Well we've definitely been together for more than a year and feeling smug that while people have come and gone, the core of the band has stayed together. Karen had to withdraw, it's just not viable for her to be in the band but that's ok.

More importantly, we haven't had any problem conflicts.

That's not to say we haven't had disagreements or concerns but so far things have seemed to be resolved pretty easily.

We've set aside a provisional date for our first self promo gig at The Sanctuary, Hove, end of March, more on this nearer the time.

We're trying out a woman drummer, Alison, who we've known about for a while but couldn't contact, she showed up at a jam at The Lectern, Brighton last Sunday so I spoke to her, since then she showed up at the acoustic jam that Scott is running with Al at the Kendal on Wednesdays and played with us, which went well and was fun.

The Portland as a music venue is dead and gone now, sadly, but in a way it's opened things up, it's been replaced by four other jams, the two mentioned above, a new acoustic jam in Shoreham, also on Wednesdays and an intermittent electric jam for Tuesdays and Thursdays which has been happening at the Hove Park Tavern.

This means lots of chances for Wyndgirls to get out and strut our stuff but we can't use the backing trax at most jams so so far we haven't given a Full On Performance!

Meanwhile the recording moves forwards slowly, we now have several finished trax and have just loaded Visitation on to MySpace: www.myspace.com/wyndmusic profile page.

Next task is to try again to find a bass player, especially as we may now have a drummer, but we can still use the backing trax in the meantime.

Where is Wynd going for 2010?

Follow the blog and see because we sure as hell don't know. What we do know is that if we put the same amount of work in this year we should double the outcome.

2009 was the year we came together and formed something to work with.

2010 will be the Year of the Gig hopefully.

WTS!

Long and Wynding etc!

All change again, Sandi had to quit as she's overextended with work and family, we were disappointed but understood and she's going to come to our gigs.

The recording project moves on slowly, we've pretty much finished Butterfly Pillow and made inroads into Holding Back.

Continuing to make connections with new musicians.

We played at Mary's last night as she gave up the running of the Portland, this was sad and the jam sessions have disintegrated, but are either happening elsewhere or starting in a different form down in Portland Road again.

I moved in with Al so we have wall to wall oppportunities to make music in between gourmet cooking and DIY.

I've also been asked to try out with Scott's band, Thunderfrog. Scott is Fiddley's husband so that's convenient.

But Wynd is still my priority and we are now hoping to do our first full blown gig in Brighton in early February which means using all the backing trax and staging, but we're also hoping for a few support acts.

I'm sort of getting used to the idea that we three are always going to be the core of the band and that backing trax are the answer, I guess a rhythm section might not appear until we are ready, in the Buddhist sense so I have relaxed.

Written four or five more songs or bits of songs recently.

This week Fiddley and I are off to Surrey to collect her new electric five-string violin, which will mean she won't have to pick up a viola.

I've also started playing twelve-string guitar, Al has promised I can play his Rickenbacker if I'm a good girl, but I don't wanna be a good girl all the time so I shall just capture it anyway, after all he's commandeered my Strat and my beautiful Crafter Rose Anniversario acoustic.

I'm learning more lead and power chords too.

We tried out the accordionist - or did she try us? on a fairly chaotic afternoon a few weeks ago but that doesn't look like it's happening so Al dusted off his keyboard and midi'd up an accordion for the backing track and the recording of Butterfly Pillow.

We had a long discussion about whether to just combine with the guys but so far we've held off.

Kids parties, one or two drunken nights and lots of girly emails are continuing to bond us up and now all of us are seeing serious possibilities.

Fiddley and I are hoping to do some Xmas busking meanwhile and we'll continue to show up at the jams doing our stuff, and any stuff we fancy.

Well, the band is still together after almost a year and we haven't had one fight!

On Halloween, the four witches took to the stage at the Portland Rock Bar and did two numbers, breaking the hex for Lurex which was: can I get up in front of a load of judgmental blokes and survive?

