Day 8 - Monday, May 26th

Today was fairly low-key. We worked our way through the songs, adding little parts here and there (acoustic guitar, backing vox, keyboards, etc.) where needed. Then Brad introduced us to Chick Wolverton, an old session guy from Franklin, Tennessee who worked with all the greats back in the day. He listened to the songs and offered to come back on tomorrow and lay down a few percussion elements that he was hearing. Who are we to say no?

Brad will probably start mixing tomorrow as well. We will keep you apprised of his progress in subsequent posts.

-SS

Days 6 & 7

Day 6

Scott was in rare form today. He tracked vocals on two songs, nailed his guitar solo on another one and then rescued a litter of kittens that he found abandoned under Brad's porch, nursing them back to health with a "family recipe" of half and half, confectioners' sugar and Miller Light. They now follow behind him single-file wherever he goes and he's teaching them to meow in 5-part harmony. It's amazing! Unfortunately, I don't have any footage of the kittens, but here's the guitar solo:

Tonight is our last night in our friend Lisa's house and we're all fairly sleep-deprived at this point. Living at Lisa's has been quite an experience. Duane noted that her place is kind of reminiscent of JF Sebastian's pad in Blade Runner - the genetic engineer guy who lived with all the animatronic toy "friends" he made.

She's got taxidermy everywhere, and I've actually lost count of how many real live animals she's adopted - every time I open the door, another one comes running in or out of the house. My personal favorite, though, is Spooky Mae. Spooky is a 14 year-old dog/albino pygmy bear who's not doing so well- she suffers from bouts of dementia during which she wanders aimlessly around the living room, barking loudly at nothing in particular (unless a wall counts for something.) Doesn't make for the best night's sleep, but I've got a soft spot for her regardless.

Right now we are watching "The Last Waltz," the documentary Martin Scorsese directed about The Band's final show after 16 years on the road. Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson are so fucking cool.

Day 7

Scott finished his lead vocals today, then Mon and I recorded our background vocals for "On and Off." I sang the high harmony and Brad said I sounded like a "pretty little girl." I think he meant it as a compliment. When I asked him why Mon got to do the more manly low harmony, he told me Mon earned it with his stint in the Israeli army. Fair enough.

We're starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel here. Just a few more backing vocals, some percussion and a keyboard part or two and we'll be ready to start mixing. 

-SS

Day 5 - Doing Our Part

Before we got started this morning, Brad told us about a news report he'd just seen concerning a scientific study that linked beer consumption to cancer prevention. That being the case, Duane and I fought cancer all day while Scott and Mon finshed laying down their guitar parts, taking breaks every now and then to fight cancer themselves. If I'm not mistaken, I think even Brad fought cancer a time or two.

Vocals start tomorrow.

-SS

Days 3 & 4 - "Earthquake Weather"

And just like that, Duane's bass parts are done! He knocked them out in a matter of a few hours yesterday - so quickly that Brad sent us away early to run a backup. Now as I write this, Scott is charging through his guitar part on a new song and Mon is rehearsing his solo for a different one.

Spring has given way to summer here in Los Angeles. The air is dusty and dry, and there hasn't been a cloud in the sky for a couple weeks. Driving over the hill from Hollywood to The Valley this morning, my car was nearly blown off the freeway by the Santa Ana winds. Mon remarked that is was "earthquake weather," an often used and somewhat arbitrary phrase endemic to California. As smoothly as things are going thus far, somehow it wouldn't surprise the band at all if a week from now, moments after the last finishing touches are placed on the record, we were standing in Brad's kitchen with champagne glasses raised to toast our good fortune and inevitable success, only to feel the ground suddenly shake beneath our feet and turn helplessly to watch the studio disappear into the San Andreas Fault.

Does that make us pessimists?

-SS

Day 2 - "Eye Of The Tiger"

Things are moving right along. We finished basic drum tracks this afternoon, which took a huge load off of my shoulders and also gave me some time to get a quick drum lesson from Duane.

Brad then needed some time to "do a little editing," so we left him to his own devices and grabbed a bite to eat. When we got back and heard the playback, the neurotic in me was quietly relieved that he hadn't re-recorded all the drum parts himself in our absence.

Duane's tasty bass chops are up next...

-SS

Day 1

So far, so good! Yesterday we all met up at Brad's home studio in The Valley, where the temperature was something like 350 degrees. We quickly loaded our gear in before it melted and got some drum sounds before knocking out drum tracks on two songs. It's always a relief to get that first song down. Everything is sounding great so far and the vibe at the studio is ideal. Being that it was our first day, we were a little too focused on locking into the songs to take any worthwhile pics, but we'll post some soon.

Brad takes Sundays off, so we were down today. A friend of ours who owns an awesome house in Echo Park is out of town for a month, so we all decided to crash at her place while we're recording to make the most of the bonding experience that making a record provides. Right now, Duane and I are watching the Academy of Country Music Awards, noticing Nicole Kidman in the audience and wishing she hadn't had all that work done. I was just chastised for not recognizing Brooks & Dunn. Pizza's here.

-SS

...practice, practice, practice.

Pre-Production - Day 1

Last night we had our first rehearsal with producer Brad Wood. Duane was the only member of the band who he hadn't met up until then, and Brad earned valuable bonus points from him right off the bat by bringing beer, regardless of the fact that it was Pacifico. Alas, our unsophisticated palates generally prefer Miller and Bud Light, but we appreciated the gesture all the same. More importantly though, over the next few hours we chatted and played a couple songs for him and he offered some great ideas that we will incorporate into the new material. It's always a little daunting to play new material to a critical ear for the first time but, after tonight, we left our rehearsal space feeling quite confident that working with Brad is going to challenge us in the best possible way to make an outstanding record.

Pre-Production - Day 2

Brad met us at our rehearsal space in downtown L.A. again (he brought Budweiser this time.) We played a few more tunes for him and once more he gave us some useful input. We probably spent as much time talking as playing this evening, with topics of conversation ranging from the cost effectiveness of strip club lunch buffets to the pervasiveness of big government in our everyday lives. Tomorrow we'll be on our own again, nailing down some new parts and loading out our gear for our first day in the studio on Saturday.

-SS

Thursday, May 8th - First Blog Entry!

Hello out there...not really sure what I'm doing yet, so I'm just going to post a few sentences and a photo...I chose this pic of our guitarist Mon for a couple of reasons - first, it takes me back to one of our earliest recording sessions back in 2002, not long after Mon joined the band and second, I think this is the only time he's ever smiled for the camera. The rarest of immortalizations, it easily ranks with the likes of these:

Moving on. Ostensibly, this blog will chronicle the recording session for our first EP as a part of  ATO Records and beyond. We will be recording at producer Brad Wood's studio in, appropriately, Studio City starting next Saturday. Right now, we are in the midst of rehearsals, trying to narrow down which 3 or 4 songs to record. Needless to say, it's a very difficult and important decision! More on that later...

-SS