Mixing and Editing and Writing Oh MY!

We’ve been working on a lot of new tunes with James on bass – and it’s just been a rather organic flow, he’s bringing something special to the project. He played with us at Cresfest and altho he’d only rehearsed with us a couple of times at that date, he did a great job.   While Mike is still with us, James  has the time to work on new tunes…and his enthusiasm is really refreshing.

And D.V., the fellow who’s mixing Wizard has been in and out of town on studio business so the mixing has gone slowly… he seems to be pushing to get us back into a studio to record some new songs. However, we’ve gotten back into mixing a few other tunes ourselves just to relieve the backlog. And that’s coming along quite nicely.

In this business people are always talking about their connections, and about what they could do for you – and over the years we’ve all grown a bit jaded with that end of it.. But we play and write because we love it…it’s the satisfying creative expression and the connection with you that means something in the end. (If that makes sense).

Some years ago I had a vision (of sorts) and in it I was told that if I kept playing music the right people would be attracted to it…people that will each bring something special to share. That we’d each touch each others lives…And I’ve found that to be true time and time again, sometimes its musicians, and sometimes it’s listeners. Sometimes when we least expect it.

So anyway, back to physical reality – people are asking: what the hell are we doing?

Besides mixing, we’re re-doing the videos for release on the internet – it’s a labor of love wading thru all that footage and editing it down…but it’s also really fun and rewarding. And always the days fly by, and everything takes so much longer than we’d like. (My new goal is to learn to stop time long enough to catch up a bit.)

Of course everybody in this band also runs their own businesses and things just get so busy! I don’t even want to go into it, but when I stand back and look at what we’re all doing together and apart, it’s pretty amazing how much we’re accomplishing. Plus we’re writing so many new songs… and really, it’s all about the songs.

Songs (and I imagine this is true for lots of other art forms too) are like children. You give birth to them, but then they take on a life of their own. Sometimes I’m singing and it seems as though the song just “is” – I have no sense of our writing it. It’s as though the melody and lyrics were there all along, floating in the ether, and I just stumbled upon them. It’s a very cool sensation.

On a more practical level, we’re all really happy about the expanding direction of the band, a lot more freedom with the lyrics and a lot more creativity in the rhythm section, Richie’s really stretching out and letting his own energy come thru the drumming, plus more dynamics to allow Brian’s guitar tones to really shine. All of that brings a new energy to the band, and we just really enjoy playing together. I’m hoping soon to have some new stuff for you guys to hear (and see) as we let the project unfold in its own way.

And hopefully you’ll enjoy some of the different directions we’re taking; I’m having a blast feeling more free with the band and with how I use my voice…just dropping any pre-conceived notions and letting the music grow and evolve. I guess that’s why I use the word “organic” now, because we’re letting the songs become, rather than forcing them into a mold.

One last thought:I’m feeling like I’d like us to play in Europe next year. Nope, I don’t have any leads on that right now, but I’ve been feeling the call lately, so I’m — putting it out there. 🙂