Been off for a while. Here’s what’s been happening…
(start music shuffle...)

The band has been back in rehearsals. It feels so great to (loudly) play the songs again. My odyssey of searching for the right guitar/amp setup has settled for a bit. Last week I went to True Tone music in Santa Monica and picked up the guitar I will be using in the band, a reissue of a 1968 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty. Gibson has a custom building shop, and every year they remake a certain model from the past. Last year they made this one: all black, nickel hardware, ebony fingerboard, humbuckers, white trim. It’s also kind of “pre-aged”; the black is matte finish instead of glossy, and the white trim is a touch yellowed. I love it dearly, and spent most of last week playing it, coming up with new parts and locking myself in my room and soloing over Led Zeppelin records. I’m taking this time to put myself back into “guitar student” mode, and spend at least an hour a day working on scales, finger picking, learning new songs, and focusing on the mechanics of guitar playing. Usually, every free second I am playing music alone, I am trying to come up with new songs or parts.

Amp-wise,  I will be using my new blue Mesa dual Rectifier. So far this setup has been really great in rehearsal, and I don’t think the band overall has ever sounded better.

(now playing: Nick Drake “Things Behind the Sun”)

We have been getting our set ready for the show on the 17th. We will be playing a lot of new songs, some we have only played in showcases, so be prepared for a lot of new stuff. After recording these songs, we have been tinkering around with the live arrangements and getting them all worked out. In the recording process, you end up changing some things, and once back in rehearsals, you need to incorporate those changes into the live version. That was the work this week.

We will also be playing a Musicians Assistance Program awards charity thing on the 20th. Dave is picking up an award for the work he did last year for the charity (all the proceeds from his “Don’t try this at Home” book go to MAP). They help musicians with alcohol & drug recovery. I don’t know too much about the show, except that it will be an industry shindig, and that we are playing 3 songs. The bill is also a bit fuzzy, what I have heard is that Jerry Cantrell’s band is playing and maybe and acoustic set from Omar and Cedric from The Mars Volta and John and Flea from the Chili Peppers. I really hope they play.

I have been dividing my late night hours between playing the new guitar and working on a The Panic Channel logo. We have an “icon” which is the cross inside the arch, but the “logo” is a graphic type treatment. I like when bands commit to a logo instead of changing the look all the time from record to record. I created one yesterday that I love. Dave and I have been bouncing it back and forth tweaking a letter shape here, a detail there. I am dying to show it off, but need to stifle my excitement and save it until it has been lived with for a while. The new logo will probably make it’s debut on thepanicchannel.com v2.0.

(now playing: Pearl Jam: “Glorified G” )

Did some more work this week on getting The Panic Channel merch happening. As I had mentioned before, we are trying something new in this department. We have decided to go with a unique company that makes nicer, softer, more worn-in feeling stuff, instead of the standard-issue band shirts. The price won’t really be that different, but the initial steps of getting the deal all worked out have taken more time. We truly believe that when you get Panic Merch, you will feel the difference and this wait will have been way worth it. Plus, the crew at this company are very creative and I am looking forward to collaborating with them on the designs and processes to make band gear like no one has ever seen.

(now playing: Genesis “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” – live bootleg)

Here's the blue Mesa: