Less Crazy Post… Holiday Wishes…

I figure after that completely insane rambling post I would follow up with…

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Hehe..

In all seriousness though… I have a friend who went under the knife last week and I just want to wish him the best. Justin here's to a quick recovery! *Raises glass* With so much metal in your veins you are basically indestructible and never forget that!...

To everyone else… Have a WONDERFUL holiday.. Take time to appreciate all of your loved ones and just enjoy the season for what it should be. A time where everyone is a little nicer to everyone else. I don't like the commercialization of Christmas but, the theory behind it and the true meaning is there… if you peel through the 20,000,000 layers of wrapping paper it's hidden under. I have so much in my life to be thankful for… and it's times like this that remind me of that.

So to all of you who visit the webpage, listen to the music… read my psychotic ramblings…
… Happy holidays!
Sincerely
H

Q&A: Questions, answered in an ungodly insane detail~!!!111

I've been getting a fair amount of e-mails lately asking me some PG related questions so I figured I would take the time and answer them here for all of you who visit the webpage…

Kay, this turned out to be a VERY LONG drawn out diatribe.
Reader warning.. my rambling gets rather insane at the end!

But, it's all my story and as always I try to be as much of an open book for you as possible.

Question: I was wondering if you've changed your mind about releasing Wicked and can I have a copy of the demos?

Answer: This question came to me in multiple forms to be honest, I'm kind of paraphrasing here for the sake of multiple responses. No, I haven't changed my mind about Wicked just yet. I do listen to the demos often. I love them and really think that it's going to make a great album but, the time isn't right. When Josh left the band it kind of left a bad stigma on that album for me and while it was all written by me… it was written in a very dark place. It's not that the material isn't good or I'm "insecure" of people hearing my emotions.. It's just that.. for this material to be put out there… it needs to be put together perfectly. The major problem with the release was that the first 6 or 7 songs are the best shit I've ever written. But, the last 3 felt a little like filler to me, and I just can't allow that to drag down the rest of the album. As far as letting people have demos. I've put up 3 or 4 tracks on my Virb page www.virb.com/planetgemini you can feel free to check them out there, however I am not ready to post anything quite yet. It's just not ready. Trust me you'll know if/when I'm ready to put it out.

Question: Why did Josh leave the band?

Answer: I've gotten this question a couple of times over the last year or so and always kind of steered clear of it, but I suppose that in the interest of "full disclosure" I can talk about it I do warn you… be prepared for a book.

Josh is…well.. Josh and to understand what I mean you have to know the guy. He bottles a lot of stuff inside and one of the things he was bottling up was the fact that Planet Gemini wasn't as much his dream as it was mine. We all get to a point in our lives where we evaluate what we've done and I feel that Josh decided that Planet Gemini was becoming more of a hassle and wanted to concentrate more on other facets of his life.

Now, to understand the ill-will of the situation is to know that… we started on many new endeavors and he never said anything BEFORE making prior commitments. Example: we started recruiting bands for a record label we were starting. All the while he never said ANYTHING about his discontent with me and music and things in his life that he needed to change. As a result of this I ended up screwing over some good people who made plans to travel to my studio to record. (which I actually still feel guilty about to this day) and well… lost my best friend… which was kind of .. unrecoverable.

On my birthday this year Josh came to my house (the first time I saw him in almost a year) we sat on my front porch and talked/cried/talked for a while. I don't know what the conclusion was to be honest but, Josh and I talk every now and again now. We've actually jammed together once but to be honest I just don't have that connection with him anymore. I love the guy, He was like my family for 10+ years… and like family if he ever needs me I'll be here. With that being said "you can never go home again" and in his defense… he doesn't want to. He's moved on and started his own life that is on a completely different path than mine. He is a very good guy and I will always cherish the times we spent together and the things he did for me. I think it summed it up when we spoke a couple months ago and he was like "There was one point where I would have taken a bullet for you… isn't that kind of screwed up?" and I felt (Shit, I think I still would for you…) but, alas time moves on. Life is different stages, different places that we all leave behind… (I'm sure I can quote a dozen lyrics of mine to summarize my emotions on the matter). All that matters in the end is that Josh is happy.

I think that in the end this was the best for all parties. I always go back to one of the last phone conversations we had when I basically said he should leave the band. He claimed "You were always Planet Gemini" and… he was right. I always kind of thought Planet Gemini was about 2 guys who just loved the music and creating… but the more I thought about it. Josh never really LIKED creating. It was almost a chore for him to learn bass parts. I recently have been working with a friend of mine Greg who plays bass and we sat down and wrote some stuff and he's like "Yeah! Let me try my fretless bass on this… *records it*… okay let me try it again cleaned up a little..etc" and like.. that NEVER happened with Josh. Josh wanted to record and be done. He would never lay down a "temp" bass track and then go back and clean it up… he just wanted the song done and put out. (which is why a lot of my old PG demos have no bass on them). So I guess the old Planet Gemini was one guy pouring his soul and passion into his music… and his best friend hanging out, throwing out ideas, coming up with a few melody lines and whatnot. I'm not understating Josh's purpose in Planet Gemini because.. when he left the band I must admit that I had a very hard time writing in a new totally different way. He did Planet Gemini for me… as a friend… and for that I thank him. Out of that my vision was born.. and he'll always be a part of what this band is. I'll never be able to listen to songs that Josh wrote (Taste the Smoke, My Black Cloud, Holy Father..etc) and not think of how much I enjoyed the time we spent in the studio just being complete goofs. It is a little tainted knowing that he was miserable for the last couple years of PG… but… I have all of these amazing memories of me and my best friend hanging out… almost like a journal… it's all there on 13, CoF, Supergod and COFII. Fact is.. after those albums I started to want the band to sound better/be more professional. I started wanting to tinker with different sounds. Josh was NOT a fan of playing around with things. He said many times "if I had my way we'd have like 10 albums out a year. Everything we wrote we get put out" but, I was very much the buffer. If there was something I wasn't feeling or I thought could be done better. I would axe a song and Josh was be very agitated with that. Josh was miserable during Wizards Blood. I didn't see it at the time but, looking back at it now I understand it. We recorded Wizards Blood twice for the most part. There was a lot of shit going on with Micing the drums. I was basically learning how to play a real kit (because the older stuff was done on an electric drumkit.. and well.. it is much easier to play when you can edit the midi if something goes wrong) and it was driving him nuts that I'd have to play a song 100 times to get the drums right.. hehe

Again, I'm sure Josh could tell you a million more reasons and maybe someday he will… but for right now I will just say this. The Josh era Planet Gemini is and always will be very special to me. It's when I had my brother by my side. It was much easier standing as two than standing as one. I was much easier having someone telling you "That riff is fucking awesome dude!" as opposed to writing by yourself.

Question: What is holding Wicked back?

Answer: It's really the setting.. The circumstances where a lot of Wicked was written was very insane.. and it's something I need to.. recapture..

For a while my studio became a very dark, lonely place. So dark in fact that I started going in there with no lights on. I was writing music in complete darkness. For those of you who don't know me you must understand the situations in which I write music. I basically close my eyes and just let whatever comes out.. come out.. I started going into the studio for very long stretches of time. (12-14 hours a day) I would hear sounds of things moving upstairs and just pretend it was someone around me. I called him "Grim" it was my "Josh-replacement" he was my devil on my shoulder. While he never really spoke to me I would imagine him in the corner of my studio (behind a curtain that I have up). I never wanted to look behind the curtain because… if he wasn't there I'd be alone again. My only friend… Grim.. My God of Red. Let me start this story at the beginning so you all have a full understanding of where I'm coming from (so no one comes along and puts me in a padded cell hehehe).

I was recording a song which would be entitled "Minus". This song was basically the first track where I started envisioning "Grim" when I closed my eyes. For those of you who know the story of Cauldron of Fuzz III will understand how I came to envision him (for those who don't.. read the Cauldron 3 discography page.) Minus's lyrics were completely improvised and they were written for me… to me.. by me.. as strange as that sounds. Believe me… this song was one of the most supernatural feeling songs I've ever written. It haunts me to listen to it. Chills me to the bone to hear the devil inside me speaking…

The Lyrics to the song are…
Your mind is fading away, I spin around and I can't control
This world of horror we made, another sinister, afterglow
Toy warrior crumble in fear, You're screaming out no one cares at all
Your bravery drown in your tears, denial of heaven's so beautiful
So let it sweep you away, the movement seems so peaceful but…
It's human nature to betray, We'll come together.. now move along.

This was my acceptance into Josh leaving the band. The last line was "We'll come together now move along…" and it was my mind giving me someone. Someone to lead me down this twisted path.. and I followed. The next song I wrote was "The Beast on Your Back" I wrote this immediately after I "found" Grim. But, it was not what I was expecting. The beast was about every fucking good thing that music has given me. Every empowering thing that Planet Gemini has given me. "This circlet of silver that I behold may be all that's keeping the devil inside me at bay" (Basically saying screaming into this mic and creating this music is what drive me.. keeps me sane.. makes me happy.. and makes me who I am). "My children of fire, unhealthy desire… may the beast on your back never die".. it was me… telling me not to lose this, not to forget what passion I had for this. I needed that "mental" cheerleader.. someone to… encourage me. "Grim" although he just lived in my mind (and I realize this.. I'm not crazy..heheh).. was making me feel like I had someone to share my music with.

Me, personally I don't write music with the thought that hundreds/thousands of people are going to hear it. If I did that I'd probably go crazy and never release anything. I write for me. At the moment.. and when you hear a Planet Gemini song you are hearing moments of my life. When my lyrics and music delve into insanity.. you can believe I am putting myself there as well… But, isn't that what an artist always does? We drive ourselves crazy for our craft, and above everything else. I consider myself an artist. (I won't be cutting off my ear anytime soon but… you get my point). One of my proudest moments was when I got back reviews from Supergod and Wizards blood… and people said "You can feel the soul and passion in this music"… Because.. I mean this 1 million percent. I pour myself into my music. I alter my state of mind to fit the music. I change who I am to sound the way the song is telling me to sound. Am I crazy? I don't think that there is a question about that. But, I have moments of craziness.. controlled insanity. So… okay.. if you're still reading this.. you are officially a true Planet Gemini super fan.. hehe or.. like to see someone deconstructing themselves, either or.

So yeah… Wicked was written under a very crazy veil. One that I must recapture and.. personally Grim isn't talking with me at the moment hehe. I want to become a better musician before finishing this album. There are drum parts on Cauldron of Fuzz V (Which can be downloaded for FREE in my downloads section) that I could have never done on previous albums (especially drum-wise). I really want to incorporate more.. power into Wicked. In the end I feel confident it will be released. It's just a matter of time.. and my state of mind.

 

Just a quick THANK YOU to everyone.

I just wanted to take this time to extend my deepest THANKS to everyone who donated to the Planet Gemini project. It's such an honor that you all appreciate the work I do and it means that much to you all.

So… to everyone who donated… from five dollars to fifty.. thank you all so much.

 

I hope all of the visitors to this webpage have a fantastic Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it).

I may appear to be going "underground" for the next month or so but I assure you that I'm still around and I'll be working on a new project (that's not Planet Gemini) with some friends of mine. We're going to be keeping the same vibe as PG as far as just playing what we feel… no genres to hold us back... but.. I'd like to start fresh and come together as a new "group". Don't worry there WILL be much more Planet Gemini material in 2008 as I am really just getting started to explore different avenues of songwriting. The great thing about this new project is that it's just a bunch of friends getting together who happen to play instruments. I've known some of these people for years and years and we've never even jammed.. so.. It will be fun.

I'll probably post an update and maybe some demos of our new project as it comes together.
Thanks so much and have a wonderful holiday season
Sincerely
H

How you can help Planet Gemini.

Something I neglected to mention in my last post is that I've been getting e-mails from a lot of people asking me if I would be pressing Cauldron of Fuzz V. A lot of people want to "Support" the project by buying the album and most of you already have the other albums I've released and or everything you don't have is out of print.

I have started a "donate" portion of the webpage. For those of you who enjoy the free albums and want to give a couple bucks… I would greatly appreciate it and it would really keep the project running and make it so I can press a lot more material. If enough money is raised to do a small run of Cauldron of Fuzz I will work out sending a copy of the album to you for just the cost of shipping. I'm not 100% sure how this will all work out and if anyone has any good ideas please feel free to write me about it.

The fact of the matter is that I'm not looking to "Charge' people for anything. The albums will still be free, and if you don't have the money to spare then by all means.. don't donate. But every little bit helps and my studio (while it does generate some money for rent) costs a hefty fee to upkeep.

So… in short if you enjoy the latest release "Cauldron of Fuzz V" and would like to help the project out please feel free to donate at our STORE's main page.

