Day 7-6/14/07

Tell The Truth...

J- We finished what we came up here to do, record Slow Stride in a peaceful, focused environment. The week flew by. I can't help to think of the little wren and her babies that Laura was watching all week, because we looked in the nest this morning and they were gone. The nest showed no sign of distress, so we know they weren't munched up by a snake or something. They just ran their course and went on their way. Laugh if you will (and you should), but it's kinda metaphoric. It's simple and blatant, but sometimes that's the way it is, and we look for so deep an interpretation that the evident, natural explanations fly out right from under our noses...

What the hell am I talking about???? I don't know. It has been an amazing week, and we are lucky to be able to do this. VERY LUCKY! We know this. Scott was playing this rare, out of print Otis Redding album, Tell The Truth, that he got from Germany. Amazing album. We heard that album 20 times beginning to end, and worth every note to do so. (There's no hidden interpretation here, that' just a badass album, from a badass man) We listened to Chocolate City, Funkadelic's first album with Bootsy Collins killing it. And, we watched that first disc of Flight of the Concords every night. That was the fuel for Slow Stride: Otis Redding, Funkadelic, and Flight of the Concords! And I challenge anyone to see how Slow Stride comes from that!!! I, personally, don't have an inkling, but it does somehow make sense. You figure it out.

So onto the thank you's...

Scott, you are a scholar and a gentleman and son of a bitch with a ridiculously hilarious sense of humor. Thank you for...well, how can I say thank you any better than...well...Bette Midler's iconic song from your favorite movie Beaches, "I can fly higher than a beagle, if you are a the wind beneath my wings!" ahahahaha! (Yeah I know it's "eagle" and not "beagle", but a flying beagle would be pretty inspirational too. I mean I don't know if it inspires patriotism, but dammit, it bloody well should, Brit!)

Julio, drummer-drummer, who is a brother to me! Thanks for the beats and for letting us record the drums at JYJ Studios with you. You remind me so much of J.Mascis in that Baltimore show we saw some years ago. Yeah, that and the fact that my mom thinks you look like Bleeding Gums Murphy from The Simpsons!!!

Joan Nelson, thank you for opening your home and your heart to us for this project. I know that the soul of the Grove will shine through this album.

...& thank you to Jeanie and Taylor Nelson, and all Nelsons for that matter. You made us feel like part of the family! Uncle Rick is the real McGuiver! Thank you as well to Dave Reis, sound expert and rugby badass! Kevin Perkins kept the home front in check. Mom & Dad Askins, Mom & Dad Lopez, Mom & Dad Cruz, our family and friends. And most of all THANK YOU to anyone who read this triffle, and spent some time with us. We hope you all enjoy the new album as much as we enjoyed making it. God Bless.

CALAHONEY

Day 6-6/12/08

Zee end iz near...

J- A great day! What a cornball way to start off, but I can't help myself. We finished the basic tracking for the final 3 songs today. All we got left to do are odds & ends overdubs tomorrow & Saturday. We got good news last night. Our long-time friend and corroborator, Julio, is coming into town to join us for the few odds & ends. Julio plays drums on the album, which were recorded a few months ago in DC, and he's coming to lay down a percussion track or two. Awesome!

We started the morning off by recording Sweetwater, a narrative ballad I wrote a few months ago about a small-town woman and her life journey. I'm quite lucky to have been blessed with the penning of this song, because it is quite beautiful and quite possible the most complete story I've ever been able to fit into a song. It is classic Americana in theme and in sound and Scott called it Dylan-esque, to which I beamed! (Scott knows how to butter me up!)

We then worked on Save Some Room for Me, and I didn't quite know how this song would fill out. The lyrical content is light, almost whimsical, but the sentiment is nice; it's a love song. Scott had some great ideas about harmonies and melodies and he had me play a little snare shuffle with some brushes. Only, we didn't have brushes and we ended up making brushes out off twigs and tie-wraps!!!...Let's just say it works as a reference track. So glad that Julio will be here in a few days with proper brushes! It was still fun as hell, and kept the atmosphere lively and playful.

