nic.

Hello everyone.

I'm still alive. It's time for my yearly update. I've still been lurking around, but for some reason haven't updated this thing.

Just been working a lot. Not doing much with records. Just finishing up the POADM record. Having massive computer problems, so mixing has been very slow.

Went on tour to Sundance again this year. Was pretty fun. Met/saw some movie stars this year: Had a nice conversation with Sir Anthony Hopkins and his wife Stella on the street. He was super nice. It was kinda like talking to your friend's dad. Stood next to (3 feet away) Winona Ryder for an hour while watching M. Ward play at a private party. She was nice as well, even though I didn't talk with her much. Ran into Heather Graham and watched her do a modeling shoot at the Gibson Guitars private party while watching G. Love play in a room the size of my living room. Billy Baldwin was there too. Bradly Whitford watched us play one night. He was tall. Didn't talk with him much, just said hi. I also saw a film (something I didn't do last year; it's very hard to get tickets, not to mention expensive). Taught a class on recording at Colorado Mountain College on the way out there, which was really cool.

Other then that, not much else is new...back to lurking.

I leave for tour today with Sterling Waters to play the Sundance Film Fest in Park City, UT. Pretty excited about it.

Eat your heart out Lazlo.

I'll probably be able to do updates on the road, so I'll try. The only thing that sucks today is the 18 hour drive that we have because both our shows in Nebraska (original one and the rescheduled one) got cancelled. I was reallly looking forward to playing Omaha, since some of my favorite bands come from there (namely Cursive and The Good Life). The first show is in Glenwood Springs, CO at the college there. From there it's on to Steamboat Springs, CO at the resort. On Thursday we'll get to Park City and play the remainder of our dates at Sundance. I'll be flying home on Sunday night.

bam sucka.

Christmas shopping done tonight. Happy day.

Studio stuff: Still looking for a space. No luck. I have several projects to do. Hopefully I can find something. Just got received my new analog to digital converters today. An Apogee Rosetta 800 (for those who give a shit). Big bucks but hopefully will be worth it. With all the records I've been working on, it should make it worthwile (and hopefully pay it off). First record with the new gear: Farewell Tour. Yay for them. I'm excited to do that record though. Still waiting for Matt O. to get off his lazy ass and finish his tracks for C&T and WTAFS. Hopefully he'll show up for the FWT record... Mixing for the DT's/Keepaways split has been slow going but good. About 1/2 way done. I believe they're talking about a spring release.

Excited to get my iPod for christmas. 60gb video iPod that is... eat it.

Last night I drove to the cities by myself to go see the band Gratitude. Sure. I'm a loser. But I still went after Paul, Tim and Mat canceled on me. For some reason they all forgot about it. Bastards. Anyway, I really wanted to go see them being a huge Jonah Matranga fan, and they were suppose to be touring with Norm Arenas, the old drummer from New End Original (one of my favorite records). New End broke up after releasing one CD. Anyway, Jonah sent out an e-mail saying that during this tour they would be playing both New End and Gratitude songs because with Norm touring with Gratitude, it essentially was New End plus one other member. Well, after everyone cancelling on me, I still decided to go, even with the monster cold that I had. It was a very last minute decision. The show was suppose to start at 7:00, I got done with work at 5:00. I had to hurry. As I was leaving town, the traffic was unbearable. The day before thanksgiving at 5:30. I was talking to a friend on the phone, so I mentioned that I was going turn around because the traffic was so crazy (I was around Carlton). He asked who I was going to see and so I told him the situation. He said, "man, you have to go." So I kept driving. Eventually the traffic thinned and It was alright. I stopped in Forrest Lake at the local Wallgreens for a sandwich and some cold medicine, and continued on. I got to the show at 7:40. The second band was just starting. Story of the Sea opened up the show. Sorry I missed them. Tried to find Ian to say hi, but I never saw him. The band The Spill Canvas was second out of a 3 band bill. They were alright. About half way through their set, the singer announced that this show would be Gratitude's last show ever. Everyone looked around at one another and said "What?" It was the last show on their tour, and their last show ever. Wow. glad I went. Anyway, the show was great and Gratitude was amazing. Played a few Gratitude songs, then a few New End Songs, then a song that they said they've never played live before. Then, a few more Gratitude songs. During the show a couple of teenage girls were dancing/moshing in the middle of the floor. The music wasn't really approiate for it. One of them kept hitting me. Stupid bitch. About halfway through the show, the 3 girls were dancing, and before I knew it, the guy next to me pushed one of them super hard. She fell to the floor then I think got trampled on. Justice had been served. I thanked him. I'm all for dancing/moshing, but when it's not really appropriate, DON'T FUCKING DO IT. Maybe I'm just getting too old to go to shows, but is it really appropriate to slam dance during a ballad? Honestly? After the show was done, Jonah and one of the other guitar players got a little emo. Jonah announced that they needed to get rid of all their merch tonight, so they would take any price for it. I ended up buying a limited release New End Original single, then Jonah insisted that I take one of the vinal Gratitude singles, as well as Gratitude's full length. I handed him a $20 and told him to keep the change for gas money. I left and got home by 12:15.

Done with my lame story. Don't eat too much today. I know I will.

This weekend marked the begining of the WTAFS record (again). Tim's guitar tracks are now all done. Turned out nice. Next, Matt O. needs to finish up his bass tracks. Matt, if you are reading this, e-mail me. You have 2 record's worth of recording to do (cars & trucks, & WTAFS). After listening back to the tracks I almost wanted to redo them. I can't believe how far I've come recording-wise since last spring. Part of it I think is just the different mics I've upgraded to, as well as just getting use to what my gear can do. Other than that, it's been a pretty low-key weekend.

So the new job is going pretty good. The days go by fast. I do get tired of being on my feet all day. Not really use to that. Lots of freakin' product knowledge too. My co-workers rock. They've been super helpful and make the day go by fast. My boss is a super cool guy as well. Keeps asking if I'm having fun, because "work sucks if you're not having fun." I like that attitude.

Been pretty busy with recording like always. Haven't been in too much of a mood to record after working all day. I think once I get into the swing of things, it should be better. Tracking for Cars & Trucks is all done (I think). It turned out really nice, and is only going to sound better once mixed. It was really great working with Tony. I think we (he) made a great record that I personally, am excited for people to hear. Congrats to The State Champs for getting signed to Chairkickers. (deja vu anyone?) That record turned out pretty nice as well. Can't wait to hear it mastered. Mixed Milink-o-bitch's solo record last weekend. He doesn't want to release it. I think it sounds fine. Still waiting to hear if I can finish it or not. Ready to mix the Keepaways/DT's 7". I was going to do some of it this weekend, but by some act of God or something, I am working on the Film Score record. Yes. It's true. Tim is going to finish up his guitar tracks this weekend. (fingers crossed that something doesn't go wrong.)

Spent way too much money lately. Got a crazy idea that I needed to buy a V-Drums kit, so guess what? I did. It's pretty cool for what it is. Now I can actually practice and what not and not piss off my parents, neighbors, etc... I also bought the other distortion pedal that Bad Cat makes (if anyone isn't familiar with their pedals, they're pretty much a guitar amp with out a power section so the distortion it generates is "real". This is instead of clipping diodes, OpAmps, or underfed 12ax7's). It fucking rules. Here's my rig now: Gibson '61 reissue SG -> Bad Cat X-treme tone -> Flat Stone WG-45 -> Marshall 1960 4x12.

Hell yea. Suckas.

First day at the new job. Tired. Wasn't too bad though. A LOT of things to learn, people to get to know, etc... Early bedtime for me.

So much, where to begin?

1. Quit my job yesterday. Still have a looooong 2 weeks to go. No matter how much you hate your job, it still sucks to quit. Unless it REALLY sucks. I don't hate NBP by any means, that wasn't my reason for leaving. Like always, I'll miss the people that I worked with, etc...