Again, to reinterate here. There is NOTHING changing about Planet Gemini. Whatever you donate is going DIRECTLY to the project. No middle man.. and will be used to press future albums and make it possible for me to offer more merch, bandwidth and other features that the page could use.

Thanks so much
H

Where it goes from here…

Hello everyone,

I just figured that I would give a quick little update about where things are going to go from here as far as Planet Gemini goes. Before I really get into anything major I seriously want to thank everyone that downloaded and enjoyed Cauldron of Fuzz V. I had reports from people that the server actually died on me on November 1^st (4 or 5 e-mails saying the page was down). It's quite awesome that you all enjoyed it and it was actually a huge undertaking on my part (basically writing an album in 4 days and putting it out a week and a half later…

I wanted to comment on a post I made the day after releasing the album if you would indulge me for a moment. I posted a quick little "Thank you" post and posted the numbers that I got from my hosting company about how many people downloaded the album… and whatnot. Well, needless to say about 15 minutes after I posted it I got an e-mail that was basically saying that I was coming off pompous… and like.. that was never, ever my intention. I don't throw numbers out there to impress anyone. It may seem kind of hard to understand but, to be honest sometimes it even shocks me how many people download this stuff. So please understand that my intentions on posting anything like that is more in the lines of trying to give you all an inside look at the project and not me trying to "awe" you with numbers. To me all that matters is that you enjoy the music. Could be one person, could be hundreds. The person that wrote me with this wasn't rude about it and I truly do believe that they were calling it as they seen it. Due to that e-mail I definitely will be more weary down the line but I hope if anyone else had a chance to read the blog they didn't take it that way. Believe me the fact that someone is probably listening to one of my songs as I type this still blows my mind. Now, with all that being said.. back to news.

Where does Planet Gemini go from here?

Well I can tell you this. As of right now Wicked is being put on hold. It's not off completely but I really do have some stuff I'd rather work on. It's not that I don't love Wicked because I do. I'm just not ready yet to release it. It does need work. It's a fine release as is but it's not everything I want it to be just yet. So the album will go on hold and I will continue to work on other things until the time where I feel that I'm ready to tackle Wicked again.

I've already started writing new tunes for my next project (which is untitled) I must admit that the new stuff is a little more different. I'm broadening my horizons a bit and to me it really is a nice change for Planet Gemini. It's still Sabbathy and heavy in it's own way but I want to explore with more. More acoustic sounds.. more instrumentation. Things like strings, mandolin, and even (gasp) keys sometimes. Different percussive instruments are definitely in the future as well. I want to compose and I want Planet Gemini to be an explosion of different sounds. PG will always be a guitar heavy band and there is nothing to worry about as far as me ever selling that short. However, there is much more power that can be generated with other forms of music. I recently have been listening to the new High on Fire album and it's quite inspirational to hear how their songs took shape with different instruments. I am not a live performer.. and so.. I should be layering these pieces as if they are more geared towards a studio recording. The problem is that I've always played like a live player. I wrote like a live band member would write. Every song I released it was always kind of "well… if I ever need to pull that off live this is how I would do it". I want to do away with that. I want to be more ethereal, more powerful, more haunting.. and I think that in the long-run it's not too far off from where I was heading with Cauldron of Fuzz V.

While writing some of the material on Cauldron of Fuzz V I found myself saying (ya know I've never thought about approaching this song from this angle). With songs like "Ritual Evolved", "Temples of Infinity" or even "A Time Before Time" it wasn't as much a structured song as much as it was a fun jam session. I loved that Ritual and Temples were about 7+ minutes and Time Before Time was about 10… and I can listen to those tracks and they don't feel boring to me at all. Ritual Evolved basically got it's name because it was the same idea building throughout the 7 + minutes of the song. It started off with a tribal beat then the punching of the cymbals started growing. The vocals floated over but by the time you got to the end of the song you were still listening to the same tribal beat… it was just presented in a heavier way. The riff morphed and moved to make a heavier experience and in a nutshell that's what I loved about the track. By the end of the song with the three punches basically was basically the final breath of the song. It was born.. grew.. and died all in 7 minutes and 2 seconds.

I don't know when the next Planet Gemini release will be. I'm hoping for something in the spring/summer of 2008. I can't say that it's going to be Wicked because at this moment I have to look at what I have and look at what I'm stopping myself from creating in overworking on Wicked. In my experience when you hit a wall like this sometimes you need to take 10 steps back and find another route around the wall… if Wicked is meant to be released it will be. There is no question about that. However, I think that right now I'm creating music that is extremely deep and emotional and I feel that Wicked is holding me back from creating more.

