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Hi everyone and hope you're having a great summer so far! Lots to share this time so let's get straight onto the news for this month!
In case you hadn't heard yet, last week, Better Than The Book released the "Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals)" bonus album to celebrate a great first month of Side Character In My Own Life! I've already said a lot about it, so feel free to read more and grab the rewards etc... over here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/132967034/ Both albums are available on Bandcamp and it's actually Bandcamp Friday today (the first one since both albums were released) which means that Bandcamp waives its usual fees and passes all the revenue to the artists! If you've been meaning to pick up a copy then today's the best time. Explore Better Than The Book's bandcamp page below: https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/ (The regular version of Side Character In My Own Life is also available on CD and Vinyl too here: https://elasticstage.com/betterthanthebookuk ) And thanks for supporting my music however you can! Speaking of which, there's a few more press features from the new album(s) to share too! Better Than The Book was interviewed on Breathing The Core (along with having the Side Character In My Own Life album featured on the site), The Punk Site featured the Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals) album over on their site, and "2020 Was A Write-off, But What Comes Next? (Instrumental)" got a front page feature award on Newgrounds too! Thanks so much for the love everyone and check out the features below: July 24, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals) album featured on ThePunkSite.com July 24, 2025 - Better Than The Book's 2020 Was A Write-off, But What Comes Next? (Instrumental) receives Front Page award on Newgrounds.com July 24, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life album featured on Breathing The Core July 24, 2025 - Better Than The Book interview on Breathing The Core With the Side Character In My Own Life (and Instrumentals) albums finally out now, I thought it be cool to share with you one of the unused demos from the project writing sessions of 2020 as well! It's very rough and ready as it never got to the "studio recording" stage, just some instrumental roughing out, but I'm pleased with the composition (I just never got around to getting some lyrics in which I was happy with). Perhaps I'll revisit it for the next project? We'll see, but hope you enjoy the behind the scenes look/listen at "Something Riffy"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQuQnCPO5II
And the paid Patreon supporters have a download link for this exclusive demo track here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/134779001 Next for the news post, some studio and project updates! First of all: the studio, after months of planning and sorting stuff I'm super excited to announce that I've finally set up a mixer and patch bay for the studio which effectively integrates much of equipment into a convenient hub! A special thanks to Martin for gifting me his old patch bay and mixer to set this up and I'm looking forward to putting it to good use! I'm aiming to make a video about it at some point, but the gist of it is that now there's lots of cabling neatly behind everything connecting the studio together instead of in a spaghetti mess across the floor like it has been whenever I needed to set things up in the past. Horray! Onto project updates, there's been a lot going on this past month and set for the future. The first big one is a special animation music commission project which I can't say anything about at the moment. Due to the project lead times though, despite the work being finished on my end it may be up to a year until it finally sees a public release... No matter though as I have plenty to get on with in the mean time, (but I really can't wait to share it with you when the time comes)! Speaking of project delays and commissions though, after around 7 years of inactivity on the project, I have finally been given permission to release the original soundtrack I composed for the Apotheosis Video Game by Meneer Guus! The master WAVs have been cut and I'm just waiting for some final stuff to do with the art and admin, but it should be out before the end of the year. I'm really pleased with this project so it's great to finally have permission to release my work! Check out the older demos here and play the game demo too, it's great fun! https://soundcloud.com/jabun/sets/apotheosis-soundtrack-demos Meanwhile Better Than The Book has been back to practicing to prepare for gigs again! Aiming to meet up again in September after some concentrated solo practice, if all goes to plan we're hoping to finally put a live show on early next year, even if its a one night only deal! I'll keep you posted with details when I have them. It's very exciting! Finally, with lots of big album projects finally released or approaching release, I'll be heading back to the studio to do a big sort out and clear out of lots of my older Jabun demos and projects which have been still on my hard drive since 2019+. There's over an hour of IMHO decent (or at least fun to share) tunes there, some of which are basically finished, and others which only need a little work. Rather than waiting to release them as an album, I'll likely be starting a "Jabun - Lost Tracks" unofficial album playlist shortly which I'll be adding individual tracks to as I finish them, with some of the tracks I'm sure making there way to more official cataloged releases eventually. I just really want to get this music out there, and there's plenty of less formed ideas I'd like to pursue too. It's going to be a hopefully less stressful way to release music for a while so I can just have some fun with it! More Jabun coming very soon! That about wraps things up for this month and post! No new videos for July, but there's lots of stuff still to come on the horizon, and I'll also be aiming to update the Patreon Reward Archives in the coming month too so keep an eye out for that! I hope you enjoy the new music and music to come and thanks as always for supporting my music however you can! Take care and all the best!
