Polishing Trona

Wednesday, April 25, Aaron and I worked on the "Trona" mix. This is the toughest mix of the album, it seems, but it's most likely going to be a demo track, so we wanted to attack it first. We've got a ton of tracks to deal with, so basically this session, we picked and chose which tracks to keep, which to dump, and which to quiet. We also worked some delay and Moog effects into a few of the tracks. What I like in particular are Cortnie's backing vocals and the flugalhorn and trombone tracks -- great strengths of this song. Cortnie showed up toward the tail end of the session and offered some feedback, some yea's and nay's.

60's British Gameshows and Spaghetti Westerns

Monday, Marcy 26, and Wednesday, March 28, we managed to get into the studio and finish up all the horn parts for the new album. Trombone player Adan Infante of 40 Watt and many other bands and trumpet and flugalhorn player Thomas Lake came in and tracked my parts for "Trona," "Me and Thomas Hardy," and "Josaie."

"Josaie" is standing out as the dark horse of the lot. The trumpet part is reminiscent of a sixties spaghetti western soundtrack. The song's about three minutes long - perfect for a single - and pretty catchy if we don't say so.

The other two tracks' horn parts are lending a '60s British gameshow feel to the tunes - wonderful and rich sounding. I can almost see the BBC/Thames television broadcasting logo in my mind when I close my eyes.

Ricky also tracked some great arpeggiated and strummed electric guitar tracks for "JoSaie" - a tinge of Johnny Marr in a fabulous way.

Days of Synth

Busy day: Cortnie, AWall and I descended on the demo tunes . We shifted a few around, and some dark horses have now come to the forefront. When this happens, you've got to give them room to sprint.

We started off with "Dirty Money and Filthy Love," a song I'd scratched from the demo list because I felt it was a bit unlike some of the other tunes. But it's got too much of the "single" about it to ignore it. We developed some beautiful and outrageous synth sounds today. All three of us laid down tracks on several different boards, including one fabulous old Crumar synthesizer Aaron discovered for a few bucks at a yard sale of all places. It's so Flaming Lips it's ridiculous.

The other two songs we're considering are waiting for next week's horn sections - otherwise, they're pretty much done. So we moved on to another dark horse, the surprisingly poppy and strangely named "JoSaie." Some synth Tron strings and cellos, and suddenly this spaghetti Western style tune dripped with loveliness.

After the session, Cortnie and I relaxed for a bit at Teazers, our fave Fresno tea house, and worked on polishing up our new bio.

More more more about the Distant Fairs recordings to come. Stay tuned. Until then, enjoy they slide show of today's action.

Three Songs Shaping Up

March 16, 2007 - Royal Dutch Company in Fresno - The Dalloways are honing in on the three out of fifteen songs to be used as demos, developing developing developing through creative tracks.

On Friday, we tracked lots of keys - Hammond and Wurlitzer sounds, among others - in addition to percussion such as cymbal swells, snapping and clapping, triangle, and more.

Right now, we're considering "Me and Thomas Hardy," "Trona," and the dark horse, "Let's Climb the Staircase," which needs the most work of the three. Hopefully we can shape it up and transform it into something really unique and catchy - the key to the demo tunes.

After these three are shaped up and out to the labels, we'll be continuing to develop the rest of the fifteen songs for release. We're planning on a stateside tour in addition to a European tour, complete with radio and press promotional pushes, so we're hoping we can find the right visionary label that wants to join a full-speed ahead project.

More recording soon.

Trona Keys and Triangles

Wednesday, February 28 - Fresno - Royal Dutch Company - Aaron and I got together last Wednesday for some recording time.

We're honing in on three songs we will be using for the demo of the new album, so I brought a slew of keyboards into the studio, and we worked on keys and percussion - triangle and some great sounding Mexican maracas some friends of ours brought back across the border awhile back.

We pretty much finished most of the tracking for "Trona." All we have left for that song are horn tracks.

We'll put together polished versions of the three songs we've chosen and then send demo packs out to some major indies. That's the plan, in any case. Should be able to start sending in a few weeks at this rate.

Distant Fairs Station to Station

Wednesday, February 14 - Fresno - Royal Dutch Company Studios - This was Ricky's day. After some frustrating time spent working out hard drive issues, we finally got down to tracking some tunes. Ricky's Strat's frets definitely need some work - one in particular is making a string buzz lke a sitar - so he played my Riviera with the Seymour Duncan humbuckers in it through the Fender Twin.

"Station Girl" - This one's in 5/4 and has a pleasant lead part I wanted Ricky to play. Nailed it. It's got a bit of a low end twang to it. Beautiful.

"Kenny Filthy (The Distant Fairs)" - Tracked some pretty sliding swells on this song. Then we went on to record some trippy harpsichord to inlay into the end of the song for a dreamy fair-like atmosphere. This will be an epic tune - the epic tune of the album.

After recording, I took the Riviera to Backline in order to fix a sunken pickup I'd damaged in a previous feedback session of guitar abuse. All fixed and leveled and ready for another session.

This recording is developing!

As always, more to come.

Feedback Loveliness

Friday, February 9 - Fresno, CA - Royal Dutch Company Studios - It was all about the Riviera and it's semi-hollow body humbucker tones through various beautiful amps, including a Vox 15, and Fender Twin, and one mystery boutique with no label. Pretty standard mic set-up - a Sure 57 just a bit off the center of the cone for a nice gritty sound.

"Up Tonight" - I played it rich through the boutique, with an overdriven tone out of the neck pick-up. This was the rhythm track to accompany some acoustic sounds we've got running through this song. Also set down a strum track with pretty Bigsby tremolo bar swells throughout.

"Suffragette Chrysler" - This song is a problem child. It's kind of a straight ahead rock form, so there's always the danger that it turns into a generic cheesy rock tune, which is not really what we're looking for on this album (or any Dalloways album!), so it challenges us to get creative. For this song, we played it through the Boutique as well because it was such a nice tone. I came up with a simple little riff - more of a Go-Betweens style riff than a Slash riff, if you know what I mean, something very easy and catchy, for the background. Stumbled across this line in the way the best lines are just stumbled across, through experimenting around. This song's got hope yet!

"Stop Hangin's Around" - I tracked an overdriven rhythm line through the Fender turned way up. Beautiful! Then it was all out feedback - turned the whole rig up and through a nasty distortion pedal and set down two atrocious feedback tracks to use in and out of the song, to give it some atmosphere and depth. I abused and banged the poor guitar so much it popped a pick-up screw, and the humbucker sank into its slot like it was finished for the day.

Wednesday, February 7 - Fresno, California - Royal Dutch Company - It was all about Ricky and the Strat through the Fender Twin today, but I forgot the camera! I think we worked on "Trona" and a few others. I've got to write these things down as we go, as we're writing our own history here!

As always, more soon.

Electro a-la Dalloways

Recorded yesterday and today at Royal Dutch. Worked on electric guitars, battled strange humming equipment and the chore of finding that tone that's just right. I'm convinced that guitars are even more difficult than vocals.

Yesterday, I tracked e. guitar for Dirty Money, and today was Ricky's turn. He dialed in a nice Motown tone through the Strat/Deville combo on "Me and Thomas Hardy." Also tracked a fine delay/distortion track for "Dirty Money," a bit Jonny Marr-esque in flavour.

We're on a search for a label that wants to work together to release a beautiful and majestic album. If you know anyone...

More more more soon as these things are constantly developing! Soon we'll be living in Paris off our fabulous royalties.

Wurlitzer on Nightbird

You haven't heard from me in awhile. That's because we took a recording break for the holidays. But I started the New Year off right by laying down a Wurlitzer electric piano track for a song called "Nightbird" at the BIB studio. The sound is oh, so silky and smooth, that classic Wurlitzer vibe, with a touch of vibrato.

I worked on the part directly in the tracking, over and over again until I had what I wanted, then dropped the final finished part down a single solid take.

Stuck Hands

Monday, December 11, I set down a few more acoustic guitar tracks for "Dirty Money and Filthy Love," "Ada," "Suffragette Chrysler," and "Let's Climb the Staircase." I brought my Rode NTK mic this time, which created a very nice and bright and full sound for the guitar.