She more than survived, not sure I did as I'm now having to play guitar all the time.

Plus Al is revising my guitar playing which is exhilarating AND frustrating at the same time of course.

I wrote some more songs and started putting new chords to some of the older ones, meanwhile we have full recordings of Visitation, Frida, Little Too Rock and Roll and almost Butterfly Pillow.

Still storyboarding the video but at least we've shot some scenics now.

Next move will be to put on our own gig at a suitable venue in Brighton somewhere.

Fiddley came back from the US well rested and is now talking about getting an electric cello so we're going violin-shopping this week which will be big fun.

Meanwhile Sandi is getting more and more confident with the percussion, she is a real asset to the band as she has great stage presence, and is very brave indeed!

Still not ready to put anything on MySpace or ITunes but I think Wynd deserves slow development, it's not like we're on the X Factor.

My songwriting has changed and evolved so much this year, I realised that I've written 59 songs altogether, most of them in the last 12 months.

Before that, I think I wrote ten my whole life.

I'm hoping the others will begin to come up with ideas, but, let's get the existing show on the road first, because gigging is where it's at for any band so we just have to get out there.

Oh, and the judgmental men? Well, whatever guys. We were the only womens' band there and the only original band so, everything else is chopped liver.....

On The Record

Fiddleycat is off in the USA for six weeks but before she took off we brought her to Bevendean's answer to Abbey Road and captured her excellent mandolin and violin for our first full recording project.

Visitation came to me around February. It feels very channelled and is a Storyteller song. It's eight plus minutes long but in spite of gentle teasing about creating new Prog Rock, I am unashamedly glad to create material which takes whatever time it takes. We are not a commercial pop band.

It'll be on MySpace music (wyndmusic) so have a listen.

Next was Lurex. She has a high soprano which complements my mezzo growl pretty well! Al, our wonderful producer, overdubbed her voice, and we ghosted our vocals to add variety. For the chant at the end of the song he double tracked then multilayered me five times and Lurex singing in the round there were three layers.

Andy Bell kindly supplied some pretty dynamic flute as Karma Mama couldn't make a summer recording session (too much healing to do!) and finally we added some superb lead guitar for the outro.

We captured some apocalyptic rumbling from a free sounds site and after some mixdown sessions we now have the title track of our album, taken from the song: Part of the Solution.

So the track content is as follows:

Wiccapaedia: Djembe, acoustic guitar, vocals
Fiddleycat: Mandolin
Lurex: Vocals
Al: Bass, electric guitar
Andy Bell: Flute.


Live work moves on apace. We played two charity gigs, one outside Brighton Station and one outside Hassocks Station (what is it with us and trains, Al?) The Brighton gig was a technological disaster due to generator problems, but we made up for it by showing up at The Portland that night and doing a couple of numbers.

We now need to start promoting our own gigs because it's obvious that we're never going to be a pub band.

With one exception: we've asked Ginny who promotes the Portland Rock Bar to put on a Girls' Rock Nite this Autumn.

My guitar playing has slightly improved, Al again stepping in to give me some accelerated coaching especially since sadly the lovely K-rrang has had to leave the band in order to pursue her career as a Police Officer.

This week I am going to meet up with an accordionist.

Another welcome addition to the band is Sandi who does not have her Band Name yet.
She has gone off with my djembe and a set of congas and we'll be back in rehearsals as soon as Fiddleycat returns from the US of A.

Overall one of the best things about Wynd is that we've stayed together and developed for almost a year now.

Black cats keep crossing my path, magpies flit around in pairs everywhere I go, so as a true Pagan I am watching the signs.

Next to record are Frida and Little Too Rock N Roll, and we have six more backing tracks to make.

2010 is going to be a Wiccid year I think.

Dog Days

It's August and predictably, much has happened to the band.

Generally, it feels like a band as we have now actually performed together, three times in fact.

There's so much more to a band than just a bunch of musicians rehearsing and playing together especially as we are creating something with limited resources.

A band is a very organic thing.

Even though so far I’ve 99 per cent created the music myself, the band’s contribution grows.

Ideas for arrangements, different chord sequences, input on instrumentation and of course what each member is actually going to play, how and when, have flowed and I am hoping this will increase, not because I could not orchestrate it all myself but because creative input is the secret of ownership of the band by its members.

Ownership brings increased enthusiasm, increased commitment, increased loyalty and increased enjoyment.

On another level we have all made friends. In a women’s band this brings with it the added bonus of emotional support, sometimes not just on band matters.

We all know each other better now. We know each other’s faults and foibles but are becoming friends.

The energy field that this creates is always greater than the sum of the parts.
But bands cannot live by bread alone.

We’ve now acquired a percussionist and maybe a second backing singer, but we still haven’t recruited a bassist.

My solution, to make backing tracks with the help of our mentor, Aldo, (yes, he’s an honorary woman!) is working well. Aldo is clearly a genius and is even beginning to like our music. We collaborate on creating the drums and bass lines using Cubase, I feel I have ultimate creative control but our 'silent' mentor member has input a great deal and we are very grateful.

We went off to a jam/open mic night at the Bull in Newick which is a few miles north of Lewes.

Last time I went it was pretty quiet, so I thought the girls would survive their first outing without too much drama.

When we arrived, it was heaving with the crush of summer evening drinkers and musicians.

But Andy who runs it was very patient with our complex setup and we managed three numbers which were reasonably well received.

Our new percussionist - no alias chosen yet - was definitely thrown in the deep end (think middle of the Atlantic in her case as she has never drummed before let alone in public.

But the risk paid off and she even drummed at our next gig, far more scary, in front of Brighton Station where we were supporting a charity event by laying on a day of music.

Sadly, technology, in the form of a terminally overheated generator, let us and down but undaunted, we took ourselves off to the Portland Rock Pub in Hove and did two numbers at their Sunday acoustic jam.

This was extremely well received considering the usual resistance to original material but we were among friends.

We’ve yet to play with our backing tracks but on August Bank Holiday weekend we’re off to another charity day at Hassocks where the backing will hopefully be playable.

Plans for Autumn gigs include a couple of self promoted gigs in Brighton’s Sanctuary, more open mic at Audio, on Brighton Seafront, and a Girls' Rock Night which we aim to do with some other women musicians at the Portland.

Fiddleycat leaves for a six week trip to the USA next month so it’s eyes down for some serious recording, which should result in a demo and then it’s time to do some better gigs and get some of the music on to MySpace and ITunes.

The band is far from tight yet but we can leave the stage satisfied we’ve given a performance even at this stage. Ideas for costumes, staging and filming are beginning to firm up.

Perfection comes with workrate so it should be an interesting Autumn.

We continue to build positive and fruitful links with many other musicians and I am determined to involve others in live music whenever I get the chance, as that’s been a lifelong commitment which I intend to maintain.

I have written 59 songs in the last year or so, every one of which is a meaningful statement about something I care about, some are comedic or ironic, some are serious, many are just stories.

Can’t wait to get them recorded as a finished product because my aim isn’t to become some sort of local celebrity, my aim is to entertain and try to be thought provoking.

Wynd continues to take the Road Less Travelled, and right now I don’t see too many brambles and gates!

Six Months and We Take Stock

So much has happened in the last few months regarding the band it's hard to know where to start.

Wynd is set to perform in full for the first time in a very public venue right at the centre of Brighton at the end of August, we are very excited about this opportunity to launch so publicly!

But just descending from that cloud for a moment, in reality I'm amazed we're still going because the survival rate for original bands is very low. I am still teetering, personally, on that excruciating edge of, am I too old, is this ridiculous, is the material rubbish, do the others in the band really want to do it, a negative world I used to live in sometimes pops up and seduces me for a few minutes.

The most important event in the last couple of months is the arrival of Katie Miller - K-rrrang! Katie, who also plays with the metal 3 piece Pyro, is a real asset to the band, being young and gorgeous, and can play great lead so it's really enhanced the sound.