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Hi everyone and hope you're having a great summer so far and staying cool! It's time for ANOTHER Better Than The Book album release and I'm super happy to share with you today the Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals) bonus album! Check it out, read more and pick it up pick it up pick it up on Bandcamp below:
https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/side-character-in-my-own-life-instrumentals Of course my Patreon supporters have a full digital download of album right here, that's the Mp3s of the full 10 track album, 4 bonus tracks, 4 radio edits, and the full sized album artwork (+ the master WAV files for the $10 patrons)! If that's something you're interested in then become a patron and remember that you'll get access to my full discography and past rewards for your tier including all the music from Better Than The Book and Jabun as well as a tonne of exclusive downloads and bonus tracks. Find out more below: $1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/132967013 $10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/132966985 Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842 Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding Better Than The Book - Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals) is a bonus album to celebrate an amazing month since the release of "Side Character In My Own Life" and everything BTTB's 3rd full-length album has achieved so far! If you’ve yet to hear the original non-instrumental album, grab it on Bandcamp or on CD and Vinyl on elasticStage: https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/side-character-in-my-own-life https://elasticstage.com/betterthanthebookuk/releases/side-character-in-my-own-life-album With all three pre-release singles featured on the radio worldwide from the UK to Australia including numerous shows on BBC Introducing, The Ska Time Show, The Warp Factor, Tonic Ska Radio and Beefy’s Ska Club (the #1 ska music show in the world which also featured the bonus track “Hearts Racing Backwards”), web blog and zine features, and 15 Front Page Feature Awards on Newgrounds.com, it’s fair to say that the Side Character In My Own Life album has made quite the splash in its first month of release! A monumental thanks to everyone who helped make all this happen with a huge shout out to Beefy, Melita, Kirk, Mr P, Nick, and Phinky for their continued support and great vibes, the BTTB LIVE band's Eamon, Sam and Andy for their boundless enthusiasm to take these tunes to the stage, and of course to my supporters on Patreon who keep my music going each month with special mention to the current and past $10+ patrons: Michael White and Nathan Puray! Thank you all so much for your help and support in making these dreams a reality! Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals), much like I did for Two Years On and Hopes and Dreams, is a complete off-vocal version of the album for you to sing along to, make silly mash-ups, or simply listen to when you want some BTTB but without any vocals! I hope you enjoy this bonus album while I get the Better Than The Book live show prepared for the stage, and I'm already back in the studio for a little more Better Than The Book coming soon as well! Thank you all so much again and see you for some more BTTB soon! Better Than The Book - Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals) 01 - 2020 Was A Write-off, But What Comes Next? (Instrumental) 02 - Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumental) 03 - Mood Swings (Instrumental) 04 - Red Kite (Instrumental) 05 - Rewrite (Instrumental) 06 - Don't Be Too Hard On Yourself (Instrumental) 07 - Hold Me Tight (Instrumental) 08 - Bump In The Night (Instrumental) 09 - Plot Holes (Instrumental) 10 - You'll Never Be Too Old For This (Instrumental) Bonus Tracks 11 - Hearts Racing Backwards (Instrumental) 12 - Plot Holes (Alternative Version) (Instrumental) 13 - Hold Me Tight (Non-Acoustic) (Instrumental) 14 - Side Character In My Own Life (Acoustic) (Instrumental) + Additional Radio Edits for Tracks 07, 08, 09 & 10 Written, performed and produced by Nick Standing [Jabun] Recorded, mixed and mastered at JabunAudio by Nick Standing [Jabun] Artwork, images and photography by Nick Standing [Jabun] No generative A.I. tools were used in the creation of this album. The album will be up on the usual YouTube, Soundcloud, Newgrounds, Spotify and global distribution places too (shortly if not already). That about wraps things up for this post! I'll be back at the beginning of August for the usual monthly roundup of news and hopefully an updated Reward Archive soon too! Until then, thanks so much for supporting my music however you can as always and I hope you enjoy the new tunes both instrumental and vocal! Take care!
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great summer so far! As I'm sure you're already well aware it's been a monumentally busy month gone by as Better Than The Book released its 3rd full-length album Side Character In My Own Life on June 13th, and what a splash it's made already in only the first 2 and a half weeks since its release! There's still a lot more to share on top of that this post but let's get started with that!
In case you haven't heard already, Side Character In My Own Life is Better Than The Book's 3rd full-length album: 10 tracks + 4 bonus tracks + 4 radio edits for your playlisting convenience! It really follows directly on from where the Hopes and Dreams album left off and takes a darker more aggressive tone reflective of the intense pandemic years during the writing process. Reaching even further across genres than BTTB's usual ska and pop punk tones and rock experimentation, Side Character In My Own Life is undoubtedly Better Than The Book's (and my own in general's) most ambitious release to date! The first Single Plot Holes released on December 30th 2024 and was featured on BBC Introducing The South! The second single and title track released on March 28th and featured on the Ska Time show on Button Down Radio, The Warp Factor Radio Show, Tonic Ska Radio and Beefy's Ska Club in Australia (which also featured the bonus track Hearts Racing Backwards)! The final pre-release single Bump In The Night released on May 23rd and was also featured on BBC Introducing The South! EVERY track on the main album as well as 3 out of 4 bonus tracks and the full album stream received Front Page Feature awards (15 awards total) and have racked up a collective over 43,000 plays on the media site Newgrounds within the first 2 weeks of the album release! If you're wondering, the only track to not get the front page feature was the bonus track Plot Holes (Alternative Version). It's still racked up over a hundred listens though and interestingly, the regular version of Plot Holes received 2 front page features (one for the album version and one for the radio edit)! The album's up in full on Newgrounds now too, so check out the full playlist here: https://www.newgrounds.com/album/464602/bttb-side-character-in-my-own-life (or the full album stream here: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1440051) Along with the radio and Newgrounds features (including being finally scouted for the Newgrounds Art Portal for the album's cover art), the release has been shared on a few cool music sites and blogs including my good friend World Beyond's Blog, The Punk Site, Pete's Rock News and Views, and even the elasticStage Instagram (who are the people who make the CD and Vinyl releases for the album)! Check out some fantastic podcast replays of the radio show and the blog features below: June 21, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Hearts Racing Backwards featured on Beefy's Ska Club Podcast (with an album review!) June 20, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life (Single) featured on The Warp Factor Radio Show June 14, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life album featured on the World Beyond Blog June 13, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life album featured on ThePunkSite.com June 9, 2025 - Better Than The Book's band feature page updated on Pete's Rock News and Views June 9, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life CD and Vinyl releases featured on elasticStage's Instagram And along with a tonne of nice encouragement and comments for the new album and Better Than The Book, I'd like to share 2 of my favourite comments I've heard since the release: ''A huge milestone and a massive effort, Better Than The Book's new release is a heartfelt reflection on everything Nick’s been through since the last release. Yet, in true ska-punk fashion, it’s not just about struggle—it’s a celebration of the good stuff life throws your way between the chaos. Packed with irony, energy, and infectious optimism, this record reminds us that even if things go off the rails, they do get better'' - Vladimir Kuznetsov via Bandcamp on Side Character In My Own Life ''Not every track is a ska track... there’s a few ska tracks; there’s a few rock tracks; there’s all sorts; there’s something there for everyone! ... Well done, Nick! I am very VERY encouraged by this album... Compliments