"Ada" was a breeze - just clean strumming without much fuss at all.

Next, we decided to tackle "Let's Climb the Staircase" while my fingers were still fresh. When this song is played live, I play it very loosely, and picking two strings at a time and being a little messy is just fine; however, when committing it to recording, the process can be much more demanding. Needless to say, this song took several takes, and it took a lot of energy out of my fingers.

"Suffragette Chrysler" went smoothly since the strumming it pretty straightforward, like an early Neil Diamond song. Though my fingers were tired, we breezed through this one fairly quickly.

"Dirty Money" was another story. I play two chords very high on the neck, and the song's got a long long meander of double time in the end, and by the time the right take was done and I lifted my fingers off the strings, my hand was stuck fast in the form of a claw.

I'm glad I've got this space to write down and share the tiny minutiae of these recordings to remember later on. Recording the history will make the finishing of the project all the more satisfying.

Status Report: Classical Guitar

This is a Distant Fairs recording status report.

Today at Royal Dutch, I laid down classical and acoustic guitar tracks for three tunes:

"Station Girl" - I think I've told you about this one before. It's about a guy who meets a girl in a subway station, falls in love, and then falls out of love. "So you move in with her / There are no maps of the heart by Baedeker / And she bores you with coffee beans / And her tiny television dreams / Oh ohhh." This one's got an interesting classical picking style running throughout it.

"JoSaie" - Moved on to the spaghetti western steel string beginning of "JoSaie," that song about a young male model/film star. The guitar line was a particularly challenging and swiftly moving arpeggiated picking line. Many many takes, each one pushing the steel strings deeper and deeper into my fingertips.

"Up Tonight" - What to do with this song! It's frightfully strange for us. I guess I'll stop there and let this one develop where it will. It's kind of like an unruly kid wanting to do what it will, and the parent has to relinquish some control or go crazy. The song called for a bossa style classical guitar line. Thank goodness, as the steel strings had pushed heavily into my fingertips at that point.

Bla bla bla. So why are most of the pics of me! It's not because I love these pics. I'm just in the studio a lot right now. I'll get some good ones of Cortnie soon, but she has to OK them - otherwise, they won't see the light of day.

As always, more soon!

D-28 Martin in Studio

The Martin D28 dreadnought I'm playing in the studio is a real pleasure. It actually belongs to Roger Wall, Matt and Aaron's dad. I must remember to ask him the history of it so I can write it down here for posterity.

What I do know is he's had it for many years, and so it's had fine time to mellow and age gracefully. It's not the frilly or excessively adorned or fancy in any way but does have nice simple edging and a great shine. It's basic, straight ahead--a no-nonsense kind of guitar.

With its fresh strings, it sounds clean and bright and rich. Today, I used it to lay down rhythm tracks for "Trona," "Kenny Filthy," and "JoSaie" in that order. I laid down an additional arpeggio part for "Trona" just in case we want to use it later.

Recording goes much more smoothly in the early mornings, so we started early. The studio was relatively quite--and very dark. So dark, in fact, it freaked me out just a bit as I walked down the hallways, feeling the walls to find the hallways that T'd off to the various rooms.

Seven more tracks need the acoustic, so we should be done with it by next week. Then comes electric guitars with Ricky.

Martin Guitars and Girl Vocals

The band's been busily at work. At Bird in Box Studio, Cortnie and I have been laying down her backing vocal tracks. We built a vox booth in our office closet using blankets, clothes, towels, yoga mats, and whatever other dampening devices we could find to deaden the acoustics of the space. We draped a thick down comforter over the doorway of the closet and presto, a do-it-yourself vocal booth.

We've managed to survive tense moments and a few fights (with the help of good food and lots of breaks) in order to produce some truly fine cute girl backing tracks. So far, we've got C's vox down on "Something's Going On" (aka "Mice in the Pantry"), "Me and Thomas Hardy" (aka "MATH"), "Trona," "Nightbird," and "Love Your Regardless." I've also written and hummed out some more horn ideas for "MATH."

