Big Pain in the Higher Brain

Murphys Law - "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". Given infinite time all possible occurances will eventually take place. This mathematical law cannot be dictated by any human and while I sit down to share my thoughts I have to admit that I do not wish it away. After all, what is life without variable? Change is the same whore dressed in different clothes. One day she will love you and the next day she will leave. Whether or not you want to, you always take her back.

So these last few weeks have been ironic, comedic, and tragic. The holy trinity of art. So for the record I am not complaining.

Things are moving along as well as they can be for us right now. We have hit a few road bumps which will hold us back a week or two in getting started full swing on this record, maybe more. In no particualr order of annoyance there have been quite a few things that have kept us from getting traction...

Outside of the obvious frustrations of recording a record, there also is the self humiliation process and the different beast that the studio is compared to the live setting. On top of this there is the relationship of the band to deal with and the relationship with yourself.  Going from the stage to the studio is similar to crawling back into the womb. It can be quite unenjoyable on the journey back up the canal but sure is nice once you are back. We currently are elbow deep at best. Our live show obligations that remain, Murphy's law (see above) and our lives in general have their hands gripped on our ankles saying... "No No No... Not yet".  We have discussed our goals for this record and made a rough track list and started kicking these monsters in the face. I personally cannot wait to be inside.

On our second day of recording my speaker on my amp blew. This was a drag but a minor hiccup in my opinion. We weren't actually going to be doing actual takes for awhile and the damage was hardly noticeable unless I pushed the amp to hard.

While setting up to do pre-production, on only our 5th day of working on the record,  I noticed a strange burning in my right ear... I didn't think much of it and proceeded to try and lay down scratch vocals. The vocal takes were wretched and over the next few days as things progressively got worse.  I had come down with my first ear infection! Although I was able to perform live with it this past Saturday (you can read about that show HERE), I have been unable to get going on the vocal front in the studio. My vocal confidence is down and my stamina is worthless for the schedule we are running. Too worsen the already delayed progress I woke up on Sunday my chest, nose and throat were all clogged up. It will be at least a few more days before I am well and a few more after that until I get my voice on track. Regardless of my health in the vocal area we have been getting into the studio and putting down scratch tracks, analyzing, feeling, adjusting, and it is going well but has been slowed down at nearly every turn.

This past Friday, before our show on Saturday, we were doing an overnighter in the studio. This way we are able to get twice as much time in compared to our weeknights. Our warehouse where we are working on pre-production has some issues with heat so it was quite cold. Already having an ear infection these conditions were not ideal for me to spend 14 hours in, but I am into doing this record as much as anyone in our camp. I still  have not figured out how this happened but in between guitar takes my amp suddenly stopped working. No power was getting to the tubes and the next thing I knew I was playing my guitar through Kevin's bass rig!  We woke up stiff and cold and got back to work on doing some pseudo mixes to hear how our arrangements were working out, packed up and headed off to the show.

Big changes are coming and the obstacles that continue to appear are nothing that will keep me or anyone involved in this record up at night. My intuition tells me that a broken voice, a broken amp, and a broken plan is the perfect starting point. This is a downward spiral, the worst part isn't over yet. After all possibles occurrences take place we will be provided with new tools to make a better record than the one before, getting the downswing out of the way now is just perfect. After all, what is life without variable.

I hear talking in the clouds... surprisingly I am almost tapped in. I have been dizzy for days and WE have been tired for months. We will push and we will push and we will push and we will push and we will push.

Thanks for Reading!

~Stephen