Time to re-activate this blog as it has not been updated in almost two years! Online Bands is no longer using the PHP-Nuke web portal due to too many hacker attempts so I will be replacing it with this blog to post indie music related news.

Well, it has been quite some time since I posted to this blog, but here goes . . .

Fuze has gone through some member changes over the summer with Doug Nolls leaving to spend more time with his family, Dave Kneeves has joined the band on lead guitar as well as synth guitar, mandolin and anything else he can get his hands on. Craig is going to focus on bass for a while but Joe, Dave and Craig will all switch off on bass from time to time.

The band is working on getting tight in the new format with a lot more improvisation coming and a more acoustic approach for some flexibility in getting gigs. Recording is moving forward at the same time and the goal is to have a new full production CD by the end of the year. Of course, you can always still check in for the Saturday Night Jam each week. The band will also be playing at a couple of private parties over the next few weeks including a bachelor party.

Earthbound is still alive with member Joe Purrenhage and Mark Kusmierz working on an acoustic set with the plans of going out and playing as a two piece. This set includes both originals and covers from the '80s.

The Seeker and Smoldering Giants are on hold at this point but not necessarily disbanded - more like a hiatus. Stay tuned as more recordings are likely to come from these two projects sometime next year.

Once again, the Oakhill Productions Halloween Bash was a complete success. The band lineup was a very familiar one with bands from the Online Bands/Oakhill Production teams providing an evening of original and improvised jams.

First up was The Seeker with Daryl and Joe playing an intimate set with some classic covers as well as some of their own original music. Daryl played acoustic and sang while Joe accomanied him on electric guitar and piano.

Next up was Ground Score who brought the crowd alive with their infectious jams. You could feel the energy rising with each song as the crowd egged the band on to the point where they left their set of prepared songs and just improvised what the moment was demanding. You can tell the band has been playing out as they felt so at home on the Oakhill stage with a new level of comfort.

After the crowd had been warmed up and a quick drumset switchover, Detroit's fusion rock-jazz band Fuze came on to get things a little more funky. Minus a lead guitar played, the band played extra hard to fill the house with fusion rock/jazz like no other band can play.

And ending the night with a band was the Smoldering Giants who took the energy and volume levels up a nother notch for the diehards that stayed for the entire show. The Giants provided many an improvised moment interspersed with some of their favorite originals and an occasional familiar jam.

Thanks go out to the Oakhill Productions crew including Mike, Rob, Spooney, Steve, Dave and all the bands. Other than a few "incidents" with passed out fans, the show went off well with people respecting the new carpet and a modest fire without burning down the place. We hope to see you all again next year.

Well the time is almost here for the 15th annual Halloween Bash. This year, there will be a number of bands associated with Online Bands performing with a lot more improvisation in the sets.

First up will be The Seeker with Daryl playing acoustic guitar and singing, Joe playing piano and electric guitar. They will be playing a mixed set of originals and classic rock covers.

Next will be Ground Score who will also be playing a mixed set of originals and covers including many improv jams. They guys sure have come a long way and have gained some valuable live experience playing around the Detroit area.

After a short equipment changeover, Fuze will perform a set of their all original high energy fusion including some improvised jams. Rumor has it that a guest singer may stop in for a song or two.

And wrapping up the nights entertainment will be dynamic rockers the Smoldering Giants. They will be playing a mix of their original songs and some spontaneous jams including an acoustic break reminiscent of old Led Zeppelin concerts.

Remember to wear your costume . . .

It has been a while since I made a post to the Weblog, so I thought I should write an update.

Fuze had the pleasure of a guest singer, Sharon who sat in and sang some blues song. Hopefully she will continue to jam with the band for a while and Fuze can add some vocals to their otherwise instrumental music. Sharon has quite a voice and a number of songs she has written so there is a lot of potential for the future here.

I have been working some more on the weed statistics and have some pretty cool graphs done. It currently is only available to the admins of the site (me) because I don't want to show what the stats are to the end users. Hopefully I can continue to improve on the Weed Files module until I can release it to others.

The 2004 Halloween Bash at Oakhill Studios is coming up fast. Fuze should be playing a set as well as the Smoldering Giants and Ground Score. There are plans to move this event to a different venue next year, so planning should be starting very soon on this.

Site Improvements

I have started working on some improvements to the Weed Top Ten List at the Online Bands Portal Site. Currently, the top ten list shows the 10 most downloaded Weed Files based on total hits. This has a problem that the files on top usually tend to stay there and do not reflect changing times.

A new file will track each download along with the date/time, source ip, referring page and more so a number of improvements can be made. First is the ability to screen multiple downloads from a single source. Also, the top ten list can be generated for different periods of time such as within the last day, week, month, year, etc. Also, a way to identify tracks gaining momentum which can signal effective ad campaigns and other spikes in interest. Another interesting thing will be to track what pages are generating the downloads and where the users downloading them are located.

I have also started working with a php library called jpGraph that allows for generating graphic views of the data. This will make the site more interesting and the statistics easier to grasp in a pleasant way. Stay tuned for some great improvements here . . .

I set up Fuze on a couple of new websites to help promote the music a little more. The first can be found at www.takehomemusic.com which is a great new site for indie artists along with their own All Indie Radio show at Live365.com

The second resource is an interesting new sales model called DigiPie and they sell downloadable music and split the profits with the artists and listeners. Hopefully some people will pay for Complicated Man and we can see how it all works.