Today with Aaron at Royal Dutch Company in Fresno, I layed down acoustic guitar tracks. We scored Roger Wall's beautiful Martin guitar and put fresh strings on it for a brilliant tone. Aaron set me up in the vocal booth--I sat on a drummer's stool and propped up my feet on an old amp head and started in. We used a skinny condensor mic to produce a very nice and bright sound. A bright tone in the highs with less mids and low ends was preferable to something more full-bodied in some of the songs so that the acoustic guitar would find its own pocket seperate from the thick bass tones we've got going on. After some experimentation with different condensor mics and placements, we ended up with what seemed perfect for the tunes.

We managed to track the acoustic for two songs, "Me and Thomas Hardy" and "Something's Going On" before another band down the hall started rocking all of Studio 9 with excessive volume. It's impossible to track an acoustic instrument when the BOOM BOOM BOOM of a techno band is seeping through the walls. But that's two songs down. We'll pick up the recording again on Friday.

So The Distant Fairs continues growing and developing. More soon.

Silver Fox Vibe

The Silver Fox - hands down, this place has the has the best vibe in Bakersfield. Case in point - our November 2 show with The Fast Computers.

There's something about the atmosphere of that little room that makes people dance with strangers and possibly wear sombreros - unlike other downtown joints where folks seem to exude that kind of slick-haired Social D. self awareness that seems to stifle the good vibrations.

Our friends The Fast Computers - pretty much the best electro dance band ever - started off the night. A hightlight of this band is the encredibly bubbly Jen Fox on drums, whose energetic straight ahead playing melds perfectly with the drum sequencing backgrounds. Peter Dean (vocals/keys/synth) and John Laney (bass/vocals) are some of the coolest chaps ever. The band brought very hip tour CD's encased in old school floppy disc cases, and, as was so fitting for a band of this name, took email list information on - a fast computer. Cortnie and I swapped CD's and and T's - their designs were cool and retro modern.

During TFC's set, people went nuts on the dance floor. Meanwhile, lots of Bakersield talent and voices began to appear. Local novelist and literary encourager N. L. Belardes made an appearance in Day of the Dead skeleton face paint (see mention of the show and more pics on his Paperback Writer Blog), and Matilda Kay (the One Bakersfield Woman's Blog to Mankind writer) showed up as well. Matt Munos (of Mento Buru and Bakotopia) also showed up with a grip of his crew in frightening Day of Dead garb. JR of Ill Press and Valley Scribe, Mystic Red, and Vecar manager Bobby Paramo showed up as well as one or two members of Liars and Thieves. Our friends Danyale and Sarah from The Mommies were the most enthusiastic and actually sported hella cute homemade Dalloways T-shirts - a first for any fan.

The Dalloways set up, and after some technical glitches, we played through a set of mostly new tunes, including a new disco tune called "Didn't Have the Time." Filling in on guitar was the talented James Ratliff of Norfolk and Indians fame, and on drums, the svelte J.T. Hughes of Serus Victoria.

Thanks to Mike and Terry and The Silver Fox for hosting this gig and putting together the friendliest venue in town!

Tuesday, November 8, 2006 Post Script: Check out Matilda Kay's mysterious pics and review of the show entitled "It's Never Too Late for The Dalloways".

November 2 Electro Dreampop Fixation

I know we said our last show was the show of the century, but that was for Fresno. This show with our Oregon friends The Fast Computers is the show of the century for Bakersfield. Dalloways and TFC's go electro dreampop. Hear it ... see it ... dream it ... don't miss it!

Visit The Dalloways Tour Page for specs.

Great Date Music!

October 20th, the band perform in the big electro dreampop fixation extravaganza at The Starline. The show featured Blake Jones and the Trike Shop and newcomers Poplord. Blake and the fellows were in true form--the Theremin wept joyously under the gentle coaxing of Blake's hands. This is sixties Brian Wilson inspired avant garde at its best. And Poplord is the next sleeper hit of Fresno--two guys with a big pop sound that fit great with Jones and the gang.