to the chef! ... Go and buy it, just buy the album people! Nick has put a hell of a lot of work into this one and it shows! It’s so good; so well produced as well! There’s not a bad track on it!'' - Beefy on the Side Character In My Own Life album | Beefy's Ska Club (#1 Ska Radio Show in the world) What can I say? Thanks so much to everyone for the support and for sharing my music and I'm so happy that people are enjoying this new album (I think the above accolades and comments say it all)! Being super honest for a moment, I know that not many people are buying music these days, but if you really enjoyed Side Character In My Own Life (or Better Than The Book's music in general) and want to support the project, please consider picking up a copy on Bandcamp (or becoming a Patreon Supporter to download the album) or a CD / Vinyl from elasticStage. Remember that despite how it may seem, I'm still just one guy making these records with whatever equipment I can scrape together, no label, or financial backing or anything like that, just the kindness of people who want to help me out however they can, so anything you can do to help means the world to me to try and keep this project going and growing to new places (and there are some big plans in the pipeline if I can make it happen)! Thanks so much again everyone and if you STILL haven't listen to the album yet, check it out on Bandcamp and or pick up a CD / Vinyl below:
https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/side-character-in-my-own-life
https://elasticstage.com/betterthanthebookuk/releases/side-character-in-my-own-life-album With such a great few weeks since the album launch, I'd like to announce that to celebrate all the radio play and Newgrounds features (etc...) so far, I'll be releasing a bonus instrumental version of the album on July 23rd (in about 3 weeks)! I know I usually wait a full year to do this, but it seemed like a good a time as any to keep the hype train going as much as I can! Here's to officially announcing "Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals)" which will be available as a digital download on Bandcamp as well as in all the usual streaming places on July 23rd! Check out the edited album artwork below:
And if you're a Patreon supporter, you have a download of the full-sized artwork package to look forward to in your rewards this month! For the $10 Patrons you have full early access to the Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals) album today! Grab the rewards below and I hope you enjoy it:
$1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/132960623 $10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/132960630 Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842 Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding Finally for this month, a quick round up of YouTube videos! It's the second month since slowing down from the 2 a week posting, so there's only a few new videos to share this time, 2 video previews of the CD / Vinyl release of the new album + a tappy guitar live performance which was my entry to the UK Guitar Icon 2025 Contest sponsored by Ibanez and Laney. Doesn't look like I made the cut so far but I was pleased with the way it turned out and I hope you enjoy it too! Check out the updated playlist below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm On top of that, I also released a rather silly video revealing that the bonus "Hearts Racing Backwards" from Side Character In My Own Life, is in fact really just "Hearts Racing" from the Two Years On album (2016) but reversed and with new words?! Check out the comparison below (yes I am really losing my mind...):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M75Mu1A3DPU
That about wraps things up for this post! On top of all this album release work, I've also been super busy with a super secret project I can't wait to share with you (hopefully soon), as well as working on finally setting up a mixer and patch bay for the studio (exciting but LOTS of planning)! On top of that, plans are also being made to get Better Than The Book back in the LIVE scene and on the stage (even if just for one night)! More updates next time and until then, thanks as always for supporting my music and Better Than The Book and hope you're enjoying all the new tunes! Take care, all the best, keep on skankin' and if you like the new album then you know what to do: pick it up pick it up pick it up!
Hi everyone and hope you're as excited as I am on this very fine Friday 13th of June! It's finally FINALLY time and I'm super excited to announce that Better Than The Book's 3rd full length album "Side Character In My Own Life" has just been released!!! Check it out including all the album credits and about sections over on Bandcamp and pick it up on CD and/or Vinyl over on elastic stage!
Bandcamp:
https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/side-character-in-my-own-life
CDs & Vinyls on elasticStage: https://elasticstage.com/betterthanthebookuk/releases/side-character-in-my-own-life-album And here's a quick video of what to expect from the CD and Vinyl releases:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhB1UtJKccw
Of course my Patreon supporters have a full digital download of album too, that's the Mp3s of the full 10 track album, 4 bonus tracks, 4 radio edits, the full sized album artwork and pre-release Plot Holes (Single) photo, and the vinyl album lyric sheets (+ the master WAV files for the $10 patrons)! If that's something you're interested then become a patron and remember that you'll get access too my full discography and past rewards for your tier including all the music from Better Than The Book and Jabun as well as a tonne of exclusive downloads and bonus tracks. Find out more below: $1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/130599781 $10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/130599817 Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842 Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding This album has been a major undertaking and undoubtedly my biggest project to date! I started writing Side Character In My Own Life back in 2020, and since Hopes and Dreams we've had a global pandemic, I've been to hospital a fair few times, had 2 major computer meltdowns, had a tonne of equipment broken, then resurrected, then broken and resurrected again, and had a handful of live shows booked which never came to fruition (for many reasons including those above). To be finally at the finish line so to speak with this project feels unreal to me and with all three of the pre-release singles featured on the radio before the album even released already, including Plot Holes and Bump In The Night on BBC Introducing and the title track Side Character In My Own Life making onto the Ska Time show on Button Down Radio as well as Beefy's Ska Club over in Australia, I have no doubt that this album is going to blow your socks off! To everyone who's supported this project and Better Than The Book, the live band peeps, the DJs and promoters, friends and family, fans and supporters on Patreon with special extra mention to past and present $10+ patrons: Nathan Puray, and Michael White during this project, I extend my deepest thanks for giving me the time and space to make this dream a reality and I hope that you enjoy it and it's an album you'll remember forever! That about wraps things up for today but Better Than The Book isn't done quite yet and I'm happy to announce that I'll be releasing a little extra something next month on July 23rd before I call this project closed. Some of you may have already guessed what it is but I'll leave that to your imagination for the moment! Until the next time, thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book and my music projects however you can, and I hope you enjoy Side Character In My Own Life. Take care everyone and while I have no idea what comes next, I'm excited to see how things unfold! THIS IS MY LIFE! Better Than The Book - Side Character In My Own Life 01 - 2020 Was A Write-off, But What Comes Next? 02 - Side Character In My Own Life 03 - Mood Swings 04 - Red Kite 05 - Rewrite 06 - Don't Be Too Hard On Yourself 07 - Hold Me Tight 08 - Bump In The Night 09 - Plot Holes 10 - You'll Never Be Too Old For This Bonus Tracks (CD and Digital Only - Not Vinyl) 11 - Hearts Racing Backwards 12 - Plot Holes (Alternative Version) 13 - Hold Me Tight (Non-Acoustic) 14 - Side Character In My Own Life (Acoustic) + Additional Radio Edits for Tracks 07, 08, 09 & 10 (Digital Only) Written, performed and produced by Nick Standing [Jabun] Recorded, mixed and mastered at JabunAudio by Nick Standing [Jabun] Artwork, images and photography by Nick Standing [Jabun] No generative A.I. tools were used in the creation of this album.
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to Summer! It's been an incredibly busy month and only set to get busier for the next few weeks too! With Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life album coming next Friday 13th June (in less than 2 weeks), I'll be holding off for $10 DEMOlition Pigeon Patreon rewards this time, but hope to be back to it soon! There is MUCH to share in this post so let's get straight to it!
