Usually doesn't get this cold in Austin until February, and this is the coldest its been in the 2 years I've lived at the Hobbit Hole. My pipes are currently frozen and have been so all day. But had plenty of bottled water to make coffee so that was good.
Some really cool things happened soon after my arrival back in town from Thanksgiving.
Had to sign a bunch of paperwork via scan/email as ETB was hired to be on the NBC show Revolution, and the scene called for a 4th band member and a song to be recorded. So I was added on as 2nd guitar player. Awesome!
Got back into town on Monday long enough to unpack, take a nap, then head to Arlyn Studios to record an acoustic rendition of "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. Hell yeah! What we concocted was this weird crazy acoustic jug band reinterpretation of it. Just, wow.
Got there early with Eric to do guitars. He used his Harmony (?) acoustic electric, I messed around with another old acoustic until Gian arrived with another Harmony elec/acoustic. Half the strings would fret out but it was perfect for the vibe of the track.
Gian used a wash tub bass he and Eric built early that afternoon. It sounded great, and he learned how to play it while he was tracking.
By the time Rob arrived, flying in from family gathering in LA, percussion was ready to go. So he did one track hitting an old 28" kick drum with a mallet, another with him hitting an old ammunition crate with his shoe, and a third snare drum track.
Then Rob, Gian and I added gang vocals and harmonies to Eric's main vocal track
Wish I could post the rough mix cause it is pretty damn awesome. That was fun and glad I was able to be a part of it \m/,
Tuesday and Wednesday were originally slated to be on set shooting for the show. Tues was going to be with Brett Michaels, us backing him acoustic and doing Every Rose Has Its Thorn and probably a few others. But that fell through, as scene re-written to be him solo. Wednesday was slated for ETB to be preforming Ring of Fire. But that was re-written as well and nixed. Well shit.
Either or both would have been cool. Apparently the show is still using the song so that's awesome as well.
Tuesday night I was planning on hitting the Ortiz Brothers jam, but decided against it as at the time I thought shooting for next two days was a go and wanted to be rested for that. So relegated to get into my pajamas and at least play some guitar at the house. Or that was the plan.
There's a spot on my wrist that is a problem from time to time, and seems I aggravated it Monday night recording, playing an acoustic I've never played before, and picking very close to the bridge for the distinctive sound. Was in prep to play some guitar, closing the windows for the benefit of my neighbors, when it screamed to life as I locked a window lock. Shit.
Needless to say I didn't play. Put my wrist in a brace as a precaution and started taking ibuprofin. Still have recording on bass with Dead Oak coming up, not to mention possible gigs for the weekend... Decided to maybe take the weekend off if possible, plus the weather was going to be shit.
So come Thursday, Dead Oak recording had already been rescheduled a few times, when 9pm that night is settled upon instead of early-ish on Friday.
That afternoon Deann Rene (rock singer/songwriter) got in touch asking about a gig we'd talk about me playing bass for on Dec 27th, and if I was available tonight to come by and rehearse. Yes, I was!
So settled on 6:30 as I could spend some time with her band before heading to record with Dead Oak. Checked out the drop box link she'd sent and played along to a few tunes. Wrist felt OK to play, even wearing the brace. That was good.
Met up at Karl the guitar player's home and played with him, Deann and drummer Ric Furley (my good friend and Ocean of Stars/Rick Hornyak bandmate) for several hours, as Dead Oak was pushed back til Friday eve. Was fun playing with them and sounded great! Looks like I'll be playing shows with Deann now \m/,
Friday rolls around, as has the cold. No gigs for the weekend (unless something falls into my lap), kinda happy about that cause holy shitballs it's fucking cold!
Drive to Kirk's new place in SW Austin, which he's been investing in recording gear. Walk into his place, and his good friend J Yeunger (White Zombie guitarist) is there to engineer! Awesome!
(And shit, maybe I should have done more prep work... heh!)
But the set up they had going at Kirk's place was legit as fuck, and it was a very easy one song session, laying down bass for a track called "Dance of the Elves." Silly name, but seriously rocking song.
Plugged straight into a DI setup they had, no amp needed and no problems with neighbors calling the cops, heh. Ran through it for three takes and pretty much nailed it on the third. Only thing we went back to change was adding my bass wah on the closing chord \m/,
What a blast. Probably spent more time afterwards hanging out with Kirk and J than I did actually tracking the song. Can't wait to hear it.
Today doing what I can to stay home (never made it above 32 degrees today), tho will have to venture out for water at some point, coffee creamer too. Hoping tomorrow my pipes will thaw out undamaged (all PVC and all outside, and easily replaceable), COLDPOCALYPSE 2013!!!
Other things in the works are an Adrian and the Sickness tour in February and more Thunderosa dates for January.
And lots of things going on the deserve their own post. More to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment