NEXT SHOW: Fri.Dec.3 @John Brown's on the Square

We're back at John Brown's on the Square in Marion on 12/3. We haven't played there since last April, so we're plenty excited. We'll be playing from 8:30 to before midnight, and will be starting the night out with a mixed piano/acoustic type set focused heavily on material from The Smartest Wall. I haven't been behind the piano for a while, so I'm pretty stoked about some of the songs that we've been going over. Just expect the night to get louder, and louder, and LOUDER.

Rehearsals have been very cool the past several weeks. They've been very laid back at Oliver's house, always with something home-cooked by Ashley, and with more laughs than music. To be honest, this is the closest our "brotherhood" has been in many years, and it's really starting to show in the music. We're winding down in the studio, and already talking about the next album. I'm confident that this chemistry that is happening right now will shine through in the writing/arrangements that we'll begin in Feb/March.

If you can't make the 12/3 show at John's, make sure to make it out the next Fri, 12/10 at PK's in Carbondale. It'll be a shorter set than the previous show, because of an opener, but of course that just compresses the intensity, doesn't it?

Laters,
DGC

NEXT SHOW: Sat.Oct.16 @PK's in the Dale

Hey everyone, our next show will be in two weeks in Carbondale at PK's on the Strip with Wil Co Wolfpack. This is Josh Johnson's latest band. He and Joe used to play together, and Joe just caught them this past weekend and had nothing but good to say about their set. We're still pounding away at the new album and yes, very soon there will be t-shirts. This is the new design if you haven't seen it posted somewhere yet.

Much love to all of our friends who came out two weeks ago to our last show at PK's. If you missed Ravenhill, you've got to catch them the next time they play. Josh Clifton is one of the most incredible vocalists I've ever heard in so. IL. If you weren't there, here is a link to some pics on our facebook page. And if you haven't done so already, go to our fb page and "Like" us!

So come out on the 16th and bring your friends! Come up close --we don't bite...we sorta just...love nibble.

Goodbye for Now Mr. Lively

With a heavy heart I must report that Dave has officially parted from Through Dint of Heavy Wishing.  Earlier this summer we spoke, and he was going to give it another go, as he had been on a long hiatus from the band while working on the road for Wal-Mart.  Just recently he was able to rehearse with us for a time, and we had been discussing how best to bring him on board with our recording of our new album.  Unfortunately, Dave was out of town during our show this past Friday, but I was looking forward to the next time he would be able to rejoin us on stage.  He announced his departure to all of us last night and gave very understandable personal reasons.  He expressed his fondness of the memories made with the band, and I can sincerely say that the feeling is whole-heartedly mutual.  I have always loved Dave's rich tones and his clear and solid playing.  Every musician I have played with has influenced my writing and guitar playing, and Dave is no exception.  Dave is also an extremely talented photographer who took all of the photographs that adorned our 2004 release, "The Smartest Wall" which showcased his diversity as an artist.  I really cannot express how talented this man is.  I have enjoyed and loved everything that Dave brought to this band, but more so what he has been to me as a friend.  We have been through many life changes together, and I wish him the best as he starts down a blessed path with his new family.  Peace be with you bro, and God bless.

This is the song "Of Ribbons" by Dave. This was performed at John Brown's back in March '09.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_bzUt0RaiU

Summer Fades

So, this past Saturday night: 90 degrees at nightfall, 99% humidity, and lightning in the distance. In other words: Nice. The crowd was awesome with unfamiliar faces outshining the familiar ones. Not to discount all of our friends that showed up, but it was nice to see strangers pumped about what we were doing.

Only one tech flaw the entire night really...Oliver's effects chain decided it didn't want to deal with the heat any longer, so it sputtered out. Once he bypassed the loop he was back in business. Our hats went off to Solovus who played before us who were plagued by stage gremlins. One of the main breakers to the stage setup kept tripping, knocking out the power being fed to stage left countless times, killing their bass rig and lead guitar. In spite of this, they kept at it and gave it their all, showing that they truly have the minerals.