First of all as I'm sure you're well aware, on May 23rd Better Than The Book released the 3rd and final pre-release single Bump In The Night from the upcoming Side Character In My Own Life album and wooooweee did it go down well! Not only has it racked up over 4500 listens on Newgrounds alone (on top of a front page award and Takeover Tuesday feature), but the single was also featured on BBC Introducing: The South's radio show too! Thanks so much for the support everyone and you can catch up with the BBC Introducing replay for the next month over on BBC Sounds (I'm on towards the end, but there are some great tracks throughout the show as usual): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002cxxy Bump In The Night was also featured on The Punk Site's news feed and on Retweeter Radio! Thanks for sharing the new music peeps! May 25, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Bump In The Night single and CD/Vinyl announcement featured on ThePunkSite.com May 25, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Bump In The Night (Radio Edit) added to The Retweeter Hits Radio Rotation And flipping back to the previous single and title track Side Character In My Own Life, that track received its first international radio play in Australia on the #1 ska show in the world: Beefy's Ska Club (formally The Ska Show with Beefy)! The show is available to listen again as a podcast and what a heck of a show it was! I think it's the best shoutout I've ever been given on a radio show! Thanks so much to Beefy for sharing the music and all the kind words and I hope you love the album when it comes next week! https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/beefys-ska-club-17th-may-2025-pod-2-ep-613/id1510126760?i=1000708862516 Also In case you hadn't heard, Side Character In My Own Life is now available to pre-order on CD and Vinyl on ElasticStage too and you can read more about the album and listen to and download the pre-release singles over on Bandcamp. Check it out! https://elasticstage.com/betterthanthebookuk https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/side-character-in-my-own-life Finally for BTTB news, I'm pleased to announce that after a little trouble clearing a public domain sample, the album has been fully approved for worldwide digital distribution too and will be available on iTunes, Spotify, Tidal and all those places come Friday 13th as well! Woot woot! Onto some non-BTTB news, it's been a very busy month in other areas as I've been away on a few trips as well as fixing up some stuff around the studio! Starting with the trip, on May 11th I had the amazing and unforgettable opportunity to see one of my favourite bands ELLEGARDEN play their first European gig EVER! For those who don't know, ELLEGARDEN is a Japanese pop-punk band who started around the turn of the millennium but went on an almost 10 year hiatus before returning just before the pandemic hit. I never thought I'd have an opportunity to see them, but as soon as I found out they were going to be playing in London (alongside local heroes FEEDER) I just had to make sure I could go! I've been using these guys as mixing reference material since the One Small Step EP, and learnt so much from listening to their records! It was an amazing night and I hope they come back again soon! While I was in the pits only a few meters from the front, some other gig goers got some great footage of most of the concert from the balcony (you can even spot me in the crowd if you know who to look for XD)! Check it out below and if you every get the chance, go see them for one hell of a party! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4oqBMGy2FBglFJttux9g_fGcbltZwDGb Next on the news for this month, some studio updates! While I was down for the gig I went to visit my long time mentor of sorts Martin, and as tends to happen I ended up leaving with a piece of his studio, this time an old Yamaha 8 channel mixing desk from the 80s! I've been looking for a mixer for a long time, so I was super excited when he offered it! After a clean, some re-soldering of connections and a hefty drench of electrical cleaning solution, it's working great, and I'll integrating into the studio along with Martin's old patch bay very soon! Thanks so much, Martin! Alongside fixing up the mixer, I also finally got around to putting grills on my homemade Leslie rotary speaker and got it put back together and serviced! There's a new YouTube video all about it which I'll get back to in a second. Finally in the studio updates, my main guitar amp for the last 18 years was acting up again and I really thought it was gone for good this time but again, I managed to resurrect it and it seems to be doing much better than even before now! Phew! While I was at it I figured I'd service the bass and organ amps too which were working but not quite as well as they could have been... A can of electrical contact cleaner sure does wonders! Finally for this month, some more YouTube videos to share! This is the first time in 2 years that I've not been recording 2 videos a week so this time it's just 2 videos to share this month but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless! Check out the updated video below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm And here's a list of the latest additions:
That about wraps things up for this time! It's just 10 days until Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life album finally releases (I can hardly believe it), so I'm going to be working my butt off to prepare all the promo for that, and trying to get some rest where I can in the mean time. More interesting projects are coming on the horizon now though so it won't be long until there's more music to come! Until then, thanks as always for supporting my work however you can and I'll see you next week for the big album launch! Take care! $1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/128920974 Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842 Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great spring so far (and not battling hayfever hard like I am)! It's been a heckin' super busy month since the last post (only set to get busier) and there's tonnes of news to share so let's get straight to it!
