Official Christopher J Wray Blog

JANUARY - MARCH

Work which had already been well underway with Berlin was coming along nicely. I had ideas to produce my first ever major music video release. As with most cases, this wasn't exactly going to be easy. The idea had something along the lines of animations combined with High Definition viewing. This project didn't start until around February with a complete false start in the lack of video production software. What was easier was putting together some sort of storyboard, what was much worse was generating the animations themselves. By March I had another date with a French mad Electro-Scientist named Jean Michel Jarre, who decided to put on a few concerts around Europe and one of his destinations was Manchester. It really was a night to remember as Jarre belted out his famous composition 'Oxygene' to a intimate and very happy crowd.

APRIL

If I recall correctly, from October 2007 up until this point, Earth Academy Records had been busy promoting 'Club Robot' which was an event due on at London's Westbourne Studios. Thousands of flyers were produced alongside mega promotion in local newspapers and the Internet. Unfortunately due to catastrophic errors beyond control, the newspaper printed the wrong date for the performance (which included acts such as Random, Komputer, Intelligentsia & a few special guest DJs.) It affected the whole night as only a few turned up which was really disappointing to all of us. A lesson learnt perhaps? Yes in so many ways, but Club Robot would be Intelligentsia's only performance of this year.

MAY-JUNE

May would be the biggest onslaught of promotion due to the almost-completed Berlin album. A series of video teasers were made alongside some audio sniplets of what to expect. I was only 10-20% done with the Origins music video, I knew at this time that it would never be done within 5 months. It's not so much of a problem when you start working on videos as major as Origins is, obviously the difficulty can be hard for such a simple-looking video. The added pressure of it being specially crafted for High Definition purposes was beginning to take it's toll in some ways. What was making it ultra-difficult was the software I was using at this time, I won't drop any names but let's just say it just wasn't good enough for what I wanted. It was at this time when I had to take the project elsewhere and continue on. June was a delightful month as label owner, Intelligentsia front-man & good friend MIRAI paid a visit. It was the first time he ventured into Manchester for a number of years. He prioritised my Berlin promotion, CD artwork as well as of course having a few shots at the legendary game, Half Life 2. June would also be the month when CD production began for Berlin. It really was an exciting time.
JULY - BERLIN RELEASE

Berlin was released on Sunday, 13th July 2008 with a surge of sales physically and digitally. The massive promotion was still on-going with radio plays, interviews and reviews everywhere. The relief I felt afterwards was obviously good, although I did miss having so much fun with this project. In my own eyes, Berlin is possibly the best work I've ever produced. The Origins music video may have missed it's joint-release mark by months, but it wasn't even slightly disappointing as Berlin was my top priority. I would like to thank a few people for this release who either helped or supported me throughout the production..

Abi
Colin Mansfield
Charlotte Petersen
Duncan Walls
Ian Eary
Jeroen Van Niftrik
Michel Voorn
MIRAI
Shane Machin

And anyone else I've missed, not to mention everyone else who has bought the album and continued to support me (and other Independent artists) throughout the years.

AUGUST - NOVEMBER

Of course the top priority for me alongside other Earth Academy Records artists was to find a venue to perform. In all our minds, we were still licking our wounds over Club Robot but we also had to think positively. We did get a shot at Club Robot 2 which once again was based in London's infamous Brick Lane area. Due to yet even more uncontrollable problems, Club Robot 2 turned out to be the worst thing we done this year for so many reasons. It would be the night were spirits were low..... and contacts were cut short (thankfully bad ones.) This part of the year was going to get worse as I announced the end of my live broadcasts, namely FutureLive due to personal and artistic reasons. November was cool for two good reasons, one being that for the second time in my life, I got to see Tangerine Dream perform in London (who were brilliant by the way,) and secondly my music video Origins finally hit the Internet scene to critical acclaim.

DECEMBER

The month to wrap up the year was just purely wonderful. I have had a good year and I've had my friends and family go through everything with me (and vice versa.) With a modified HD version of the Origins music video released and with the ever-continuing promotion push for Berlin, I feel good about everything. Also with 2009 coming within a few hours, I can look forward to numerous projects, performances, my date with Jean Michel Jarre (again) and spending precious time with loved ones throughout it all.

Have a happy, prosperous and peaceful New Year from myself and my partner, Abi. See you all in 2009.