Bavarian Studio Session

Let's see.  How do I go about describing what was 'Schnauzer Studios'?  A lot of laughs - but also a lot of productivity.  And food,  including home made salsa and 'old fashioned' potato chips.  

If you're familiar with South Park, you will understand why there's a random picture of the chip bag.  Ahem.... Moving forward.

So Mike was able to record drums days before this session so that Ken and I could lay down some tracks last night.  Our first foray into tracking for this project.  Exciting stuff!   

Ken only needed a few takes to get the acoustic guitar parts down.  I needed a few extra to get the electric guitar bits laid down.  

Due to some technical difficulties with an auto-envelope DOD pedal, I resorted to having to manually 'wha' the parts with a very stellar VOX wha.   Up strum string attack instead of the traditional down strum really helped bring out the brightness I was seeking.

Bass was recorded last.  Bizarre as per usual - its normally recorded after the drums.  I was hesitant as I really didn't know what this song called for with respects to the bottom end.   The vibe of the room was good and I accidentally on purpose started messing with notes within scale this song was written and came up with something I was pretty happy with.  Was able to pull this off for all 3 sections of the song.

We'll shall see what magic Mike can we've with his mad pro tools skillz.

#Tbay lunch walkies

A co-worker and I have made a habit of walking to the Bay St. Area at lunch once a week.  We find it really helps the creative process to disconnect from all the technology we work with every day - we are Systems Administrators. 

We try to vary the walk and get perspectives on the neighborhoods and see what new developments are occurring.  Thunder Bay is in a state of transition - its turning over a new leaf - but only by walking can you really see the subtle changes.  

Eventually it will explode and will be very apparent.

Today's walk took us down Red River by the new Law School.  It is possibly one of the most stunning buildings in the city.  There's a mock up of the interior court house simulation on a billboard.  I'm sure it could double as film set when not in use.

Down Algoma and over to Bay Street we went, eyeing up all the residents that have been spruced up, and sadly many that have not tried.  If only I had some extra money to throw around and develop some of these run down buildings. But that's a rant for another day.

Some other sightings included a protest in front of a fairly prominent food place, a cheery fellow in Leafs attire busking outside the Hoito, a residential apartment undergoing some serious renovations and the backside of Hill Crest park.

Idea for a Screen Play

So I had this incredible vivid dream the other night and figured I'd jot it down to reference sometime in the future to see if I'm some sort of prophet.

Here goes:

I'm at the strip mall near the beer the store on Red River involved in some sort of Boot Camp exercise training.  From this vantage point I can see the harbor while in the midst of doing some jumping jacks.

A defining explosion occurs and as I gather my senses I look towards the water and a volcano has just emerged from the depths of Lake Superior - spewing an ash cloud that instantly darkens the sky.

Those around me profess this as a doomsday event and the world is about to end.  For an instance I consider this, than in another I'm in my vehicle racing down the free way that hugs the coastline of the lake.

This roadway which is similar to that of Toronto's Gardner Expressway is the 'old Water Street'.  Traffic comes to a halt.  An accident up ahead has frozen traffic.  People are wondering the road in a panic.

I'm stuck behind a transport that is hauling one the giant propeller blades from a wind turbine.

Everything is getting darker as the ash clouds thicken and block out the sun....

More Studios

A week later after thinking we had everything charted out properly, Mike had done some drum takes over the weekend only to discover that the charts were incorrect.  Sometimes things like this are good.  It gave us the opportunity to re-jig the song.

Drawing on all our influences and experience - we were able to look at the chart and figure out what was wrong and what was missing.  This was indeed a 'happy accident' as we allowed for some real pockets of creativity to be planted into the song, as well as a pretty catch riff to marry to the vocals during the parts of the song that repeat itself.

Of course a little Lighthouse Merlot does help with the creative process - and gouda of course.  We like to keep it classy in the studio - all credit to Michael.

This weekend, Ken and I hope Michael will get the new drum takes done and we hope to start building on top of what should be a very strong foundation of a song.

If we could only just put  our day jobs on hold for 2 weeks to finalize our songs and get all the tracking done - that'd be awesome. Ah the toil of part time musicians.

Leafs Epic Collapse

Had the Bruins brought their 'A' game from the start - Leafs would've been lucky to win a single game in this series.  And that still would've been a success for this season.

We got our hopes up because Boston was Jekyll and hide. When the Bruins decided to play, they steam rolled us. Plain and simple - the Leafs weren't good enough. And that's al-right.  We knew that going in.

Had we won last nite - I'm afraid we'd be setting ourselves up for another repeat of 1993.  The Leafs played better than expected and got on a roll.  We suffered for over a decade with mediocrity and the insanity of believing that team was that good.  They weren't. They still need a few key pieces to make them great. But that '93 run made people think otherwise.

I'm glad the Bruins put us in our place. You can't teach what they learned last night.

Now we know officially where we stand and what needs to be changed in the off season.

Mark my words - when the Leafs become great - they'll have this 'epic collapse' as the reason they became great - because you know they will never let it happen again.

The Bruins lost a 3-0 lead against Philly in 2010. They won the cup the following year.

Another Productive Session

After some hilarious chit chat and banter, we got down to work and worked on a song that was close to be finalized in the last session.

We were stuck - the chord progression was catchy as hell, but was missing something.

We decided to change up the drum pattern and make it a bit more loose and not so rigid.  Success.  Altering the drums changed the entire feel of the song and put a real nice groove to it.

We jammed it out quite a bit and decided on the form of the song.  It was simple.  Once the groove of the song was established - it literally wrote itself.  Even the voice melody was pretty much there.

This may be the first song we track.

Tracking I think will be up just around the corner.  Mike's got some tech stuff to finalize with Mics and pre-amps for the drums.  So close to getting all these idea's out of the ether and onto some tangible listening.

Have you ever put the Cart before the Horse when it comes to music?

When was the last time you've seen a musical act without knowing the material they were to preform?  Rarely do I have this experience, but when I do there's something magical about it.

Let me explain.

I'm a big fan of Diana Krall. - have been since her 1999 album "When I look Into Your Eyes".  A concert of hers has always been at the top of my 'bucket list' .  By the time her "Look of Love" album came out she became world renown.

I always thought it near impossible to see her perform. 

But then one night - really late one night, I was scrolling through my Twitter timeline and was gobsmacked to see a concert announcement for Krall at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium.  I'm rarely an impulse buyer, but there I was at almost 4am throwing my credit card info at the computer as quickly as possible to get two seats.

Months later, there I was - in the thick of it.  The TBCA was jam packed.  The vibe of the house was buzzing in anticipation to the point of being electric.  Was Diana Krall really in Thunder Bay?

So now a confession I must make at this moment - I didn't know Krall had a new album out.

I had two months before the concert and I was torn with a dilemma  Do I simply purchase the new album, listen , evaluate and get excited to hear it played live? Or do I go in blind? Intentionally?

Intentionally was the decision. And here is why:

When I was tween, my favorite hangout was Crocks n Rolls. It was the 'alternative music club' back in the 90's.  Almost any night there was a band playing.  Many a night it was someone I had never heard of.  Many a night I would purchase a CD.  The magic being that when I listened to that CD, the live performance was automatically the visual in my head.  Almost the reverse of how a soundtrack works.

If I hear a song from one of those bands from way back when, the magic is  - I'm transported back to Crocks n Rolls.  Flashes of memories flood back with the music and I can see the band preforming. I can remember if they had a crazy lights show, or weird stage props, or if there was a mosh pit.

It is for that reason I went in blind to see Diana Krall back in February.

As I write this, I'm listening to that album.  The vivid imagery is flooding parts of my brain.

I can remember the snow falling in the parking lot. I can remember the stage lit and decorated in all its vaudeville glory.  Steve Buschemi on the film screen doing the introduction.  Diana Krall taking a break in the performance to take 3 audience requests. The third was mine (East of the Sun).  She heard me and played East of the Sun. For me.

It was a truly special concert performance me.  A bucket list item checked off the list.

Now every time I listen to this album, these are the memories that are triggered.

That is the power and magic of music. It is a sense. And when you engage your senses to the fullest and are present in the moment, those memories are married to the music.

After that - all it takes is a sound clip to retrieve it.  Even many many years later.

It will be comforting when I'm old and grey to be able to recall my entire life with the simplicity of playing a bit of music from my past. 

I know I won't forget that special performance that one snowy night in Thunder Bay.

Ever.