First of all in the big news, the CD test pressing for Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life album arrived in the post from the distributor and looks and sounds BEAUTIFUL! 2 weeks before their estimated delivery date too! There are a couple of minor unexpected quirks, like CD text not showing up, or being cropped strangely depending on the specific CD Player (as well as the CD not working in my super old player from '86 which isn't entirely unexpected), but the printing looks great and the CD plays smooth and gapless (in players which support gapless playback) so that's veeeery nice! After multiple tests on various systems, I can say that this CD release has been APPROVED! If you're a supporter on Patreon (free or paid), then you've got a sneak peek of what the CD release looks like right now (see links at the end of this post)! On another note, the test print for the 12" vinyl version was sent off for and apparently is now due to arrive TOMORROW, 4 weeks before their estimated delivery date! Fingers crossed that everything looks and plays great on that version too and if so it'll be time to solidify that release date, prep that final single (and full album) release and get ready for some much overdue ska punk mayhem! Not long now! Get excited! Speaking of Ska Punk Mayhem, the title track of the new album got its radio debut by being featured on Button Down Radio's Ska Time show episode 14! The show was celebrating the London International Ska festival as well as showcasing a pick of the new ska tracks from around the world so it was a big honour to be part of it. Check out their post about it below: https://www.facebook.com/buttondownradio5446/posts/pfbid02RxuGgBWKo7hL9qSsFhXdSQkikKhpdEuYctjUxgH5ubiwVZrffFCHYz5qrCkwCh6Gl And you can catch up with the full radio show over on Mixcloud! There's some great organ work in this one. Fantastic stuff and thanks again to the Ska Time show for spinning the track! https://www.mixcloud.com/CuttersChoiceRadio/ska-time-w-button-down-radio-ep14/ Next on the news, it was my birthday last week and on April 24th 2025, my twin Eamon (TallismanRogue) released the Sonic The Hedgehog X Better Than The Book - Endless Hopes and One-way Dreams Mashup EP to celebrate! It's incredible! Thanks and love you so much, Mon! I highly encourage you to check it out below. Gotta go fast! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QAg8Mu49JQ Keeping in with the birthday theme, as a present to myself, I'm back to some wood/metalwork to FINALLY (after 3 years?) finish my homemade Leslie speaker by adding some grills! For the past 3 years, it's been all to easy to stick you hand/foot into the rotating drum while it's spinning, but now that'll be safely behind a few millimeters of perforated steel mesh. SAFE! As it currently stands, the 2 sides and top have been fitted with a permanent grill each while the front panel grill is complete (apart from possibly a custom badge on the front) and easily clips on and off for maintenance and if you want an open grill for stage presence. All that's left to do is sort out the grounding for electrical safety, give the mechanics their annual service and oiling, and put it back together and calibrate again! Hoping to have that done by this time next month with any luck and I'll be sure to put up a video of the completed project when it's done! And on the topic of videos, after 2 full uninterrupted years of 2 videos a week on YouTube (that's over 200 in total now), I've decided to step away from regular scheduled YouTube content to focus on music creation (and releasing this upcoming album). April 2025 marks the last full month of videos and while there has already been one video released in May, for the first time in a LONG time, I don't have any new videos scheduled currently. That said there are a few more I have planned, and there's a WHOLE lot of new music to come very soon too. Check out the updated playlist below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm And here's a list of the latest additions:
Lastly for the news this month, after many years for the first time ever, there are currently no $10 patrons, and so I will not be posting a $10 extra reward this month. If the situation's the same for a while I may decide to change things up regarding Patreon rewards, but there are more urgent things to attend to currently so I'll be playing things by ear. To all the Patreon supporters past and present though, I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to you all for all your support over the years. I hope you're still enjoying the music and content ramblings and hope you're as excited as I am for all the new music still to come! That about wraps things up for this month. With a vinyl test coming tomorrow, unless something's drastically wrong I should hopefully have a concrete release date for the Side Character In My Own Life album and maybe that final pre-release single to share with you (as well as other stuff) next time. Until then, thanks as always for supporting me and my musical endeavours however you can and I'm super looking forward to sharing what's to come very soon! Take care and all the best! $1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/126129247 Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842 Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to spring! It's been a super busy time over here as I'm sure you already know if you've been following the usual posts and stuff. I decided to delay the monthly post given that it was April Fools Day yesterday, but now that that's all over I can post without worry of any misunderstandings! With such a big release less than a week ago I thought there'd just be the one shared news post for all Patreon supporters this month, but I managed to whip something a little extra up for the $10 patrons anyway! More on that in a moment, but let's get started with the news!
First of all, the big news in case you've not heard it yet: Better Than The Book released the 2nd single and title track from the upcoming 3rd full-length album Side Character In My Own Life on Friday! Not only that, but the cover art for the album has also been revealed as well as a vinyl and CD release for the album being announced too! Not only that, but $10 patrons now have full early digital access to the album too! I've already posted about it so I'll not repeat myself here, but read more and check out all the details in the Patreon post below: https://www.patreon.com/posts/124775796 And listen on Bandcamp: 
https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/side-character-in-my-own-life
As it currently stands, the digital release is pretty much ready to go, and I've just ordered the very first CD test pressing from the distributor! If that comes back all good I'll go ahead and order a test vinyl too! All the physical release packaging is pretty much done, so all that's left to sort once the test pressings are approved is to solidify the release date (taking into account release lead times) and get the (personal) online streams sorted (YouTube, Newgrounds, Soundcloud etc...)! The next and final pre-release single is already pretty much ready to drop and I'll be announcing the concrete release date for the album when that goes live in a few weeks time once the test pressings are approved (if all goes to plan). Exciting times! In the mean time, following from the physical release progress I have an extra reward for the $10 patrons this time! The vinyl release includes a lyric sheet for the main album (not including bonus tracks), so as an early access patron, you now have an early download for the lyric sheet to look forward to! If you're a $10 patron, head over here to grab the download: $10 reward: https://www.patreon.com/posts/125676704 And the lyric sheets will be available to the rest of the patrons and on Bandcamp when the album drops in full in May/June! Following the big launch, the Side Character In My Own Life single has racked up a few press features already in its first week live! Big thanks to The Punk Site for sharing the new music, The Retweeter Hits Radio for adding the track to their radio rotation, and to the great peeps at Newgrounds for the front page feature award! That makes both singles which have met the mark for all 3 of these features. Will the next single (and album) complete the collection? We'll have to see! March 31, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life single featured on ThePunkSite.com March 30, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life (Single) added to The Retweeter Hits Radio Rotation March 29, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life (Single) receives Front Page award on Newgrounds.com Away from Better Than The Book news, the home studio set-up is pretty much all set up now too! All the acoustic treatment (for now at least) has been sorted including a ceiling panel I'm very pleased with, and all that's left to do now is a quick speaker/room calibration when I have a free quiet evening. There may be a few stands to get/swap out but functionally it's finally back to how I've been wanting it to be now to get on with making music again properly! The next thing to do in the studio will be to plan out and set up a patch bay to integrate much of the electronics. It's something I've not done before so it's going to be a challenge and will take some capital to invest in all the cabling etc... so that might not be for a little while, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. Before that, I recon the next major project will be to add a grill onto the front and sides of the homemade Leslie speaker though so it'll be time to draw up some plans for that soon! Next and lastly for this month's update, more videos on YouTube! This past month has been filled with some bass and slide guitar fun times and experiments, as well as my first saxaflute (bamboo saxophone) video! Check out the updated playlist below:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm
And here's a list of the latest additions:
The next month is set to be my last month of regular YouTube videos (for a while at least) while I prepare for the big BTTB release. It'll also mark 2 full years of uninterrupted videos on YouTube so there's that too! More music to come soon though so you'll not be able to get rid of me just yet! That about wraps things up for this month! I'm hoping that by next time I'll have a finalised test CD (hopefully even a vinyl too) in my hand, perhaps the next BTTB single out, and a concrete release date set in stone for the next BTTB album too, but now that all depends on how sorting these physical releases go (manufacture times etc...). Exciting times ahead and until the next one, thanks so much for supporting my music and I hope you enjoy the new music and videos this month (and to come)! Take care! $1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/124775854 $10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/125676704 Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842 Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding
Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to spring. It's been a super busy month over here with some trips in between working frantically to get this Better Than The Book album ready for release (more on that in a moment), and getting the studio set up too (also more on that in a moment). More news to share along with some more videos as usual so let's get to it!