Ten songs were on the set list, and I only cut out "Years", because the evening was running late, and we knew we had to surrender some time to the headliners Metal Toyz. If you're keeping score, the set ran as follows:

1. Lustre
2. Tremble Bare
3. OldNew
4. With or Without You
5. Exoskeleton
6. Last Screams
7. Other Door
8. Country Spendor
9. Beg the Past

No amount of effort could have kept us cool, so we just buckled down and did our jobs. People probably thought we were miserable, but we reveled in the heat and it seemed to propel us to play harder. Talking about it later, Joe and I agreed it was the best feeling performance since we had both last played a sweltering basement show. The energy was just phenomenal in spite of the weather conditions; we seriously could have played a second set. Val filmed a bit and Joe pieced together a cool montage with the material that can be viewed on YouTube.

Our next show on the books is a month out on Friday, September 17th at P.K.'s in Carbondale, IL. Our neighbors just to the north, Ravenhill, will be opening up the night. Our set will probably begin around midnight, so even if you work late you can still hook up with friends and come out for a great night.

And what's up with the album you ask? Obviously, we've had to take time out here and there to rehearse for live shows, but we're still plodding along with studio work. Our cellist is writing parts for "Restore"; drums need to be tracked for three more songs along with everyone else following suit; Dave is listening to what has been done and deciding where he'll lay down his guitar tracks; my vocals are pretty much wrapped on everything that is currently recorded, unless something else strikes me out of nowhere (which is usually the case.) --and the same applies to Scott; I still need to do some coloring with my guitar; Oliver still has a couple that he hasn't started on yet; And finally, the illustrious Dawne Lyon even visited rehearsal recently to take in the vibes and said she's ready to track vocals as soon we schedule a time.  So there you have it.

Thanks again to everyone who endured the sauna this past Saturday at Whisker Willy's. Keep your eyes peeled for new dates outside of the September P.K.'s show. Don't forget to frequent our MySpace Page where you can still hear the single mix to "Tremble Bare", my YouTube channel, and also Joe's YouTube channel. Also, "Like" us on facebook and share us with your friends! Don't keep us all to yourself! Oh, and if you don't have "The Smartest Wall" from 2004, remember you can still get it in digital format at Amazon.com and iTunes, among other online retailers like Napster, Rhapsody, etc. One last thing: if you have any live shots of the band, please forward them our way! You can contact me at DEREKGCOOK (AT) GMAIL (DOT) COM.

Staying True,

DGC

July is fleeting away

We rehearsed the other night for the first time in a while, since all of our free time has been used for studio work. The first hour or so, Ashley took a lot of photos to test out shots for promo use.  When Dave joins us for the next rehearsal, she'll shoot for the real thing.  Joe and I both introduced new songs just to tease, but we went through the usual set for the most part, with no real surprises.  Everything pretty much sounded like it should.  Oliver taught some parts to me that he has tracked for the new CD, but with Dave rejoining the line-up after his long work/travel hiatus, I'm passing them on to him.  I'm super excited to have him back in the mix, and can only imagine what type of interplay will pass between the three guitars.  Many shows are in the works at this time, with our first coming up on August 14th, but I'll pass on more information on that in the coming week or so.  The CD is still coming along, so everyone need not worry...just be patient!  Dave will be tracking now, and Joe will soon be tracking drums for a couple of last minute additions.  We're confident that all of the extra work that we're doing on the album is worth the effort and that our friends will be happy with the outcome.  Till next time! DGC

Vocals all day long...and tomorrow night

I recorded vocals all afternoon and evening.  Of course most of the primary vocals have been recorded, but I was able to color a lot of passages with different background phrases and harmonies.  I also added a nice line at the very end of "Beg the Past" which of course rounds out the tracks.  I'm very satisfied with it being the final line of the album...very satisfied.  I called Joe immediately afterward, since it's his song, and I can't wait for him to hear it.

My good friend Dawne will be laying down vocals on "Lustre"soon, possibly even tomorrow evening.  She'll also be singing on "Evenstar" whenever that gets tracked.  I'm supposed to have another vocalist coming in for "Last Screams" and "Tremble Bare," but if scheduling doesn't permit, then I'll see how Dawne feels about taking them on.

Joe and I agreed that surely we have no more than 10 more hours of tracking to do.  As I've said before, "Ardor" and "Restore" have yet to be tracked, and "Evenstar" is still nothing but drums.  But those will go quickly, in my opinion.  Then it's just mixing and mastering.

Up next...some rehearsals for a summer date...

What I Know

I talked to Scott on the phone just a minute ago. He said that Oliver and Joe both tracked guitar on "Beg the Past" and got some really nice stuff down. I believe he said Oliver has been working four to four shifts, so my hat is off to him for staying consistent in his studio efforts.

We talked much about how this is comparing to The Smartest Wall as far as the approach and the sonic element and can it even be said that this project will sound better. Scott's opinion is that it's like comparing apples to oranges. He said that this being a more rock oriented album, the drums with the harder attack when matched up against the other instruments aren't pulling as much tone as what was evident on the former album. Of course as this is something that he is aware of, he said that we're going to go less on final compression to try and warm things up a bit. He talked a lot about taking the "smoosh" out of the final mastering, which might sacrifice some volume, but will open things up a bit.

We also talked about setting things up here at my house, so I can go down the list and wrap up all the loose ends vocally, both on my end and the additional vocalists. I'll also be able to track my piano for "Evenstar" which will allow for the completion of those vocal parts as well. With my new summer class schedule, I have large windows of time in the afternoons to do this work, so hopefully next week I can knock it all out.

We may meet up tonight so that I can do some tracking --probably guitar stuff through a POD, to hold up against my Vox tracks. It all depends on Scott's schedule. Until next time, Derek

Update?

There's not much to post in the way of a studio update, but I'll write something, since a good many of you have asked. To my knowledge, Oliver has been the only one tracking as of late. I've received messages on several occasions from Scott saying that he had recorded more guitar tracks, so that much is encouraging! I personally have been so busy for the past month, I have not been able to get in and do any recording. Now that things are somewhat slowing down for me school-wise, I'll be able to get back to work on the album. Believe me, we don't have much more tracking to do before we start mixing. It's true, we have yet to track "Evenstar" and "Restore", but it will happen. Also, we don't have any shows on the books as of right now, but that will change as well. Don't forget that the single mix of "Tremble Bare" is up on the MySpace page so check that out if you haven't done so already. Just hang in there, enjoy the summer, and the album will be complete before you know it! Hugs, DGC

Irritating...

Okay, so I know this doesn't really have anything to do with Heavy Wishing, but what is up with Fernandes and Hamer guitars putting inserts in their bridges that do not fit any standard size whammy bar that actually exists in real life? It would be like buying a DVD player that came with a remote control that was designed to run off of AA batteries, but then when you take the cover plate off, the battery nest is an eighth of a milimeter too short to fit the regular AA batteries that they sell in stores, so instead you have to call the company and order a specially sized battery that only they make. They should have just included it as part of the original fucking purchase. GRRRRR!!!!

Mixing "Tremble Bare" tonight

We're going to mix "Tremble Bare" tonight to give away as a single at our show on Friday. I'm going to lay down a couple of backing vocal tracks, and Joe wants to add a bit of percussion, and then we'll mix and master.  The song will have to be remixed for the album, as Oliver said that he has more ideas for guitar, and additional guest vocals have yet to be recorded.  It's still going to be fun to do this tonight, and I have high expectations for how the song is going to turn out.

What town are we in?

I have so much going on right now that I have trouble recalling just exactly where we're at in the recording process. I had a friend ask me at school just the other day, and I don't think I gave a really good answer, because it's becoming a blur just like everything else. So here's a short list of what we have to accomplish before we can begin mixing:

• Brasserie
• additional inst.
• backing vox?
• Luster
• S final bass
• backing vox?
• Tremble Bare
• J add perc.
• D backing vox
• S.S. vox
• Last Screams
• O guitars
• S final bass & bass melody end-chorus
• D add gtr
• add inst on break
• Joe add perc.
• D backing vox
• S.S. vox
• Evenstar
• D gtrs/piano
• O gtrs
• S bass
• D backing vox
• D.L. vox
• Ardor
• O guitar
• S bass
• J drums/perc (replace drum loop?)
• Years
• O gtrs
• D final vox
• D add gtr
• S final bass
• Restore
• Nothing is tracked yet
• Other Door
• S bass
• O gtrs
• Beg the Past
• New intro
• O gtrs
• D replace gtr on choruses
• backing vox?
• S bass
• feedback overdubs

In case you missed it, this past Wednesday night I rerecorded most of my lead vocal tracks while we streamed the session live. We'll make an announcement when we'll be recording again. Also, had a great brainstorming session with the incredible Darrell Mankin about thematic ideas for the album images. We plan on getting back in touch with each other in several weeks, to let the ideas simmer for a while. And don't forget our show coming up in Marion, Il in two weeks at John Brown's on the Square! Check our previous posts for more info!

