| Wharfless memoirs. Monday 01/03/05 4:58 pm I officially started recording Wharfless today. I record acoustic guitar on three songs: Bail, Tycoon Safari and Need Someone. I did them to a click so I can record drums and stuff later. Don't wanna now. No sorry. Sunday 01/09/05 11:44 am The past two days have also seen lots of recording. I've been recording drums to Wharfless. I've got four songs drummed: Tycoon Safari, What Daze, Bail and Need Someone. It's hard recording to a click, but I think it turned out okay. Wednesday 01/12/05 9:51 pm I've been afraid to listen to what I've recorded for Wharfless so far, but I listened to the four songs I've worked on, and everything actually sounds really good. The drums actually sound good. So here's a roll call of what I'm recording as of now: New Times And Fire Road Wharfless Need Someone Bail What You've Done To Me What Daze Hold On To The Wolves When I Died Tried And True Millions Murdered Tycoon Safari Haggle Starlike Sunday 01/16/05 9:54 pm Tonight I recorded some hawt guitar to "What Daze" and "What You've Done To Me." So far, "What Daze" and "Bail" are the most developed, and nothing has bass yet, which should change soon. I want to get all the music done though before I even start vocals, because that needs to be the main focus of this album. I need complete commitment to the material, which means the vocals need to have SOUL and MAGIC. Which means I can't do it in my tiny apartment. With every CD I do, I make sure I do something different or focus on certain things a different way, and with Wharfless, it's all about real drums and strong vocals. The Albatross Project was about flawless production, bells and whistles, and catchiness. Crack House was about guitars and dense, modern production. Wharfless is not really about any of those things (except catchiness probably). Saturn Day 01/22/05 12:27 pm Alright, there hasn't been much goings on lately. I scrapped Wharfless, what I have of it so far. But I'm going to start over and take a different approach. I can wait to get this DONE because I've already started planning the next album about animals and war tactics. Saturn Day 01/22/05 8:39 pm Alright so now I WAS going to do Wharfless acoustic, but I think I wanna do it with total perfect production like The Albatross Project. Errrsh I don't know what to do. But Mark my words Mark, it will get done. The songs themselves are solid gold. And is here what the next album about animals and war tactics (let's call it Free Pigeon for now) would look like if I were to start it today: that's my bugle i can kill my enemies with my mind magma's burnin geology rock monolith unnecessary dairy get a job, hippie lost in a complex complex i own you going insane for the mccain campaign unload that truck Thursday 01/27/05 11:35 pm Tomorrow there's some hot MoHo practice. Hopefully some Wharfless recording too. I was flirting with the idea of doing it acoustic (lady!!), but I decided not to. I'm going to stay the course and make a sweet ass record with real drums, rock and rawl, straight up, plan a, y'all. Saturday 01/29/05 2:10 am Mondo Hollywood practice and recording today. I recorded a bunch of drums, and I started just miking them with one mic and I actually like that sound better. And it's easier too! I did drums to "Not For Good," "What You've Done To Me" and "New Times And Fire Road." But I might keep working on them more or something. I also recorded a wicked cover of "One" by U2. It was really hard to sing due to my cold and the fact that it's just a hard song to sing. But I really like how it came out. I did the drums, one guitar and the vocals at the Skidmore House, and the rest here. It's basically done, but I think I want to add a few more embellishments tomorrow. Monday 01/31/05 12:46 am I record bass to Wharfless songs. Mayhaw Hoons, the bass kind of goes slightly sharp on the E string. FYI bitch. Thursday 02/03/05 8:42 pm today i recorded lots of drums. A WHOLE BUNCH OF EM. 103 DRUMS. redid the tubs to "bail" and "need someone" and laid down hot jams on "millions murdered," "wharfless" and "hold on to the wolves." mayhaw is also finally resuming work on his third album. i left my computer over at jeff's so mayhaw can get shit done. and tomorrow i'm going to go record some more. i only have "the daylight" to do drums to now, although who knows if i'll have to do shit over again later. and