NEW BLOG!

So I'm retiring this blog ONLY by address, all new entries will be posted in my new Tumblr (sorry Blogspot!) site which will act as the hub for my project that I have been talking about on here Topher James and Biscuit Brigade. Thanks for following me here, please go to the new blog and follow there.

Here's the link.

More Ramblin'

I'm talented when it comes to sleep, or I'm too full of whatever that stuff is that makes you go to sleep or something. I fall asleep at the drop of a hat when I want to. Twenty minute power nap? Sleep in the car? No problem. I woke up today and I had slept like maybe 9 hours. If I wake up and don't feel like quite getting up I can go back to sleep..and then do it again..and then again. It's not a great thing some times especially when you make your own schedule. That's why I try to have tasks for myself or meetings early in the day so I have other people I'm disappointing if I don't get my ass out of bed. It's hard being an artist  (poor baby right?) I know, I'm lucky, I do what I love and all that but when you really get down to what you have to do it can be hard some times. I watched this video with Jack White and I just love what he said. He talked about people saying artists or musicians are lazy and they don't work and all this. He said if you work at a factory making books (or whatever) you clock in, you got a time to come in, a boss making sure you are doing your job, and you can do your job. You can do more than what's expected, or just the expected, or even some times less than expected and you still have that job. You have your time to go in, time to leave, a pay check at the end of a pay schedule, etc. When you are an artist, or musician, or what not you have...well kinda nothing. You gotta go MAKE that something. That's ALL the responsibility. You are the CEO, the manager, the receptionist, the janitor, and the whole staff. It's just an interesting way of putting it and it's been making me think lately. If you have a chance go to Conan O'Brien's website and check out his "serious" talks with different people,,the one with Jack White is what I was referencing earlier it's really quite fascinating.

So back to my day today. I woke up not feeling like getting up I was just like ugh...don't want to. Luckily instead of wallowing in that which I easily could have done I told my self to just kind of get over myself and to get up. It worked..and I got a whole days worth of stuff done. I took it kind of easy and didn't pressure myself too much as I did have a pretty long week. I worked on memorizing a few covers and also some new songs I am writing. I also did some stuff around the house that just needed to be done..laundry, vacuuming, etc. It was nice and productive but felt relaxed because usually I don't have a lot scheduled on these Mondays. Then I went to an Andy Shaw Band rehearsal at 7pm so it ended up being a full day.

I had a crazy kind of week up til Sunday. Wednesday was Jimmy V's with Shaw Bros. which was pretty uneventful. Thursday I subbed in for a good friend Zach Whitney playing at the Treebar with a guy named Micah Lathrop. Some scheduling snafoo lead Zach to not be able to play so I pinch hit (pinch hitted?) for him. Michah's from South Carolina and he's kinda new to the scene. He's a great singer and songwriter so check him out if ya can. We had a fun time playing for not very many people..hadn't played at the Treebar since it turned over to the Treebar from being the Tree House. It's pretty much the same but they've re-done a bunch of the bar and it looks really nice. The music room is about the same though minus most of the tree and add a couple posters plastered to the wall. I wish they were able to knock some walls down in that place but I digress. Friday was a solo gig at Bokes Creek Winery near my lady (Becky's) hometown. This was a really fun night. A lot of Becky's family came out, she made a bunch of great food, and I played a great set for everyone. It was mostly great because everyone was super attentive and appreciative of my music. It's nice to have those gigs once in a while where people actually well...listen. I even had a guy I did not know at all come up and say some kind words, he bought a cd too. We stayed the night at her parents and had a nice breakfast (buffet style!) at the Plaza Inn near her hometown of Ridgeway. Saturday night I played at FM Bar in Gahanna with The Yeah Babies (formerly Matt Reed and TGP) and the Shaw Brothers. It was an interesting night as we would normally play this type of gig with the band and the whole night by ourselves. This night we played two sets each switching each hour basically. It was fun and I think the crowd really liked each band in their own right though we were very different stylistically. Sunday morning I got up and played the Upper Arlington Lutheran church service which I play 2 to 3 times a month. After that I drove to Athens and we finished up the horn parts on the record. I asked my good friend Dale Alkula, who plays trombone with Andy Shaw Band, if he could get some horn players together, arrange some parts, and figure the logistics all out. He did just that and they knocked it out of the park! The first time I was hearing these parts was basically on the recording, it was crazy. He made it super easy and I'm very thankful for that! Dan White and Adam Bidwell came through and finished out the horn section. Everyone was super nice and easy to work with. I had a few changes here and there, they worked it out, and it all got done in pretty great timing. I can't wait to hear everything together!

So..that was my week in a nutshell. I posted a video earlier a little bit about the horns and driving to Athens. Hopefully I'll get some tracks up here soon with progress on the album.

Too Many Mash-Ups

Decided to do a video blog entry today, some may call it a "vlog". I just call it a video blog because though I am a huge fan of combining words to make new fun words, vlog is not new or fun. In addition to it not being new or fun, blog is already kind of a mash-up of words (web and log). It's just too many mash-ups in my opinion, come on people. Video may be kind of boring but it sums up my day, and my overall spacey feeling today because of lack of sleep last night and 5 gigs in 5 days. Session did go well though, Dale did a great job on the horn parts. Dan White and Adam Bidwell came through in a big way as well nailing the arrangements and working with me even though I have never worked with horns in that capacity. Huge thanks to everyone so far for helping me piece this thing together. Excited!

Oh yeah..

Also, I forgot to mention in my last post that I worked out some horn parts today with Dale Alkula. I don't know much about arranging parts so he has been a great help getting some of my ideas down. He's been playing with a new soul band called The Deeptones and he's asked the horn section to be a part of my new ep...good stuff to come!

Lots of Progress

Whew, it's been a long month with a lot of progress, apologies on not updating..so it goes! So the EP is slowly coming along. Lead vocals have been laid down on I think 4 tunes or so and last week we laid down background vocals with Stephanie Rogers (Ladybird and the Vultures/Rust Belt Rumble Band/Max Power Trio and more) and Allison Woods, a student at OU whom I met the day of officially (we had talked on the phone and exchanged emails). I had sent them parts via email and got together with Steph once to talk about the direction of the album and everything came together in the studio quite nicely. I stood in the control booth, Steph was to my right in an isolated booth, and Allison was in front of us in the bigger room. It was fun singing with them and kind of directing both of them. They both have wonderful voices and I am excited to hear back what we did, I did not come home with anything so it'll be nice to hear the tracks with fresh ears once I go back down.

I have been rehearsing with a new drummer (Justin Campbell has since moved to L.A. so he is on to bigger and better things, good luck JCam you are already missed!!). Ryan Jessie is a drummer who I know through Chillicothe people, he just moved back to town from Tennessee. He is a great guy and was recommended by a trusted musician friend Stephen Hummel from down in Chilli and has been filling the "JCam void" very nicely. Jeff Bass is holding down the bass right now as well. We practiced the other day in the day time at my townhouse in the basement and his bass was rumbling the whole place..luckily we did not get yelled at by the neighbors (like last time when we practiced at night..oops). They seem to be pretty tolerable, since the townhouses are all technically connected I try to give them the heads up we're gonna be making noise.

So the other really cool thing with this project is the VISUALS! I always seem to be in bands that are a little less about the performance and visuals which is fine..it let's the music really shine. This time around though I'm looking to fuse the visual art with the music. First thing we gotta get right? The outfits! I've been working with Brittany Lawson who works out of a studio over at the 400 W. Rich St. warehouse. She is super cool and is helping create a custom designed suit for me. It's super fun going over there and being inspired by all the artists, trapeze artists, food trucks, and more. We had one of the final suit fittings today and she ordered the fabric today as well, I'm super excited. Check out my instagram @efilsitra to see some of the fabric and what the suit looks like, I'll try to upload some pics here as well as progress is made.

I'm working on my soul education as this project is all about groove, R&B, gospel, and soul so here are some covers I'm working on...some old some new:

The Walk - Mayer Hawthorne
Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
Getting Out - Daniel Merriweather
That's It I Quit I'm Moving On - Sam Cooke
Baby Don't Ya Do It - Alvin Robinson

July 17th is going to be the big debut at Brothers Drake 9p-12a so put that on your calendars...getting pumped!

Name Decision and Recording Update

Topher James and Biscuit Brigade, that's the name I've decided on. The blog's title finally makes sense. It's my name but in a sneaky way (ChrisTOPHER JAMES Shaw) since there were too many Shaw projects (Andy Shaw Band, Shaw Brothers, and recently Dan Shaw and the Organ Crusaders) out there I decided to go against having my last name in there. Also, I just always liked the way "Biscuit Brigade" sounded so there ya have it.

So recording in Athens continued this past week with a vocal session. I feel really good about the vocal takes I laid down and "Just Maybe" is one of the tracks that's really coming out as a shining track in my mind. I have been playing that song for a while now so two vocal takes was about all it took to get it done which made me feel like a real musician..ha. Part of the process in Athens is to go with the flow and not tear myself down so taking whole takes of vocals (not cutting multiple takes up in Protools) is really nice. We may do a little editing and I'll see what Josh wants to do but we really only have a few takes to cut from anyway so it's nice for me. I am not a huge fan of over-doing recordings in general. I love to have at least some of the original integrity of the musician's take on the recording even if it has a few fuck ups. Often times those are people's favorite moments on records I believe. Next is background vocals and keys and I'm excited to say that some great local talent will be represented. Stephanie Rogers has signed on to do some tracks, we got together the other day and she sounded great working out some ideas. Also, playing a church gig with Jenny Lute almost every other week has allowed me to 1. Sing with an amazing singer multiple times in a month 2. Bug her to do some back ups on my album so I think she's signed on for a few tracks (at least) which is also very exciting. Dan Shaw (of the previous mentioned Organ Crusaders) has also agreed to lay some tasty organ down on the record. I always loved watching Dan with G. Finesse and now that he has a full on Hammond B3 it's just perfect. I think his skills are going to really up the ante on this project.

Last but not least side note SXSW is coming up and Andy Shaw Band will be traveling down for a quick jaunt as a trio (in the Prius!) to do a few showcases. To send us off properly there will be a FREE show with FREE Waffles --- duh Wafflepalooza 2013 --- at Brother's Drake Sunday March 10th 5p-9pm and we have designed and printed a very special limited edition Wafflepalooza T-Shirt for the event. Til next time.

