge thanks to everyone involved!

7 More Days!

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Tim

We have 7 more days to go before our Kickstarter project draws to a close. We have made some headway but we still have yet to make our minimum goal of pressing a 7″ single. If you are interested in being part of this limited edition run, be sure to pledge your support! If vinyl isn’t your thing or you are unable to support the project financially, you can always help spread the word about the project or just about us and our music to folks you know!

Regardless of if the project funds or not, thanks to all who have contributed! We hope we will be able to put a record in your hands! If not, it was a great ride and your support means the world to us!