We’ve been fairly quiet as of late with the exception of Mr. Jerles’ most recent blog post. Probably appropriate considering the past few weeks have been filled with recording, gigging to pay for said recording and the beginning of what will soon be the finishing touches on our first full-length album.
Sample album art.
As Chris alluded to in our most recent blog post, we are about three to four sessions away from having every single instrument for every single track “in the can” as they say. As I take a few minutes and look back not only at the past three or four months but the past three or four years, it’s hard to really say what an amazing feeling we’re experiencing right now as we approach the finish line on the yet to be titled project. For lack of a better term, a dream come true.
This band has been riddled with mistakes, long nights, tough gigs, etc. We’ve had more than our fair share of car trouble, sleepless nights, stolen gear, flawed execution, scheduling conflicts and not to mention the fact that every time we play, our gear gets packed up and set up twice. I mention all of the above not because we want a pity party. We don’t. We chose to do this because we wanted to. We will spare you the details on all of the trials and tribulations mentioned above (at least until the Behind the Music airs) for the sake of your interest and our time and cut right to the point.
Chris mentioned in his last blog that the beginning of this album really dates back to about 18 months ago when we finished up our latest EP Retrospective. We had recorded four songs with our great friend Kyle Ferguson and his (and soon to be our) good friend Brett Baird. As we all packed up and drove home from Nashville, Tennessee each of the four of us will probably tell you a different story as to where the dream for the next album began. I’ll do my best to do all four of us justice.
Randall will tell you that shortly after returning from Nashville, he felt so comfortable working with Kyle (Ferg as we call him) that we needed to find a way to get him involved in our next project. If I remember correctly, we hadn’t been any more than 15 minutes outside the city limits when he told me this. Mind you, we didn’t have a single idea for a song for said “album” at that point.
Robert in the control room working out a part.
Robert will probably tell you that recording an album was always the goal. We talked about it very early on in this band and although we always knew that we wanted to do it, we didn’t ever really know how we were going to get it done. As the idea came together and as we realized that we might have a shot at achieving this once lofty goal, Robert came through big. He started writing songs, writing lyrics, coming up with ideas for guitar parts, hand claps, wood blocks, tambourines, etc. He really grasped the idea of this project and ran with it.
Chris may tell you something similar to that of Robert and Randall. We all left Nashville with a renewed vigor and desire to make this thing work. I probably couldn’t tell you a lot about Chris’ thoughts on this project and as I sit here reflecting on it, I wish that I could. Most of the conversations that I had with Chris regarding this project were about the overall feel, pushing him to keep writing songs, discussing the direction of the album and helping him keep the creative process moving while we found ways to book shows, cover the costs of keeping this thing moving and keep everyone out of jail.
Deep in studio thought.
I don’t think that any of the four of us can take credit for the overall feel, vibe or direction of this disc because I think that all four of us should. Countless hours of writing in a barn (literally a storage unit), rehearsal in Randall’s basement, working on new songs at our favorite rehearsal space and the arguments, hugs and priceless moments that ensue brought us up to the point where it was time to start laying tracks.
Who knew that 4th grade 2 on 2 baseball with ghost runners would turn into all of this?
Shortly before Christmas, we started recording music. You’ve seen all the updates so we won’t walk you through day by day what it took to get this thing done, but all we have left to do is this: 1) Robert is going to work on guitar tracks for one more song, 2) Chris is going to play some keys for a couple more songs 3) We are going to a special undisclosed location in which Chris will record piano and vocals in one afternoon to close out the album. 4) We will name what we’re dubbing arrogantly our “first masterpiece” and 5) we’ll select pictures and design for the cover, insert and disc art and 6) we’ll turn it over to you.
Tuning drums before the Saturday sessions.
I suppose that what I’m getting at, in more than enough words, is that recording an “album” has been a dream of mine for years. Spending time in the studio with your band mates who are essentially either family or lifelong friends creating something that you all together have created from scratch is a pretty incredible feeling. We set out to do a few things when we started this project. We wanted to write an album that first and foremost had an overall feel. We wanted it to be a compilation of songs that while all different, were all the same in that they told the story of us. And by us, we mean you. We wanted it to tell the story of all of us. We spent an awful lot of time discussing what kind of songs we wanted to put on it and decided that the only songs we wanted were good ones.
The disc will have 13 songs that are filled to the brim with the heart and soul of this band. This thing has been built from the ground up. It has been taken apart and put back together and here in the next couple of months, we will be very excited to share it with you. Stay tuned, get excited. Many of you we will probably be asking to take a sneak peek at it and if you’ve read this far into this blog, we’re hoping that you’ll listen to it.
The man behind the curtain. Ferg-a-mania.
Luckily, rarely are we this serious. So along with the new disc, get ready for new videos, new pictures, some new exciting gigs and more of our pretty faces. Cheers!
