THE CARRIAGE HOUSE - DAY 5

Stamford, CT
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I woke up this morning to the wet nose of "Echo." She's one of the fox terriers that lives here....



This is her sister Daphne...

The dogs are always running around the yard or the studio and Echo actually stole one of my mallets....we couldn't find it to record "Miracle of Flight" the other night....it's the only set i have so we really needed it....I asked around and K said he saw Echo with it earlier that day....we finally found it the next morning buried under some leaves.....i had to use one felt mallet and one yarn mallet...whatever...it worked...







We started working on another 3 songs today....i'm still pretty sick and my head hurts :( But once I put headphones on and play really loud music, my head feels better. So everything's working out fine :) During basics we just try to focus on getting a good take from the bass, drums, and guitars. So far the chemistry has been really good with no real hang-ups. But tonight was feeling like we hadn't hit gold yet on "Flaming Arrow." We played it a couple times, but the track still needed something. We figured out what it was....it needed more PAT! But not just Pat's bass....Pat's raw, sexual energy.

Clothes. Off.


Zac read about this technique in AC/DC's workbook entitled, "How to Get Your Deeds Dirty."


It worked.

D

THE CARRIAGE HOUSE - DAY 4

Stamford, CT
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Just in case you were wondering what we're doing today.....it's recording. But to do that we first have to walk through the coolest wooden door of all time.....

Then we all mosey on into the control room with our drink of choice and argue over snare drum sounds.....

Here's some of the mess we made....



We finished basics for another 3 songs today.....time to celebrate with some Windsor?

Seemed like a REAL good idea to Zac after about 2hours....

...but not so much after 4 hours.


D

THE CARRIAGE HOUSE - DAY 3

Stamford, CT
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Today I'm finally starting to feel a little better thanks to Pat hooking up some Chicken Soup. It's also Election Day AND K's birthday so we're all pretty excited. We got CNN in the control room and birthday cake on the table. Everything's covered. Mocha drove up with Sola and brought an awesome dinner.....feels weird eating something other than bread and peanut butter.

We got K one of his favorite things EVER for his b-day.....

FRIED CHICKEN!

Meet one of the engineer assistants, Mikail....

After dinner, we got to work on 3 more songs. There was no bass drum stand for "Miracle of Flight" so I had Zac and Pat hold it up for me....

...halfway through Pat went into sugar shock from too many skittles and cake. He almost passed out so Zac grabbed the drum while Pat lay down on the studio floor for the rest of the take. I'll definitely think of THAT moment every time I hear this song.

We were in the middle of recording basics for "Miracle of Flight" when we heard the engineer in our headphones announce Obama was officially our new President Elect!!!!! We had friends from all over the world calling to say they were having Obama parties...so crazy!!!! We wished we were back home in NYC celebrating, but at least we'll have this album to commemorate the occasion.

D

THE CARRIAGE HOUSE - DAY 2

Stamford, CT (Recording the second album)
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When we wake up in the morning everyone heads to this part of the house first. It's where the coffee's born.

Then Chris shows up and gets the board ready...

We're usually all spread out around the house so it takes a minute for us to find each other....




Eventually we start playing some music until Pat sits in the black leather rolling chair.


He likes to interject whimsical metaphors through the talk back mic and refer to himself as "Producer." We did basics for 3 songs today......time for robot chicken.


D

RECORDING!!!!!

Stamford, CT (The Carriage House)
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K did a good job of driving our drunk asses through the night from VA to CT. We rolled up to The Carriage House at noon and met Johnny, the owner. He's a super cool guy with 3 dogs, a cat, a beautiful wife named Heather and this house he built on the studio's property....







One might say he has it all. Especially now that he has a Panda Bear in the studio. Our engineer, Chris Ribando, showed up and told my sick/hung-over ass where to set up....


We brought Gordon in for moral support.....

Our buddy Ricky Valente was kind enough to loan us some guitars and amps....we're taking good care of them

(Kinda)

We've been driving all night and energy's low. All we have is the left over Starburst from the pinata to keep us going...


We got our amps all set up and the "Chinese Edition" VOX was no match for Zac's Blues Jr.

However, Pat's "Meister Beast" set up ruled over them all....


We spent a lot of time getting some great sounds and we managed to finish basics on two songs...The Carriage House has 4 bedrooms, a living room, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchen so we're excited about staying in ONE place for a whole week. Yay! Pat hopped on the 'ol couch for some Whiskey/TV/Nap time....

I checked my "screen" while K had some soup...

Zac stayed in the live room to play along with his favorite FYC album... (Fine Young Cannibals)


D