Days 23 - 28 - Vocals / Piano / Guitar

Sorry for the infrequent updates. We're coming down to the wire, having finished out the guitars, adding the last few instrumental flourishes and ripping into the vocals and piano. We've been split up into two different studios all week, which has proven to be very effective.

Jeff and I are in the main studio working on synths, vocals, piano, rhodes, and assorted other stuff. Matt has Dan, Jon, and McKenzie in his fabulous home studio working on all manner of guitar craziness and elaborate percussion arrangements on certain tracks. We're operating at maximum efficiency.

The good news is, pretty much all the instrumentals are finished and sounding fantastic. The sound is rocking and powerful with an extremely diverse array of tones and dynamics. The guitar arrangements drive with synths and pianos filling in the gaps. A&R Peter Torres stopped by on Friday and seemed very happy with the sound of even the raw tracks.

The bad news is we have about a week to knock out vocals for 11 tracks, and under the studio microscope the quality of my voice can be hit or miss. I had a great day on Thursday and knocked the hell out of "Pretty Black Dress". Friday things weren't feeling quite as magical vocally, but we did git done the bulk of piano work.

This weekend our good friend and fabulous guitar player Aaron Kipnis flew out to LA specifically to play one glorious guitar solo on the record. I have yet to hear it, but apparently it rules so hard that no one will shut up. I can't wait.

Otherwise we've been workaholics, keeping our social lives responsibly low key. On Friday night we kicked it in the home of producer Jeff Turzo. We drank beer and wine, and Jeff was inspired to make everyone gourmet cheesesteaks at 1am, after someone made an offhand comment about Pat's and Geno's. Also, we learned that Jeff has not one but two hot wives. Who would have thought that the more demure producer maintains a harem? Later Larkin and I attended an after hours speakeasy in Silver Lake replete with secret password and attractive Japanese servers.

The rest of the weekend was spent quietly entertaining Mr. Kipnis, consisting largely of LA-only fast food joints, drugs, sex, rock and roll. He leaves tomorrow morning full of In n' Out Burger and happy memories.

Back in the fracas tomorrow morning. Wish us luck...

Matt