I am reborn at sea.
You know, for three people that play in a band we sure do work hard from time to time. Now that we have finished our Kickstarter campaign we have a moral obligation (and a quasi- legal one) to make a second CD. So we have spent days and days rehearsing, recording and yelling at each other to make that dream/weight on our shoulders) a reality!
On the last record we decided that we would have an outside producer work with us. That decision was mostly so that Kenny and I could remain friends. Since we both hold such high opinions of our opinions… we predicted that, once we got in the high energy confines of the studio, we would kill each other and dance on the bones, leaving Georgia to either weep or cheer (and then finish producing the CD by herself). We thought it would be smart to have someone like Peter Asher in the room because, being British, when he is in the room everyone around him is more polite. It must have worked since Kenny and I are still buddies.
This time we are producing it all by ourselves. Kenny and I are being so nice that you would think there was a prize for “Nicest Bandmate” being awarded at the end of the process. (There ISN’T a prize, is there?)
We tracked some songs in Nashville and just finished a couple of days in LA where we sang and put other instruments on. After you lay down the bass and drums and guitars and piano… you need to listen to it closely and say things like, “There really needs to have some elements of Peter Glass in the bridge and the slightest taste of Rachmaninoff in the outro!” Saying things like that make the engineer respect you and believe you are much more talented than he first thought… and he should be privileged to work on this project and charge us less money.
So we came out to Ojai, where the average temperature was “melted sneakers,” and added tubas and zithers to songs that already sound pretty darn terrific. There’s no song that can’t be improved by the delicate placement of a zither. Listen to “MacArthur Park” at the 3:46 mark and you will see what I mean.
We had a day of singing the songs in Nashville but it came after a day of rehearsing and a day of recording (where you still sing rather gustily, to inspire the band to lofty heights) and by the time we tried to actually sing the songs for posterity… I sounded like Mel Torme. Now Mel was a wonderful jazz singer but he was known as “The Velvet Fog” because his voice was so silky. Silky would have been great. By that third day my silk sounded more like corduroy.
We tried again yesterday. We sang for a loooong time. We had a fabulous day and I was again reminded just how lucky we are to have this vocal blend. I fell in love with all these songs all over again.
While we were out here all of our “team” joined us for a few days of planning out the year. There is a lot of planning that goes into the chaos that we call BSR. We have now mapped out the year ahead of us. We have included an adequate amount of play time, nap time and public service so at the end of 2015 we will be well rounded, well rested individuals with our 2nd CD firmly rooted in the consciousness of America.
We have been filming all of this. Every second. Every argument. Every chord change. All you lucky people who have joined our All Access Club can actually watch our maturity levels ebb and flow with the music. In the beginning it is very strange to have people with cameras in the room while we are “art-making” but after a while it is only annoying and it gradually becomes degrading.
We have a lot more record to make. I’m not in a position to reveal the where and when’s of it all… but trust me when I say we WILL be back in the Thunderdome, squared off and trading punches (metaphor) all in the service of YOU, our fan. (Or my relative. Who else reads these things?)
Peter’s lucky. He got out.
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