[Recorded 1998]
After the dark, boomy, lo-fi party of ill discipline that was the first F8 recordings, "A Date With F8" (in 1997), the next chapter of songs took a step up both in the recording quality and the non-improvised planning, production and execution of tracks.

Early 1998 Hennie LeGrange of Way Cool Records commissioned three F8 tracks for the Way Cool compilation CD (the label releasing local alternative / metal / punk acts like Pothole, Hog Hoggidy Hog and 7th Breed).
But which tracks to pick? There was a stack of works-in-progress to expand.
Hennie found the original recordings of A D8 WITH F8 a little too hard-core, lo-fi and crude for the CD - quite understandably. So he funded the recording of new songs. Approaching friend and veteran engineer Dirk Van Straaten (R.I.P.) to record the songs (at The Music Room Studios in Harrington Street, Cape Town), a total of 7 tracks got squeezed into the allocated recording time (Dirk making some generous allowances to make these first digital F8 recordings happen), the 8th track not needing a recording studio.
Narrowing it down to these cuts were no easy task. The super maniacal grinding speed tracks were weeded out and the ones sounding more like "songs" ended up on the hard drive. With the limited budget, the desired effect to make it sound like Tekno-Grind could not be fulfilled. Still, it's not meant to be either techno or grindcore - so that'll piss a few people off - cool. Time constraints also hampered any additional electronic sample experimentation. This might be seen as a work in progress, but it is an entity unto itself, and like each F8 recording, entering an entirely different phase than what came before. Anything can be added and since it's just one guy, his bass and a drum machine, any additions are open for live renditions...except...six string guitars - acoustic or electric. 

The Music Room sessions became known as "Pronounced: FATE", partially since many morons don't realise numbers still have a phonetic value when pronounced and morphing a letter and number can create an existing word. Besides, "F8" looks much cooler than the 4-letter version (and there are inevitably many bands out there with that name). If nothing else, the F8 logo is one fuckin' sexy piece of work! So if the songs don't turn you on, at least you can drool over the sheer brilliance of the logo design (snicker!)

Retrieving these songs after all these years was not easy. Initially this material was backed up onto DAT tape (a digital tape format from the '90s), and like the CDs it was also stored on, these deteriorated over the years!

Logo and cover design by Paul Blom