pir8-x/silvershard newsletter archives

July 2002
This just in: I managed to score a _high profile venue_ in _the heart of club-land_ on a _Friday night_. AND I've put together a night of all-live, all improvised technomancy performances. I can't tell you how excited I am about this show!

*** Silvershard Presents: Technomancy ***
Friday, July 26th at B-Side
( 129 Peter St., entrance off of Richmond above Fez Batik )
Doors at 9:00 PM, $3 cover

Note the date -- this show is happening SOON!

Guest list: as a member of this list, you have the opportunity sign up for my guest list and get in for free! You have to reply and let me know you're coming, though. ( The sooner the better; I'll have to cut it off at some point. )

Show details: pir8-x will be providing the "house mix" when doors open at 9:00. ( Trying out my WEMF chill-out stuff. ) The show really kicks off around 10:00 though with a louder breaks 'n' trance set by yours truly. Once I'm done, things really get interesting... I've lined up some of the best live P.A. / technomancy performers in the city:

11:00 Jason Prine -- TECHOUSEBRKS ( www.jason.prine.com )
http://www.jason.prine.com/bio.htm
http://www.silvershard.com/scene/reviews/jasonprine.html

12:00 Rhythm Logic -- Techno ( patchworks.ca, Sharp Robot )
http://www.patchworks.ca/rhythmlogic/

At 1:00 we end our "no turntables" policy as Trance DJ CPR takes the stage to close the night on the ones and twos.

I'll send out a reminder the week of the show, but you'd be wise to get this on your calendar ( and get on the guest list ) ASAP so you don't miss out!

Other business: my mailing list software does not provide Delivery Status Notification, so I'll be e-mailing you again sometime this month just to double check that your mailbox is still active.

Sorry about the high volume this summer...

Cheers,
( andrew | pir8-x | everyone_at_silvershard_music )

July 2002
First things first...

*** August Long Weekend Show ...Camping Included! ***
pir8-x will be playing in the chill-out tent as part of WEMF 2002, courtesy of Afterglow Productions ( http://dance.to/afterglow ).

WEMF ( World Electronic Music Festival ) is a three day electronic music camping adventure taking place in Bobcaygeon, Ontario, August 2-4. ( Bobcaygeon is about 1.5 hours north-east of Toronto, north of Peterborough. ) Ticket packages include camping in addition to performances by a whack of world class DJs and performers. Check out http://www.damndjs.com/wemf/wemf2002/home.shtml for event info, directions, and tickets. ( I'm going for the whole weekend and have room in my car for three more! Plus, if you ride in the trunk, you might be able to get in free. Of course, you'll probably have suffocated, so the money you save will be of no use to you... )

As of yet I don't know what day/time pir8-x will be playing. I'll pass on the info as soon as I get it.

Phiew! As if that weren't enough...

*** Silvershard.com Website Overhaul ***
If you go to http://www.silvershard.com , you will notice a few changes...

1) Silvershard Production. Most of you can ignore this. This is my "pro" section for commercial composition and production. http://www.silvershard.com/production

2) Silvershard Artists. Well, Silvershard Artist anyway. This has basically become the pir8-x homepage. ( This is where you get those free pir8-x .mp3s from! But not for much longer. Publishers I've spoken too do not like the idea of artists' music being freely available online in this format. The .mp3s will soon be replaced by RealAudio streaming media. Get 'em now while you still can! ) http://www.silvershard.com/artists

3) Silvershard Scene. Inspired by my NXNE experience last month, I've added a music 'zine section to the silvershard site. Currently it's not much to look at, but there are a whack of live show reviews from NXNE, including some these live P.A./"technomancy" acts:
http://www.silvershard.com/scene/reviews/jasonprine.html
http://www.silvershard.com/scene/reviews/ph10.html
http://www.silvershard.com/scene/reviews/priyathomas.html
...plus some other non-electro acts who were just too good not to share! http://www.silvershard.com/scene

I blame NXNE for the lack of a June newsletter ;)

4) Silvershard Technology. Everything you ever wanted to know about pir8-x's live P.A. and interactive audio ideas and technology. Includes the technomancy dictionary :) http://www.silvershard.com/technology

*** T-Shirt News ***
Just in time for winter, at this rate :P
I'll keep you posted.

*** Disk Drive ***
I have a promotional idea that involves the (re-)use of all the old 3.5" floppies I have lying around the office. Anyone else in T.O. with bunches of useless diskettes taking up too much room? Give 'em to me! I will make them famous.

