Something New

Strong Signals

March 2010

Every time we finish an album, I always wonder if there will be another one. By the time the album is mixed and mastered, I'm usually exhausted, but I have to rally and begin the promotion and marketing process. This time I didn't get a break. Even before Fires Which Burnt Brightly was released, I was drafted to play two gigs with The Soul Movers. It was good to clear the memory and learn fourteen songs which I'd perform on piano and organ. I enjoyed being thrust into a completely different situation, and having the luxury of just being one of the band.

After the gigs, I returned to the office to tend to the release of the Soul Movers and Donovan's Brain cds. As this was winding down, I was asked to coordinate the music for the BridgerBowl.com Ski Film Of The Day. I wrote several new pieces of music for this as well as recruiting several other local musicians to contribute. Several Donovan's Brain songs were edited for use on these short films. Digging through the archives, I returned to a track we recorded in 1998, but never completed. This was a very interesting effort and the results were surprising.

Towards the end of the record of Fires Which Burnt Brightly, we recorded two songs in Billings. Deniz wanted to cut Vanished with Tony Horton and Bob Brown. I had a song called The Four Trials which I was pretty sure wouldn't be on the album, but wanted to get on tape. I like to have something extra on hand in case something doesn't work out as planned. In this case, I was looking towards the next album. One of the ski songs was clearly a Brain song, and was also put in the new album file.

With the ski film project wrapped for the season, I could finally turn my attention back to song writing. Lyric fragments are moved to the top of the stack and old demos reviewed. In a productive week I started lyrics for two songs. As luck would have it, Bob Sutliff sent over a new demo which had a section that sparked an idea. Last weekend I went to work in the studio, exploring the possibilities. One of the verses I'd just written fit perfectly on my arrangement. Bingo. There is more work to be done on it, but it's a good start on what could be a very good song.

There is also the matter of the four or five songs Colter had originally written for Fires, but ended up on the Where The DJ's Roam sound track. We stripped those songs down to the basic elements when we recorded them. I located the original demos from 2006 which contain the complete arrangements Colter had created. The first track I worked on had been reduced to just one verse. There was a bridge section, which I learned and and recorded. It was a simple matter to insert this into the song. Hearing the restored track for the first time reminded me how good these songs are. At the time we were happy to move on. It's hard to say what Fires would have sounded like had these songs been a part of that record. No time to worry about that now. Great songs are timeless and should help make Brain No. 7 a strong follow up to Fires. At this point, all I can say is the songs sound like Donovan's Brain.

The plan is to have enough songs for an album and a bit more written by the end of the year.

April 2010

The second part of the song that might now be called "Sun Goes" was buzzing around my head for a few days. I worked it out on guitar, creating a bridge and what will be the guitar solo. It still wasn't quite the sound I was after, so I sat down at the piano to see what I could find. Just as I hit on the idea, I was reminded it was time to head out of town for the day. We were going to Helena for a retirement party. Most of the evening was spent with this piano idea running thought my mind. As soon as we got back home, I headed down to the studio to complete the track. The bass could now be added and the demo mixed.

Bob Sutliff seems ok with what I'd done to his song. I've asked him if he could record a new demo of this arrangement. The verese are build on one of his ideas, so I'd imagine he could play it better than me. He responded by sending over a fragment of a new piece he's started work on. It's only the intro so far, but it promises to be a good one. I reminded him of a song he'd sent me a while back. It was written for a planned Windbreakers album, which was never completed. I think I still have it on the studio computer. It may have ended up on his last solo album, On A Ladder. I'll have to check. Either way, we are slowing moving forward. Bob Brown seemed surprised we are back to work so soon, but when I explained the time line, he understood. He's looking forward to the proper sessions. Meanwhile, the Deniz Tek record will take up most of our studio time.

May 2010

I started work on a new idea last week. Deniz will be here for the weekend, and we will see what we can do with this new tune. I have a melody line, but I've not tried to sing it yet, as I don't have any words. Deniz had some thoughts about the arrangement, so I may have to come up with a temp vocal to work with. We also have been offered a song written by Pip Hoyle from Radio Birdman. Stalking The Moon reminded me of something you might have heard on a mid-period XTC album. Deniz thought it would be well suited for the Brain. We just need for figure out how to transpose Pip's fancy piano chords to the guitar.

