Northern Records has started a message board for us at their website. Good luck.
Vocals are going well--there are a couple more leads to do, and then BGVs, doubles, triples, and home runs.
If you're in Southern California, or if you plan to be here on May 1, then we'd like to invite you to a very rare acoustic show we're doing at the home of Media Creature Music, who represent our music to the film & TV industries. They're throwing a party, so we're gonna play a few jams. And we might preview a new song, too! Here's the invitation.
Saturday, May 1 -- show starts at 8pm
Media Creature Music
6121 Santa Monica Blvd.
Studio A
Los Angeles, CA 90038
323.468.8888
It's free, plus free food & drinks -- how can you beat that???
Come by and say hi!
Much to Jeff and I suprise the rap was well done, classy. Apparently Wayne's incessant singing "are ready for this jelly?" paid off. He sounded a lot like B-Rad from "The 'Bu."
We did have to put our foot down last night though when laying down his vocals to Don't Mess With The Money and he started to scat over the Flock of Seagulls guitar line. Wayne is a great singer but he is no Bobby McFerrin.
So we have 3 songs with lead vocals done. We are starting number 4 tonight.
thanks,
c
I showed off some rapping skills the other night on a song called "Blow It (Away)".
Y'all knew it was just a matter of time for me. Ever since the corporate rock station KROQ cut Rodney's time and therefore quit playing good music (around 1994), I started tuning in to a couple of the up-and-coming (at that time, now behemoth) hip-hop/R&B stations whenever I was in the car.
The clear result of this influence is my undeniable ability to rap.
So I started going to all the hip-hop clubs in L.A., showed off some skillz, won a few contests, and decided it was my time to share my rhyming and riffing abilities with Lassie Lovers around the world.
It's clear that my gangsta chops is tight--just listen to the new track when it drops this summer. You gonna hear some crazy shit.
OK. Well, maybe it's not a rap. And I don't have any rapping skills whatsoever.
But my interest in hip-hop is genuine, in part because it's definitely the most interesting music on the radio right now.
I guess I got a little carried away because of a certain section of Blow It in which the cadence gets a little quick.
Sorry for the fantasy sequence.
Now, there's another song that's got a real Isley Brothers moment...
Rock takes time. You can look at bands like Asia, Yes, Rush, and all those other cats who've written songs about time. But the bottom line is, like April Wine, we like to rock. And we're getting closer to the finish line.
Speaking of finish lines, I'm going to participate in a run called "Run Hit Wonder" in which bands play along a race route. A Flock of Seagulls, Tommy Tutone, and Devo, among others, are going to play during the run. I heard that the bands only play their one hit song the whole time. I thought Devo had more than one hit, though...In any case, it's gonna be a fun time.
Recording update:
Jeff finished his main guitars, and now we're working on the lead vocals. It's fun to hear the songs in a way that's close to what they'll actually sound like.
This record is going to be far more new wave that any of us thought.
And, to us, that's a good thing.
I just finished recording the guitar parts for the new record last night. I'm pretty excited about the sounds the Doc and I were able to come up with (but most of the praise must go to the Doc, as well as Paul Reynolds). I think we did a real good job of capturing the sound we heard in our heads. I have to say, I haven't had this much fun recording guitars in a long time.
For those who care, here's a rundown of all the guitar related gear used for the record:
Guitars: Blue Fender Telecaster, Black Fender Telecaster, Fender Stratocaster, Fender Jazzmaster.
Amps: Fender Bandmaster (Andy calls it the Bassman), Eric's 2X10 Laney
Pedals: Boss Compressor, Boss OD-1, Real Tube Distortion, Rat, DOD Reverb, Line 6 Delay, Turbo Rat, Smart People Factory Greenline Over Drive (sounds really, really good), Ibanez Chorus... I think that's it. Nothing too crazy. The key to the sound on this record is the Boss OD-1. Awesome fuckin' pedal!
While recording the guitar parts for this record I realized I'm going to have to buy some sort of multi-effects/programmable unit to be able to play this stuff live. I'd like to stay away from a rackmount device, so something that is a floor unit would be cool. The Doc mentioned the Boss GT-6. Any opinions or suggestions?