Text Speak

Just so that there is some sort of proof and so that it doesn't look like I'm mad when in years to come I say I started it... here it is.

Myself and Kev are fed up with lol and lmao. They are a bit shite to be perfectly honest. Though in the area of communicating quickly with text we appreciate they can be quite useful. So we have decided to use our own, which I suppose encapsulates our englishness (or britishness should I say) somewhat. The short hand version is:

chkl

... which, if you hadn't already guessed means, Chuckle. What do you reckon. Use it at will spread it round. Pass it on... but remember... we said it first. chklchkl (thats a bit more of a laugh).

Sonny

The Sky This Morning 30th Jan

That's what I woke up to this morning. How's That for a view. It might not look amazing from the shitting picture on my phone but it was when you're bleary eyed from waking up. Cracking.

RIP John.

I found out today, to my utter dismay, that the great John Martyn passed away. Fucking gutting. That man was a musical genius

"If I could control myself more, I think the music would be much less interesting. I'd probably be a great deal richer but I'd have had far less fun and I'd be making really dull music."

May his music live on longer than he did. 60yrs old is nothing.

End Of January... Already.

Just set my hi fi up at home again. Nice to have music playing through some decent speakers and a nice amp (Tannoy E11s and a Quad 405 foranyone that's interested) rather than the speakers in my laptop. Apple are good at product design... but someone needs to have a go at their speaker design. They are fucking awful.

I can't believe that it's nearly the end of January. Pretty good month all in all though. Tony Allen's record is nearly finished. Mastering next week and should be done. Oumou Sangaré latest one has been getting really good reviews and should be out sometime in Feb. Hopefully Feb is as good as this month.

Sonny

A Little Bit Of An Awakening...

Did anyone else get this over Christmas this year?... and I'm not talking about drunken, "God I love you man, you're like the best ever and if only it had things and just made it like they could fall right out the sideways was suck a good film of stuff all on the..." and so on awakening...

I'm talking just a little kinda good feeling about 2009. We're probably all going to die aren't we and robots will take over the... nah fuck it. It's going to be good, what do you think?

Hands up... or answers on a postcard to:

10 Below
Just Down There
Underneathshire
JD1 9RT

Sorry but entries cannot be returned so please send copies.

Sonny

The Greatest Drummer......... Ever.

Tony Allen that is...

Sorry Seb. You're fucking good, but this guy just oozes rhythm

Just had two days @ Livingston studios with the master, making tweaks to the mixes of his latest album. The man's a genius. He writes all the parts... every single one of them. He's been pretty pleased with everything so far and is the happiest he's been with a record apparently. Not sure when the thing will be released... that's not my bit, but stay tuned.

Sonny

New Website

Hello there,

For those of you who may in interested or want to fake some sort of interest (either is fine by me) I've made myself a new website. It's all new and clean and tidy, so have a look quickly before it gets a bit rough round the edges. Let me know what you think and if there is anything you would like to know that's not on there.

Got to: http://www.sonnyengineer.com/

Have fun,

Sonny

Mercury Music Award Ceremony.

Well... it was last night and unfortunately Portico Quartet didn't win it, but what a record to be beaten by. Great news for Elbow. They've been doing it for 18yrs, which I didn't know

It was a great night though. if you missed it on telly it's showing again one Friday on the BBC so watch out. Portico played a blinder and they were all just happy to be a part of it. For a first record from a instrumental group, it's a pretty good acheivement. Well done guys. Thanks for having me there.

Some great performances from Adele and Rachel Unthanks and the Winterset... truely spine tingling. It's great to see so much good British music about. What a year.

Check out more about the night here,

From The Mercury's To Pure Gold

After the night of wining and dining with the Portico boys at the Mercury's, I, rather dull-eyed and shabby-tailed, join another Mercury Nominated musician at Pinna for a mind blowing session. None other than Mr Seb Rochford was in with the delightful Pamelia Kurstin on theremin.

They were basically jamming together for hours... literally hours and I got to sit back and listen to it. It was fucking awsome. I threw some mics up and they did the rest. Seb's drum kit was one of, if not the best sounding kit I've recorded.

I don't know what they are going to call themselves (neither do they), but stay tuned as it's going to be a blinder of a collaboration. Check out some of what they were up to.

Sonny Pinna.

Happy New Year

Hello there everyone. Not been here for a while, but been run off my feet, so just to keep you up to date and give you a glimpse of what 2009 has to offer...

I've been mixing Tony Allen's new record at Livingston Studios recently. Sounding pretty Chubby (like phat but a little more polite... we all know what you're trying to say though) and some great drumming. That man is a genius.

Had two days in PINNA studios with Seb Rochford again but this time with his Polar Bear crew. Great guys, and what players. Should be coming in for another couple of days soon so eyes peeled. By the way Leafcutter John finished making an acoustic guitar with his very own hands. Impressive stuff. I've always wanted to be a luthier. Check it out www.leafcutterjohn.com.

I'm also working with Her Make Believe Band (myspace.com/hermakebelieveband) on their debut album... kinda modern country but with a nice jazz twist (not too much for those who don't like the word Jazz). You should be hearing some big stuff from these guys I reckon.

Oh and got myself a new website. Let me know what you think www.sonnyengineer.com. Still at www.pinnaproductions.com, but this one's just for me.

That's probably it for now. Got a load of other projects coming up but I'll let you know about them when I get to them. Bored of typing now.

Laters... Sonny,

Only One Week To Go 'til The Mercury Music Prize

Only got a week to go before I'm off to the Mercury Music Prize Ceremony with Portico Quartet. We're going to be rubbing shoulder with the likes of Radiohead and Elbow and other such wonderful people... and they're all going to be playing too. Got anything you want me to ask Tom Yorke or Guy Garvey? Let's hope Portico win ey.

Oh one thing we've all got to do is place a bet on Portico to win so that the odds are lowered and that my sway the judges. You might just get yourself a nice little kick back too. Check them out.

Sonny Pinna

Joe Stilgoe Album Launch

A date for your calendars everyone. The Ivory Tinkling, Jazz-legend-in-the-making that is Mr Joe Stilgoe is Launching his debut Album on Candid Records. It's going to be at the famous Ronnie Scott's from 20th-22nd of October. Now I know what you're thinking, it's a long gig, 3 days How's he going to have enough material for that long. Well most of the songs will be played at half speed. The band begins at ten to six When Mr. S. performs his tricks without a sound And Mr. H. will demonstrate Ten somersets he'll undertake on solid ground. Having been some days in preparation a splendid time is guaranteed for all And tonight Mr. Stilgoe is topping the bill.

It's not really 3 days long... don't be silly. Check him out here http://www.myspace.com/joestilgoe

And have a peak at what we've been upto.

Sonny Pinna.

What Drives Us

Just a bit of a random blog here. Not really to do with music but then, who said it had to be. I've just read and replied to a blog posted by Lobelia on our www.jitterwall.com site, about trying to win over an audience when performing and how hard it can be and so on. It got me thinking of when I used to perform (I say used to as the gig I did recently was the first in 2 years and reminded me why I stopped) and why I stopped doing it.

I used to really enjoy going out and putting my performance skills to the test and holding everything together under the spot light and trying to be a watchable act and then got bored of it. Mainly because it took me so long to write songs and the drive for righting songs had gone (mainly because I got so much more pleasure from listening to other peoples). It had been replaced with recording other peoples song. I found it exciting to be working with musicians and songwriters putting there music on record. you get to be so many bands at once.

Now I still love doing that, but part of it seems to have changed somewhat. It doesn't feel quite as new as it did (obviously because it's not), so then how do you keep it feeling new and what do you do to keep enjoying it as much as ever. What drives us as social beings to do things. Is it a character thing? Are there certain people that find enjoyment from doing the same task over and over again and still find that something new in each element... and am I one of those people that's constantly finding new things to do, because it's not the doing it that's the fun bit it's the fact that it's new?

It's quite an interesting question that I'm throwing out there I think. This is the first time I've come across it in a situation that really matters i.e. my current career depends on it. Before, anything I did was a 'hobbie' and I've not done anything else for quite as long without it dropping in importance. What drives you to carry on doing something?

Sonny Pinna

Me & John

It's been a little while since my last blog, so apologies, but I've been up to some interesting stuff... well I thinks so... I'll let you be the judge of that, but I hope you agree. Just finished another 4 days at PINNA Studios with the young genius that is John Elliott... now to be know as Me & John... so watch out for the name. We finished off another 3 tracks for his debut album which is all him. Other than some strings on a couple of tracks soon, he's the only on playing and singing. Little genius he is.

We've also been shooting a video for his first couple of tracks, which should be out soon. We'll keep you informed. He's editing the video as we speak. That's right he's doing the video as well. he's the only person in that too. For now he's made a wee video of himself doing a cover of a Radiohead song 'Faust Arp' which is cracking. Check it out below and some of the stuff we've been doing in the studio this last week... including "when we're cleaning windows".

Sonny PINNA

August Already

I can't believe it. It's here already. I doesn't seem like 5 minutes since it was xmas. Anyway, it's been a week or so since the last blog, just because I've been so busy. I did a gig last night at Zephyr Stock, back home in Huddersfield, which was good. I was on first so get chance to see the rest of the bands while getting drunk on Zephyrs fie range of beers. Mmmmm Draught Erdinger. (no Duff though). There was the Voltaires, The Russian Dolls and Kill It Kid who were great. Two really good singers. Really didn't expect the guys voice to sound like it does too. Check them out.

Sonny Pinna

PORTICO QUARTET Nominated for MERCURY MUSIC PRIZE

Well, I was informed today that the Album I recorded and mixed with Portico Quartet last year has been nominated for The Mercury Music Prize, which I was overwhelmed about. We recorded and mixed (and co-produced) the whole record in 6 days, well two lots of 3 days. We were in the studio in the Jan of last year after I'd just come back from Africa working with Jerry Boys and Orchestra Baobab. Then a few months later the guys were picked up by Babel/Vortex Label, so they decided to come back and record a couple more tracks and revisit one from the earlier session.

I liked it from the start, so I'm not surprised (well maybe just a bit) that it's been nominated, but I reckon it's going to win. It should do anyway. The competition is tough with Elbow with 'Seldom Seen Kid' and Radiohead's 'In Rainbows', which are my two favourite albums of the year, but I've got to say 'Knee-Deep In The North Sea' deserves it more.

Anyway, boast over. Though it's more a boast of the tanents of Portico rather than my involvement, even though they have called me the 5th member (thanks guys). Go get a drink of some sort (tea will do) and join me in a cheers to Portico for the nomination, and see how a little bit of it was made... here:

Sonny Pinna,

http://www.pinnaproductions.com

Joe Stilgoe Recording His Debut album @ Livingston Studios

Well Just finished another day with Legend, jazz pianist and vocalist, Joe Stilgoe on his debut album for Candid records. Joe had written a couple of new song and had another standard up his sleeve so he got Ben Reynolds back in on drums, and this time Tom on bass as Chris Hill was on his stag do... without us. What a cheek. Anyway. Zippy made an appearance to help with some drums and vocals, which made the session go quicker.

We got 3 tracks recorded and two of them mixed so only a couple of bits to do before the album's finished. Joe tells me it should be out in October, which is good cos I can't wait for the proper version. It's cracking I tell you. I made up a short video of what we got up to yesterday so take a look. more coming soon

http://www.sonnyengineer.com