I am currently writing and recording music for an instrumental album of HEAVY METAL songs. Where lyrics might normally be, I am inserted guitar solos. The titles are the only clues as to the theme or inspiration behind the song, leaving more room for individual interpretation. Because I haven't had to waste time on several verses to tell the story most of these songs are going to be short - which is a real first for me! I chose to program the drums and everything else is played by myself.

The project is currently unnamed, but I am considering The Misinterpretation of Dreams for the album title.

5 tracks have been written and rough demos are available on the links below:

• Wyzzard's Mind in Turmoil
• Plato's Timaeus
• The Misinterpretation of A Dream (parts 1 & 2)
• Wah [working title]
• Absence of Beauty

Overview

SMD has been going since mid 2003 when I met Robbie trying out for the singer's position in Iblis. Needing a break from serious music writing, and wanting to have a good giggle, we started this COMEDY ROCK band as a way to let of steam and take the piss out of ourselves and everything we saw around us.


The band has been through several incarnations - but the core members have stayed the same. Myself and Mat Boulter on guitars (and other stringed instruments), and Robbie on vocals, decks and any other instrument not taped down in the studio. We now have our original drummer back with us, Darryl; but we're still without a full time bassist - and until that's remedied we won't be gigging.

Downloads

We have a repertoire of 10 or 15 songs now, and manage to write new ones nearly every time we get together. All are on the SMD website, and a few are linked to here:

• Old School Heavy Metal
• Summer Sun Woe
• Spis Katten
• Super Monster Destroyer

Website

http://www.SuperMonsterDestroyer.co.uk

Past Projects

Overview

Iblis, whose namesake once challenged God to a game of chess - the stakes being the dominion of Earth, was a FUNK/METAL band that combined funky bass lines and disco beats with grinding metal and pounding drums to great success.

We were a five-piece, that professionally recorded four tracks, and played dozens more live during the two years we were together. Somewhere approaching thirty gigs were performed before I decided to leave the band for reasons that have been the bane of my musical life for years.

Drummers.

It seems almost impossible to find one who doesn't have the mental aptitude of a fossilized peanut, or worse still - think they are musicians. Unfortunately the drummer with this outfit suffered from both afflictions, and it caused far too many conflicts.

We did produce some great music though! And gained the attention of some awesome fans!

Downloads

The following four tracks were recorded for our first demo early in 2004:

• Headproud
• Over The Top
• Spiraling
• Envious Hearts

Website

http://www.iblis-music.co.uk

Overview

A very miserable album, meant only for my ears.

The eight songs were written in under a year, but it took over two years to finish recording them. The trouble I found with writing music whilst I was depressed is that it was difficult to capture that misery again when trying to record the tracks.

The songs are all themed together, and attempt to portray the full spectrum of feelings one might associate with a bad breakup. There's a whole lot of self pity in there, anger, fear and resentment, and titles such as Daren't Fall Asleep and Old Ways tell stories in their own right.

Downloads

The most interesting aspect of this album are the remixes done by friend Gordon Raeburn which have managed to emphasise all of the frustration, anguish, confusion and altogether mixed-emotion that I implied in the original recordings.

• A New Low [remix of My Level (Fall Down)]
• An Insomniac Dreams of Hell [remix of Daren't Fall Asleep]

Overview

I had not recorded anything for a long time when I decided to record the three tracks on this CD. Unfortunately (for the music) I was quite happy most of the time, and as I wrote almost exclusively miserable stuff I was finding it difficult to produce any new songs.

I chose to cover a song I had performed some years previously with a band called Pangaea. The song was Retreat Mission and written by bassist Paul Stromdale - but my version was slowed down, a hint more melancholy added and to distinguish it from the other excellent version, I changed the title to Away From You.

Downloads

• Away From You
• Your Tears

Overview

Nothing was a poem written one night by a very dear friend of mine, Daniel Fast, again at the point when the inevitability of a breakup was realised. There's an awareness of how bad things are going, and how the point of no return had been passed, and how there is 'nothing I can do'. After hearing my first album, Dan asked me if I would put his poem to music which I took great pleasure and satisfaction in doing. The acoustic version was a lot better than any I recorded, and maybe one day I will get around to imortalising it in mp3!

The rest of this EP was made up of songs from the first album, remixes, and one new song... my attempt at a happy tune called Perfect. It didn't really work - I still used the words 'pain' and 'tears', and lots of minor chords. But I tried!

Downloads

• Nothing

Overview

This was the first album I wrote. All guitars and vocals; no bass or drums.

The idea was to record songs about subject matter that II felt reflected something poignant about my life, as seen through the eyes of an 18 year old. An 'adult' by British law, but still very unsure of my place in the world. I went abroad for 3 months to reflect and focus on the album.

I was asked by one guy in Prague whilst writing this album 'what can an eighteen year old possibly know about life?'. My response to him was that maybe he hadn't lived by the time he was my age, but my album addressed issues that I felt were important to all generations - and subject matter chosen by many artists regardless of age.

I attempted to tackle topics that I had an acute awareness of at the time. Drugs, love & loss, mental instability, infidelity, friendship, and loneliness. I intend to produce another album as an addendum to this one ten years on. To document how my attitudes and perceptions have changed, and to see how many of the subjects that I perceived as important at eighteen remain so.

Downloads

Seven of the ten songs on the album can be downloaded below.

• Self Destruction This is what my girlfriend had said I was obsessed with. About turning to drugs because of depression.
• Solitary Tear About being thousands of miles away from friends when you could really do with them being nearby.
• Sane? A bad acid trip I'll never forget.
• The Heartbeat & The Rain Based on a dream I had whilst writing the album. I woke up and could remember all the words that I wanted in the song. It's about uncertainty of direction if anything.
• Crime Pays The luctrative world of drugs.
• Blind The bliss of ignorance. Being blind to others' moral weaknesses.
• A Synopsis of Life

Downloads

Links

Big Noise Studios

Mark's Extreme Music