First of all an update on how Better Than The Book's upcoming album preparations are going! It's been much slower than I'd hoped for many reasons but things are getting there (It's a HUGE project). Album credits are mostly drafted up along with the finalised lyric sheets on Bandcamp and the artwork is well on the way to completion too! As it stands all the final penciling is finished, all the final line-work penning is done too, and it's just some shading, clean-up and lettering left to take care of before it's time to take it to the scanner. After that there'll be some cropping and digital clean-up to do and very thankfully, my twin Eamon has lent me one of his old graphics tablets to help with that. Thanks Eamon! I'm sure this'll make things much easier than my usual mouse clean-up. I cannot wait to share this artwork with you as much like the audio, I think it's my best yet (certainly from an attention to detail point of view) and is going to blow your socks off! If you're $10 Patreon supporter though, you've got a sneak peek collection of work in progress, non-draft artwork photos to look forward to this time. Hope you enjoy it! Next up on the news, some more studio updates. Again this has been slow progress for many reasons including ordering a flat packed shelf but finding a piece missing and then having to wait an extra 2 weeks for this tiny part to arrive to finish it... With that finally sorted though, the studio is now well equipped with a load of shelves at the back filled with vinyls, CDs, Magazines, charms, files/admin stuff, art supplies, tools, spare parts, manga and more! Next up will be to sort the final few acoustic tiles so I can get this room fully treated and calibrated! I'm playing around a bit with stands too for all the instruments to be effectively out on display and ready to use (while taking up as little room as possible) but that's proving a little difficult at the moment... I'll get to it when I can (Better Than The Book artwork is top priority at the moment)! On top of that after a visit down south to the overwhelmingly generous Martin (who I'm really not sure where I'd be musically without), I have now finally (after almost a decade living without one) acquired a full 88note (controller) keyboard again, as he had recently upgraded his own and wanted his old one to go to a good new home. It's been amazing to finally be able to play piano with the fully compass of the keyboard again, and after some catch-up practice I'm positive I'll be recording some proper piano compositions again very soon! Oh and before anyone asks, no piano and organ are not the same. They're more akin to a spoon and a fork (for lack of a better analogy). Fun times a'commin'! Next and an interesting piece of news which I think everyone should know about, especially those of you making ANY creative content (artwork, music, writing, etc...) in the UK specifically. In February, myself and over 1000 musicians jointly released a "silent" album title "Is This What We Want?" to protest the UK government's planned changes to copyright law, which would essentially hand the life's work of the country's musicians (and more) to AI companies for free, without compensation, consent, or any real framework implemented to opt out. Not only are they stealing from musicians and artist as above, but they're using our work and passion to train models which aim to replace us. This is unacceptable. "Is This What We Want?" is an album of recordings of empty studios, which is a stark illustration of the impact it'll have on the music industry and musicians if the government's plans go ahead. You can listen to and read all about it here and all profits from the album will be donated to a musician's charity. You can also see a list of all the "contributors" to the album where I'm listed as Jabun alongside such musicians as Damon Albarn, Imogen Heap, Hans Zimmer and many more people. On a side note, if you're into field recordings and ambient sounds, it's actually a very cool album musically (though harrowing). Here's to hoping it gets the message across to the UK Government: 
https://www.isthiswhatwewant.com/
Track list: 1) The 2) British 3) Government 4) Must 5) Not 6) Legalise 7) Music 8) Theft 9) To 10) Benefit 11) AI 12) Companies Finally for this months news it's the usual video round up! I didn't actually meet my recording target (again) last month, and with this April marking a full 2 years of releasing 2 video a week consistently and without break, I'll be announcing a reduction / step back from "content creation" after that 2 year mark. Details to come, but in the mean time here's the update playlist and a list of the latest additions: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm
This coming month we're back to some slide guitar and alternative tunings, playing some bass with the whammy pedal, and more! Hope you're looking forward to it! That about wraps things up for this post! I'll be trying to finish the artwork for Better Than The Book's upcoming album soon which also means the second single will be due very soon too! On top of that there's a tonne of stuff still to do setting up the studio, as well as admin to prep for the BTTB album release. No shortage of busy times at the moment, but exciting stuff to come soon! Until then, thanks as always for supporting my music and more however you can and hope you enjoy what's to come! Take care! $1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/123307878 $10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/123216355 Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842 Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding
Hi everyone and hope you've had a good start to 2025. It's been an extra busy month over here catching up with stuff I slacked off on at the end of last year, falling behind in some other aspects instead, and prepping the new Better Than The Book album for release as well as continuing to set up the new studio. Regarding the latter, it's getting there slowly but surely! I still need to put up some more shelves and finish off the acoustic treatment so it's still a way off but hopefully it'll be closer to completion by the spring. More updates coming soon and let's get onto the news for this month (there's a lot of stuff)!
Firstly, I've been super busy working on the cover art for Better Than The Book's upcoming Side Character In My Own Life album! As with a lot of my artwork, especially the more complex ones, this one started out as pencil sketches in a pad which were then photographed, rearranged and edited to make a digital collage to experiment with layout and draft out the overall look of the album art, and I'm pretty pleased with the way this one has come so far! As it currently stands I'm in the process of redrawing the whole thing with the new compiled layout with the exception of the album title which I'm not quite 100% sure on the layout for yet. The overall image takes inspiration from the title track of the album, but there's a tonne of references to other tracks of the album in the picture too. It's been so much fun to be back to drawing again. I should do it more often! Next step is to finish the line redrawing, finalise any colour etc... settle on the final logo layout, then a final digital scan, clean-up and compilation. Hoping to get this done before the next update ready to release with the next single which will be the title track Side Character In My Own Life! Hope you're excited for it, and if you're a $10 Patreon supporter, you've got a .ZIP folder full of sketches + the latest digitally complied draft to look forward to! Enjoy! Onto more news for this month, apart from working on the Better Than The Book artwork (and setting up the studio), I've finally taken the time to update the Patreon Reward Archives! It's been a while since the last update, which I think was when the Jabun - June22 album was released back in March 2023. Read more about the updated archive below and here's a list of all the additions! Updated archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842 $1 Reward Additions:
$10+ Reward Additions:
Next on the news for this month, some press features to share from Better Than The Book! After the launch of Plot Holes, the first single from the upcoming Side Character In My Own Life album, my inbox has been buzzing with stuff and while some things have yet to be confirmed, here's a few things which have happened so far! First of all, and this is huge, Plot Holes was featured on the BBC Introducing The South show on BBC Radio Sussex in my home county! It was even chosen as the opener for the show! Huge thanks to Melita for sharing the music and while there's not much time left, there's still about a week to catch up on the show on the BBC Sounds App if you've yet to hear it. Some cracking tunes over there! https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0kbhyw4 Next the single and album announcement was featured on The Punk Site! Thanks for the feature peeps and hope to be back on the site again when the next single or album drops in full: https://www.thepunksite.com/news/better-than-the-book-reveal-plot-holes-announce-side-character-in-my-own-life-album/ Finally in the confirmed news Plot Holes has been added to The RETWEETER RADIO's tune rotation! Thanks so much! More radio shows and podcasts to confirm the feature on to come hopefully! https://x.com/ITHERETWEETER1/status/1876352413004931566 Finally this month, more YouTube Videos to share! After recording NOTHING in the month prior to the previous post, it was a super busy few weeks catching up and recording twice as many videos to get back on track, but I (just about) managed it! Phew! In honesty, I may have to reduce the number of videos I put out at some point, but for the moment, I'm keeping up. Anyways! A busy month of videos it's been so here's the updated main playlist and the latest additions:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm
This coming month's videos will be full of me messing around on the big bass amp with not just bass, but guitar and organ too! Hope you enjoy it! That about wraps things up for this post! Next month's looking to potentially be busy with some trips but I'll be aiming to get the album artwork for Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life finished as well as more YouTube videos recorded and more studio build updates done at least. It's a little later than I'd hoped but I recon the next BTTB single will be coming in March at this rate. We shall see I suppose! Until the next update I hope you enjoy the news and new videos and thanks as always for supporting my music and projects however you can! Take care and all the best! $1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/119425579 $10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/121177435 Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842 Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding
Hi everyone and hope you had a great December, Christmas, New Years and Holiday season! It's been a heckin' super busy time over here, so much so that I've fallen behind on my pre-scheduled YouTube video recording! Fortunately I prepared videos up until the end of January in case of busy times, but there's going to be a lot of catching up to do this coming month, and man oh man it's looking to be an even busier time to come! Speaking of which, with Better Than The Book's big single release earlier this week (more on that in a moment), there'll be no extra Patreon rewards this month so everyone's news will be together in one post again. Should be back to the usual jam for February, and with that, let's get on with the news for the month!
Firstly, it's been just a few days since the launch but things are already looking great for the first single "Plot Holes" from Better Than The Book's upcoming 3rd full length album "Side Character In My Own Life"! If you've not already heard it check it out on YouTube, or on Bandcamp if you want to pick up a copy or pre-order the album now:
https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/side-character-in-my-own-life
Plot Holes was one of the first tracks to be written for the upcoming Side Character In My Own Life album, and like most of the album was written back in 2020 / early 2021 (Track 05 "Rewrite" was rewritten in 2023). With the world in lockdown, some questionable characters pulling the strings, not to mention some horrible things going on on top of that, it was a tense and emotional era and it's no wonder that the world's collective consciousness was at breaking point. Plot Holes was written to help process all that was going on, about how some uncomfortable realities had to be faced, and how at the time (and still now) the world just didn't seem to make sense anymore. I hope you find it enjoyable, relatable and that it brings some much needed catharsis, power and motivation to you however you experienced these past 5 years! The Side Character In My Own life album is more or less a snapshot of that time in my life with another 5 years of performance, writing, audio engineering and production experience under my belt which I really believe is my best collective release to date! With the album art and many other things still left to sort out, I don't have a concrete release date planned for the album just yet but I'm hoping for the first half of this year without rushing things. I was determined to get something out before 2024 was over though, and Plot Holes seemed like the best foot forward so to speak. The album goes through many style shifts and motions, but I think this set's the overall musical tone nicely! Bandcamp pre-orders are now open along with the Plot Holes (Radio Edit) single ready to download, and I'll be updating the page with the pre-release singles as they're released + artwork, lyrics and descriptions in due time. Of course the current art is just a placeholder for what's to come, and there is a LOT of new music to come! Check out the track list for the new album below: https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/side-character-in-my-own-life Better Than The Book - Side Character In My Own Life 01 - 2020 Was A Write-off, But What Comes Next? 02 - Side Character In My Own Life 03 - Mood Swings 04 - Red Kite 05 - Rewrite 06 - Don't Be Too Hard On Yourself 07 - Hold Me Tight 08 - Bump In The Night 09 - Plot Holes 10 - You'll Never Be Too Old For This Bonus Tracks 11 - Hearts Racing Backwards 12 - Plot Holes (Alternative Version) 13 - Hold Me Tight (Non-Acoustic) 14 - Side Character In My Own Life (Acoustic) + Additional Radio Edits for Tracks 07, 08, 09 & 10 Written, performed and produced by Nick Standing [Jabun] Recorded, mixed and mastered at JabunAudio by Nick Standing [Jabun] Artwork, images and photography by Nick Standing [Jabun] No generative A.I. tools were used in the creation of this album. More album credits and special thanks are to come but for now I'd like to extend an immediate thanks to my family and friends (both online and offline) for their support and a big thanks to the current supporters on Patreon with extra mention to $10+ patrons: Nathan Puray, and Michael