MetaQuorum | MetaQuorum

0 Happy New Year 2015 from MetaQuorum!

New Year improvisation in the home studio… Dmitry is checking out sounds from Radical Piano by Reason – great stuff! These will come handy when work on the new EP starts later in January.

0 Jack Pot!

MetaQuorum’s hit Number 1 on the ReverbNation Jazz charts for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. https://www.reverbnation.com/metaquor um

We’re delighted to announce that Ákos Páll Gecse from Tone Troopers is beavering away on a video for MetaQuorum’s forthcoming single North Sea Fret. With only a month to go, it’s all hands on deck, but we can already tell you the video has been shot in the magical misty landscapes of the North Pennines and features Dmitry playing on the North Sea coast.

Watch this space for a teaser clip!

0 So why ‘clodhopping’? An interview with MetaQuorum’s Dmitry Ermakov

KIM: ‘So, why ‘Clodhopping’? It’s an unusual title…’

Definition: “Clodhopper – someone who works on ploughed land, a country rustic or, literally, one who leaps from clod to clod.”

D.E. : ‘It was my wife, Carol, who came up with the title for this track. It was an early summer evening, I’d been developing the piece all day, our wee cottage was throbbing, and Carol came back from her evening walk in our wild northern hills just in time to listen to the finished version. She bopped around the home-studio, still in her clodhopper boots, and declared: “Perfect! Let’s call it Clodhopping!” And so the name stuck.’

KIM: ‘What inspired this piece?’

D.E. : ‘Actually, the main theme for this piece – like many of the tracks on the forthcoming Midnight Sun album –was written a very long time ago… It all started back in the USSR, in 1989 when I was rehearsing with the band FoxBox. With just a few days to go before our first 1,5 hours live gig together, things were pretty intense. You see, after recording the “Pereplanirovka” album with Panika, bass guitarist Viktor Mikheyev and I were looking for how to take things further, since we knew we wanted to go into instrumental jazz-rock fusion, but how? Panika was what you’d call now a jazz-grunge band – well, back in the Soviet Union we’d never heard of grunge, of course, but we knew all about the gritty, dirty sound as we had to use soviet made instruments which, frankly speaking, were not very good! Anyhow, Viktor brought in Roma Dubinnikov from Yabloko, an ‘official’ folk-rock band, as well as sitar player Sergei Gasanov and a couple of other guys. So the six of us had ten days to get to know each other and come up with full show! As you can imagine, improvisation was the name of the game! It was in one of our breaks that this riff came to me. In the end, we didn’t use it at the gig, and the band sadly collapsed later in 1991– along with the whole of the USSR!’

KIM: ‘Would you say the track was influenced by any particular band or musician?

D.E. : ‘It was back in the 80’s, and I remember two albums in particular which really revolutionized the music scene, introducing new sounds, and forging a new kind of jazz-funk-pop fusion. I’m talking about Miles Davis ‘Tutu’ and Peter Gabriel’s ‘So.’ Actually, these were only available on the black market in the Soviet Union, on reel-to-reel tapes, and the police could have busted you for listening to them… But anyhow, I would say they definitely inspired me.’

KIM: ‘Can you tell us a bit about the music. How would you describe this track?’

D.E.: ‘Well, I’d say it definitely combines elements of jazz and rock, and the rhythm is an upbeat funk. But there’s also some hip-hop in there, which is why for me it feels like a dance track, and why the title Clodhopping suits it. I’d initially recorded this track with programmed drums, but Koos stepped in a couple of months ago and re-recorded it with live drums, which makes a world of difference as it really gives the rhythm section more punch, more kick.’

KIM: ‘Thanks, Dmitry, we look forward to hearing the stories behind some of the other tracks on Midnight Sun!’

0 Live drums come in!

Hi folks!

Well, Dmitry’s back from his trip to Holland safe and sound – and definitely inspired! It was a pretty intense high voltage time, and there’s lots of new music out there for future albums.

Koos re-recorded drums, live, for two tracks on MetaQuorum’s forthcoming album Midnight Sun, so while Dmitry was out there, the two of them re-mixed the pieces in Koos’s home studio in Friesland overcoming numerous technical obstacles! After all they were working with two PCs on different OS’, four sound-cards, three DAWs all intricately linked by meters of cables.

The finishing touches have been added over on our side of the North Sea, by Ed Lopez from Loft Studios, who re-mastered them and slotted them back into the Midnight Sun album. The new drums give a great mellow rhythm to the bluesy title track, Midnight Sun, and really add a kick to the dance track Clodhopping.

Although they were kept pretty busy remixing these two pieces, Dmitry and Koos did find time for some live play, and we’re sure this will lead to something rather special!

KIM

Click below for a sneak pre-view of Midnight Sun and watch this space for the Clodhopping clip:

0 Topping the Charts!!?

When I opened MetaQuorum’s HitQuarters page today to check what’s new, I was surprised to see we’ve hit #4 in their UK Pop charts with just two 44 second sound bites!

Who knows what’ll happen next!?

http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=a/artists.php&id=49554

0 Now drumming with MetaQuorum: Koos van der Velde

Koos van der Velde, born 1973 in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, began playing the snare drum at the early age of six. He got his first full drum kit four years later, and by the time he was thirteen, he was already playing in his first metal band, Lunacy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QULMxnFK_30

During his six years with this popular Frisian band, Koos also drummed for Disgrace and various other local metal and punk bands, gaining plenty of experience in playing live gigs.

In 1993 Koos joined experimental jazz-core band Megakronkel http://vimeo.com/102509114, a Dutch group which opened the way for bands such as Victims Family Megakronkel1993-2 and NoMeansNo. Together with Megakronkel, Koos toured extensively throughout Europe and recorded the album ‘Neurotransmitter’ (Konkurrel, 1994) as well as a song for ‘Project Fake, A Tribute to the Minutemen’ (Easy Money Records, 1997).

With over 25 years working as a freelance drummer, Koos has recorded drums for a wide range of bands and artists from all corners of the globe, and has also led several workshops. But when asked what he loves most, well, it has to be playing progressive music styles like fusion, so that’s why we’re really pleased to welcome him on board at MetaQuorum!

0 MetaQuorum’s on the move!

Well, it’s been a while… but MetaQuorum hasn’t been sitting idle, the music’s been pouring out of the home studio in the North Pennines (photo) and now Dmitry is off to Holland to hook up with drummer Koos van der Velde for some jamming, taking the night boat from Newcastle to Amsterdam.

Koos has reworked the drums for a couple of tracks from the forthcoming Midnight Sun album, so now he and Dmitry are going to add the finishing touches – can’t wait to hear the results!

Meanwhile, Dmitry’s been busy composing, so watch this space for news about what’s in the pipeline.

KIM