[Merlijn]

Hi all,

as most of you probably know, Maarten and I often compose custom soundtracks for our DN3D user maps.
That's not the only music-related thing we do, we're also in a rock band called 'Tea Rex'.
My job is guitars/vocals, while Maarten provides keyboards/vocals.

The band just released our first EP on Spotify, so if your interested be sure to check it out!

Here's the link to spotify

I've just made a playlist for the album on YouTube:
https://www.youtube....Pi-XFwedTEIhXdO

[Forge]

link's not working for me

missing the colon after https
link opens www.https.com// instead of https://

fixed:
https://open.spotify...GRsG-5UdE6rxVow

[MusicallyInspired]

Yeah the link is missing the colon after "http". Try this:

https://open.spotify...GRsG-5UdE6rxVow

[Merlijn]

Forge, on 09 December 2018 - 08:34 AM, said:

link's not working for me

missing the colon after https
link opens www.https.com// instead of https://

fixed:
https://open.spotify...GRsG-5UdE6rxVow

Thanks for the correction, I don´t know how that link got botched since I just copied it.

Anyway, I can´t edit the post anymore. At least you guys added a working link lol.

[Mark]

darn, you have to sign up to listen.

[Forge]

Mark, on 09 December 2018 - 01:47 PM, said:

darn, you have to sign up to listen.

maybe they'll put the free teasers on their youtube channel someday

https://www.youtube....tIx7SQSA/videos

[Merlijn]

Actually the EP can be found on all streaming sites, including YouTube.
I linked to Spotify because it's the biggest and most commonly used (and you can sign up for free).

I've just made a playlist for the album on YouTube:
https://www.youtube....Pi-XFwedTEIhXdO

(and yes I double triple checked the link this time )

[Lunick]

Fixed the links up

[Merlijn]

Live version of a new song, we really like how this one turned out. We'll record a studio version later down the road.



(no, that's no me in the dino suit)

[Forge]

nice song
why does everyone in the band look pissed off?

[Merlijn]

Thanks! I guess we look more concentrated than usual since it's a new song haha.
I have zero control over my facial expressions when playing guitar, as you can clearly see in the outro.

[Merlijn]

Sorry for bumping again, but we made a music video for the title track.
I did the editing, which is almost as painstaking and time consuming as mapping.



Now back to Shaky Ground pt. 3..

[Radar]

Which one of you plays electric guitar? Is the electric rig: strat -> boss me25 -> randall amp?

[Merlijn]

That would be me. Yes, it's a fender stratocaster and a boss me25 pedal.
For the actual studio recording I used a strat and a Schecter, IIRC the heavier parts were actually recorded with the Schecter.

The amp is not mine, it's from the venue where we recorded the video. I own a VOX VT150 at home.

[Mark]

At first I thought it was a right hand guitar turned upside down and the strings reversed so you could play left handed. Looking closer I see the strings are NOT REVERSED. Low E is on the bottom. What brought it to my attention was during the lead break you reached up for a high note and something didn't look quite right. I looked again and thats when I noticed the string order.

[Merlijn]

Yes, I play left handed on a right handed guitar. Well spotted!

To quickly explain the why: my first instrument was a keyboard. Then my brother bought a guitar and I started playing on it as well.
As you could probably guess, my brother is right handed while I'm left handed. During early gigs, I wasn't supposed to take on lead guitar duties. We would just swap instruments a couple of times.

And now the reversed guitar thing became one of our trademarks. It often confuses the hell out of other guitarists.

[Merlijn]

We just released a new single!



Towards the end, it will probably become apparent that the guy who made red3 also did the editing for this video

Also available on Spotify: https://open.spotify...5TdWC3EKXdxNHhQ

[Forge]

nice.
the change-ups seem to be getting more complex as your style matures

[Merlijn]

We got another single out! Accompanied with a sweet lyric video.
The song is a lot calmer than the last one, it's actually one of the first songs we've written (way back in 2015).
Throughtout the years the song became longer and more symphonic until this final form.
We're really proud of how it eventually turned out to be.


Enjoy!

[Forge]

Nice melody. Good guitar riff.
the 60's (US) called; they want their anit-nam song back.

the subtitles were unnecessary and slightly annoying

[Merlijn]

Forge, on 21 December 2019 - 08:15 AM, said:

Nice melody. Good guitar riff.
the 60's (US) called; they want their anit-nam song back.

the subtitles were unnecessary and slightly annoying

Thanks! The song is about using drones in war, I don't think they had those in the 60's.
All joking aside, yeah the similarities are there haha.

[Forge]

nam's version of a drone

[Mike Norvak]

I don't know so much about rock but I can say all of your discography have a coherent and very recognizable style, most of the songs really remind me of Imperium soundtrack, would really love to listen another videogame soundtrack by yours.

[Merlijn]

Thanks for the compliment! We do venture into a lot of different styles, so it's nice hear there's still a recognizable sound in there.
And I'm still very proud of the Imperium soundtrack.

As you may know our recent user maps also have custom soundtracks (both shaky grounds maps and Maartens Spacetronic)

Also, here's a part of 'Killing machines' live:

[Merlijn]

New song

[Merlijn]

Been a long time but we finally dropped a new single!
We actually recorded our first full lenght album during the pandemic years, which will be dropped in fall 2022 (release date TBA)

Here's the Spotify link: https://open.spotify...a712cc2679c4eeb
And YT for those who don't use Spotify:

[Forge]

very refined
nice production quality
has an early 70's vibe without being an over-the-top 10 minute extravaganza - nice hook and keyboard work.

[Merlijn]

Thanks Forge! Yeah this is our shortest song ever, but the LP will contain a few longer pieces as well (including a 5 minute instrumental).

[ck3D]

Cool stuff - love seeing all the new and different directions you keep exploring throughout the years. Also your vocals were always great and unique, but are only getting better with time!

Do you remember your old song Reveal? That one always stuck with me quite a bit, for some reason I think you should bring it back, at least I would love to see (well, listen to) that.

[Merlijn]

Thanks man! I feel a lot more comfortable in a studio environment nowadays, which helps the vocal performance a lot.

As for Reveal, of course I remember it! In fact we played it live a few times with Calculated, never made a new studio recording though.
This is the most recent version (and it's 6 years old already, time flies.. ):


Perhaps I can sneak the song into Tea Rex as well, although we're currently moving into a heavier direction. Even incorporating some punk/metal elements.