"When You Lose"

Piano and bass guitar were worked out for "When You Lose" this morning and recorded during the afternoon.  All the post work was completed later, with the session going relatively late into the evening.  This song has come together very fast; hopefully that quick start will act as a harbinger of good things to come.

"City Song" post drum work completed.

"City Song" is finished (the drums, anyway) and it's been a crazy six weeks.  I would have never imagined some of the post production tools we have now would allow us to get this deep into the recordings this fast.

Now we can get started on the other instrumentation.  At this rate, we are on schedule to get this album out and in your hands before this year is over.  While that may seem like a long time, it will be here before you know it.

"City Song" up on the boards.

Our 15th and final song for our recording sessions, "City Song," has had its drums recorded over the weekend and it is now getting some post work done.

Getting to this point in the recordings ahead of July, it really is a testament to the dedication and truly hard work put forth by everyone involved.  If this can get finished up during the week -- I anticipate this song will take some time to work on -- perhaps we can begin recording/post work on some of the other instruments.

"Apparition" drum post work completed.

We recorded this one what seems like an eternity ago (really, it's been maybe three weeks) and after the whirlwind recording of "City Song" yesterday, we got a chance to put "Apparition" up on the board and begin drum post work on it late last night.  Well, that got finished just a little while ago, which means the only song left to do any serious drum post work on is "City Song" which should begin on Tuesday night.

"City Song" drums recorded today; band rejoices.

In recording drums for "City Song" today, we did something we couldn't have dreamed possible at the beginning of the year: Record drums for fifteen songs in five weeks.  Add to that the drum post work, which right now stands at 13/15 finished -- you wouldn't want to know the work this entails -- and we are really making strong headway into this album.

"Familiar" drum post work completed.

Today, the drums were finalized for "Familiar," which is a good thing heading into tomorrow.  Because tomorrow will be the day we will record drums for "City Song," the 15th and final song we will be working on in the sessions for this new album.

"Reinforcements" completed, M-Tron installed.

Today was a day of feeling just completely worn out.  But you've got to keep the momentum going forward any way possible.  With that said, "Reinforcements" which was just recorded yesterday, had its drum post work started and finished up today.  That one came together very nicely.

Oh and to bring about a change of pace, the beloved M-Tron Pro was installed today, which came all the way from the UK this past week.  Initial testing showed it is working well.  Perhaps tomorrow we'll get an opportunity to run it through the controller and amplifier for a while.

"Reinforcements" recorded, "Wide Awake" completed.

A song that has been percolating in our brains for some time -- let's just call it "Reinforcements" for now -- had finally gotten fleshed out a few months ago and it's become a song we all really enjoy rehearsing and performing live.  Naturally, we've decided it is something we should record.  Fast forward to today and David has come through on drums once again, bringing everything he's got to the song.  It took a few more takes than usual, but we ended up with some crackling drums as a result.  

"Wide Awake," drums for which were recorded just the other day, is now finished in terms of its post drum work.  This is what happens when you work really, really hard and sometimes fall asleep in the studio because you are too tired to leave.  But the results are worth it all.

"I Swear, I Swear," "Wasteland" drums complete.

David had to work and run errands today, which meant lots of post work on the recordings could get done.

"I Swear, I Swear" saw its drums completed today, while "Wasteland" was started and finished with its post work on the drums today as well.

Very soon, we will be able to get started on the other instruments, which we all look forward to.

"Familiar," "Wide Awake" drums recorded.

David came over early this morning and knocked out "Familiar" and "Wide Awake" on drums.

"Familiar" is a song we have opened a number of our more recent shows with and it could very easily lead off our new album, but we have other ideas up our sleeve in that regard.

"Wide Awake" is a raw burst of energy that was written scarcely a month ago.  The song just explodes with emotion and power.  Very captivating to us.  This song is so new, it was not even in the discussion stages for the album yet now it bears strong consideration.  

More post work was finished on the drums for "I Swear, I Swear" as well.

"I Swear, I Swear" on the board.

Today, a very interesting little song called, "I Swear, I Swear" will be up on the boards getting some work done on the drum recordings we made for it yesterday.  Another incredible effort from David on drums on this song.

We are getting closer and closer to getting all drums recorded and all the post work done on them.  We now stand at 11 out of 15 songs recorded (remember, just the drums) and the post work stands at 8 out of those 11.  If this song gets finished later tonight, that will give us 9 out of 11 out of 15, if that makes any sense.  Basically, we are moving at a very accelerated, inspired rate of speed.

"I Swear, I Swear" drums recorded.

This has been a busy day.  Drum post work was completed for "Change Your Mind" this evening and we were able to corral David into the studio to lay down the drums for a terrific new song entitled, "I Swear, I Swear," which we've gotten some great response for from a number of people.

It took several takes, as there are a great number of changes in the song that are quite abrupt (just in relation to the drums), but in the end, David handled it in superb fashion and we've got yet another song with some staggeringly good drums.

"New Dub" drum post work completed.

Man oh man.  This song isn't very long -- it's a little over two and a half minutes -- but these drums are as intense as the surface of the sun, it seems.  Anyway, the post work for the drums of "New Dub" is finally complete and sounding like a drummer possessed.  David's work continues to impress and seemingly get better and better the further we go.

"Change Your Mind" drums recorded.

Oh, this is a good one.  Tonight, we had some time scheduled for David to come into the studio to record drums for a song called "Change Your Mind," which recalls so many good memories of a different time.  A time none of us were even alive for yet.  Surely, that statement should not make any sense, but really, it does.

"BTSSNY" drum post work completed.

These drums just don't stop sounding incredibly strong, efficient, powerful, economical.  The balance in a song like this just teeters on the brink of too much and too little all at once.  So much space exists between notes, yet each note is primal and powerful when they speak.  It's quite a thing to marvel at, from an engineering standpoint.  

Well, "BTSSNY" is now complete for its drum work.  Time to move on to the next one.

Drums recorded for a new, fast song.

There is a very fast, quick moving song we've written which we are quite fond of.  It's believed to bear the title, "Curious Goods" but I am unsure if Joe has completely set the title in stone yet.

Regardless, it currently owns the fastest BPM of the songs we've begun recordings on thus far.  Hence our reference to it as being a new, fast song.

Again, we are dealing with some huge drums from David on this song.  What we've recorded is just incredibly intricate, detailed and rich in sound.  It's like a damn fine cup of coffee, except it's going to scald and burn your mouth if you're not careful with it.