James Titcumb

I’m sitting in the Deco on my new laptop, well not really new, and it’s not really mine, it’s Hannahs, but it’s mine now. As some of you will probably know I’m ridiculously poor due to work messing up my pay, but after several telephone calls I’ve managed to sort it out, but I’m not gonna get paid til next month. So I’m really poor this month, really really poor. Hannah should be moving in soon which will be awesome, but the money problem is really dragging me down at the moment. I can’t even afford to go Airsofting which is like my favouritest hobby ever (apart from being with Hannah ). Hopefully I’ll have money next Wednesday so I can go to UCAP, but I don’t hold out much hope for now.

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So Frosthold started recording on 19th Jan 2008, initially in the Old Blacksmith’s Studio in Portsmouth. We currently have drums and bass tracks down and recorded, although I haven’t heard it myself, apparently sounding good. Next step is guitars then vocals! I can’t really give much of a “studio blog” as I wasn’t there of course, I was in Durham…

So as most of you know I’m back in the UK now. Poor weather compared to California, but hey!

I was finally informed of what my payrise is, and it’s acceptable, but I’m in the very bottom pay band of my role, which I think is a bit disgraceful considering I’ve worked there for four years and the amount of knowledge I have about what I do. A couple of experiened people are leaving soon, so hopefully they’ll learn to value their staff a bit better soon.

In other news, my parents have moved to France now, which is quite upsetting for me and my sister (especially as she’s just had her baby!), but it’s a good thing for them to do I think.

Speaking of my nephew, I saw him for the first time last Sunday, and he’s gorgeous! I also had a very tasty lamb roast dinner with my sister and brother-in-law and parents, which was nice – even though the ‘rents were late!! This Saturday I’ll be heading over for a nice barbeque (weather permitting!).

I’m now mostly looking forward to recording Frosthold’s new CD, and currently looking for a voice actor to do some narration, so that should be interesting. Also trying to get that support slot for Turisas in September at the Wedgewood Rooms!

As you may have noticed, I’ve also put up loads of photos, most of them old ones which I just fancied putting up, so I apologise if any of them make you remember how much of an alcoholic you are, or otherwise…

I’m now quite hungry, it’s twenty to ten, and I should sort out my accounts and so on, so I bid you goodnight.

It turns out we didn’t make it to firing rockets in the desert yesterday to my disappointment. We did however have a most excellent barbecue – a true “caveman diet” as Seb put it.

So today I think will be a relax & watch films day. We went to Virgin Megastores at “The Block” in Orange, which was made famous by the Borat film – it is the location where he chases Pamela Anderson out of the signing session. So I’ve been there, woo! I got 8 new CDs, which I’m just putting on my MP3 player now:

• Amon Amarth – Versus the world
• Borknagar – Origin
• Death – Symbolic
• Edguy – Rocket Ride
• I – Between Two Worlds
• In Flames – Clayman
• Iron Maiden – Brave New World
• Behemoth – Demigod

I’ve only listened to Between Two Worlds so far, and I’ve really gotten into it. It’s like a different kind of Immortal/Enslaved/Gorgoroth, heh!

Anyway, I’m watching Police Academy 6 at the moment, and planning to watch Oceans Twelve after that. Only… PA6 is littered with ads – the main reason I can’t stand American television. Oceans Twelve will be a DVD though, so I can cope with that!

Oh – and we beat Medium on Guitar Hero 2 last night! Awesome. I’m not sure whether I really want to go onto hard – I’ve become quite used to only using 4 buttons, and hard has 5 buttons – I tried out a couple in practise mode, and it seemed impossible to keep track of where my fingers were going!! Nevermind — it just means I’m not geeky enough to do that…

So if you’ve heard of our band (I think most of my friends have..!) Frosthold are on a sort of hiatus at the moment. Our last gig at the Wedgewood Rooms went really well, and as I mentioned at the gig, it would probably be our last for a couple of months whilst we concentrate on finishing off writing the new songs for our Flames of Hatred CD. The tracks on it (not in any order, and not confirmed, mind!) will be:

• Flames of Hatred
• Aeon of the Kings
• A Dynasty Forgot
• When Brothers Fought in Arms
• … tbc …

So, it’s looking to be a 5-track CD, and I believe we’re planning to record at the Old Blacksmith’s studio in Hilsea with legendary producer Rich Tamblyn. Just need Tom to get back from Dubai so we can rehearse the songs and then go into the studio. I’m also hoping we can afford to do a proper pressed CD, with a nice jewel case and artwork etc., but we’ll come to that hurdle when the CD is actually recorded!

Needless to say, from my babbling (and I hate using that word in a blog), I’m extremely excited about doing this recording, and I’m hoping it will be the most extreme and well-produced CD we will have ever done. Once that’s done and dusted, I also can’t wait to get back on the road!

Anyway, ciao for now!

So as you might have gathered from my last entry, I’ve not been a huge fan of blogs, nor online profiles indeed. I’m growing to this quite quickly however and, in fact, have waited all day to write my thoughts.

I was thinking earlier about names for blogs. A friend of mine runs a successful blog called Velcro City (www.velcro-city.co.uk) which I am proud to host on the TC server. Also, a friend of mine writes one called “Genuine Interest”, on which his first post explained why he had chosen that name — but alas, my memory fails me and I cannot for the life of me remember why. I have also seen a few other blogs, with titles like “The Inner Mind of xxx” and “The Insane Ramblings of xxx”, or thereabouts. With regards to the latter names, I don’t feel that great about calling my blog something like that, and feel that with a little thought I could procure something better. However, at this time, I feel rather uninspired and unimaginative, so shall therefore leave the name out for now. And in fact, after that little “rant” — as it were — I realise now that even if I did procure a title, it would be pointless as this Facebook application doesn’t have room for a title, or so I believe.

So anyway, I digress. I meant to write a short exciting blip about how Seb and I managed to complete “Easy” on Guitar Hero II, and have purchased the Dethklok song “Thunderhorse”. I now realise how amazing (or otherwise… I leave that to your opinion) some people are at this game, when both Seb and I find it extremely difficult on the Medium setting. Although we have been learning well! I’m sure it won’t be long til we are, indeed, Guitar Heroes. Having said that though, my fingers are feeling quite numb!

In other news, on Tuesday 29th May at 10:12am, my sister gave birth to my first nephew, Finley. Unfortunately I have only seen photos so far as I am still in the US of A, and I have not yet met him “in person” so to speak. This is something I greatly look forward to. For those of you who wondered why my MSN Messenger name was “Uncle James”, there is your explanation.

It looks like I’ll be here in California for another week or so, and I doubt I’ll be getting any peace and quiet from the office for the remainder of my stay.

On a penultimate, slightly obscure and off-topic note, I have really taken a liking to Simen Hestnæs, who has (or does) do vocals in Lamented Souls, Ven Buens Ende, Borknagar, Dimmu Borgir, Arcturus and Dagoba. I do love his more powerful singing where it has been layered a number of times, for example in the newest Dimmu Borgir album, In Sorte Diaboli, especially The Serpentine Offering. A very powerful song I think, and epic as expected. On the note of that album, it’s taken me a few listens to warm to it, but I do like it I think.

And finally, a short mention of the new Frosthold website address. Instead of the hard to remember (not to mention reel off at gigs) http://frosthold.zapto.org/ we now have a simple… www.frosthold.com. Very nice. Update your bookmarks.

And at this point, tiredness takes over me, and I must sleep and dream of better times. Good day my friends!