Graal violin solo practice... (Patreon)

So tomorrow is the 2nd of 3 total days shooting that are taking place for the video for our 2nd single off 'Exul' GRAAL.

Day 1 already took place in Italy with Benji and Tino recently (don't worry we filmed a bunch for you!). Days 2 & 3 are happening this weekend here in Melbourne and so I've been practicing my parts so I'm all ready to go for my bits come tomorrow!

This violin solo is one of my favourite bits on the album and you guys seriously have no idea how epic this section is. A soaring violin solo with violins & violas underneath, pummeling drums and an incredibly heavy and dark 7/4 guitar/bass riff that repeats for several minutes. This is the climax of our new album EXUL.

And whilst it won't be too long before you get to hear that full version--- I thought I would share this short video of me practicing the violin solo that comes over this ending section to give you a bit of an insight into the detail of this particular part. This is far from a perfect take, but it captures some of the raw intensity of the part and I thought it would be nice to share it with you here. 

Interestingly enough, I wrote this solo in early 2021, a full year after I wrote most of my violin parts for Exul. When March, 2020 hit I was only a couple weeks from tracking violin and yet I couldn't come up with anything I was happy with for this section. I had lots of good ideas. Almost too many, and couldn't settle on THE ONE. 

That is not unusual for me, I often continue to experiment with different ideas for violin parts right up until I hit the studio. This one was a bit unusual as after the album got shut down I was able to completely leave it alone for almost an entire year. I didn't go back and play it even once. 

I entered the studio and still didn't quite know what I wanted for the final version of this solo... actually, I knew the emotion and intensity I wanted, but I hadn't quite found the notes, the right bowing... It was actually in the studio that I just had a go towards the end of one day improvising some solo's over this part to see if anything came to mind. I work will in this intense creative environment - being put on the spot, clearing my mind of everything, connecting fully with the music and seeing what comes out. After a few takes things started to take form and BAM lightning went off and I could hear it all. 

I took the takes home from that session, worked on them all night and came back the following day and re-recorded the final version. Instantly feeling it was one of the best violin solo's I'd ever written & performed. 

We'll be shooting a bunch of behind the scenes footage of this weekend's shoot and we'll be doing some live streams as well so keep an eye out, and have your notifications turned on so you can jump on here and say hi. 

Thanks to everyone for all your support towards EQUUS and our album EXUL in general. We can't wait to share this next piece of it with you in the new year. 

- Tim