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LP #2 Begins 

I decided to document this shit.  It took about 5 years plus to record the last record, with varying line ups and personel.  This time I'm doing the opposite.  There's a consistent band now, songs all worked out before going into the studio, and we're recording right where we practice, in my home.  This record will be the most organic thing I've recorded with a band. And instead of 5 years, this one will be mostly done in 5 days. 

So I decided to cement the memory here, as it happens. A live blug.  Enjoy.  - Brian

 

Day .5 - Friday

Paul and I set shit up. We bring his rig over. He finds a small desk up the street, on the street, sand bugs and organizms, we think, for his puter.  We sit out back and put off setting up, but make it fun, listen to Bob Lind’s “Since there were Circles” and early I See Hawks in LA.  Paul asks, "who plays bass on this record (the Bob record). It turns out to be the same bass player who played on the first Hawks record. The world suddenly gets real small. We set up. It looks good. He’s gotta go.  I decide to stay in and make popcorn and watch movies with my cat.  

 

Day 1 - Saturday

4:30 AM.  I have no idea why I’m awake. But I do that. This morning, I squander a few hours away watching “Parenthood” (the series), taking breaks, and enjoying the 4am dark with my old copy of the Cluster 71 record.  As I watch, I see an episode featuring the band, Happy Hollows.  It suddenly occurs to me, the first ever time I tried one of my own songs with a band was with them. We were at their rehearsal space, learning a Wall of Voodoo cover we were gonna record (Stan Ridgeway's practice space was next to theirs). I taught them a song I later recorded (but never released) called, The Nuclear Age. One of the first things I wrote with a band in mind (that wasn't The Movies).  I'd completely forgotten about this until this morning. Neato. 

Then I eat something, feed my cat Ron and decide to turn my keyboards on and start warming up for today -- our first recording session together as a band.  During one quiet part, I hear this … what sounded like a consistent but quiet thumping. A signal from my effect pedals or something. It wasn’t the delay pedal. It wasn't the other delay pedal. It wasn’t the chorus. It was none of it. It’s driving me nuts. We’re about to record and my little archaic ‘system’ decides to go haywire. This isn’t  happening. I check and mess with all the chords and cables, I turn my keyboard off and on.  Nothing stops it.  I turn everything but the amp off. It’s still there! I turn the amp off.  It doesn’t go away.  Now it’s getting weird. This is some Poltergeist shit. Then I realize that my stereo speaker, right next to my amp, is letting me know that my Cluster record has completed Side 1. The needle is bouncing up against the center record label on the record.  

This is off to a really good start. It's good I'm not a recording engineer. I should get some sleep.