This Week

This week was a bit weird with gigs in the week but none on the weekend (besides Sunday morning for me). Tuesday was Shadowbox Live playing at the Bistro with Shaw Brothers. Great gig, the monthly Tunesday Tuesday thing has only been going for two months so the crowd was not huge. I've been to comedy nights and they have a great crowd it just needs time to build. The audience was so attentive and we sold like 4 cds. Thursday was Franklin Park Conservatory for their Valentine's dinner which was also great. They had like 300 reservations so it was insanely packed. People were just lined up rolling in this place. Normally this thing is like "background music"..at least that's how most musicians play it but not us. We play almost every gig like it's a show so several times through out the night we had an audience crowd around and listen and clap and even take video. It's a great feeling to know people appreciate you and the tips showed it as well. On Friday I played my first solo violin gig in a while at The Capital Club downtown inside the Double Tree hotel. It was super fun and I used a looping pedal out for the first time that a friend let me borrow. I created little symphonies for the people sitting. Been working on different songs I can use for a looping set including Aint No Sunshine When She's Gone, Amazing Grace, Eleanor Rigby, kind of all over the map mixed in with some classical sounding stuff since it was a (rich person's voice here) >>fancy schmancy<< dinner. I love two hour gigs with a break, actually I prefer a little longer..I ended up playing about 20 minutes over. Nice and easy and then I could go do other things. That night I think we ended up going to Barrel 44 to eat and then Brothers Drake for Billy Zehnal's Playhouse which was fun. I walked in and I thought it was a cd playing..which I think is a compliment to a band that plays house *woah...playhouse* and dance type music. Carlos Fisher kills it on drums playing with triggers, loops, and playing keyboard/synth (I think) while playing drums at the same time and never missing a beat. Saturday was Dick's Den for Ooh La La's and Circus of Cool. My lady did really well of course, everyone had great things to say about her performance as always :) Matt Paetsch, Jim Maneri, and Joe Nelson playing some jazz in the breaks and behind spoken word poets. I love when I get to see spoken word poetry even if it is ALL about vaginas....almost all the poets did lady parts poems..I loved watching Michael Cundiff (wearing a giant purple fuzzy jacket on top of a fuzzy leopard shirt) go up to Jim Maneri before he read and said "funny but not TOO funny"..and they improvised it spot on while he did his poem about different kinds of "pussy"...I guess it comes with the territory?? Then Sunday night I decided after church, nap, dinner at moms, to not go home and to venture out. Though I've hung out at Double Happiness and loved it, I had never seen a show there and knew it probably wouldn't be a ton of people I knew there (unlike Hoodoo my normal Sunday spot if I go out). Plus, hanging at a bar by yourself is always kind awkward but fuck it. I saw the Facebook event and saw it was a BenCo show so I assumed there'd be a decent crowd and it was DoneWaiting's 10th anniversary (apparently they're going to print only?) so it was packed. Time and Temperature was first and she was just great. I have a cd of hers but hearing her live is way better in my opinion. She actually had a backing band (which I've heard is really rare for her) including Sharon (aka Counterfeit Madison) of Trains Across The Sea/Apes fame. She is soo nice and a wonderful musician. Val also had upright bass, drums, and violin backing and no one got in the way of her great finger-picking-soft-indie-folk. The Connections were next and to be honest I didn't really care too much for them. I have a feeling they are inspired by bands like The Ramones. They weren't a bad band just not my cup of tea, and I hate to sound like an old man but they were simply too loud for that room. Everybody plays the same rhythm, nothing fancy, no solos (I don't recall), it's definitely raw, but every once in a while I need a little guitar flourish or riff to keep me going. Again, not my cup of tea doesn't mean I think they aren't good. Next was Sinkane whom I've heard about through various sources. He was in Columbus and moved to Brooklyn and it seems his career has taken off. The first song was a pseudo reggae/dub groove that just made the room pulse. Mostly instrumental for the first song the bass just grooved hard over guitar (with heavy reverb and or delay), drums, and keyboard. It was loud but loud where it filled the room not pierced your ears. There were a couple songs I saw that were in odd meter, one in 6 and one in 7 I believe. Very rhythmic, groove oriented stuff with harmonies over top gets me every time. I'd say these guys fit in with a lot that's going on right now with the retro thing popular (I guess it always is yeah..just depends on the decade) Black Keys, Gary Clark Junior, but with a twist of Fela Kuti mixed in. That's what I got from the short time I was there. I really dug what they were doing.  Really trying to go out and see music these days it's good inspiration especially with all the great bands we have in town. Fun week.

Be The Proof (new song)

I can be an over-analyzer I admit it but being a musician you kind of have to be some times. I think a lot about the career I have chosen because it's hard to find your way sometimes. It's also one of those jobs where for me I am alone a lot. I rehearse with people, I gig with others, I hang out in bars/venues, but when those things aren't happening it's a lot of alone time. Practice alone, work on booking alone, write alone (if not co-writing of course), etc. so it leaves time for thinking. If you don't choose some kind of path in music you can really get lost and I see this with a lot of people I know. You can really get into a pattern of playing lots of gigs to make money but then five years down the road you realize you are chasing the dollar and not a dream anymore. Connecting a bunch of "gigs" just to pay the bills is not what I want. I want to make an impact on people with my original music and find people I truly connect with. Long story short this new song is about that very thing and just the struggle with it.

I really enjoy the groove to this song which is inspired by Sam Cooke and classic soul and gospel. The lyrics so far (not all represented in this clip) are:

I want to be the proof

I want you to see the truth

I don't want to fake it I just want to make it on my own

Aint asking for much these days

I just need a little bitty raise

Just a little bit longer if I can only keep my head up

I want to be the proof that you can make a living doing something you actually like. I want people to see the true me, and I don't want to fake it by playing other people's songs or be this fake person in a cover band that I hate. The next verse is kinda self explanatory I'd say. 2013 is about getting to that next level for me. Please let me know what you think of the song. 

A Little About My Last Couple Weeks (posting late)

I wrote this post in December but realized today I never published it so here goes:

So this blog started out as me talking about my playing experiences around town. It morphed into talking about my new project and going from writing to recording. Well, I wanted to make kind of a side bar back to the first intention of the blog. I have lots of experiences with different musicians and still want to talk about those from time to time so here goes.

Shaw Brothers and Andy Shaw Band my two main gigging projects have been playing as always but not as much for the past month or so. This has allowed me to stretch out a little bit and play with some other projects. Phillip Fox Band has me sit in once in a while and I even recorded some fiddle on their latest ep which sounds great by the way. These guys invited me to do a video shoot at the Lazy Chameleon about a week ago which was fun. All the music was going through the board and being recorded and there was a live video crew there lead by Nathan William who did The Columbus Songwriter Sessions promos in 2010. It was a live show setting so the guys invited some friends to come out and be the audience...overall a great time. I love working with these guys because they are super professional and they work really hard. I like working with these kinds of people because often they have a pretty precise vision and they work toward that final goal. There is no "well...let's figure it out" "if all else fails.." or "umm....what?" It's just really fun to see the progression PFB in particular has made in such a short time. (Update: here is that live video)

I played Wexner Center with Mike Wojniak opening up for Patrick Watson. (Check this video out...amazing live show!)

 Patrick is a Canadian songwriter I had never heard of before and I am ashamed to say that after seeing him perform. The video is just what the show was like at Wexner, really cool use of projectors. Mike is a great songwriter whom I met during our South By Southwest trip two years ago and he was gracious enough to A: have me on his album B: let me play with him live even though I've said no a few other times due to ASB or SB gigs or something C: let me play with just one rehearsal! The show went really well and if you have not been to the Wexner Center Black Box performance space please check out a show. Everything I have seen at Wexner (which I admit is not a lot) has been amazing! (Update: I just found this video online someone took of the Wexner show..nice! Unfortunately it cuts off in the end but oh well.)
This Saturday I am guest spotting on violin at the McConnell Arts Center in Worthington with Jared Mahone. He does a show every year I believe which is more acoustic than his normal full band shows and I believe it's holiday themed...somewhat. He really brings the funk but the two songs we are playing are more chill folky/pop arrangements. One is an original and one is Away In The Manger. Jared has worked up a really cool version of this song and I'm excited to play with him finally at a show. Jared performed at The Columbus Songwriter Sessions just a few weeks ago at Shadowbox.

Speaking of the Songwriter Sessions...well it happened. Phillip Fox, Andy Shaw (brosef), and I came up with this event a few years ago to spotlight some local talent. We wanted an environment that was listening, classy, and that people could really HEAR the music. So this year was a great great night full of amazing performers. It had been 2 years really since we had done the last one so we hoped people would get the word about it. Good news is, everyone that WAS there had a great time and next time we do it it will be even better. Aaron Tasjan stole the night just killing an acoustic set. I am a huge fan of his and have been for a while and the audience was just blown away you could tell by the reaction. RJ Cowdery and Jared Mahone killed it as well. It looks like we may be sticking around Shadowbox for this event too and more CSS concerts coming soon so look out for that.

I just finished up my fiddle group for this session at Wellington School today. I teach 5th-8th graders fiddle tunes by ear and we have a little concert for the parents afterward. The kids were great this session and I can't wait to get back in for another session. We even learned "Move It On Over" by Hank Williams and I had the kids shout out the refrain. I love seeing the kids have some fun with music. Often times at least in my experience you are encouraged to read off the page and get all the notes but the "fun" part is for some reason not encouraged. Music should be fun....period.

That's about it for now, leave some comments let me know what's up!

First Session Complete

The first studio session for my new album has been completed! Whoo, a huge accomplishment as I have been working on these tunes for what seems like forever. Jeff Bass and Justin Campbell did a great job helping me out I wish I got more pictures in general. Good thing Julie Schatz and TJ Hansen of GingerAttack Productions were on board to get some video footage. We tracked 6 songs at 3 Elliot Studios with Josh Antonuccio working the knobs. Everything was recorded to tape and the drums especially just sounded amazing. Justin broke two...count 'em TWO sticks during recording. Not sure how he does it, but that man hits those drums hard...so I get it. He sounded awesome and I'm really excited about this stuff coming together. Stay tuned for more! 

Lots Goin' On....and of course I have been horrible about posting

So isn't this how blogs work? You're too busy doing stuff to actually write about it..then when ya have time it's like, oh yeah by the way this happened. Life is what happens when you're busy making plans, eh?

Well, the songs are certainly coming along and have come along way since the last time I posted. I have tons of recorded versions from rehearsals with Jeff Bass (on bass) and Justin Campbell (on drums) but SoundCloud is being a bitch so I'm not sure where to post them, any ideas? Apparently you are only allowed a certain amount of minutes before you have to start paying monthly, ugh..story of every awesome internet thing that figures out they should probably start making money on their thing that used to be free..oh well, can't blame 'em I guess. November 25th we hop into the studio in Athens with Josh Antonuccio and I'm pumped! Josh came by the rehearsal space we've been practicing in and listened to the tunes, it was fun playing them for him. Besides the barrage of people that come in and out of the studio from time to time we have not played these songs for really any audience so it's nice to have some feedback. Set list for upcoming session includdes:

Crazy
Ones We Hate (title to be changed ASAP as it sounds like a death metal opus or something)
Just Maybe
People In The Streets
New Home
Don't Waste Your Time

I'd like to talk a little bit about each song too so here goes.
Crazy - This is a song about working with people that just drive you crazy. Bad communicators and just people that don't do business right...they set themselves up for failure. I never really write a lot of hateful tunes (ones we hate, is not a hateful song by the way, ha) but I guess I needed somewhere for this frustration so it's wrapped up in this funky groove. I think it's a little bit interesting structure wise, I hope people like it it's been sounding great in rehearsal though at first I was not sure if I wanted to record it at all.
Ones We Hate (working title) - I forget if it was Justin or Jeff that told me this song reminds them of "It Ain't Over Til It's Over" that Lenny Kravitz song, hey I'm ok with that. This is a super simple groove that I gotta give Jimmy Castoe some credit for helping out with. He played this really easy sixteenth note groove to the song and it really worked out well. I was imagining it a little bit different but I stuck with that beat cuz I thought it really complimented the music well.
Just Maybe - The ever popular break up song..this one was when I was listening to Adele like non-stop and was trying to write a melody like her. The groove was inspired by oddly enough Dr. Dre 2001 (check out the track Still D.R.E.) at least that's how I imagine it.
People In The Streets - I think a lot about people and what leads them to a certain point. I try to understand them rather than say oh they're just a waste of space or something. When people are asking me for change, I wonder if they really really need it, and why do they need it? I also was inspired by watching Intervention and just the horrible situations people get into and why they get into them. Bad family situations, abuse, boredom, and then what they do to each other and how those things can tear families apart. I still can hear a rap in this song, it's already pretty rhythmic they way I sing it but I'd love to maybe do a remix with an actual m.c. on it, we'll see...
New Home - Another Adele inspired break up song..this song is slowed down even slower than I originally planned and I think it sounds great. I'm going for an old school almost Motown soul type feel. The end really brings it home and will have multiple vocals over top of each other laid over a soulful 6/8 groove.
Don't Waste Your Time - Ok, ok, so I have been obsessed with Raphael Saadiq for like..ever now. This is my attempt at capturing some of that magic when I hear his tracks. I like the simple bridge that just says "Sometimes runnin' away aint no thing" and then I use the guitar to harmonize with the vocals, The chorus is going to be three part harmony stabs of "Don't waste your time", a simple song with a nice groove I'm really excited about maybe adding some horns to this one or even strings?

That's it for now I'll try to post some audio soon.

Two New Tracks

Here are two more tracks from practice sessions for my upcoming album release. We will have a pre-production session with Josh Antonuccio from Three Elliot Studios here in the next couple weeks. It looks like the recording (originally scheduled Otober 7th) is going to have to be pushed back which will give us some more time to flesh these songs out and get some well deserved pre-production. All good things, songs are coming along. Please let me know what you think!

Lots of News!

So I apologize for not posting for a bit. A lot has happened since last post. For one I have decided to record in Athens, Ohio with Josh Antonuccio out of Three Elliot Studios. Funny quick story about this place. I was at a Halloween party in Athens and if you have ever been to Athens during Halloween you know what that entails. Drunk, drunk, drunk...pretty much sums it up. Our good friends from Columbus MoJoFlo were playing at this party and it was raging. The show was great, G. Finesse also played in the backyard of this house in front of what I thought was an unassuming garage. The house inside was just trashed of course and when I went to use the bathroom I thought it was a bit odd. The bathroom was an outside door like attached to the back of the house. The walls were covered in record albums and I just thought, "cool". So flash forward to like two years later I am recording with Joey Hebdo down in Athens. I take a break to go to the bathroom from Three Elliot Studios and I'm in the bathroom...attached to the outside of this house..and the studio looks like a garage outside of this campus house...wait a minute! Have you ever been standing (well, guys) taking a pee thinking...I feel like I've been in this bathroom before but when!? Ok so kind of a long story, anyway after recording with Joey I talked to him about his process and ideas on this recording. I had been working on these tunes for so long, well this blog lays out some of the time but even before the blog and I was like I'm gonna just throw caution to the wind and work with this guy. I only met Josh briefly recording with Joey but I liked the idea of getting away for the album to a place outside of CBus and outside of my comfort zone. I also had heard great things about Josh who has worked with some amazing artists.

So October 7th is the recording date to lay basic tracks for my (as of now EP). Originally I was thinking I would lay the songs down and then bring in other artists to fill the stuff in but Josh recommended getting players, at least a core rhythm section, to lay the foundation. I have been playing with a bunch of people with this music and I think I finally found the right guys. Justin Campbell on drums and Jeff Bass (like the fish...unfortunately for him..though sometimes he goes with the obvious pronunciation) on bass.

I'll post some tracks we've recorded (just basic) on the Mac and see what you think. I'm having a blast trying out some different grooves on these songs I've been demoing out myself for so long. It's nice to give them to people and give them a basic guideline and see where they go with it. If I don't like what they do I can always refer them to the demos. Ok, audio posted soon.

Side Note

This is a side note to my new album as a solo project. Andy and I have been playing together as a duo for about 8 years or so (somewhere along that line) and this is our first full length as the duo so please check it out! Thanks for your support!

New Home with Band

Here is a pretty rough version with the live band..it sounds great though even this rough probably the 4th time we played through it. It may be a little fast but I don't know, I think it's still trying to find it's groove, maybe it's not up to me. How do ya like it? I welcome your comments!

Watch Your Money

Everyone's got money problems right? Well, sometimes when you feel like you are doing well something comes up and then you got money problems again..that's kinda what happened to me recently, though luckily I had some saved so I'm good. Anyway, I wanted to do a call and response type of chorus with back up singers where the main vocal kind of improvises over their refrain so in this case it's "Watch your money". Each verse will have kind of a different story that all comes back to that common phrase. These verses will be specific times where I should have been more careful. Going for an old school feel for this clearly, I'm liking it so far. Any suggestions?

New Cover

Here is me acting like a fool and if you will see thats me playing an F chord but not an F chord like I used to play. This is due to my lessons I do every Monday with Kraig Phillips. He is a great teacher and has really helped me along with my guitar skills. Playing F this way allows me to not jump so much around the guitar while learning this new cover song "Mama Hold My Hand" by Aloe Blacc. I stumbled across a youtube video of him playing with a string quintet, it's pretty bad ass. Check out the other tunes to..oh and his bad ass (crushed velvet?) suit!

Also if you want to learn the tune yourself, these chords seem to be accurate. I am learning it on guitar but the original is on piano, great melody great chords, simple yet just awesome. (when I pasted it in from Google Docs it did this weird highlight thing and now I can't get rid of it so excuse that)

Mama Hold My Hand
Aloe Blacc

MamaF   Am   Bb   Bb Am Gm (3x)
                   cross this road...
F                 Am
When I was just a little boyBb                          Bb Am Gm
Well I would go out to play
And I would wander so far from home
That I would lose my way
And I'd call on my momma to help me
and she'd come right away
To help me get back home where I wanna be
And here's what I say

CHORUS 1F             C
Momma hold my hand
Bb                  Bb    Am   Gm        F
I don't think I can cross this road by myself
Momma hold my hand
I don't think I can cross this road by myself
F                Am
And when I was a young manBb              Bb    Am   Gm
I would go astray
Didn't want nobody to hold my hand
Wanted to make my own wayDm                 Am       
And my momma would come out to help meDm                 Am
But I pushed her awayDm                     Am
Cause I just wanted to be on my ownBb                Bb    C
And here's what I say

