May 2025 Patreon & News Post: CD Test print for Better Than The Book's upcoming album APPROVED (Vinyl on its way), features on Ska Time Radio, a Sonic The Hedgehog x BTTB mashup album(?!), stepping away from regular YouTube + more!
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great spring so far (and not battling hayfever hard like I am)! It's been a heckin' super busy month since the last post (only set to get busier) and there's tonnes of news to share so let's get straight to it!
First of all in the big news, the CD test pressing for Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life album arrived in the post from the distributor and looks and sounds BEAUTIFUL! 2 weeks before their estimated delivery date too! There are a couple of minor unexpected quirks, like CD text not showing up, or being cropped strangely depending on the specific CD Player (as well as the CD not working in my super old player from '86 which isn't entirely unexpected), but the printing looks great and the CD plays smooth and gapless (in players which support gapless playback) so that's veeeery nice! After multiple tests on various systems, I can say that this CD release has been APPROVED! If you're a supporter on Patreon (free or paid), then you've got a sneak peek of what the CD release looks like right now (see links at the end of this post)!
On another note, the test print for the 12" vinyl version was sent off for and apparently is now due to arrive TOMORROW, 4 weeks before their estimated delivery date! Fingers crossed that everything looks and plays great on that version too and if so it'll be time to solidify that release date, prep that final single (and full album) release and get ready for some much overdue ska punk mayhem! Not long now! Get excited!
Speaking of Ska Punk Mayhem, the title track of the new album got its radio debut by being featured on Button Down Radio's Ska Time show episode 14! The show was celebrating the London International Ska festival as well as showcasing a pick of the new ska tracks from around the world so it was a big honour to be part of it. Check out their post about it below:
And you can catch up with the full radio show over on Mixcloud! There's some great organ work in this one. Fantastic stuff and thanks again to the Ska Time show for spinning the track!
https://www.mixcloud.com/CuttersChoiceRadio/ska-time-w-button-down-radio-ep14/
Next on the news, it was my birthday last week and on April 24th 2025, my twin Eamon (TallismanRogue) released the Sonic The Hedgehog X Better Than The Book - Endless Hopes and One-way Dreams Mashup EP to celebrate! It's incredible! Thanks and love you so much, Mon! I highly encourage you to check it out below. Gotta go fast!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QAg8Mu49JQ
Keeping in with the birthday theme, as a present to myself, I'm back to some wood/metalwork to FINALLY (after 3 years?) finish my homemade Leslie speaker by adding some grills! For the past 3 years, it's been all to easy to stick you hand/foot into the rotating drum while it's spinning, but now that'll be safely behind a few millimeters of perforated steel mesh. SAFE! As it currently stands, the 2 sides and top have been fitted with a permanent grill each while the front panel grill is complete (apart from possibly a custom badge on the front) and easily clips on and off for maintenance and if you want an open grill for stage presence. All that's left to do is sort out the grounding for electrical safety, give the mechanics their annual service and oiling, and put it back together and calibrate again! Hoping to have that done by this time next month with any luck and I'll be sure to put up a video of the completed project when it's done!
And on the topic of videos, after 2 full uninterrupted years of 2 videos a week on YouTube (that's over 200 in total now), I've decided to step away from regular scheduled YouTube content to focus on music creation (and releasing this upcoming album). April 2025 marks the last full month of videos and while there has already been one video released in May, for the first time in a LONG time, I don't have any new videos scheduled currently. That said there are a few more I have planned, and there's a WHOLE lot of new music to come very soon too. Check out the updated playlist below:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm
And here's a list of the latest additions:
- New Studio Part 5: Shelves up and Art
- Volca Modular Keyboard Transposing Sequencer Tutorials, Tricks and Tips
- Korg EM-1 Keyboard Transposing Sequencer Tutorials, Tricks and Tips
- Korg ESX Arpeggiator Tutorials, Tricks and Tips
- Acoustic Guitar strumming in AGCFAD Tuning
- Homemade Superfuzz and Ashdown Bass Sub harmonic effect on Guitar
- 2 Years on YouTube + 35th Birthday
- New Studio Part 6: Acoustics Sorted + Acoustic Ceiling Tiles
Lastly for the news this month, after many years for the first time ever, there are currently no $10 patrons, and so I will not be posting a $10 extra reward this month. If the situation's the same for a while I may decide to change things up regarding Patreon rewards, but there are more urgent things to attend to currently so I'll be playing things by ear. To all the Patreon supporters past and present though, I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to you all for all your support over the years. I hope you're still enjoying the music and content ramblings and hope you're as excited as I am for all the new music still to come!
That about wraps things up for this month. With a vinyl test coming tomorrow, unless something's drastically wrong I should hopefully have a concrete release date for the Side Character In My Own Life album and maybe that final pre-release single to share with you (as well as other stuff) next time. Until then, thanks as always for supporting me and my musical endeavours however you can and I'm super looking forward to sharing what's to come very soon! Take care and all the best!
$1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/126129247
Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842
Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding