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Recording "November" Capturing music is a painful, painful, rewarding, painful experience. Case in point: Randy comes over, he lays down great drum tracks for our 4 new songs, and everyone is happy (read: drunk and/or eating Cheetos). Listening back during the week, we start to hear small "pops" in the drum tracks caused by a computer problem (read: the computer is drunk and/or eating Cheetos). Dillemma: do we program a drum machine and replace the tracks, hoping that Randy won't notice? Or do we see if Randy will go Ron Artest on us if we tell him we have to redo the tracks? Answer: Ron Artest is coming to town, dressed as a white drummer from Minnesota. Thankfully, Randy handles it gracefully as always, and we escape with several tattoos saying "Louisville Slugger" backwards. But another problem crops up while redoing the drums: Randy isn't quite as happy with how the new takes are turning out (note: this invariably happens when redoing a track, no matter who is playing. You know that cat that sings the "Meow Mix" song? You should have seen the re-take of THAT. Hairballs everywhere, and the mix engineer had to have the cat surgically removed). Finally, after a grueling 2 day session, the replacement drum tracks are done. After the drums, though, things go pretty quick. Guitars, bass and keys went well. Next, three nights of vocals: First night with Craig. Second night: Craig and Dan. Dan brings a bottle of Jack Daniels. Several hours are missing from my memory. The next day, Craig says, "I'd like to redo the first night's stuff, but with alcohol." Third night: Craig and Maker's Mark. YAY! Tracking is done. Let this be a lesson to all you high school bands: it'll be a lot easier to create music when you're legally allowed to drink. Keyword: legally. So, we present 4 songs on our mini-CD, "November"- you can download it here. Yes, I know 4 songs is not a lot, but think of it as a Fisher-Price "My First CD". The new music, coupled with our "made for radio" looks, should be all we need to follow in the footsteps of our favorite band, Mr. Big. See you at the top of the charts. Charlie |