Bob Sutliff sent over the beginnings of a new song. He was meant to be working on it. Nothing Lasts Forever was offered up for the last album, but we never attempted it. I've put it back on the list as it is a great song and would be worth trying. I am also looking at Colter's song, Your Number. This is another unfinished song from the Great Leap sessions. I did more work on it but I've never been happy with the bridge. I'll send this one over to Bob Sutliff as he might be able to find the solution.

At this early stage I think its always a good idea to work through the backlog of ideas. There are some sketches that I will have to listen to.

Another new idea has appeared. This one got me out of bed to work it out. It has pretty much written itself. I'll cut a demo tomorrow. I spent this afternoon loading Your Number into the computer. It took a while to sort of what had been put to tape and then relearn the song. The elements which I thought might need to be replaced do need to be dealt with. The basic foundation, drums, bass, and rhythm guitars are all keepers. I will get this in the mail to Bob, and pursue the idea I started on today.

June 2010

Another burst of activity has produced two more new compositions. Cattail Bird was written yesterday, June 10 and recorded in the evening. The moody instrumentaly piece, Sleepy Song appeard a couple of weeks ago. I have also returned to a song which was intended for A Defeat Of Echoes.  Another Time was deemed "too rock and roll" and set aside. It was offered to Roy Loney, but in the end, he had far too many new songs to consider out  side material. At some point, I'd overdubbed some acoustic guitars, and replaced my original electric track. The other day I had an idea for a new approach. The plan was to record a new version. When I listened to the original track, I realized I could adapt the new ideas to the 2003 recording. Once I'd removed Colter's guitar it was easy to find room for the new guitar part. Deniz will need to redo his guitar as well. He was just coming to grips with the song when we cut the track. I sent it over to him on Tuesday, and asked if he could write some new lyrics and sing it. He asked if it was meant for the Brain album, or for his solo record. He's welcome to it if he wants it. It is probably too Stonesy for this Brain album anyway.

I'll be meeting up with Deniz and Bob Brown this weekend to review the new songs. Once I have their input, I begin serious recording. There is a chance we'll start recording drums in July. I was recently introduced to Ric Parnell and had him as a guest on my radio show. He's best known for his appearence in the Spinal Tap film. His credits are fairly amazing. He's agreed to come around and hit some drums as needed. He's currently in Livingston, just over the hill, so we should be able to work out the logistics. This would be a major coup.

Yet another new song was written, music and lyrics, a few days before the Billings trip. Deniz seemed to like the chord changes and was good with the ideas I had for it. The new songs are all just basic demos at this point. I didn't want to get too deep into any of them before the others had a chance to listen and comment. The first chance I've had to listen to all the potential songs was on the ride to Billings. I was a little nervous when I played them for Deniz and Bob, but they were both positive and made some good suggestions. Nothing was rejected.

Another Time has now been moved over to the Deniz Tek Group folder. The revisions I made to it revealed a pretty good song. Deniz thought he could do something with it. He did admit he had no recollection of recording it, or playing it live. Due to the abundance of songs for the Brain album it seemed it would have a better future with Deniz. While listening to the collection of demos I came up with a new idea for Love's Long Gone. This one was written at the same time as Another Time, and intended for A Defeat Of Echoes. It wasn't recorded until much later, when we were starting work on the second Angie Pepper album. I don't think we captured the original intent and after putting it next to the new ones, it seemed lacking. The new arrangement was inspired by an obscure Graham Gouldman song which was recorded by the Yardbirds, but never released at the time. I thought we should write something in that vein. The original chords easily adapted to the new arrangement which I put together today.

I returned to this today and managed to come up with an appropriate lick and a 12 string rhythm part. It's taken an unexpected turn. Sometimes the original intent is derailed by the song. In this case, it put it closer to the sound I was looking for.

Another old song has been pulled off the shelf to see if it might fit on the album I think this was written in the very early 90's, probably before Shambaholic. There are three demos of "Sounds Of '73", the last one being the one under consideration. We did a much different version called Punch Wax Circus during the Tiny Crustacean sessions. I'm pretty sure we played it live at least once. It was on the short list for Great Leap but dropped as we had at least three songs too many. Work continues as time allows.

