To be honest, the main goal was simply to retake some vocals and guitars on Indiana, the title track of the album. (yep…for those of you who are wondering, I’m calling the album Indiana. More on that some other time)

Anyway, I was worried about how pitchy some of it was after the first night, and the challenge was to take the vocals and guitar at the same time to catch the very fragile feeling of the song while keeping some of the whispery parts on pitch. We didn’t quite get there on night 1, so I’m glad we retook some things.

Having April on hand to throw in some BG vocals on the song was an added bonus.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s Night 3.

The Thing, Vocals and Aliens

We didn’t record anything I wrote, but instead we worked on a song that Derrick wrote called “Pictures”.

I was really thankful to have been asked to lay the vocals down on this, and we had a great time. I really hope people enjoy the finished product. There are some really great moments in the song, with my favorite being the musical interludes that occur after the choruses. For the interludes, we put down lead guitar, Hammond organ and some string and woodwind parts. I think they sounded really pretty.

So, here’s the video…dig it. (Note: When Kinsey threatens to take off his pants, it is a reference to having a “Dusty Strickland Moment”. Those of you who know Dusty should understand this. There were no pants lost during the recording session.)

Recording (Day 2)

Tonight, I’m headed into the studio to begin recording the new E.P.

I’m really not sure how I feel about it yet. One of the drawbacks to having OCD is your inability to always feel like you know you should. So, while I am excited, I don’t feel excited, if that makes any sense.

Who knows, maybe it’s just the fact that I know I’m way past any record contract (they don’t give them to people at my old age…you can’t make the kids happy if you relate more to 6 year olds than 16 year olds…) and so I’m free to relax and just let it happen.

By my side is the unflappable Paul Garner. Paul and I have played together a few times, but we’ve never recorded together. He is a little older than I am, and in the past, Typical Sloan owed many of our first gigs to Patmos, Paul’s insane heavy-hair rock band. (Much love to Derrick, Dave and Dennis as well…) Paul is a great guitarist with more musical talent in his pinky than I have in my whole body.

Paul and I work together now and played together for the first time last year at the request of Beecher, our Company President. It was delightful. Together with The Slinky, Keilor Barr and Gabe Rice, we had a short-lived project called The Good Dream Academy. (r.i.p. or on hiatus? No one knows for sure…) We had a good synergy, and when asked to do a solo show, I asked Paul to accompany me. It was a fantastic night.

At some point, I decided that I’d rather not let any of the new songs I’d been working on disappear, and Paul suggested we head into the studio to lay them down. Paul is a very calm presence in stark contrast to my loud whirlwind of a personality, so I’ll be interested to see what comes out. Paul is a bit of a perfectionist, while I prefer the loose sound of first takes. Paul wants things tight as can be and I find organic mistakes charming.

This will be awesome or horrible. I love it.

(Note: I’ll take some pictures and video as we go to catalog the process. It will be the first time I’ve documented time in the studio. Hmmm.)