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?