Oh poor blog I've been remiss...
The record is coming along quite well. With just two guitar parts and some auxiliary percussion yet to track and 10 songs being mixed, I/we are very excited to start hearing the songs as closer-to-finished works. It will be difficult and exciting to tackle the sequencing of the songs on what seems to be a rather diverse collection. The work thus far has been smooth and rewarding. Jason at Nice Package has been cool and on the same page the whole way through. I can't wait to unleash the sum of the all the hard work on our much appreciated listeners. I can't wait to hear the response (good or bad) to the album. I am very proud of the writing and crafting of these songs, as well as the band's playing and all that everyone brought to the songs. September. I do believe, September will be the birth date for, what I hope remains titled, "DIRT and SKY".
The shows have been great! The folks who've been there, and sang and drank with us have been a blast. We were lucky enough to be some of the very few in attendance when we played with some of our favorite folks (Booker Lee and the County Fair and June Star) at the flop-house style Octoraro Hotel. We played the wedding of a couple of longtime fans with a longtime friend filling in on bass, and had almost as much fun as the bride and groom seemed to be having. Now it's on to the meat of the summer...
Friday, June 12 at the Waterfont in Fells Point... 10pm
Saturday, June 13 at Hon Fest in Hampden (our 6th time at Hon Fest?)... 5pm
Thursday, June 18 at the Avenue at White Marsh... 7pm
* The Avenue and Hon Fest are great shows for those with families!
Hope to see y'all a little further down the road.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
They Keep on Coming....
Monday, March 30th Lawnchair was back in the studio recording more tracks for what may or may not be titled "Dirt & Sky" (thanks to Colin Cargile for the idea). We reconvened in the now home away from home feeling live room at Nice Package to record the next songs on our list of potentials for the record. Again, we managed to track three songs in our three hour chunk of session time. That's pretty damn productive by any one's standards.
We track two older songs (Cold War and Half my Heart) that we've been playing in various incarnations over the past however-many years. Things were a little slow going at first, but soon fell into place as we recalled the muscle memories of late night, third set playings of Cold War. I was wanting to mellow the song out for the record, but soon saw the right in the band's desire to knock it around a bit. I feel really solid about our favorite take of that one.
Later in the night we recorded Half My Heart. This song is as old as Lawnchair, but had yet to be recorded. If you recall it from our live show, it's a mandolin and harmonica driven song that hearkens back to the days of the upright bass and lower volumes. So, Eric broke out the upright and Matt broke out the mandolin and we got a couple of sweet takes full of emotional swelling. As I was describing it later... the track has an intimate intensity with a great building of emotion.
The real highlight of the night's session, however, was during the tracking of a new song call (A Little) Further Down the Road. I had written it and thought of it as a bluesy shuffle, a little boogey woogey number. Well... Jimmy came in with something, should I say, a little radical. The song turned into a N'awlins inspired Swamp Boogey Juke. I loved what he brought to the table. It's the same song, just better. It's got a feel like nothing else we do.
Next week - the rhythm section gets a break, and Matt and I go in to re-cut some vocals, guitar leads, and maybe lay down some harp if we have time. I can't wait to hear the board dumps from this week!!!!
We track two older songs (Cold War and Half my Heart) that we've been playing in various incarnations over the past however-many years. Things were a little slow going at first, but soon fell into place as we recalled the muscle memories of late night, third set playings of Cold War. I was wanting to mellow the song out for the record, but soon saw the right in the band's desire to knock it around a bit. I feel really solid about our favorite take of that one.
Later in the night we recorded Half My Heart. This song is as old as Lawnchair, but had yet to be recorded. If you recall it from our live show, it's a mandolin and harmonica driven song that hearkens back to the days of the upright bass and lower volumes. So, Eric broke out the upright and Matt broke out the mandolin and we got a couple of sweet takes full of emotional swelling. As I was describing it later... the track has an intimate intensity with a great building of emotion.
The real highlight of the night's session, however, was during the tracking of a new song call (A Little) Further Down the Road. I had written it and thought of it as a bluesy shuffle, a little boogey woogey number. Well... Jimmy came in with something, should I say, a little radical. The song turned into a N'awlins inspired Swamp Boogey Juke. I loved what he brought to the table. It's the same song, just better. It's got a feel like nothing else we do.
Next week - the rhythm section gets a break, and Matt and I go in to re-cut some vocals, guitar leads, and maybe lay down some harp if we have time. I can't wait to hear the board dumps from this week!!!!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Round 2
On Monday 3/23 Lawnchair was back in the confines of Nice Package Recording. This week's sessions yielded 4 songs... a couple of first take'ers to boot. I can't believe how well the process is going. I can't say enough about how great they've been to work with thus far, and how relaxed the process has been. We did start the project with songs we've been playing for quite a while, so that surely has something to do with it. (oh, I know... "stop calling me Shirley") We'll see what happens as we move into the new material.
Now that we have the board dumps from the last 2 sessions, we can start listening to the songs as a collection. It will be interesting to hear if and/or what works together as we decide the song's future. I really look forward to the mixing process, where the songs take shape into real works and not just a conglomeration of sounds. The tracks have a great "Live" feel which is what we wanted to achieve in the recording. Have I mentioned how stoked I am about all of this!?!?!?
We will be back in this Monday, with a new batch of songs in hand. Just two more sessions of general tracking left, and then we are on to the overs and mixing. I have no question that this project will shape up to be the best of Lawnchair's recorded output.
If you play it, they will come!
Now that we have the board dumps from the last 2 sessions, we can start listening to the songs as a collection. It will be interesting to hear if and/or what works together as we decide the song's future. I really look forward to the mixing process, where the songs take shape into real works and not just a conglomeration of sounds. The tracks have a great "Live" feel which is what we wanted to achieve in the recording. Have I mentioned how stoked I am about all of this!?!?!?
We will be back in this Monday, with a new batch of songs in hand. Just two more sessions of general tracking left, and then we are on to the overs and mixing. I have no question that this project will shape up to be the best of Lawnchair's recorded output.
If you play it, they will come!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
And they're off....
Tracking for the new Lawnchair record (working title: "Dirt and Sky") started last night... or should I say restarted. We recorded the basic tracks for this record last year around this time, but illness and time constraints made the performances lack-luster. At least, after a year of laying dormant, they felt lack luster. The hard work involved in the process did not go unappreciated, but we need to put out the best product possible. Those sessions, upon later listening, had too many flaws for us to be happy with at this point in whatever it is we do.
Work began in the well appointed and warm confines of Nice Package Recording in Towson, MD. The vibe was great and our engineer Jason was a pleasure to work with. Once the settings were dialed in, we managed to track three songs in our short three hour session. Lost its Soul, Break Apart, and Marked Man.
We've been playing these songs for some time at our live shows, and the playbacks have us feeling confident that we have caught that live energy and bottled it in the coding. That's the idea with this record, we want to capture the power and energy of the live show, which is not an easy task when recording. There will, however, be some surprises on the record in the way of new songs and possibly new arrangement. Time will tell.
The excitement of last night is still bouncing around inside of me as I type this. I can't wait for next week's sessions! Wish us luck (whoever reads this other than Jimmy and I) . They seem a long way off, but I will probably post sneak peaks as they draw closer.
Work began in the well appointed and warm confines of Nice Package Recording in Towson, MD. The vibe was great and our engineer Jason was a pleasure to work with. Once the settings were dialed in, we managed to track three songs in our short three hour session. Lost its Soul, Break Apart, and Marked Man.
We've been playing these songs for some time at our live shows, and the playbacks have us feeling confident that we have caught that live energy and bottled it in the coding. That's the idea with this record, we want to capture the power and energy of the live show, which is not an easy task when recording. There will, however, be some surprises on the record in the way of new songs and possibly new arrangement. Time will tell.
The excitement of last night is still bouncing around inside of me as I type this. I can't wait for next week's sessions! Wish us luck (whoever reads this other than Jimmy and I) . They seem a long way off, but I will probably post sneak peaks as they draw closer.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Where do I start....
Wow. Lawnchair has had a fun little run of gigs! Back on Saturday, March 7th we played Club 66 in Edgewood, Maryland. We had no idea what we were in for. Club 66 is a privately owned social club that puts on its fair share of shows. The walls were lined with memorabilia from past performers such as Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet and Fog Hat to name but a few. The sound system and vibe were huge. We had a long day, due to a 3pm load in/sound check and a 9pm stage time, but the folks made it a nice time for us.
We headlined the show, and followed two progressively heavier modern rock bands (Critical Element and Encalidus). As the sonic bombardment increased, we were unsure of how our country-rock was going to go over with the building crowd. About halfway through the second band's set (each band had a 1.5 hour set... we had a 2 hour set), a large crew of 'Chair heads showed up (feeling good) in a pimped out short bus complete with a flat screen and wii.
By the time we hit, we were amped. The crowd was super into it and responsive. We slammed through a blistering set, filled with hoots and hollars of response. We were tight and feeling great. The second set was fun and loose, thanks to half a fifth of Makers Mark (thanks Jared). The night concluded with a monster jam out on Johnny Be Good as called out by the club's owner Dave, who sang it for everyone's pleasure. As a side note, during our first set (I think the song was Snake Oil) Dave came up and played a hand muted broken bicycle horn, and damned if he didn't rock it. During the final jam someone leaped onto the stage and played some blues harp... and rocked it too. The night was left in a blur of compliments and well wishes and promises of returns. I really hope to return to Club 66. The place is a huge surprise and the way all venues should be... those good folks are all about the music and not about any kind of bull shit... oh, and did I mention it's BYOB?!?!?!?
This past weekend (March 13 and 14) we played two more fun shows. We hit our usual 2nd friday of every month show at the Waterfront in Fells Point. As usual, it was fun and loose and folks were dancing up a storm. There were a couple of fellas there who travelled 4 hours up from Norfolk, VA just to see us. I feel pretty confident that we made it worth their while. The show was also attended by our new super-fan Jim, who can now be seen around town sporting his Lawnchair t-shirt.
The second show was up in Gettysburg with our good friends Booker Lee and the County Fair (or Bangers and Mash as they were known for the night). This was either the 3rd or 4th St. Pattys Day party we've played up there at the Pike, and as usual it was a blast. The night started with a surprise (at least to us) performance by a pseudo-traditional Irish group, a gaggle of 12 or so drunken middle-agers with tin whistles and the like. Well, when they were done, things got shaken up a little bit. We cranked through a super tight high energy set that had the Booker Lee boys proclaiming it was the best they've seen of us. It sure felt good, and the sound was great. The Booker Lee gang went on to play two sets of Pogues-style Irish rock. They were great, and I don't think anyone could have not had a great time. It was yet another fun, fun night.
Well, Lawnchair is all fired up. We're running hot and tight, and we're hitting the studio Tuesday night to start some new sessions for our third record. I, for one, am really stoked to track this puppy. Some of the songs are old, some we've been playing for months, and some are brand spanking new. I'll post on our progress as we go... I promise. Onward and upward... I can't wait!
We headlined the show, and followed two progressively heavier modern rock bands (Critical Element and Encalidus). As the sonic bombardment increased, we were unsure of how our country-rock was going to go over with the building crowd. About halfway through the second band's set (each band had a 1.5 hour set... we had a 2 hour set), a large crew of 'Chair heads showed up (feeling good) in a pimped out short bus complete with a flat screen and wii.
By the time we hit, we were amped. The crowd was super into it and responsive. We slammed through a blistering set, filled with hoots and hollars of response. We were tight and feeling great. The second set was fun and loose, thanks to half a fifth of Makers Mark (thanks Jared). The night concluded with a monster jam out on Johnny Be Good as called out by the club's owner Dave, who sang it for everyone's pleasure. As a side note, during our first set (I think the song was Snake Oil) Dave came up and played a hand muted broken bicycle horn, and damned if he didn't rock it. During the final jam someone leaped onto the stage and played some blues harp... and rocked it too. The night was left in a blur of compliments and well wishes and promises of returns. I really hope to return to Club 66. The place is a huge surprise and the way all venues should be... those good folks are all about the music and not about any kind of bull shit... oh, and did I mention it's BYOB?!?!?!?
This past weekend (March 13 and 14) we played two more fun shows. We hit our usual 2nd friday of every month show at the Waterfront in Fells Point. As usual, it was fun and loose and folks were dancing up a storm. There were a couple of fellas there who travelled 4 hours up from Norfolk, VA just to see us. I feel pretty confident that we made it worth their while. The show was also attended by our new super-fan Jim, who can now be seen around town sporting his Lawnchair t-shirt.
The second show was up in Gettysburg with our good friends Booker Lee and the County Fair (or Bangers and Mash as they were known for the night). This was either the 3rd or 4th St. Pattys Day party we've played up there at the Pike, and as usual it was a blast. The night started with a surprise (at least to us) performance by a pseudo-traditional Irish group, a gaggle of 12 or so drunken middle-agers with tin whistles and the like. Well, when they were done, things got shaken up a little bit. We cranked through a super tight high energy set that had the Booker Lee boys proclaiming it was the best they've seen of us. It sure felt good, and the sound was great. The Booker Lee gang went on to play two sets of Pogues-style Irish rock. They were great, and I don't think anyone could have not had a great time. It was yet another fun, fun night.
Well, Lawnchair is all fired up. We're running hot and tight, and we're hitting the studio Tuesday night to start some new sessions for our third record. I, for one, am really stoked to track this puppy. Some of the songs are old, some we've been playing for months, and some are brand spanking new. I'll post on our progress as we go... I promise. Onward and upward... I can't wait!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Incoming and Upcoming
Here are some upcoming shows!Sat. 3/7 - Club 66 in Edgewood
Fri. 3/13 - Waterfront Hotel in Fells Point
Sat. 3/14 - The Pike in Gettysburg with Booker Lee and the County Fair
Look for an update soon.
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