2. Start a new job in 2 weeks. I got hired at Tool Crib of the North. Pretty sweet. Better pay, and seems like a really cool place. And hey, playing with power tools all day can't be all bad? I'll be starting out working inside the store until the new store opens, then I'll be out talking to customers. Another plus is I don't have to travel overnight anymore. That will be really nice.

3. The State Champs are done. Just need to find them a good place to get it mastered.

4. Blew up my newly built Torres amp last Sunday while doing a modification to the power supply. That was awesome. It's really fun to watch $40 + of tubes go up in smoke. You should try it some time. It was a really stupid mistake, but you know what, I bet I won't do it again! Actually, I believe only 1 of 3 tubes blew, the other 2 power tubes might be OK, but I bought new ones just in case... Never hurts to have a spare set around anyway.

5. I pick up my new Flat Stone today! Hell yes. It's really nice. I also bought a Bad Cat 2-tone tube distortion box to go with it off of e-bay. That will probably be my main setup from now on. I have no more excuses for poor tone now. Unfortunately, the only band that I play guitar in is doing their last show in a week & a half. Anyone looking for a guitar player?

6. Cars & Trucks is going really well. Started recording vocals last night. Sounds pretty good. Tony makes it look easy. He's really consistant vocally. A lot of harmonies and overdubs. The record should be very interesting when it's done. I'm excited to hear it.

7. I was asked by Mat & Paul to write an article for their new zine. I still don't know what I'm going to write about. They want something about recording. Should be interesting. Maybe I'll write some about tube amps too. Who knows?

8. I found out last week that James & I are playing 2 showcases at the Sundance Film Fest in Utah in Janruary! Holy shit! That should be awesome. To say the least. Sounds like we'll be doing some dates on the way out there in Colorado or something. We'll play our Thursday and Saturday slots, then I'll probably fly out of Salt Lake City on that Sunday. I'm excited to see that area again. Last time I was just passing through under less-than-desireable circumstances...

9. I think thats everything.

Hmmmm...whats new? Not a whole lot. I finished the guitar amp from hell this past weekend. It actually works and sounds pretty good. I brought it out to Walt the amp tech last night and he said I did pretty well with what I had to work with. I don't know if I would ever buy anything Torres again though. The thing that baffles me is that he markets his amp kits as something everyone can do. If it weren't for my amp building experience, I KNOW I would not have been able to finish it. I've been building for 2 years now. The layout was poor, parts missing, etc... I would however like to continue building guitar amps though. I'm also going to buy a Flat Stone amp from Walt. I want one before he moves to Austin. I figure I've been building them for a couple of years now, I should have one (even though I'll be broke afterward).

The state champs are finally done. It sounds pretty good. I'm excited to hear the final product after it's all mastered and such.

Film Score needs to start practicing for our final show. Kind of sad.

A new life change is coming very soon. I found out yesterday.

damn.

I've just been in a weird mood lately. I've just felt blah. I think just with me being so busy with recording, not knowing whats going to happen to WTAFS, work not going to way I want it to, it's all just been adding up. I feel like I need to make some changes, but I can't figure out what they are.

Recording has been going well. Last weekend we did some tracking for Cars & Trucks. That was fun. Really laid back, just focusing on the music. Really a live feel with all the creaks and snare buzzes left in. Tony is pretty excited about it, as am I. Tonight starts the guitar solos and whatever else he wants to do. He's the boss. Mixing has also started for the State Champs. I'm very excited for that record to be done. Not only because have we been working on it since the end of March, but that it sounds terrific. Mindy from the Keepaways is coming in next week to finally finish up her vocals on their little ep project. Jed from the DT's is probably going to follow shortly.

I get asked about the Film Score record several times a week. Ahhhh yes, the Film Score record.

I still don't really have any answers on that. Since losing my recording space to A&L, I don't really know where and when I will track the remainder. Part of me just wants to get it done and over with. It's probably going to be after I finish all my other projects. Not really in any big hurry though, being in the middle of 7 projects, give or take. We have to finish Tim's parts first. He's been so busy lately after getting back from the great white north. Then with his lady friend moving to the shitties, and him soon to follow, time is limited.

The Coast Starlight has been put on hold till I get a handle on my recording projects. Might be better to work things out with that in the winter. Still haven't decided yet.

Other than that, same old, same old.

Might as well announce:

In Tim's absence and with Portrait somewhat hanging in the balance (for some reason), a new project is slowly growing. It's myself, Paul (from PoaDM), and Mat M.

The Coast Starlight

We're still kinda looking for a bass player.

If anyone knows one (or is one) who's willing to put up with me and Mat, e-mail me.

middlecoastal@hotmail.com

Still in the early stages, doing mostly writing at practices, etc...

It's pretty exciting. It's moving along pretty quickly.

Kinda in the vein of No Knife, New End Original, Jealous Sound, blah, blah, blah...

Probably going to do a record before anything else.

Last weekend was Grandmas Marathon. I'm still a little sore, but not too bad. I actually had a pretty good time beating the crap out of myself for 13.1 miles. My finishing time was 2:19. I thought that was OK for my first marathon. I was able to run with Violet for 9 out of the 13 miles, then I decided to pull ahead and up my pace. I ended up training a little more than her. I'm actaully a little sad that it's all over. I started training in like January. It's like "what now?" Just to answer everyone's questions, "no, I am not going to do the full next year." I don't have the time to train for 26.2 miles with work, playing in bands, and recording. Something like that is nearly a full time commitment. I'll probably do the 1/2 again next year. I'm thinking about doing a 5 mile in July, and possibly another 13 in October. It depends how my knees feel. They've been probably the most sore.

Well, if anyone sees the WTAFS website they'll know that we're on a hiatus right now. Tim is going to be eaten by polar bears. I just know it. All of us have more than enough to do in his absence though with various bands and projects.

I won't go into all the fine details. Mat does a damn fine job of that in his journal. I'm kind of glad that it's over and a little disappointed at the same time. I will say it was an adventure. I couldn't imagine being a band that spend months at a time out there. It would probably be different if you were playing to 100's every night, not 1's. This week is going to hard, trying to get back into work and such.

Again, it looks like it's been awhile since I've updated this thing. I've been going nuts lately with too much on my plate. Work, friends, recording, playing, etc... I have something like 7 recording projects going on right now, with more on the way. I'm glad people are really excited about what I've been doing up here. It's been really fun working with all these different people, and stressful all at the same time. The Keepaways record finally came out, and I'm pretty happy for them. They've go some big things happening for them. Playing the Minneapolis stop on the Warped Tour, signed to Chairkickers/Secretly Canadian, have a writeup comming in CMJ, ads in Magnet and Punk Planet, etc... Whew... Film Score has been stalling on our record due to the fact that we need a new recording space to finish up our tracks. Not to mention that I've been taking paying gigs before working on my own stuff. Just finished bass tracks for the State Champs last night. That record is turning out to be nice sounding. All thats left is vocals and keyboards/aux stuff. Keepaways have vocals left on an split EP with the DT's (who come in next week to do their stuff). Also in process of pre production for a new Sterling Waters/James Moors record. Mat has his vocals to finish up and so does Pickar.

Playing with 3 bands has also been sucking up time (Film Score, James Moors, and Protrait).

So yesterday I finally took the plunge, made the leap, or whatever you want to call it: I bought a Mac G5. Yep. Now I am officially Broke. And yes thats broke with a capital "B." It's 1.8 dual processor with 2.25 GB of Ram. Choke on that you fuckin audio programs. The timing couldn't have been better. As we were recording last night, my computer started having horrible crashes. It was hardware based and the computer was extremely hot. It's always been a pretty stable system. Flat Eric did some investigating and said it didn't look good (he's an even bigger computer dork than me). I think she's on her last legs, or heard us talking about her replacement. Who knows. Also got another new microphone a week or two ago: Neumann KM 184. Haven't used it much yet. From what I have done with it, it sounds nice. Would like to get another for a stereo pair. Also will be purchasing a Royer R-121 I think also. Been wanting one of those for awhile. After I pay off my computer of course.

