The Avenue is a project that came out of relationships formed at Clovis Hills. Paul Haugen, our worship pastor at the time, had always wanted to put out an album of original Christian worship music. So he recruited Tim and Jill Douty on keys and vocals respectively, Frank Matthews on guitar, Paul Carlson from NorthPointe church in Fresno on guitar, and Chris Chimelewski on bass.
Paul and Tim fleshed out the skeletons of the songs and then we structured and rehearsed them at my place in preparation to record. After something like a year of getting the songs in order we went into a studio and Joel Piper recorded us.
I laid down my drum tracks in 10 hours straight. Chris nailed his stuff and then the rest of the band put in their parts. I think it was one of the smoothest recording sessions I have ever had, mainly because of Paul’s very hands-off approach. I always loved that about Paul, that he would give guidance, but then trust you to do your job. It made playing with this band so easy.
It wasn’t all wine and roses though. When the album was nearing completion I noticed a Facebook page had been created for it and low and behold, only Paul, Tim and Jill were listed as band members. We had gone from what I thought was a real band, to being a trio with a nameless back-up band.
It was more of a simple miscommunication more than anything. We’d been doing a lot of woodshedding and rehearsal at my place and so I had simply thought I was more involved than I was. I only bring this up to show that even with the best people, sometimes there’s miscommunication. It comes with the territory and so everyone in any team situation should work to communicate as clearly as possible.
Despite that little hiccup, the album turned out fantastic and I’m very proud of my involvement in it. It can be found on iTunes at the following address:
