Declan, Stuart and I stood in silence in the circle of floor space which was the stage. It was filled with red light which plunged the rest of the area into darkness and gave us the feeling that we were on an island with a black sea around us. We made some conversation with each other, our voices resonating into the gloom and our laughter sounded unusually hollow. We waited for Will, our sound technician to come back and take us off the red island when some more lights flickered on around us and provided some light to the area. I immediately saw that the floor space did not stretch off into oblivion, but that the venue was a small area with comfortable looking cushioned seats. On our right hand side there was a bar that ran the length of the room and to the door we came in, in front of us there was a seating area which resembled a coffee/book store with comfortable couches and low down wooden tables. The feeling of unease lifted a little from my shoulders then, from a curtained room at the back, Will called us over. We then got asked to help him set up the equipment. In which time another band had came and sat waiting.

Will then asked us to do our sound check. We were there, on the crimson island, holding our instruments with the lights in our faces. No one was there apart from the other band but my heart rate still doubled. We knew what song we were going to play for the sound check; it was also the same song that was going to start off our set list for that evening. Declan counted us in and from the first note the nerves and our surroundings just evaporated as we sunk into the song we had played through about a hundred times in the studio. It immersed us in its comfortable familiarity and I just let the music consume me, washing away my anxieties and nerves like a black tide. Then when Stuart went into the guitar solo all heads of the other band turned to watch as Stuart produced a high pitched solo accompanied by a driving bass line and expert drums. The sound check ended too quickly for us, I wished it had lasted a little longer. That scarlet island felt so good.

Then, after we put our instruments away (sound check was at 6:30pm and we weren’t playing till 11) we took a seat in the “bands only” area feeling like we could do anything. The place now felt so much more comfortable, inviting even. I sipped a bottle of water and looked around in the crimson half light which now seemed to bring out the heat and electricity in the air.

We sat, away from everyone else. Our faces half hidden in shadows watching the other bands that were on. We talked little, each of us trying to mentally prepare for the coming set. We were headlining the night, the last band on, the climax. This was an exciting yet equally terrifying experience, our first ever gig and we are the headliners, and also the only under 18 band playing that night.

When the penultimate band had finished their set, we went to the backroom to collect our instruments and walked onto the red island to play. After the guitars were tuned and the microphone adjusted we were ready.

Just as in the sound check, Declan counted us in. But this time we had all the other bands that had played tonight watching us, along with our families that had come to watch us (since it was an over 18’s venue). I took a deep breath and started the song at the same time as Stuart and Declan; letting the black tide wash everything away as the music took hold and the familiarity over came anxiety. The bass line, exerting a low calming frequency while driving the song onwards, the drum beat keeping the rhythm while the bass drum pumped through the crimson dusk creating ripples in the dark water, the guitar, notes rising to a crescendo in a solo that cut through everything else making the tide rise with the notes until there was a tsunami of sound winding it’s way through the crowd.

The song ended and the crowd cheered. Stuart then introduced us, “We are Herculean.” And hi

Hey, this is Herculean Bassist, Steven Gerry. Tonight I felt it was time to write an update on the band’s current status and our plans for the near future. Since we haven’t updated on the current status of our album release or gig dates which will be on the minds of fans.

We are currently in the writing and rehearsing process of the album and it does take a considerable amount of time and is a Herculean task from all members. First of all the writing stage on Stuart’s behalf. But that is just the beginning stage of a song. At one of our many studio sessions we will work on that song and enhance and alter it to make it the best we can. We often spend a series of sessions, spanning many weeks going over some songs and the end result is often different from that we started off with. But these products of our effort and ability are already proving to be worth it. Some of the new material is so much denser in terms of songwriting and musical ability (from all ends) from that of “Down South EP” or even the recently released “December Demos.” Without a doubt we have defiantly evolved into a darker, rockier Herculean and the album is worth the wait.

As for the time of release, we honestly can’t quote a date anymore. The flow of songs and creativity continue to pour like wine. And we cannot put the stopper back on such a fine vintage. Especially that which has waited so long to be uncorked. We are continuing to take songs further every time we rehearse, go over new ones, discard ones which we feel don’t meet our expectations. Finding that we have to go back and re-record some tracks that we recorded back in October because the musical ability doesn’t do us justice. That in itself shows how far the band has come. And there is still a long way to go. For all we know we could end up using none of the songs already prepared for the album because by the end of summer we could have gone through a whole lot more material that is better than even what were accomplishing just now. So it would be pre-mature to put a date on the release as we have done before because we always end up surpassing our own expectations and realizing that we still have some distance to go concerning the album. The later half of 2009 would be an accurate assumption since we will then have had the whole summer to work on the album and recording.

That may seem like some time away, especially after us failing to meet previous deadlines (which we have removed the pressure of by taking off any deadline). But it is a long time to go with no releases. So we are planning for the end of summer, before the album release, to release a short EP. This will consist of 3 or more tracks from the album. It will be used to send into labels and to give people a taste of the album which promises to be worth the wait. Hopefully this EP release will provide us with some strength in the music industry, as our “Down South EP” did not come up to high standards.

Also gigs are a major question that has to be answered. Yes, gigs are a high priority on our minds. But we would rather start gigging with a set list of material that will really make people remember us and respect us as a band. So many bands out there gigging, it is really obvious that a lot of them are under-rehearsed; songs aren’t very good, make mistakes, no flow of music and generally below par. Yet these bands continue getting gig slots when they aren’t up to very high standards. We want to stand out from that multitude of bands. We would rather come on and play a rehearsed set list of songs filtered down through a year of writing and rehearsing opposed to jumping straight into that kind of hostile environment unprepared like so many other bands. Especially if your first gig just happens to be one that a label rep comes to. We don’t want blacklisted by one bad performance.

Me, Declan and Stuart went to an unsigned bands gig back in September 2008. It gave us a chance to see what its li

It's been a while since we posted a blog - thought I'd let you know what we've been up to...

I started writing songs for the album back in September, and all together now I've written about 70. In attempt to up the game though, we've narrowed it down to the best 10, and we're still going - writing and recording. The new songs are sounding alot different - I feel alot more confidence has shown from all three sides of the band. There's much more credibility to the music now, compared to 'Down South EP' and we've become more established and all the time, going further from the music scene at the moment. I also feel the songwritings come along way since even last year, the songs are alot stronger, intricate and generally more well written this time round. We can't give too much away yet but it's worth the wait.

Expect a darker, rockier more established Herculean...

Stuart.