The Great Hall in Barley Hall, York restored to replicate its appearance in around 1483

A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, nobleman's castle or a large manor house in the Middle Ages, and in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries. At that time the word great simply meant big, and had not acquired its modern connotations of excellence. In the medieval period the room would simply have been referred to as the "hall" unless the building also had a secondary hall, but the term "great hall" has been predominant for surviving rooms of this type for several centuries to distinguish them from the different type of hall found in post-medieval houses. Great halls were found especially in France, England and Scotland, but similar rooms were also found in some other European countries.

A typical great hall was a rectangular room between one and a half and three times as long as it was wide, and also higher than it was wide. It was entered through a screens passage at one end, and had windows on one of the long sides, often including a large bay window. There was often a minstrel's gallery above the screens passage. At the other end of the hall was the dais where the top table was situated. The lord's family's more private rooms lay beyond the dais end of the hall, and the kitchen, buttery and pantry were on the opposite side of the screens passage.

Even the royal and noble residences had few living rooms in the Middle Ages, and a great hall was a multifunction room. It was used for receiving guests and it was the place where the household would dine together, including the lord of the house, his gentleman attendants and at least some of the servants. At night some members of the household might sleep on the floor of the great hall.

Architectural detail[link]

A plan of a manor house called Horham Hall. All of the basic features of a great hall are present: a screens passage (above the porch in the plan); a dais; a bay window (not essential but very common). The main staircase is at the dais end and photos show that the hall was the full height of the two storey house.

The great hall would often have one of the larger fireplaces of the palace, manor house or castle, frequently large enough to walk and stand inside it. It was used for warmth and also for some of the cooking, although for larger structures a medieval kitchen would customarily lie on a lower level for the bulk of cooking. Commonly the fireplace would have an elaborate overmantle with stone or wood carvings or even plasterwork which might contain coats of arms, heraldic mottoes (usually in Latin), caryatids or other adornment. In the upper halls of French manor houses, the fireplaces were usually very large and elaborate. Typically, the great hall had the most beautiful decorations in it, as well as on the window frame mouldings on the outer wall. Many French manor houses have very beautifully decorated external window frames on the large mullioned windows that light the hall. This decoration clearly marked the window as belonging to the lord's private hall. It was where guests slept.

In western France, the early manor houses were centered around a central ground-floor hall. Later, the hall reserved for the lord and his high-ranking guests was moved up to the first-floor level. This was called the salle haute or upper hall (or "high room"). In some of the larger three-storey manor houses, the upper hall was as high as second storey roof. The smaller ground-floor hall or salle basse remained but was for receiving guests of any social order.^[1] It is very common to find these two halls superimposed, one on top of the other, in larger manor houses in Normandy and Brittany. Access from the ground-floor hall to the upper (great) hall was normally via an external staircase tower. The upper hall often contained the lord's bedroom and living quarters off one end.

Occasionally the great hall would have an early listening device system allowing conversations to be heard in the lord's bedroom above. In Scotland these devices are called a laird's lug. In many French manor houses there are small peep-holes from which the lord could observe what was happening in the hall. This type of hidden peep-hole is called a judas in French.

Examples[link]

The mid-14th century great hall at Penshurst Place, Kent.

Many great halls survive. Two very large surviving royal halls are Westminster Hall and the Wenceslas Hall in Prague Castle. Penshurst Place in Kent, England has a little altered 14th century example. Surviving 16th and early 17th century specimens in England, Wales and Scotland are numerous, for example those at Longleat (England), Burghley House (England), Bodysgallen Hall (Wales), Muchalls Castle (Scotland) and Crathes Castle (Scotland); however, by the late 18th century the great hall was beginning to lose its purpose. The greater centralization of power in royal hands meant that men of good social standing were less inclined to enter the service of a lord in order to obtain his protection. As the social gap between master and servant grew, there was less reason for them to dine together and servants were banished from the hall. In fact, servants were not usually allowed to use the same staircases as nobles to access the great hall of larger castles in early times; for example, the servants' staircases are still extant in places such as Muchalls Castle. The other living rooms in country houses became more numerous, specialized and important, and by the late 17th century the halls of many new houses were simply vestibules, passed through to get to somewhere else, but not lived in. Other great halls like that at Bank Hall in Lancashire were downsized to create two rooms.

