Seattle

Ryan:
It's interesting to look back at the year and dig up old recordings of tracks you worked on early in the process. We had been playing this new track "Seattle" live for about a year now and have had some great response. This along with "New York", we knew we had to get them recorded. So we hooked up with Mike Scarano and laid them down one afternoon. Everything seriously went over like butter that day. Was an amazing experience!

Well, we produced it for about a week, and I tweaked with the EQ and layering for a few more weeks and put it to rest. Now after all the new recordings and excitement of the Ulrich news, I came back to this song as I always felt it was an amazing tune. Well, let me say, we have a pretty kick ass track so far! We even turned on my old temp vox (it was originally an instrumental tune) and they fit in perfecto. Or at least that's how it sounds like tonight (change mind so often due to mass loads of ADD). Anyways, I'm really excited about it and can't wait to have a final version to spread your way. May just have to release this as a single with the Ulrich tune. . .

"The Mid Decembers" on Xmas

Ryan:
So I of course was gonna try to take the night off and chill after the overload of emotional holiday parties, and as I sat, reflected, and tried to pick up the game controller for some zombie eyed fun, the second verse came to me on this latest track and I had to record it in. The song is near completion, and a great song for those mid december blues.

the lyrics at this stage:

One in Ten
Falls again
Pouring Rain
She's locked away inside your head

And it's cold
below
I know

it's time to focus farther
a positive dream
never losing matter
you concentrate to feel
She's locked away in your head

And it's cold
below
I know

And it's cold
below
I know

-

btw - mucho props to Jonas Tempel of Beatport for hooking me up with some amazingly influential gifts this year. The next one goes out to you!

tribes of the city

Ryan:
So a few quick updates:

First of all, have the next week and a half free to record! Looking forward to that. Been jamming a bunch with PEÑA's very own Mike Scarano, and getting the chops up to do some experimenting these following days.

Also, been talking with "tribes of the city", a band from latvia who is simply amazing. Same caliber as "the gathering", but with a twist. They have there own vibe for sure, and a few tracks of theirs, especially "a day in the city" are jaw droppingly good. Well, anyways, we are trying to coordinate possibly doing a tour with them in the baltic states. Would be amazing. Right now shooting for September. We'll see what happens. Make sure to watch their video above for "a day in the city"

Ulrich Schnauss got back in touch the other day and we are still good to go. He said he'd love to do the second track as well, but we'll for sure see if he has enough time. He's in such demand these days, and rightfully so. His new album is absolutely gorgeous. If you haven't picked it up yet, please do so by clicking here.

vox this eve

Ryan:
Wrote a new batch of winter blues vox this eve to go along with "The Mid Decembers". This time of year always seems to bring out the darker side. I'm not saying they are death metal or anything like that, just bleak. Have had a rough couple months and this was a good way of getting it out. I recorded them up in my attic/living area, and though I'm not feeling they are final, they are for sure a good start. Big thing for me is always trying to find that sound that compliments the overall vibe. I seem to mix on the fly quite a bit to find that element. I think with some fine tuning it could be a good track. but who knows, it may also become a scrapper, or a remix. The future is always so muddy.

Bass is funtown.

Ryan:
Enoc headed over for a good time of recording bass for "The Mid Decembers". We used live mics as well as a direct feed from the U5. Sounding super full and lush. Can't wait to figure out some vox for this one. Almost feel Ulrich could do some cool stuff to this as well. May have to hit him up!

"The Mid Decembers"

Ryan:
Woke up with a wicked hangover today and instead of spending the day sleeping, wound up writing a new song titled "The Mid Decembers" with Enoc. We jammed it out to a structure I put together right before he got here with some drum loops. So far so good!

Note: Really digging the new production style of using multiple amps on the same take. The room itself sounds stellar, and to get both the Fender Deluxe and Twin Reverb in the mix for sure gives it that much more depth.

btw - for those interested in knowing, I have been listening to Carcass - "Heartwork" a lot lately. Some of the best death metal production ever. Very inspiring!