Deniz will be here Friday, the 25th, for two days of mixing the new Soul Movers tracks.Time is crucial, as some of these songs are intended to appear on a tour EP for the September Spanish tour. We hope to do some work on the new Donovan's Brain songs, or at least experiment with the demos. If we keep writing at this rate, there will be enough material for two albums by the end of the year. Recording may begin much sooner than originally expected. At this point it would be hard to wait until next year to begin the real work. None of this is a bad thing.

The three Soul Movers songs were mixed in a six hour session. Den added guitars to all three tracks and I did a bit of organ on two. The forth song was set aside for now. It was decided more work needed to be done in Australia before we could complete them. Now on to Donovan's Brain.

 

Summertime And The Living Is Easy

July 2010

I'm back to work on the Brain matter after a couple of weeks off.When Deniz was here mixing the Soul Movers, he took time to add a new guitar solo to Your Number. I had done both the two solos on the original version, but I felt like one or both could be updated. Den disagreed, and thought the second solo should remain as performed. That was fine by me. The song is in Bobby Sutliff's hands now to add a new 12 string part.

The current project is getting the song currently titled "Ron's New One" into shape. I redid the drums as suggested by Bob Brown. When I got it sorted out, I decided to start over again, at a faster tempo and with the intro section removed.

A few weeks ago, I had Ric Parnell as a guest on my radio show. Nancy Walton had alerted me to Ric's recent move to Livingston, just over the hill from Bozeman. The name may not be familiar, but most people would recognize him as the drummer for Spinal Tap. He appeared in the movie, played drums on the albums and toured with them. It was his membership in the early 70's UK band, Atomic Rooster that earned him the coveted role. Once I had the chance to talk to him, I found out he has had a long and colotful musical history. He can now add Donovan's Brain to his CV.

Prior to the interview, I asked Ric to send over a list of music he'd like to play. The choices were all favorites of mine, so I knew we'd have a lot to talk about. Before he left, I gave him a copy of Fires Which Burnt Brightly, and asked him if he'd be interested in doing some work with us on the new album. He seemed pleased to be asked, and said he'd be waiting for my call. This meant finalizing the arrangements for the new songs. I didn't want to wait too long, but there would be no point in having him over if the material wasn't ready. In the end, there were seven songs for the new album which we would work on. I also organized some of the Shambaholic materail in the event we had time to add drums to any of those. We managed to complete drum overdubs on ten songs total. This was considered a very productive two days.

I figured we should start the session with one of the more complex songs. Sounds Of '73 was written in 1992 or '93.  I recorded three demos, the final one being the basis for the new version. I had revisted this idea when we were recording Tiny Crustacean Light Show. Punch Wax Circus was the result. (You can here it here) We liked it enough to complete the track and perform it live. When it came time to choose song for Tiny Crust and Great Leap Forward, it never seemed to fit. The new set of lyrics were an attempt to write total  nonsense. The addition of Ric's drums assure that this will finally see the light of day.

With the album moving forward, Colter and Bobby have stepped up their writing and have both promised songs in the next few days. While Ric was here, Bobby set over a demo for a brand new number. He's also meant to be working on a new version of Nothing Lasts Forever. We had talked about doing this one for Fires, but it got set aside when it was clear we had more than enough songs for the record. Unfortunately, the original recording was lost, so a new track is being assembled for the next drum session. Colter had promised four new songs. I hope to meet up next week to cut demos for these. These songs, and one more of mine will give us pleanty to work on for the album. It is always possible there will be more songs offered up before we complete the album. At the moment there are nine songs that have drums and which are all under consideration for the next album. The most optimistic time line puts the released date in the late summer of 2011.

The next task was to do some quick rough mixes of the tracks. The Bobs can use these to start adding overdubs, and it gives everyone else a change to hear what we have done so far. I was confident we had got a good drum sound and these mixes confirm that. The playing is solid and creative on every song. Having the drums on the tracks this early in the process is a luxury. The last album didn't have drums added until the very last possible moment. While there is nothing wrong with that approach, working with a real drum track will give the process an organic feel. With the band spread around the country, getting together to cut tracks as a band becomes nearly impossible. Bob Sutliff and myself usually work alone in the studio, so the current recording methods aren't foreign. Build songs using drum loops gives us a live feel to start with. By the time the song is written, the track is far enough along to be considered a master.