Many colleges at Durham, Cambridge, Oxford and St Andrews universities have halls on the great hall model which are still used as dining rooms on a daily basis, the largest in such use being that of University College, Durham. So do the Inns of Court in London and King's College School in Wimbledon. The "high table" (often on a small dais at the top of the hall, farthest away from the screens passage) seats dons (at the universities) and Masters of the Bench (at the Inns of Court), whilst students (at the universities) and barristers or students (at the Inns of Court) dine at tables placed at right angles to the high table and running down the body of the hall, thus reproducing the hierarchical arrangement of the medieval household.

Decline and revival[link]

From the 16th century onwards halls lost most of their traditional functions to more specialised rooms, both for family members and guests (e.g. dining parlours, drawing rooms), and for servants (e.g. servants halls and servants bedrooms in attics or basements) . The halls of 17, 18th and 19th country houses and palaces usually functioned almost entirely as vestibules, even if they were architecturally impressive. There was a revival of the great hall concept in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with large halls used for banqueting and entertaining (but not as eating or sleeping places for servants) featuring in some houses of this period as part of a broader medieval revival, for example Thoresby Hall.

See also[link]

• Manor house
• Tapestry

Notes[link]

1. ^ Jones, Michael and Gwyn Meirion-Jones, Les Châteaux de Bretagne, Rennes: Editions Quest-France,1991, pp 40-41

Late Night Alumni is a US house group composed of Ryan Raddon (Kaskade), Finn Bjarnson, John Hancock, and vocalist Becky Jean Williams. They are primarily known for mixing dance music with strings and soft trance-like vocals from lead singer Becky Jean Williams.^[1]

Biography[link]

Finn Bjarnson stumbled upon Becky Jean Williams (sister to R. John Williams, the lead singer of Faded Paper Figures) in the summer of 2003. “I had just been given a local Christmas CD that I had produced a couple tracks for,” Finn recalls, “and as I was listening through the tracks, there she was! Her beautiful voice and style immediately struck me.” A couple of phone calls later and they were in the studio together for the first time. “I had worked up this song called ‘Empty Streets’ and wanted to try her voice out on it...” Finn continues, “and it took off from there!”

Finn had already been working in the studio with Ryan Raddon (aka Kaskade), and soon Finn, Ryan, and Becky formed Late Night Alumni. In 2004, Hed Kandi made an offer to license and release a full length Late Night Alumni album. “At that point,” Finn says, “I knew the band was not ready. We were missing an element.” That missing element turned out to be John Hancock; a talented local producer with whom Finn had been trying to “find an excuse” to work with for years. The band was complete and hard at work at the debut Late Night Alumni album; mixing electronic and organic elements for a unique brand of chill that is easily distinguishable in today’s down tempo house music scene.

Empty Streets was released in September, 2005. Around the same time, Hed Kandi was bought out by Ministry of Sound and the album got shelved. However, despite lack of support from the group's record label, it soon grew into an underground classic.

The single of the same name received massive support in both clubs and on radio, getting Top Ten Radio Play in the UK and U, and reaching #1 in Spain. “Empty Streets” has also been licensed to commercials including a spot for the Toyota IQ. In addition, more than a dozen dance compilations have licensed the track, and it remains the most popular and downloaded song on Tiesto’s “In Search Of Sunrise” compilation.

Also, two of Late Night Alumni's songs, "Uncharted" and "You Can Be the One" have been featured in a new Steve Carell movie Crazy, Stupid, Love. which released on 29th June, 2011.

Of Birds, Bees, Butterflies, Etc. (2009 Album)[link]

Of Birds, Bees, Butterflies, Etc., the follow-up album to Empty Streets, was released as a digital download on November 3, 2009, with the physical CD released on February 2, 2010 on Ultra Records. On September 1, 2009, the group released "You Can Be The One," their first single from the album, which was available on Beatport & iTunes.^[2] This single was followed up with a remix by Sultan & Ned Shepard, which was released on September 23, 2009.