Fresno indie band Rademacher was to play as well, but apparently the drummer was so ill that he could not get up from bed, and so the band proper backed out a few hours before the show. Malcolm the lead singer at least made an appearance and played a solo set with a classical guitar. He finished with a Leonard Cohen cover.

Highlight? A fan named Nick came up to me and told me the best date of his life was at a Dalloways show. So put this down: The Dalloways are great date music!

The next day we headed over to the Yoshi Now! fleamarket where our good friend Eli's high energy rockabilly band The Jump Backs performed.

As Cortnie and I drove back down Highway 99 to Bakersfield, suddendly the sky lit up in a blaze of fireworks just for us. This truly happened, and we can't explain it, but it was some kind of secular blessing. At least, we choose to believe it. Drivers pulled off the freeway to watch the spectacle.

Dalloways, Blake Jones, Rademacher, and Poplord

Friday, October 20th at The Starline in Fresno, The Dalloways emerge from the dark cave of their studio to offer a sneak listen to some of the new tunes.

This is the show of the century! The Dalloways go disco, Rademacher radiates, Poplord pops, and Blake Jones and the Trike Shop ride an avant garde wave! Hear it . . . and believe!

Visit the Dalloways Tour Page for more information.

Stop Hangin Around with Nightbirds

I'm up late after a good weekend of recording and British car driving. Curious? I just blogged and slide show'd about the British Car Roundup where my little '69 MGB GT Coupe fit in nicely.

And now, into Dalloways related news:

Early Monday morning before work proper, we recorded two more vocal tracks with the magical Neumann golden mic at Royal Dutch. Here's a little bit about the songs:

"Nightbird" - This one's got a sway and groove reminiscent of Burt Bacharach and Prefab Sprout, if that makes sense. Two lovers simply need to be together, despite the fact that they'd like to kill each other. Favorite line? "Punch me, punch me, punch me / Storm the tower for me / 'Cause black looks good on you / I'll let you in."

"Stop Hangin' Around" - This narrator loves his friend - really, he does. He'd do anything for this fellow. It's just that he's sick of him hanging around all the time! Favorite line? "Even if God asked me / There is hardly any / Means to despise you."

Love you!

Getting Pitchy with Love You Regardless

Today we had some mixed success in the vox booth at Royal Dutch. We started the session planning to lay down lead vocal tracks for four songs, but by the time I finished the first, my voice was pretty much done for the day. I've found that it's best to listen to the voice, so we packed it up.

But we got one vocal track down tight! Here's the story on the song.

"Love You Regardless" - This sexy Beatles-esque (70's era) groove has existed for several months with no lyrics but the chorus Cortnie had thought up -- the recurring "I love you regardless" refrain. I layed down scratch acoustic guitar several months ago, and then we added drums and bass, but still no lyrics. So I sat down last Wednesday, determined to crank the thing out. So what's it about? It's a meeting between two old loves reminiscing about how things were and how things are now. Despite all the differences, she loves him regardless. Favorite line? "Put girl to your natural state / 'S like breathing on the moon"

Cortnie is pretending to sing in this pic. Her tracks come later, but she thought the vocal booth looked cozy inside.

Cramming to Write a Song

Whoa! We've been busily working away at the latest album, The Distant Fairs. This week, I found myself facing down a lead vocal session on a song with no set lyrics.

So I burnt the oil, typed away, worked and worked and tap tapped the keys till late Sunday night until I finished the thing! Here's a hint of what it's about:

"JoSaie" - about a vapid hipster teen Portuguese movie idol named JoSaie who loses himself in the role of his life. He surrounds himself with Shrimptoneque hangers-on and loses touch of the reality that made him. Hmm. Profound, aint it? Really, it's just a rocker.

So early this morning, before my day job began, I headed into the studio to lay down the track. It was rough going. The songs that initially seem like they'd be easiest to record end up being the most difficult. I think this is because of drawn out notes that on the surface seem simple. They are far from simple. That longer the note, the easier it is to get pitchy.

In the end, we finished with two solid takes and some good harmony ideas.

Side Note: Sunday night, Cortnie and I hit the Kern County Fair with free passes, courtesy of our friend NL. Cinammon rolls and deep friend Twinkies, yes yes yes!