Everybody come to the Eyes/Hands festival this weekend.

So I had this genius idea that I'm going to run Grandmas 1/2 Marathon.

I'm fucktarded.

Today I just ran 7 miles. The route was pretty tough with quite a bit of it uphill. I feel hung-over with out the drunkenness. I've been training since January 1st, but this was my longest run to date. I've also been losing weight slowly (since I haven't really changed my diet). I've been thinking about doing it the last year or two. It seems like quite an accomplishment, and I'm usually up for a challenge. Those of you who know me, when I decide to do something, I typically put as much into it as I can. I'm in great shape right now, so that feels pretty good.

Other than that, I finished up the Lebowski record last weekend, so thats cool. Tim also finished recording his clean tracks last week. The new record is sounding pretty good. I know I'm excited about it. Like I've said before, it's like this gigantic monkey on our backs. I'm estimating that Tim's distortion tracks should be done in a week or two. We're not exactly busting our balls on this project. We keep getting asked when it's going to come out, and we really don't know. I would like to have it out by mid-summer or so, but thats no promise.

Last night James, Bill and I (i.e. Sterling Waters) played an AA party. Before you start laughing, just listen. We didn't really know what to expect. To tell you the truth, it was probably one of the most fun shows I've played. Ever. I know that kinda sounds funny, but there was people dancing from the minute we started playing (9:30 p.m.) to the minute we left the stage (12:30 a.m.). Plus, we played almost all originals (I believe we played 3 covers in 3 hours). I think it was fun because the people there know how to have a good time, even though now, it's through sobriety. They were joking about that all night. Imagine the person who is always the life of the party, you know, someone who fuckin' parties hard. Now imagine a room full of 150-200 of those people (just without the alcohol). I guess we sold a ton of cd's and the people there were really nice and super cool. And the wide demographic of people made it even more fun. There was people there from about age 14 to about 70. They were saying that the last 3 parties they had were just a total drag. They were saying for New Years, 175 people showed up for the meeting/speaker before the party. The band fired up around 9:45 or so. They said by 10:15, on New Years mind you, that there was 12 people left in the room. I guess the band was just fucking horrible. I tried to find out who they were, but no one remembers. Tried to block it out from their minds I guess.

I've always really admired the ideals and philosophies that AA teaches. When I worked at the hospital, I use to help run NA and AA groups. I really think that many of the lessons that AA and NA teaches can really help everyone in their lives. I know that sounds pretty cheesy, but anyone who is familiar with the program would probably agree with me. Ok. Done with the humanitarian speech.

I haven't updated this thing in awhile. Where to begin...

I've been very busy recording lately. Just finished up a record for a band from Minneapolis called Little Lebowski Urban Achievers. That went pretty good. Also slowly plugging away on the Film Score record. For some reason it's taking us forever. Drums are done, and Tim's clean tracks are just about in the bag. Keepaways just signed on for another record with me last week (yes, I know their other one isn't out yet). They are going to be doing a split with the DT's. Should be fun. Meeting with James Moors about doing a big record for him tonight. That too should be a good time. Portrait ALSO talked about when we are going to record. Probably not until June or so. We're going to try to get it out by early fall.

Still continuing my microphone/mic pre binge. Purchased a Neumann TLM 103. In the last month and a half or so I picked up a pair of AKG C414's and a Sennheiser MD421. All VERY nice mics. Last week I also purchased 2 more channels of API 312 clone that I have to build. Talked to Dan Torres of Torres Engineering last week as well. He said my amp kit should be shipping early this week. I'm broke, but hey, at least I'll have good gear?

Other than that, just hanging out with Violet, working and recording. Nothing else really new.

