"Where's My Golden Arm"

2009-10-30T01:48:00.000-04:00

Like A Fox cover The Grateful Dead's "Cosmic Charlie"

2009-10-16T01:30:00.000-04:00

Limited Edition Vinyl Single Now Available

2009-09-16T04:25:00.006-04:00

In the next few weeks, you will be able to get hold of a very limited edition vinyl single from Like A Fox.

Following the debut album, Pronoia will be releasing a special pressing of 'A Little' on black 7" vinyl. Including 'You Will Burn' and 'Long Haul', two previously unreleased b-sides, this will be available soon from the Pronoia Records shop page.

The release will also be available as a digital download but don't miss your chance to own a copy of the single as we won't be pressing any more once we're sold out.

7 out of 10 ain't that bad.....

2008-12-16T02:32:00.002-05:00

The Philadelphia Inquirer put out their best of 2008 deal. We scored #7 (out of ten) of the best local releases!

Click here to see who beat us out.....

First/Last with Jay

2008-12-11T13:30:00.005-05:00

(image and content courtesy of Make Major Moves)

Philadelphia quintet Like a Fox opened the Mercury Rev/Dean & Britta show the other night at the Trocadero, and put on a fine display of psych-rock noise and loveliness. As PW’s Doug Wallen noted of the band — which features former members of the acclaimed, long-running local outfit Lenola — in his column last month: “It’s clear Like a Fox pack a lot of mood shifts. Their second album [Where’s My Golden Arm?] continues that way, spiking poppy sentiments with cosmic effects in a manner recalling the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev.” Indeed. This week, Like a Fox main man Jay Laughlin helps us launch our inaugural “First/Last” column…

First/Last…album you bought?

Jay Laughlin: KISS Dynasty/Neil Young Sugar Mountain Live

First/Last…concert you saw?

JL: KISS Dynasty Tour/Nada Surf

First/Last…alcoholic drink you consumed?

JL: Old Milwaukee/Box white wine

First/Last…movie you saw in the theater?

JL: I think it was Jason and the Argonauts/Borat

First/Last…time you wrote a song?

JL: “Cardboard Box” for my old punk band Pointless a long, long time ago/”Rear View Review,” last night

First/Last…book you read?

JL: The Outsiders/Slash

First/Last…venue your band has played?

JL: Club Pizzaz/Trocadero

First/Last…celebrity you had a crush on?

JL: “Ginger” from Gilligan’s Island/We played with Dean & Britta a few days ago and Britta was pretty hot in person

First/Last…advice you got about making music?

JL: “Do it yourself”/”If you wanna make money don’t play music”

First/Last…goal you had regarding making music?

JL: To release my music on a 7-inch/To keep being able to release my music

Troc show pics.

2008-12-10T14:11:00.007-05:00

these photos were taken by photographer Eli Savage... enjoy...

this is Eli the 10 year old photog... thats right 10 pretty good huh? thanks Eli!!!

Here's a nice write-up from the home land!

2008-11-15T01:13:00.003-05:00

The Philly Weekly.....Click it!

"IndiePulse" Interview

2008-11-15T01:02:00.004-05:00

Q&A with Like A Fox

Philadelphia's Like A Fox recently released it's second record entitled "Where's My Golden Arm?". You might remember a couple of members from the 90s band Lenola. These days, Like A Fox is crafting an enjoyable blend of classic rock and electro-prog-pop styles thoughout the album. Jay Laughlin is the band's songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He recently took some time to tell us about the band and project. Thanks, Jay!

Your music has been described as modern psych pop or pro-pop. How do you describe your band’s style and approach to making music?-

I dig psychedelic music and I dig “modern sounds” I suppose…The mixture of weird effects and a bit of electronics along with a solid song is a good mix to my ear, but I start every song with an acoustic guitar and my voice. If I can’t play the song with those two elements and still have a good song I scrap it.

Do you have a particular musical philosophy? -

No matter how overboard you go with production you should be able to get up on stage and play the song with a guitar/piano and your voice and still have a solid song. Otherwise it’s just smoke and mirrors…no songs. Like a house without a foundation. Looks good from the outside, but once inside you realize the first stiff wind will blow the whole deal to the ground.

Growing up, did you want to be a musician?-

Yes. I saw Kiss when I was kindergarten….No shit! The last tour (Dynasty) before they took off the make-up. I was hooked. Then my older brother got a drum set for x-mas a few years later, played it for a bit it and gave it up. I claimed the kit as my own a few years later and it’s been all down hill ever since.

Did you come from a musical family? -

Yes and no. My parents only listened to talk radio in the house, but my two older brothers were big into music so I did have that going for me. My grandfather on my fathers side was a jazz drummer way back, but I never knew him as he passed when my father was a child. He’s the only other musician I know of in my families past.

You guys are from Philadelphia. Do you have a favorite local place to play shows?-

Johnny Brendas is the best smaller venue in Philly for sure. They get a ton a of great touring bands along with the best of the local bands in Philly. That’s the best place hands down.

The album is called “Where’s My Golden Arm”. Why?
-

It’s a quote from an old ghost story called “The Golden Arm” that I used to listen to with my old friend Skip when we were just kids. He passed a few years ago and I just think it brings back the good memories of what we had and it also ties into the movie ‘The Man With A Golden Arm” about a musician with a Heroin addiction….drug addiction has taken some dear friends away from me. Good times vs. Bad times. That’s what the album is about.

How have people been reacting to it so far?
-

We’ve had only three reviews come through so far as the album hasn’t seen it’s official (Oct. 28th) release, but the three bits of press have been very positive so far even though I’m not really sure what they’re getting at most of the time.

What was the overall tone you were going for on this record?-

As I said about the title of the album above, I’ve been through some shit times with losing some of my oldest/best friends in the past couple of years so the tone I was going for was the sound of someone being so down in the shit about what’s going on around them and finding that all the good memories and times you were lucky enough to spend with the people that have passed can pull you back up you know? Keeping the good stuff alive through your experiences and memories.

Why did you do your recording at Brown Bear Cavern Studios?

-It was the studio we built to make the record. We didn’t have a big budget so we decided to put the money we did have into building a proper studio so we can make more than just one album in a “real/pay by the hour” studio. Now we’re set up to keep recording nice sounding songs all the time.

What was the most challenging part of this project?

-Deciding when it was “finished”. We don’t work in the normal way of a “band” getting in a room all together and recording live. We track each instrument/part one at a time and really take our time on each specific sound. This can cause for way to much fucking around and not really knowing when to call it a day on certain songs, but I enjoy doing it that way, it just takes a bit more time than the normal way of doing things.

Do you use any specific instruments in the studio?
-

Any and everything we can get our hands on.

What do you think of the new records you have heard so far this year?
-

I love the new MGMT, not sure if it was released this year, but I think it’s a fucking great album. The new Spiritualized is amazing too. M83 recorded a nice album…great for some late night listening.

Have you noticed any trends in the work?

-Well I love music that doesn’t reveal everything it has to offer on the first listen you know? I love hearing new stuff after repeated plays of an album. The first spin gives you enough to want to spin it again and every listen after that the puzzle starts to take shape until you just can’t stop playing it. I’ve always thought that an album that you think is amazing on the first spin will get old quick. It’s the albums that keep on giving you more discoveries after repeated listens that are the most rewarding.

Anything else you would like us to know?

-Go here to read and view all about the making of “Where’s My Golden arm?”: www.likeafoxtheband.blogspot.com

Click away!

Spin checks in on "WMGA".....