A music video for a live rendition of "You Can Be The One" was recorded at Velour in Utah. It features four violinists along with the four members of Late Night Alumni. Fans are comparing the video to Kaskade's live version of "4AM," which also features Becky Jean Williams on lead vocals and Finn Bjarnson on guitar.^[3]

An acoustic version of a song titled, "Golden," on their upcoming album was posted on their YouTube channel. Another live version of a new track, "What's In A Name," was also posted onto their channel.^[4]

Haunted (2011 Album)[link]

Haunted was released as a digital download on February 8, 2011. During the recording process, the group hoped to create a different dynamic by physically working together through most of the process rather than being isolated and using electronic communication methods to collaborate.^[5] The name of the album was inspired by ideas of being haunted by nostalgia and memories from the past while dealing with change in the present, although the old character of the undisclosed location in Salt Lake City where they recorded may have also influenced the title.^[6]

Two singles have been released so far, It's Not Happening and Main Street.

The song In The Ashes was also well received, and is a fan favorite.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 2005 - Empty Streets
• 2009 - Of Birds, Bees, Butterflies, Etc.
• 2011 - Haunted

Singles/EPs[link]

Collaborations[link]

• 2012 - How Long with Kaskade

References[link]

http://www.youtube.com/user/LNAmusic

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Official Myspace
• Artist Page at Ultra Records
• Hed Kandi
• Kaskade
• Official Facebook Page

3 Inches of Blood
3 Inches of Blood performs at Reds, Edmonton, 2005
Background information
Origin	Vancouver, British Columbia
Genres	Heavy metal, thrash metal, speed metal, power metal
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Minion, Roadrunner, Century Media
Associated acts	Pride Tiger, S.T.R.E.E.T.S, Allfather, Curse of the North, Bison B.C.
Website	www.3inchesofblood.com
Members
Cam Pipes Justin Hagberg Shane Clark Ash Pearson Byron Stroud
Past members
Jay Watts Geoff Trawick Rich Trawick Bobby Froese Sunny Dhak Matt Wood Brian Redman† Alexei Rodriguez Jamie Hooper Nick Cates

3 Inches of Blood is a Canadian heavy metal band formed in 2000 in Kelowna, British Columbia, currently consisting of Cam Pipes, Justin Hagberg, Shane Clark, and Ash Pearson. They are currently signed with Century Media Records and are marked by strong influences from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement.

Biography[link]

[edit] Early years, and the Battlecry Under a Wintersun era

The group initially performed with only Jamie Hooper as vocalist before the addition of Cam Pipes. Hooper, Sunny Dhak, and Bobby Froese got together to do a one-off reunion gig for an old group of theirs; however, things went so well they decided to continue under a new moniker. Pipes heard their demo EP at the house of Hot Hot Heat keyboardist Steve Bays, a longtime friend and former bandmate.^[1][2] Pipes, who at the age of 10 had sung in his school's choir,^[3] was originally asked to add some vocals to the band's already-recorded demo, Sect of the White Worm, and became a permanent band member after the results proved to the band's liking.^[4] Their debut album Battlecry Under a Wintersun was recorded in 2002 and released in cooperation with the Teenage Rampage and Fashion Before Function labels. It was later remastered and re-released by the band under their own label entitled Minion Music. This release went by almost unnoticed until the band's UK distribution label decided to put them on as a support slot for a tour with platinum rock band The Darkness. This exposure gained them much critical attention and acclaim in the world of underground metal, and they were signed by major label subsidiary Roadrunner Records in 2004.

[edit] Advance and Vanquish

Cam Pipes live on stage

In 2004, original drummer Geoff Trawick and bassist brother Rich Trawick left the band. Matt Wood of Vancouver doom/sludge/noise band Goatsblood, and Brian Redman replaced them. Original guitarists Sunny Dhak and Bob Froese left the band shortly after recording in around July 2004 because "they could no longer commit to touring and needed to deal with some personal matters".^[5] They were also committed to a business that they had set up called Bloodstone Press, a union shop and party venue.^[6] It is now defunct and together with Mike Payette (who was the third of the four shareholders of Bloodstone Press) and Matt Wood (who is also an ex-3 Inches of Blood member since July 2005 and was replaced by Alexei Rodriguez^[7]) they founded the rock band Pride Tiger.^[8]

The band plays music more oriented towards '70s guitar-driven rock bands because, as Wood stated, "[m]etal just becomes the same thing over and over. Anyway, I'm not really a metal dude. None of us are. I'm sure if you studied pictures of 3 Inches of Blood you could pick us out as not really belonging there".^[9] Sunny and Bobby were replaced by Justin Hagberg, who had previously played with Pipes in Allfather, a black metal band, and Shane Clark. Roadrunner put out an advertising blitz, and the track "Deadly Sinners" from the band's second release Advance and Vanquish appeared on numerous sampler CDs, compilations, and even three video games (Tony Hawk's Underground 2, Saints Row 2, and Brütal Legend), creating a huge press hype for the band that caused their popularity to skyrocket, with a slot on 2005's Road Rage tour in August (with bands like Machine Head and Chimaira) gaining them many new fans.

