April 25th, 2010

So I have finished my last exam, and am now writing the drum parts for the album's opener. I think I've decided what all the songs will be about too, but I won't post that yet in case I change my mind on some things.

Guitar tone wise, I still really like the sounds from the last EP (especially from The Seer) so I won't need to be spending weeks messing around in that area. All in all, the extensive amount of time I spent dealing with Nameless One's sound and production is carrying over and allowing me to jump right into the recording phase for this new album.

I'll start actually updating my facebook page too with little blurbs on my progress.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sequester/14450445599?ref=ts

 

February 6th, 2010

Here's another interview I did with a European-based metal webzine (or maybe it is American based since some of my spelling was changed to US English? Unsure.)

http://www.ice-vajal.com/s/interview/sequester.htm

Thanks to Ice Vajal and Mike Thompson for the questions!

To sum up the updates on the new album: ten tracks are arranged. Eight of them are originals, while two are traditional Scottish songs-- "Bonnie Dundee" and "The Skye Boat Song." No lyrics are written, but I'm thinking about topics now. I'll start recording everything probably in April once I'm done with UVIC.

Nothing much else to say! Busy with school, and loving Mass Effect 2. Also, I only now just got my hands on the latest Alice in Chains album, which is damn awesome. Add it to my list of top music from 2009.

 

December 17th, 2009

Hey guys,

One semester down, one more to go! This was actually the hardest term I've had at UVIC thus far and I didn't get much time at all to work on new songs. I did work on a few of the existing arrangements though, and wrote some vocal lines for them. Over the next few months I'll finish arranging all the tracks for the next album, and start recording asap. And since Three Ravens went over so well, I'll be doing some more traditional English and Scottish tunes. I'll probably leave the Irish stuff alone, as there seems to be enough bands using that for their celtic material. My one side of the family originates from the Highlands (near Alness, Ross and Cromarty) so it will be cool to include more of this in my music. Otherwise, I'll be dabbing in more of the usual topics: fantasy literature (probably be a bit of George R R Martin this time around), some more norse mythology, etc.

Here's an interview I recently did that can be found here:

http://www.rockstarweekly.com/content/view/1313/211/

Happy holidays!

PS.

Games of the year:
Dragon Age
League of Legends
Batman Arkham Asylum

Music of the year:
Savage Circus - Of Doom and Death
Tyr - By the Light of the Northern Star
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
Muse - The Resistance
Weezer - Raditude
3 Inches of Blood - Here Waits Thy Doom
Ensiferum - From Afar
Megadeth - Endgame

 

September 9th, 2009

With Nameless One released, the question now is 'what's next?'
Well, I start my last year of UVIC in eight hours or so (I should be sleeping), but I will of course continue to write music during this time. I have rough arrangements for four different songs as of this moment, and have another four I'm still working on. Expect a full length album some time in 2010 with 8-12 songs, depending on how things develop. I'm also hoping to get some different gear before the next album, such as a five string bass, and maybe the Pod X3. Or maybe something better will be out by then? Or maybe I'll buy a tube amp and mic it up!?

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for checking out the new songs, and be sure to pass the EP around to your friends and anyone else you think might be interested. Every listener counts after all!

Farewell for now,

Ryan

 

August 13th, 2009

As per request, I've uploaded the lyrics for the latest songs; they're in the RELEASES section.

Ryan

 

August 1st, 2009

Well, here we are at the release date for Nameless One. Enough talking about the songs, go check them out for yourselves! You can download the rar file, or the individual songs in the MEDIA section of this site.

Ryan

 

July 3rd, 2009

I've been listening to the songs daily to make sure they are polished, quality recordings. I'm actually running out of things to nitpick about, which is always a great sign. Definitely going to be uploading this by August 1st, so mark the day down on your calendars.

Happy belated Canada Day to my fellow canucks, happy early 4th of July to my southern neighbours, and I'll talk to you all in a couple weeks bearing free music for all.

