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The last time I etched out a moment to write here was a few weeks ago, but that doesn’t mean nothing is going on. I try to make it a point to post at least 3 times a week, however when things are extra busy, something’s got to give. Here’s what’s going on now for Agrippa93:

Upcoming Shows: Right now we are in show promotion full force for our 2 upcoming gigs. The 1st of these is on June 5th opening for Fear Factory and Prong at the Webster Theater in Hartford, CT. There’s a possibility that we will be picked to play the main stage instead of the usual small Webster Underground stage designated for local the bands. Both rooms will be open for the show and no bands will overlap, which means all the bands playing can gather a decent crowd between main stage setups. Read more »

“He who kills Death becomes Death.”

This week’s A93 Song of the Week is the new release, Pale Horse. Listen to and learn more about the song here.

“Standing at the edge, stepping out and falling down.”

- Agrippa93: The Edge of Sanity

Alex and Will played with their other band Imperium Mortis at a show in Danbury, Connecticut last Thursday, which is our normally schedule practice time. Alex did some networking with the person running the gig, which will lead to us getting a show there in the near future. Danbury is quite a drive and far enough that most of our local fans in the Hartford area wont make the trip, however it will be a chance for farther exposure in that part of the state and more padding on our press kit. Read more »

With Agrippa93 in non-stop fast forward motion there’s hardly enough time for anything else these days. This also means that  my side project, Agrippa’s Laboratory, has suffered from neglect in recent months. My last A-Lab release was in November 2009 with Face Down and Ear Deep and haven’t touched anything since then. There is still plenty of material in the works that’s just sitting there on the shelf collecting dust until I can catch a breather and get back to them.

Currently on deck waiting to see the light of day is a song called the Temple of Horus, which runs almost 8 minutes long. There’s some additional guitar work that needs to be recorded along with some arrangement adjustments to make it a better flowing song, but it is coming to a close. Read more »

“He’s somewhat complicated, a little bit of a freak, and that’s the reason we have him. We have to get him here earlier, he takes a little more care, but it’s just him. You have to listen to the horse, understand what he’s telling you.” – Neil Morris

Normally when a horse is injured you have to put it down, but when it’s the Pale Horse of death you have to keep working it back to heath. With the pressures of our 1st show back behind us it’s now time to put focus back on producing high quality music to keep our momentum going. Pale Horse is about 3 weeks past our self imposed deadline, but it’s better to get it right then release something that’s not up to standards production-wise.

While Alex and Will were performing as Imperium Mortis in Danbury, Rich and Scott came to the studio anyway on our normally scheduled Thursday to work on the Horse. There were a couple of minor things that needed to be tended to which included some drum tweaking here and there and a bass rerecording. Read more »

Over the years Agrippa93.com, our official band website, has gone through some transitions being adapted to fulfill it’s own roll in our internet presence and even expanding out to other sites. Each website that is attached to A93 has its own purpose and use, which I try to prevent from becoming redundant. Here’s a rundown of the most important A93 websites.

Agrippa93.com: Instead of relying on myspace, we use our official website, agrippa93.com as the hub of our internet presence. So that I could spend less time on website programming and more on content, I chose to use Apple’s iWeb application, which is an easy to use program. It allows me to do quick changes through copy-and-paste and drag-and-drop rather than having to code everything, which is a huge time saver. Here’s a quick overview of some of the changes made to better emphasize the key features of the site. Read more »

It had been 7 months since Agrippa93 last performed on that very stage at the Webster Underground and I stood up there as the crowd gathered absorbing it all in. With nervousness and adrenaline shooting through my body I was ready to give these people everything we’d been rehearsing for the last few months in order to make this performance happen. For some of the band members it had been many years absence from the stage and for others their 1st time in front of a live audience.

Just before our set started Jonny Promo from WCCC offered to introduce us to the audience, which got the crowd roaring. I initiated the launch with the opening synth to Evocation and we were off. My excitement grew knowing that for many people in the room this would be the 1st they’ve ever heard of Agrippa93. All nervousness vanished and only adrenaline remained as I sang the 1st line into the microphone. As the song came to an end all those hours spent busting our asses to get these songs down were finally being paid back in full by audience reaction. The room lit up. Read more »

When I got the email with the news of Peter’s death I thought for sure it was just another Type O Negative hoax. After all, they’ve done this type of thing in the past and even posted a picture of his tombstone on their website in 2005. This is the real thing as confirmed by his fellow band members and at this point just waiting for an official press release.

I’ve seen Type O Negative perform many times over the years as a long time fan. I remember my 1st exposure to their music was from a local college radio station and it was the song Unsuccessfully Coping With The Natural Beauty of Infidelity from their newly released debut album Slow, Deep, and Hard (1991). They had me at the catch line “I know you’re fucking someone else”.

The 1st time I ever saw them play live was at the Sports Palace in New Britain, Connecticut where I worked security at shows. The pay sucked, but the job allowed me to see all best bands for free and I even got to meet some of them before and after the shows. The night Type O was playing I got to meet Peter Steele who was hanging out at the bar before the doors opened. He stood up from his chair and he towered over me at 6′ 7″. I’m normally considered tall, but I felt significantly shorter than ever at that moment. They went on to play an intensely gloomy set as they are well know for. Read more »

I had every intention to get Pale Horse done for this Mondays release as A93’s Song of the Week feature, but it just didn’t happen. It would’ve been nice to get the song out before our show on Friday, so that people would be familiar with it when we play it. Life continues to get in the way and only allowing me small spurts of time to dig in and get some work done on the song. I have yet to get to the point where I’m separating the drum tracks for individual treatment and mixing. All of the recording is done including the vocal redos I just recently laid down the other day. The only thing is  left to do is the post production phase. Still, finding long stretches of uninterrupted time to dedicate to this has been very challenging. Read more »

Nothing happens unless you make it happen. With a solid and talented personnel lineup for the band and a constant flow of creativity producing song after song, Agrippa93 will be riding this current of growth throughout 2010. As manager, producer, promoter, etc of the band I’ve set up some goals for A93 to accomplish this year.

Live Performances – This summer we plan an interstate tour of  Connecticut’s key venues starting with our April 16th show at the Webster Underground hosted by WCCC. We also have venues such as the El N’ Gee in New London, The Red Door in Watertown, a couple of choices in the Torrington area, Waterbury, New Haven, and Manchester planned to make sure we reach the key markets in Connecticut. Read more »