For example, Cauldron of Fuzz V would have never seen the light of day if I didn't put Wicked on hold and decide to release something new, and Cauldron of Fuzz V is probably my favorite Cauldron of Fuzz project to date (it's definitely the most personal to me). So I don't want anyone to think that because Wicked is being put aside that I am going to stop writing and creating music. If anything I am doing this BECAUSE I want to write and create more deep, meaningful music.. and not limit myself to things that sound like they should fit in with the previous Wicked material.

Thanks so much for all of the response and to everyone who posted about Cauldron of Fuzz V on various message boards.
I know sometimes it feels like a thankless job but really every little bit helps. New people find out about Planet Gemini everyday and it's in a large part thanks to the people who go out of their way to spread the word. I can't thank you all enough.

Sincerely
Rev. H (The Hand of God)

 

PS: I wouldn't doubt if an extended edition of Cauldron of Fuzz V came out somewhere down the line with the full 13 minute Demonic Wall and maybe 1 or two more tracks. But, we'll see about that. One thing about Demonic Wall that worried me was making an album that started off with 22 minutes of drone. I can't stand too much drone starting an album. So Demonic Wall was stripped (not to mention the time restraints were quite huge).

PSS. And to the bible thumpers out there who tend to read my messages and then send me e-mails advising me to stop "Dealing with the devil"… I'm going to leave you all with… I don't judge you.. nor do I ask you to conform to my way of thinking. Hell, You don't even know what my way of thinking is.. so.. please… stop carpet bombing me with your church spam. I realize this is just acknowledging you and now you're just going to continue… if not get worse.. but I assure you.. I am saved.. you are much closer to satan than I will ever be… J

Final Progress Report (The Day Before)

So it's the day before Cauldron of Fuzz V's release and I'm still quite hard at work finishing everything up. Rest assured it will be ready to go by tomorrow night (barring any bizarre computer incident that might happen). The album sounds good. It's a little more ethereal. Kind of "experimental" in some points.

I really made a cognoscente effort to avoid the "Verse, chorus.. repeat" thing on this album. It's there sometimes but… rarely.

I can tell you all that the album should be 40 minutes + of new material.. and I'm thinking of throwing 2 b-sides out there as well. Right now there is a guaranteed 6 that will be on the album tomorrow and I have about 5 tracks that I didn't get to use. So, somewhere down the line there might be a COFV "The Bonus Material" but rest assured these 6 (or 7) tracks will be worth the wait.

This is going to be a very doomy yet very spacey release. I'm very happy with everything. Just got some vocals to throw on tonight and I'm finished. Very minimal in the way of mixing but that's always been the COF way. I hope you all enjoy it.

BTW, Thanks so much for the e-mails and myspace messages to everyone who has written me proclaiming their excitement for the album. I'm pretty psyched too. It'll be nice to actually sit back and listen to it when it's finished.. (which will probably be around the same time you all get to hear it.. oddly enough).

Due to time constraints I am only going to be putting the album up in MP3 form for tomorrow night. The WMA (Lossless) stuff will be available the next day. (This is obviously depending on how much time I have to do this stuff. But, as of right now it's looking like the mp3's will be the way to go for tomorrow. But fear not. The WMA stuff WILL be put up. Just.. when I have more time. It is Halloween tomorrow and I have children and small animals to throw in the meat grinder.

So, seeing as this will probably be my last blog before Halloween (That won't be a press announcement) let me just say "I hope you all have a fantastic Halloween… and I truly hope you enjoy the album"… and to those of you who wrote me saying that COFV will be the center of your Halloween gathering… that's just fucking awesome.

You all rule!
Sincerely
H

The King of Lies

Scratch that, I went to the studio. Lots of progress too. Temples of Infinity and "The Start of Your Demise" are done..

Man, Temples is freaking me out at the moment. It's so.. weird.. and ethereal.. but yet.. It's hard to describe really. It starts off in a major key and then switches to minor almost immediately.. the result is kind of disorienting.. and then once you get used to it the song changes again. This will totally be a "Love it, or hate it track" I almost wanted to put piano at the end.. it's just so messed up.

Goodday today.. Maybe I'll take off tomorrow.. and then.. come in and finish everything ;)
Just figured I'd update
H