The Lost Highway

Tales from an abandoned airport terminal

2008-06-04T22:41:38Z

Well that's it finished, the master CD is now with the company who have the artwork and very shortly the production line will be in full flow. I'm looking forward to the first big box of CD's arriving as apparantly they will all be cellwrapped for extra shiny gloss.

Since the end of February I've really put the work in on this one and had to make some decisions as how this album was going to shape up. I've had to drop the track Keyser Soze on the basis that I haven't seeked permision from the original artist to sample her voice and didn't want to take the risk of getting involved in any copyright law issues. Fortunately I do have a ready made replacement at the 24th hour with the excellent (if oddly titled) track 'broken goblins' which came together nicely, so in terms of 13 tracks nothing has changed.

The business side takes over now and I've struck a deal with phone company to sell ringtones, so far 'What brings you here' is available for $0.99. I'm in the process of negotiating distribution rights for the CD release & will be attempting to join itunes at some point for mp3 distribution so I'll keep you all updated.

The CD of course will be available through the official highway website and those facilities will be up and running and ready on release day. At the moment I'm not taking pre-orders but with events currently moving at such a fast pace all that could change.

Look out for the official pictures as well as details for release & purchase. lastly thanks for all those who have helped so far, the best is still to come :)

Paulx
TLH

Tales from an abandoned airport terminal.

2008-04-08T00:48:11Z

As some of you might know the lost highway has returned in 2008 after a brief hiatus. As a solo project it seems inevitable that some changes were destined to take place from the artistic side to reflect the changes in my musical life, this now appears to be time honoured. The outcome being that the dynamic of the music has changed which in turn has allowed the natural progression of the sound to occur.

It seemed the easy option to write the highway off last year, it was easy for me, after all I had been writing very little music for a long time & my personal lifestyle philosophy had changed to the point that consigning the project to the archives seemd a simple & logical step. But on closer reflection I realised that the whole process of writing this music was essentially a pure form and had yielded nothing for me to ever regard it as a negative procces....on this basis it was up to me to start thinking.. :)

& that thought process has brought me to here, where I can re-invent the ideology of the project which of course is the fun part.

I've written a number of new tracks, most of which are showcased on some new sites.. & to timeline the lost highway I'll be looking for a photogropher to assist me in squandering my money before spending the rest on the ever so non pastiche working title of 'Tales from an abandoned airport terminal' album.

Thank you & here are those links -

Myspace site - for the lost highway - here
Bebo site - for the lost highway - here

Paulx
the lost highway

bye bye the lost highway

2007-08-20T20:06:53Z

I'm wrapping up the lost highway :)

By that I mean that I'm leaving the website, all the material & images online as it deserves but will not be making any more material under the banner. However there are a couple of new tracks (7 days & Amstersdam) here -

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=323649

Over the next week I'll try and upload all of the material from the 3 albums including the extra songs that I didn't include on the albums for one reason or another. Had some great fun with this project, the highlights being the writing of the actual songs, the fun of the 'Coastline' video and seeing it played on TV a number of times when browsing the channels.

Thanks to all the people who have helped out over the years...Sally for her vocals on 'Tryptych' & amazing technical/artistic/website input, Andy for joining me live and helping with the live production, Iain for capturing this staggering shot of me below at the first live show, Armalyte record company for giving me my very first commercial release, DJs/clubs/radio/tv stations who played the music & to everyone who gave positive feedback. A thoroughly enjoyable hobby.

It's not the end...only the beginning ;)

Paul
TLH
www.thelosthighway.com

Brand new song...

2007-01-18T00:02:07Z

It's been a while since I've given you a taste of some new material but here it is

the lost highway - Keyser Söze

You can listen to or download the track here - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=323649

Second single from the forthcoming new album and featuring a lovely female vocal sample I had lying around in my music collection.

Paul
TLH

The Lost Highway on TV

2006-10-28T18:42:51Z

The 'Coastline' video was played on Redemption TV last night at around 5-7pm, I received a few messages saying that presenter Lenore spoke about us before playing the full video.

It's a great feeling knowing that they are playing my track :)

Paulx
TLH

The pressure is on!

2006-07-29T19:47:17Z

As some of you will know through the constant updates on my personal lJ airport_tales the progress with the video has been going well and we are down to editing & production now but the great news is that the song 'Coastline' will be released as a single :)

It looks like 1,000 copies are being pressed and I've decided on this...

1. Coastline
2. Coastline (video)

Yep....just the 2 tracks, the audio & the video but I feel the song deserves it's place on it's own & I'm really excited about this. Seeing as the filming of the video has been so much fun I'm seriously considering adding an outake track version as there has been a high quota of horsing around & things going wrong which all adds to sense of enjoyment & fun for this period of time.

I have a clear & concise idea for the artwork too so hopefully things will be progressing even further & I'll keep you all posted on my personal Live journal. :)

Paulx
TLH

New video

2006-07-11T11:01:30Z

The lost Highway will be making its very first video in the coming weeks. The story board is there & the budget put in place but there looks like a lot of action shots & filming in locations throughout Glasgow with myself taking on the acting duties for the role.

The video will also be submitted to Redemption TV for playtime as they are running a competition which will also include studio time in London. Filming should start this weekend....

The song being used shall be 'Coastline'...whih can be listened to here

Paulx
TLH

New album

2005-08-23T14:15:24Z

It's been a while but I'm happy to say a number of tracks have been completed and I'm loooking for the new album to be all ready for the Autumn.

I didn't think it was going to happen in 2005 but thankfully all technical difficulties have been ironed out and loads of ideas put into place. It's been quite a year so far & there are no shortage of lyrics and good subject matter. Thanks once again though to all the people/radio stations/clubs who have promoted and been enjoying 'the lost highway' music so far.

Paulx
TLH

New highway

2005-01-28T17:44:50Z

It's a mixed bag today. The bad news is that as a result of technical problems at the studio there has been a delay in writing the new album, we are getting there and soon I'll be resuming the writing/recording process. It's given me some more time for some great ideas for the new album which I'm really excited about.

Since the album isn't going to be ready for a while I have decided to release a special collection of songs, basicaly all the stuff that didn't make the last 3 albums, personal songs, rare material and all the b-side stuff. This is going to be called 'The book of past voices' and even feautures some early stuff before the first album took place. That should keep things going until the new one & I'll have a download site ready for you. :)

All mp3s from our 3 albums are now available on one site at Vitaminic. :)

The website has been updated including a new logo image created by Sally French, it's a cartoon version of myself featuring the style I'm wearing currently -

Paulx
TLH

Last nights show

2004-12-05T13:37:30Z

Without a shadow of a doubt that was the best gig the lost highway has ever played. We were playing at Moshulu in Aberdeen and the sound system was fantastik as we took the volume right up. So much improvisation too and I just loved shouting down the microphone with delay echoing all around the big venue.

You could feel the bass rumbling and the vocals cutting through the noise & I gave up singing the songs conventially & MC'd it most of time such was the high on stage. Decided to go for a wander during 'Walk through the night' so I could see through the smoke which was fun & waved my Aberdeen football top around, what a high. Next stop is writing the new album which has a million great ideas to back it up, happy days indeed :)

Paulx
TLH

Wheels are rolling

2004-11-08T18:13:08Z

There is excitement at highway towers as a new show has been lined up and the start of work for the new album is getting under way.

Have just started work for the new album which doesn't have a working title as yet but I'm excited about some of the ideas I've written down and the prospect of making it all happen again. Full effort will go into making this one again as the response to 'mountebank & westerland' totally eclipsed what I expected.