We ended by mid afternoon with Fumblin' with the Blues, a Tom Waits cover that Laura kills on. We decided to record it at the last minute and, consequently, I now have to buy the mechanical rights to it in the next few weeks. For those of you that know the original from the 1973(?) Heart of Saturday Night album, we did something a bit different by pairing it down to just 1 acoustic guitar, 1 vocal track, and one glass of scotch (No worries, you'll see!) I've always believed that when covering a song, especially and amazing song like this one, it's best to re-work it and make it your own, because you will never be able to do justice to the original if you just try to mimic it. So that's what we did, and that's where the glass of scotch comes into play. Scott wanted to go all theatrical for our last song and wanted to sound off ice swirling around and the glass hitting the "bar" to accent the song. Laura and I are total hams so we were all too quick to jump aboard the idea, and since we use scotch to clear our throats and fog-up our brains regularly [sic], there just happened to be a glass of scotch sitting around! So were recorded it several times, and after that we did it several times more, making sure to sip and refill the glass to proper recording specifications. Uh...I don't remember finishing the song....

But, we did finish and we celebrated with more scotch at a very nice restaurant called Swanks in Kilmarnock. We had a nice evening and are now left with the task of overdubbing! Rub-a-dub-dub!

Day 5-6/11/08 (late evening)

Elusive Harmonies...

J- Whut?!? Man, what an exhausting evening! We decided that we were getting fried so we took the afternoon off; some much needed rest. Time has been flying by, as we decided to remove all clocks and watches from the Great Room, and, consequently, we never know what the hell time it is until some asks, "Hey, what time is it?" Or we go until someone says, "Hey, I'm tired as hell!" Or we go until someone says, "Uh...I've...uh...been playing in the wrong key and that's why it sounds like crap. Sorry." Yeah, then we know it's time to call it a day.

Funny I should mention the above example, because I ended up recording 3 backbone-guitar parts for Slow Stride in the wrong key and it wasn't until Laura went to lay some vocals on it that I realized that we...I, screwed up. Back to square zero and begin again. So we did it and Slow Stride (title track!) sounds nice! It reiterated to me that this whole shebang is a slow stride. Serendipitous, no?

Later in the night we worked on a blues jam Hell Don't Want Us Anymore, which is as straight-forward blues-rock as it gets. The song's about two people who are convinced that they have found heaven in each other, because they are convinced that hell won't have the other person for being such SOB's. Bluesy, right? Yes. Simple, right? NO!! For some reason, the harmony part at the end of the song escaped me, FOR OVER AN HOUR. Laura had to walk away and go snap pictures of the sunset. I was inside, fuming. It wasn't until I relaxed and did what I should have done in the first place, pick up a guitar and write out the damn harmony, that we finally got it. That has happened to me before, and I was waiting for it. Sometimes after singing for days on end, the ear gets fatigued and something simple, something that you've done literally 50 times before, becomes impossible. Gotta fight through that lull. Stupid harmonies...sound actually pretty nice together. So it was worth all the trouble, or at least we keep telling ourselves that...


Tomorrow, we take on some more songs and start overdubs and intricacies. We're for that!

Day 5-6/11/08 (morning)

L- So I'm obsessed with the little wren that is feeding it's babies right outside the window. This little gal is on the move. She hops along in the grass picking up bugs and follows the same path back to the nest every time. She has little pit stops to check for predators and cocks her head back and forth to seem aggressive... it is freakin' adorable! After she's fed the lucky tykes, they are getting bigger and bigger everyday, she sets on a perch for a few seconds to catch her breath and then she's off again. So while I'm sketching variations of the logo or looking up fonts for the album cover, she's out there taunting me and I can't get any work done! Dad, you would be so proud. I've got the camera set up next to the computer so when she comes and goes, I can just snap a pic. Not my most rock n roll moment.... but then again this place just oozes tranquility, you just can't help but be sucked in. We want to mimic that in Slow Stride... so just sit back relax and find your inner...chillin...rock n roll...vibe...man.