Look, Mom! I'm on the internet!

So, I'm really stoked about this show we're getting ready to play at John Brown's on April 30th. Several of my co-workers have already made what I assume to be empty promises that they will attend, and I just bought a second amplifier to use as an add-on to my rig. The only problem is we have only practiced once since our last show, which was incidentally my first live performance with the band. For this reason, I am not entirely comfortable with all of the material in the set. Nonetheless, I am confident that my instincts and musical prowess will be enough to help me fake my way through any parts that I don't know. As a matter of fact, I already have a strategy planned for just such a scenario. If I get into the middle of a song and I don't know what comes next, I intend to play the entire chromatic scale, first ascending, then descending. My theory is that if there are seven notes that make up the key in which the song is to be played, and I play all eleven notes of the chromatic scale, (seven divided by eleven rounds up to .64) that means that roughly 64% of the notes I'm playing will be the right note. In grading terms, that translates to a solid D! That means I passed! Wait... are there eleven or twelve notes in the chromatic scale?

SHOW REMINDER - 04/30/10 @ JOHN BROWN'S

Don't forget to schedule a babysitter for the tots and pups, because we're playing our first show since early January. Tons of peeps swore on relatives' graves that they were going to be out in force for that show, but when Jack Frost came nippin' at their toes, they hid under the covers. Now is the chance for redemption, I say! Opener John Krane kicks things off around 8:30 pm, with an eclectic brand of acoustic fare. AND NOT THE LEAST BIT OF NEWS: We will be giving away CD singles of a song from our new album. We're not sure yet which tune, but I love all of them so far, so how can ya go wrong? So invite friends and friends of friends to celebrate this wonderful weather and to hear us do what we do best: playing our brand of rock music. XOXXO ~DGC

Rough mixes: a step forward, or two steps back?

Joe has finished IDing the songs. So, we know what is where thanks to his hard work. He's even identified several problem areas that need to be addressed before we get to mix-down. He's also completed rough mixes of everything that we've done, for sake of reference. Thus far, they have been very informative, say for instance, with my vocals. There are many areas that I want to tweak, although at some point you have to let go and say, "It is what it is." I just know that I can do much better on certain phrases. Joe is supposed to finish posting rough mixes for listening tonight, so I'll be up late taking notes.

We still haven't touched "Evenstar" or recorded "Restore". Both are waiting on me, but I've had a lot of work going on outside of this project. I hope to attend to them this coming week. Oliver has recorded on two tracks now, so scheduling time for him to record and still allow time for me to make contributions is a real bugger. It'll all get done, but there is still a sense of pressure even working toward a June deadline.

NEW ALBUM TEASER

I WON'T MAKE A SOUND

Kicking off April

Let's get quickly up to speed. Last week Oliver tracked "Tremble Bare" and I recorded "Ardor". I'm still not sure how that song will come out in the end. Scott came up with a drum sample that we looped for a reference beat for me to play along with on acoustic guitar. Then I just sang over the whole track. We'll probably pull the drums out of the mix, and Joe will either record lives drums over it, or just pieces of percussion. I don't think I'm going to redo the vocals, even though there are a couple of small areas that bother me. I just think that I want the song to stay as simple as possible. It may rest in the middle of the album, and it would be a nice change-up.

Last night Oliver tracked "Luster". As usual for the live guitars, Oliver had his rig in the bathroom while playing in the control room. The walls are paper thin, but it allows for a decent playback mix from the monitors and that loud live feel. Also, he's right there to communicate with Joe for punch-ins and such. It makes for a much faster process, since it might take an hour and a half to track a song anyway. He also tracked a lead on the loud ending of "Brasserie" which just blew me away. He was like,"Yeah, I've had this running through my head at work. I've never had the chance to try and play it, but let's see if it works." Just wait --it's incredible.

