So very glad you asked a music question! It’s always fun to talk the technical nerdy aspects.
Circe is in standard tuning, but guitars are tuned to Drop D to give it a heavier guitar feel. The song was actually written on a Casio keyboard. As far as I know, that Keyboard was in standard 440Hz. Hope that answers your question!
Well thank you very much! Glad you dug the tunes. If there is anything we can oblige you in, please let us know!
Also, don’t forget to sign up for our mailing list to receive updates on shows and news: www.pictureatlantic.com/mailing-listzine
Much love!
-Nik
At one point we were getting a lot of requests to post up our lyrics online. We’ve achieved this task, and given the lyrics their very own little alley on the PA homepage. So for all of you, we present our lyrics:
Hello tumblrers and tweepsters,
We’re in the market for a new shirt design and since you’re all such creative creatures we’d like your help. There isn’t a specific theme here, as we’re interested in what you would personally like to see on our shirts. However, we do ask that you keep your designs limited to black and white only. You don’t have to be incredibly proficient at Photoshop, either, so feel free to submit scanned, hand drawn art as well.
In addition to receiving recognition for your winning design, you’ll also win:
Email your submissions to pictureatlantic@gmail.com with “SHIRT DESIGN” in the subject line. The final date to submit a design is April 25. If your design is chosen and it needs any alterations or editing (such as converting a scan into a higher res and/or properly formatted piece) we will work with you to finalize it.
We’re looking forward to seeing your submissions!
-RB/PA
Well Hello again Tumblr,
As always I hope you’re all doing well. Its a good day today. The weather has really cleared up, and I can feel the summer heat slowly inching its way into the bay. Summers in the bay are some of my favorite times.
This past week, I’ve had a tornado for a head. There is a lot to work on and keeping focus on one thing is always a hard task when you have three major projects going on. Strangely enough though, I’ve caught some blogs posts by some of the bands we follow on Tumblr, who also happen to be friends of ours which we play with from time to time. In some kind of bizarre twist of fate the posts were very much in line with a blog post I had been mulling over in my head, which I was finally inspired to post up today after reading some of the aforementioned posts.
Picture Atlantic has been very busy lately, but more importantly has also gone through some major changes internally and externally. The one major event was our line up change which happened at the end of last year.
Like I had said above, I was really inspired by some of the posts I read, and to save me a ton of writing I’ll just reference a really great post by my buddy Zen, from Please Do Not Fight , which you can read here (http://pleasedonotfight.tumblr.com/post/4127473990/new-band-members). He said some things which were in parallel to my thoughts on Picture Atlantic. Reading it helped me form some ideas in my head about what I was even trying to say, if I even said it.
People were bummed about our line up change, and members leaving. Some people were not. Some people had no opinion. Regardless of where people stood, I felt very little was said about the whole situation. It was basically “These people are leaving, here is their goodbye letter, our CD release is on X Date, and then we are working on an album”. That transition was given its own time, but it wasn’t spoken about too much beyond that. Really the only reason I bring this up, is the questions and comments I’ve received as of late from people at shows and occasionally online. I felt it would be appropriate to speak a little bit about it and acknowledge the people who have brought it up in the recent past.
I can remember very clearly the first big changing point in Picture Atlantic’s timeline. As some of you may know , we were a completely different band when we started in around 2006, musically and in terms of line up. We gigged around. We thought we were a serious band, but we learned more and more about new steps we could take to up the ante. We were in a good spot, and we were just about to head into the studio to record what is now Kleos at around the early part of 2007. We got a bombshell dropped on us when one of our original members asked to talk to us, and told he was leaving the band to go to school down south. The timing was not so fortunate, but we didn’t resent him for it, and we respected his choice. It didn’t change the fact that we thought that our musical lives as we knew them were over. The band had a very static image to us, as though this incarnation was our final ‘Pokemon Form’ so to speak. It shook us up, and we had no clue what we were going to do. I can remember sincerely thinking the band was over. Irregardless we pushed on, headed into the studio anyways, and started writing. We had faith in what we were doing, and most importantly the music we were making. We had no idea what the future held at the same time. It almost felt like a thankless, hopeless task at first. After time though, we worked hard, got back to full strength, and even added a new member. I’m truly glad we didn’t give up back there in Ye Olde 2007. Even after the fact, we still had some line up changes. And to time travel even further, when we first started we played with about five or six live rhythm guitarists, some of whom even had a short amount of time as members in the band.
