Seriously though, can’t wait for this album to hit the streets. Enjoy this sneak peek of the recording process.

That date has arrived.

During the past few weeks my old friend Chris “Mouse” Chmielewski and I have joined Paul and the immensely talented Tim and Jill Douty to rehearse the 13 songs that came out of those songwriting sessions. That list was then pared down to 10 songs and yesterday we entered the studio to lay down the first tracks on the new album from our group, The Avenue.

Recording in the studio is an interesting experience. I’ve done it only twice before so I don’t have a huge amount of experience, but I can say without a doubt that this time around has been so easy compared to the first two. The first time through, I was working with guys who are very talented but also very particular. Nothing wrong with that at all, but for my personality and playing type, it makes the process more stressful. The second album I played on I was responsible for playing drums as well as recording and mixing down the album. I’m not an engineer so this was a huge learning experience for me as well as a ton more work. This time around I just got to go in and play drums and working with such a bunch of really laid back guys made the process so easy. We all exchanged ideas, gave suggestions and then let the drums just “happen”. I think the end result is a set of simple, solid, very natural feeling drum tracks.

So my tracks are done. 8 hours to lay down 11 songs (we recorded an extra song before realizing it was on the “cut” list). Not too shabby if I do say so myself. On Wednesday we go back in with Chris to lay down the bass. Then we’ll progress on from there. If all goes well we should have a finished product by May. I’m really stoked about this album and I think it’s going to be a first class product. I’ll be posting here as we continue to make progress.

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Michelle and I had planned to BBQ and then head to the Grizzlie’s game Friday for some baseball and fireworks. So I fired up the grill and created what I would call the preeminent example of fine hamburger dining. It was quite delicious, and I masterfully paired it with Michelle’s potato salad and a can of that timeless American standard; Pork ‘n’ Beans.

I have to say that there is no more notable meal than the backyard 4th of July BBQ. And in fact, I would go so far as to propose that the Last Supper actually took place on the 4th of July, and was prepared on a Weber BBQ. I can’t find that in the Bible anywhere, but it’s my theory.

Anyway, after chowing down this pinnacle of American culinary delights, we just didn’t have the willpower to actually get up, and expend the energy to go somewhere. So we skipped the game and chilled out for the rest of the day.

Saturday was uneventful, but Sunday…. what a day. I played at church this weekend. The first time in months, and I gotta say, it felt really good. I mean really, really good. I’ve been praying literally every single day for healing in my wrist, and I had booked this weekend with Paul (the music director, not the famous apostle) months ago, and so I just decided to go for it. And I’m glad I did. My wrist is actually no worse from playing and I had the best time jamming with everyone in the band and worshiping with the crowd. Good times man.

Then after church a bunch of us went over to Aron’s house and watched the UFC fights. The Jackson / Griffin fight was really good and went to a decision which nobody expected. Great fight with some great people.

So the weekend was a winner. I hope everyone had a good one. God bless!

This morning we rocked the house at church. I gotta say it felt really good to be back up there. I played with the metronome for the first time and honestly, it’s a great tool. It’s nice knowing that when you kick off a song, it’s exactly the right tempo. No debate.

The best part about playing today though just had to be hanging out back stage. I haven’t laughed so much in ages and I realized how much I’ve missed just hanging with everyone. So it was a great day.

After church Deanna was harassing me to go see a movie. We thought about I Am Legend, but I had already decided I wanted to read the book instead. It was written back in the 50′s and I have kind of a thing for science fiction from that time, so we decided to see Sweeney Todd instead.

This was an interesting movie. First, it’s a musical. I had no idea until Johnny Depp’s first line and so it was a little shocking. My first thought was that I was going to have to sit through two hours of High School Musical, but after a few minutes I caught the flow of things and really started to get into it. My daughter says it was an adaptation of a Broadway show, which was kind of funny because I’m sitting there going; “man this would make a good Broadway show…”.

Anyway, it’s a story about a barber in England during the 1700′s or so, who gets jailed by a powerful judge who wants his wife. The barber returns 15 years later to exact his revenge on the judge and the rest of society. It’s a Tim Burton movie so it’s really, really dark, and the killing scenes are more graphic than they needed to be, but Burton is just a master at creating rich, moving imagery and interesting characters. It’s probably not a movie for everyone, but my daughter and I kind of like these artsy, dark films, and we’re both big Tim Burton fans so we really enjoyed it.

So that was my day yo! Hey if you want something to do tomorrow night other than getting blasted and thrown in jail because you got caught at a checkpoint, we’re having a great comedy show at Clovis Hills. We went last year and it was a night full of absolutely hilarious, family friendly comedy. So check it out.

It actually felt pretty good. My wrist started to feel a little strained by the end of the night, but not on top where it hurt before. This time it hurt on bottom, and I think that was just normal strain from not playing a full rehearsal in so long. I’m also using heavier sticks so that could be part of it. I went back to my Evans aluminum sticks. They actually transfer less shock to my wrist since they are made with a plastic sheath covering an aluminum core rather than the traditional hickory. But I’ll probably have to go to a lighter weight to reduce the muscle strain.

One thing I’m digging though is playing my own kit. I got her out and cleaned her all up and man she looks good under the stage lights! We have a really nice DW kit at church, but we have 4 or 5 drummers and so everyone wants to re-tweak the whole kit every time they play. So I just figured I could set up my kit in less time than it takes to tweak that one, and this way I get everything just where I need it. Sweet.

One thing I’m going to try this week as well is starting the songs off to a metronome. Paul bought one to help some of the players on tricky songs and so I’m going to make use of it as well. I think I do pretty well at nailing the tempo changes between songs, but if there’s an opportunity to improve our performance and the gear is there, I might as well use it. I just don’t want anyone ever saying “that song is too slow” or”too fast” EVER again! LOL! I always think it’s funny how other musicians always seem to think THEIR timing is impeccable when we all know that everyone shifts a bit depending on their adrenaline level. But again, that’s why I’m going to use the metronome.

Hope everyone has a rocking weekend!

It’s kind of interesting going out again after so long. I really miss hanging with the guys and cutting loose on stage. What I don’t miss though is the indifferent crowds, the seedy bars, and not getting to bed until 3am. One night in the bar every 6 months is plenty thank you very much.

Well, I’m going to spend my saturday cleaning up my drum kit and making some music. The girls are going out to finish Christmas shopping so I have the whole house to myself. I’m gonna make some noise!