then i'll not even be half done. USH. Friday 02/04/05 9:48 pm man i recorded like a mofo today! i went over to the skidmore house and took back my computer, jeff's bass and my guit amp. this afternoon i finished electricified blue flower telecaster guitar on many songs. and just this eve i recorded (re-recorded in some cases) bass on ALL of the songs. so i made a lot of progress today, mate. i still need to do drums on "the daylight" and, if i decide i wanna include it, "haggle." but without "haggle," wharfless is coming in at around 40 minutes it looks like. that's a good length. if i could get 45 though, i'd be fucking chuffed. and i should mention that it's coming out so awesome that i want to cry. my eyes actually welled up the first time i heard where "hold on to the wolves" kicks in with everything. holy gawd. nick sturdy called me last night to talk about doing the album cover for wharfless. he graduated from the graphic design thing at mhcc last year and he does cool things. i think he knows what he is doing. i was originally going to use the cover with the bunny, but i would definitely like something rad and different. he said he wants to do something involving the lyrics on the cover. we didn't really talk details. that comes later. but yeah it should be something rad and different!!!!!!!!!!!! Saturday 02/05/05 5:07 pm hot dog. i just recorded more electrified guitar instruments, except it wasn't all blue flower telecaster electrified guitar instrument this time. i used my dot (the red one) on "new times and fire road" in addition to the tele. that song is so gonna be the money song on the album. i think the music is all done for it, unless i wanna add keys. which i might (marimba anyone?). so far it sounds almost identical to the demo version, except the ending is a bit longer and there's an extra verse. i tried to replicate the sound of the original. AND I PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS. i also added hot guitar parts to "millions murdered" and "not for good." "not for good" sounds way different than the moho version so far. the only thing that's chapping my hide with the album now is that the drums aren't 100% perfect. i mean, that's kind of the point--to have non-machine humanism. but i'm sooo used to playing with perfect fake drums. i can tweak them though, and i'm sure they'll end up fine. Sunday 02/06/05 8:37 pm --recorded "need someone" rippin solo. for reference: i think my rippinest solo is on "banana seat." --i decided that a soft knee limiter compression is better for the drums i recorded than the multi-band compression. with the multi-band compression, the cymbals came to the front waaaay too much. really freaking interesting huh?! Thursday 02/10/05 6:30 pm Earlier this afternoon I recorded guitars on "The Daylight." I think I figured out a way to have real drums on it without actually recording them. We'll see if my producer man skillz are keen enough. If they are, then 99% of the music for Wharfless will be done, and vocals can then be attempted. Good. In other news, "Alex Arrowsmith Ain't Available For No Booty Call" will be a HIT on the next album. But hey, free twig. Saturday 02/12/05 2:17 am Today I did some more Wharfless recording. Just a thimble full. I was able to produce my way out of tackling drums on "The Daylight" so now all the music is basically done. Unless of course I have more ideas later on. But yeah the stage is set for vocals, which I think I'm going to record at Shanti's house per Mayhaw Hoons' suggestion. No one's living there right now so I could sing freely. Man in a house with no one to bother, I could REALLY go wild on my pipes. Before you know it, Wharfless will be a screamo indie rock hit. I'll have Isaac Brock over to sing on it, just so there's no doubt that I'm making the worst album ever. Sweet butt. And then after the vocals are done, it will probably take a month to fine tune and mix. Yeah I know, but I'm real anal about meaningless shit that no one else hears but me. I ate LOTS of guac today. Thursday 02/17/05 9:38 pm Today was awesome because: I (mostly) finished vocals to three Wharfless songs. I figured I'll just do the vocals here after all. That means three songs are pretty much done. I'll probably just do a few vocal fixes and editing here and there to polish them a bit more. I made a pact with myself though--no pitch correction. I used it pretty extensively on The Albatross Project just for a little extra polish (polish sassage?), but this one is all straight up vocal cords. Wharfless isn't as much of a shiny pop album as Albatross. The three songs I finished are Bail, Need Someone and What You've Done To Me. I posted a rough mix of What You've Done To Me so click to git yer first peak at Wharfless! Tuesday 02/22/05 12:32 am Earlier I recorded vocals to "The Daylight," essentially "finishing" it. I really like the sound. As you may recall, when I wrote it back in June, it was supposed to be a loose as a goose "sequel" to "Soldier Down," and I think its U2-esque delusions of grandeur are evident. (That's a good thing.) But it's also more subtle and less obvious than the two-chord wonder that is "Soldier Down." But yet "The Daylight" doesn't have the same accessible simplicity of "Soldier Down." SHIT I CAN'T WIN. Ok I'm going to stop over-analyzing my stupid songs now. Download it and hear for yourself. Again, remember that it's a rough mix and all and various fixes will surely be made before all is said and done. Wednesday 02/23/05 7:03 pm I woke up this morning after four hours of sleep with a real negative view on things. I hate that. Most of it faded after cleansing and a cup of coffee, but I can't shake this feeling about the songs. I kind of want to start Wharfless from scratch. I don't even like how these recordings are turning out. They're good as demos, but they don't have the MAGIC. Anyway, more on my artisty wishy washiness as it happens. Thursday 02/24/05 9:20 pm I recorded vocals to "Hold On To The Wolves" today. Friday 02/25/05 8:57 pm I did a lot of workin today on Wharfless. Oh and I like the songs again by the way. I did vocals to "Wharfless," "Not For Good," and I finished "New Times And Fire Road." I just took the gang vocals from the demo version and made them line up with the new version. It was easy. So now Matt Gowen, The Fern, T-bone, Osha, Jeff and Mayhaw are on the album. You'll get props dudes. It's way smackin. Friday 03/04/05 12:43 am I did some recording and um..."producing" today on Wharfless. I've been so unfocused and scatterbrained with this album. With The Brask, Crack House and The Albatross Project, I was fucking focused as a sea serpent and efficient as hell! I pretty much recorded all of the actual music and vocals to all of those CDs in one month. Not so with Wharfless. That means it will be better right?! Crazy wishy washy artists make better goods right? Baked goods at least right?! I finished "What Daze," one of the key thematic songs on the album. Saturday 03/05/05 12:48 am i have completed 99% of the recording for wharfless!! i did the vocals to FOUR songs today. it was in tents. so now i move into the fix and mix stage, where i really start to hate everything. so the actual cd should be done soon. "haggle" is pretty outrageous. i can't tell if it's a bitter song or not. "millions murdered" sounds kind of flaccid. i need to do cool stuff to it. Tuesday 03/08/05 11:25 pm I did the first draft of Wharfless. It's 43 minutes long at 13 tracks. I'm listening to it all the way through right now. It actually sounds pretty good! Friday 03/11/05 8:04 pm I went to the Rams Head for devouring animal products and hops products and to start my new book. I was freaking there for almost three hours. Jesus H Presley! I also accumulated a wicked craving for The Albatross Project, which I listened to hungrily on my return back home. My next album has to severely dwarf The Albatross, much like how The Albatross dwarfed The Brask. It's going to take some work, but I'm gonna do it. I really do think The Albatross is my best so far. Better than Wharfless, which I am so sick of. I can barely even spend any time mixing it. I'm feeling much fatigue about it. Boo hoo. Whatever, I'm sure I'll like it more in six months once I'm separated enough from it. Wednesday 04/13/05 1:34 pm Here's the Wharfless tracklisting: 1. New Times And Fire Road 2. Wharfless 3. Bail 4. The Daylight 5. Not For Good 6. What You've Done To Me 7. Hold On To The Wolves 8. Millions Murdered 9. When I Died 10. Need Someone 11. Tried And True 12. Haggle 13. What Daze Saturday 06/11/05 10:58 pm Wharfless is done! Like YOU CAN HOLD IT IN YOUR HANDS done. Get yours for freaking five bux! It looks rad thanks to Nicolas Sturdy's artwork. I'm pondering my next album still...MY FERN HURTS! HOMELAND |