It's taken a long time, but we have found a way to be a band again! Almost 20 years since we released Eleven (available on all digital streaming platforms), myself (Chris Olson) and drummer Jed Stickler have been working on new material. Whilst we stayed as a band and played to ourselves for years after our debut album release, we never gigged aside from the odd show that still had us in their contact list. And then when I lost my dad through a tumultuous health period, and then became a father myself, the two-and-a-half hour drive between me and Jed may as well have been an interplanetary gulf. We just simply couldn't find time to meet up, let alone play and write music together.
When COVID hit in 2020, online video meets became normalised and we realised we hadn't been taking advantage of the technology available to us to keep in touch. We started hanging out again online, a few quizzes here and there, plenty of beers too. Then when the pandemic died down, the online meetings went away and another period of not talking ensued. Until we reconnected through online gaming - Worms on the PS4 of all things! - and we were able to enjoying each others voices whilst we shot pixel bazookas at each other.
Earlier this year, Jed mentioned to me he was selling his drum kit. This gave me an instant source of anguish, it felt like a definitive end of an era. I had come to terms with not playing together but this was harder to take than I thought. However, Jed revealed his reason for selling the drums was so he could purchase an electronic drum kit - which opened up an incredible set of amazing opportunities for us as a band, The Codes!
We started chatting about his plans for the drums, and I shared with him some of the online collaboration opportunities we could embark on through the digital studio SoundTrap I had been using to record some of my solo stuff (also available on all digital streaming platforms). It's now been a few weeks since Jed got his electronic drums and he is still very much in the learning phase but we have already been exploring songs for the new album - potentially around 12-15 songs to record!
And we also may have another exciting announcement for The Codes coming soon. But for now, let's just hope this new chapter in the story of UK band The Codes is a happy and enduring one.
Chris
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