We have now probably managed to arrange and rehearse most of the original songs I came up with, plus one or two new ones.

We've been through several curves. Two people had to leave, we're still looking for a rhythm section, but our friend Aldo is helping me make backing tracks.

Backing tracks! Surely that's against the rules in rrrock? Well, most of the big bands use some kind of digitally generated or looped backing now. Check out some of the current videos on the TV music channels or live performances, look at the TingTings and the White Stripes. Nuff said!

Backing tracks, for muso readers, have other spinoffs. For one thing, although obviously you lose spontaneity, it tightens the band arrangement-wise, and it's very good disclipine. For another, the rhythm tracks form the basis for eventual recording, which is the next phase.

We have two possible gigs and even a mini tour of Holland in the offing but we still need to get out there and test ourselves and the material.

I've now played some of the material a few times at the Portland Pub jam in Hove, with various combinations of band members, just off the cuff, and it's gone really well.

A lot of feedback has been sought just playing people the tracks and unless they are being incredibly polite, so far so good.

Plans are afoot to start 'staging' the band.

We'll have to play where we can to start with of course, but once we start performing in some bigger venues, we have very big plans for performance oriented presentation, right from stage clothing, props and a few other nice touches up our sleeves.

I feel really excited about the project. We all get on, rehearsals are taken seriously but we have a laugh and we've started to socialise together.

My guess will be that we should soon have something recorded which sounds good enough to post here.

WyndMusic, my record and publishing company has also recieved permission to put material on to ITunes that's probably going to happen in the Autumn.

We do have a bit of a band 'sound' going on now, K-rrang has a very distinctive lead guitar sound, Fiddleycat's violin, mandolin and cello accompaniments are adding a huge amount of class to the overall mix, and now that we have another guitar player there will be some duelling fiddles on one or two tracks. Lurex's high soprano ghosting or harmony vocals are unique to us and Karma Mama's haunting Native American Flutes add real ambience and heart stopping, uplifting solos.

Over the next couple of weeks we are going to check out a woman accordionist who has approached us, and we're still open to a real rhythm section and maybe a didge player.

We'll also be approaching radio and TV shows who play 'unsigned' bands so at the moment, lots of plans.

Listen to this space.

Update on Wynd

It's now two months and we've had quite a few rehearsals, for me, the writer, the music has firmed up and developed, although still a little way to go.

Wynd women are awesome, there has been a bit of angsting about eventual performance, but I have started to really scare them as I now have plans for getting us out there and actually playing.

We did manage a couple of songs at Lurex's party two Saturdays ago, so that might have proved an informal 'first outing', it remains to be seen how we'll do when we're a bit more sober!

It's been an interesting personal journey for all of us. Belinda, as my main Other Musician, has not had many problems coming up with stuff to play, some of it is much better than I could have hoped for, she's now playing three instruments.

The backing vocals are getting stronger every week, my partner, Baz, alias Kevin Kirk, has been invited to coach the girls since while I'm playing and singing myself so that they can practice it's been difficult to focus on what they are doing.

We've had one demo of three songs courtesy Nick Conroy which I'm sure will prove useful.

Next major step for us is to start laying down backing trax, as we have been unsuccessful in finding a suitable percussionist or bassist, although Karma Mama and Wicca can bash a djembe if necessary.

Karma Mama has been to two rehearsals, her beautiful Native American flute, handcrafted by Antz, her partner, who is an instrument maker, now has a pickup and sounded hauntingly beautiful.

All good, look for us at Newick Tuesday night open mic in perhaps six weeks' time, and in the summer we may doing the Portland open mic on Sunday night, there's a possibility of a proper gig at a Beer Festival in Hampshire in August and a short tour of Holland later in the Autumn.

Meanwhile, plans afoot to promote our own launch gig Somewhere in Central Brighton, also in September.

Lurex will be staging the band: backdrops, props, dry ice, movies, clothes, dancing, you name it!