Pictures of Summer - video

Here's a clip for our latest single Pictures of Summer - made by indie film-maker Alex Munt over the course of a day spent with a bunch of teenagers.

Pictures of Summer

Hey !
Our new single Pictures of Summer is out now !
You can grab a free download of it over at our bandcamp page :

http://themodelschool.bandcamp.com/

Enjoy the summer vibes !
Brendan&The Model School

And so the journey Backwards Down The Highway continues .... we mixed 3 more tracks this week for the album - which is now going to come out early next year. We were aiming for late this year ... but really, we want Side B to be as good as Side A ... so that means spending more time gnashing our teeth over whether the mixes are right and the tracks work together as an album. What a novelty !

I guess whats good about releasing music these days is that you can just put songs online in the meantime ... our next song Pictures Of Summer continues the look back down the highway and will be available for free download on Monday Oct 15 ... its a snapshot of summers past ... when the summer went on forever, but ended all too soon... how was that possible ?

There'll be more info about how to get the new song next week ... and all the while we'll be working on the album. So - best of both worlds - songs to hear right now, and an album at the end of the yellow brick highway in the early months of 2013.

Next show is on Thursday November 1 at the Union Hotel in Newtown, Sydney.

cheers
Brendan & The Model School

Show at Oxford Art Factory - Thursday Sept 20

Hey there ! We're really looking forward to our single launch coming up next week at Oxford Art Factory - its on Thursday Sept 20 and its FREE ! Just a reminder that you can grab a free download of Streets I Left Behind at our bandcamp page :

http://themodelschool.bandcamp.com/

The tune has copped some reviews over at JJJ Unearthed - where you can also download the track for free : http://www.triplejunearthed.com/Artists/View.aspx?artistid=58663


"A great slice of guitar pop" - Dom, JJJ
"Driving track! It reminds me of a summer's night at the Hoey" - Steph, JJJ
"Sounds like a classic track you've never heard before" - Gary, punter.

Anyway - hope to see you at the show !
Cheers
Brendan

Streets I Left Behind - New Single - OUT NOW!

New track taken from album "Backwards Down The Highway" due out later this year. You can download "Streets I Left Behind" for for free via http://themodelschool.bandcamp.com/, or stream via http://soundcloud.com/themodelschool

The song will be on iTunes & Spotify soon too !

Streets I Left Behind - new single - August 1

Hey ! Things have been busy in Model School land - this past weekend saw 4 more tracks get put on tape in the studio so we're making progress on finishing the album. We've also been putting the final touches to the artwork (see picture) for the first single to be taken from it  - its called "Streets I Left Behind" - and will be available as a free download via bandcamp on August 1. When the date rolls around we'll put the link here so its all nice and easy to access.
The album is to be called "Backwards Down The Highway" and should be ready by October all going well....it's definitely a road album ... lots of songs about leaving,coming home, highways,streets, towns,airplanes,trains,cars ... any mode of transport you think of - its in there.
So - stay tuned for the link to the first track in 2 weeks time.
cheers
Brendan &The Model School

PS. No shows planned at present - too busy recording and mixing ... but hopefully that changes come Sept/Oct !!

Mixing

Its been too long between updates ! Thats cos' we've been busy putting the finishing touches to some songs we recorded in April... the general plan is to release a song late June and keep working on the album in the meantime.

Elvis Castro (TMS guitar man) is hard at work laying down guitar tracks in his private studio .. which is handily at his house(!) - so as soon as he's finished we'll be back at Linear Studios in Leichhardt for final mixing (June 4!).

The first song is the intro to the album ... a goodbye tune before hitting the open road ...

Stay tuned - next update will be a new track !
cheers
Brendan/The Model School

Recording begins !

This weekend saw the first tracks go down at Linear Studios in Leichhardt - we got through 4 songs and it truly was a great experience, recording to tape in the first instance - which we've never done before. Engineers Chris and Wade were masters of their craft and made the whole weekend really memorable....There's still many nights of tracking and mixing ahead - but its great to get started on the whole shebang.

Once Elvis Castro (TMS guitarist) gets back from his tour of North Korea we'll be right back into it ... i really hope a new song emerges in the next couple of months with an album by September. We've got a nice breezy summer song up our sleeve so expect that when the surf is up in December.

Thats all for now - no shows planned but i'm sure once all this is done we'll be back out there.
cheers
Brendan

Recording dates locked in ...

Hey there - thanks to all those who came out to our show at The Lansdowne in Sydney on the weekend. It felt great to play 4 new tracks and freshen up the set ! Hope you enjoyed the "Fire" trilogy too ... for those wondering what the hell i'm talking about - well - you'll have to wait til the next show!

The main news is that recording has been locked in to kickstart album #3. We'll be recording in the last week of March and hope to get side A of the album down - and hopefully a single will emerge out of that pretty quickly... you might ask why i say "side A" - the answer is that i'm thinking in terms of a flashy TMS vinyl record at the end of this caper. We've never done an LP before - and since we'll be recording to tape this time it seems the logical next step. And who doesn't love some big glossy artwork splashed around the place ?

The songs are pretty much written ... lots of road songs ... it seems there's at least a street, road or highway in every song ! I'm looking back through journals and photos i took on my roadtrip in late 2010 - as well as working on demo's i recorded there ... and some of these demo's were recorded in amazing places.
Speaking of which - first person to email or contact us with the answer to this question :

Where was this demo recorded (see picture) - gets a TMS cd of their choice (1st,2nd or even 3rd if you can wait !) :

So - let me know either via facebook - or an email to themodelschool[at]yahoo.com.au - and a TMS album of your choice is yours.
cheers
Brendan

Whats in store for 2012

Just a quick post to say that 2012 will see lots of new music released by The Model School ! We're hard at work on an albums worth of new tunes and plan on getting a single out in the coming months, followed by an album later this year. It sure has taken a long time to get to this point - being that most of the songs were born on the road in the USA back in late 2010 - then worked on for most of 2011...

We've got a show coming up where we'll be airing a few of the new songs - its on Saturday March 3 down at the Lansdowne in Sydney. I doubt we'll have a single ready by then - as we're still working out where to record ... but check back for updates.

For now here's a picture from the road trip - a real inspiration on the songs. Lots of wide open space soundtracked by Tom Petty,Bruce Springsteen and Gram Parsons pumping from the car stereo ... Heartland Rock circa 1973 ? Yes please !
cheers
Brendan