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)

Make it either way (Part 1)

Make it either way (Part 2)

Rain the Shining - In the Studio

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.

Read the rest of this entry »