For the new album, I've kept the tracks fairly basic, as I wanted input from the others before I had gotten too involved. With the drums now in place, I can move forward on the songs.

A Serious Bout Of Drums

December 2010

After Ric's initial session, work on the Donovan's Brain record was set aside to pursue the pressing matter of the Soul Movers Tour EP and gig. When that was completed I began recording a track for the Micky Jones Tribute Album.

I'm sure Ric was ready for the promised follow up session, but we weren't. During this time I finished writing one more new song, Manager Of Time. This was based on the title which has been in my notebook for quite a while. The other big concern was getting the songs Bob Sutliff had offered. There was a flurry of activity on his end as he scrambled to compele the five songs.

Ric and I started working out a date for the session and passed the word on to Bob, who got busy and offered up yet one more new song. One promised track, a song intended for a Windbreakers reunion, wouldn't be ready in time. Bob would have to re-record this from scratch. He'd already had to rebuild Nothing Lasts Forever, when he discovered important files were missing. A week before we were due to record, he sent word that the files were in the mail, and should arrive in time, which they did.

There are always things on the shelf to revisit, and this time it was two tracks recorded in 1999 with Dave Walker and Richard Treece. Dave's song, Say Farewell began as a slow "Pink Floyd" blues, which is what we played at Terrastock. I suggested to Dave we try an uptempo version, which we did. He never seemed happy with it and Ron Craighead only played on it reluctantly. While in London in 2000, I had Ken Whaley and Malcolm Morley add bass and organ, which gave the track a solid feel. I continued to work on it and thought it was starting to take shape. A bit later, I asked Deniz to play a second guitar line. This was the tipping point. Still no one was interested in putting it on A Defeat Of Echoes.

I figured maybe it would be a good idea to redo the drum. Ric would be playing with all the new parts, which Ron didn't have the benefit of hearing when he tracked drums. The results aren't dramatically different, but it seemed to be what the song needed.

The other track Richard's Brave New Girl is an old Help Yourself tune which they never recorded. Ricky wrote a new set of words and asked Malcolm to record a backing track he could bring to the studio to over dub. Malc's track had some great parts, but it was premixed to stereo so it was a matter of all or nothing. While prepping the track, I was reminded that Jason McKnight had attempted to add drums, but never had enough time to work it out. The parts Richard recorded and Dave's vocals were extrordinary. I think we offered the finish song to Phil McMullen for one of the Terrascope cds, but he passed. The Brain discussed rebuilding the rhythm track, but nothing was ever done.

As luck would have it, Deniz called at the beginning of December to say he was coming to town with Bob Brown. I figured I could get some guitar work out of him for the Micky Jones track. With Bob here, I could run Brave New Girl past him to see if he thought he could work out the bass. After Deniz finished I explained to Bob what the situation was. Deniz just said "do it now". It took a while for us to work out the chords but a suitable track was pieced together in short time.

Ric was up to the challenge and knocked it back in short order. I organized the session so we'd move from one of mine to one of Bobby's with one of Dave's tracks each day. We made quick work of them right on schedule. On the second day, I had an idea. There was a song I wanted to cover and put up for consideration. I learned this song from Terry and The Pirates. Terry had played it a few times, and had given me David Hayes' original demo. There was one particular live performance that I thought nailed the feel. There hadn't been time for me to cut a track, but I did have a live recording of the version I liked. In a moment of mad inspiration, I asked Ric if he could play along with the live recording. He laughed and said "sure". The drummer had made a small mistake, but Ric figured he could play through it with out any difficulty. We can now build up our own track around Ric's drums.

To round out the session, we once again tackled three more of the Shambaholic songs. We may or may not get the rest of those finished up next time.

 

A Full Schedule

January 2011

As is often the case, there are multiple projects underway at GLEA. Deniz started work on a new Deniz Tek Group album a year ago. We recorded two songs in Billings with Steve and Bob Brown. It appeared that we would be working on this record through out the year, but a nasty neck injury stopped all work for several months. When Deniz was again fit, we turned our focus to the Soul Movers Tour EP. A tour of Spain followed, and then he continued on to Australia.

