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Onward and forward. Middle of week 3 of making the record. Week one was all of Perkins' drum tracks, and week two was my guitar tracks and the beginning of vocals. I've now sung everything except for "Left To Lose". Sang "Said You'd Be" today, as well as finishing "Bloody Mary". Now Ryan will look at all the takes I sang of each part, and use the best bits to make a "comp" version of each song. This doesn't mean it's the final, set-in-stone version, but we know where the song is standing, and still have time if a lyric needs to change, or a part could be sung better, etc. So far, I am very excited with how it is sounding. Tomorrow Dave comes in and begins adding the Navarro factor. After he does a couple days work, I go back in and sing what is left to sing, and begin work on harmonies. Then Chris will come in and lay down the finished bass. At that point we should have one last week to use to finish up. We'll take a look at what we have all together in context, and look at maybe recording one or two more songs. I am hoping that we track "Listen" which we were working on right before we went into summer hibernation mode. It would make a great epic jam to close the record.
wait
the rain will come and soon enough
to wash away all that we've loved
here it comes
listen
The process is really going smoothly and I am enjoying myself immensely. Beside my eleventh hour complete lyric overhaul of the songs, which sometimes gets me a little freaked out, all is moving steady and strong. As usual, I am not sleeping well, and it's mainly my fault. I should be putting myself to sleep and getting my damn body clock all set, but I keep staying up. That's my way. Really having the lyrics done and finalized has been obsessing me somewhat, and usually late at night. There is an all too fine line between making something better and leaving well enough alone.
Ryan brought in the coolest video on Saturday: "Gimme Some Truth", the free-form documentary of the making of John Lennon's "Imagine" record. So great - they did it at he and Yoko's estate with Phil Spector producing. It was the 70's, so all the musicians playing on the record looked exactly the same. Like Charles Manson, or Jesus. John seemed so happy to be making music, and the "fly on the wall" vibe of the film is great. A perfect way to start a day singing the songs for our record.
Ah, check this out: I have my desktop picture on a randomizer that changes every hour, and the cover of "Abbey Road" just popped on. Nice.
Studio week two underway. I am doing guitar tracks at the moment. Almost done. On Monday Ryan and I got the new guitar tracks to "She Won't Last", "The Loophole", and another song. Today (Tuesday) we got "The Loophole" finished, and also got "Go On" and most of "Bloody Mary (brown)" done. Tomorrow we will set up the acoustic and get some of that flavor happening. It's going well, and I am excited to start singing. We will set up the vocal booth tomorrow probably, and I will begin laying down tracks on Thursday.
(Guitars used: 98 Les Paul classic, 60's Telecaster, Mint green Stratocaster, and my new favorite, a Gibson Les Paul Junior)
I am really into getting started on vocals as soon as possible, as the first few tracks are just getting into singing mode and starting to let my mind seep into that place. Once I am in gear, it's all good. It's good to try the same songs on different days to see if changes in the performance show up. Also curious to see how my new lyrics work on the songs.
Hoping that the final record will have 13 songs. At the moment we are working on 11, and hope that two more new ones will complete the set. There are 6 songs that are in the running for consideration. In down time at the studio, I plan on demoing out a few of them.
Spent the day off from the studio on Friday writing a new song called "Next to Me". Don't know if this is a possible contender for the album or not. Trying to break my habit of writing from dark and melancholy inspirations.
Last night we had a thunderstorm in Los Angeles that was really amazing. the low rumbling would start in the far distance and roll and beat on the clouds mercilessly all the way over the city , then continue on just as far in the opposite direction. Never quite heard anything like it. If one was so inclined, one could feel that God was angry... furious, even. End of the world type thunder. Word is that this fall/winter we are in for a large amount of rain, and you know how much I love the rain. Bring it on. Already the skies are beginning to grey a little more every day.
Last weekend started watching season one of "Lost". Love it, am super hooked. This weekend is for finishing the rest of season one to get in gear for season two (which starts tomorrow night). Can't believe it's so good. I had lost faith in most scripted network TV a while ago, but this is quite special. I was late to get in on the action, but a buddy hipped me to the joy of waiting until a show is on DVD then powering through it. Good advice.
Now Playing:
Listening to the new Kanye West, "Late Registration". Especially love the first song "Heard 'Em Say".
Something uniquely spooky about abandoned amusement parks.
Suicide Girls: The First Tour DVD available now.
In Los Angeles? This weekend is the last Cinespia of the season (the Hollywood Forever Cemetery movie showings under the stars). Come out and watch Stanley Kubrick's classic "The Shining" in a graveyard.
Erect Pink Bunny.
Been recording in a tropical jungle. Birds, beautiful green trees, plants, flowers. Little white Christmas lights strung up around patios. Peaceful. Magical. Winding pathways. Large windows so we can see the outside world as we make music. Perk has been a machine. Topping the old tracks, finding new inspiration in the recent rhythmic corners he's been experiencing. You can't fake the funk. Always smiling, always amazing on his throne. Good to know that some things never change.
Chris is obsessed with creating his own home studio. Cords, wiring, software plug-ins. Thinks he's getting sick. He always thinks that, though.
This is the first week of our current (and last) recording session for this record. This week we live in the tropics of Melrose Avenue. Until tomorrow. The rest of September and October, we skate on a silver lake.
This week so far: drums on Outsider, Loophole, Awake, Left to Lose, Said You'd Be, and Go On. Tomorrow is time for She Won't Last, and the new Bloody Mary (brown version). Either hopes of making the Goth "Hotel California", or we go back to the safety of the white version. Been trying out the new lyrics. Some get up and run straight away, some crawl around a bit before getting started.
Tonight I stayed late with our erstwhile timeline master Ryan and demoed out a new song called "Green". Played drums. Perk is in no danger of being overshadowed by my skills. Nighttime in the jungle reminds me of adventure land. Summer evenings as a young man, the echo of bird calls on the river. The peaceful white noise of wilderness and possibility. Great risk reaps great reward, this has been my understanding.
Life is indeed a dashing bold adventure.
Haven't stepped outside in two days. Getting in pretty deep with the demoing. Got an altered arrangement for "The Loophole" tracked, and now I am on to "Bloody Mary". Last night around 5am, after tracking all day I got into some kind of a hyper-focused sleep deprived creative state. Started going through all the lyrics I have written for all the songs going on the record, and really looking at them. All of a sudden, different ideas started appearing. Verses that I realized that I knew could be better, or just more emotionally connected started re-writing themselves. At least that's what it felt like. "Left To Lose" and "Said You'd Be" are all re-written, some of the lyrics to those songs I never liked anyway. After that, I worked on this new arrangement idea for "Bloody Mary". Woke up with the new version in my head today. Not sure if that means that it's a good idea, or just that I was drilling it over and over until 9am this morning and it stuck. Also, this apparently means my new apartment really is great for playing music. If the neighbors don't hate me now, they never will. After "Mary" is demoed out, I plan on tackling my new song, "Green".
In my furious re-writing mode as the sun strained to get through the blinds this morning, I flashed back on an interview with The Who's Pete Townshed, when he was asked about one of the lyrics from "Tommy": "Sickness will surely take the mind where minds can't usually go...". I remember him saying that he was really ill at one point, and in his delirium his mind was released from it's normal patterns and had opened up to a free and unpredictable creative state. Apparently, this is where part of the "Tommy" concept came from. I see what he means; when your body is going through something, your mind can lose it's ability to exercise it's idea of control, and a kind of liberation occurs. Kind of like the "altered" thoughts from drug or alcohol intake. Are those ideas random, or are they a result of the ego being "occupied" with a substance, and as a result more subconscious ideas float to the surface? Personally, most of the ideas I had when under the influence tended to seem like genius when I was having them, and lame afterwards. My favorite ideas have come from late nights, obsession, and solitude.
Fortune Cookie: "Life to you is a dashing, bold adventure"
This is a really amazing photo documentation of the New Orleans disaster, I recommend going through the whole thing and reading the captions as well.
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MSNBC's Kieth Olbermann says that his is "not typically a newscast of commentary", but felt that he had to speak his view about our administration's response to New Orleans. Well done.
Electroland: "A team that creates comprehensive, multi-discipinary urban projects and scenarios" - Check out the "Urban Nomad" - a brightly colored inflatable "cooccon" for a city's homeless population. The idea is that they would have shelter, and are also rendered less "invisible" to a city.
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The Original Illustrated Catalog of ACME Products for your viewing pleasure.
Viner: The artwork of Johnathan Weiner. Great stuff - like this.
Watch cars, boats, computers, hazardous waste and tons of other things completely destroyed by an industrial shredder.
George, why not sell the ranch?
Nano and iTunes 5.
Superman Returns teaser trailer.
Good desktops from Pixelgirl Presents.
Weatherman meltdown.
