Update!!!!!!!

as Chad and Devin are holed up in the new Silver Sonya location, surely tearing out their hair [sic] at the seemingly endless number of layers and tracks, the mixes are coming together and a light is beginning to show at the end of the tunnel

we were finally able to snatch a listen to "Angry Town" yesterday and it is so exciting to hear the record begin to finally take shape - we are SOOOOO close, you can almost taste it

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since returning DC, we have been fortunate enough to share time and the stage with some great old friends, as well as some very awesome new ones - here's a little recap...

*November 7th @ The Bluebird (St. Louis, MO): we played with one of our most favorite St. Louis bands, Say Panther, and one of our most favorite Champaign bands, Headlights, who are now playing out as a quintet with Kenny and Nick of Decibully joining the ranks on guitar and bass/accordion respectively - simply awesome!!!

-as an aside, both Say Panther and Headlights have new records in the works, please save your lunch money, take your piggy bank up to Coinstar, snatch some bills from your momma's purse, or whatever you have to do to make sure that you own these records the day that they come out!

*November 16th @ Cowboy Monkey (Champaign, IL): the Cowboy Monkey is absolutely one of our favorite places to play in the country, hands down, and this looks to have been the last time we will ever get to play there - they are rumored to be changing things around and tearing out the stage come New Year's - we did get to play with some great new friends though, Des Moines', Jacob Tyler Wolfgang, Chicago's, Rachel Ries [amazing!] and Champaign favorites, Casados

after the show, Tristan took us back to Headlights' chalet, which is nestled in between two corn fields in the northern part of Champaign-Urbana, where Erin, Brett and him live and record - this was our first time staying with Headlights and we all were up uber-late drinking PBR, eating Pokey-Sticks and smoking our corn-cob pipes

good times had by all

*November 17th @ The Bluebird (St. Louis, MO): it is a rare treat to play in STL and get to share the stage with not just 1, but 2 bands that we have never played with before. this was just such an occasion! we had such a blast with St. Louis', Bo & The Locomotive, and Michigan stalwarts, Saturday Looks Good To Me

there were so many things working for us on this night, playing with SLGTM: 1) it was a Saturday, 2) it was their first time playing in St. Louis, and 3) Ryan Howard, of our other favorite MI band, Canada, plays drums!!!

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it is nice to be home to not only get a chance to relearn the songs after we dissected the crap out of them in the studio, but to also spend time with family and friends and just chill out a little

there is so much on the horizon:

*two cool shows left this year
December 8th
@ The Mad Art Gallery for the 4th installment of The Rock n Roll Craft Show
December 22nd
@ Off Broadway for A Very Merry Christmas Spectacular w/ So Many Dynamos, Light Pollution and Laite

*new record/tour this Spring

*Kiley and Steve's wedding next August!

*Stephen and former Team Up!!! counterpart Mario Martinez have been playing together again - they're performing tomorrow, Nov. 25th, as Thankful Tree @ The Lemp Arts Neighborhood Arts Center

*Ryan is gearing up for a Dock Ellis Band tour this January

*Eric H. is finishing a full-length Slow Parade album as we speak

*Mike is recording albums for both Geoff Koch and The Makeshift Gentlemen this winter

*Eric E. has most likely written about 30 new songs since we have been home and being that the Christmas season is his most prolific time of the year, expect many more songs to be in the works

etc. etc. etc.

stay tuned for more updates as the mixes begin to pour in - there is talk of us possibly getting to hear 3 more tomorrow!!!!!!!

As mixing begins, let's take a look back...

So it seems like half the world has been some kind of sick in the last few weeks - from the "superbug" staph infections in Virginia a month ago to the mutated cold-virus variant that's made headlines recently. So it would only make sense that as Steve and Kiley's tummies recover from food poisoning (or a 24-hour flu, but it's unlikely) last Thursday, Chad Clark shakes off his own mega-flu bug to begin mixing our record at Silver Sonya's new studio location (that's right, no longer within Inner Ear! Maybe it's the "outer ear" location?).

While we wait patiently to hear the first batch of rough mixes, and John Vogl toils away on the album artwork, we might as well take a look back. Here's some photos from the last few days (taken on Steve's 35mm, since Stephen's digital camera got yoinked in the robbery):

Here's a look at the (old) Silver Sonya control room, with Señor Devin Ocampo at the helm.


Oh, Digital Performer...


The door to the room...


View from the vocal booth...


The drive back was quite a picturesque trip through the Appalachian foothills, with West Virginia being a particular highlight.


We especially enjoyed passing through Wheeling, WV, and agreed that it looked like a very cool town. Maybe next time we'll stop and have a look around.


There's lots more news about the new record that we'll be able to report soon, and maybe we can even get some video from the recording up here, too, so stay tuned.

Cheers,
GAH

Tracking Days Nine Part Two & Ten... Eleven?

yesterday, was a little on the slow side

we showed up at the studio a little early, being that we had to bail out of the condo much earlier than expected in order to not be charged for another day, and all four of us basically found a spot on the couch/floor to crash for a little bit - the cops didn't leave until after 3am and it was very hard to get to sleep after that

in light of the previous night's incident, we still got some things done - trumpet mostly done and a decent chunk of vocals

we, as a group, decided that we would finish tracking the record today (day 11) and then head home on Friday

mixing has now been moved until mid-November and it has also been decided that we will have TJ Lipple from Aloha master the record the week after mixing

despite being behind schedule, the new plan of attack fits well into our supposed deadlines and we all feel very good about the rapport and process that we have established here

so here is how it breaks down...
Devin O'Campo - Producer/Engineer
honestly, Devin was the perfect person to work with, he is patient, professional and has a spectacular ear; he is in-tune with our direction and intent and every single change that he has suggested has been for the better!

Chad Clark - Mixing Engineer
hearing Chad's contribution to this project is something that we are very excited about, besides being a very awesome human being, he is a fantastic engineer and there are many things from his body of work that we know and love!

TJ Lipple - Mastering Engineer
we all heard TJ mastering the new Headlights' record through the walls of the lounge! this decision, we feel, was a no-brainer and completely makes sense with regards to the process that we have created for this album! it is a definite plus to also have been able to have kept all three parts in the family at Silver Sonya

most importantly, each person in the chain represents a set of fresh ears and ideas, which in the end will make the most difference to the record - this time around, we were very fortunate to be able to abscond to the east coast, forsaking any and all responsibilities and obligations that we would have had at home, to make a record where instead of worrying about why the headphone amp wasn't working or where the mics need to be moved, we got to think about the instruments and parts that we were playing and how to make them the best parts that they could be

this has been an awesome experience and we are anxious to see it through

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on that note, we have decided on a name for the album

John Vogl, who will be doing the album artwork, has decided to make a visual depiction of the title

we are not quite ready to share the name with everyone just yet but we are hoping that after reading/seeing this you will SHARE with us what you THINK that the title is... (John apologizes for the scribbly handwriting, see below for the transcript)


TRANSCRIPT
G: Good czll putting "A" in that empty grzve...
H: Fuckin' right

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