Also in 2005, Justin Hagberg recorded the guitars on the tracks "Dawn of a Golden Age" and "I Don't Wanna Be (A Superhero)" for Roadrunner United: The All Star Sessions. In October 2006, the band opened a show for Iron Maiden during the United States leg of their 2006 A Matter of Life and Death World Tour. The show was at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine, California.

[edit] Fire Up the Blades

The band wrote their entire third studio album in Tacoma, Washington and performed their new songs at various places in the vicinity of Washington. By December 2006, the band had begun to record material for their follow-up album at the Armoury Studios of their hometown, and revealed that it would be titled Fire Up the Blades, with Joey Jordison, drummer of Slipknot as producer.^[10] A demo of "Goatrider's Horde" which was recorded in Seattle in the spring of 2006 was later made available for streaming on Roadrunner's official website. Another demo of "Night Marauders" appeared in the fifth Battle Metal compilation album that was released in issue 161 of the UK magazine Metal Hammer.

The band toured the United States during January and February 2007 in support of Cradle of Filth with The 69 Eyes and in March toured the UK with Biomechanical. On March 22, 2007, the band was confirmed to play the second stage at Ozzfest.^[11] On April 6, 2007, the band's website was completely redesigned. Prior to the release of Fire Up the Blades, the band stressed that the album would be "darker, tighter and more dangerous" than their Roadrunner Records debut.^[12] "This album is heavily influenced by low quality beer, bong rips and listening to black metal in the dark", says Hooper. "It doesn't sound blatantly black metal, it still sounds like us. But it's a faster, more intense version of us."^[13] Fire Up the Blades was ultimately released in Japan on May 28, 2007, and worldwide on June 26, 2007. During the 2007 Ozzfest Tour, Jamie Hooper was unable to sing with the band as he was experiencing throat problems, and was warned by doctors that he may damage his voice permanently if he did not rest it.^[14] He did not perform on the Ozzfest tour nor the Operation Annihilation tour. Harsh vocal duties were taken over by guitarist Justin Hagberg. Hooper did not perform with the band for the whole 2007-08 year.^{[citation needed]}

Following a fight with Saxon drummer Nigel Glockler on November 10, 2007 at the Hard Rock Hell festival in the UK, 3 Inches of Blood fired drummer Alexei Rodriguez and issued an apology for his behavior.^[15] The fight left Glockler with broken glasses and a black eye. Four security guards intervened and beat Rodriguez severely, hospitalising Rodriguez with a broken elbow. He was replaced by Ash Pearson (of Sound Of the Swarm & Just Cause) who later joined the band permanently.

[edit] Here Waits Thy Doom

Jamie Hooper eventually quit the band permanently in late 2008 and did not perform on Here Waits Thy Doom, making it the first album from the band not to feature any original members. Hagberg has taken over harsh vocal duties full-time.

The song "Beware The Preacher's Daughter" features all four members of fellow Canadian Metal band Bison BC (James Farwell, Dan And, Masa Anzai and Brad MacKinnon) singing gang vocals on the chorus.