After Oliver left, I was going to track scratch piano on "Evenstar", because that song is just sitting going nowhere, and I need to have a rough mix to get to our vocalist who will duet with me on it. However, we started tracking piano on "Brasserie", which alerted us to the fact that the rhythm guitar scratch track had disappeared. So, to accommodate for that, I wanted to record my vocal part for reference. Then I decided that I was in good enough voice (I had tracked vox for "Other Door" before Oliver had arrived, which involved some harsh yelling so...) to attempt recording what I wanted to be final vox. Anywho, we never got to "Evenstar", although for the first leg of "Brasserie" we did record piano, two ambient acoustic guitar rhythm tracks, and my final vocal track. I'm still toying around with the idea of starting that song of with a mixed ensemble of vocalists that will carry the chord changes of the song over the rhythm guitars. On the other end of the spectrum, I have a trumpet player and sax player that are ready to try their hand at it. I don't want to rule any thing out. It'll all come down to the mix-down session, really.

I don't know how much tracking we'll do this week. We're all pretty busy with other things. Joe took the Akai home to go through the tracks that we have thus far and map out the songs and their virtual tracks. Even just losing some of the scratch tracks made this a very prudent idea. He's also going to make some rough mixes and piece together some of the unpaired files for reference. We need to start rehearsing for our show at the end of the month. Two or three will do, but with our tight schedules, that will effectively eliminate a lot of studio time this month. For this reason, I went ahead and pushed back the release date until early to mid June. If we get it done before that, then we'll be thrilled, but there's no use in rushing things. Oh, and btw the show that I'm talking about is Friday, April 30th at our fav place to play, John Brown's on the Square, in Marion, IL. Show starts at 8:30 with opener John Kline. I'll be posting that info to the various social networks soon.

One last note, I don't think I've posted a track list yet, or maybe I have, but I couldn't locate one after a quick search. So, here's the list so far, and the order is not set in stone.

1. Brasserie
2. Luster
3. Tremble Bare
4. Last Screams
5. Evenstar
6. Ardor
7. Years
8. Restore
9. Other Door
10. Beg the Past

It's a cold and rainy Sunday

Spring has sprung...somewhere I'm told. Yet I'll take this cold rain over the snow that other parts of the country are getting. No matter the sentimental notion of spring though...the way the rain looks skimming the lake in clouds of rolling mist is plain beautiful.

It's been over six years since we began work on The Smartest Wall. So much has changed in our personal lives which has inevitably changed our approaches to our art in general. It's interesting from my vantage point to look at this collection of songs, all of which were written at different times in the last six years, and to now see how they are being treated musically. It stands to reason that if we had recorded in the years that followed our first release, a feeling much similar to The Smartest Wall would have been prevalent. But this...there is a very nice feeling of independence on this so far. Now, it's still too far out to see an end product. Sure, I can envision what it might be like, and so can the other guys, but as much as we have talked about it, we are still different individuals, so none of us have the prescience to truly see the evolution of this work. That is the beauty of collaboration.

Okay, now to bring everybody up to speed. We didn't do as much work yesterday as I had anticipated. I tracked principle guitar on Brasserie and my end guitar on Beg the Past. We moved my half stack from the bathroom into the living room so I could be near the cabinet to get feedback on the latter. It'll probably be the last time I use the live amp for this project. My additional guitar work will be done through the Line 6 pod, which has a great AC30 model, but for my principle guitar parts, I really couldn't suffer not micing the real thing.

We attempted to track Joe's old air organ on Brasserie, as I'm keen to eliminate my core rhythm guitar part altogether. I wan't the chord changes defined, but don't want bass or guitar to be the instruments that do this. That's why the organ seemed the likely candidate, but when we finally got going it was immediately apparent that it was a half cent out of tune. We could of course pitch correct it during post, but I don't want to make the water murky so soon into all of this. So, for now I am still undecided on what voice will hold that song together.

One of the major enjoyments thus far on this project has been working with Joe. In the six years since we recorded The Smartest Wall, Joe has worked on many other projects, even helming most of them. He's also written and recorded many songs on his own, constantly refining his writing techniques. Because of that, he's become quite adept at producing. He's quite reserved and allows me the freedoms that a songwriter hopes for, but at the same time, when he comes at me with an opinion on how I might play a phrase, I have yet to not act on his suggestion. Thus far, his ideas have all benefited the song, making each a tighter piece. Also, his involvement as an engineer has taken a lot of pressure off of Scott.