"Breakup Breaker"

Ryan:
Opened up the project Erik started up on Sunday to start up some vocals. Have been needing to unload some stuff related to some of the changes going on. Plus it's freezing and for sure the time of year to record. Winter always seems to bring it out of us. Not sure why. But it does. . .

The song is currently titled "Breakup Breaker". Kinda an interesting play on words that goes along with a theme of confusion. Will be posting a sample for Erik to check out in a few.

Tracks sent to Ulrich

Ryan:
The tracks have been exported and sent off to Ulrich. Will move on to a new track this week and dream of what we'll get back from him every night.

Erik also brought over a track tonight we started recording acoustically. He had the full structure laid out, so I plugged in a mic and started getting it figured out. Could be a great track to dive into after "NeverChanger". We recorded it in the kitchen. My ceilings are very high and it really serves as a great space for recording the room. Very warm and open.

Max Eastley's Sound Sculptures

Enoc:
I came across Max Eastley thanks to my good friend and sound designer Cesar Davila. This is a clip from a documentary by Derek Bailey. Enjoy!

Recording 12/06/07

Enoc:

After a long time searching for new sounds and textures I think I've found what I was looking for.
I've been trying some new pedals and a new bass that I recently got. It is very interesting what's happening in the studio right now. I've recorded some new tracks for "NeverChanger" our new song. More details soon......

Bass for "NeverChanger"

Ryan:
We continued on with "NeverChanger", recording the bass & some crazy tweaking parts coming from Enoc's array of pedals. I've started exporting tracks for Ulrich and will be sending them his way shortly. It'll be like opening a xmas present when he sends the song back to us. Can't wait for that!

few days of rest

Ryan:
Resting up after some serious work on "NeverChanger". It's always good to give a song some time to sit. It's the only way you can truly be critical of your own material. Still can't wait to see what Ulrich has in store for it. We'll most likely move on to a new track soon to breathe new life into our progress, and to get some new inspirations in the mix.

Before, on "Avoiding the Consequences" we ran strong and hard, with stiff deadlines and relentless mixing and recording schedules. This time we're letting it grow organically without pushing too hard or too fast. Thus why we are running later than we initially planned. It's a new approach for me, and I'm doing the best I can to let it happen this way. I think every album should have it's own approach. I'm really starting to believe that you have to mix things up to truly give life to something new. We'll see what we give birth to this time around. . . .

more from the neverchanger kids

Ryan:
We continued on with "neverchanger" this eve. It's frigid as hell, and since my house/studio has little to no insulation, it get's pretty damn cold. Thankfully the asbestos siding helps keep some warm air in.

The guitar parts are about 90% there, and I think my vox are close, but have tweaked the ambience factor a bit to help giver them some depth. Still recovering emotionally from all the insanity floating around me right now, and this is a great diversion.

"NeverChanger" lyrics

Ryan:
So I stayed up a bit late this eve in honor of the label name to get some lyrics written and vox recorded. It all came out quite easily due to all the stuff happening around me nowadays. Very inspired to write this stuff right now. Maybe it also has something to do with the cold ass weather. Love the direction of the song. Much more electronic, with organic still flowing strong.

LYRICS:
One Sun
Kinda Erases it Whole
One Fall
Makes a Lesser Man Evolve

Never Open Up Your Eyes
Fantasies of Endless Sky

Never Open Up Your Eyes
Fantasies of Endless Sky

BREAK

Never Open Up Your Eyes
Fantasies of Endless Sky
And Moons Are Falling
Salt in Water
Never Want Her Father

Never Open Up Your Eyes
Fantasies of Endless Sky
And Moons Are Falling
Salt in Water
Never Want Her Father

Never Open Up Your Eyes
Fantasies of Endless Sky
And Moons Are Falling
Salt in Water
Never Want Her Father

Co-Producing with Ulrich, continued. . .

Ryan:
So have been talking with Ulrich and also passed "NeverChanger" over to him to preview and all is now solid. We will be co-producing the track with him! Very excited to say the least. Personally, my next step is to get some solid vocal lines put in place before sending him files to work with. Keeping the whole thing very loose and open. More details to come. . .

