Fruit & alcohol...
Last night we set back up in the rehearsal space for the first time since our last show and jammed on some new songs. Well, first it was "Sweet Home Chicago" which is about the only I IV V blues song I know. I was on my acoustic so I had some fun bonking out an awkward solo on it. Choice!
Next we worked on a "newer" song that we started arranging several months ago. It has a very cool Dave Matthews-esque vibe and we locked into a pretty happening groove right away. I love singing and playing this song... that's a sure sign that we're onto something good. Jim started off saying "I don't remember a thing about this" and played almost perfectly through it the first time. I guess he remembered more than he thought.
After a few run throughs of that we hit a new song that I had just roughed together... the chorus bubbled up while I was working in the yard the previous Saturday. Wednesday afternoon I typed a bunch of lyrics for a non-existent verse, then early Thursday morning I laid down a quick "gotta-record-this-quickly-before-I-forget-everything" demo. That evening we were banging it out. I played the acoustic on it again which a lot of fun and really opened the song up. Randy did some sparse little melody bits on the verse and then came up with this great crunchy part for the chorus. Preston and Jim locked in a great groove and within about an hour the song was taking shape and we were working on little arrangement tweaks. This song is a lot of fun and the lyrics are about the "fantasy" of being in a rock band and touring. You'll know it when you hear it.
At the end of the night I passed around some more "test versions" of the new album for everyone to review. They had the latest mixes that Randy has been working on. About 1/4 of the album is done mixing, another 1/2 is 90% done, and there's another 1/4 that is 50% there... not a totally undoable mix. I think in a few weeks we'll have the 90% done done and then hit the last couple songs that still need a LOT of work. Hopefully they will go quickly, although our goal is to make the big album closer something really really special... and we won't settle for anything less than spectacular for the mix. I know you're getting impatient, but remember... it's all for you.
Next we worked on a "newer" song that we started arranging several months ago. It has a very cool Dave Matthews-esque vibe and we locked into a pretty happening groove right away. I love singing and playing this song... that's a sure sign that we're onto something good. Jim started off saying "I don't remember a thing about this" and played almost perfectly through it the first time. I guess he remembered more than he thought.
After a few run throughs of that we hit a new song that I had just roughed together... the chorus bubbled up while I was working in the yard the previous Saturday. Wednesday afternoon I typed a bunch of lyrics for a non-existent verse, then early Thursday morning I laid down a quick "gotta-record-this-quickly-before-I-forget-everything" demo. That evening we were banging it out. I played the acoustic on it again which a lot of fun and really opened the song up. Randy did some sparse little melody bits on the verse and then came up with this great crunchy part for the chorus. Preston and Jim locked in a great groove and within about an hour the song was taking shape and we were working on little arrangement tweaks. This song is a lot of fun and the lyrics are about the "fantasy" of being in a rock band and touring. You'll know it when you hear it.
At the end of the night I passed around some more "test versions" of the new album for everyone to review. They had the latest mixes that Randy has been working on. About 1/4 of the album is done mixing, another 1/2 is 90% done, and there's another 1/4 that is 50% there... not a totally undoable mix. I think in a few weeks we'll have the 90% done done and then hit the last couple songs that still need a LOT of work. Hopefully they will go quickly, although our goal is to make the big album closer something really really special... and we won't settle for anything less than spectacular for the mix. I know you're getting impatient, but remember... it's all for you.
| Permalink | E-mail this post 