White! Thank you all so much for your help and support in making my musical dreams a reality! You folks are amazing! Of course my supporters on Patreon are celebrating today with the full download package of the Plot Holes (Radio Edit) single which includes Mp3s (+ WAVs for the $10 patrons) and full sized placeholder art! If any of that sounds good to you, then consider becoming a patron for as little as $1 today, and remember you'll be getting the full back-catalogue of rewards for your tier when you join, including the full Better Than The Book, Jabun and Nick Standing discographies, bonus Patreon exclusives and much more! Find out more below: $1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/116513608 $10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/116513612 Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842 Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding And a big thanks to everyone who's listened and shared the music so far! Not even a week after launch and Plot Holes has already been streamed well over 1000 times (almost on Newgrounds alone) and even received a Front Page Feature Award on Newgrounds too! Thanks so much for the love peeps, and I'm sure the rest of the album is going to blow your socks off too! Check out the Newgrounds stream for Plot Holes below: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1387749 Onto other recent music releases, all the listening parties have now been completed for November's Jabun - Nephology album and all the tracks have been playlisted on YouTube and Newgrounds now, as well as the album being up on Spotify too! With over 6 hours total of listening party streaming time for this album it's been the longest release party yet and thanks so much to everyone who joined and really made it a memorable launch for Jabun's Nephology! Check out the cloudwatching livestream playlist below and the Nephology album on Bandcamp if you've not heard it already:
https://jabun.bandcamp.com/album/nephology
Onto some Christmas and Holiday funtimes news now, this year was the first one at my wife Eva and I's new house and we were hosting which made for a busy challenge but super enjoyable time with close family. As usual gifts were exchanged and some fun highlights included a toy pig from Battersea Power Station (In reference to Pink Floyd), Tickets to Iron Maiden and the 40th Anniversary addition of Iron Maiden's Powerslave album on vinyl (the title track of which was the first guitar solo I ever learnt and performed live) which also has this cool feature where when you play it under a strobe light it shows an animated loop for each of the tracks on the album (super cool), the Mario Bros Wonder game which has been some very silly multiplayer fun, and Eva and I both getting eachother the same supposedly discontinued flavour of our favourite instant noodles! Good times all around and thanks my dear family, I'm looking forward to the next visit soon! On top of that, my twin Eamon was up to his usual dank mashup madness and made yet another Christmas album this year! It ended up being a 12 days of Christmas countdown of sorts on his YouTube channel and is as messed up as it is heartfelt! Check it out below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xtXIGAoNAQ&list=PLwEpjDbB6TAHQ7Khc1Nq5wCtnM-f0rUVc&index=54 Onto Studio updates, with a few trips back down south in December + my family coming up to visit for Christmas, I FINALLY managed to move the rest of my equipment up into the new studio! Apart from the family piano and my very first Marshall guitar and bass amps which are staying down south, it's the first time EVER that all my instruments and equipment have been under the same roof and in the same room! Some notable additions include my BIG bass amp (an Ashdown EVO EVO II 500 + 4x10 cab), my first bass and guitar, a Squier Vintage Modified (and modified again) Jazz Bass, and stock Yamaha Pacifica 112 I picked up at a McDonalds car part from eBay at age 14, my trusty balalaika, and tenor saxaflute (Bamboo saxophone) which I've been making a new effort to play now that I can be as noisy and terribly sounding as I want (and it's going "well" so far)! There's still A LOT of stuff to sort out in the studio with a massive pile of mostly CDs and manga boxed up against the back wall now, but it's finally ALL HERE and available to record and jam now; for the first time ever! It's a great feeling and I'm sure it'll be even better once I get things a bit more sorted and less cluttered soon! Next it's onto the YouTube videos for the month and although as mentioned I wasn't able to keep up with my recording, I've still managed to release the usual 2 a week videos on top of the new music! This month we said hello to the new studio with some build updates, and some jams! Here's the updated main playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm
And here's the full list of videos below:
Next month will feature some amp repairs and testing, some more studio build updates and jams and back to some synth stuff too! Thanks for sticking around and watching and hope you enjoy what's to come! Finally as it's the first post of the year, I thought it'd be nice to reflect on the year gone by, celebrate the successes, reflect on goals, and set some new ones for 2025! It's been a heck of a busy year, not so much on the music release schedule this time, but more preparing for the future and things to come! Speaking of releasing stuff though, 2024 was my first full calendar year of releasing 2 videos a week on YouTube, and crazy as I thought it was, 104 videos later, I'm still going and the JabunAudio channel has surpassed 500 subscribers too! That's something to celebrate! On top of that, although we unfortunately didn't make it to the stage this year due to injury and busy life stuff (more on that later), the Better Than The Book live band got back together for its first full band practices since January 2020 which was amazing fun! Hoping to get back to it in the new year when we can! And speaking of BTTB, although the album wasn't released just yet, master audio has been finished for BTTB's upcoming 3rd full-length album Side Character In My Own Life and the first single Plot Holes just made it to release before the year was out too! Additionally Jabun released its 6th album/EP project Nephology in November with a tonne of live streaming party fun, and moving onto collaborator news Sif Savery's Tales of Zale: Flicking lights short film reached over a million views on YouTube, I mastered the madness monster of a rap track "Smack a Fish (Motha Sharka)" by eterniTRex, and kept up with my yearly INKtober contribution to Cyberdevil's challenge with the beat for B-35 Bomber on Newgrounds. On top of all this (and likely much to the disruption of the above), as well as a tonne of long overdue or unexpected equipment fixes and maintenance, Eva and I finally managed to buy our own place including my very own studio space! It's not quite set up yet, but it's getting there! To top things off for a year of celebration, I was very pleased to find that my custom NOISE oscillator for the KORG NTS-1 finally made it's way onto the official KORG user oscillator software list! That's pretty darn neat! Phew, what a year it's been! Kinda looks like a lot when it's all piled up like that! In terms of the (audio related) goals I actually set, it wasn't super successful from a completion point of view mainly due to logistical and health problems and the other busy life stuff above, but things have been progressing slowly but surely, and technically I did put out a Jabun album, just not the one I was aiming to on the goals list (as usual)! There's still time for all of these though, so with that I think I'll be reprising the same goals for 2025: 1) Release the upcoming Better Than The Book album! 2) Finish recording the next Jabun album 3) Play my first live shows as Better Than The Book or Jabun And set an additional goal 4) to finish getting the new studio set up. Goal 1) is definitely doable and I can still dream about the rest! Wish me luck and I hope you all have great years to come too! That about wraps things up for this post! The next thing I'll be doing on Patreon is updating all the Reward Archive posts so expect a post about that before the month is over and hopefully we should be back the usual reward schedule for February! With the hype train started for BTTB's new album it's going to be a busy few months ahead and I've gotta get my paint brush out soon to start on the artwork for that too! SO MANY THINGS TO DO! Until the next post I hope you enjoy all the new music and videos and thanks as always for supporting Jabun, Better Than The Book, and my various projects for another year! Let's make 2025 the best one yet and take care! |
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March 2026
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