Ryan

 

June 14th, 2009

All the vocals have been recorded now, so everything is still on schedule. Nameless One, which clocks in at 10:20 or something like that, was surprisingly the easiest one to do. The other three songs on the other hand all had moments that drove me nuts. After some rearranging, rewriting of lyrics, and hundreds of vocal takes, I'm very happy with how they've turned out though, and I think that most of you will like them as well.

Ryan

 

May 17th, 2009

Instruments are recorded and lyrics are written, so now I just need to get the vocals done. Not much more to say on that.

Jonathan Elliott (http://www.shootingzen.com) offered his services for designing the cover art, and has put together a very cool wood-print style picture. Check it out here: http://www.sequester.ca/namelessone.jpg

I've updated the RELEASES section of this site to include the album's information.

Ryan

 

April 20th, 2009

Lyrics and instruments for three of the four songs are done and ready for vocals. The final track on the EP I'm still working away at, and will likely have the instruments finished next week. It is called The Seer and lyrically goes back to the time of the Vikings around 1000AD when the conversion to Christianity was taking place in certain areas of northern Europe. In particular, this song tells of King Olaf I (Olaf Tryggvason, or Olaf The Traitor) of Norway.

As the story goes, Olaf visited a seer who prophecized him becoming king, and how after a battle in which he would be severely wounded, he would recover after seven days and be baptized. These prophecies came true, and so Olaf went on to be the Norweigen king with the goal of ruling a united Christian Scandinavia; those in Norway who refused to convert were tortured, mutilated or killed. Olaf also played a role in the Christianity of both Iceland and Greenland, with priests being sent to the former and Leif Eriksson, who had adopted Christianity at Olaf's insistance, to the latter.

Alright that's all for now. I'll give one last update next month with a final rundown of information. At the end of May / beginning of June I'll be recording the vocals. I'll then spend the rest of June and July to mix and master everything, and have the EP out by the beginning of August.

Ryan

 

March 4th, 2009

Another song's instruments near completion, this one simply called Witcher. The song is about these genetically altered humans known as Witchers who are created for the single purpose of kicking monster ass. The most well known of these Witchers would be Geralt of Rivia, written in numerous stories by the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.

The music itself is heavy as hell, and very fast paced. There are great transitions to clean passages, and some very unique instrumental sections-- my favourite of which consists of a clean solo done with the pickup switch half way between the bridge and middle position. Reminds me of a classical guitar, or maybe a mandolin.

I've also finished writing the lyrics for Nameless One, which I'm quite happy about.

Next on the to do list is an old English/Scottish ballad called Three Ravens. There have been many variations on the melody, story and lyrics, but the one I'll be covering tells of three ravens who contemplate eating a dead man whose body is being watched over by a hawk and hound. The man is eventually taken away by a doe, the spirit of his mistress, and buried--preventing the ravens from eating the slain knight. Here is a wonderful version I found on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KsNCLjMgTM
I'll of course be adding heavy guitars and some of my own riffs, but the lyrics and vocal melody will be the same.

The other song on the EP, an awesome viking metal track, I'll speak of later.

Ryan

 

February 15, 2009

Time for a quick update! I've completed all the instruments for one of the songs on the upcoming EP. I'm actually using it for my 'advanced recording techniques' class at UVIC, so it has been nitpicked at for quite some time by myself, my peers, and the prof. Everything is sounding great.

The song itself is called Nameless One, which is inspired by the protagonist from Planescape Torment. The song deals with the question of "what can change the nature of a man?" and the journey that the nameless one goes on to find himself. It is one of my favourite stories-- great theme, great characters, and definitely thought provoking.

I'll talk about the other songs on the EP over the next few months. I've settled on four tracks in total now, and I will record the vocals in either June or July. The next full length won't be until 2010, as I want to finish up with my university degree first, but the EP is still a good thirty minutes of heavy metal. An August release is likely.

Ryan

 

January 5th, 2009

Happy New Year everyone!

My winter holidays went by incredibly fast, and it is back to UVIC tomorrow already. I managed to get some recording done over the past two weeks though, and I'm very much enjoying how the new tracks are turning out. I got myself a new 7 string Epiphone Les Paul with a Seymour Duncan JB-7 in the bridge, which I'll be using for all my rhythm riffs, and I'll continue using my Ibanez RG with the Dimarzio Blaze Custom for lead work. I've settled on all the guitar tones I'll be using for the upcoming EP, the drum set-up is good to go (I finished all the drums for one of the tracks), I've got my hands on some great piano samples, and I've begun writting lyrics as well. Progress has been made.

Ryan

 

November 4th, 2008

Well now that Winter Shadows is done with, I've had time to play around and experiment with some new sounds (guitar tones, drum samples, etc.). I've put together a cover of Blind Guardian's "Brian" as a result.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=481743&songID=7024961

I've also arranged three full songs that I'd like to release on an EP some time in 2009. Two of them are around 7-8 minutes, while the other one is closer to ten. One of the songs is a fast paced piece with some interesting switch ups here and there, while another song is a bit slower and closer to a ballad, with some interesting sections and a great chorus. The longer song is the most progressive one I've written, and doesn't have a chorus, but rather, a collection of verses and interconnected riffs. Once you hear it you'll definitely notice I've been listening to a lot of Opeth lately.
Anyway, I'd like to get my hands on a 7 string Les Paul before I begin recording these tracks. And a five string Jazz bass too. I'll keep you posted.

Ryan

 

September 11th, 2008

The album is now officially up for sale on CDBaby.com! It has already been sent to a few other companies like Napster, and I'll give a complete list of all those once it hits iTunes. So here is the link: http://cdbaby.com/cd/sequester

Also, I've put up the lyrics to all of the songs over in the RELEASES section. Just scroll down and voila. Feel free to inform me of any typos, as I'm sure there are a few.

In other news, songs are already being arranged for the next album. They are very long songs too, and I have about eleven of them right now. The structures contain a lot more riffs and can be thought of as progressions from songs such as Eternal Sleep and Icewind Dale. There are a lot more clean guitar parts too, with some acoustic passages as well. I'll keep you posted as things develop.

Ryan

 

August 25th, 2008

Well, I am finally satisfied with all the songs and believe that they are finished. After months of obsessive compulsive polishing, Winter Shadows is complete. The master copy has been made and sent off to CD Baby, so should be available to download soon enough. In the mean time, as promised, all tracks will be available to stream on my soundclick site, as well as last.fm.

http://www.soundclick.com/ryanbocsequester
http://www.last.fm/music/Sequester/Winter+Shadows

Ryan

 

June 21st, 2008

I have ten days put aside at the beginning of August to finish recording the vocals for the album (and there are only three songs to do, where as in the winter I cranked out six in that same amount of time), so my plan for an August / September release is still realistic. I also still plan on releasing it through CD Baby as a digital download only, as well as through iTunes and so forth. There really isn't much more I can say until August when I get those tracks done! I will mention that I redid the bass and added another layer of rhythms to Apocalyptic Smile, and it sounds pretty rude. I think the overall production of these tracks compared to the demo ones is much better too. I'll still likely get comments from people saying the vocals are either too loud or too quiet, but whatever. Everyone has their preference. I'd say I've made it pretty consistent across the album, though I do have the ones in Heir To The Throne a tad quieter than the others because to me the song has more focus as an instrumental than a vocal performance. Heh, I remember sending a Nevermore song to a friend once and she didn't like it because she said she found herself trying too hard to hear the lyrics, but she found mine to be at the right level.

In other news: The new Hulk movie was pretty good. I like how they are hyping up this upcoming Avengers movie. When Stark showed up and mentioned that he was "putting together a group," I got pretty rowdy. Thor will kick so much ass when it comes out.
I've now started part four of A Song Of Ice And Fire. These books rock hard, damnit.
I've also been calling around town nearly every fucking day looking for this new Metal Gear Solid 4 80 GB Playstation 3 bundle. It has been sold out everywhere in Victoria since release. Lame.

Ryan

 

May 7th, 2008

Greets,

I've uploaded some new tracks from the upcoming album to my soundclick site. The first one is 'Empire Of The Sands.' The second is 'Heir To The Throne,' which was on the old demo but has been redone in some parts, polished up in others, and has a different structure. Finally, 'Thor's Chariot' has had its final chorus removed in favour of a longer instrumental outro.

Anyway, I'm still working away at all the songs-- and as proven by Thor's Chariot, things are still changing! A lot of work is being put into this album, but it will be worth it in the end. I'm aiming for an August release, but it may be sooner and may be later. I still need to do vocals for two and a half more songs, and general fussing and tweaking to a bunch of others.

In other news: Iron Man kicks ass. I eagerly wait for The Dark Knight. I'm upgrading my computer hopefully by the end of the month so that I can buy Mass Effect on PC. I have been checking Blizzard's homepage every day for StarCraft 2 information. I've had the flu or something for the past week, but am getting better. I'm currently reading A Storm Of Swords, and it is awesome like all of Martin's books. I'm happy now that House and Lost are pumping out new episodes again, and Hell's Kitchen is always fun to watch.

That's about it. Until next time!

Ryan

 

March 20th, 2008

I’ve finished the cover art for Winter Shadows, which can be seen around the various Sequester websites, including the RELEASES section here at sequester.ca. There may yet be some fine tuning to do, but I’m pretty happy with how it has turned out so far.

I’ve also created a Sequester profile page on facebook, so be sure to "become a fan" if you have an account!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sequester/14450445599?ref=nf

Ryan

 

March 1st, 2008

Hey there,

I've made a few decisions regarding how I want to go about releasing this album. Financially, having CDs made wouldn't work very well for me at the moment. As CDs are becoming more obsolete by the day, I've decided to make Winter Shadows a digital download only. More details later.

I've also decided that I'll be uploading all the tracks to my soundclick site (when they are ready) in streamable audio. That way, if you're unable to buy the album you can at least hear the songs. With that said, enjoy track one from the upcoming album, Winter Shadows.

http://www.soundclick.com/ryanbocsequester

Ryan

 

February 5th, 2008

Two years ago...

When I first got into recording, one of the very first songs I ever did was Blind Guardian's "The Bard's Song - The Hobbit." For that reason, I've left it on my soundclick site so that I, and others, may look back from time to time and see how far this little project of mine has come. Well last weekend I thought it would be cool to throw together a revised version of that cover. The first was recorded early February 2006, so consider this an anniversary of sorts.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6239117

Ryan

 

February 2nd, 2008

Well it is now February, and I promised to upload a new song. So here is "Thor's Chariot," track 11 from the upcoming album. Listen to it on myspace, or over at the soundclick site.

http://www.soundclick.com/ryanbocsequester

Ryan

 

January 20th, 2008

Hey guys,

Alright down to the album details. The name of the album will likely be Winter Shadows, which is also the first track. As of now, there are only four more songs which need vocals, and two more that need some extra backing harmonies. Not sure when I'll be able to find the time to finish them up, but I'm going for an August release. That should give me enough time to finish everything involved in making a CD.

So here is the track list:

1. Winter Shadows
2. Apocalyptic Smile
3. The Erlking
4. Eternal Sleep
5. Homeland
6. Firefly
7. Serenity
8. Empire of The Sands
9. Paths Of The Dead
10. Heir To The Throne
11. Thor's Chariot
12. Icewind Dale

Winter Shadows:
I started writing this one a couple years ago, and it has gone through many transitions along the way. It started out as a song called Winter Of Woes, which consisted of a long acoustic outro, leaving the song around 8 minutes long. I got rid of that, and came up with a different intro and bridge, overall making a different song entirely. Perhaps in the future I'll finish the original. The meaning behind the lyrics are deliberately vague, and I'd rather leave it that way so everyone can speculate and have their own interpretation.

Apocalyptic Smile
The dark sounding fan favourite from the demo makes it return here, with redone vocals and a remix of everything. The story behind this song is the idea of a war fought between earth and hell. In the end, protectors from heaven come to intervene, but after heavy losses on both sides, Lucifer manages to persuade the remaining angels to fight for him. It ends with God destroying the earth entirely, and all life along with it.

The Erlking
Another favourite from the demo, The Erlking is my interpretation of the Schubert piece "Der Erlkonig," based off of the poem by Goethe. The story is about a father riding through the woods with his sick son, when suddenly the boy starts seeing visions of the Erlking-- an evil spirit from German and Scandinavian folklore. The Erlking starts promising the boy anything he wants, and in the end, the boy goes along with him willingly. By the time they arrive at home, the father finds that his son died along the way. The mystery behind the tale is whether or not the boy was in fact sick and just hallucinating, or if the Erlking really did play a role in his death.

Eternal Sleep
The single from the album, and one of the longer songs, Eternal Sleep is about Alucard, the son of Dracula, from the Castlevania series-- especially Symphony Of The Night. It basically retells much of the story from that game, as well as some backstory on Dracula and his wife.

Homeland
This was the first Sequester song I wrote that contains vocals, and is the closest thing to a ballad I have on the album. The lyrics tell the story of Caeldrin, a man who returns home to find his wife and children dead. He sets out to find the murderers, killing them all before he too dies.

Firefly
A short instrumental piece with a western / blues feel to the first half before heavy guitars and drums enter the scene. Named after the series "Firefly" by Whedon, which is one of my favourite shows. It is a damn shame that it was cancelled.

Serenity
The second track from the single, and named after the movie that follows the events of "Firefly." I won't go into details, so just go watch the movie! I wanted to try and include lyrics similar to those found in the Firefly opening theme, giving my nod of appreciation to Whedon for all his great work.

Empire Of The Sands
I think this was one of the first songs I wrote, around the same time as Homeland and Icewind Dale. The story here is based on the book "The Halfling's Gem" by Salvatore, and about the relationship between Drizzt and Entreri.

Paths Of The Dead
The first of two Lord Of The Rings songs on the album, retelling the story of Aragorn as he convinces the undead men of the mountain to help fight for Gondor. This is a really cool song, definitely one of my favourites. The first half contains a catchy rhythm that has a real dark feel to it, which is followed by a brief piano interlude that leads into an epic outro full of some great harmonies.

Heir To The Throne
The second Lord Of The Rings song that summarizes much of the "Return Of The King." This is the contrasting song to Apocalyptic Smile, consisting mostly of major scale guitar harmonies. Blind Guardian was in mind for much of this track, which is most apparent in the lead guitars, and of course, the layered vocals.

Thor's Chariot
If Serenity wasn't going to be on the single, then this one was. The only reason it wasn't was because there are still a few vocal harmonies I need to do for this song. Anyway, this is a real heavy track with some cool vocal play between high / aggressive lines and low Jon Schaffer style singing. (Think Stormrider or Desert Rain). The story for this one is based on Thor and the Asgardian race from the Stargate mytho, which has an interesting twist on the Norse God of Thunder.

Icewind Dale
The first piece I wrote, and the longest. This instrumental was named after the Icewind Dale trilogy by Salvatore, which is a great read. There are many different mood changes throughout its duration, drawing influences from a number of my favourite artists.

I'll be uploading two more songs onto myspace and soundclick over the next few months, namely Winter Shadows and Thor's Chariot. I'll put one up in February, and another in May. I'll also update the RELEASES section on sequester.ca to include Eternal Sleep, as well as the lyrics to the two songs.

So long for now,

Ryan

 

January 1st, 2008

Eternal Sleep is now available to download for free in the MEDIA section. It is in zip format, so decompress the files with something like winzip or winrar.

I chose Eternal Sleep to be the single off of the upcoming album because it is one of the more complex pieces I've written, and what I consider to be a good representation of what Sequester is all about. Those who have listened to it so far agree it is one of my best to date, so I hope everyone else likes it as much as we do.

Serenity, the second track on the single, I chose for a couple reasons. It is a more simple song in terms of its structure (as opposed to the complexity of Eternal Sleep), it has raw vocals sung higher than earlier works of mine, and has one of my favourite solos out of all the Sequester tracks.