I hope that Scott will be able to track his bass this week, because I know Oliver is anxious to get started. Once Scott has got his parts down, we can get some rough mixes to Oliver, so he can start thinking about parts. I'll also be able to get some mixes to the other prospective vocalists. There are a couple of other instrumentalists that might be playing on the album as well, but I'll want Oliver's parts recorded before they give any mix a listen in consideration of what to add to the arrangements.

I still have yet to record Restore, and I need to track piano on Evenstar to get that song going for the rest of the guys, as it's still just naked drum tracks. We've yet to discuss artwork/photography and have not even considered what the album might be called. I think the project still needs to mature in color and shape before any of that begins to materialize.

Lastly, picures have been posted on our facebook page from this past weekend, here is a link to a ten minute video clip that samples some of what we did, and finally, here is a clip of 2 a.m. delirium.

More to come

I'm sitting in my car outside of Scott's place tapping into his network, waiting for Joe to arrive with a key. We're going to track more guitar today and hopefully get to some other overdubs. I'd like to work a bit on "Brasserie". Joe has a vintage air organ that I can't wait to try out just for that song. I don't think I'm up for doing any vocals today, unless they're background. My voice is lacking any edge this morning, so we'll probably do some more this coming week.

We got a lot of cool sounding stuff tracked last night though. My principle guitar is now finished on "Luster", "Other Door", "Years", "Beg the Past", "Last Screams", and "Tremble Bare". That leaves tracking the end of "Brasserie", as I want to do some other stuff on the beginning, as I said before. I still have to track "Restore", but that might be on acoustic.

Well, Joe just got here, so I'm off.

Plans within Plans

I wish I could take the time to regurgitate all that Joe and I discussed about the album on my drive home from school today. I love building the production framework that goes into recording an album. I'm also happy to be working with Joe in a greater capacity this time around, because he has many studio experiences under his own belt as both a drummer and a songwriter. Then of course working with Scott for the last 18 years, well, that's kind of priceless. I can give him a look, he raises an eyebrow, I nod, and a thousand unspoken words have passed between us.

So, the plan as it stands now is for Joe and I to track day and night on Friday and Saturday. We'll see what we can get accomplished, and head cold withstanding, I'm going to try and record all of my vocals and principle guitar parts. Later, when Scott and Oliver have tracked, and the songs are beginning to mature, we'll be able to hear what other parts might need to be added to the arrangements. They might be in the form of other guitars, piano, percussion, vocals, etc. Joe and I discussed other instrumentalists as well. For instance, he knows a very seasoned cellist that we might want to use. I'm also in conversation with two female vocalists that I hope to be working with on a couple of the songs. Nothing definite yet, but at least I know that I have other voices to work with if the song calls for it. So, things are starting to take shape in our minds, and this will all need to fall into place quite efficiently for this album to be tracked, mixed, and mastered in the next several weeks. Nothing like a little pressure ;)

Recording vox postponed

I was going to record vocals tomorrow and Tuesday night. However, I have a cold coming on. My throat began to constrict earlier this evening, and now my head is stopped up. I blame Scott :) Hopefully I will beat it this week and shoot for recording this coming weekend. Until then I would assume that Scott will go ahead and record his bass lines. I'll keep you all posted. Oh, and if you haven't seen posted elsewhere, I uploaded a live version of "Evenstar" from '03 to our MySpace page. We were quite a different band then, and it probably goes without saying that the '10 version of "Evenstar" will sound much different. Have a great Monday.

Fourth draft of Last Screams lyrics.

We lose an hour tonight as we spring ahead. I haven't been getting much sleep recently, and tomorrow is a big day all around with much I have to do. Yet, I'm so anxious with how "Last Screams" is developing in this fourth draft. I wrote the first draft a little over a year ago, and it was first person historical fiction. Now it has become something totally different...and I'm really excited. Same vocal line and even the same number of syllables in each stanza, but the subject and context has totally changed. I have several other songs that are going to get revision treatments as well, but not to extent of this one. I have so much else to do, especially for school, but as I will be recording vocals maybe as soon as Monday night, I owe it to these songs to make sure they say what they were always meant to say.

Some photos and video from last night.

