Thursday, October 28, 2010

Sunshine and Shadow

Hey folks!

Sunday, the band is going to sit down with Jake and listen to the final mixes of the record tracks. We've got eleven done, two vocal tracks had to be redone but the process was not terribly taxing, and once Jake's job is done, we'll be getting album art done and sending the stuff off to get CD's produced. We will hopefully have them by Thanksgiving, but they will definitely be done by Christmas (and would certainly make a great present!).

We're still adding songs to our rep, so while we've had a little while off from a gig, we'll be roaring into the winter with a bunch of new songs. In case you are curious, "Spanish Lady" and "Step It Out, Mary" have crept into our sets, while upcoming new songs include "Whiskey on a Sunday" and shoot I forget the name of the song Jeff brought last week. It's a good one, though! So keep checking us out and hear what we've been working on.

And if you weren't already planning on coming to the Collage concert at Hartt in February, you should maybe consider it. Just saying.

On another note, our good man Jake comes to every one of our gigs that he can, runs the soundboard, makes sure we don't blow up our speakers or the board, fixes microphones and cables when they die, gives us advice about sound equipment, setup, and overall planning for the band, recorded the entire record by himself, has spent days and days listening to us over and over and fixed all of our stupid mess-ups and errors, and puts up with our nonsensical crap constantly. We're incredibly lucky to have someone as smart, helpful, and encouraging as Jake around to help us out wherever we need. When you come see us at our next show, stop over at the board and give him a hug. Or maybe just a high five, I dunno how much he wants to be hugging strangers while he's running sound. You're a dude, Jake.


Two weeks from this Friday (Nov. 12), we'll be up in Holden, playing at the Blue Plate Lounge at 8 PM. After that, we'll be at Catcher's the day before Thanksgiving (Nov. 24) and then in Avon on Dec. 11th. You'll also have to remember to tune in to WICN 90.5 FM Worcester for the Folk Revival Holiday Show on Thursday, Dec. 16th...we'll be up there playing some holiday songs and some of our regular tunes.

Stay tuned for news on the record and our upcoming gigs! Stay well! Happy Halloween!

- G

Friday, October 15, 2010

Recording is done, mixing has begun, gigs galore

Our job is officially done. The percussionists completed their tracks Sunday night, so the band is done recording, and now Jake's fun begins as he gets to listen to our songs over and over and over and over and over and over and over and turn little knobs and click his mouse a million times until he has deemed the sound worthy of being put onto record form.

We're tossing around possible names for the CD (leading title right now, "Sunshine and Shadow," narrowly ahead of "Heave Away!" and "The Jolly Benches") and figuring out how to fund the project right now, and I'm taking some free time to try to compile a video of our studio time.

Friday night we'll be at our regular haunt at Catcher's Sports Bar in Wethersfield, so if you're around the central CT area, you should come by, grab a drink, say hello, and listen to us play. We'll be debuting at least two new songs at the show.

Saturday night, we'll haul ourselves up to Holden, MA again for a benefit concert at Immanuel Lutheran Church to benefit the Holden Crop Walk...it'll be a fun family event that will hopefully raise a lot of money for the band and the Crop Walk, which was created to aid world and local hunger. We're hoping for a big turnout for that event.

Sunday afternoon, the church in which I sing (First Church of Christ Congregational in West Hartford) is holding a benefit concert for their music and arts fund...there will be a huge variety of performances, of course including us, still trying to figure out when we can get married.

To take a personal aside from the band, my friend, Cory Ploessl, who I had the fortune of meeting at the summer program I've worked at for the past two years, is currently doing an art project in Eau Claire, WI, in order to raise awareness for world poverty. He describes his project through a blog as follows:

I am currently living in a hand-assembled shanty house much like those found in rural slums in many developing nations. Like some 2.6 billion people worldwide (World Resources Institute) I am currently living off of $2 a day. I eat, sleep, cook, and bathe on site, however I use indoor toilets. This blog will be maintained by Maria Boland and will act like a personal journal of my experience. A special thanks to Maria and thank you all for your time and compassion.


I encourage you to keep up with Cory's experience on his blog, run by his wonderful girlfriend, Maria, at http://shantyhome2010.blogspot.com.

We have the wonderful fortune to teach music, learn about music, record music, and perform music on a regular basis to friends, family, and people we don't even know. It's always humbling to remember that there's a lot of other things going on out there that we often forget. Thank goodness there are people like Cory to remind us that there is a lot more we need to do and be thankful for in our everyday lives.

Hope to see you this weekend!

- G

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Preview of studio compilation

Back in the studio right now, Chris and Matt are putting percussion on top of the rest of the tracks. Chris needs to learn that, in order to hang with this band, he has to stop playing in time all the time.

I'm working on a compilation of video taken during our time in the studio. Here's a preview.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ft9ETuqzQA

Saturday, October 9, 2010

In the studio

Chris: "Would it be easier to do it falsetto instead of loud?"
Greg: "Not at this point."
Chris: "Oh...your voice is bad?"

It's 11:11. Make a wish! My wish is that I can actually play the Wedding Instrumentals on my banjo. It's our last track to do, unless we decide to redo Paddy Murphy. Doing it all live has proved to be a much smoother process than multitracking. Besides the computer eating two of our tracks, it's been a solid day. We decided to have the percussionists play tomorrow over the four main tracks, so with any luck, tomorrow will be the end of the recording process and the beginning of the mixing, editing, mastering process.


Thank goodness Jake is so patient and wonderful...we've been total idiots all day. For a change.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Studio tomorrow

Heading into the studio tomorrow. Hope we don't stink. Sound checks and Danny Boy for tomorrow night, then all day Saturday. I'll be recording video a bit during, so keep checking our website, Facebook, or here to see when it's up. You'll be well aware. Check the previous post for the potential album cover, including our favorite guest star.

We love Jake.