Music•Noise•Art

I am presently enjoying a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, recommended by my musical comrade, Rob Price. Rob is a wicked guitar player and beer aficionado, amongst other fine things in life. As to the Double Chocolate – it is hard to only sip. In fact, I admit to taking several large gulps.

But I digress. The past few days have been a whirlwind of recording – a great way to spend time and usually rather rewarding, but sometimes trying and difficult. The fact that seemingly no one wants to pay for the finished fruit of the recording arts anymore doesn’t necessarily hinder the process, but it does threaten to render it an expensive hobby. Thankfully, these sessions were either free or very affordable!

The first session was with my pal Pat Spurgeon over at his fine rehearsal/recording space in Oakland. We tracked three tunes (two of mine + a cover), assisted by Brandon Essex on standup bass. Though Pat’s band Rogue Wave is off the road for an extended time, he keeps plenty busy with music projects. He and Jim Granato are completing a film about his recent kidney dialysis/replacement saga, D-Tour. Here’s the promo clip

D Tour Trailer from dtour on Vimeo.

The next session was with frequent collaborator Suki O’Kane and a musician/engineer/producer friend from England, Inky Blackness. Ink’s got quite an interesting musical history and is currently working on a cool project, Magnetic North with Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit. Inky heard the live version of OD Loop on Myspace and agreed to have a stab at mixing it, but it first needed to become a proper multi-track affair. Turns out Ink was in LA working, so he came up to Oakland and we all headed into New Improved Studio here in Oakland to lay down the basics on drums and guitar.

Last but not least, it was a live band tracking session with Joe Rut and his Super Burrito (con queso) over at Expressions College for Digital Arts. Joe is a wonderful songwriter, singer and guitar player and it’s always great to riff with him. And the band! The band also includes great players Dave Jess on bass, Bernie Jungle on homemade trap kit, Shirley and Jason Kleinberg on fiddle. We don’t get a chance to play together often enough, but when we do, it always has a great vibe. This was no exception. Despite quite a few studio glitches we finally got around to tracking five tunes, totally live and organic – the best way of working!!