Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The New KHP shirts!


They are finally ready to go, We now have the new KHP T-Shirts printed and available for all of our fans. We still have to decide what color combinations we will do, but we can now do custom shirts. This design can be printed on a hoodie, a girls fitted shirt, a tank top, or anything else that we can fit it on!

We have one more design that is in the works right now that should be ready at the end of this Thanksgiving weekend. There have been a lot of changes in KHP in the past months and I think that the new shirt designs will reflect our new image and style. So, you can pick your shirt up at the next show, or you can contact us at khptheband@gmail.com to place an order!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Quick Update!

Just a quick word to let everyone know what is going on. If you have been following along on the studio process, On Monday we recorded Bass and Lead Guitar for the first track. Tonight we will be recording all of the vocals, and tomorrow Richard Mixin will be laying some DJ Sounds throughout the song. So, wish me luck with my singing tonight.

Also, when looking into making T-shirts for the band and trying to find the best prices, I made the decision that I would print the shirts myself. I ordered a bunch of silk screening supplies and I am going to start working on that this weekend. Right now I have 2 designs that I will be printing. As soon as I get some printed I will post some pictures for you to check out. If you are pretty interested in that process, I will be adding that to the list of things that I blog about on my personal blog http://www.khpkristian.blogspot.com/

Sunday, November 8, 2009

And so it Starts: The Beginning of KHP's Debut Album

We had plans to start recording on Saturday but first we had to close off the wall between the tracking room and the control room, so on thursday all of us went over to the studio and got to work. Right now we just filled in the walls with a special sound obsorbing type of insulation called Mineral Wool. After a couple of really itchy nights we had it all finished.


So on Saturday, we got to work. We have been working close with Resurrection Studio to help build it and get it to good quality condition for over a year now. We have tried to record before and just couldn't get the right sound. Saturday we started with the drums, and we FINALLY got the sound that we have been looking for.


It was such an exciting day! After a few takes on the drums and a few different mic placements, we ended up with a really good take that we were very happy with. Next we moved on to rhythm guitar. It ended up sounding awesome. It is such a great feeling to actually get the sound that we have been working so hard to get, we are all so relieved and excited. So now we just need to record Bass, Electric Guitar, Turntables, and Vocals and the track will be ready for us to post online. We will be releasing tracks online on Myspace and Reverbnation up until we have finished the album, so keep checking back. I will be sure to let you all know when things are ready.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

KHP's Halloween Weekend

KHP was asked to play Halloween Weekend at Bogey's in Clearfield. They wanted us to play both Friday night and Saturday night from 6 pm to 10 pm. Friday night was supposed to be a ladies night that they were calling "Witches Night Out" and of course Saturday was the Halloween Party.


We were pretty excited about playing these shows because the pay that we would get from the club would be enough to kickstart our work in the studio and some other things that we have been wanting to get done.

One thing that we were really excited about, was that Brian's cousin had a 32 channel Allen & Heath mixing board that he said we could borrow for the shows. For those of you who know anything about sound, I need not say more. For everyone else, not only does it improve the quality of sound, and ease of use. It is a step up from the mixing board that I had planned to buy in the future! The more exciting part is that after the show, he offered to give us the board in trade for some work that he needed done.. So now when we do our own sound, it will be that much easier to have that professional sound!


You can't have a big night club like this with a live band and not have some kind of drama right? We put together a typical set for us that we have played a handful of times on the patio in the summer, that included a improv freestyle hip-hop song featuring members of our favorite hip-hop group "The Drunken Masters" We had Lazarus and sin both freestyling, we were all having a great time and everyone in the club was loving it. That is everyone except the owner. He told the managers and everyone else that they need to shut us down because he didn't like it! All of the workers of course ran around like the sky is falling and tried to shut us down. Eventually when we wouldn't stop they walked up and gave us the cut throat signal for stop. We finished up the song and continued the rest of the set. For the rest of the set the bouncers kept coming up and telling us to turn it down even though it was the same as it was all night. Well, whatever.


The funniest part about the whole situation is when we were finished, it was time for the DJ to do his thing. And lets see, did he play rock? maybe country? Oldies maybe, because that is what the owner likes? NO, HE PLAYED HIP HOP!!!! A whole lot louder than we did, and it wasn't even good hip hop.


So if you are ever in Bogey's. Go up to the bouncers, the managers, bartenders, and even the owner (if he happens to be sitting at the end of the bar) and tell them how you wish that the awesome band KHP still played there, and that the hip hop song that they did with the drunken masters was one of the coolest things you have ever seen in that bar!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Song Post: Volar Alto

The main inspiration for this song is the Greek story of Icarus. When I was told this story as a child, It was implied that the lesson learned in the story was to heed your warnings. Being a defiant child with my own obsessions with flight, I didn't agree with this theory. I felt that the meaning to the story was that to some people it just may be worth the price. Some people have never come across this story, or may not remember it, so here is the basic story of Icarus.

Daedalus, a talented and remarkable Athenian craftsman, Was hired by King Minos to built a Labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur (half man, half bull). One day, Theseus, the enemy of the king, went into the Labyrinth to defeat the Minotaur. The Kings Daughter, Ariadne was in love with Theseus and wanted to help him survive, so with help from Daedalus, she gave Theseus a clew of string to help him find his way out of the Labyrinth. When King Minos learned of this, he exiled Daedalus and his son Icarus from the land of Crete.

To escape the island that they were exiled to, Daedalus built wings out of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Before taking flight, Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Icarus was overcome with the feeling of flight, he kept rising higher and higher into the sky. Eventually he came too close to the sun, which melted the wax holding his wings together, and Icarus fell to his death.

The name of the song is simple. It just means "To Fly High" in Spanish. I thought that even though it is spanish, it almost has a greek sound to the name. After reading that story, it becomes pretty obvious what the meaning of the song is, but what I added to my version is how people have the tendency to create limits for other people by telling them things like: "It isn't possible", or "you could never do that", or even as rude as "You will only fail, why even try?" When we are young, we look at things in a pure point of view. If we want to know if something is possible, all we have to do is try. Unfortunately, even though I felt this way as a child and believe this to be a great way to see things, I have still had a lifetime of people telling me what is and isn't possible. If only I could remove those thoughts and get back to that childish and pure way of thinging.. I wonder what would happen if...................

Volar Alto
When I was of a younger mind
I knew no boundaries when I looked toward the sky
I was warned of a price so great
but I knew that there was a larger fate
in store for me

The price some pay to rise above them all
to some is worth making that fatal fall

I've since been grounded by a jury of my peers
convinced to limits by all the doubt and fears
I wave goodbye as my feet leave the ground
you clip my wings but my will cannot be bound
and I will fly

The price some pay to rise above them all
to some is worth making that fatal fall

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Halloween Show!

We have been asked to play this weekend at Bogey's in Clearfield for Halloween. We are so excited to play these shows.

Friday night is ladies night, Bogey's is calling it Witches Night Out. We will be playing from 6 pm to 10 pm so don't miss out.

Saturday night is the big Halloween Bash. Dress up and come by the club, we will be playing from 6 pm to 10 pm that night as well, so you can skip the boring part of all of the Halloween parties while you watch KHP, have some drinks and check out everyones costumes. By the time the show is over, you can decide if you want to stay and hang out there or if you want to head out to that Halloween Party to catch the best part of the night!

A message to all of our long time fans out there: With these shows having a lot of time to fill, we will pretty much be playing all of our songs, old and new, and we will be playing all of the cover songs that we do. So if there is a song that you have been wanting to hear that we haven't played in a long time.. Come out, you are guaranteed to hear it!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

More Studio work and updates!



Well, The work on the studio is moving right along. We have actually got a rough schedule of when we will be getting to work on the actual album. It is so exciting, in the next two weeks we will be finishing up the necessary construction on the tracking room and we have scheduled to start recording the first week of November.

All of the ducks are starting to line up in a beautiful little row. We have found somebody to work on the album cover for us, he has done some work for us in the past and we really like how he can manipulate photos to really make them look cool. The rest of the album art is in rough form with some really great ideas. So if everything goes right, we should be finishing up the art and the music at around the same time.

When we first go into the studio, we have decided to just work on one track at a time so that we can see how it all comes together. Once we have a track finished we will completely re-work all of our web pages. We will delete all of our old live tracks from Myspace, Reverbnation, and the Band Website and just have the one track up on all of the sites. If you have seen us live in the past few months, then you know that our sound just isn't the same as what it used to be, and people are just not taking us seriously because of the music that we have up on the sites. So, I am raising my glass to progress....... Cheers!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Song Post: Blood Stays On The Blade

I am going to start blogging the lyrics to our songs starting with our newest song "Blood Stays On The Blade"

This song is written about a man that is going into a kill or be killed battle with another man. The basis of the story is that he is a complete contradiction of confidence and apprehension because he used to be a tough guy not to mess with, but he is slightly getting older. Although he feels that he is fully capable, he can't help but feel a little bit of doubt.


We actually had this whole song finished, all of the music and lyrics, except for the line "blood stays on the blade" before we had decided on a name. The basis of the song and its content reminded me of a scene in the movie "Gangs of New York" it was just before the opening battle between the two main gangs in New York. An older man was shaving his face with a straight razor while his young son stood and watched. After the man finished shaving, he cut a small cut into his cheek and hands the razor to the little boy. The little boy is about to wipe the blood on his pants to clean the blade when his father stops him.. "No" he says, "The blood stays on the blade"


Here is the actual scene in the film


Blood Stays On The Blade

I've got just enough pride to make a foolish mistake
but I've got just enough fight to make it out of this place
Don't think, just because I'm calm that I'm the weaker man
and don't think, just because I won't doesn't mean that I can

With a Blade in my pocket and a flame in my eye
I am too old for combat but I'm too young to die
Blood stays on the blade

I've got another mans blood all over my hands
now I've got to go on the run 'cause I'm a wanted man
I warned you before that this would be a fight
your point doesn't matter now if you were wrong or right

With a Blade in my pocket and a flame in my eye
I am too old for combat but I'm too young to die
Blood stays on the blade

Studio Construction


Last night Lazarus and I decided to do some more work on the studio. Right now, the drum room is open to the control room. After trying to record with the setup like that, we realized that there was too much of an echo and bad open room sound. We knew that before we can get a good drum recording, we would have to build a wall between the drum room and control room. We got most of the wall build that runs between the two rooms, now we just need to build the outside wall. Once we have this finished and sound treated, we will be hard at work with recording our album. For the last year and a half, our sound has been constantly changing to the point that an album that we would have recorded a year ago would sound nothing like what we are recording now. I can't help but think that the forces of fate have been holding us back until our music is worthy of really pushing out into the world. We really feel like we are getting very close to that point, and now it is just a matter of getting those walls finished and treated.

