Dear God, Cole, Stop Gushing!

Hey S.I.Q. fans!

   I am typing this after having just come home from playing a show at Tremont (which I am going to assume that most of you have already heard about). It was a fantastic 30 minutes. Yes, sadly we were only given a time slot of 30 minutes to play, but in that small time we just about brought the house down! It has been too long since we have heard applause like that. Really, I have a list of our top shows so far, and this ranks very high among them. There was our first show at Tremont, which was a battle of the bands for Gorilla Productions, there was the first time we played at the Money in Rock Hill, there was the show that we played at Amos' at the Lake, and there was this one. In fact, I am inclined to believe that overall, this may have been our best show yet. The crowd was sizable, we had no stress on us, and we played all our music flawlessly. Oh! And Phil, James, and I were wireless for this show, giving us great mobility. And of course, Paul...Paul was just fantastic. So tight the whole show, hitting everything spot on, and he looked like he was having a good time too. I honestly cannot wait until our next show, if it's going to be anything like the time we had on stage this evening.

Our setlist was as follows:
Stasis
Wash Away
Nightmare Lullaby
No Pockets

And on No Pockets, we pulled a bit of a surprise out for our audience; Ashton did a saxophone solo during the jazz breakdown section of No Pockets, right before my bass solo. It's rare, getting applause in the middle of a song, but we sure got it there! And that is enough to make a musician's heart sing.
   The whole show was caught on video camera, and should be up on Youtube within the week.
   Also, we got interviewed by Amanda Caines with Shutter 16 magazine (and formerly from Tattermask). That should be showing up pretty soon as well. I will post a link on here when it does.
   For my bass players out there, I just want to say that my bass tone this evening made me very happy. It was  punchy, but not too bass-y. It was pretty much perfect. That's a tone I've been striving for a long time to get.
   So what's next on the to-do list for S.I.Q.? We are playing at Jortsfest in 10 days, on June 28th, and hopefully we'll have a longer set then. Also, we are going to focus very hard on finishing the songs for the new album. We have them almost completed, there are just some pieces that need to fall into place. Recording will hopefully commence in July.
   And finally, I will close by sharing with you the music that I have been listening to this week.

Blind Faith by Dream Theater

Power of Mindscape by Pagan's Mind

The Hidden Riddle by Andromeda

Rush of Silence by Vanden Plas

King of Nothing by Stratovarius

   I wish you all well, and I hope to see you at a future show. 

   God bless.

Cole Millward

S.I.Q. bassist

The Fifth Horseman Arrives!

Hey S.I.Q. fans!

   I know it was announced several days ago, but I was unable to log in to my blog to embellish upon it then so here it is: We have found our new drummer. His name is Paul Wood, and he is the secret drummer we have been auditioning most steadily for the past two months. We did audition several other drummers, but we didn't get quite the same feeling with them as we got with Paul. He is stylistically very different from Corey; First and foremost, he is a rock/metal drummer, but he has been handling our odd time signatures and uncommon arrangements with gusto. Also he gets along with us very well. We have already introduced him to Q'doba, the source of our creative juice, and he has gone there with us numerous times already.
   So, now that S.I.Q. is whole again, we can move forward more quickly toward our goals. Two shows are set in stone for the coming month of June: June 18th at Tremont music hall with 3 Remain (the winner of the last battle we did), and June 28th at Jortsfest. Also, we are resuming work on our first album. Now that we have a drummer we can make our newly written songs more solid. Recording is going to start within the next two months.
   I am still selling my 4 and 5 string basses. Once again, if anyone is interested, just contact me over facebook or email.
   I haven't bought any new music since my last post, but I'll just say that I have been listening to Seventh Wonder frequently. I like them a lot, especially their bass player (duh). He is a complete virtuoso. I've heard him play along note for note with some of the guitarist's solo lines. The only thing I'm not so sure about is his tone. I can tell that his pickup balancer is set such that there is an equal balance between the bridge and neck pickups; It occasionally sounds messy, even though his technique is impeccable. Oh, and their singer is fantastic!
   Well, I speak for all of us when I say I hope you will come to see us at our upcoming shows. We would love to see you there!

Cole Millward
S.I.Q. bassist