2008-11-13T01:56:00.003-05:00

Like a Fox, "Where’s My Golden Arm?" (RedEye) ** 1/2
"The Man With the Golden Arm" was a groundbreaking 1955 movie staring Frank Sinatra as an ex-con trying to shake a heroin addiction.
That’s the first thing that came to mind when I saw the title of Like a Fox’s sophomore disc. It had been described as a psychedelic album.
So in I went looking for some dark, drug-induced music — the type that often toes the line between genius (Velvet Underground) and the godawful (Brian Jonestown Massacre).
To my surprise, "Where’s My Golden Arm?" is one of the year’s sunniest power pop albums.
The disc is full of guitars, a ton of keyboards and a singer (Jay Laughlin) whose voice registers somewhere between Wayne Coyne and Robert Schneider. Naturally, the Philadelphia quintet can sometimes sound like a band trying hard to imitate others, but still does it well.
"Night Person" feels straight out of Schneider’s Apples in Stereo power pop catalog. It has an infectious beat, like a song you remember but you can’t quite put your finger on (handclaps will always do that). So too with "Time Stands Still" — a blast of pop if there ever was one.
The best song, "Better Bring a Bomb," has an epic quality to it, going from quiet to fury with ease and excitement.
The album has its down moments. "Gold" veers from psychedelic to new age, and the closer "Just a Light Hit" seems like a needless Pink Floyd imitation. Like a Fox often relies too much on guitar solos, although the one that closes, "Been Sitting Here," is thrilling.
Like a Fox sometimes strays from its pop inclinations, but not as much as you would expect from a neo-psychedelic band. There really is no overwhelming feeling of an acid trip or a hazy heroin cloud of ecstasy.
So maybe it’s good that Laughlin and Co. don’t have a clue where their golden arm is.
— Scott Fallon, Staff Writer

Click it!

Some Pics from the CD release show!

2008-11-13T01:46:00.009-05:00

Chase Utley is the MAN!!!

2008-10-31T23:58:00.003-04:00

"World Fucking Champions!!"

Girl About Town review

2008-10-24T09:17:00.007-04:00

Nice reveiw from Philly's Girl About Town blog:

November should prove to be quite a busy month for local heroes Like A Fox, who release their new long-awaited album on October 28th. With their CD release show at Johnny Brenda's on November 8th, and a Tric Town appearance at everyone's favorite Delaware venue Mojo 13 on November 15th, the band will be gearing up for two great shows and pleasing fans both new and old. The occasion for all the hoopla is "Where's My Golden Arm?", an album already garnering high praise for its guitar pop goodness. The band's second full length release was an exercise in handiwork, as they built their own studio with their own hands, then recorded their own album (yes, with their own hands too). Their hand crafted approach is well documented on the band's blog. Mixing was handled by Miner Street's Brian McTear, himself providing a hands-on approach. Is that why there's a golden hand on the cover art? No really, frontman Jay Laughlin (guitar, vox) commissioned his brother to do the fantastic artwork for the new album. Joining Jay in Like A Fox is Brian Wilkinson (bass), Jeff Scioli (guitar, keys), Dave Grubb (keys, guitar), and Pete Girgenti (drums).

The opening notes of "Where's My Golden Arm?" sounds like "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt.1" (Flaming Lips) but then later breaks out in guitar solo heaven. Besides the overt Lips sound, the album is filled with lots of glorious power pop, Matthew Sweet style, with some synth overtones. Therefore there are some 60s style guitar riffs, some 90s style heavy bass, and high nasal vocals. We love "Heard the Shot", which covers all bases as far as guitars and synth goes. And "Gold" is pretty great too, with the emphasis more on the electronic elements - that song gives us goosebumps. Overall the album has a specific, tangible and cohesive sound which doesn't let us down once. Make sure you catch Like A Fox in Philly or Wilmington very soon!

The Walrus!

2008-10-23T00:46:00.002-04:00

Here's what the Walrus had to say:

It's been a while since we last heard from Jay Laughlin and Like A Fox, the Philly/Jersey offshoot of much loved 90's psych band Lenola. Thankfully for us, they have returned with a shiny new record entitled Where's My Golden Arm. Yay!
LAF's first record was a breezy mix of Flaming Lips and late 70's Beach Boys psychedelia and although I have yet to hear the new record in full, the half rock-out and half bliss-out track "Internal/External" is tickling my eardrums aplenty. Awesome video directed by ex-Lenola member Scott Colan to boot!

Click it!

NPR

2008-10-22T00:44:00.003-04:00

So we received some love from NPR's "second stage". I think it's an on-line (podcast-able) only type deal.

Here's what they had to say about the new album:

NPR.org, October 21, 2008:

Like a Fox is a psychedelic rock band based in Philadelphia and founded in 2004 by former Lenola singer Jay Laughlin. After gathering four other musicians for the group, including ex-Lenola guitarist Dave Grubb, Like a Fox released its self-titled debut album in 2006, and is set to release Where's My Golden Arm? at the end of this month.

Where's My Golden Arm? opens with "A Feeling That Launched a Thousand Wars," and, like much of the album, the track features earnestly sung vocals interspersed with moments of soaring and rocking electric guitar. A few songs later, the head-bopping, hand-clapping "Night Person" struts along and begs to be danced to, while the melodic "Gold" is a gorgeous, synth-driven piece.

Overall, Where's My Golden Arm? is a carefree 40 minutes of music. Although Laughlin's boyish voice can begin to sound less charming and a bit whinier halfway through the record, Like a Fox's latest could be ideal for those craving a lighthearted listen.

Click here to see the write up on the web.

Click here to hear the talk up of the tune they played. I think i might have to sample this intro for our up coming shows!

"Internal/External" Video! Check it!!

2008-10-19T22:14:00.004-04:00

A sweet video for the song "Internal/External", track two off our new album "Where's My Golden Arm?" made by our good friend Scott Colan.

Some Early Reviews

2008-10-08T00:52:00.016-04:00

So the reviews are starting to come in….Some bands claim to not read their own press, I call bullshit. I read it. Not exactly sure what to make of some of it, but so far so good. Here is the first two reviews to come through:

Review #1..

Like A Fox - Where's My Golden Arm?

(CD, Transit of Venus, Pop)

Okay now...what the hell is going on here...? Is this The Flaming Lips doing covers of The Beatles...or what?!? Odds are that you will have the same reaction when you hear the lead track ("A Feeling That Launched A Thousand Wars") on this album. The tune begins with the vocalist singing the word "Happiness" in exactly the same way the word was sung in "Happiness Is A Warm Gun." But before there could be any possible copyright infringement, the tune quickly takes off in another direction avoiding any possible legal consequences. This clever ploy reminds us of the approach taken by The Pooh Sticks in the 1990s when they were stealing obvious lyric lines from familiar tunes...but only short snippets so that they couldn't really be accused of anything illegal. But back to Like A Fox... Fortunately the initial gimmick is the only real gimmick on this album. The remainder of Where's My Golden Arm? is anything but a joke. This Philadelphia-based band comes up with a wealth of super hummable pop tunes here...all smooth and absorbing...and the songs hold up extremely well to repeated spins. The band's music sounds like a more pop-oriented version of the previously mentioned band The Flaming Lips. We are particularly taken with "Internal/External," "On The Way," and "Been Sitting Here" (a particularly significant tune). Neat stuff. (Rating: 5+ out of 6)

Check it out on the web here .

Review #2

Like a Fox
Where's My Golden Arm?
(Transit of Venus)

Wonderfully raucous indie rock that borrows just enough from the Flaming Lips (1988-present and all that entails) to throw a spacey spin into the grooves.
There are plenty of laptop, glam and new wave elements thrashing around with the raggedy guitars and sing-song choruses. The lyrics wander off and sometimes never come back. But somehow, someway, the songs manage to come together by the time they finish.

It's a close thing at times, but I kinda like that sort of dramatic tension. And the tangents are so pretty (not to mention loopy) that it's hard not to enjoy the sideshow.

Like a Fox runs along the edge of disaster for almost this entire album. And every time, the band stays on the side of good music. This has to be intentional. If these guys didn't know what they were doing, this album would be a complete mess. I like the way they think.

Check it out here .

So far the best line is "Like a Fox runs along the edge of disaster for almost this entire album." Makes us sound "dangerous"! Feel free to point out your favorite lines in the comment section. More to come soon!

-j

Release Date For "WMGA" is 10.28!!

2008-10-08T00:46:00.003-04:00

Here's what the cover looks like:

Looks pretty sweet! Click on the image to see it a bit better.

Two More Pics....

2008-04-10T18:44:00.004-04:00

WMGA Cover Shoot

2008-04-08T15:57:00.005-04:00

So my brother finished the artwork for the new album. Here's some pic's he sent along from the photo shoot.

And here's some pics of the first album cover photo shoot for the curious.

A Title, A Track List……An Album!

