Nick Standing AKA Jabun: Multi-instrumentalist, Composer & Mastering Specialist at JabunAudio making dynamic, clean and punchy masters to encourage people to turn up your music, rather than turn it down! Creator of the Skapunk project Better Than The Book
HUGE NEWS: Better Than The Book will be playing its first EVER gig on April 11th at the United Services Club in Haywards Heath (Sussex, UK)!
***Update: event has been indefinitely postponed due to COVID-19. I'll post updates as and when I receive them***
It's set to be a great night with a load of other pop punk bands from the local scene and all proceeds going towards Macmillan Cancer Support! All the details can be found (or asked for) on the following Facebook event page so if you're interested in going, go grab your tickets from Ben or Bex before they're all gone (all tickets must be bought in advance due to the venue's guest-list policies):
I realise that many of you reading will be halfway around the world and unable to make it, but for those of you in the area, I hope to see you on April 11th for a night I'm sure will be spectacular! And with the gig less than a month away now, I guess I should get back to practicing some songs ready for the big night! Exciting times and until then I hope you have a great month to come and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my various projects here on Newgrounds! Just one month to go until showtime!
A full LIVE & LOUD play-through of BTTB's "Undead Education" + "GG" featured on the Best Indie Pop Punk Spotify playlist by NeverEnoughMusic.com
Hi everyone and another LIVE & LOUD full song play-through video to share with you today from Better Than The Book's first full band rehearsal back in December! This time we're moving onto the Two Years On album for "Undead Education" and truth be told, this would have been literally the 2nd time we'd have played this together (the first being a few minutes before) so please excuse the roughness around the edges! We definitely messed up the ending a bit but hope you enjoy it nonetheless, it was fun times anyhow!
"Undead Education" and the rest of the Two Years On album are available on all major digital distributors as well as the Better Than The Book Bandcamp page:
Or of course you can pick them up if you haven't already when you become a supporter on Patreon, complete with the full Better Than The Book discography and more when you sign up! With the project going live, we could use all the support we can get to push it as far as possible, so come join the community and grab some tunes:
Only 2 more of these videos to come over the next month! Man how time flies... Subscribe to the BTTB YouTube channel to get them fresh off the press, and I'll see you next week for another one!
Next and finally this week, some more cool news to share: looks like GG from the Hopes and Dreams album made it onto a Spotify playlist! Thanks so much to NeverEnoughMusic.com for sharing the tunes, and check out the playlist below:
And that about wraps things up for this post! Lots of exciting stuff is in the works currently, so hopefully I'll be able to reveal more by this time next week, but if not, there'll still be another video to share at least! Until then, thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my various projects, enjoy the music and videos and take care :)
A full song play-through of Better Than The Book's "Backseat Phobia" from the first full-band LIVE and loud practice in December + some $1 Patreon rewards!
Hi everyone and another LIVE and loud video to share with you today, but this time (and for the next 3 videos too) it'll be full song play-throughs from the first full band Better Than The Book rehearsal back in December! This week we're back to the One Small Step EP again for some "Backseat Phobia"! Buckle up your seats and enjoy!
"Backseat Phobia" and the rest of the One Small Step EP are available on all major digital distributors as well as the Better Than The Book Bandcamp page:
Or of course you can pick them up if you haven't already when you become a supporter here on Patreon, complete
with the full Better Than The Book discography and more when you sign up! With the project going live, we could use all the support we can get to push it as far as possible, and another set of $1 rewards was just posted this morning too (mp3s and art of last week's $5 rewards) so come join the community:
3 more of these videos to come over the next month, all full song play-throughs from the first LIVE and loud rehearsal session! Subscribe to the BTTB YouTube channel to get them fresh off the press, and I'll see you next week for another one!
That's it for today's update! I'll be back this time next week with the next video as well as some more exciting news (if all goes to plan)! Looking forward to it and until then, thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book, Jabun, and my various music projects and I hope you have a great week to come! Take care :)
A mini rehearsal video clip of "Cathode Ray Days" + the $5+ rewards have been sent out: Jabun - "Home" + another exclusive demo from Jabun's upcoming 2nd album for the $10+ patrons!
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great final week of February! Another LIVE video clip to share with you today, this time from a mini Better Than The Book rehearsal in January 2020! This time we’re playing "Cathode Ray Days" from the Two Years On album and the main purpose of this practice was to go over vocal harmonies, of which Cathode Ray Days has a lovely 3 part section in the 2nd verse! Hope you enjoy this more intimate practice and check out the video below!
"Cathode Ray Days" and the rest of the Two Years On album are available on all major digital distributors as well as the Better Than The Book Bandcamp page:
Or of course you can pick them up if you haven't already when you become a supporter on Patreon! Easy peasy with a side serving of the full Better Than The Book discography and more when you sign up, and with the project going live, we could use all the support we can get to push it as far as possible! Another set of $5 rewards was just posted this morning too so come join the community (more on that in a moment):
Just 4 more of these videos to come over the next month, and next time we’re moving from short clips to some full song play-throughs from the first LIVE and loud rehearsal session! Subscribe to the BTTB YouTube channel to get them fresh off the press, and I'll see you next week for another one!
