Are You Dave?

Justin writes: Tracking in the studio, overdubbing the bass parts, was made a lot easier working with Dan one-on-one.  We could discuss what I was playing and why certain parts sounded good and why others sounded better.  Day one I was pretty nervous, but by Day Four, I was comfortable saying “I’m not sure what I want to play in the bridge of the song, but I wanted it to be different than what I had been playing live.”

I feel like Dan made my playing better, and he offered suggestions that helped me tighten my parts and improve my technique while still playing with my own style.

I’m always honored to work with the rest of The Fuzzy Lemons and I’m really enjoying being in the studio.  Too bad this is the last day (in the studio) for me. For now.

~ Justin

The end of our marathon (for now) is in sight. Tonight Justin cranked through his remaining bass parts in a heroic 2-hour session. Now Kipley is doing his acoustic bits, back-to-back.

Dana and I still have guitars to do, and Dana’s sax bits, and ALL of the vocals are waiting to be done… unfortunately the studio is booked solid in August so we most likely won’t be able to get back in to record those parts until September. Which is good, because we have more time to rehearse and polish, but it pushes the final product back. I’m still hopeful that we can get the thing on shelves in time for the holidays!

This album is going to sound amazing. You’re going to listen to it and be like “Whoa, that’s awesome.” And here’s why: the Fuzzy Lemons rhythm section. Sure, the lyrics are clever and the melodies are catchy, but Justin and Brandon are our secret weapons.

We finished the night supporting Justin as he tightened up a few tracks, including “Jump, Wiggle & Shake” and “Girls Rock.” He and Dan worked closely to make sure every note did what it was supposed to do. Justin reported afterwards that the experience was a positive one. I can only judge by the results. As I said: This album is going to sound amazing.

Dana added her pots’n'pans percussion to “Rough and Tumble,” then we took a sushi break while Brandon did some more percussion for “If You Fall” and “To the Moon.” Justin rolled in just before 10:00 and we did a few takes of “Someone Who Cares.” We’re currently debating what sort of drums-slash-percussion that song should have, if any. What will we decide? Buy the CD and find out, true believers!

~ Dave

Hi again! We’re gonna wait for Justin to show up before going into our 10th and final song, “Someone Who Cares,” so in the meantime we’ve started adding some overdubs. I love how multi-talented everyone in this group is. Kipley just nailed a gorgeous piano part on “To The Moon,” and now Brandon is having fun recording lots (and I mean LOTS) of percussion on “Rough and Tumble.”

Dana and I, meanwhile, are planning to phone in a sushi order.

~ Dave

I was wrong! We knocked “To The Moon” out of the park (and discussed its potential as a title track for the album) and then jumped on “Baby Brother Blues.” Now we’re done for the night. The only song we haven’t done yet is called “Someone Who Cares,” which we’ve never played live. Maybe we’ll debut it at the big Album Release Party, whenever that turns out to be.

Justin is coming in late tomorrow night so we’re going to track some other stuff, then do the last song when he gets in.   So I may have to start doing guitar solos  tomorrow!

‘night,

~ Dave

Rolling along! We’ve got momentum back. We cranked through “Yes You Can” and “Uh Oh,” back to back. We’re going to get into “To The Moon” now, our own nod to David Bowie’s epic “Space Oddity.” I predict that this’ll be the last song we work on tonight. But who knows?

We nailed a darn good take of “Yes You Can,” then Brandon broke another snare drum head. Man, he bangs those drums hard. Dana is back, and reports that some of our stuff got a little damp but nothing was damaged–the water got the boxes and cases but not the delicate gear inside.

“If You Fall” is in the can; moving on to “Yes You Can”!

We just got word from Trey Ordaz that our rehearsal space over on Jackson Street is flooded. Dana is heading over there with Justin’s wife to go sort out the situation and get our gear up off the floor. Oy! Meanwhile, we did a couple of takes of “If You Fall”; we’re gonna try one or two more.