I guess what my message is, is that sadly, these things happen. I don’t mean to sound blase about it at all, but the reality is, that since the creation of this band, we have had people come and go. Its the way of life sometimes. In fact, if you want to be a purist, we aren’t even the same band at all from when we started. Sometimes band chemistry works. Sometimes it doesn’t and people move on. And even some people just get a calling in a different direction other than music. In a lot of ways, I don’t blame those people. Music is hard and without a heart for it, I’d be in College for a Venezuelan Literature Degree, or to figure out a way to make bread toast itself.
To sum this up, to some people, they may not understand the reasons or like the changes we make as a band. In fact, I can remember after Kleos came out, people posting comments along the lines of “Your new Music sucks” on our myspace page. The reality is though, that we shouldn’t care, and we certainly didn’t. We moved past it. Our music has always changed. I’d like to see the spread sheet that shows the massive similarities between each album and musical incarnation of the band. Some people are irked by these changes, and I have total respect for that. I can’t make you like the changes that happen or choices that we make, but at the same time I certainly can’t apologize for them. They are going to happen. We do this band for other people just as much as we do it for ourselves. Even though we have no clue what the future holds, we are still just as in love with music as we were in day one, and we are going to trek on as long as we humanly can, and feel is appropriate. Continuing to play music together as Picture Atlantic feels right to us.
There is an Arabic term, Insha’Allah, which means “God Willing” or “If God Wills it”, which is a phrase used to signify hope for the future, or a specific event to occur. At the same time, it’s also a conscious omission of the fact that the future is out of our hands. We have no idea what tomorrow brings. So really, all I can say is Insha’Allah.
And quickly, to dispel any rumors that you may have heard (since I have heard some pretty outlandish ones, let me tell you), yes, we are playing with live musicians right now who are helping out with shows, but no, we have not added anyone permanently into the band at this time.
Finally, I would like to thank all of you out there, who have supported the band, and still support the band to the current. My constant thankings on blog posts and the like, aren’t just polite social etiquette. I mean them very seriously every time I write them. Without support and love from our fans, we’d be nothing near to what we are now. We have great things planned, as our scheming never ends, so I hope we can share this adventure with as many of you that want a spot on the train. We certainly have a ticket if you want one.
Until next we meet.
Much Love,
-Nik & Picture Atlantic
Thanks for the heads up! I’ll definitely check that out. Those are talented gentlemen.
Maybe someday soon we will get up the courage to try the song live. Its definitely a tricky one.
“I made this for you because I love you. More than life.
-Frosan”
Hello everyone! We have the chance to play the Ernie Ball stage again at Warped Tour. For those of you who remember, we got the chance in 2007 to play the same stage. Now we are going to give it another go for 2011. Help spread the word and if be sure to give us a vote!
A couple of people have been ‘liking’ my Tumblr blogs and reblogging them and, well, thanks. It makes me excited to know that people are reading what I’m writing!
It’s a long way off still but my thoughts have begun to turn to what the next album release will look like. Obviously we will be…
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NO LIKES! MUST FOLLOW ME!
GROUPS OF 15!
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I’ve gotten word that some of you out there who ordered the Zine got your Zines in the mail and they were quite smashed.
This makes me sad. I’m sure its also a bummer for all of you out there as well. If you got a smashed Zine please shoot us an e-mail at Pictureatlantic@gmail.com. I want to find out if these are just isolated incidents, or if I need to figure out a new way to mail out each issue. Sometimes that US Postal service can be rough.
-Nik
Well people, I want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who showed up to our Redhouse show in Walnut Creek. We had a total blast, and we were really blessed by all the bands there, and all the cool people we got to chat with afterwards.
It’d been a while since we played Walnut Creek/Concord, so the having such a warm turn out really made our night.
We’ve got some cool things up and coming this month. I’m collaborating with our friend Paul Aspuria (who did the Cassandra Castaway and Guerrilla music videos) on a new video, which for the moment will be kept secret. We’ll be filming some days this month for that, so don’t be surprised if I put out the word for extras in the video.
Heading out to practice now! We’ve been jamming on some new songs (and practicing some old), which I’m feeling are turning out really well. I can definitely say there are some songs in there that are kind of a new turn for us. Who knows though, maybe we will be the next big Nu-Metal group by the end of our Pre-production session.
