KAINE: OUR 2022 – TWO EPs, A NEW ALBUM AND A TOUR….

I thought I would do a write-up on the year with the band given it’s been our busiest ever.  In the early part of the year, we played a run of gigs put on by One Eye Toad Records which really helped us get back on the road again after the Covid-era restrictions were finally lifted in most cases.  Most of these gigs were with Neverworld and Planet Fatale, two bands we have played with on a number of occasions over the years and with who we enjoy playing alongside. It’s worth mentioning that John Morter who organised these gigs and helped us get back to a regular gigging schedule sadly passed away last month. For all of his hard work and dedication to the scene, he will be greatly missed.

Coda – 9/3/2022

During that run of gigs, we had a one-night-only reunion with Anthony Murch on lead guitar. Ant was in the band from 2012-2015 and played on our first two albums. Anthony again played songs from both his time in the band and later albums since his departure.  He’s currently playing alongside our former drummer Chris MacKinnon (who likewise joined in 2012, but after our debut album before leaving in 2018) in a band called It’s Not A Phase Mum, covering the 2000’s era classics which can be found here.

We made our return to two of our favourite venues this year too, both the Melbourn Rock Club and the Rock Den in Hatfield, both of which were fun nights.

A large portion of the year has been taken up with recording, editing, mixing, mastering, and so on. We worked extremely hard to get our new album After Extinction finished this year, as well as recording a further 10 tracks for two EPs, one of which has been released digitally and the other is currently being worked on. I have said previously that I cannot remember a time the band has been busier and 2022 certainly was a challenging year, but I feel a great relief to know everything on our end is now completed and there is very little remaining to do going into 2023.

It is worth mentioning that there will be a new Falling Through Freedom t-shirt and patch coming to all our Patreon’s soon, with two EPs (which include a multi-disc set) on CD heading out to everyone paying £3 or more ASAP. We have been slightly delayed in getting these out due to the Extinction After EP still being finalised! These will be with you soon, depending on Royal Mail strikes!  

In August of course we joined the Lillian Axe/Riot Act (ex-Riot) tour as a replacement for Kim Melville. This is the first tour this line-up has done, and we had an amazing time on the road, and we are very thankful for the opportunity to play with two exceptional bands here in the U.K.

We aptly finished the year with two hometown shows in Colchester both at the Brewhouse on the 25th of November and Coda, on the 14th.

We also introduced a new Patreon tier, a band backer tier which was to help the band fund an opportunity we were recently offered. Without giving too much away at this stage, an official offer/contract has come through and we used some of the new Patreon funds to have the offer independently accessed by an expert, as well as general guidance on the best route forward for the band in 2023, with more the be revealed at a later date.

NEW ALBUM UPDATE – UPDATE ON TWO NEW EP’S AND UK TOUR

After Extinction

The album has made some progress in recent weeks with the addition of keys and some last-minute changes to some of the vocals. The reason this album has been more complicated than previous releases is it has been recorded between two studios (Unit One and Gallow Wood Media) and both studios have had a hand in the editing process whereas I and the band have overseen the mixing process in a more involved way than previous releases. It’s not where our expertise is, but due to the UK Lockdowns over the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to work in this way. This has also meant the costs associated with the album are much greater than our previous releases. Broadly speaking the project is almost finished and we are sorry about the delay.

Kaine 21’ EP

All the instruments have been recorded, I am in the final stages of finishing the lyrics before I book in vocal recording sessions. This EP contains 5 brand new songs and has been delayed largely because of the backlog to do with the new album. So far all of the recordings have taken place at Unit One Studios and no editing or mixing has taken place.

Kaine 22’ EP – Falling Through Freedom Anniversary Box Set

We have finished recording all the bass and guitars for the new EP at Gallow Wood Media, with Liam currently working on what he would like to do with the drums. This EP will be included in the anniversary set of the album, which will include the “demo” album, recorded by the 2011 line-up, the original 2012 album, the 2016 remaster, and the new EP.

Lillian Axe and Riot Act Tour

I have also been very busy working on the tour. I am pleased to say the transport and hotels are now all booked up. In terms of crew, Alex Odinson and Charles Franklin will be handing roadie duties which include everything from loading in, to providing tech support, looking after merchandise, and recording video footage of the gigs.

All t-shirt pre-orders have now been sent out with signed posters. In recent weeks I have written to a number of our Bandcamp buyers via the post with invitations to the tour, I have been using our emailing lists to send our targeted emails and videos to promote the events and obviously running an extensive social media campaign. I have also been supporting Lillian Axe with their social media campaign.

We will be using this tour to promote our most recent album Reforge The Steel, which was released just before the Covid-19 pandemic and this restricted the number of gigs we could do to promote it.

Opportunities like this do not come around often, and whether or not we get this kind of opportunity again depends on the success of this tour, which is why I am working flat out to try and make every show a sell-out. You can get tickets from here.

REHEARSALS + RETURN TO FILMING TODAY AT UNIT ONE

Kaine will continue their weekly rehearsals at Unit One Studios today in Colchester. Again the focus will be on the winging/playing element of the new album as well as the bands forthcoming gigs. This weeks sessions will be filmed for YouTube for the first time in several weeks, the filming had stopped due to Alex Odinson (who films the sessions) coming down with Covid-19.

NO MERCH STAND AT THE MUSIC ROOM, IPSWICH ON SATURDAY

Saturdays gig at The Music Room, Ipswich is a seated gig with table service only. This is to make the show as safe as possible and to limit the risk of the spread of Covid-19. Normally the band will have merchandise available at shows, however to ensure everyone’s safety the band will not be opening a merch table on the night and we will be distanced from the audience throughout.

If you wish to purchase any Kaine merch please head over to our Bandcamp here.

KAINE: UPDATE ON NEW ALBUM, EP ORDERS, NEW GIG DATES AND PATREON

Last Weeks Sessions at Unit One

Kaine are about to finish the rehearsal stages on their new album and are preparing to enter the studio ASAP. They will be at Unit One Studios, Colchester again today to continue work on the new album. The band is also getting a number new of the new songs ready to play live when they return next month at The Music Room, Ipswich.

So far Kaine will be performing at the following dates with more to be announced:

  • May 22nd, 2021  – The Music Room, Ipswich [Tickets]
  • June 25th, 2021 – Hanger 18, Swansea [Tickets]
  • July 9th, 2021 – The Victoria Bikers Pub, Coalville [Tickets]
  • July 14th, 2021 – CODA, Colchester [Tickets]
  • August 28th, 2021 – TBA
  • October 1st, 2021 – The Victoria Bikers Pub, Coalville [Tickets]
  • October 18th, 2021 – TBA
  • October 23rd, 2021 – The Victoria Bikers Pub, Coalville [Tickets]
  • October 30th, 2021 – Leo’s Red Lion, Gravesend
  • October 31st, 2021 – Trillian’s, Newcastle

There will be an update on the new album recording sessions soon. In the meantime the EP CD’s and T-Shirts are being printed. Shirts have been limited to those who have pre-ordered the CD with a limited number being available once they go on general sale.

The bands next project will be to write and record a new EP which will be exclusive to Patreon members.

NEW ALBUM UPDATE + 2021 DATES

Last weeks rehearsals

The band will be back at Unit One Studio’s in Colchester today to continue work on the new album. Rage and Toby will be working to complete the studio scratch tracks this morning before heading over to the studio for rehearsals. The scratch tracks are the tracks the band will record to in the studio. The band is hoping to begin recording the album as soon as possible.

The band now has six dates for 2021 which are as follows:

More dates to be announced.

KAINE BACK IN THE STUDIO TODAY + FACEBOOK AND EP UPDATE

Last weeks sessions at Unit One

Today the band will continue working on the new album at Unit One studios. Kaine is now making good progress and should be on track to begin recording the new album soon. In last weeks sessions the band began to work on the vocals and backing vocals for “Train” as well as the new song “Green to Grey”, and more work was done to the lyrics plus vocal melodies in the week. They also finished the full structure for “Green to Grey” in the session and the album is starting to take shape.

