Progress!
Today Scott sent me the newly cut drum tracks that Eric played for us last month. I think we’re both officially re-fired-up about this project. SO EXCITED to be working and making progress again!!
By the way, Thursday’s writing efforts DID turn into a song. Maybe you’ll hear it soon….
Piano Tracks Done for “A Story to Tell”
Yesterday Scott and I recorded piano tracks for “A Story to Tell”, which is the newest addition to the album. I think I wrote it because I thought we needed a song with a title that could be a decent album title. I don’t have any songs that seem appropriate for an album title. Scott’s piano has been having a pretty serious squeaking pedal problem, but we managed to isolate the source and temporarily fixed it by me just playing it a little differently. It always makes me feel really good to have a good session with Scott. When someone I trust is psyched about what I’m playing or writing it makes me feel like I have a purpose.
We still have a lot to do on this project. A lot. But the quality of the work we’re doing it absolutely top notch. I’m really proud of what we’ve done. We’re going to go ahead and pitch the first two songs to see if we can any placements.
Rockstar fuel
Sick – Songwriting – and Upcoming Trip to Colorado
Every day that I don’t update this blog feels like a day I don’t water a plant. I feel really guilty that I have an unwatered plant and I’m afraid everyone is judging me by my inability to take care of it :-/ I’m long overdue for an update here and I promise, I will get better about it and there are in fact reasons why I have been absent.
I’ve had an on-going really awful cold since well before Thanksgiving. Last month I treated it like a sinus infection and took some antibiotics which got me feeling pretty good for a few weeks. Then at the beginning of January I had 8 days straight of a really terrible headache on the right side of my head before going into the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor who stuck a camera up my nose and found a solid mass of something sitting in a farther back sinus cavity. Now I’m back on antibiotics (stronger ones), and a slew of other things to help me feel better. It’s starting to work, but the last 2 weeks I have been sleeping a LOT, having nightmares, and not moving around much in general. It hasn’t been much fun. Also – I can’t have sweets throughout this process which is driving me crazy. All I want is something to dunk in my coffee.
Last month Scott and I had a talk about the progress of this album. He and I are both feeling frustrated that this is taking us longer than we’d like, but at the same time, the quality of music we are producing is something we’re both really excited about and proud of. My biggest fear is that he’ll think that I’m not working hard enough or giving as much as I can to this project, when in fact, it’s all that I think about. If I didn’t have to have a job in order to pay rent/bills/food, I’d be working even more. Luckily (and very unluckily) for me, there hasn’t been any work for me at all these first 2 weeks of January, which means I’ve been able to write most days. I know very well that the only thing in between now and our next drum session is me just WRITING a little bit more. Every free day I have I’ve been going into the studio to sit and write. Everyday I write 2-3 songs that I only sort of like and will end up never ever playing again.
It occurred to me that if I never play any of these songs again, not even for Scott, he may start to get frustrated with me and think I’m incapable of writing good songs quickly. One night I decided I’d let him hear what I had been working on before I wrapped up, went home, and forgot all about the songs I had written that day. My exact words to him were “You want to come in here and listen to these songs before I loose my nerve?” He came in and I started playing the first song for him. As soon as I started playing, I regretted it. I was suddenly aware of how mediocre my songwriting was and how embarrassed I was for sharing something like this. I started to brace myself for the inevitable “yeah…. it’s not your best” sort of comments that would surely follow, but to my surprise, when I finished the song he said that he really liked it! The next song too! He said that he thought that both had a spot on the album and to just finish them up!! Is it possible that I’m being terribly hard on myself? It feels as though every piece of constructive criticism I’ve ever received about my songwriting has stuck with me and sucks a lot of the confidence out of this art. “Fuck em” is what Scott told me when I admitted this to him one evening. He thinks my songs are great which means a lot of other people will too. The bottom line is that I just need to keep writing.
Yesterday I wrote myself into tears. All I needed were three lines to finish this song and in 3 hours of writing I didn’t come up with one. I became annoyed with every note and every chord that I played, realizing that I was sick of EVERY progression and melody. Nothing sounded exciting or new. It all sounded the same and boring and unoriginal. I’ve never had a writing session turn me into a tear factory – at least when I wasn’t actually writing anything.
I think I need a change of pace. I need to go out and do something different, at least for a day or two. I’ve been laid up and sick for most of the past 2 months, unable to run (or do any physical activity) for more than 30 minutes at a time without getting a terrible headache, not able to go on fun long run adventures with my running friends, I don’t have time to train for any races, my decrease in physical activity combined with the repetitiveness of every day feeling sick, moving slow, and then attempting to write meaningful lyrics isn’t adding up at the moment. I need to find a way to inspire myself, get out of the house, and get my blood moving in a fresh direction.
This week I am traveling to Colorado for a few shows. I’m excited to play out there, see my family and also hope that this will serve as a good enough shock to my system to get my creativity rolling again. Now that I’m getting healthier, I may be able to do a pretty Colorado trail run. Or maybe just the lack of oxygen will alter my thinking enough to come up with something new 
Recording! Woop!
In addition to racing 31 miles in the desert, the past few weeks have also been a flurry of getting this EP recorded. I’ve written about this before that my very talented friend Corey Schreppel has been helping me pull this together. He recorded some really fantastic drum tracks a couple weeks ago and since then, we’ve been piecing the songs together one little bit at a time.
Dave Stephens (he and Corey both play in Captain Pablo) has been putting bass down from Germany while my college roommate and fantastic recording engineer Adam Comstock have been recording vocals in Santa Monica.
Right now I am in Colorado visiting my family for the holidays. While I am here, my buddy Jeremy Lawton (he’s done more than I can list here, but is currently in Big Head Todd and the Monsters) is putting some lap steel and other stuff to fill it out a little.
I’d like to get my cousin Jim to put some guitars on it, but I’m not so sure he’ll have time.
During my visit home, I’ve been playing the rough mixes of just me, drums, and bass for my Mom and she likes it which actually says a lot. There is no bigger fan nor bigger critic than any member of your family. As a response to Corey’s drumming she said, “If I didn’t have a bias against drummers, I’d tell you to marry him.”
Time for some last minute Christmas shopping. Happy Holidays.