Deniz was in town for our New Years Eve party. He also joined me on the radio on Friday afternoon. We had discussed doing a little work towards his new songs. On Saturday, we managed to cut five simple guitar demos. I sorted out the drum loops while Deniz played. There are four or five tracks in the can, including the two from Billings. The next step is to organize a session with Ric Parnell. Deniz asked me to look at my calendar for the month. I suspect we'll finish cutting the Brain tracks before we start on Deniz' material.

Colter was also over for the dinner party. He's got four or five songs he's ready to record. This is the final piece of that puzzle. I've just finished arranging a new one and there is promise of one more from Bobby Sutliff. That could put as many as 26 on the table for the new Donovan's Brain album. I suspect at some point we will divide them into two albums. There is a chance this record will be released on vinyl as well as CD. The plan then would be to have at least a couple of track unique to each format. In the meantime, there are plenty of material to keep us busy through the summer.

Just a few days after making plans, Colter showed up with four new songs and the missing pieces for a fifth. When we did the DJs movie soundtrack, several of Colter's songs meant for Fires Which Burnt Brightly were used. For the film we stripped them down to the basic elements. I've already rebuilt one based on the original demo. Moose #1 is now titled Republic and the deleted sections have been restored. The tracks we cut for the film were good, so they have become the framework for the album versions.

We only had time to cut the guide tracks for two others, Scatter Gun and Going Back To California. Both should work well for a Donovan's Brain album. We will attack the remaining two next week in anticipation of the next drum session which is booked for the weekend of the 16th.

January 12

Colter was back with one more song. Again, his new ideas are very interesting. I've put bass on all four tracks and moved them over to Digital Performer in anticipation of this weekend's drum session. There was one more idea,but Colter hadn't fully worked it out. We will try to return to it before we are done with the drum sessions. Ric will be around to work on Deniz' album, so we can put the touch on him then. I had a couple of other ideas which I never finished. I may have one more look before calling it good. That's not to say there won't be any more new songs.

Jan 15 - 22

Ric was in the studio on two succesive weekends. Eleven tracks were completed for both the new album, and Shambaholic. Once again the sessions moved along quickly with good results. Deniz had the five songs he'd demoed on New Years Day. These were cut live, with Deniz playing along with Ric. In one instance, Ric thought it might be best if he played along with the demo, but decided the song needed to be played at a slightly faster tempo. Once he found the correct tempo everything fell into place. Deniz will be back in the studio when he returns from Australia in May. The plan is to record at least five more tracks for his album.

 

February 2011

After the exhusting series of sessions, it was time to take a break before returning to work. The first song that needed attention was Sad Eyes. We only had drums, so guitar and bass were added to the track. This one is the odd one of the bunch. Rather than play along with a demo, Ric recorded his drums playing to a live recording by Terry And The Pirates. It was an a brave experiment, as this was the arrangement I wanted to use. After playing through once, Ric pointed out the track speeded up a little in the first verse. This was even more apparent when I started adding the bass and guitar. It was a simple matter to replacing the verse with part of the second verse section. The wonders of digital recording.

There are still a few songs that lack lyrics. I decided to see what I could do with the track Sounds Of '73. The original set of lyrics weren't going to work for this album. When we rerecorded this for Great Leap Forward, I wrote a new set of words, but they were intentionally nonsense, which is part of the reason we never used that take. We were out skiing the week after Deniz was here. While cruising around the Bar B Ranch, I started putting some ideas together. It only took a little work to fit them to the track, and create a new melody line. I need to write one more verse, but with what I've written so far, it should be a simple matter.

Now that my calendar is clear, it should be full speed ahead..

18 Feb

When Deniz was last here, we spent some time exploring an idea I had. There is a folder of old demos which I review every time we do an album, to see if there is anything that I can use. I learned one of those bits and showed it to Den, explaining the feel I was after. We just jammed on the changes for about 20 minutes and left it there. I figured I should see what we had captured. After a few hours work, I'd managed to assemble a tidy little track. Since we were learning as we played, each "verse" had a different feel. I found the best bits and assembled an arrangement. There were solo bits too, which I dropped onto the rhythm track. Don't know if anything will come of it, but it was a good exercise to distill our spontaneous creations.