Day 4-6/10/08

J- Ahhhh yes, amigos, this house is definitely haunted. Two nights ago while we were sleeping a lamp turned on around 3am for no reason! In a confused, sleepy haze I looked for a timer on the outlet or some sort of other palpable explanation to let me rest peacefully but none appeared. I unplugged it and prayed that it would not turn on again! Someone or something keeps detuning my guitars, I mean like whole steps down minutes after I have tuned them. Doors and closets open at random...freaky. IF this place is walked by the stirring souls of the deceased, then I hope they are first off, relatively peaceful, but not like Casper the sissy ghost (you're a ghost, dammit, have some dignity and carry yourself with an element of spooky-ness). And secondly, I hope they have no desire whatsoever in recording equipment of any kind! Please leave the machines alone. The equipment gremlins have that covered.

Oh, yeah, recording...Things are going well; we are on schedule...ok...slightly behind schedule! But, c'mon, what self-respecting band would actually keep a schedule? We recorded two more songs today, Hurricane, an up-tempo rocker that will shock some of you gloom and doom fans. Despite the title, nothing gets ravished except your ears from the non-stop rockin' good vibration (I will stop now). On the real, it' a good song that will juxtapose (I'm on the big-English-words kick today...Look them up, they're used correctly. Ha!) the more mellow, pensive tunes. Scott laid down a cool, chugga-chugga guitar; you'll see what I mean.

We then had a late night session to record Who Goes First?, a cover song I reworked. It's a Ned's Atomic Dustbin original from their 1992-3(?) album Are You Normal?, and it's always been a personal favorite. N.A.D. was an early '90s alterna-rock band from the UK. Highly underrated, in my opinion. When we started to track the song, we hit our first speed bump: the drums were recorded at too fast a tempo. I immediately began to come up with alternatives for recording the song, and all the while Scott was Pro-Tooling away and managed to slow down the drum tempo without shifting the pitch. Technology!!! The rest of the recording was rather painless with most of the tracks completed in 2 or 3 takes. Laura continues he one-take wonderfulness, which I want to chalk up to luck, but she really is that awesome. Of course we recorded by candlelight to keep the equipment gremlins at bay (stay at bay you little buggers!). We ended up the last listen-back around 1:30am and then relegated ourselves to watching one more episode of Flight of the Concords. Scott brought down a bunch of these on DVD, and they have been a hilarious way to blow off steam.

So tomorrow we plan to tackle THREE songs to get back on schedule. If it works out, it works out, if not then we stay behind schedule and work 'till the work is done. All of this to provide you with our simple sketch.

Day 3-6/9/08 (evening)

J-What in the world??? We had three equipment gremlins floating around today, and one of them was chased away when we turned off the light in the room. The house was wired kinda screwy and a light can add all kinds of hum to a track. Well we got that one at least so, from now on, we will be recording in the dark...just in case!

We got two more songs down today A Smile to Wear and Waiving from the Whims. Both are simple, acoustic jammies that tear at the heart. Waving from the Whims is a killer, and Laura nailed the first take, almost bringing us to tears. No lie! I suspect some people will cry during some of these songs...sweet. Not that we are sadist, but there is something to be said about a good heart-wrencher. My brother called our first album "suicide music, " but then again he's a Lawrence Welk fan and a bastard at that!(ahaha). I don't agree in the slightest. I see our music as a celebration of the human landscape; the highs and lows all to be celestial. I think I'll send my brother a copy of William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

In order to pick-up our spirits, we started fooling around with a banjo. It was quite fun, and surprisingly challenging. That stupid little top string throws me off!

Something that still amazes me is how we lay tracks down and discover the overdubs in the music. We will be listening back to a simple take and the accent line will pop into my head or Scott's big head, or the harmony will jump into Laura's head. This whole thing is quite strange!