And onto those $5+ Patreon rewards, it's the final Wednesday of the month which means another set of reward posts for the $5 and $10 patrons are out, and this time we have the next track from Jabun's discography and the only one to be released in 2014: Home!
Home is another track which holds a special place in my heart as I wrote and released it in the weeks coming up to Eva and I's 1st anniversary. It's a wonderful expression of the amalgamations of my musical history and various influences, piano combining with full orchestra and many synths, a parallel to the wonderful new life I'd discovered over the past year (excuse the soppiness)! The main plucky synth was a Moog Prodigy emulator, the Prodigy (synth) being probably my all-time favourite mono-synth and my go-to for all my analogue mono-synth sounds even to this day. Amazingly enough, on our first anniversary, Eva and I went to London where we first confessed our feelings and I found and played on a REAL vintage Moog Prodigy on Denmark Street! Home was my first track as Jabun to be given a Front Page award here on Newgrounds, and as with its predecessor Distance would go on to be remastered for the 2017 Jabun album: Daydream! I hope you enjoy Home:
For those of you interested too, the artwork for Home was based around a picture my mum took in the back garden of our family home in Sussex, UK! Thanks for letting me use the photo, Ma!
For the $10 patrons, you've got another exclusive demo from Jabun's upcoming 2nd album to look forward to as well as an article on the composition/production process for it! Become a $10 patron to access that article and many more now, and remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter! With the new REWARD ARCHIVE tag it's never been easier to catch up with all those posts and music downloads you've missed too! I hope you enjoy them :)
That's it for this month's rewards and today's update! There aren't any 2015 Jabun tracks to share, so next time we'll be moving onto the 2016 Jabun discography, or perhaps something entirely different, or maybe even both; I've not quite decided yet, and I'll be back this time next week with the first of the full song LIVE rehearsal videos too as well as the $1 Patreon rewards! Whatever the case I hope you have an excellent time whatever you're up to until then and thanks as always for supporting Better Than the Book, Jabun and my various projects here onPNewgrounds! Take care and enjoy the tunes :)
A LIVE & LOUD video clip of "Hearts Racing" from the very firstBetter Than The Book full-band rehearsal + I NEED YOUR HELP for "And I Fear"'s potential radio debut tonight on Union JACK Radio!
Hi everyone and another LIVE and LOUD video clip to share with you today from Better Than The Book's first full-band rehearsal + I NEED YOUR HELP for tonight's radio show on Union Jack Radio where “And I Fear” could be making its radio debut (more on that in a moment)!
Starting with the video clip, this time it's "Hearts Racing" (again) and again this would have been the 2nd time ever that we'd have played this song together as a full band. It's still a little rough around the edges, but I think you'll enjoy the step up in energy since the small jam meet-up previously! Check it out!
"Hearts Racing" and the rest of the Two Years On album are available on all major digital distributors as well as the Better Than The Book Bandcamp page:
Or of course you can pick them up if you haven't already when you become a supporter on Patreon! Easy peasy with a side serving of the full Better Than The Book discography and more, and with the project going live, we could use all the support we can get to push it as far as possible! Come join the community:
5 more of these videos to come over the next 2 months, and it just keeps getting better from here (IMO)! Subscribe to the BTTB YouTube channel to get them fresh off the press, and I'll see you next week for another one here on Newgrounds!
Onto the radio show news, if you hadn't heard yesterday on social media, "And I Fear" from Better Than The Book's Hopes and Dreams album made the Underdogs show shortlist and so COULD be making its radio debut tonight (Wednesday) at 7pm (UK time) on Union JACK Radio! If it plays, that would make 8/10 tracks from the Hopes and Dreams album to have made onto the radio worldwide, which would be phenomenal!
The trouble is, it's only a 1 hour show and so listeners must vote to push the tracks they want up the playlist during the show to ensure they get played, which means if we're going to make this happen we've gotta tune in and vote for Better Than The Book's And I Fear on the playlist tonight when the show goes live at 7pm! Hope you can make it for the show, many thanks in advance, and you can tune in and vote for Better Than The Book's "And I Fear" here when the show goes live at 7pm:
Come listen to some great upcoming British music and let's make it 8/10 tracks from Hopes and Dreams to make it onto the radio! That would be awesome!
That's it for today's update, and I'll be back this time next week with another video clip and more $5 Patreon rewards if you don't hear from me before! Looking forward to it and until then, thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book, Jabun and my various music projects! Hope you can make it tonight and take care :)
EDIT:
We did it folks! "And I Fear" just had its radio debut half an hour ago which makes 8/10 tracks from the Hopes and Dreams album to have made it onto the airways! Thanks so much for all the BTTB love!
Hi everyone and another video clip to share with you today, this time LIVE and LOUD from the very first Better Than The Book full-band rehearsal: "Watching Airships"!