Man, getting double booked sucks. Sure, I'm a fucking baby. I pretty much played as hard as I could for 2 hours. I had alot of fun though. Portrait played OK, even though I feel like I didn't. I had to play on Plastic Constellations drumset because it sucks to haul around a drumset and a guitar rig. (Thanks guys... and Steve!!). It threw me off some. For some reason whenever I play on someone elses stuff, I don't play that well. It probably wasn't too bad, but I'm typically pretty hard on myself. I wished I could have stuck around for the Swiss Army's set along with the Plastic Constellations (couple of my favorite bands around, not to mention super cool guys). As soon as I got done with my set at Luce, Violet and I left for the Tap Room. I thought I would have an hour or so to calm down from my last set. Wrong. The lineup changed. As I walked into the main room, Mat walks up to me telling me we're on. I hate lineup changes. Get our stuff set up and start. I played pretty fucking hard, and I was actually happy with how that set went. I felt that we had terrific energy, as well and being pretty solid. People seemed to be really receptive. Unfortunately, I was told from several people that the mix licked balls. Big House Bob came to us after the show and said any night he was free, he would mix for us. Nobody does sound for us better than Bob. Hands down. I can say that with full confidence after being a sound guy for 7+ years. Good sound guys are super hard to find. Glad we got one. Not to mention Bob is one of the coolest guys in Duluth, no bullshit.

I believe I have a problem. I've spent way too much money on microphones lately. I hate/love ebay. It's one of the greatest/worst things ever. Last week I won a bid for another Sennheiser MD421. I love those mics. I used the one that I own currently on Mat's floor tom on the new recordings with great success. It's like a sm-57 with a bigger, fuller low end. I am also planning on using it for guitars. I read some post online by Andy Hong (of tape-op fame) that he likes to use a AKG C1000 with a Neve 1272 on all the guitars he records. I might have to try that one as well. Then last night I won a bid for an AKG C 414. Always wanted a pair of them. It's time I upgrade my mic collection. I'm probably doing it the wrong way though by doing in all in a month. Oh well. I was also looking at one of the new Red Type B microphones by Blue. It's like an affordable version of Blue's Bottle mic. You can switch the capsules on the Red, just like the Bottle. Too bad the capsues are about as much as the mic. Well thats enough gear talk for the day.

For the last couple of days, Matt and I have been working on bass tracks. I swear this fucking record is destined never to see the light of day. We tried 3 different basses, tons of different preamps and settings, nothing seemed to work. Matt's bass had a really nasty buzz comming from the a string, CJ's bass had something weird going on with the pickup under the e string, and my bass needs new strings. We might be being too picky, but it really doesn't bother me. We have the time. We decided to wait till Matt gets his new bass in the next week or so. In the meantime, it sounds like we are going to move onto Tim's guitar tracks. We'll see how that goes.

Drums are done.

Mat laid out the events of the last couple of days pretty well, so I won't cover them too much. I'm really excited about how the drums turned out. I would have to say the recording effort (the performances were great, no ego bosting intended) was probably one of my best. I consider one of the hardest parts of the recording process done just because of all the mics, sounds, and things that can go wrong with recording drums. Whenever I do a recording project I usually break it down into parts. This record will have drums, guitar, guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards/sequencing, auxillary instruments, and mixing. Part 1 is done. 7 to go. Feels like such a long way.

It's amazing to me how much I feel like I learn with every session I do. I'm sure even someone like Lazlo, who has done literally thousands of sessions, could probably vouch for that as well. I think thats part of the reason why I enjoy recording so much; it's such a learning process, as well as a creative one. It's a little intimidating with things like how much control an engineer has over the finished product, how much a 1/2 an inch of mic placement can radically change the sound, and realizing how very little I know about recording when looking at the big picture. After finishing the first part of the recording, I hope (just like any other recording project I do) I, along with other guys, can make a record that we'll be proud of, one that others can enjoy listening to, and most important of all...

...one that fucking rocks. Period.

(end sappy post)