The First Taste!

OK, I've been threatening (I mean promising) some audio from the new record. I have not finished overdubbing and mixing said new record and in an uncharacteristic move I refuse to release that which I consider unfinished. HOWEVER since I recorded us live last Saturday I decided to post this live recording of one of our new songs which seems to be finding considerable support amongst the fans. I therefore present you with The Mucho Macho Mambo! For those of you who are curious about The Mambo (or purists want to harrass me about my bastardization of the thing) I refer you to Wikipedia.

Last post lost

Well I dunno what happened. I posted a lengthy and fascinating meme and post but it seems to have disappeared completely. Further fucked-up-ness from Google based Blogger. ANyway, the gig went great! Wait until I post the audio for you! Wow! The studio session have been going well.
I'm on schedule and on budget still although just barely. The bad news is I succumbed to yet another cold. Fuck's SAKE! I've been sick like 5 of the last 8 weeks. That Ain't Right. MOre tomorrow. Back to bed now.

Gearjammers Live at The Striped Bass

Ladeeeees aaaaaand Gentlemaaaaaan!!! The Gearjammers Band is performing live! Saturday Night February 24th at The Striped Bass Restaurant in Tarrytown NY www.stripedbassny.com Show starts at 9PM - NO COVER

Striped Bass Restaurant 236 W. Main Street at the Tarrytown Boat Club Great Seafood Dining on the Hudson River in Westchester County Tarrytown, New York (914) 366-4455

Featuring an all new rhythm section!
The mighty Ric LuBell from Not Dead Yet on Bass!
http://notdeadyetonline.com/
-and-
The astonishing Pete Roan from Gravity Krush on Drums!
http://www.gravitykrush.com/home.htm

Come! See!

Studio Pt I - rhythm section tracks complete

Well, Pete (left), Ric (right) and I went into The Loft Studios in Bronxville NY last night from 7PM to midnight. We spent an hour setting up and then recorded 13 tunes in 4 hours. We only recorded bass, drums and rhythm guitar. Tonight I go in for another half day to overdub vocals and lead guitar and (I hope) do some preliminary mixing. I'll reserve judgement on just how well or poorly we did. There was virtually no listening back. Beyond "Here's a few bars of what we just recorded" on the first song we just cranked right through. I relied on the bass player (Ric) and the engineer (Crawford Brown) to say "Yeah, that felt good." for any given take. I hope they were right. The titles were (for my own benefit since you won't know the difference) were My Lord, Just Can't Let You Go, It's All On You, That Ain't Right, Ain't Gone Be Your Fool, You're Not, No Denyin', No More, Trouble Road, Macho Mambo, Sayonara Samba, I'm So Sorry, Devil and The Deep Blue Sea. I wanted to record a tune I wrote Saturday night called "That's What I Heard" but we ran out of time and energy. I could have probably pushed it on them but it was late and we were all shot. I got almost everything in one or two takes except for "You're Not" which turned out to be quite a bitch. We played it OK in rehearsal but for whatever reason (the caffiene?) we couldn't maintain a steady tempo. It's a fast tune to begin with so when we were speeding up it was unmanagably fast by the end. We ended up making like 6 passes at the thing. Anyway, I have the tunes hooked now. Let's see if I can reel them in. UPDATE: Well, I got vocals laid (yes, laid) on 6 songs. I booked more time for next week to do vocals on the other 7 tracks and guitar leads, etc... on all 13 tracks. Then? Mixing. Ugh.
I had really hoped to be done by my birthday next Thursday. Well, at least I'll have something to play for you by then. Cheers! HHNT!

Recording Studio Tonight!

Well ready or not here we come! I'm hopeful these sessions will prove to be productive. I recorded the last gig and frankly it was awful. None of us played well and the sound was all facacta. Unusable. So I got a new rhythm section and we're using a pro studio. They have many famous clients and many gold records on the wall. Wish us luck. Lord knows we need it. I wrote 12 new songs for the occasion so we're moving forward into unknown territory. The Lewis and Clark of the recording studio. Sacajawea where are you?

Late as always

Just had to share this wonderful Anti-Valentine site.
Boy does that ever sum it up.

I can't understand a Gott Damn thing...

...so here's Captain Kirk with an intergalactic sex toy in his hand.

Salsa Dancing Pt II - Ouch!

OK, salsa dance class Pt II - Ouch! I did something stupid. I wore boots this week to be a little taller because the girls in the class last week were all kinds of tall (especially in heels). I was fine while I was dancing but this morning my right ankle is killing me. I need to get some good dance shoes with the cuban heels baby! This picture sums up why I started doing this. Let's face it, salsa dancing is sexy. Super sexy in a woman and muy macho in a guy. You dance close, lots of touching; Rowr! I want to be that guy!

This Is How We Do It - Iceboat style!!

OK, so my friend Captain Bob calls and says "Iceboating in Newburgh today!" Neither of us had ever gone or seen this up close. I totally fell in love with the beautiful old fashioned wooden ones so I took a lot of pictures so we can build our own! The little fibreglass ones, DNs and Arrows, were like Sunfish and Laser...except they go like 50 miles an hour! The big wooden ones can go 80! The big ones steer from behind and have a tendency to spin out, but I didn't see that.

The little 'uns have a T-bar that connects a rack and pinion to the front runner. These guys were heeled over with one runner in the air going by like rocktships! Fun! There's a reason people wear helmets when doing this! It was cold as f*ck but for a change I didn't care. Sailing in February!

Remembering San Sebastian

Some years ago I went to Spain with my buddy Luis Vicente for the festival of San Fermin in Pamplona. I ran with the bulls and drank lots of beer and Spanish wine. Good times were had. While we were there we met a pair of lovely Viennese girls and toured large parts of the country in their little Volkswagon Golf. Anyway after an especially brutal night of drinking Luis was comatose so the girls and I drove out to San Sebastian in the Basque country and spent the day on this beach. In fact I nearly drowned when the tide came in suddenly while I walked along the beach at the edgeof the high sea wall. Good times, good times! Can't wait to go back.

Cotillion Ho HNT

I was going to do a bunch of work to cut me out of this pic and paste my into a fancy ballroom scene but I couldn't find a decent source pic of the ballroom scene and I just don't have time right now anyway. Besides it's just as funny as it is. I especially like the red eyes. I happened to be in Boston with my friends Lyle and Andrea last weekend and her Halloween costume was hanging around. Since I'll do anything for a laugh I donned it and came down the stairs singing a showtune. I was unaware there was a camera handy. Opps. Well, if you can't laugh at yourself...otehr people will do it for you. HHNT y'all!

New CD in the works

I'm having a heart attack fretting (pardon the guitar pun) over the new album. I know I should say CD but the concept of a group of songs taken as a whole didn't go away with the advent of CDs. If anything it's more prevalent since record albums (what now?) were max 40 minutes countin both sides and CDs are 75-80 minutes. Anyhow, I have pressure on all sides. The studio is $500 a day. I hope to finish in two half day sessions. Considering I'll need to spend $1500 to have 1000 of them printed I'm trying to keep the budget down. Let's face it, two grand isn't chump change to just blow. At least not for me. Additional factors: the rhythm section is new and mostly untried. We'll get maybe three rehearsals in for the 15 songs I want to try to record. Everyone tells me "Oh man, you'll be lucky to get 4 songs in one session." Blah blah blah. Why is everyone such a pessimist? I did my first record in three sessions. Of course the band had been together for 4 months and we played three times a week plus gigs that whole time. OK so I'm totally unready, the band is totally unready, I've never worked in this studio or worked with this engineer and it's $500 a day? So what? What? What could possibly go wrong? Did I mention I'm not done writing all the songs?

Welcome To Hell

Welcome to hell my little ducklings! I've discovered that it's truly no fun to hang out with drunk people. Not that this comes as a surprise mind you, but it's being brought home to me in a profound way. I just can't take it. Everyone's having such a good time and I'm just bummed out and bored. Next stop: skydiving!

Salsa!

Well, last night I took my first Salsa dance class. One hour of beginner class and then I stayed for the advanced session. OMFG! Talk about working it! Jeebus! That's freakin hard man! I'm pretty excited though. It's been a while since I was interested in something that I was no good at. I mean, I can sort of paint and draw and play guitar. Good enough so that you wouldn't notice I suck right away anyhow. This is more like martial arts was. Strenuous workout! I was flattered that the instructor insisted I had done this before. I said "No, really, I never have and I have no idea what I'm doing." He gave me a lot of special attention since the class started back in November. I did pick it up quickly at least I didn't step on my partner's toes but I'd better practice for next week! Anyone want to dance?

Lithium

I'm so happy cause today I've found my friends ...They're in my head

I'm so ugly, but thats okay, cause so are you ...We broke our mirrors

Sunday morning is everyday for all I care ...And I'm not scared

Light my candles, in a daze cause I've found god

Yeah

I'm so lonely but thats okay, I shaved my head ...And I'm not sad

And just maybe I'm to blame for all I've heard ...But I'm not sure

I'm so excited, I cant wait to meet you there ...But I dont care

I'm so horny, but thats okay ...My will is good

Yeah

I like it - I'm not gonna crack I miss you - I'm not gonna crack

I love you - I'm not gonna crack I killed you - I'm not gonna crack

-Nirvana's "Lithium"

Surf Andy HNT

Me and my new haircut! I got tired of the hippie look. Plus I've been doing so well at the gym that I finally decided to go for the nair and get rid of all that monkey hair on my chest. What do y'all think? HHNT!