The new show is in Aberdeen on Saturday 4th December supporting Ultraviolance at Elizium. It will be our first trip to Aberdeen and we're looking forward to it. :)

Paulx
TLH

Highway mix

2004-08-18T18:15:31Z

Glad you liked the piccies of our last live show in the last entry. Well infest festival is almost upon us and have decided to take down a compilation of 'the lost highway' featuring songs from the 3 albums. This is mostly for people who have yet to hear the music and gives them a starter if they want to listen to individual CDs. It was tricky narrowing down to 12 tracks but this should be the track listing -

1. Let it go
2. Walk through the night
3. City lies
4. Super state empire
5. Tryptych
6. One night stand
7. Paulypeptide
8. The lighthouse
9. Space Zulu
10. Anniesland lights
11. Intoxicated land
12. Scandinavia

There are some ommisions I'm not sure of such as A.D.D., Amazing Bluebird, Battling my addiction, Tavelling & Skybeat Euphoria. If you think I'm making a mistake with the track listing and songs left out above give me a shout :) thanks :)

Paulx
TLH

Gig review 01/08/2004

2004-08-04T21:03:40Z

So Sunday was our show at the Barfly in Glasgow and I must admit to really enjoying this one. Despite doing virtually no promo work I was surprised to see quite a few familiar faces in the crowd. There were 5 bands playing, the other 4 being more traditional standard Industrial acts featuring guitars. As a result we played a shorter than normal set but by the end we had won people over with our techno inspired beats.

I actually missed my cue for the start of 'Scandinavia' but it wasn't long till we were in our stride with 'City lies' and by the time we played 'Space Zulu' I produced an inflatable beach ball (bought earlier). Andy and myself had turns throwing it into the crowd and our crew at one side of the room started getting boisterous...just the way we like it. It was fun throwing some poses because everytime was like having a strobe effect as the camera flashes went off. The feedback was ace and the CDs we brought along vanished which was really nice. I'm glad now that we did this show :)

Set List

Scandinavia
City Lies
Paulypeptide
Super State Empire
Walk through the night
Space Zulu
Tryptych

bonus track & live!

2004-06-26T13:08:07Z

Well well well, how quiet has it been for the lost highway of late?? lol! As a result of full time employment & taking a wee break things have been quieter even though loads of new fans have been coming on board all the time *waves to you*, thanks for the lovely compliments and glad you're enjoying the music.

So, main news is that we have a brand new bonus track just out called 'Skydiver' which I encourage you all to download for free here . It's just a wee something I thought would sound nice for the end of the CD :)

Lastly it looks like we could have ourselves another headlining show in our home city of Glasgow On August 1st 2004 at Barfly, shall keep you up to speed on that one as further news is confirmed :)

Paul
TLH

Update..

2004-05-12T18:42:37Z

It seems quiet in highway towers but belive me things are going along quite nicely at the moment. The mountebank & westerland CD has been delayed on release in order to fill the CD with bonus tracks & extras for that value for money feel.

Currently 2 brand new bonus tracks are nearing completion & I shall be going over to Andys studios tonight to lay down vocals for a remix version of 'Walk through the night'. Basically there is going to be no shortage of material when it's released this summer which is the way to go :)

Have updated all our music software packages to the latest versions which has been enjoyable & looking forward to promoting the new CD this summer & Autumn :)

Paulx
TLH

...Philosphies of a boy.

2004-04-13T16:34:36Z

the website has been updated now with new details & a few new piccies including live shots. While we are waiting the release of the new CD I may as well give a bit of insight into the ideas behind 'mountebank & westerland'.

The title of the CD may seem a little left of centre but is actually very clear & makes a lot of sense to me....I would give details of it's meaning but at this point I quite like keeping an air of mystery as a few people have already asked me about it.

The album itself has a mixture of moods and meaning & I was thinking along similar lines with the songs 'Let it go' & 'the lighthouse' as well as several others which connects well as a theme & directly relates to aspects of my life and thought process at this time. At times I have given the vocals a clear run in an open soundscape in order to maximise it's clarity and effect which I feel has opened the songs up to the listener.

This is probably the first CD I have written with such a strong personal theme running throughout but one which can be related back to 'Battling my addiction' from the last album. Of course it isn't all as introspective with a variety of moods scattered throughout including the more dancefloor orientated fun moments such as 'Intoxicated land' & Superstate empire'

The one song that gave me particular bother & which perhaps sounds the strangest in many ways is 'Skybeat Euphoria' which literally took days & days of construction & thought, but it's theme is quite central to me. Of course there are a couple of nightime songs...the nervous moments when you are preparing for whats going to happen when you've left your home at night to venture into the unknown highlighted in 'Travelling' & Walk through the night'. Simple themes but highly evocative when you cross over to that other side.

Everything is really tied together on this CD and I find it easy to relate the songs together and hope the listener can find bits & pieces in all corners to gain an insight into ma thoughts :)

Paulx
TLH

another release

2004-03-31T11:54:07Z

Good news just in, we will be appearing on the forthcoming Darkcell compilation entitled 'splinter_cell' with our track 'Let it go'. Another commercial release with the band which should help us get even more exposure worldwide....it's looking like that one will be out in the summer-time.

As for our own full length release 'mountebank & Westerland', well thats coming along nicely and we heard that it will be released with shrink wrap covering, naturally I'm very pleased about this as it gives it a very proffesional appeal. We are tidying up a few pieces and should be including bonus material & remixes to fill up the disc space to provide value for money :)

Shall keep everyone posted as to the release date as it should be available through paypal from various sites including here :)

Paulx
TLH

Last nights Edinburgh show

2004-03-27T15:24:32Z

Well I can safely say from a personal point of view that that was the best one we've done :) I loved the venue and a lot of things clicked into gear even if I did abandon some of the singing techniques I've learned recently. Oddly enough the sound was nuclear loud during soundcheck but didn't seem so during the set but from what I gather it was banging up front :)

Am very pleased with the performance & felt really comfortable up there with my movement and visual delivery :) & because of the number of disc changes for Andy it meant a bit more talking between songs & interaction with the crowd which I love......think I'll make that a permanent feature :)

Would still like to work on my voice a bit more but it in saying that it was the best vocally yet and very very enjoyable indeed...by far my favoutite gig to date & the reaction afterwards was encouraging. Thanks to everyone who came along, you were fantastik and can't wait to do it again :)

Paulx

the good & the bad.

2004-03-19T10:48:37Z

Well Friday March 26th 2004 is the lost highway show in Edinburgh (Teviot Union) with a whole club night included 10pm-3am & I would imagine we should be on stage by 11pm at a rough guess. :)

Although this is our first non-headline show it is proving to be one of our most challenging. Andy & I have been working hard to introduce new features which will make us even more of a live band than ever before. We will have samplers, keyboards for me to trigger sounds & play live as well as Andy controlling things with his uber equipment.

Another feature we are working on is an additional vocoder which will be plugged into Andys effects unit meaning an additional mic so as you can imagine this is a new technical set-up & I'm hoping it goes well. (BTW 4 new songs from the forthcoming mountebank & westerland CD will be on show)

Sadly though the new CD wont be on sale yet as everything is up in the air right now with the business end of things being as frustrating as ever although the paypal account has been set up.
But as soon as the first run is manufactured we shall put the CD on sale for a reasonable price available from good distribution sites :)

Hope to see some of you a week on Friday :)

Paulx
TLH

Highway towers.

2004-03-09T10:08:01Z

Andy is busy working on the new songs for this months live show and they will be 'Super State Empire', 'Medulla Oblongata' & 'Intoxicated land'. Also waiting to see howw walk through the night turns out.

Am particularly look forward to playing Super State Empire as it means taking a break from singing and doing some live keyboard work. This week I have to record 20 short voice samples (either from film or spoken) and they are going to be loaded into the keyboard and triggered at various points during this song. If you have any ideas then feel free to come forward with suggestions - something like 'the world is not enough but of course vodka is' - haha!

Finally I keep getting sweet emails from the lost highway fans and I thought this one was particularly good -

"I love your Music!!You will be played on Liferadiostation at Samday.Very nice Artists,Big,screaming.....(you,i mean..)
In my Music runs the same blood. So,if you are in Switzeland,you invited in my House in Mountains,for Chessefondue and old scottisch Whiskey.. All the best
Ralph"

Paulx
TLH

latest...

2004-03-02T14:04:46Z

Well first of all, one of BeSonic scouts spotted us and featured & reviewed us on the BeSonic hompepage which was a lovely surprise & sent our download stats through the roof again, problem was it was in German so after a quick call to sadaku (thanks) she translated it for us :) - the 2 tracks featured :-

Let it go - Wow! Electronic industrial produced ballads with deep lyrics - an absolute must-have for a well-balanced hard drive!

Skybeat Euphoria - Electronic sounds shredded & rearranged reminiscent of early Depeche Mode, like we were introduced to on the 6-bit demo. Cult stuff!

At the moment there still isn't a release date for the new CD due to financial complications but we're setting up a paypal account very soon to take orders and online distribution should be with Darkcell as well as the official website & of course this wee dandy journal. No fixed date for the pressing yet but will keep you informed.

So this week we will be incorporating some of the new songs inot our set for our show on March 26th in Edinbugh, Andy will be mixing them down and adding his specialist live touch and I will be attempting to work hard on my live vocals, hope to see some of you there on the 26th :)

Paulx
TLH

Charts & release.

2004-02-19T15:03:59Z

It's been a damn good day. This weeks BeSonic charts came out today and I was delighted to see that 'Let it go' has climbed to the number 1 spot in the main UK charts as well as topping the dance/electronics charts. Thanks again to everyone who is currently downloading the new material, it's awesome :)

Had an email through from DJ Coppertop in the USA who's a big fan of the band and she wants to use one of our tracks for commericial release in a mix CD she is releasing. This should be interesting as it involves mixing tracks rather than the usual standard track. Should help fund her trip to Russia where she is appearing soon.

It's good to see the songs getting a lot of club play in Washington DC & Philly too :) Once again watch out at Bedlam club on Saturday as I'll have promo copies of the new CD to give away with rough versions of the new artwork which was completed this week. :)

Paulx
TLH

charts & deals

2004-02-15T15:46:35Z

As you can imagine it's been a busy week in the lost highway towers. People have gone download crazy on the mp3 site so much so that the song 'let it go' has entered the UK BeSonic charts at number 2 position and judging from the statistics it could be better once next thrsdays chart is compiled.

I'm having to remaster 'Super State Empire' this weekend to lower a couple of bass frequecies which I feel are too high, I first noticed it when dj sublevel3 played the track at Amatis club last week and although it sounded ace I did notice a couple of parts where the rumble was....shall we say rumbling, haha! Just a couple of tweaks to fix though, nothing big ;)

Having troubles switching my business head on at the mo as I'm trying to sift through distribution details with Darcell music, everything just seems so complicated and I have never ever been switched on to contracts and details as my concentration tends to be quite low when it comes to small print but hoping to get everything in place soon one way or another.

As far as artwork goes, it will be based around the work I put up on the mp3 site and I should be getting to work on that tonight & over the next few days.

Just to let you know I will be armed with promo copies of the CD at next Saturdays 21st Bedlam club night so if you want one & I have enough with me then give me a shout :)

Paulx

Download away :)

2004-02-10T23:06:29Z

Just to quickly re-post what I put on my main journal -

..It's all finished & done. The brand new 'The Lost highway' CD called 'mountebank & westerland' is now available to download FREE - click here

The good thing about this site is that it gives you a lo-fi play function to see if you like the song first, the whole thing has taken me about 3 months to write & I hope you like it :) The actual CD wont be on sale till March the 26th but go ahead and download it if you can, raaaaaa!

Paulx

Completed!!!

2004-02-05T14:55:28Z

Well, thats me finished the CD & it's taken me 3 months with my head down. The title is 'Mountebank & Westerland' and in some ways I'm glad it's finished as it means I can now concentrate on other things, I even have that post writing phew!! syndrome, lol! I am very happy with the results and looking forward to getting it out there.

Firstly I will giving a few promotional copies to DJS then when the artwork has been finished I'll give some to a few friends but it wont be on sale til our Edinburgh show on March 26th 2004. As always though I will make the entire album free to download once I have the songs uploaded to the site but I'll post that when its ready :) Here is the track listing below -

The Lost Highway - 'Mountebank & Westerland'

1. Let it go
2. Super state empire
3. Kia
4. Medulla Oblongata
5. Travelling
6. The lighthouse
7. Walk through the night
8. New York star
9. Intoxicated land
10. Skybeat Euphoria

Paulx
TLH