Now bear in mind this would have been the 2nd time EVER that we'd have played this song together (the first time being maybe half an hour before the video was taken), and it was our first day gelling as a full band too, so it's a little bit rough around the edges, but I thought it turned out pretty darn good and I hope you enjoy seeing the full BTTB live band in action! Check it out!
Watching Airships and the rest of the One Small Step EP are available on all major digital distributors as well as the Better Than The Book Bandcamp page:
Or of course you can pick them up if you haven't already when you become a supporter on Patreon! Easy peasy with a side serving of the full Better Than The Book discography and more, and with the project going live, we could use all the support we can get to push it as far as possible! Come join the community:
6 more of these videos to come over the next 2 months, and it just keeps getting better from here (IMO)! Subscribe to the BTTB YouTube channel to get them fresh off the press, and I'll see you next week for another one here on Newgrounds! Until then, thanks as always for making all this possible and supporting Better Than The Book, Jabun and my various music projects! It looks like it's going to be a super exciting year ahead!
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to the week!
Just a quick update today to let you know that after being on the platform for a few years now, Better Than The Book and Jabun are now both verified on the global streaming platform Spotify! Check out the updated pages below complete with bio, extra photos and more:
The ONLY thing I wasn't able to update on them is the upcoming gigs sections, which are populated automatically by services such as Ticketmaster so I couldn't contribute to them manually. With that being the case, Head over to the BTTB website for the most up to date gig info:
(and I'll be sure to let you know if and when Jabun decides to go live too!)
Hope you enjoy the new pages, have a listen, and if you like the music and want more, come support the projects on Patreon if you've not already! You'll get the full BTTB discography when you sign up and the Jabun discography's being uploaded throughout this year. Hope to see you in the community:
And that's it for this update! Next one will be on Wednesday with the first of the full band Better Than The Book LIVE LOUD videos! Hope you're as excited to see it as I am to share it and until then, thanks as always for supporting my projects! Take care :)
Happy 4th anniversary to Better Than The Book's Two Years On + a video clip from BTTB's very first LIVE band meet-up!
Man how time flies! 4 year ago today, Better Than The Book released its debut full length album Two Years On, and a heck of a ride it's been since! It's also the 3rd anniversary of the Two Years On [Instrumentals] bonus album! Check them out on Bandcamp:
And to celebrate, it's about time we get this live show rolling! Here's a clip from the VERY FIRST meet-up of the Better Than The Book LIVE band back in August last year:
Andy's usually on drums, but he had his guitar this time!
7 more of these videos to come over the next 2 months, and it just gets better from here (IMO)! Subscribe to the BTTB YouTube channel to get them fresh off the press, and support Better Than The Book and the rest of my music on Patreon for the FULL BTTB Discography, monthly rewards and more!
I'll see you here next week for another one but until then, thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book, Jabun and my various music projects! It looks like it's going to be a super exciting year ahead!
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to 2020! It's the final Wednesday of the month which means another set of reward posts for the $5 and $10 patrons are out, and this time we have the final track from Jabun's 2013 discography: Distance!
This track hold a very special place in my heart as it was the first track I wrote inspired by my one and only Eva, less than 3 weeks after we got together. I feel like this was the first original (non-remix) Jabun track where I'd discovered my own unique voice as Jabun, rather than trying to copy other people's styles or techniques, and as you'll here it has a very different feel to all the tracks previously. For the keen eared among you, there are multiple coded messages in this track in between the Speak 'n' Spell vocals and hypnotic synths. If you can work any of them out, major props! Distance would be the first single from my first album as Jabun Daydream (released May 2017), and would be remastered for the album as you'd expect. There are some subtle differences between the 2013 single and 2017 album versions though, so I thought it'd be nice to share them both on Patreon! The album credits for Distance from the Daydream album read as follows, a haiku followed by the Speak 'n' Spell lyrics:
For the $10 patrons, you've got another exclusive demo from Jabun's upcoming 2nd album to look forward to as well as an article on the composition/production process for it! Become a $10 patron to access that article and many more now, and remember that you'll gain access to all historic rewards and posts for your Patreon tier too when you become a supporter including the entire Better Than The Book discography! With the new REWARD ARCHIVE tag it's never been easier to catch up with all those posts and music downloads you've missed too! I hope you enjoy them :)
That's it for this month's rewards and next time we'll be moving onto the only 2014 Jabun track and the 2nd pre-release single from the Daydream album (from many years before). Looking forward to sharing that with you and until then, I hope you have an excellent February to come and thanks as always for supporting Better Than the Book, Jabun and my various projects! Take care and enjoy the tunes :)
Hi everyone and just a quick announcement to make today: my ska / poppunk music project Better Than The Book finally has an Instagram page! I'll be aiming to put up daily pics and things there, so if that's your jam head over to Instagram!
Hope to see you there and until the next post, I hope you have a great time whatever you're up to and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my other projects! Take care :)
Get more from Better Than The Book and Jabun on Patreon including the full BTTB discography and more when you sign up:
