Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2008!

Dear folks,

the band wish you all a good time during the Christmas and New Year festivities; we hope all your wishes turn real during 2008 - we're sure it will be a great season for us all.

Peace & Trust

Ricardo, Mike, Sam, Strap & Snake;)

Opening for Fish - a brief encounter

Hello friends,

Today, 13th December 2007, I got some time to sit down on my desk with a cup of coffee near me and some refreshing 10 hours of sleep backing me up. I've been into UK after Fish concerts on a short vacation period just arriving on Tuesday morning - London is a milk-shake of cultures and a beautiful land. Got some good time there and as always it was a cultural enriching experience. Despite the terrible weather (rain and freeze) during the weekend it's a must have trip for anyone. While there, Led Zeppelin gave a concert at O2 'The Bubble' which I was not available to see since I got my scheduled tickets for Tutankhamun exhibition just 400 yards away from the O2 venue...

5th December - Aula Magna - Lisboa

Everything set to return on a venue we love since some of our biggest influences and best artists performed there in the past - Dream Theater(Scenes from a Memory), Steve Vai(2 times), Fish(Misplaced Childhood 06) or Pat Metheny Group. Stepping the same stage where all of those great musicians were too is always something very rewarding - for me is a growing up feeling and kind of a happy nostalgia too.

Mike and I went to the studio to check if everything was ready to go; there I got in touch with our singer who was in deep suffering knowing that he was still under a flu attack, and completely lost his voice or to say the least, 90% of it. Anyway it was an important move and we all decided not to cancel the shows.
When we arrived there, Fish' band was already doing their sound-check and it was possible to see that the PA and lights were better than last year show; also Fish got more equipment to this tour: video projection, more back up guitars, keyboards, everything was upgraded, that was a positive influence for us too. I think JDO Productions and Mr. Nuno Silva should be proud and congratulated with that.
Our sound-tech crew was amazing since the first minute, great vibe between us!

In the backstage and dressing rooms we came to shake hands and speak with Fish, Frank, Steve and everyone else. They also felt it as a re-encounter, we have some pictures of it and we're collecting more from friends and people who post them on the net during the following days.
The band mood was great, Paulo was a bit worried because he knew that these two concerts were seriously compromised by his vocal problem though, with great courage we walked into the stage and we did our best.
It was a chronological set.
We started with an extended 'Betrayed' version from the Fiction Edge album, then we went to the 2nd album with 'Senses' and the last part we did a new track, which is on our myspace 'Phenotype'. To end also new tracks 'Flashback', 'Nanoworld' intro + Jam Session.
The aftermath was a time to recover Paulo's voice and protect him from the cold weather. Tomorrow it would be a new day.

6th December - Europarque - Stª Maria da Feira

One O'clock p.m we were on our way to the north. Strap, Sam and I along with drummer Miguel Samora (he is Sammy's brother and he's been an important drum tech/mental support on our last shows since we got Paulo with us) got some cool chat about general music and individual perspectives. Miguel share the same progressive mind though we live it on a different way - Music is a never ending world!
We were very surprised with Europarque conditions, it's a beautiful venue and acoustically well prepared. We realized it better when on stage during sound-check. We did it quickly and while arriving to the restaurant something was about to happen...

It is clear that when a band is on stage performing everything can be heard on the back stage hall and rooms. It did happened with me, I listened the whole Fish' performance at Aula Magna in the back stage, loud and clear.
I believe that Fish was aware of Paulo struggle both physical and mental to do a 2nd round within 24 hours - doing Aula Magna in that way, showing up for some of our oldest fans, being a new member of the group...it was not a kid's stuff. I was chatting and moralizing him during the walk until the restaurant so we both entered the restaurant side by side when we heard a Scottish accent calling us...

- "Hey, what's happening, what's the problem?"
- "I'm recovering from a flu and somehow I lost my voice...it hurts when I try"
- "Is it a chest or head pain?"
- "Both, it has been terrible days for me..."
- "Ok my friend, don't worry. Before the show just go to my dressing room and I'll give you some of my own vocal healers. I know what you're going through and you shouldn't worry, everything will be all right!"

Before the show Paulo went to Fish dressing room and he returned to our room very surprised with the power of Fish' treatments, it looked like his voice had improved in just a few minutes and he was smiling, ready to hit the stage.

This is a gesture of a noble person, a true professional and a great man.
We have to thank Fish for everything and for his true care and support of Paulo and the band.
We felt it and we did a great performance that night. In fact everyone felt it, in the backstage there were congratulations from everyone and the techs loved it too. Fish' road manager told me: "It takes a lot of character to play like this, I'm in this business for many years and you guys were just great, congratulations!"
After everything was set to go home, we enjoyed the show on the front seats and listened to Frank's incredible solo on Cliché and Incommunicado to the very end.
Nuno 'Strap' Correia and Steve Vantsis took some pictures and talked about Spector basses, Frank and I got some time to talk about his set up (we both use Line 6) and it was a cool mood in the air...maybe we see each other sooner than the next Fish release...for now it was just a brief encounter.

Thank you to my long time friend Filipa Bastos for these wonderful pics;)

Sound-check at In Live (29/11/07)

In Live Caffé/Via Nocturna interview

Hi,

the In Live Caffé gig was a great evening, there will be some pictures soon to show.
There will be an interview with a member of the band airing on 30th November 21:30 p.m at http://www.rrt.pt.pu for Via Nocturna Blog in the following of the Band of the Month election.
Check out this cool blog: http://www.vianocturna2000.blogspot.com/

regards

(portuguese)
Na sequência da eleição dos Forgotten Suns como Grupo do Mês de Novembro, decorrerá uma entrevista com a banda na edição de Via Nocturna(http://www.vianocturna2000.blogspot.com/) desta sexta feira, dia 30, pelas 21:30hrs. Pode ser escutada, para que é da região de Moimenta da Beira/Lamego, em 90.5 ou 100.8 ou para quem é de mais longe em http://www.rrt.pt.pu/.

Prog Work

Today we gather on studio to define the 2008 schedule, we will be finishing the writings for the 3rd album between December/January.
There's still many music, new sections and lyrics to be done so we can consider this album a true and actual sounding FS masterpiece.

There's prog work to be done in themes like 'Doppelganger', 'The News', 'Mind Over Matter' or 'Racing the Hours' - others like 'Phenotype'(which it's demo version is on our myspace running), 'An Outer Body Experience', 'Outside In' or 'Flashback' are closer to their final version.
We preview the recordings & mix between January/April for a late 2008 release.

You can catch us live next 29th November at In Live Caffé,
c-ya there!

New studio - closer to recordings

We have been a bit busy in the last few days moving to a new studio.

Now we're heading towards a new home for the band were we can write, rehearse, record and with a production environment so we can work in perfection for long seasons. The biggest upgrade is the drum section, now 'Sammy' will just use the electronic drums for demoing and his red Sonor kit for the real thing! We can crank the amps at last;)

We are now entering a new stage for this album, it's almost sure that we will had 2 or even 3 new tracks to the ones we have already. This means we will enter 'writing mode' in the next days: more riffs, more breaks, more solos, more vocals, more lyrics - we love it!:)

This will give us a more tight sound for this album and a sort of refresh since our last writings.

For those who missed the Santiago Alquimista concert, there will be a new chance to catch us on the road at In Live Caffé(Moita) next Thursday, 29 November - be there!

Live at Santiago Alquimista

The debut of Paulo "The Snake" Pacheco was a huge sucess!!!

The venue was full of new fans and old friends while

the band got a good vibe all the way with time for many new arranjements, sounds, solos which kept the audience very enthusiasmed until the end.

We managed to experiment 2 new tracks of the upcoming album: 'Phenotype' and the intro of 'Nanoworld', has we expected they are killer tracks:)

Our regards to all who went to see us, musicians and non-musicians, we're very happy for your consensual support!

There will be more pictures of this night at the official website in the next days, keep tuned!

all the best

Spider pigs

Some pictures of the band during a pause at the rehearsals on Shakra studio...funny mood going on;)

c-you Friday at Santiago Alquimista!

http://www.santiagoalquimista.com/

Phenotype Video (demo version)

Know more about phenotype here

Rehearsals

Hello,
there has been a time since my last entry here again...just a quick message to let you know the band is in the process of moving to a new studio with better conditions; meanwhile we're rehearsing and preparing the line up of songs at a friend's studio with Sammy again performing with his Sonor kit and my 4x12 cabinets roaring high n'loud.

We will kick off with a full show at Santiago Alquimista, it will be a great concert so we expect your presence there, if you are a true proghead you shouldn't miss this one....

regards
Rick

New Demo & Rehearsals

Just a quick run on this corner do drop a summary of what we've been doing...
We are closer to debut the new website, the last details are being polished and there's plenty of new info to read and listen.

Here are some pics of us during the rehearsals for the following shows and some other of us with Marta Machado our live VJ. She's collaborating with us for our new demo presentation while I was finishing the demo mixes.

Check out our myspace for a quick preview in one of the demo tracks:

http://www.myspace.com/fsuns

cheers

Rick

Live dates/Studio report

Hello there, we're back on earth to give you a few more lines about Forgotten Suns daily work. We hope you've spent a good time during the pause on this blog and we have some news for you that you might enjoy...;)

We started 2007/2008 season on 3rd September; in the last couple of weeks the band has already finished a new demo, now with Paulo on vocals and improved instrumentals. I think we did a very good job, we were quite demanding and meticulous during both recording and mixing stages and this will eventually lead us to a new record deal.
Any of the ways, we will start to re-write all album songs (which means upgrade them!) and we will do the pre-production starting in October.

Meanwhile the band will debut live with new singer Paulo Pacheco on the ranks, there's 4 live dates scheduled so far and more to come:
-09th November at Santiago Alquimista (Lisboa)
-29th November at In Live Caffé (Moita)
-05th December at Aula Magna (Lisboa, opening act for Fish)
-06th December at Europarque (Stª Mª da Feira, opening act for Fish)

Paulo Pacheco features on the 2nd Project Creation' album 'Dawn on Pyther'.
Another excellent album by Mr.Hugo Flores featuring great musicians singing great songs!
http://www.myspace.com/projectcreation

keep tuned,

regards
Ricardo Falcão

Work in Progress

Today I'll be on studio with Mike until Paulo goes in to record more vocals. We have been locked in producing our 3rd album’s demo for quite some time now but the sound quality is now amazing. These days are precious for Paulo's integration and interaction with the band which is the biggest task for us actually. We are getting great results and we’re adapting ourselves to another musician, it’s another depth and another approach on vocals which gives us a different musical shape. We’re quite happy with the results and we sense good news ahead very soon.
We are editing the demo until 8th July and then we will make a break returning back on work for this album on 3rd September.

Vocal recordings

Another Sunday afternoon at the studio recording Paulo's vocals...

E.T on bass & growling vocals

Cool afternoon o studio today; we got Nuno recording is low vocals on 'Racing the Hours' and the bass intro for 'Outside In'...Nuno on the pic with his E.T left hand pose...
We spent the whole afternoon mixing the demo tracks and we scheduled the July/August period for the studio, there will be plenty of activity at Forgotten Suns' camp!

cheers
Rick

Vocal recordings

Another nice end of the day recording vocals, Paulo is delivering some amazing takes and we're upgrading the recordings day after day. Today we had 2 beatiful guests on studio who helped setting up an even higher mood on studio, thank you Rita and Xana;)

We ended up the session by listening the instrumental section of 'Outside In' and we left the studio with a big smile on our faces...;)

more posts tomorrow,

cheers

Rick

Mixings & Recordings for demo

We've been on studio all day mixing and recording vocals later in the afternoon. We're on our way to get the best sound; Paulo is getting the vocals done and sounding great!

10 hours on studio, I'm a bit tired so I'll post more reports tomorrow,

cheers

Rick

Heavy Fuel - keyboard production

Just a quick note to tell you we've been on studio the whole weekend producing the keyboards. Mike is doing a very intensive and amazing work, it's without a doubt the best keyboards layers and solos we ever had on Forgotten.

I did some re-recordings on 'Ouside In' guitars, now they're breathing has we like;)

More work on studio tomorrow...

Dream Theater & Studio

Last Wednesday was a great night at Porto’s Coliseum with Dream Theater and their Chaos in Motion Tour – opening act by Riverside.
I travelled early in the afternoon with Mike so we got plenty of time to talk, to enjoy the ride, and of course, we analysed all our work so far with Forgotten Suns. We had time to talk about the new songs we plan to write: the concepts and aesthetics. It’s such a fantastic moment to plant the seeds for the new songs, to talk about an idea and to have the perception that soon it will be done…probably better than you thought it would ever be…
It’s great to know we’re still focused after such a long period on studio and that we share the same goals in life, both musically and personally.

