Development.

June 14th, 2014

I am still pretty frustrated with Facebook's "holier than thou" approach on many things. Most are aside from this topic, but wanting to switch the name from "Battle Cry" to "Newline Character" on my friend account should not be the issue that is. At this point, I doubt it would accept the name at all, thus to not continue to confuse people, I will have to close the account and lose the contacts contained within. This is aside from Facebook outright demanding persons use their real names. Granted I'm old, but pre-Facebook days, it was pretty stupid to run around blasting your real name on the Web and from what I continue to learn in school....that's more dangerous now than ever. So, please don't think I'm paranoid...I'm just cautious :).

Onto the much bigger topic at hand. Newline Character is still in the planning stages with the only content being some visuals to use as a profile picture and album photo for the Facebook page. This is merely just the beginning. Visually, which I still believe is very important to a project or band, I will be designing the a logo myself which will include at least a variation of the programming character "\n". I'm not as fluent in logo design as I'd like to be and that is such an important piece that I would even be willing to hire someone temporarily who is more skilled in Illustrator, for example. I'm also planning/designing a site to house all of my musical projects: Battle Cry, LaconicAura, and Newline Character. I plan on coding/embedding the songs myself rather than using third party (like SoundCloud), who would be just another cost above the website itself.

Musically: (influences) I continue to be on a huge kick of 1990/2000s Gary Numan. Albums like Sacrifice, Exile, Jagged have been driving me pretty hard. Massive Attack's been feeling like a comfortable vibe. Of course there are more common influences such as Front Line Assembly, Front 242, Skinny Puppy, The Cure, and so on....not all electronic either. Switchblade Symphony also has been giving me some mental notes on a sound I want to at least start off with. There's also a lot to be said about acoustic use too, especially if I upgrade from my Epiphone acoustic guitar to an Ovation acoustic. The concept of Newline Character is to not really have a "sound" based on a genre. The ever evolving/changing entity.

One newer development that I have been playing with in my head is that I think, unlike Battle Cry, Newline Character might not end up being a solo project. I've been playing with the idea of getting it "set up" and then looking for people to collaborate with. Other than loving to mix creatively and come up with things out of the box that I wouldn't have thought of myself, with school: I have less time to spend on music as a hobby. I used to be able to sit and play and work with a song for 4 hours at a time quite often. That's still likely but maybe not as often. In short, I'm finally starting to grow tired of doing everything myself. Unsure on if I'll still ever play live though. Word of mouth is my method I suppose.

Newline Character \n: The Introduction

Newline Character

May 30th, 2014:

My previous project for a very long time, 17 years, started showing serious signs of the end being near in 2009. While recording my last (to date) full length original CD in 2008, "Decay", I noted a very strong frustration and disliking of recording music. With the previous four albums, I was elated and happy when recording was finally completed. With Battle Cry's Decay album I was relieved but the joy and feeling of achievement was absent. 

In 2009, I recorded a second album for another part time project titled LaconicAura before returning to Battle Cry. My father had passed away in 2009 and going back to writing/recording was difficult. The recordings ended up only as an EP titled "Fading Into Nothing". Ironically, that would be the last body of new original music under that name. In 2011 I recorded an album of acoustic versions of previous songs titled Acoustica with the only new song of that year, "Until I Die". I also recorded another installment in the series of acoustic cover albums in 2012 and compiling Battle Cry songs titled "Through The Years: 1997-2012". 

Finally, by April of 2014, I came to terms and accepted that repeated attempts to try and write/record as well as even have any idea of what musical direction I wanted to go into next brought me to the decision that it was time to refresh. To end recording under the Battle Cry name.

I was originally stuck on the project name of The Escape Character, but it seemed very negative and also reminded me too much of Escape Dillenger Plan (metal) and I wanted something that was able to be used without modifying. There is another boy with my same name who is a country singer. So, even outlets such as SoundCloud.Com, I had lost ability to use myself as a username or anything close. I spent quit a bit of time with Google and coming up with something that might be challenging with a website domain name, but easy with anything musical. 

The newline character (\n) is simply a snippet used in computer programming to send the code to the next line. I really liked the idea that it suggested that this project is not a clean slate musically or anything else. I am sure there will be some similarities. However, it is a "new line" and therefore like programming variables, I don't have to abide by any rules or musical standards that I set myself up for WAY back in 1997. Much like Battle Cry, it will evolve and if multiple albums, they will likely all sound very different.

As for sound: At this stage, with about 5 song lyrics written (drafted): picture more influence coming from darker electronic and industrial entities such as Gary Numan, Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy and so forth and not as much of the Depeche Mode, and other synth pop influence. I also want to keep the idea of being open to using any instrument the song may call for. I am fortunate to have a couple of keyboards now, electric and acoustic guitar, an electric bass, a djembe and a voice that hasn't smoked in over three years. I'd anticipate a much harder, more industrial edge while not declaring any genre.........ever. 

Lyrically, it continues to vary. A mixture of love songs with dark music is something that is really interesting me at the moment however. I very much intend to branch out lyrically as well and have looked to the use of a writing instructional or two in order to develop more depth in atmosphere. 

Like Battle Cry, at least at this point, it seems I'll be the sole member of Newline Character. Again, with starting a new project though, I'm leaving that open with the ability to develop if things bring it to a different situation or need. 

In the near future, while I plan and build a non-personal blog, I will also be building a website for Newline Character which will also include some old Battle Cry content such as streaming songs and artwork slideshows. I haven't been this excited about music in many years.