Today we take on complex songs about clowns and balloons...I'm serious about that. Clowns and balloons are as serious a thing as serious things get. It's very complex and too intricate to explain here. OK, so we doing more of our simple heart-wrenchers. Maybe we've found a niche! But wait, why is there a line to get in to this niche??? And how come we're so far back towards the end of the line???? The guy behind us is trying to see if he knows anyone further up the line that will let him cut. If he goes, we go using the time-tested "Yes, we're with him!"

See you all in the niche!

Day 3-6/9/08 (morning)

L-Woke up this morning to a fresh cup of coffee and a cool breezy breakfast on the wrap around porch. We interrupted a California Wren feeding her babies and she was not too happy with us. It's been a lazy morning, perfect to energize us for a full day, well for the boys any way... the brains behind the operation. While they played around with levels and started on the guitar tracks last night, I made fudge with Scott's Family, played with the kids, watched an amazing sunset, and counted stingrays mating in the river. Next on my list, a little practice time, and then... a nap in the Hammock. Last time we recorded I was in a hot closet.... we must be doing something right to be here...

J-Morning is my favorite time. Mostly because everyone else sleeps in and it's quiet. We're trying to figure out the order of the songs to work on today. I'm all for just picking one and going for it. Scott wants us to record a lot if the acoustic stuff together to get the "live" vibe I suppose. He's right, I suppose again. Tracking music seems mechanical at times, and while it's crisp and clear on your hi-fi system (does anyone even have a hi-fi anymore or all we all on cheap-ass earbuds these days because we lost the decent earbuds that came with our MP3 players and we don't want to spend $60 or earbuds!?!!) where was I, oh yeah...tracking songs...There is something to be said about honest music recording- a few mics and a song! Anyone with enough patience can do 30 takes of a song and have the producer franken-create a seamless take. But, to sit down and rip a clean take start to finish, all while singing into a K-Mart karaoke machine, well...

I'm waxing because I have the time (Scott is still a-sleepin'). Fact is we will track songs if we have to and sing together if we have to. Whatever it takes to get this album sounding as tight as possible. We got work to do...time to wake Scott up!

Day 2-6/8/08

J- We set up the space today and got to work. Spent some time playing the new songs for Scott, el producero of this whole tomfoolery, while he took notes and scrutinized our every note...harsh! Just kidding. Scott is actually a great person to work with because of his patience and vast knowledge of music.

The first song we tackled was London Eludes Me and our first and second takes were quite successful...so we did more takes (at Scott's urging) and now we have plenty of takes to take our pick from (hardy-har). Laura ended up singing her main vocal part by candlelight around midnight. It was quite moody and I actually wished I was in London.

I have my pick of great guitars out here and have been using a Larrivee that a friend of mine, Mike Adams, gave to me. I love that guitar with all my heart. Thanks Mike!

Tomorrow we tackle mores songs and try to make it into town for a bit. We haven't left The Grove all day. We keep finding out new things about this wonderful place, like the fact that it was at one point in the '60s, to no surprise, an artist community. We are meant to be right here right now.

PS. Equipment gremlins are around every corner; it took us 20 mins to tune a mandolin. I swear we are not tonedeaf! I think...

Day 1- 6/7/08

J- Arrived at The Grove today and straight into idyllic peace. The Grove is a collection of 100+ year-old houses on the Rappahannock River built by this guy James Wharton as a religious retreat. Over time, the houses were used as rentals and eventually sold, and that’s when Scott’s extended family started picking up the houses one by one. By the late seventies, they owned most of the houses at The Grove and have used it for their sanity. Now we’re using it to record our new album.

We’re staying in the main house, named Camp Meeting, and are using the Great Room as our studio. We have carted all the equipment we think we will need, and some gear we will never use. Arranging the equipment into some sort of sense is the goal for the next two days. Then, check levels, set a game plan and go!