I'm happy to report that Shift's first set of 6 songs entitled 'Faceless' is now ready for public consumption. The concept is to release 4 sets of 6 songs over the coming 18 months or so. Each set will be released primarily as downloads, but there will be CDs etc. available for those of you that, like me (cos i'm oldschool), would prefer a hard copy shiny plastic disc.

The songs are available using the 'Pay what you want' model similar to those released recently by Radiohead and NIN and i've tried to offer a good incentive to pay for it by way of bonus songs, extra artwork and high quality audio formats etc. whilst keeping the music available to anyone who wants it. However, if you do pay for it, i promise the beer fairies will visit and shower you with beer*

A lot has been done over the last few months to put together the first batch of six songs. I enlisted Kori(ex-Nadir) to help finish off the songs and record the drums for me, and had several bass players do various tracks. Good bass players are fucking hard to come by, but i managed to hook up three! Duncan(ex-Nadir), Nigel (SWNS) and Stewie (Varliiba). I'm very grateful to all of these guys for having helped me put this stuff together.

This first six Shift songs turned out to be quite diverse, particularly when comparing 'Molotovs And Rocks' against 'Away'. In the back of my mind i was worried that people who normally like the heavier stuff might get into a few songs, then go WTF is this? But in the end i just thought fuck it, i like the songs, they flow well together and it's not like anyone has any expectations of what Shift is about anyway! I would probably say that if you like bands like Tool, Machine Head, Strapping Young Lad, Alice In Chains etc. you might like Shift. But if you really want to let us know what you think (good or bad) head over to the Shift facebook page and tell us.

For those that might be wondering, Shift live shows are a possibility, but are likely to be extremely rare. Basically, if enough people want 'em, we'll make sure it happens.

The next set of six songs are already being worked on and at this stage some are sounding a bit more progressive, expect some longer more intricate songs with some experimental stuff.

- Rob

_{*Beer fairies are possibly a figment of my imagination and may not actually exist}