I've uploaded two vids on YouTube from last night. They were from the webcam from my laptop. This one is when we tracked "Other Door" and in this one you can hear Joe recording cymbal rolls that I'd like to use at the end of "Beg the Past." Scott took quite a bit of video as well on Joe's camera. I think Joe is going to piece together all of the footage after we finish the album. Also, you can check out all of my phone pics at the HW fb page.

I'm still impressed by Joe tracking "Evenstar" on his own from memory. Even a year ago he was lobbying to do the song again. We haven't played it since Ryan left the band. At the time I just felt that it wasn't representative of the direction in which I felt the band was going. However, Joe has altered the original beat somewhat, and I really think it may fit this album. I'm still undecided though whether or not I'm going to put piano on it or go strictly guitar. If I go the piano route, it'll mostly likely be the only piano track on the whole album.

I hope to begin recording vocals before the weekend is up, but at the latest it'll be around the first of the week. I know Scott will be tracking bass soon as well, if he hasn't started already. Guitars and additional overdubs will then be next.

Last Screams is down.

Joe loves it when I throw him a curve ball. I totally made him create a new beat for a new part on Last Screams. He's used to me doing that to him by now. We rehearsed it for about 15 min while Scott was gone. Then we did a take that was killer, but Joe ended the song only half-way through the final chorus. We tried to punch in, but a kick note was clipped, and I decided that we had another good take in us. Joe was all for doing the song straight from the top, and we killed it. It sounds great. Now only Years and Beg the Past are left.

4 songs down...3 to go.

We're listening to playback on Brasserie and Luster, but I don't foresee any problems with them. We didn't intend for Joe to play all throughout Brasserie, but he played a beat just as a glorified metronome. I still don't know what type of arrangement I want to do on the first part of Brasserie. Hmmm...there is a slight flub on the heavy final chorus of Brasserie. We'll probably punch-in and out of that. We still have to do Years, Last Screams, and Beg the Past. We're laughing, because at some point I messed up and my body language almost signaled to Joe to quit playing, but fortunately his better sense told him to push forward and ignore me! We're still listening to playback on Luster --end of second verse. It's funny me playing Scott's bass-line on guitar just so we can keep track of where we are, since guitars are basically non-existent on most of the verses. I'm starting to get a headache...blah. And poor dearest Elena is asleep. Tracey and Kelly are...well, they're back! They've been in the gym. I'm hungry...that's what it is...the headache, I mean. Oh well...playback is still going. Last chorus, and then out.

Punch In

Ha! We've already had to punch in! We're still on Tremble Bare aaaaand YES! It sounded like a clean punch in after the bridge!!! Woot! If only Joe hadn't flubbed near the ending, and we're doing a fade out even!!!

Setting Up

Joe and Scott are setting up. My babe Elena is with me, and Scott's girls Kelly & Tracey are along for the loooooong ride as well.

SHOW DATE: Friday, April 30, 2010

04/30/10 @ John Brown's on the Square, Marion, IL. Follow our progress here to see if this ends up being our CD release party. Say what you will, but I have hopes greater than anybody else that this will be the case. :)

Pilgrimage to Fairview Hts Best Buy

So Joe decided to try and see if he could use his employee discount at the Fairview Heights Best Buy, since they reportedly had an awesome music store. I'm here to testify that the report was true and understated. You could demo almost anything in the store, including two items on my not-soon-to-be-purchased wish list, the Korg Kaoss pad, and the Korg microKORG XL. This place was just crazy...and in a Best Buy even! Joe was happy to discover that he could in fact use his employee discount and got away with a sick steal on heads and a cymbal. We spent about three hours driving just to only spend about thirty minutes in the store, but it was so worth it --we were like geeks in an Apple store.

Here We Go

Joe is going to track drums this coming week of spring break. As of right now, this may take place in a gymnasium, so it's going to be either really cool, or really problematic. The solid songs that we're shooting for are Luster, Other Door, Years, Beg the Past, Last Screams, Brasserie, and Tremble Bare. There are about eight or nine others that we are trying to cultivate and get worked out, but it's doubtful that they'll get any attention during the first session. We hope to have a final song count on the album of around ten solid songs. Ideas keep pouring in from all members, but the fat will have to be trimmed and set aside for subsequent projects.