I thought I would post a blog update about what’s going on with Kaine right now. As many know we’ve just released our brand-new album A Crisis of Faith which has received many positive reviews so far and it’s been great seeing everyone’s responses to the album.

We’ve also undergone a bit of an abrupt change, with our former Drummer Chris having to depart to give his full concentration to working in the wider music industry. Of course, with every change in band comes a transitional period, but Liam Etheridge joined us on drums within a week of Chris departing making for a smoother transition than many would have expected, and after just a couple of rehearsals he debuted with us a The Dev in Camden.

Liam had his third session last week and has come on leaps already, becoming tight with the band and already getting a stronger grip on the new album songs, including Frailty of the Blade and Behind the Preacher’s Eyes. We’re hoping to do Frailty of the Blade on Friday when we join Black Hawk Down, Synthetic and the Mutations at Mama Liz’s in Stamford, downstairs in the Voodoo Lounge on Friday. The venue is one of the best small venues in the country with an exceptional sound engineer, Tony, who takes the time and effort to ensure every band gets world class sound.

As with everything, working with a new band takes time to iron out all of the creases, get to know the personalities and the new dynamics on the collective. It’s as much a bonding experience as anything else. I have had to do it several times with Kaine, when Josh left it was a huge blow but we found Chris and they are very different drummers and personalities and that naturally took time to adjust to, the same when Dan left, as Dan had been not only the bassist but the joint singer and worked very closely with me since the formation of the band and that was a big adjustment for me to be working without him, but Stevo came in, again a totally different player to Dan, and grew in confidence to be considered one of the best bassists and showman on the scene today but with Stevo we had the advantage of him and Chris being a successful team in their former band (Drop Dead Fred, which evolved to become Memory Boy) making that transition a smooth one.

As for Ants departure, it was slightly different as Saxon had already joined the band while Anthony was still with us when we became a 5 piece, and a tri-guitar nightmare for soundmen, but for me it was a weird adjustment to make working without him for the first few months because we’d played together since the first album.

In terms of Liam, he’s done exceptionally well so far. I had even spoken to Chris about his progress, and Chris remarked that he saw a lot of his early self in Liam which is as big a compliment as anyone can give. Change happens with bands, the likeliness of keeping one line-up together and carrying on for years is increasingly less possible, so one of the things you have to be able to do is adjust to as a musician is playing with different people and be open to people playing their interpretations of the songs rather than stick to rigid formulas.

In terms of the album, we only have roughly 25 remaining on CD, we’re currently working on getting the LP version mastered with Pointy Halo Productions and I am drafting the artwork and sleeves and confirm it will be a colour vinyl this time, but the price should remain the same as before. I am also working on mixing the live album, recorded last year at the Asylum, which will be the last release with the old line-up and features founding members Josh Moreton (drums) and Dan Mailer (vocals). Both items will be free to everyone who ordered the Elite version of the album.

There is some positives news on the horizon as well, I and Stevo have been particularly busy working on songs for the fourth Kaine album to the point of having 12 between us almost ready to rehearse for the new record, Liam is working on a track too and Saxon has several ideas he’s about to put together into songs and join myself to work some of those into tracks I have written. There’s going to be plenty of great material for the fourth album, some of it is very different to our last and I like to think we’ve evolved the sound with every release anyway.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this blog and for your continued support of the band.

Love, Rage