News!!
9th October:
At last! Last week I got in touch with a local charity called Youth Matters, who run an annual Battle Of The Bands. We were sent an application form and we've now been offered a short set in a heat on the 16th November (which we will be taking). So at last Fretonic have a gig! Basically, the judging of this contest is done in 3 sections, one of which being crowd response. To make that even more simple, the more supporters we bring to the event, the more points we will get, and therefore the more likely we are to be offered a place in the final on the 16th January.
Entry to the heat is £5 which all goes to charity, to enter, we the band have to pay a £20 fee which is the equivalent to £5 each which, again, goes to charity.
We aren't "expecting" to win this event, though obviously we would love to. But with help from supporters etc. we will find it a lot easier. Not only will we get more points for the crowd response section, but since we'll feel much more comfortable playing to an audience we know, we're far more likely to play a tight and good sounding set.
Hope to see you all there!
Rowan
29th August:
We have just finished recording our "revised" demo CD. We've wanted to re-record our demo pretty much since we first recorded it. We felt it was lacking in quality, and sounded very rushed. Anyway, this time we have recorded 4 more songs (in a third of the time) but all as live tracks. Therefore they aren't as refined as perhaps they could be, but since we weren't paying for a full studio recording we think we got a lot more than we thought possible. So a huge thanks goes to Ricks Hobbs who offered his time and equipment to us for free.
We haven't yet recorded anything serious on the 8-track but since we have access to that whenever we need it, we can use it for ongoing projects.
The tracks are all available from this website, and we will be producing CD's for anyone that wants one for a small charge (£1 or possibly less). So have a word with band members if you want one. Thanks again to Ricks. Enjoy!
Saturday 24th April:
We recieved an e-mail from trashcanpromotions informing us that we have been added to their band database. This means that when our turn comes around and they have a group of similar bands playing, we may be offered an opening slot or otherwise.
This offer came as a result of our EP which we recorded ourselves over the spring half-term so we're pretty chuffed at the moment. While I'm on the topic of the EP, we can still produce copies of it if anyone wants one although it is quite probable that we will reproduce it (with different songs) over the summer period at a proper recording studio.
Also, Ollie emailed another, similar, promoter called Trashville. These guys also put on gigs at the Pioneer, St. Albans. We were offered an opening slot at a gig on Wed 21st, April. But unfortunately we couldn't organise ourselves at such short notice (2 days) and it was also an over-18's event. Since the few fans we have are all under 18 it would seem a little pointless trying to play our first gig at such an event.
Anyway, sorry for such a long message, but please keep your eyes and ears open for a gig involving Fretonic at the Pioneer and we will keep you posted!
Rowan
Saturday 16th April:
Sorry we haven't updated the site for ages but theres not much we really can say. Though there are a few things. Firstly we have composed a new song which personally we think is the best so far; this means we have now got a 30 min set at least. Following on from that we have emailed trashcanpromotions and asked for a gig but they havent really got back to us yet with a definitive yes or no, so we will keep u posted. Ollie
Sunday 22nd February:
Well its the last day of half term and we said we wanted to record as much as we could, and we managed to do 4 songs in 3 days. The songs aren't quite ready yet, they are recorded but are currently being editted by our two engineers. Keep looking and by the end of this week hopefully the first songs will be appearing on the music page.
We'd like to thank both Ross and Alex Wilcox for all their hard work providing the equipment we needed and the knowledge of how to use it all. Without them we would never have got anything recorded. Also a quick mention to the couple of people who came down over the 3 days and provided us with moral support and food! It did kinda take it out of us spending 11 hours in the same, small, room in one day only knowing that tomorrow we would be back there again doing the same thing.
Last but by no means least, we really hope you like the final product.
Saturday 31st January 2004:
Well, we've been wanting to record some of our own stuff for a long time now. Pretty much from the start of the band's life. But only now do we have the "talent", songs and equipment (thanks to some friends outside of school) to do it properly. Basically we hope to have recorded our 4 song EP by the end of half-term. The number of songs may vary depending on how long it takes us to record each one, we have other things that need doing over half-term, but if all goes well, you should find the following songs available on CD and on the Music page of this website.
1. Never Like To Believe
2. A Glimpse Of Paradise
3. Such A Fool
4. In My Eyes
Wish us luck in recording and the EP should be available from band members or at gigs which we hope to start performing soon after half term.
Saturday 17th January:
We've got two new movies from the band practice last night, so like the lucky few who were there you can share the fun. The movies are in the media section as usual.
Friday 16th January:
The lyrics to our two newest songs have been added to our lyrics page here. "A Glimpse of Paradise" and "Answers". We had a couple of visitors to our practice tonight, read what they said here.If you want to come to one of our rehearsals then feel free to ask, either at school or by e-mail. However we may well say no, depending on what events are coming up and what we have planned for that practise.
We are planning to record soon, hopefully in half-term. Now we have 5 songs, we are also looking to go gigging at last, so if you know of anywhere let us know. Keep your eyes open for this joint gig with 40days in Harpenden sometime in the next couple of months, we hope...
We'd also like to draw your attention to another local band, Sordid. They are also from our school 6th form and are very talented. They play a lot heavier stuff than us but even if thats not your taste they are definitely worth a look. Nice webby too....
Sunday 11th January:
Well, we've asked a few people what they think of the current version of the website, and it has to be said that from the feedback we've had so far it looks like this version is here to stay. We'd like to thank again all the people who helped with ideas for the site and also the people who gave us their honest opinions on which version we should use. It really helps to have an honest outside opinion. We should have some more pictures up by this time next week, thanks again to everyone who provided pictures for us to use, whether we used them how they were intended to be used or not. Keep posting!
We finished the basic composition of our newest song on Friday, it'll be called "A Glimpse Of Paradise" and all that remains is practise before it'll be added to our fast growing set. The lyrics will be added to our lyrics page soon so keep checking!
Monday 6th January 2004!!:
The band wish everyone a good new year and also to let everyone know the band forum is up so head on over there and start posting.
Friday 19th December:
Fretonic went to the Metallica gig at Earl's Court, London.
We arranged to go to this gig back in September as a band trip in order to learn from the pro's and to have a quality night out. I can't say we learnt all that much from them other than how to make ourselves more entertaining on stage, as we all know its not just about the music.
To put it bluntly the gig was f**king awesome, the band played as well as you would expect and the crowd loved every bit of it. Godsmack, the supporting band, played a good set including a drum duet which was quite surprising. However they never really stood a chance when you consider the fact that they were playing alongside arguably rock's greatest ever band.
This Site Was Designed And Produced By Oliver Hughes and Rowan Ollerenshaw