Our good buddy (and baby brother of our long-since-gone bassist, Ryan) Brendan Nowlin, interviewed me for Loyola College’s on-campus radio show around 2005. Now, whether or not this aired or if it was for his tryout reel, I have no idea. Either way, he graciously sent the recording over after digging it out from under a pile of dusty mp3s. I thought I would share it to the world. I perform acoustic versions of “Line of Fools,” “A Sudden Burst of Red” and “To Point B” (a different version) in between some questions about the band. I hope you enjoy. Thanks Brendan
Yesterday we worked on “Shotgun Eyes.” I laid down lead and back-up vocal tracks. Below is one of my takes for the lead vocal for the tune. It’s always so awkward to watch anyone sing without hearing musical accompaniment. I guess that’s why acapella groups are so grueling to watch. If you can’t wait to hear what the song sounds like with some music behind the vocals, I posted a vid of me singing an early version of this song on the site a while back.
Our normal practice routine involves a good ration of productive and non-productive output. Recording and rehearsing generally gets put under the productive heading, but more-often we find ourselves warming up with just a good ol’ fashion jam session. Now that we record all of our practices, we’re finding that our jam sessions are actually shaping up to be some really good stuff. These jams normally start with a riff or a beat from one of us that naturally births (gross) a pretty fleshed out (gross) song.
I guess after playing together for many years, the three of us know when there’s going to be change-ups, lulls or rockin’ parts. With that said, we thought you’d like to hear a couple jam sessions from our last practice. They flow into each other, so you’ll notice some re-used melodies and textures.
(Remember, all of this stuff is made up on the spot without prior writing involved…so don’t judge)
Well, we’re happy to announce that recording has commenced. Yes, we’ve said that we’ve been busy working on new material, and getting everything ready for a while now, but now it’s happening. Thanks to a few new pieces of recording equipment (I’ll let Jonny write about the details on that stuff) and some much needed discipline at practice, we’ve started recording two songs, “Shotgun Eyes” and “Newborn.”
I have to say that the greatest part about recording on our own, is having the freedom to actually create while producing. In the past, we’ve been so rushed in the studio to save on studio time, that we approached the song-writing/recording process with such tunnel vision. The goal was to always nail it on the first try, and get stressed if you don’t. The basement studio gives us the ability to write bigger, take our time and actually enjoy doing it.
I was searching around our old practice space and I stumbled across some old recordings. These songs showcase the roots of Rain the Shining, including 4-track demos that brought me on board, practice sessions of Ryan S, Ryan N, and myself, as well as some 8-track demos that we recorded on our own…. Give them a listen and enjoy a trip down memory lane.
We’ve been pretty bad with updating this site. So I decided to preview another new song acoustic style. We’ve made great progress in finishing this tune in just one practice, so we may have a full band version very soon. Until then, enjoy.
Thanks to my buddy Tim’s trustee new sidekick, his iPhone 3Gs, we now have video footage from our Artscape set. Although it doesn’t capture the true live rock sound of RtS, it’s footage no less. Take a peep and tell us what you think. And, thanks again for all of those who came out to support us after a year on hiatus.
No more than just two days after posting an acoustic version of our new song, The Good Mourning Sun, do I have a fantastic gem for ya’ll. Our Sunday practice proved to be more productive than most, and we have officially finished the full band version of this new tune. On top of that, we videotaped ourselves rehearsing the song, so I threw together a little music video. It’s very dramatic. My hope was to make it feel like a movie trailer since I think it sounds like it could be used as the closing credits of a movie. Enjoy.
Here is the acoustic version of a new song called “The Good Mourning Sun.” We can not wait to finish the full band version of this. We’ve already begun to translate it into an official RtS song, and it’s already taken on a new form that is totally rad. Although this video has a very folk-y feel, the full band version is very dark and ominous…which in my mind equals great. Enjoy.