2008-02-27T02:08:00.000-05:00

So the album is complete! Fuckin-A…..a ton of fun….work (I hate to call it “work” as for one we didn‘t make any money for the recording process, and two, anything you do for free in your spare time after the thing you call a “job/work“ that supply’s you with the actual money to enjoy your free time activities better be fun or you’re doing it wrong) , a bunch of hard (beer) drinking and now the beast in finally in the can as they say.

So as you can read below I was kinda having a hard time trying to name this album. I finally settled on “Where’s My Golden Arm”. It works on two levels for me now. This album means a lot to me and this title captures the whole “happy vs. sad/good vs. evil” aspects of the lyrics and vide of the music. I dig it.

The track list:
1. A Feeling That’s Launched A Thousand Wars
2. Inter/External
3. Night Person
4. Better Bring A Bomb
5. Gold
6. On The Way
7. Time Stands Still
8. Since He Was Born
9. Heard The Shot
10. Been Sitting Here
11. Just A Light Hit

The album clocks in at just over 41 minutes. This is perfect as at the outset of making this album I wanted it to be a concise ten to twelve song alum that didn’t exceed 45 minutes. We recorded 15 tunes and now have three great LAF besides and one track “Gonna Leave A Wake” that is so completely different that we’ll have to really search high and low to find a special home for (or we’ll just post it here on this blog one day). We’ll get to mixing the b-side stuff ourselves in the next week or so.

As always, my brother Chris is in the process of getting the artwork together. Once that’s in the can this fucker will be off to the pressing plant with a release date and our first shows in a good long time to follow.

Thanks for reading!

-j

Early Reviews From Over The Pond!

2008-02-27T00:29:00.002-05:00

Our first "self titled" album will be realased March 10th in the UK on Pronoia records. Some pretty good reviews have been coming in and you can check'em out here.

And one more review here.

-j

New York City

2008-02-18T14:21:00.004-05:00

we're mastering right now!!!

LAF Mixing Vids & Pics

2008-02-01T00:08:00.000-05:00

Working on the Bass Gtr "Just A Light Hit".

Just Drums! A quick snipet from the tune "Better Bring A Bomb".

The wall o'gear!

B. Mctear @ work.

D. Grubb checking shit in the phones.

Oh Leslie! Ran a few keyboard tracks through this monster for the final mix. Nice!

With Wet Noodles For Legs And A Smile On My Face I Do Declare The Album Fini!

2008-02-01T00:06:00.000-05:00

It’s been a very busy and crazy few weeks…..allow me to catch up…

So we wrapped up the final tracking a few weeks ago. The last night of tracking was smooth sailing. I played a single D chord with some tremolo on it and my job was finished. Then Pete went on to do some percussion while I kicked a puppets ass (see vid below) and did my best to empty the large amount of beer we had left in the studio refrigerator downstairs. We did have a visitor that night. Our good friend Brian McTear stopped by to check out the studio and hear a few tracks as we were set to start mixing at his Miner Street studio a few days later. We ended the tracking with some “gang” handclaps. Pretty funny to end the session with four of us (Pete, Jeff, Brian and I) drunk trying to clap in time (we had to fix a few not-so-in-time claps in the mixing process) with Dave G. running the gear. It was really cool to have the whole band together for the final night of tracking as it’s been kind of a scattered meeting of a few band members from day to day throughout the whole recording process. I ended the night at our home away from home with Pete for one and a half beers when I realized that I was two or more sheets to the wind and stumbled my drunk ass home. A fun and well deserved night of excess my friends! It’s been a long road but I snapped the through the finish line tape with wet noodles for legs, a beer soaked head and a big smile on my face.

So we started the mixing process on Jan. 11th. We had seven straight days booked with one “final“ day for last minute fixes set for the following Tuesday. 11am to 9pm every day. I couldn’t be there for every hour of mixing, but ended up being present for 90% of it. As I’ve talked about before in this here blog, this whole mixing at a “proper/real/not our own” studio with a engineer that had no participation in the recording of the album was very new to me, but I knew off the bat it was a good idea and the fact that the mixing engineer was a old musician friend of ours and has worked on some of the best recordings that have come out of Philly in the past couple of years kept my “control freak” mind at ease.

I’d be a fucking liar to say that the first two day of mixing didn’t freak me out man. We’d spent the last five months recording in our studio and/or me sitting alone in my home studio working away, day after day tweaking every fucking part and the shit sounded awesome in those two rooms. You get used to the way the raw recordings sound in the only two rooms you can hear them in while tracking. So much so, that when you finally hear them in a different room or a different set of monitors you tend to freak out a bit and I did for sure. So by day four of mixing with plenty of time spent in the Miner Street studio I started to relax as the mixes really started to take shape and I finally got a grasp on the sound of the new control room. We kind of threw McTear into the fire as most of our tunes have a ton of tracks/little/weird stuff going on that if you weren’t part of the recording process you’d have no idea what to do with it in a final mix, but after a few days of us being in the studio with him he caught on pretty quick and things were smooth sailing from there on. He tweaked away at every track and really did an amazing job while we sat in the room and helped him steer the ship. Dave G. and Pete helped in getting giving very good input on the overall sonic sound and it worked out very well. My job was to sit there and tell McTear to turn up everything. Not to pat myself on the back, but I did a great job. I must have said “can you turn that keyboard noise/guitar solo up?” about a million times in seven days. As my mother always said “love what you do and do it well!”. Thanks Ma! To say McTear stepped up to the challenge would be an understatement for sure. He kicked ass and as I sit here listening to the final mixes on my trusty headphones while typing this all I can say is that this album sounds great.

-j

one armed pro tools engineer...

2008-01-17T01:26:00.000-05:00

you never see those guys any more... this guy had it pretty rough too...

that was the last day of tracking. i think beer had something to do with that...

we've moved on to the next step and have been mixing for the past week. a few more passes of each song and we'll be done!!!

if this doesn't get you excited...

2008-01-09T04:33:00.000-05:00

Read This.....

2008-01-03T17:58:00.000-05:00

A very interesting artical about the state of music/recording these days.

Click here.

Save The Date!

2008-01-03T01:02:00.000-05:00

The Game is on…We have booked time at our friend Brian McTear’s Miner Street Studios to start mixing the album on Jan. 11th. Fuck, it feels really good to type that. It marks the end of a really long/fun/ sometimes very frustrating (go back to the earlier posts when we spent a month just trying to get our studio computer to work correctly) and what now seems like endless good times making music that I’m almost sad to see come to an end. We’re not officially finished, but we’re damn close. I put down the last of the vocal tracks and final “lead” gtr a few nights ago. I still have three tunes that need keys, but I’m already on that shit. It’s tough to concentrate on the final touches in the holiday season. Too many family deals and parties to attend, but with the mixing date set we’re doing our best to get the shit done. I do think the holidays are a great time to be wrapping up the recording of this album though. Not to sound like a hippy, but the good vibes seem to be on our side as we lay down the final tracks.

So back to my original point of this post is that we are actually going into a proper studio to mix the album. This is a first for me man. Usually when we finish recording that only means we have two months of endless mixing to do on our own. Second guessing, and never being quite happy with the results. It’s like trying to put the final touches on a 4’ x 8’ painting you’ve spent 5 months on with your nose pressed up to the middle of the canvas. You just can’t see (hear) it clearly and it’s great to finally have an outside ear really help us dial it in. Can’t wait!

-j

Happy Holidays! Still At It.

2007-12-27T03:03:00.000-05:00

I hope you all had a great Christmas and have some fun NYE plans ahead of you. So far the holidays have been great for me.

Got back at it tonight in my home studio. Started laying down some keyboards on two of the last three tunes that need’em. Spent about 4 hours and ended up getting three solid tracks down. Pretty good for a post Christmas hangover evening.

Here’s the deal. The actual breakdown of what we have to complete before we are set to start mixing this album.

Tomorrow night will mark the second to last night of tracking in the “real” studio and here’s what I hope to get done:

1. Put down the vocals for one of the first tunes we started many months ago called “Gold”. I’ve been re-working the lyrics for weeks and finally got’em together earlier this evening and I’m ready to go.

2. Put some secondary rhythm gtr’s and the final gtr solo on a tune called “Heard The Shot”. The gtr stuff is always the easiest and most fun for me.

3. Re-do a harmony vocal on another tune (working title “I Don’t Know”) that was recorded a while back. The track sounds great and my vocals have been going down pretty smooth, but this one part really kinda sucks and has to be fixed.

Once all that’s tacked down and I get the last bit of keys tracked we’ll have one last night of recording ahead of us to put down the last of the percussion stuff and fix anything we see fit after a we run through the songs with a fine tooth comb.

Sorry for the LAF "to do" post, I promise some better reading next time around.

Be well, be safe and check back often!

-j

One of the tracks i put down tonight.

12.20.07 Twenty Tracks Of Vocals

2007-12-21T01:31:00.000-05:00

Back at it tonight. Put the vocals down on “Nice Person” this evening and when I say “vocals” I mean a shit ton of vocals. I think we topped out at around 20 tracks. That’s not to say there are 20 simultaneous tracks going at the same time, but we broke down each individual part into separate tracks to help ease the mixing process. Plenty of doubled vocals on each part and a ton of harmony deals. I laid down the foundation stuff and Jeff did some harmony stuff and I finished the whole thing off with yet more harmony stuff. The highlight was an amazing three part harmony in the chorus. One of the best on the whole album. This “Nice Person” tune is gonna end up being one of the best on the album for sure. I really can’t wait for you guys to hear this stuff.

I know when I hear about a band doing a bunch of excessive harmony vocals I usually think of a Beach Boys rip-off. Well let me tell you, I wouldn’t even consider an attempt at such vocal styling’s. Brian Wilson could burp a better vocal than I could ever imagine actually singing. I'm going for a much different deal. I’m shooting for a little better than the video below.

I'm the "dood" in the middle going for it and the other guys in the band (actually chicks in this vid, but you get the idea) are the ones that have to reign me in. This process seems to be working as of late.

-j

12.19.07 Gtr’s, They’re Our Friends!

2007-12-21T01:21:00.000-05:00

Yeah, you guessed it. We laid down some gtr’s tonight. Put the last bits on the tune “Nice Person” tonight. One secondary rhythm deal, a quick “blues” deal that Pete (yeah, he’s the drummer, but he did throw an acoustic gtr on and came up with a pretty sweet old school blues riff that I ended up putting down to tape and I got to say it really makes the part) and a sweet full blown, wha pedal laden solo. I must admit I’m pretty into the wha pedal when it comes to recording leads. Not the “prono” type wha stuff, but just kicking it up mid way and getting that “vocal type” tone on the gtr. Think Brian May or Deen Ween (hit the 1:32 mark and enjoy!) and you’ll get the idea. It’s just a cool way to tweek and/or bend the tone that I really dig.

Yet another strong evening in the trenches my friends.

A pic and a vid below for your enjoyment.

As always, thanks for reading!

-j

Just imagine this "jamming" on top of one of the best tunes you've never heard. Do it, it will make the vid much better.

the last three sessions, for me...

2007-12-20T01:20:00.000-05:00

so the last three sessions have been great. the first did start off a little weird for me. i was having a problem hearing brians bass. i'm not sure what it was but everything sounded really loud and really muddy. thank god dave was there. we moved the mic, tweaked some knobs on the bass head and things started to clear up. dave and i have been splitting up most of the engineering, mostly by who's able to be there. some nights i'm working so daves the man in charge and some nights daves got stuff to do or is/was on the beach kite surfing. after this night me and jay stopped at the the p.o.p.e for a night cap and jay forgot to mention what happened in his post but the next day we ended up on philebrity...

im in the background laughing...

the other two nights were awesome! everything is sounding really good and we seem to be moving along rather quickly. jeff and brian have really kicked it up for these last few songs. and i feel like we are getting into a grove again. the guitar parts have been super easy to record. it's like all we have to do is turn the amp on plug any guitar into it and put a mic in front of it and it sounds good. it seems to easy i know but thats how it goes i guess...

pg...

Dat Sunburn!

2007-12-18T01:22:00.000-05:00

The past few sessions have been very productive. I think everybody feels the end getting close and we’re kicking it into high gear on this last straightaway.

Got vocals down on “Better Bring A Bomb” & “Heard The Shot” a few nights ago. Went very smooth. A few nights later we got the final rhythm gtr’s and bass track down on a new one called “She’s More Of A Night Person”. Jeff put down the gtr’s. He had to learn the parts on the spot as I had only written the tune a few weeks prior and never even made a demo. He stepped up and nailed it in only a few takes. They sound amazing and I have to tell you that if it wasn’t for friends lending us a bunch of extra gear (Gtr’s, Amp’s etc) the album wouldn’t be sounding as good as it does. Of course it would still be good, but just having all the options is just awesome. With that said, if it wasn’t for the Metal Band that we rent a practice space too at the studio the gtr’s would have suffered big time. Any time our little arsenal of Fender amps wasn’t cutting it sound wise we could just go into their room witch resembles a mini-Guitar Center and take our pick of a ton of really cool Marshall, Orange, Laney or Sunn amps not to mention the endless supply of weird, old efx pedals. We’ve been leaning pretty heavy on this old Sunn head and cab for the last couple of tunes (Jeff used it on this last track). I think it’s solid state. Man that fucker get some sweet overdriven tones. Not really “distorted”, just good and dirty.

Brian also had to learn the tune on the spot and I have to say, he nailed one sweet ass bass track that had us all smiling in the control room as he laid it down. I guess knowing it was the last bass track one the album he decided to let it rip. Bass? DONE! It was one of those really fun nights of recording.

So I can’t believe I forgot to tell you this little studio happening. Sometime last week we were recording a bass track when in-between takes we heard somebody come in front door downstairs. I thought it was Jeff as the rest of the band was already there, but Dave heard a girls voice as they came up the stairs. Turns out it was the owner of our building Ernie along with a Asian female associate in tow. She heard the music outside an insisted on coming up and checking out what was going on. She burst through the door and with a very heavy accent asked “Are you getting high?”. We told her no, just beer and cigarette’s. This chick was shot of a cannon man. She told us that she “Sing in wedding band” and proceeded to point at all out gear and tell us what it was. “I know dat, dat Fender”, “What’s dat, dat bass?”. We were all pretty well oiled on Miller High Life at this point and we’re trying to answer her questions, but it was like she was a 5 year old that had just learned all of here favorite instruments names and was let loose in a petting zoo of musical instruments. The most classic line of her visit was when she saw the Fender Telecaster with a sunburst finish hanging on the wall and declared two times in a row in a very excited tone “I know dat, dat sunburn!”. I almost lost my shit. So good. Of course the video camera was not rolling. Fuck! A lesson learned: Always roll tape……..always!

-j

The black Strat is my main gtr and is all over this album. The other two are on loan from Dave's brother Mike.

Jeff behind the mic.

No more bass for you.

The vocal "booth".

The mighty Mica Fuzz Wau Wau! One of the many pedals we stole from the Metal Band. This thing is insane.

Great Ghost Stories

2007-12-17T23:06:00.001-05:00

This is the album that had "The Golden Arm" ghost story i was talking about 2 posts below!

Click here to hear it! I haven't heard this in over 26 years at least. Awesome....

Thanks A.J.!

A Visit From An Old Friend

2007-12-14T02:56:00.000-05:00

So my old Lenola band mate and long time musician buddy Sean Byrne came by the studio tonight to hang out for the evening. I’ve spent the better part of 12 or more years making music with Sean. He’s been with me (playing drums) for all the post Turning Point music projects I’ve worked on up until Like A Fox. My man stood by me though thick and thin (mostly thin) for a long time. He’s since went on to release some amazing music with his own band “The Twin Atlas”. He’s the acceptation to the rule that a drummer shouldn’t write songs and stick to just playing the drums. I started out playing the drums and I’d still say I’m a better drummer than I am a guitar player/songwriter so I have to agree that that “rule” is bullshit. Regardless, it was a pleasure to have Sean in the studio. I knew straight off I wasn’t gonna have him in the studio to just hang out and drink with us while we went on with our business. He had to do some tracking, but I just wasn’t sure what or where to have him do his thing. One of the new tracks we just started tracking “Better Bring A Bomb” was pretty wide open, just an acoustic track with drums and bass. No vocals, no keys. Plenty of holes to fill. After I laid down a couple of electric gts to fill out the rhythm tracks and a simple “lead” gtr I handed Sean the gtr and an empty High Life bottle to lay down some slide gtr. 20 minutes later he had killed a two part slide harmony gtr deal. So good! He than went on to do some amazing percussion tracks that just took the song to the that “next level”. As I’ve said before, it’s the “headphone” tracks that make a song and Sean laid down some serious “headphone” shit tonight.

I’ve always been lucky to be involved in The Twin Atlas in one way or another. I’ve played guitar and bass with them in the live setting and have laid down a few tracks on their albums. It was nice to return the favor and have him along for the ride once again. Good times for sure!!

A sweet painting of The Twin Atlas live by Sean's pop Pete....Nice!

What’s In A Name?

2007-12-13T02:35:00.000-05:00

So…as we get closer to finishing the album I’ve reached the point of having to name this fucker. The first LAF album was self titled. The first time I’ve ever coped out and didn’t give an album a proper title. Looking back on it, it was pretty lame as the only bands that should be allowed to “self title” an album are the big guns: Led Zeppelin, KISS, David Bowie, Cheap Trick…..you get the idea. In the Lenola days I would have the album title before the first note of music was ever committed to tape. I liked it that way. It felt like you were working on “something”……it had a name, an identity. But all of those album titles were either inside jokes that sounded cool or actual quotes from a drunken conversations I had that just struck me in the moment and made me think “that would make a great album title”. Well, I had one of those moments a few months back and I though I had the title for this record. I was at a BBQ at my buddy Brian’s house sitting in his backyard with a hand full of friends from my hometown, just talking about the old days, childhood shit when I remembered this old ghost story album that was passed around amongst all of us way back as youngin’s. Side two had this one ghost story about a lady that somehow ended up with an actual golden arm (a farming accident? I can’t remember), anyway the lady with the golden arm passed, but she made it clear she wanted to be buried with the golden arm before hand. The long and short of the story is that some guy dug her up and stole the golden arm and hid it under his bed. The first night he started to hear some faint moans and creepy sounds as he laid in bed until a few nights later when he was awoke to find the corpse of the golden arm lady standing at the foot of his bed screaming “where’s my golden arm, you have my golden arm!” over and over again in the most insane scary voice along with a ton of the most creepy sound effects ever. I used to play this record on my little record player night after night just to scare the shit out of myself every time listened to it. I loved that story and had totally forgotten about it until it came up over beers with my old friends and it hit me….that’s the title “The Golden Arm!”

A cool title that reminds me of old friends and good times……

Here is where this whole “Golden Arm” title gets weird.
My older brother Chris has been the artist behind all the cover art for every album, 7 inch & ep I’ve ever released dating back to the late ‘80s. With every project I start his first question is “what the title?” so he can get some grasp on the artwork. A few months ago he asked the same question and I replied “The Golden Arm” and explained the story behind it. He’s few years older and didn’t quite remember the ghost story album, but then informed me that there is and old movie starring Frank Sinatra about a jazz musician that was addicted to heroin called “The Man With The Golden Arm”. I had never heard of the movie.

Now here’s where things get a bit heavy and where I decided I can’t use the name. I’ve lost a few of my oldest/best friends to that fucking drug.

To be honest a few of the songs on this album were written around the feeling of losing some of my best friends to such a terrible drug, so the title I originally chose does have a double meaning: good memories vs. the ultimate evil.

I still like the title “The Golden Arm”, but it’s just the fact that that title would instantly conjure up the thoughts of addiction to some folks that don’t know me or the back story of the of that ghost story and the friends that I have lost.

Back to the drawing board….

-j

Enjoy another short "lo-fi" vid of LAF in the studio.

12.5.07 (Bass is the place)

2007-12-13T01:04:00.000-05:00

(Bri......laying it down!)

Yeah man…we’re close. Brian laid down bass on two of the last three tracks we have to complete. The last couple of tracks have been written on the fly….I think I already explained the whole “I dig writing the last songs of an album on the fly” thing a few posts ago so read below to catch up on that, but what that means for Pete’s drum parts or Brian’s bass parts is that they end up playing to really raw, basic acoustic tracks with me talking them through the part. Tonight Brian had the pleasure of playing bass on two new tracks that he really had no idea what he was gonna play. It’s a quick fix though. Just grab the acoustic gtr and run though the deal a few times with him and we’re off. The first tune we tracked is called “Heard The Shot”. A pretty simple “pop” type tune and the bass went down in a couple of takes. The second tune we tracked “You Better Bring A Bomb” was a bit more of a challenge but gave him a little room to stretch out on the bass and that turned out to be a good thing. He nailed a solid bass track and added a sweet counter melody bass line for the “middle eight” of the tune that changed my whole idea of what that part was gonna be……Very nice!

-j

Well on our way….to the last weeks of recording!

2007-12-04T02:56:00.000-05:00

Hit the studio at 7:00 this evening. Started with some drum tracks. Some of the last drums we need to record. It’s always a good sign of being close to the end when the last drums are put to tape…well “digital tape” anyway.

Pete put down a cool loop type beat in the verse parts of a tune called “I Don’t Know”.

And, yes that is a working title, it is a lyric in the song, but a very bad song name. “What song do you want to work on? “I don’t know”. Have a smoke, think about it. “I don’t know! Man”. It can be like the “Who’s on first” bit. Well, not really. I’m just realizing that I’m horrible at giving my songs an actual decent name. As we track each song in the studio I have to come up with a “song title” on the spot so we know what we’re working on and know how to find it on the computer tomorrow. I usually pick the first lyric of the tune…..not always bad, not always good. What I’m getting at is that a song now referred to as “I Don’t Know” is a pretty sweet tune and will end up with a much better/representative title like “Diamond Laced Fingers Stealing The Golden Horn Of The Ultimate Awesome Unicorn!” Ummmm, no. Gotta find something in between the two I guess. Most of the working titles of the tunes kinda suck, bit that’s an easy fix.

The second part of the night was spent putting some less conventional drum tracks one of the latest and final tunes we started tracking last week. This one is gonna be one of the only truly acoustic based “mellow” tunes that will appear on the album. Set up a floor tom for Pete to play and a rack tom that I played at the same time. I was looking for a “marching band” type effect. It worked. Then we laid down some stereo tracks of a snare and a crash cymbal to complete the effect. All this took up a good bit of the night and even though they are intended to basically be “headphone” tracks that most people will not really notice in the final product we still gave it our all and drank a few Miller’s in the process.

I’m now at the point that I need to come up with an album title too. I had one that I really thought was pretty great and was committed too, but I feel like a have to change now. I didn’t know the title I chose had a “double” meaning until a couple months ago. I’ll write about it tomorrow.

As always thanks for reading!

-j

Catching up Pt.2

2007-11-30T02:59:00.000-05:00

The home studio.

So the past three weeks have been slow at the “real” studio, and the other guys have had plenty of free time as all the work we had put in the many weeks prior had been loaded up on an external hard drive and dumped into my home set up for me to add all the keyboards, noises, beeps and other random headphone type deals. It’s a little ass backwards that I spend so much time on shit that most people will not even notice on the final recording, but I just really love when bands pay attention the small details, the type of shit that creeps up on you only after a couple of listens via a good set of headphones. I listen to music all the time, but I never really consider it a “good listen” unless its turned up through a good stereo with a few adult beverages or cranked up on a nice set of headphones along with a couple puffs of grass. Any band you consider worth a shit should get your full attention and should be treated the same as watching a movie. Cut out all outside distractions and just enjoy the ride. I’m not saying you shouldn’t jam out to your favorite band while you dust the house or mop the kitchen floor, but just do yourself a favor and spent the time to really listen from time to time. I’m thinking this is becoming a lost art…..people actually “listening” to an album for the sheer enjoyment of the listening experience. Tis a shame, but if you take my advise you’ll be happy you did. It’s a lost art in the “digital” age. I love my ipod too. Shuffle rules, but you gotta get back to basics and just sit and listen to a full album now and again.

Sorry for the rant, but I’ll bring the whole thing back to my own “self promoting” ways that this whole blog is based on yeah?