Preparing to get back in the studio on Monday. I've been meeting with Josh Abraham, listening to what we've have, and coming up with ideas of what needs to be finished in these last sessions for the record. I am holed up with the Pro Tools demoing out some different arrangement ideas for some older tunes, and when I am done with that, I plan on demoing out 4 others:
"Listen" - the last song we were working on in rehearsals, back in June.
"Pay No Attention" - an acoustic song I was doing in solo sets before joining the band.
"Black Butterfly" - a song I started a couple months ago.
"Green" - the latest one.
These are all are moody tunes, as I am hoping we get something slow and dreamy to finish the record. When I listen to all the songs down, the collection seems to miss the one final song that completes the set. Hopefully one of these new ones is that song. The plan is to do one week of drums and bass in a "drum room" type studio (one that is specially suited to catching the best room sounds for powerful drums), then spend about a month and get all the overdubs done (bass, lead and rhythm guitar, vocals, harmonies, extra ideas).
I am in the middle of two big projects: finishing up the new thepanicchannel.com site, and getting better at ProTools recording. The site is taking time to get the CSS and Flash stuff worked out, and once the site structure is all solid, then populating the whole thing. So far it looks really great, and I am super excited to launch it. Trying to get it finished by the end of Dave's show, so all the new people cruising by can check it out. We'll see.
As for getting better at ProTools, as computer savvy as I am, I have always had a hate/hate relationship with recording music on the computer. I just get pissed off way way too quickly, and end up shutting down, and moving to the couch and recording into a little recorder. Time to get my skills together. I bought a ProTools learning DVD and I am going step by step from the start and getting all the info I skipped out on by learning it on my own.
Now Playing:
Count Basie Orchestra - Complete Decca Recordings
Wow, check out this video of Kanye West and Mike Myers on a hurricaine Katrina telethon on NBC last night. Mike and Kanye had a segment to urge viewers to dontate, when Kanye went off script to deliver a tirade against Bush. He's obviously nervous, but what balls he's got! He ends the talk with "George Bush doesn't care about Black people" before the segment is cut short. Pretty exciting on the "hyper-uncomfortable live TV moments" scale, and I think it's very bold on Kanye's part. You could debate about using the telethon to air his personal viewpoints, and possibly alienating viewers who might contribute money, or you might think that he said some hard truths that needed to be said. Make up you your own mind.
Watched "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations" again last week. If you haven't seen Paradise Lost, the original HBO documentary, or the follow up sequel, watch them. It's the ongoing story of the West Memphis Three. The basic story is that 3 young boys were horribly tortured, mutilated and murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. The only suspects for the murders were 3 teenage boys (Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin) who were the local "black sheep" of the town. They wore black, listened to Metallica, and had an interest in witchcraft. The documentary explores the prejudice and ineptitude of the police investigation, and the seemingly tragic path of these young men as two are sentenced to lives in prison and one to death. One of the murdered boys' fathers, Mark Byers is also shown as an unbelievably suspicious lunatic and is allowed to roam free, while the 3 boys, now men, have been in prison for 12 years.
Damien Echols has just released an autobiography "Almost Home", and the attempts at appeals continue on. This story has been going on for over a decade, but it is important for us as a people, if we feel the WM3 have been unfairly accused and sentenced, to keep their story alive. See the films and make up your own mind, and if you feel they are innocent...
don't forget the West Memphis Three.
Damien Echols interview
Paradise Lost I will be released on DVD on October 25th.
"Teenage girls
with no life experiences
and boys who
call themselves punk
are on my radio
singing about
how much pain they've endured
and how hard
their lives are"
Poem 92
by Damien Echols
Unbelievable the suffering that hurricane Katrina has caused. The tales just get worse and worse. Not just the loss of life and property, but the human atrocity and inability of our government to supply aid properly. It's so terribly sad. Hard to see any of the trifles of usual day to day life as being anything but really trivial in the face of what is happening to all those poor people down south. Not much to say except that if you can, please send some help, to those who are doing whatever they can do, well done... and to those in the middle of it, God bless you all.
Here is the Red Cross page for donations.
Been a strange week, a cool guy I know who used to be part of the Dragonfly family died this week. His name was J.D, and he was a supporter of my old band Skycycle. We used to play the DF often, and he would run the lights. He eventually bought a stake in the club and co-ran their successful Wednesday band night "The Pretty Ugly Club". He apparently was driving in Florida in a rented car, and an 18 wheeler failed to stop and basically destroyed his car. Really sad. Next Wednesday at the club they will be having a memorial show with a bunch of bands.
Rest in Peace, J.D.
"The rain will come and soon enough...
to wash away all that we've loved"
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