Guitar Solos and Parachutes

I am wary of guitar solos. Maybe because I grew up through grunge. Maybe because there are a lot of technical players who aren't bringing something fresh to the art. So I went in thinking there would not be guitar solos on the Watershed Project.

And while there aren't really much of what you'd call traditional guitar leads happening here, we ended up giving Chris some space on the record to try stuff within and he pushed the boundaries of the key and timing in such a way that the leads are interesting and energizing -- he's a good enough player to push the edges and still land squarely where and when he needs to (as opposed to some other players, myself included, who can sometimes get the plane off the ground but their landings are spotty, often requiring the use of parachutes and other methods of escape).

Light bright enough to hurt your eyes

Yesterday was quite a day. Chris Freeman drove over three hours to come play guitar on the record -- got there before noon. This was the only day that worked for him. Grant (the producer), however, got called in to jury duty the same day so we didn't know if or when he'd be available. We're on a tight schedule with tour coming up, and Chris was going to play on most of the songs, and was essential on half of them, so this mattered.

Grant got dismissed from the jury around noon (yippee!)and we started tracking guitars. It was amazing. Chris worked almost 12 hours (a couple breaks) and then drove the three hours home after midnight. He was an animal. He was a machine. I'll post a video at some point.

The tracks are, in my opinion, stunning. Serious energy and a precision and level of excellence to his playing that took the record up a level but still fit in with the ragged, raw, all-out feel of the record.

So the day felt like a series of miracles (and I'm only telling a few here). If this album becomes something of value to people, it will be partly because of the musicians who not only invested the fruit of years of playing and practice, but also time, sleep, energy, money and heart into it.

I can't wait to see how people react to these songs. It feels like something is happening with them (and this whole project) that is beyond us which people may pick up on. I hope so.

We're hoping to finalize the order and final set list for the record this weekend (the big question is whether all 12 songs make it or we cut one or two). I'd like to get the record designed and sent off to be replicated by early next month, so that we can have a cd release sometime in May.

I thought I'd post a shot I took from the plane coming back from California -- the way the light was in these clouds was stunning, surprising, glorious, strange and bright enough to hurt a bit, but you just had to keep looking back, it was so beautiful. That's a bit what yesterday was like at Electric Angel Studios.

Today We Go Live

Today at 2:07pm the Watershed Project goes live on Kickstarter. Thanks so much to everyone who has given to it. It's been a lot of fun. If you want to support it now that the deadline is past, you'll have to track me down yourself -- the easy route is over! Now it's time to finish the record, get the books together, plan the tour and get the art and music out that all those people helped make possible.

Chris the guitar guru is driving down from Detroit to record his parts today but Grant (the producer) got called to jury duty. We're hoping he's not there long so we can finish up the guitar parts before he has to drive back to Michigan!

Got a bit of time with some friends from Asia today who are in the states going back to school. We were out talking and grabbing a bite to eat and drink and I heard a number of songs in a row from power trios (bands with bass, drums and guitars for you non music nerds). Man, I'm excited about playing some of this music. Got a call as well from a guy in Alaska -- there's a chance I might get to do some concerts up there. If so it will be 7 years since I did that. I can think of few places I'd rather play a concert during the summer (and few I'd rather NOT play in the winter).

Sorry this is so long -- got to go back and read my writing target post.

Cutting Songs from the Record

We're so close to done with this record now. I've been listening over the tracks, waiting for those last guitars to be added and thinking about possibly cutting a song or two. I'd rather have a great album with ten songs than a good album with 12 songs. We've put so much time and energy and heart and attention into this, really thinking about it as an album not just a collection of songs, that it will be worth being brutal to make it great. We're going to get some feedback from different listeners to help us decide whether to cut songs or not.

Think of us this week as we wrap up.

What am I trying to do here

Exploring the space between garage rock and folk.
Skimming stones across the surface of the sublime, and hoping to regularly

sink.

Is there a way to move between the sun-soaked, ice-sharp ache and beauty of story, epic love and sorrow

and

the grit and rumble, stutter-start scratch
muscle-stretch push which is the daily struggle towards

love?

First Listen

If you look to the right of this post there is a little music player that has four songs on it -- 2 from my upcoming Watershed record, and two from Surge on Smith's upcoming record (which I co-wrote songs, played guitar and sang some background vocals on).

Yipeee!

In the Basement

Here are few photos from the basement of the building I've been recording in. Electric Angel studios operates out of the Goshen Theater which is an old, interesting building. In picture: Nate (Drums), Grant (producer, engineer), Toby (bass). The wall has multiple-decades-old show posters on it.