I spent the last three weeks adding “sounds” to the first twelve tunes we completed at our studio and brought back to my home studio. The first week was easy. I just plugged in the parts that were already written via my early demos. Then the next two weeks were spent playing, deleting and re-recording tracks for hours on end every night to the point that I could even tell if what I was doing was good, bad, awful or awesome. At the end of every night the beers and weed told me all I tracked was gold, but the sober morning listen would usually tell me otherwise. After a few nights of suck I got on a roll and knocked out all the tunes and have now been cleaning them up at our proper studio.

Another weird/fun part of every album I’ve recorded dating back to all the albums I recorded with my old band Lenola is that I’ve always started every album with a solid eight or nine songs knowing I had to write a few more tunes to complete a full album. I like the pressure of having to write some good shit quick to complete the project. This album is no different. I’ve spent the past three nights with gtr in hand and finalizing lyrics for the “late comers” of the album. They usually end up being some of the best tunes of any record I make.

We were actually in the studio tonight putting vocals on one of these “late comers” called “Internal, External” and I must say it was an amazingly productive night and I tracked some of the best vocals on the album so far. Good times…..

Cheers!

-j

Since We've Been Gone

2007-11-29T02:29:00.000-05:00

Man-o-man. Yes, as Pete said “it’s been a long time” since the last update. You could blame this on being lazy, but I’m gonna blame it on being busy making music. A lame excuse for sure, but it makes me feel better. The last we left off there was tons of whining and complaining about “shit not working” and “can’t wait to start getting shit done”. Well as we said well over a month ago, the shit works and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. Working, and I must say it’s been awesome. So awesome that I forgot that we even had this blog deal going.

So lets catch up shall we?

My goal for this record was to have 16 tunes to pick from before all was said and done. We’re gonna come up one short, but will still have to cut four or five songs for the album proper. Not to bad. We’re at the point where we can see the end of the road, but it’s a long flat road and the light at the end of the tunnel might be a bit further away then it appears, but if we keep the proverbial “nose to the grind stone” we should be able to wrap this fucker up in the next month.

The breakdown:

We have 13 of the 15 tunes just about wrapped up. Still need to tidy up a few details here and there. Wash’em behind the ears, change a few diapers, get the necessary shots and so on, but they are healthy and sounding better than I ever expected.
In the past 2 weeks we’ve laid down the basic tracks for the last three tracks. They are in the early stages, but the x-rays look good and we’re happy to tell you that they might end up being some of the strongest of our tribe.

It’s only natural that some survive and some must pass. We have a strong herd of songs my friends and the tunes that make it to the album will have proven their wealth through weeks of trial an error, leg wrestling and drinking games. I can’t wait for the final episode….

We’re back! More to come soon…….Posts…Pics….Vids…..

Thanks for reading!
-j

WOW!!!

2007-11-24T21:07:00.000-05:00

it's been along time since the last post. we've been really busy or not so busy because we are almost done. well close to being done for the most part. we finished a lot of the tracking at the studio and moved all the tracks over to jays house so he can put the keys and all the little clicks and beeps down. so really we've all been bored. as you can see in this video.

after the video jay did finish the keyboard stuff and we've been putting the finishing touches on about 12 songs. we also did drum tracks for two new songs. i think we've got one more song to track which will more of an acoustic jam. we should be back in the swing of things starting this week and hopefully we will keep this updated a little more...

yes, it's really working...

2007-10-04T18:38:00.000-04:00

well things are finally coming together. we've done multiple days of recording and no pops or crackle or any other weird noises, other then the ones we've created. actually we've been so busy we don't even have time to post.

well our new found love of the studio has brought on some good days and nights. now that everything is up and running we will get the video camera up and hopefully have some good clips. tomorrow we will start some new drum tracks and we should be on our way...

here is a video of jay playing guitar for a song called "vertical dance"...

enjoy...

Some pics.....

2007-09-29T03:04:00.000-04:00

The problems are fixed....It's gotta have something to do with the magic monitor!

Psychedelic, no?

Pete's beard is real.....

I tracked through this fucker the other night. Quite an amazing amp.

Home Sweet Home Studio

2007-09-29T02:53:00.000-04:00

So things have been a bit rocky as of late so far as the recording process and fucking stupid recording computers go, but as bad as it may seem from my bitching on this here blog some work has been accomplished. The 5 “b-side” tunes I’ve been working on at my home studio are 98% fini. Hard to call’em b-sides anymore as they really do sound awesome and even though I have many more tunes written for the new album I just can’t count some of these guys out just yet. Trust me man. Good, good shit is happening.

Not to get into any personal life stuff here, but tonight was my second wedding anniversary to my beautiful wife Colette. A very happy day that was only made better due to the fact that our main studio computer if fucking fixed and working better than…..well let’s just say the fucker is working and the game is back on. Before the thing decided to break down we did get a chance to track drums for three actual album tunes. The basic bass and Gtr’s will be laid down on these tunes starting tomorrow.

And now a quick embarrassing/funny story relating to tonight’s anniversary celebration. I spent the day in the studio with Pete and Dave tracking some Gtr’s and vocals. All went very well. A pretty sober affair for the most part. Had a few beers and a wee little joint in the last hours of tracking but I had to head home around 8 to meet the wife for some celebratory drinks at a local bar (the Cantina). We had some high-end margaritas and I did a few shots of tequila along with a few beers. Good times all around, but I decided to head into my little home studio to do some tracking after said drinks. That went well enough, but after all was said and done I decided to break out the digital camera to make a little video of the studio to post on this here blog. In the process of turning all the gear back on to make the video the beers and shots took over and tweaked my equilibrium and my drunk ass fell into two of the keyboards knocking them straight to the ground as I tried my best to keep myself from landing on top of them and rendering them into shards of plastic and wires that could only produce a sound worth recording if I tossed’em down my stairs and mic’d them up with a delay pedal and Robert Plant crooned over the noise they produced as they made their finial decent towards the curb that would ultimately be their final moments of glory before being crushed next to food waste in the next South Philly trash truck to come along. Being drunk I had a good laugh, checked my self for any injuries besides the blow to my “I can handle my liquor” ego and then set the shit back up and checked it to make sure it all still worked. It did work and everything was fine. Here’s a little video of my little home studio and luckily still working keyboards.

Much progress has been happening. Much more to talk to you about real soon. Thanks for checking in!

-j

It's Been Awhile

2007-09-21T03:01:00.000-04:00

So yeah, it’s been a while since the last update. No, the band did not break up and no, the main studio computer is still not totally fixed. We have been able to track some drums and a few bass tracks for the album tunes, but once again, every time I plug into an electric gtr the dreaded “crackle” seems to rear its ugly head. Luckily we did have the second computer (the one that has ended up in my home studio) up and running and were able to get live gtrs and bass tracked for the original 4 b-side tunes we started at the beginning of this recording session. This second computer is now in my home studio, the place where all the keys, samples and programming will take place. Even though we’ve been eating from the shit sandwich that is the computer problem now know as king of crap mountain I have had some solace in the fact that I’m able to grab a beer or three and head up to my little home studio and work on the b-side tunes. And I must say it’s been a very rewarding project. I brought these songs into the studio as something we could record just to warm up to the recording process and make sure everything was working before we got to work on the actual album. These were tunes I wrote up to 3 years ago. I spent a few days listening through to some old demo CDRs and picked a couple that we could use a guinea pigs if you will, but now that I have all the live tracks here at home I’ve been spending the time waiting for the main computer to be fixed nestled into my little studio putting the final touches on the b-side stuff and I have to say I’ve really fallen love with the results. This is a good sign man. If this first session at the new studio has resulted in some amazing soundings tunes I can only hope that the actual album tracks will reach above and beyond my greatest expectations. The studio computer is being totally rebuilt tonight.

My fingers are crossed and plenty of beers have been cracked in the name of progress. If you’re a drinker crack one for us. If you’re not a drinker cross your fingers. If you’re into yoga, twist yourself into the shape of a working studio computer and hold that position until I say everything is working as planned. It could be a race towards ZEN! I hope we win, but at the worst you’ll be a little closer right?

Keep an eye out and an ear open as I’ll be posting here more often as things are going to get better. I promise…………fingers crossed!