Returning to studio, more precisely today (22nd June), I spent the morning finishing the lyrics for “Mind Over Matter” and “The News” while Sam was doing some mixes in his drum tracks – which are sounding great by the way!

In the afternoon I re-recorded the rhythm guitar for “Outside In”. The first recordings were sounding a bit muddy and flat so Mike and I got the job done in a pair of hours.
We will be on studio tomorrow and Sunday.

“Up the irons!!!”

Rick

Lyrics and Demo

Today I got earlier in the studio. I felt inspired and got some time to write the lyrics for 'The News' a fantastic new track we're writing. Actually, this song was almost written in December 06 but we never ended it and never had the lyrics finished too...just the chorus, which I also wrote myself at the time.

Today it was almost completed and lyrically sounds huge. It's very easy to write when there's deep concepts and such good music behind; I think this track is one of the highlights of the new album. When Mike arrived on studio I saw his eyes shining with the power of the song, he loved the lyrics by the way!

We spent our time recording keyboards and doing production on 'Outside In', we will eventually re-record the guitars on this track during Friday morning to get an even better sound.

Paulo is still recovering from the flu which affected him during this week so he wasn't on studio today.

We also had time to jam some new ideas for the instrumental section of Doppelganger, this will be a kick ass song my friends!!!;)

cheers

Rick

Studio writings

Another cool day at the studio, Sam and I were listening all tracks, we took notes of weaker spots and changes to improve the songs.

We did our schedule until December 07 and there's a lot to do at Forgotten Suns camp... Some surprises for the old fans until the end of the year;)

Tomorrow Mike, Paulo and I will be on studio recording vocals for 'Racing the Hours'. Mike will be doing some keyboard recordings too and testing new production samples.

I will post some late night pics,
cheers
Rick

Recording vocals and keyboards

We have been on studio recording Paulo's vocals for 'Racing the Hours'; his performance was full of power and feeling, there's no doubt that this demo will sound great - unfortunately he was with the flu since yesterday and his voice was not 100% so we decided to move the sessions for Tuesday.

We spent some time around the new equipment, got time for some EQ on guitars and then we finished the day by recording the last keyboard parts for 'Outside In', there's also new riffs and chords from Mike on this track.

On our way home I was speaking to Mike about the new ideas, the new songs and he enjoyed it a lot. We will be doing around 14/16 songs total until July 30th.

Day at the studio & interview at Prog-pt.com

Today Sam and I went to the studio to listen the keyboard production and to give a review on the already written songs for some re-arrangement ideas.

We have great upgrade ideas on Doppelganger, Pinpoints, Mind Over Matter and The News.

There's great musical ideas and concepts for the new songs...

Tomorrow and Sunday Paulo will be on studio recording his vocal lines for the demo, I'll post some pics here at the end of the day...

cheers,

P.S: There's an new interview with Paulo and myself for Prog-Pt, interview by Mr.Spulit: http://www.prog-pt.com/

Keyboards & production

After a few days off we're back for another report.
Mike spent the whole weekend recording the keyboard parts for 'Outside In' and 'Racing the Hours', then we'll be on studio by tomorrow to listen it.
We also will test new recording equipment (an upgrade for the studio) by recording Paulo's voice, he as been working his parts and for what I listen for ‘Phenotype’ he’s doing it great!

We preview the end of this demo during next week - with the mixing and all the production that this demo will include (bios, photos, videos, band interview, etc) it will be very complete. Part of it will be available on our Myspace website (www.myspace.com/fsuns ) - our apologies for the long period without the official website, we are doing our best to return on the net with a new layout and high quality.

We will officially start the 3rd period of writing next Monday 18th June 2007.
I had some time to think about new concepts since we will write 3 or 4 completely new tracks.
We are also ready to re-write some parts from the previous tracks so they can sound
ok to our ears and fit in this album; we are doing lyrics and we’re inspired for the writing days that will soon arrive.

More posts soon,
Cheers
Rick

Guitar Day

Another busy day at the studio recording guitars for our new demo, there's many new details and the music is sounding superb.There's more space between instruments and yet without mixings and production sounds good. We recorded from 14:00 to 21:00, my brain completely evaporated,even though Mike and I left the studio really happy with the results!!!(hell yeah).

Next days will be to record the remaining keyboards on 'Outside In' and 'Racing the Hours'.

more posts soon,

cheers

Rick