CHORUS 2F              C
Momma leave my hand
Bb                   Bb    Am   Gm        F
I've been waiting to cross this road by myselfAm         Bb          Bb     Am    Gm
Cross this road by myself
F                   Am
Well now that I'm a grown man
   Bb           Bb    Am    Gm
And I've moved away
I got a house a 9  to 5
And my wife we got a kid on the way
Momma told me that life's gonna get rough
Take it day by day
But every once in awhile I get scared
And I wish I could say

CHORUS 3F             C
Momma hold my hand
Bb                  Bb    Am   Gm        F
I don't think I can cross this road by myself
Momma hold my hand
I don't think I can cross this road by myself
F               Am                     Bb
Now my momma is near the end of her years
                 Bb   Am   Gm

And her hair is grey
Sometimes I call her
To ask her if she would like to spend the dayDm               Am
Momma used to be strong but she aint nowDm                      Am
And she can't make her wayDm                           Am
That's why I'm always around when she needs helpBb                 Bb   C
And here's what I say

CHORUS 4F             C
Momma hold my hand
Bb                    Bb    Am   Gm          F
I don't think you can cross this road by yourself
Momma hold my hand
I don't think you can cross this road by yourself
F Am Bb Bb Am Gm F (2x)

First Practice Sesssion with Band

So I finally got some REAL people to get together to work on these songs I have been slaving over forever. This song is one I really wanted to go over because I really thought the feel was there from my demos and I wanted to see what flavor they brought, especially since I had not recorded a bass part. Chad Flanagan is playing drums, I met him at the church I play like every other Sunday, really nice guy and he's got a solid pocket. Really excited to get these tracks going! What do you think with the live band?

This Illusion

Just a short snippet of a chorus I am working on for this new song. The song was inspired when taking a walk in Gahanna where I am currently living. I was actually at a mall today and seeing all these crazy stores like Louis Vitton coming into the mall is just insane to me. I feel like it's this illusion of wealth that people feel they have to keep up and it's so false. Who can afford a Louis Vitton purse? Why would anyone spend that much money on a purse in the first person but what soccer mom can afford that from the suburbs? I also feel like these corporations flaunt this wealth and dangle the prize so everyone wants a piece of it. Ohh look how fancy you can be, look how important you are with that necklace..etc. I've been thinking a lot about the suburbs as I am living here now and how interesting and different the culture is. I hate to hate on the suburbs as I am from here. I just want something different with my life. I don't mind the quiet and the feeling of safety but it's just so vanilla. Annnyway..I digress.

This is the motown/pop feel and there will be at least one other version that has a more modern feel to it. I've been listening to a lot of Mayer Hawthorne so this song is definitely in the same vein. I love his stuff and I have been working on getting more 3 and 4 part vocal harmony stuff going like this one I think it turned out nice. I will expand on this idea. Any suggestions?

Three More Songs

This is a song I've been working on a while and I think the arrangement is there at least as far as order is concerned and such. I plan to record a lot of these songs incorporating background singers (hopefully not just me overdubbing) so you'll hear those in here.


Here is an old song actually I wrote this a long time ago and I still play it live but it's needed something for a while. I am working on a bridge and an outro that flips the heavily minor chorded song to major for a bit. It is mainly made up vocals so far but it will be an uplifting type bridge probably as the song leans toward the dark side in many ways. One time a man came up to me with his story about vietnam or that he was trying to get bus fair for his brother that was in the hospital or something..I can't remember. Anyway, he asked for change and I pulled out what I thought was a dollar and ended up being a 5, I couldn't put it back so I gave it to him. He then offered me the jacket off of his back to pay me back. I tend to write about topics that I am intrigued by and the issue of homelessness is one of them. Are they hustling you? Are they really trying to find bus fair to help their sick brother? If we really did all have more trust would we all be better off?

Excuse the vocals on this some of them are a bit "sick" sounding as I have had some throat trouble recently. I just wanted to capture the ideas that were flowing as they came. Let me know what ya think of these tunes!