"NeverChanger" structuring

Ryan:
Started layering in some guitar parts this evening with Erik. We recorded in the main room downstairs, with my new Explorer and Erik's Les Paul. I tried adding in the Tube Tape as well. Song has been stuck in my mind for the past 3 days straight. The main melody line is playing over and over. It's a crazy sounding bass synth sorta thing. It burns a hole in your head. Gotta remember to give it room to breathe. The melody can almost live on it's own and I'm hoping with some magic from Ulrich we'll have something quite solid here. Very much digging where it's going.

Lots of songs in the hopper. "Seattle", "Portland", "Santa Monica", and the list goes on. Lots of work to come!

co-produce with ulrich schnauss?

So here's some really good news. Ulrich Schnauss of all people is in talks of co-producing a track with us! It's not happening yet, but we are talking about it with him to see what happens next and if all works out, it will be happening sometime soon on "NeverChanger" or possibly another track.

To give some background, while on tour with Innaway we found out he was a fan of our music, sending out an email blast to his fans saying he was currently listening to us. It blew us away to be quite honest as we've been huge fans of his epic music since I first heard him back in 2004 from a recommendation from our original drummer Gabriel Ratliff.

So ya never know. It's quite a dream in which I hope comes true.

roxy show!

Wanted to say once again, thanks Filter/Alan for hooking us up with the crazy gig down at the roxy. Will never forget the bum who jerked off right by us while we loaded in! Was a fun night, and we for sure love you all at Crackle/Scrambler for recording the gig and doing an interview. Hope to do some more drugs with you again soon!:

From Crackle: A Shoreline Dream - Revenge of the Sunset Strip

"NeverChanger"

Today is the first posting of what's sure to become a barrage of postings of us, a shoreline dream, recording our new album. We've basically decided to document it all not only for our future enjoyment, but also to show our fans the process behind what goes on while we record our layers of sound. Hope you enjoy, and we for sure can't wait to explain more as it all goes down.

Ryan:
Since it's only days after "pilgrim day", and only one day after "Black Friday" (Isn't it funny how we name something that has been setup to be the day we are lured into spending all our money on xmas gifts as something dark and ominous?!), we have jumped into a new track titled "NeverChanger". I basically started it up as an experiment. I wanted to try some new approaches to recording with our new 16 track setup. Since most don't know, we recorded with 8 tracks here at "shoreline studios" for "avoiding the consequences", which was cool for sure, but limiting on the drums. We basically had to track all that separate to get the right sound, but now we don't have to anymore. We can record everyone all at once if we want to. This is a huge breakthrough, and for sure a dream I've had for years. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

Technology was a big hurdle to overcome getting it all setup, and I for sure had to invest quite a bit to make it happen, but it's worth it. The house/barn which contains this new "studio" is basically just that. I have a bed upstairs, a kitchen, a bath, and nearly every other room has been setup to either record in, or control the recordings.

The day before taking a trip up to my brothers cabin I started up the idea of what was to come with the song. I figured out some sounds on my micron and with my new tube tape echo, and started producing some shyt. It wasn't perfect, but for sure an inspiration point. And speaking of inspiration points, the cabin is just that. The mountains always have a tendency to get my musical mind prepped and ready for whatever happens next.

The day I came back, I sat down and started up what I felt was one of my best melody lines in over a year. Starting like I used to in Pure Drama, first came the synth, and then came the analog instruments. What was key for me was arranging not only based on the synth line, but also the drums I programmed. I always miss the days when I composed entirely on the Roland 303 and 505, which forced me to concentrate entirely on structure and timing. So this for sure brought me back to that feeling, which I love having. I dropped it all down in a few hours, recorded a few vocal ideas, starting with the second verse to leave the beginning open for now, and left it alone till the morning when Erik and Enoc came over to jam/record.

We all seemed way into it and started immediately working on it. Erik came up with a cool sound to compliment it all, and Enoc had some really good lines to work in for bass. I really feel it's coming together nicely! The best stuff generally flows out fast, as is the case here.

Now, if we could only get Ulrich Schnauss to sprinkle in some love and collaborate on it. I emailed him today to see if he'd be interested. Fingers crossed. . .