In other news, previous “likes” have been encouraged to follow the bands Facebook page following Facebook’s platform alterations meaning all likes were deleted last week from the band page.

Finally, the first mix from the Matt Jones (of Twisted Illusion fame) version of the forthcoming EP was reviewed and further revisions are being worked on ready for the release. The EP will be a two CD release featuring two versions of the EP.

KAINE NEW ALBUM + EP UPDATE

I am writing this blog as a general update on what we’re doing as a band and where we are at with the new album.

We actually began writing this new album during the rehearsals for Reforge The Steel, with the song “Train” being written during those sessions and even played live back in 2019. We started writing and putting together a big chunk of the album in 2019 after Reforge The Steel was recorded and between working on The Waystone anniversary EP.

We were making good progress with the Waystone EP and the new album until the COVID-19 pandemic hit early on in 2020 and we have had to suspend the recording of the album and do the remaining work on the Waystone EP as and when it was safe and legal to do so. The album initially was suspended on April 4th last year, until August most recently on January 6th 2021 before resuming at the end of February. Despite all of the delays the band is reasonably back on track and all we need to complete now is three remaining scratch tracks for the studio, get a few tracks up to speed in rehearsal, along with revising/wringing of the lyrics and vocal melodies. There is however a large amount of material that is unfortunately unused for this album due to the delays which we will revisit later.

Unlike Reforge The Steel which was largely written by myself immediately after the A Crisis of Faith line-up split, this album has song writing contributions from every member of the band as well as a number of songs we wrote together in rehearsals. So far we have exciting song names such as Chasing the Train, I’m in a Bath (Swedish Bath time), Stainkiller, Cheesy, Bright, Isaac, Green to Grey, Malwarenius and Steggameth (or Megasteph) as working titles for the tracks, most of which will likely change before the album is released.

On the new Kaine EP. The bulk of the tracks were recorded at The Smokehouse in Ipswich at the December livestream with additional tracking done at Gallow Wood Media at the back end of 2020 and then again this month to complete the release. The EP is mixed and mastered from the Gallow Wood end of things but a second disc of mixes by Matt Jones of Twisted Illusion from the same sessions is currently being worked on for the release.

We have also been uploading regular practice footage and a weekly Podcast onto YouTube to keep people engaged and updated during the pandemic, we’ve given our logo a facelift and have a new shirt/patch design on Patreon. We’ll also be recording an EP later this year for our 2021 Patreon subscribers.

In short this year we should hopefully see the release of a brand new Kaine album and two EP’s! I am very sorry about the delay and I hope you enjoy the final products. In other good news we have two gigs booked for 2021 one in May in Ipswich which is nearly sold out, and one in July which is in Colchester.

In the meantime stay safe and we’ll see you soon!

Rage

WORK ON NEW ALBUM CONTINUES TODAY AT UNIT ONE STUDIOS

Footage from last weeks sessions

Kaine are back at Unit One today to continue working and rehearsing new material for the new Kaine album. The band is hoping to begin recording the album soon and is currently getting back up to speed with the songs following the recent break due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Last week they began work on a brand new song for the album which can be heard on the footage above.

KAINE TO RETURN TO NEW ALBUM REHEARSALS AT UNIT ONE THIS WEEKEND

Our very last session at Pioneer Music

Kaine, who suspended their new album writing and rehearsal sessions last month due to the increasing risk of COVID-19 will be returning to rehearsals and writing for the new album this Sunday. Since the bands last rehearsal Pioneer Music in Colchester has closed down, so the band will be moving their rehearsals to Unit One studios, also in Colchester to resume work on the new album. The writing and recording of the new album has been suspended twice since the start of the pandemic. This weeks rehearsals will be filmed for YouTube and will be a very much get back up to speed session for the band.