-j

Here's a few recent pics from the studio. I'll have some pics and a video up of my home studio tomorrow.

Me doing Vox....through the control window....Trippy....or just a bad pic. You decide.

Jeff tracking some acoustic GTS on the B-Side called "Gold"

This is the new "power conditioner" rack. Should help with the "crackle".

ok computer...

2007-09-04T16:55:00.000-04:00

well we're still waiting on the big computer fix. it really sucks, it's sorta like finding your christmas gifts in the attic but not being able to open the for two months. every thing is just sitting there looking really sweet and we cant even use any of it. we did manage to get some stuff done but the same problem arose on the other computer. it's utterly depressing.

well if this recording doesn't work out at least jay has a back up plan... yeah this is what it's come to, watch...

maybe next post will be about how awesome the records going. so check back in 2010 and we may have some stuff down...

“Today was a good day”

2007-08-31T02:49:00.000-04:00

So today started off great. The Phillies swept the fucking Mets! Four games at home and we took’em all. I was at the first game on Monday and had the pleasure of seeing a nice blow out. With NY being only an hour or so drive from Philly every time we have the Mets at home the place is over run with douche Mets fans. It’s always a pleasure to attend a win in that situation, but four in a row is pretty damn sweet. It was a day game today that I watched from home and it caused me to get no work done. Probably one of the best baseball games I’ve watched in years.

With the positive vibes flowing, I got a call from Dave G. that the second studio computer (the one that will end up in my small home studio to do all the programming and keyboard stuff for the album) is up and running and we can throw it in the studio and keep working until the main computer is back on it’s feet (should be done is a few days). Awesome! He got the fucker working and transferred the original drum tracks on to the new computer and we were back in business.

I met up with Pete around 8 o’clock and we got back to tracking some gtr’s. We’re not “officially” working on album tracks yet. Just some old tunes to work out the kinks of the new studio, but we did get rhythm gtr’s and lead gtr’s down for two tracks. The first song is a rock-n-roll deal called “So Easy” and the second is a Neil Young-ish deal called “Leave A Wake”. For the latter we stuffed Pete’s bass drum with blankets and draped his snare drum with a towel to get that old school “puffy” drum sound. It worked out very well even though it doesn’t sound anything like what I want the actual album to sound like. If anything, it will be an awesome b-side. The Dylan basement tapes meet the future (well, maybe not even close to that awesome, but we’re trying).

The bottom line is that we are back at it and I had a fucking blast playing some gtr’s and getting loose tonight.

-j

“Internal time clock?!? I don’t even know what that is man……”

2007-08-27T01:07:00.000-04:00

As Pete stated below we’ve hit a slight bump in the road of recording. I’ll explain….

So the first two days in the studio were great. Got three drums tracks done and started on some guitars. The shit was going so good we killed a 30 pack of the “champagne of beers” between three of us (Ok, Jeff had two or three too) in a 9 hour session on the second day. But as fast as the sweet buzz of cheap beer set in so did the evil head of “you just built a new studio and this shit isn't going to be so easy” tapped us on the shoulder and slapped us in the face. Damn that shit hurts. It was all-good until we started tracking electric guitars. Drums? Sounded great. Guitars? Not so much. Every time we hit record on a guitar track we’d get a nasty crackle out of the studio monitors. A fucking bad chord right? Nope. The amp? Nope. A pre-amp? Nope. The flux-capacitor? Nope. Tried everything…..every cable….every everything. Turns out it’s the fucking internal time clock in the sound card of our brand new studio computer. Whatever the fuck that is I don’t know (Dave figured that shit out), but it should be fixed in the next few days and we can get back to work. I'll keep you posted.

-j

nothings ever easy.

2007-08-27T00:21:00.000-04:00

some minor set backs have slowed us down for a day or so but nothing to be worried about. we've got some new pictures and videos of us actually recording something. the one video is from jeffs phone so it is what it is. the other you'll just have to watch. we've got the video camera there we just haven't set it up yet or we still need tapes or the battery's dead. its something like that...

here's the video 1...
and video 2...

thats brians amp...

thats blurry jay doing a solo...

jay again...

more jay...

thats my broken drum head...

and jay again...

Time to shut up and put up

2007-08-23T02:26:00.000-04:00

So tonight was the first official night of recording! We didn’t really get much done as far as “starting the album”, but we did track the drums for the first b-side tune. I must say it felt like x-mas morning to me. Just to see all the gear fired up and working was awesome.

This is how the recording process is going to go now that we’ve broken the cherry and know that everything is in working order:

Step one: Spend the first two weeks recording some old tunes I wrote a while ago. Tunes that will not be on the new album (unless we strike gold). This will just be an exercise of the recording process, working out the kinks of the new studio and feeling out the new space. I don’t want to jump right into the “good stuff” in the first weeks of recording because I know the shit will start to gel after a few sessions and I don’t want to waste time re-recording the tunes that will end up on the new album.

Step two: Record the fucking album. It’s that easy man. The Ol’two step.

As to what you can expect from this blog from here on out? Shit, tons of amazingly boring talk about what we did or didn’t accomplish every night, pictures of guitars, pedals, drums, us drinking booze, mics and various other recording gear. We will also be stepping up with some videos of the recording process. Snippets of all kinds of good and bad takes, sour notes and funny drunken moments. We’ll save most of good stuff for the final album.

Now a quick note to anybody that has read this far: Thank you! Check back often….if you’ve made it this far, you’ll be back (I hope). At the worst this blog will kill a few minutes of your boring ass day job. Work is for jerks my friends.

-j

"It's Offical!"

2007-08-17T04:23:00.001-04:00

well we’re really done. we moved about 90% of the gear in and are on our way to start recording soon. no i'm not kidding. we got together on wednesday and moved the gear in and brian had his camera and took some pictures. i promise the next post is going to have someone with head phones on recording something or a video of somebody recording.

till then, DO WORK SON!

pg.

this is from behind my drums.

this is a good picture of the live room.

here is the rack. its missing 1 or 2 things.

daves ghost and mic cables.

thats me trying to make it louder.

here's our sweet mic.

and thats jay playing the drums.

The Final Nail

2007-08-16T01:17:00.000-04:00

So I got the call from Pete (LAF drummer and master of all things electrical, wood working and studio constructing….a one man machine) that the studio is FINISHED! Fuck Yeah! He spent the last two nights breaking ass with all the finishing details and man does the place look sweet. I was there helping him just two days ago and it was looking pretty good then, but he stepped up and rocked it out and when I arrived tonight I was pretty blown away. Even better than that was the fact that tonight was the first time we actually started loading in some of the recording gear. Yep, this whole process is actually becoming real now. I’ve been a spectator through this whole process so far, I did do some cleaning up, cheerleading and basic labor-type work witch might just pay off because if we can’t make this record sound good enough to do some touring and maybe make enough money to pay some rent for a little bit I’ll at least have some experience at the only job any self respecting musician can do besides play music……a laborer on a construction site, but to be honest I’ll probably end up being the old guy lugging beer up from the basement of a local bar. Hopefully I won’t have to write about that experience for a few years. Fingers crossed.

So there are a few reasons that the “excitement factor” for this recording is a bit higher than a lot of the past records I’ve recorded. First off, all of my previous recordings have been homemade, super small budget affairs. No complaints and this is kinda the same deal, but totally different. Let me explain. As with the first LAF album and all the Lenola albums, we recorded them in a very DIY fashion. The spare bedroom was the “control room”; the better part of the living room or dank ass basement was the “cutting room”. This experience is gonna be a good bit different as we actually have what resembles a real recording studio and the equipment also is being stepped up into the “real” studio world. The extra bonus is that I’ll still have the luxury of being able to do some of the recording/writing at home. I have a nice little second bedroom/studio space right here in my new place in south Philly that rests only three blocks from our studio. I’m getting a nice new computer that will mirror our studio computer and I’ll be able to bring an external hard drive home with me and work on all the keyboard and programming stuff in the comfort of my own place like the old days. The best of both worlds man. A sweet ass studio for all the “live” recording and a nice little bedroom studio to concentrate on all the little details that I enjoy so much. I’ll have the sweetest studio tan when this recording is over. If all goes as planned I should be fucking transparent when all is said and done.

