Sorry the blog has been a little neglected lately. I've been equally wrapped up in working to finish out the lyrics for the record and adjusting to being back, which usually involves some overcompensation of social activities. Neither of those make for good bloggin'.
Mr. Walla will arrive on Thursday. Norm and I are both in a Gateway Medical Research study that gets out Friday morning. Aaron has 5 songs to sing, and at this point 3 of them have been completed. Chris sent us all of the instrumental mixes thus far, and they sound great. Between the accident and the readjustment to being home and the stress of finishing it up, i've kind of forgotten that we're making a record that i'm completely excited about and proud of.
in other news:
-I have 2 recording-in-our-basement jobs coming up after the record, which is something i've been wanting to do for a while but just got the confidence/skills to feel comfortable with it. One is for my friend Steven Colbert (pronounced Col-bert and not Col-bear) and his solo folk project and one is for a young band named Torchlight Red. Both will be fun.
-Travis Morrison put his whole new album online to stream at his website. It's really pretty good, and it may throw off my theory that he's advanced. "You Make Me Feel Like a Freak" is my jam.
-I was hanging out with my lady last night and her roommates, and we invented "Shark Week, the Drinking Game". The rules are simple: when somebody says the word "shark" you take a drink. We had to stop for our own health after a few minutes, but after all, it IS Shark Week.
-My friend Phil, aka. lead guitar #1 in Thor Axe, and his roommates have a weekly gig at Annie's frozen custard in Edwardsville playing reggae for 2 hours. Hilarity.
That is all for now. We'll try to snap a bunch of pictures while Chris is in town this weekend so we have something to put up. We're so so so close.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
3 days later
So the van thing happened. That was weird. It looks like State Farm Insurance is pretty much taking care of us, so as far as we know we'll be cool. Luckily, we won't be doing anything that requires a van for a while. I didn't go to a doctor because, other than being a little sore still, i feel alright. I can't say the same for Aaron and Norm, who are both having some pack pains. They were in the front seats and got a little more roughed up than Griff and I did. I just got a scraped up right lovehandle.
It's Thursday now and Chris will be out here in a week to finish up the vocals and basically finish up the record. We got the first draft of a completed song in our email box, and it sounds phenomenal. The song will be the last one on the record, and it's the one that this, this, and this were all constructed for. It has a very unfortunate working title of "IMDB" (long story), which needs to change soon.
Speaking of which, the working titles of the songs we have left to record are:
-If you didn't want to know (titled that because it is the first line of chorus)
-Tell me everything you know (see above)
-5/4 (bet you can't guess why this is the working title)
-new song 1 (because it is the first new song we wrote while we were there)
-new song 2 (bet you can't guess why this is the working title)
Okay, so we have been dropping the ball on the working titles, but for Flashlights the working title to "In Our Sleep" was "groove jam" and it does NOT get any worse than that.
It's Thursday now and Chris will be out here in a week to finish up the vocals and basically finish up the record. We got the first draft of a completed song in our email box, and it sounds phenomenal. The song will be the last one on the record, and it's the one that this, this, and this were all constructed for. It has a very unfortunate working title of "IMDB" (long story), which needs to change soon.
Speaking of which, the working titles of the songs we have left to record are:
-If you didn't want to know (titled that because it is the first line of chorus)
-Tell me everything you know (see above)
-5/4 (bet you can't guess why this is the working title)
-new song 1 (because it is the first new song we wrote while we were there)
-new song 2 (bet you can't guess why this is the working title)
Okay, so we have been dropping the ball on the working titles, but for Flashlights the working title to "In Our Sleep" was "groove jam" and it does NOT get any worse than that.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
We're so lucky
The last thing Aaron and I saw before the right side of the van hit the pavement of oncoming traffic was an unmistakably bright red semi coming our way. I was absolutely certain in the next moment was going to be my/our last. It wasn't until Ryan (who was now half against the dashboard/ half against the front seats) asked if everyone was ok when I realized that we were once again upright, across the highway, and safe.
Aaron did so well handling the blowout. Last night before falling asleep all I could do was imagine what it would feel like to be behind the wheel making the split second decisions that ultimately determined everything. Just envisioning that thought alone was terrifying enough for me. I'm so proud of Aaron. I'm so fortunate. My 3 best friends are ok.
Norm
Aaron did so well handling the blowout. Last night before falling asleep all I could do was imagine what it would feel like to be behind the wheel making the split second decisions that ultimately determined everything. Just envisioning that thought alone was terrifying enough for me. I'm so proud of Aaron. I'm so fortunate. My 3 best friends are ok.
Norm
Monday, July 23, 2007
you know when you have one of those days where something happens to you and you consider it a new chapter in life? starting tomorrow, i can begin using the phrase, "oh, that was after i flipped our van over."
like the other three, i still can't believe we made it out as easily as we did.
thanks, everyone for your concern.
like the other three, i still can't believe we made it out as easily as we did.
thanks, everyone for your concern.
The next one will be our fourth van
I am alive.
Tomorrow I will be home.
Right now the other dudes are watching Arrested Development in the other room.
I am going to join them shortly.
I can't believe how lucky we are to be alive.
Tomorrow I will be home.
Right now the other dudes are watching Arrested Development in the other room.
I am going to join them shortly.
I can't believe how lucky we are to be alive.
We just totaled our van
We left Chris Walla's house at 1 PM on Sunday and started the 29 hour drive from Portland, OR to Edwardsville, IL to come home from recording. At about 5:15 on 80 East near Beaver Crossing, NE our back right tire exploded. Aaron was driving, Norm was in the front seat, and Griffin and I were laying down on the bench seats. I woke up when the tire blew. We were going 80 in a 75, totally with the flow of traffic, and at that speed Aaron had a hard time controlling the vehicle after the blow-out.
We drove across the median towards oncoming traffic, and as soon as we hit the westbound part of the highway the van flipped over. We did a complete flip and luckily landed right back on our wheels and drove into the grass on the other side of the highway. 5 of the 9 windows broke, and the top is dented to shit. Our van is completely totaled, and will be living in a junkyard in York, NE until it eventually turns into a tightly compacted box.
THIS SUCKS, BUT IT COULD BE A LOT WORSE AND HERE IS WHY:
-Nobody was hurt. NOBODY. A few cuts here and there and a little scraping but really nothing. For an 80 mile-per-hour big van flipping over, that's amazing. When we eventually stopped, everybody was pretty much where they were in the van before the blowout.
-The folks that were behind us when we blew out followed us to make sure we were okay and informed us that we were just a few feet from an oncoming truck when we flipped over the other lane.
-All of our equipment is fine. Our van is insured. It's just stuff, who gives a shit.
-We were near Lincoln, NE where we have friends. Our pal Kim and Al, the father of Darren Keen (aka. The Show is the Rainbow) came and picked us up and our equipment. My dad will be coming out here to take us home.
I can't believe that we survived this like we did. I was asleep until the tire blew, and i didn't have time to react. It's all pretty surreal and we're all pretty shaken and our bodies are starting to get sore and pissed off at us. We will be home tomorrow, and life will resume as normally as it can.
Griffin took some pretty great pictures of the van, and we'll put them up soon so you can see the carnage.
We drove across the median towards oncoming traffic, and as soon as we hit the westbound part of the highway the van flipped over. We did a complete flip and luckily landed right back on our wheels and drove into the grass on the other side of the highway. 5 of the 9 windows broke, and the top is dented to shit. Our van is completely totaled, and will be living in a junkyard in York, NE until it eventually turns into a tightly compacted box.
THIS SUCKS, BUT IT COULD BE A LOT WORSE AND HERE IS WHY:
-Nobody was hurt. NOBODY. A few cuts here and there and a little scraping but really nothing. For an 80 mile-per-hour big van flipping over, that's amazing. When we eventually stopped, everybody was pretty much where they were in the van before the blowout.
-The folks that were behind us when we blew out followed us to make sure we were okay and informed us that we were just a few feet from an oncoming truck when we flipped over the other lane.
-All of our equipment is fine. Our van is insured. It's just stuff, who gives a shit.
-We were near Lincoln, NE where we have friends. Our pal Kim and Al, the father of Darren Keen (aka. The Show is the Rainbow) came and picked us up and our equipment. My dad will be coming out here to take us home.
I can't believe that we survived this like we did. I was asleep until the tire blew, and i didn't have time to react. It's all pretty surreal and we're all pretty shaken and our bodies are starting to get sore and pissed off at us. We will be home tomorrow, and life will resume as normally as it can.
Griffin took some pretty great pictures of the van, and we'll put them up soon so you can see the carnage.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Last Day in Portland!
Today is the final day of recording in Portland. Today is dedicated to group vocals, final percussion overdubs, and getting rough mixes of all the songs for recording vocals at our house in a few weeks. Points of interest:
-We broke early last night to go see Tegan and Sara. Chris and Rachel brought us, and i didn't know what to expect having never really heard them before, but i was VERY surprised and impressed. Their new record, which Chris did at the house right before doing ours, sounds great and I think I'm going to end up listening to it a whole lot. Tegan and Sara are both very kind people, and their band and crew just made us feel good. High fives all around.
-Robbie Skrocki came down for the day and is hanging out with us while we finish up at Chris's house. Always great to see him.
-The band Vampire Weekend is playing tonight and subsequently staying at Chris's place. I hope we get to meet them, since they're a good band and seem like good dudes as well.
-We are not prepared for the 36 hour drive we will be starting tomorrow morning.
-We kind of forgot about the So Many Dynamos blind karaoke for a while, but i think when we get home we'll put up a song and the lyrics and see what happens. Who's in?
-We broke early last night to go see Tegan and Sara. Chris and Rachel brought us, and i didn't know what to expect having never really heard them before, but i was VERY surprised and impressed. Their new record, which Chris did at the house right before doing ours, sounds great and I think I'm going to end up listening to it a whole lot. Tegan and Sara are both very kind people, and their band and crew just made us feel good. High fives all around.
-Robbie Skrocki came down for the day and is hanging out with us while we finish up at Chris's house. Always great to see him.
-The band Vampire Weekend is playing tonight and subsequently staying at Chris's place. I hope we get to meet them, since they're a good band and seem like good dudes as well.
-We are not prepared for the 36 hour drive we will be starting tomorrow morning.
-We kind of forgot about the So Many Dynamos blind karaoke for a while, but i think when we get home we'll put up a song and the lyrics and see what happens. Who's in?
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