OK, so this weekly blog thing has turned into a tri-weekly attempt to resume weekly blogging. If diligence were waffles, I must have leggo my eggo.
On the recording front, things are moving along steadily, so hopefully we can post a new jam for you soon. In the meantime, we’re playing almost all of the new material live.
Speaking of playing live, check the upcoming shows section. This next week we’ll be in Sacramento, Concord, and Berkeley. And yes, they will be our best shows ever.
Another exciting snippet, we’ll be performing our first (of many) baby-shower(s). Our friend Britney is preggers and will be honoring her unborn (unless it suddenly gets born) baby. It will be a night of celebration, acoustic-style, at Panama Bay Coffee. If you’ve been waiting for an appropriate time to invite your parents, grandparents, godparents to an IRF show, the wait is over. Bring them and your fine self.
Finally, we are in desperate need of new tires for the band van. This is an SOS; can you help us? We’ve got cool shirts for sale, and we are available for all kinds of events (electric and acoustic). If the result is new tires, sign us up. Thanks!
Thanks for the wonderful support recently! It’s really special to be heard, so if you’ve come to a show recently, thanks again. If you live elsewhere and simply enjoy the tunes on MySpace, thanks to you.
UNEXCITING NEWS: Last week we disclosed plans to record our performance at Panama coffee. Acoustic shows are a good chance to rearrange songs, change the grooves, and learn some covers. After meticulously setting up to record the gig, we were thwarted by technical difficulties. Suffice it to say, my computer couldn’t take the pressure. I hope we get the chance to try again soon.
EXCITING NEWS: In 5 days we will track drums for 8 new songs! That means that every drum track (on this album) will be done and I’ll be looking for unique ways to celebrate. Suggestions? This session will be especially exciting, because we’ll be tracking live! Capturing this kind of energy is awesome.
THE BIGGEST NEWS: we will be playing tomorrow night (thursday) in SF at Bottom of the Hill. If you attend, you will hear 7 songs off the new record! They’re good, and we’ve even enlisted some help to make them unbelievable. Don’t miss this.
Thanks again! Love to you all.
John
The response to Peasant Song has been tremendous! By that, I mean it’s been pretty good. By that, I mean we are still awaiting some criticism.
As always, thank you for listening. We’ve decided that creating enjoyable music is simply not enough. Not nearly enough. We’ve set our sights even higher; creating weekly blogs! Yes, EVERY week we will share our progress with you, as our new album comes closer to fruition.
This week, it is John’s turn to blog. I’ll never refer to myself in the third person again. Promise.
BIG NEWS: Every song that will go on the new record is written! There is no need to write more songs, because we’ve finally got the biggest pile of new music (it’s the biggest). Now we are working to refine said pile of music and record the rest of it.
Because the drums are the first thing we put to tape (or hard drive, as it were), we’re using our band practices to zoom-in on the drum parts. We solidify the arrangement, demo the song, then listen back, so that we can say things like:
“Play open hi-hat instead of riding a crash cymbal.”
“The melody needs more interaction from the bass drum.”
“Learn how to play.”
“That fill rules! Fucking remember that!”
or, my favorite, “Start over.” (this really is my favorite).
What a supremely rewarding process!
More to come next week.
From my throne in the cabin,
John