Good news from the LAF front...

2007-08-16T00:59:00.000-04:00

So it’s been a while since I’ve checked in. How have you been? Good? Great! I’ve
been well too. Lot’s of good news to report, but I didn’t want to count any chicks before they hatched. They’ve just barely breached the shell and are still stumbling around like drunks on payday, but the few that have made it out of the shell have good things to report on the Like A Fox front..

Chick number one knows: The “self tiled” Like A Fox album is ready and set to be released by Pronoia Records in the UK. This has been a long process, but after much anticipation and nail biting, it’s all a go! The release date has yet to be set, but the masters have been sent out, the artwork has been sailed across the sea and contracts have been penned. All you blokes on the other side of the pond better buy a few copies of the LP so we can come over and rock and drink our way through your land….the first round is on us!

Chick number two knows: We have signed a sweet deal with Transit Of Venus Records based out of Philadelphia to release the next and soon to be recorded Like A Fox album. The “CEO” of TOV is a great guy that really believes in the “music” and has afforded us the chance to make the record I’ve always known we were capable of and now we’ll actually be able to deliver on. Thanks Jim!

Chick Number Three Knows: We (mainly Pete) have spent the last two months building a studio in our practice space. It’s in the last stages of finally being completed….seems one week turns into to two, two weeks turns into months, but they always say “anything worth doing is worth it’s weight in gold and two in the bush is better than one in your….foot….?!?!” Ummmm….anyway…The studio is set and the gear will be loaded in by the time you read this. I have a bunch of tunes ready to go and cannot wait to get going. If you like good tunes and have a pair of nice headphones and are willing to use them I promise we will not disappoint.

this is it...

2007-08-10T10:49:00.001-04:00

so we finally finished construction. we’ve painted, cleaned and started moving gear in last week. now I know it’s been a long time between post but as of right now I’m the only posting and I’ve been super busy with work and other stuff but jay guarantees me that he’s got three long winded entries coming up. things should start to speed up once we start recording. we do have our first video post which is here... and some new pictures. the video is a little dark and short but it's a start.

here's the control room window...

thats me cutting a piece of trim for the door. notice the sweat ring. that sorta explains why i've lost close to 20lbs in the last 6 weeks...

these dudes stopped by to help...

this is the finished wall in the cutting room...

here's another one...

the board...

speakers and the grinch...

so next week we should have all the gear in and on our way to recording. we're going to set up our video camera and have it rolling non stop. so we should have a ton of video footage. plus i'm going to snap some more pic's of the finished room and have them up soon.

i think thats it for now.

so close...

2007-07-24T01:19:00.000-04:00

well we are super close to being done with the construction. all the dry wall is up and primed in the control room. the window is in. the only thing left to do is put the electric in and then a final clean up... it's late and i'm going to bed so these pictures will have to do...

the paint spill, almost cleaned up...

thats what dry wall looks like...

the heater we had to disconnect...

some of dave's handy dry walling skills...

thats me hard at work...

thats the room...

some pictures

2007-07-17T01:11:00.000-04:00

this is a giant paint spill in the control room...

this is looking into the control room...

angle shot of the dead air space...

looking towards the door in the D.A.S...

looking toward the wall...

another angle shot of the dead air space...

recapitule el número tres

2007-07-17T00:40:00.001-04:00

so the next day it looks like all i did was frame out the control room window and make the rough opening for the door. the window frame was simple. it sucked because i had to use 1x3's because thats what the metal studs were. the rough door opening was a bit trickier. since i had to cut (with metal snips) the metal studs, which made them super flimsy. there was nothing for the real studs to grab onto to sturdy themselves. i finally rig something up with some shims and a small piece of 1x3.

this is a good one of the window frame...

here is a shot of the door...

another shot of the door and wall...

"utah! gimme two."

2007-07-16T23:00:00.000-04:00

so basically i stopped working on the room for about two weeks. we had a show so we needed to tighten up some of the old hits and put the finishing touches on the new ones. the show went well even with one drink ticket per band member. we did get hooked up with some free coors lights that we had to drink out of plastic cups.

the day brian came down to help was the day i realized that we should be documenting this. by the time he showed up i was finishing up filling the one wall with insulation. we then carried up the first piece of sheet rock and put it up. the second piece went up just as easy. i cut the hole for the window and started the dry wall around the door. that was pretty much it for that day...

the next day i came in dave was already there. he started pulling the metal bands stuff out of their room and and clearing out a space that would later become our control room. once we cleared out enough space we pulled off the drywall that was already up and saved it. then i tried to cut the metal studs (which i hate) with my other brothers reciprocating saw but the battery died. so that had to wait until the next day. next we laid out the 2x4's and put up the final wall. it went up pretty easy and we got it plumb and level and screwed it in. then the metal band showed up to raise satan from his sleep, so we called it quits...

the rest will just be pictures. as i'm trying to play catch up since we are almost done...

this is where the devil lives...

this is in the control room looking out...

me standing on a ladder looking down on the control room...

this is standing in the doorway into the control room...
notice the dead saw...

recap the first real day...

2007-07-14T18:34:00.000-04:00

so the first step in constructing the studio was to correctly measure and estimate how much material we were going to need. So I measured pretty much everyday for about a week and came up with this list.

10- 2x6x10.

12- 2x4x10.

4- sheets of 5/8 drywall.

4- sheets of 3/8 drywall.

4- sheets of 1/2 foam board.

1- solid wood door. which weighed a ton.

1- regular door.

a couple bags of insulation, nails, screws, liquid nails, spray foam, and some other random things… we loaded or overloaded dave’s car one night with all the wood and the two doors. Then my brother came down with his truck and helped us with the rest of the stuff.

we started that day after both jay and my brother magically disappeared. dave and i first started by covering the existing wall with the foam board. we overlapped the drywall seems with foam board, screwed it in and then duct taped the seems. next we laid out where the new wall was going to be and how far we should put it from the existing wall. it’s about 18 inches… note that pic is from my phone so it's a little crappy.

the framing for the window took a little bit of higher math to figure out and it still came out a bit off. the entire wall wasn’t square so trying to square up a window frame in something that’s not square, was a bit awkward. it sort of worked out in the end. the door on the other hand i thought turned out pretty god damn good. it opens and shuts smoothly and once we put the door jams and the walk way floor in it'll shut nice and tight...

the next day i built the door frame and hung it. The frame was relatively easy to build. The 2x6’s i used were straight so it made things a lot smoother. once i got the door in i marked where the hinges were going to be and started chiseling. i had to chisel because i currently don’t own a router. i got the door frame in place shimmed and screwed it in. then drilled the hole for the handle. put it on and i was basically done with that door... and yes it was that easy.

the last pic is of a hammer i made out of some oak 1x1 scraps i had. it’s really more of a wood mallet then a hammer. i needed one for some other project i was working on and i couldn’t find one at lowes so I made my own. jay was amazed that I built my own so he took a picture of it.

a little side note, i think this was the first or three or four days where i listened to the same three albums over and over again. the thermals ‘the body, the blood, the machine”, jonathan fire*eater “wolf songs for lambs” and teenage fan club “thirteen”…

there it is
"the HAMMER"

better late then never...

2007-07-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

So this all started out when we decided to record our next album in our practice space. it somehow turned into building a control room and putting up all kinds of walls. then installing windows and doors to these not so straight walls. i've taken on the liberty of building most of this and i wanted to document it so i borrowed my mom’s camera and started this blog. the camera missed the first few days of building but i managed to snap a few pics with my phone. now for a little back story...

i've rented this garage for a while now and we use the upstairs as our practice space. we currently share the space with a metal band, no it’s not slayer. but they are just as evil, if not more. we just signed a sweet record deal with a small label based out of Philly who would like us to have a record done and out by late winter/early springish. we pondered the thought of going into a studio to make this album but we figured, we have most of the gear to record. plus we bought a couple new things and with a little help from some friends and their gear we could do this right here. all we need to do is put up some walls and run some electricity and we should be fine.

so here we are about two weeks into it and i've started a blog about it. once the construction is done we or i will keep this updated with recording news. i'm sure there will be some long beer soaked nights of recording.

other then that i think that’s it...