Yes sportsfans, my work in the studio is done.  All my bass parts and vocal duties for the new onslaught of songs is complete.  And I have to say with the utmost in humility that I completely rock.  It's true...and once you hear the new songs you will have no choice but to agree with me.  This CD will cement my place at the upper echelon of metal front-men.  Soon my name will be mentioned in the same sentences with Ozzy, Dio, Hetfield, and Halford minus the gay part.  In fact, I have a feeling that people will only mention my name when talking about Lemmy from Motorhead.  Yes, I kicked THAT much ass.  Again, once the new CD is available you'll see what I'm talking about.  Ok, ok...enough with the ego trip, but I do have to say that this CD is going to kick so much ass that modern equipment won't be able to measure the amount of ass that gets kicked when people are listening to it.  I was pretty reserved about some of the tunes until we started recording them.  Once I was able to sit back and listen to them, piece some things together, all that kind of stuff...I can say this CD will completely blow away the other two.  This one could definitely be our "Master of Puppets".  It doesn't mean we've peaked...it means that this CD will set a new standard.  Yes, we will be a measuring stick after this CD is out.  There I go again...hahaha.

I'll say this - I have never had as much fun recording as I did over the last few days.  I'm A.D.D. guy to the max and bore beyond belief if I'm not constantly entertained.  So the last few times I was in the studio, I would be "yeah that's fine, let's finish up" and not do things right.  This time it was different.  I brought a laptop with me so I could get online and watch movies during the down time.  In fact, I would set it up with Pride Fighting DVD's that I could watch while manning the board as Matt and Don recorded the drum tracks and a rough guitar line.  Matt is not only the drummer, but studio guy extraordinary.  After all, it's what he does for a living.  So while he was doing the drum parts I was in the control room basically pushing a few buttons and doing a scratch vocal line so they would know where they were in the song.  Oh, and my scratch vocals were like a William Shatner dramatic reading.  I didn't want to blow my voice out, so I would just sit there and read the lyrics into a mic.  Listening to the playback was pretty funny, and thankfully some of it made it onto the video stuff we were shooting.  So there I was in the control room reading lyrics while watching martial arts DVD's.  But to start things off for the whole session, I brought a special movie to get us all in the mood.  I consider "Team America - World Police" the funniest movie I've ever seen.  The one I brought is the second funniest I've ever seen - "Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny".  Why is it so funny?  Because I'm basically Jack Black when it comes to rock.  For example, if you've seen "School of Rock", it's me.  A friend of mine told me I needed to see it because he told me watching Jack Black go on and on about rock while he was a teacher was exactly like listening to me when I'd talk about bands and music.  "Pick of Destiny" is right up my alley.  Why?  Because it's a goofy story of a guy searching for the ultimate way to rock!  When I first watched it and the poster of Dio comes to life singing to the kid about rock, I was already laughing so hard I was about to cry.  The scene that really cracks me up is when JB is having the dream about playing at the open mic club, and they play a song called "Master Exploder".  It makes me laugh so much because that scene is the type of thing I would daydream about when I was about 12 while listening to AC/DC or Sabbath lying in bed with headphones on, yet at the age of 38 there's a part of me that still feels that way...hahaha.  The absurdity of how serious they view rock makes me laugh beyond belief because as ridiculous as it is, I can't help but identify.  So I put the DVD in and we watched the scene where they play "Master Exploder" before we got started, and it set the tone for me.  Man I love that movie.

Now why am I so awesome?  Let me tell you why.  There were a couple of songs we did that I have never practiced vocals on due to the lack of time because of jobs and all that "normal" stuff us rockers have to content with.  The music was worked out, but I never had a chance to practice the vocals on three songs.  Guess what, I pretty much nailed them the first time through.  Oh yeah, I completely rock!  I knew the music enough to have an idea of what I wanted to do and was able to pull it off.  I don't consider myself a singer at all, so it's weird worrying about notes and pitch.  Now two of the songs I had only heard the music all the way through maybe twice, so I was interested to see how what I was going to do would work, and oh yes, it worked.  The third tune I hadn't really practiced vocals on was actually a tune I wrote.  I had a tune called "Coward" that I did all the music and lyrics for, but when we practiced it one night the lyrics just didn't fit.  Don had some he wrote called "Pretty When You Bleed" that he said would work, so I tried those, and I think it's going to come out pretty cool.  The only bad part about it was last night I was in the mood to do the song, but wasn't going to be screaming as much as I usually do, and the mic we needed was locked up.  It was late at night and we couldn't reach the studio owner, so we tried a different mic.  It didn't work sadly, so I cut the vocals today using the mic we wanted last night.  It was weird.  I don't want to sound like some pompous artists where I need to "feel the music", but I was in the mood to do that song.  The reason was, it was late at night and I had a drink or two in me so I was relaxed and felt like jamming.  And that song is definitely a jam tune.  Take Danzig's "Bodies" and mix it with Circus of Power's "Vices"...throw in the story of a vampire with some goth hottie and there you go.  This is the tune I hope Fairuza Balk hears and pictures me as the guy she can't live without...hahaha.  So today before I cut the vocal track I needed some inspiration for the mood.  I got on the internet and pulled up a picture that had me going "sigh" for several minutes before Matt ordered me into the vocal booth...haha.  What was the picture?  Here you go -

I absolutely adore her.  Now I'm not much into the whole typical goth look...sometimes I dig it...but she has it in a way where she isn't trying to look goth yet she does while not trying to, you know what I mean?  Her eyes are absolutely hypnotic, and her voice just sounds so sweet yet devious at the same time.  Hopefully when the CD is done she'll somehow hear the track and realize that I'm the man for her...haha.  Ahhh...sweet Fairuza....ok...back to reality.

Other tracks we have include "Disciples of War"...which is weird after watching the movie "300" because the lyrics describe the battle so well even though they were written well before the movie came out.  Also, "Just Another Blackout" is a full-on Motorhead sounding punk tune.  Then there's "Blood Worm" and "Wasting My Time"...both of which are about evil women.  I guess all the experiences Don and I have had in our dating lives has paid off...hahahaha.  "Blood Worm" is about an evil woman sucking the life out of you and "Wasting My Time" is one I wrote which is a summary of me being the guy that gets stuck in situations where I date a girl who's sorting through the past issues of other relationships.  It felt GREAT screaming the vocals out for that one seeing how I find myself in that position time and time again.  The other songs are about the end of the world or escaping life through the power of rock!  "Gates of Eternity" and "Into The Never" fit the bill for those.  I really think when this CD is done that there won't be a weak song on it...nothing where someone will be listening and go "yeah, I'll skip this one".  I thought the last one varied in style from song to song...this one is all over the spectrum of metal and punk, yet all have the same vibe.

So there you go...a quick update on the latest in my world.  There is MUCH more I'd like to get into tonight, but it's very late and I'm very tired.  Until next time sportsfans!