Info on what the songs are about will be posted later this month with the rest of the album details. Serenity is quite obviously about the movie by Whedon, but brownie points to whoever can figure out what/who Eternal Sleep is about.

Ryan 

 

January 1st, 2008

Just wanted to give a quick hello to everyone and say happy new year!

Vocals for six of the songs have been finished over the holidays, leaving me four more to go. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get to them, but it'll get done. Feedback so far has been very positive to those who have heard the rough mixes.
In the mean time, I've uploaded the new version of The Erlking onto myspace and soundclick, which I think sounds a lot better than the demo version. As more songs are completed, I will upload streaming clips of them over at soundclick so you can hear how everything is going.

I'll also be releasing the single Eternal Sleep some time very soon, possibly even later today if things go smoothly. You will be able to stream it over at soundclick, myspace, garageband, and last.fm, or, you can download the tracks over at sequester.ca

The track list is:

1. Eternal Sleep - 7:37
2. Serenity - 5:06

Well it is 4:45 AM over here, and I haven't been to sleep yet. I'll post another message when the single is available to download, and then again later this month with the full album details.

Ryan

 

December 18th, 2007

Hello friends,

Vocal recording started yesterday for the album, and I'm already tired and have a sore throat. I spent the entire day working on 'Eternal Sleep,' and I think it is finally done. I'm just doing some minor changes in the mix, and need some feedback from friends before it is officially done. I'll put it up on myspace and soundclick some time early January, as well as the second track from the single. I'm still undecided on which one that will be, as I want to hear how the vocals sound on the finished songs.

Along with the single in January, I'll announce some more album details, such as the track list and a brief description of each song. The release date is still up in arms, as I need to make enough money to properly get everything dealt with. Being self produced helps, but I still need to print some copies, and deal with the artwork. Being somewhat of an artist myself, I may end up doing the cover art to save some money, but I'm undecided yet as there are some other artists I've been speaking with who have some great stuff. In terms of the CDs themselves, I'm pretty big on the whole digital download thing so I'm hoping main sales will take place over iTunes, or through me. I understand some people like having an actual CD though, so I'll be making around 500 copies to start with, and will likely be going through CDbaby for those sales. I also have some left over demos to sell. Yeah, they're old and not as good as my current takes, but who knows maybe it'll be worth something some day ;)

Aside from that, my world has just gotten a whole lot better now that I've heard that Matt Barlow is back in Iced Earth. Holy shit! Barlow is one of my top vocalists, and I can't wait to hear Something Wicked Pt. 2 now.
Anyone see the new trailer for the Dark Knight? Damn this movie looks good, I want to see it so bad.
I also downloaded the demo to Enemy Territories: Quake Wars. I'm not usually into the FPS games, but I had fun with the original ET, and my god this game is addictive. I'm gonna have to go buy it...

Happy Holidays everyone, and I'll see you in January with some new songs, one of which is the most rocking track ever in the history of mankind. Get excited now.

Ryan

 

November 17th, 2007

I thought I'd let you guys hear some of what I'm working on. Here's a clip of a song I've been sending around to some friends who seem to be enjoying it, and this will likely be track number 1 off of the upcoming album- but it won't be on the websingle. There aren't any vocals yet, as it is still another month before I start recording those, but the instruments are pretty rocking. Check it out!

Winter Shadows
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=481743&c..music

 

November 8th, 2007

Hey, just stopping by to give a brief update on what's going on:

Only two more songs to go before I move on to lyric writing and vocals. Things are turning out great, and I'm looking forward to getting some new material available to everyone this winter. I'm still debating on which track I want to go along with the web-single Eternal Sleep, but I am confident that it'll be ready and available for download on sequester.ca in January. I may have to leave out the cover song I had in mind, but oh well.

I think I've decided on the album name and track order, but I'll talk more about that closer to the release date. I'll also come up with a brief description of all the songs and maybe some samples from each. And, I've been talking to a very cool artist in regards to doing the cover art for the album. More on that later.

I've also uploaded the second version of ATTWS in the media section, with some different drums-- again by George.

Ryan

 

September 27th, 2007