3 Inches of Blood was featured in Rockstar's Mayhem Festival 2010. On September 9, 2010 the band released a music video for the song "Silent Killer".^[16]

A new song, "Lords of Change" is currently streaming on the bands Facebook from their forthcoming 7 inch called Anthems For The Victorious.^[17]

A new song, "Leather Lord" is currently streaming on Blabbermouth from their upcoming Album Long Live Heavy Metal.^[18]

Band members[link]

Current members

• Cam Pipes – vocals, occasional bass guitar (2001 – present)
• Justin Hagberg – guitar (2004 – present), screamed vocals (2008 – present)
• Shane Clark – guitar (2004 – present)
• Ash Pearson – drums (2007 – present)
• Byron Stroud – bass guitar (2012 - present)

Former members

• Aaron "Boon" Gustafson - bass guitar (live only) (2011)
• Steve Ericson - Bass (live only) (2009–2011)
• Nick Cates – bass (2006–2009)
• Jamie Hooper – harsh vocals (1999–2008)
• Alexei Rodriguez – drums (2005–2007)
• Brian Redman - bass (2004–2006); Brian Redman was killed in a scooter crash in Tacoma, Washington on September 27, 2009, aged 31.^[19]
• Matt Wood – drums (2004–2005)
• Geoff Trawick – drums (1999–2004)
• Rich Trawick – bass (1999–2004)
• Bobby Froese – guitar (1999–2004)
• Sunny Dhak - guitar (1999–2004)
• Jay Watts- guitar (1999-2000)

Timeline[link]

 id:guitar value:green      legend:Guitar
 id:vocals value:red        legend:Vocals
 id:bass   value:purple     legend:Bass
 id:drums  value:blue       legend:Drums
 id:lines1 value:black      legend:Studio_Albums
 id:bars   value:gray(0.93)

 bar:Jay    text:Jay Watts
 bar:Sunny  text:Sunny Dhak
 bar:Bobby  text:Bobby Froese
 bar:Shane  text:Shane Clark
 bar:Justin text:Justin Hagberg

 bar:Jamie  text:Jamie Hooper
 bar:Cam    text:Cam Pipes

 bar:Rich   text:Rich Trawick
 bar:Brian  text:Brian Redman
 bar:Nick   text:Nick Cates
 bar:Steve  text:Steve Ericson (live only)
 bar:Aaron  text:Aaron "Boon" Gustafson (live only)
 bar:Byron  text:Byron Stroud

 bar:Geoff  text:Geoff Trawick
 bar:Matt   text:Matt Wood
 bar:Alexi  text:Alexi Rodriguez
 bar:Ash    text:Ash Pearson

 width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
 bar:Jay    from:01/01/1999 till:01/01/2000 color:guitar
 bar:Sunny  from:01/01/1999 till:01/07/2004 color:guitar
 bar:Bobby  from:01/01/1999 till:01/07/2004 color:guitar
 bar:Shane  from:02/07/2004 till:end color:guitar
 bar:Justin from:02/07/2004 till:end color:guitar

 bar:Jamie  from:01/01/1999 till:01/11/2008 color:vocals
 bar:Cam    from:01/11/2001 till:end color:vocals

 bar:Rich   from:01/01/1999 till:01/02/2004 color:bass
 bar:Brian  from:02/02/2004 till:01/06/2006 color:bass
 bar:Nick   from:02/06/2006 till:01/06/2009 color:bass
 bar:Steve  from:02/06/2009 till:31/05/2011 color:bass
 bar:Aaron  from:01/06/2011 till:25/01/2012 color:bass
 bar:Byron  from:26/01/2012 till:end color:bass

 bar:Geoff  from:01/01/1999 till:01/02/2004 color:drums
 bar:Matt   from:02/02/2004 till:10/02/2005 color:drums
 bar:Alexi  from:02/02/2005 till:10/11/2007 color:drums
 bar:Ash    from:11/11/2007 till:end color:drums

 at:03/06/2003 color:lines1 layer:back
 at:27/09/2004 color:lines1 layer:back
 at:26/06/2007 color:lines1 layer:back
 at:08/09/2009 color:lines1 layer:back

Discography[link]

Albums

• Battlecry Under a Wintersun (2002)
• Advance and Vanquish (2004)
• Fire Up the Blades (2007) U.S. #147^[20]
• Here Waits Thy Doom (2009) U.S. #195
• Long Live Heavy Metal (2012)^[21] CAN #92^[22]

EPs

• Sect of the White Worm (2001)
• Trial of Champions (2007)
• Anthems For the Victorious (2011)^[23]

Singles

• "Ride Darkhorse, Ride" (2002)
• "Destroy the Orcs" (2003)
• "Deadly Sinners" (2004)
• "The Goatriders Horde" (2007)
• "Trial of Champions" (2007)
• "Battles and Brotherhood" (2009)
• "Silent Killer" (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website