2020 Journal
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01/01/20 - Now entering our 21st year of operation.
01/14/20 - Inspired session with fresh computer, new chair for me, fresh batteries in the Snarks and more space in the room.
01/21/20 - Another productive session. We are currently jamming to drum loops with Steven on bass and Patrick and I playing with loads of effects on two pedal boards. Patrick is going to set up Jerry Riccardi this weekend to finish off the drum tracks for our 4th album.
02/11/20 - Patrick brought us new Sleepnovox mixes. Already dazzled. We could potentially have four albums out this year. Recorded for a bit. Talked about starting to sing while we jam.
02/18/20 - Back at it. Patrick set up mics so that we can fool with vocals ideas while we "jam".
02/25/20 - Still compiling jams. Patrick and I are both using heavily effected guitars while Steven throbs on bass.
03/03/20 - We had been improvising over drum patterns but tonight Patrick brought some beautiful loops made from songs on Harriet. Very inspiring.
03/06/20 - Talking about doing a short live set in August at a local venue. This will be our 2nd live performance in 20 years.
03/10/20 - Patrick spent the session writing out some guide tracks for Jerry and importing Allen's takes.
Steven agreed to do a few songs live in August.
I damaged Steven's Fano. I have been using it to track with. My foot got caught on the short cable between the guitar and pedalboard and it crashed into 0 sturdy Electro-Harmonix pedals. Broke the binding on one side and nicked the fretboard. This guitar was beautiful.
03/11/20 - Initial set-list for 8/8/20:
Flap
Terry The Pirate
Blunderbuss
Spiders Last Stand
My Wing
Harriet
Fountain of Youth or Old Into Young
Majesty
Present Always
Cigarette
Breeders or Honey Pie
Stupid Cloud
03/26/20 Jerry Riccardi sent drum tracks for Present Always. If Patrick approves then we are another step closer to bonking this album in the head.
06/03/20 First session since the pandemic was called a pandemic. Decided that it's too soon to play with Johnny Marie & the Lonesome Petunias at the Westsider in August.
I need to find the artwork for 12 and sleepnovox for the remix releases.
06/09/20 Patrick sent me 10 mixes from the new stuff to play with.
06/16/20 Added some parts to Song Number 1 and played it for the Girls tonight. Patrick brought in mixes 11, 12 and 13 and sent me home with them.
06/23/20 Brought in my parts for Songs 11 (sitars), 12 (vocals) and 13 (slides). We added more vocals, guitar and bass to Song 12.
06/30/20 Brought in my parts for Songs 3 and 4. Discovered that the imports from last week didn't take. Can't find the original artwork for Sleepnovox for the remix release.
07/07/20 Re-imported bits for songs 11, 12 and 13. Brought in some extended bits for song 3. Changed the batteries in the Kurzweil.
07/14/20 Brought in vocals and a guitar part for song #6. We played around with guitar parts for song #3.
07/28/20 Delivered vocals, synth and guitars for song #9. We unconsciously made a duo because Patrick already had vocals for the song.
08/18/20 Brought vocals and synths for GFS song #10. Forgot to commit one of the MIDI parts. Brought Patrick some Surprise Lily bulbs.
08/25/20 Brought the missing synth track for GFS song #10. Patrick was temporarily blinded so we just talked the whole session. Week off and then resuming jamming for parts again in September.
09/08/20 Played 2 guitars/bass for most of the session to cull more sounds for the 5th album.
09/15/20 More jamming. Fun and inspired.
09/22/20 More jamming. Patrick is mixing The Green Piano and then has another GFS album to mix before he can cut up some of the current jams into songs so we just keep going.
09/29/20 Another night of song creation. Talked about putting the 12 and Sleepnovox remixes exclusively on Bandcamp.
10/13/20 Recorded more "jams".
11/10/20 First session in a long time. After catching up we recorded one long jam. How do these jams work since Patrick and I are playing guitars and Steven is humping a bass? Patrick brings percussive loops for us to play against.
11/17/20 Patrick gave me the remixes for 12 and sleepnovox. Once I find the artwork I'll set them up on our BandCamp page.
11/18/20 12 and sleepnovox remixes are now available on our BandCamp page.
11/24/20 Recorded more "jams". We average two a session. Patrick accidentally potato-peeled off his calluses.
12/01/20 More recording. Patrick indicated that he's about 2 songs in mixing Old Into Young. I need to re-sing Puff Adders because of some distortion in the original takes.
12/08/20 Sang more takes for The Wall and Puff Adders. Knocked off three jams tonight.
12/15/20 Jammed. Here's what that means: Patrick built drum and music loops from snatches of Harriet for us to play against. We do this every week and record the results. Patrick then culls the best moments from the "jam" and we make songs from them. We've done it several times already. We also drank whisky. That's not part of the routine but it didn't make anybody sad.
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