*** PowerUp Studios ***
The lead designer ( i.e. director ) just had a kid ( well, technically his wife did the giving birth part ), so naturally things have slowed down a little bit on our primary project... stay tuned though. And if you happend to have any video game contract talent requirements, http://www.powerupstudios.com is definitely still open for business!

*** Wrap Up ***
Wow, did anybody make it this far? That'll teach me to miss a month!!
Cheers,
( andrew | pir8-x | everyone_at_silvershard_music )

May 2002
Results from last month's T-Shirt design survey: people overwhelmingly preferred style 1 [ed. - link no longer on-line], and lots of people had helpful feedback (e.g. the "genre shmenre" line was not widely appreciated!). Thanks again to all who replied. I've been crunching the numbers, and there's definitely enough interest for the project to break even on a decent-sized run. However, I'm going to sit on it for a month as "the timing is not good for the capital outlay". ( Read: PIr8_x is broke at the moment. ) Meanwhile, buy lots of copies of the CD to help raise funds for your friendly neighbourhood Technomancer!

Video for "Down"
Progress continues. The second verse has actually been done for a while ( including some cool spontaneous stuff that wasn't in the storyboards ) but I'm not posting it yet... it has a lot of direction moving into the ( currently incomplete ) heavy section, and I don't want to spoil the effect. For those who haven't checked out verse one, [ed. - link no longer on-line].

Live Shows in T.O.
The latest version of CarpeDM is _finally_ ( almost ) performance-ready, and I'm itching to play again... ( Got my feet wet again last week at a private house-party using an old version -- can't wait for the new features and fixes!! ) Watch this space for gig announcements in the very near future. ( Not sure what the heck a "CarpeDM" is? Details http://www.silvershard.com/technology/carpedm.html .)

Indie Video Game Project
We haven't made any official announcements about the "secret project" yet, but if you're curious about the team ( or want to contract some wicked video game development talent ) check out http://www.powerupstudios.com. The gameplay prototype not quite ready for beta testing yet.

I think that's it for now. Peace out!
( andrew | PIr8_x | everyone_at_silvershard )

April 2002
Okay, so, you own the PIr8_x CD, you've been to the show (and hopefully survived it), don't you think it's about time you treated yourself to the T-shirt?

What T-shirt you may ask?

Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out. I have a couple of T-shirt designs in the works, and I want to find out what YOU, THE FANS, think of them. The most important question for me, is: "is anyone going to buy them??" It turns out they're pretty expensive to produce (more $$$ than CDs in the quantities / styles I'm looking at) so I'm not going to bother if nobody's interested!

So, without any further ado... Ta-daaa!
Style 1: [ed. - image no longer on-line]
Style 2: [ed. - image no longer on-line]

Now fill out the FREE survey (it's fun!) (you'll love it!) (all the cool kids are doing it!):
1) Which style do you like better?
2) Would you pay money for a T-shirt based on this design (orange and white on black)? How much?
3) What, if anything, do you like about Style 1?
4) What, if anything, do you like about Style 2?
5) What, if anything, do you dislike about Style 1?
6) What, if anything, do you dislike about Style 2?
7) Which sentence best describes your overall impression of the PIr8_x T-shirt concepts:
a) Dude, they SUCK. Suck, suck, suck. 'S','U','C','K', suck. You should do a production run of those shirts just so that someone can burn them! Anyone who buys a T-shirt should also be burned, because they also SUCK.
b) They kinda suck dude.
c) Well, at least they don't suck. But PIr8_x does!
d) They're alright.
e) Not bad. I'd wear one if it was free.
f) Sweet.
g) Peachy. I'd buy one even if I didn't like PIr8_x.
h) Better than peachy! With a T-shirt like that, I could finally become the coolest kid at my highschool. Gimme two.
i) I want one for each day of the week, and one for each of my friends' birthdays, and a bunch for X-mas presents. And, oh yeah: do they come in pet sizes?

Thanks for your time, loyal fans! Don't forget to recruit new fans for the cause, and get them to sign up for the mailing list at http://www.silvershard.com/artists/mailinglist.html

Andrew | PIr8_x | everyone_at_team_silvershard

P.S. Video game update (for those of you following the http://www.powerupstudios.com stuff): we should have a playable prototype by next month. Then it'll be time for testing, and hammering out the production details and schedule.

March 2002
Well, I was feeling a little depressed at the beginning of this year. The deadline to register for the annual GDC ( video Game Design Conference ) was fast approaching, and I realized that there was no good reason for me to go. I didn't have anything new to show this year, and I couldn't imagine anything too exciting taking place that I couldn't just catch up on next year. Was I finally losing touch with the games industry?

So, I made a resolution: _next_ year, I'm going to GDC, and I'm going to have something to show. In fact, I'm going to win the 2003 Independent Games Festival grand prize ( awarded for the best indie game ).

Can I really do it alone? Of course not. But there is a very talented group of people who share my vision. A group of driven individuals who have come together to build not just a demo, but a company: PowerUp Studios ( http://www.powerupstudios.com ).

Can we do it together? You betcha.

Now, I just know you're asking yourself, "What can I do to help?" ;)

Well, for starters, you should buy my CD if you haven't already! ( http://www.indiepool.com/catalogue/artist.asp?art=pir8x ) In fact, even if you already own it, no one's stopping you from buying it again. Or from buying copies for all of your friends. Speaking of whom, don't you think it's about time you told your friends about my site, my music, and my technomancy project? If you get them to sign up for the mailing list ( http://www.silvershard.com/artists/mailinglist.html ), maybe they'll buy some CDs and start coming to the gigs too!

For you math buffs out there, the equation looks something like this: CD sales + packed houses = happy PIr8_x = more productive Andrew = kick ass GDC demo.

I'll keep you all posted on the game progress once we're ready to start making some official announcements about it, and are ready to start testing the prototype. (We're going to need a few good testers!)

Cheers,
( andrew | PIr8_x | everyone_at_silvershard_music )

BTW, for those of you who are wondering what happened to my Jan and Feb newsletters... There was an "incident" involving receiving an XBox for Xmas. The short story is that I spent a lot of time playing video games and not so much time doing music! Another bright, promising rock-star career lost to video game addiction. Sordid, shocking, horrifying. I am "on the wagon" and back on track. (Please no more cool new XBox game releases 'til after GDC!!)

December 2001
Xmas Greetings from PIr8_x and Silvershard

PIr8_x has sent you an xmas card!

Follow this link to check it out: [This link is no longer online. You'll have to wait 'til next xmas!]

Keep well & keep on dancin'
( andrew | PIr8_x | everyone_at_silvershardmusic )

PS if you don't forward this xmas card to all your friends, zombies will eat your brains ;)

November 2001
Hey all! As usual my newsletter is running a little bit late... but as usual that means I've been keeping busy with some pretty exciting stuff!

Quick links:
PIr8_x video preview (work-in-progress first verse of "down") [ed. - no longer available online]
November's free mp3 download http://www.silvershard.com/mp3/PIr8_x_Vacuum.mp3

Tha newz:
I'm finally making some good progress on the "down" video. I've been steadily getting better and faster in Flash (which is now the environment in which all the artwork is drawn). I'm more-or-less settled into the world of a freelance contractor, and at last I feel like I have enough time for my PIr8_x projects. Expect a lot more exciting PIr8_x news in the end of 2001 and the begging of 2002!

(Those of you who have been paying attention to the free .mp3 releases in 2001 realize that there is now only one remaining unreleased track on "metamorphoses". Which means... brand new tracks from the next album starting in January!)

With regards to the video preview... I haven't tested it online with slower (dialup) connections... please let me know if you experience any problems viewing it online.

Keep well & keep on dancin'
(andrew|PIr8_x|everyone_at_silvershardmusic)

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