So if anyone is anxious for us to start recording and feels they want to help out, we could use some supplies. We need 2x4's, 5/8" sheetrock, and mineral wool insulation. If anyone wants to help out, that is great. But if not, we will still be working hard to get it done. I will keep you posted on the progress

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A Band worth checking out!

For all of our fans and readers that didn't get a chance to make it to our show at Club Vegas last month, I would like to let you know about the band that we opened up for. We stuck around after our set to watch the band "Lights Out Vegas" play, and we were really impressed. The had a good sound and an awesome stage presence (though this video doesn't do them any justice). We really recommend that if they come through town again. You should definitely go and check them out! In the meantime, check them out on MYSPACE

Help us support Independent Music!!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Breaking Gear!

A couple of weeks ago, Clint's(lead guitar) guitar amp was on the fritz. We were practicing as a band, and Clint's amp just kept shutting off. After a little investigating, he noticed that it had blown a fuse. He replaced the fuse and continued to play. Not even halfway through the song, it blew out again. He did this a few times and realized that something was seriously wrong with the amp. Eventually he switched it out for Brian's line 6 amp that he had laying around, and ended up playing through that amp for the next 2 shows. He is still working on getting it fixed at the local shop.

We were all kind of making fun his faulty gear. Telling him that he needed to be more dependable and get his gear in tip top shape.. Of course as fate and karma would have it, this last weeks practice, we had a new problem. About halfway through our practice, My processor unit just shut down and gave an error warning on the screen. The processor is where I get all of the guitar effects that I use, so it is really going to effect our sound until I get it fixed. I guess I learned my lesson now. Making fun of someone elses gear is not worth the karma that comes back because now I am totally lost without my amp in working condition!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Friday, October 2nd at V2 in Layton, Utah


On Friday we had a show set up to be opening for Vegas band "Marshall Price" Who are touring the northwest and Layton was the first stop on the tour. I got a text from one of the venues managers on Thursday saying that the show was going to be cancelled.. WHAT?! I had been advertising for this show, I had about 30 people commited to coming out. When I asked why, he said that there wasn't anybody to run the show. So I let the band know and was starting to put things together to let all of the fans know that we wouldn't be playing and while I was doing that I got another text saying "never mind.. the show is back on"

Apparently when the venue manager told the tour manager for Marshall Price, he lost it and freaked out. The tour manager told the club that he had 60 to 75 people that had confirmed with him that they would be there! Great, this should be an awesome show, a crowd of about 100 people would be a lot of fun.

The doors opened about 45 minutes after they were supposed to and it was nothing but KHP fans. There were maybe 5 or 6 people there to see Marshall Price and no more showed up during the show. Of course we still rocked out for our fans, with it being an all ages venue a lot of our younger fans could finally see us play. At one point I was jammin playing the show and I look down right in front of the stage and My youngest son and Richards son were stood there with their hands up in the air giving me the rock symbol with their first finger and pinky up and the rest down.. I thought it was hilarious.


Marshall price played and did a really good job. They are a pretty good band, they played some original songs and some covers of old 70's rock songs. They had some pretty funny t-shirts at the merch table. Jason ended up buying a shirt that said "Marshall Price, I'm gonna f**k your girlfriend" The only thing that bothers me about these kind of shows is how we are kind of used. The venue knows that we can bring a pretty good crowd. So when they have a touring band that they book, they are contracted to pay that band. And how do they make money to pay that band? Well from the ticket sales of the local band. So all of the money of our loyal fans are split up between the venue and the touring band. So, I guess for us to start making money we better hit the road and let some local band somewhere else make all of the money for us..

Saturday, October 3, 2009

KHP-NESS

This is Jason Gough The Percussionist and retard of the band as you will soon learn in these blogs. I just want to send a thank you to Kristian for letting me share in the KHP-ness as the e-mail stated !!!!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Kizzle Hizzle Pizzle

Alright.. This is Kristian, Singer/Guitar player for KHP. I am going to start this out, but I am planning on giving out the info for this blog to the rest of the band so that they can enter a blog whenever they want.. Hopefully they will do that from time to time. I have a personal blog on blogger and decided that I really like how it is all formatted and it is easy for people to connect back and forth. So here we go with a Blogger Blog!

My plan is to make this blog everything to do with the band. For instance, what equipment we use and buy, the Recording process, Shows, News, Lyrics, Muses, Pictures and everything else we may feel like blogging about.