Now that the wheels have started moving, I'll turn my attention to the Shambaholic tracks for a couple of days. I figured mixing one of the tracks would be a good idea. Make A Noise Quietly has been around for a long while. It's one we played live a few times. Ric's drums sound fantastic. The real drums have pointed out a few loose bits of timing, mostly on the bass track. I spent some time cleaning up the worst of the problems. There are a couple of things I might add; harpsichord and my own vocal part which didn't survive the original 8 track recording. All the while, I'm working on the mix. Once I dial in the drum sounds, we should be able to work with that for most all the material we are working on.

16 March

Much to my surprise, it's a month later, and I've only just finished a mix of Make A Noise. I spent a week adding a bit of vocals and some more string sounds. Get my head back into mix mode always takes a while. This exercise was an effort to move the process up a little. The results were more than satisfactory. With that done, it's back to work. I spend an evening preparing files to send to Bobby Sutliff. With the drum sound sorted out, it was a simple matter to assemble rough mixes. Bob's own songs were sent to us as submixed "stems". I am sending back his tracks with a stereo drum mix in the folder. Everything else has been mixed in some fashion so he can easily drop the songs into his computer and add ideas.

Before I could finish this task, Bob sent over another new song and promises yet another. This inspired a new idea of my own. The concept is in my head, and I've banged down a few lyrics. I should have this worked out over the weekend. It's very clear that there is now nearly two albums in the works. I don't think we'll release them all in one go. That would be far too much work. At some point in the next few months, we will have to decide what the first album will be. I'm not complaining. This wealth of material only means Donovan's Brain will around for a few more years.

18 March

I dug into the files to poach the drum loops from one of the film songs, to use on the new songs I've written. Upon listening, I decided I could use the whole track. With some editing, I've assembled the first verse. I'll have to write the bridge and then decide what else it needs. I always knew that there was a song hidden in this short theme. While digging aroudn the lyrics folder, I fould something I'd written the other day, but quickly forgotten. I know where that one will go. Jason Lytle visited my radio show a few weeks back. We discussed this very same thing; using every good idea. At this point we've reclaimed three songs from the Where The DJs Roam sound track, and another from the ski films. The current goal is to make some progress i the next six weeks. Deniz will be back to Montana on May 1st and will be ready to get back to work.

5 April

Progress on A Break In The Weather slowed down to a crawl, due to a problem opening the old file in a newer version of Logic. All is better now, and the track has been sorted out. Only the intro survives from the original piece, but it really wasn't more than that. The first try seemed to run too slow, so the tempo was increased. The verse and middle bit worked out well. Words for both. I decided the song would need a second verse. The transition from the middle back to the verse took some time to sort out, and the original ending was scrapped.

Colter is hoping to make time this weekend to record guide vocals for his new songs. This will help give me an idea of what we are working with. I reviewed all the tracks the other day while preparing them for Bob Sutliff. Colter's all sound promising. Once vocals are added we can start work on fleshing out the tracks.

6 May

We are still waiting on Colter, but the time has been well spent. Another new song appeared a couple of weeks ago and is now pretty well worked out. Instant songs are always the best, and "Crows" is no exception. The idea was just a simple observation out the back window. When I sat down to work it out, the ideas flowed freely. In the end, I transposed a guitar shapes to organ. Once that started, the song wrote itself. Ric will be here in one week. He'll have at least five new songs to beat up. Five more from the archive will be offered up. There is one more idea on the front of the table to sort out for this session... more to come.

10 May

Final preparations for the next session with Ric are underway. A late addition to the list is a cover of the Terry Dolan song, Into The Wind. This would be the second time the Brain has recorded this tune. A primitive attempt was recorded for the Peer Pressure League cassette. I think we can do it better this time.

14 May

The first day's work was very productive. Bob Sutliff delivered his newest song, You Should Have Known Better at the last possible moment. We tracked drums on this one, and two of my new ones, Break In The Weather and Crows. There is one more new one on the list. Cardboard Army will take a little more thought, as it is only the slimmest of ideas.I was able to assemble a basic track for Into The Wind, a Terry Dolan song I thought we should record. Ric attacked this with enthusiasm. The fifth song for the day was the last of the Shambaholic tracks. We had worked on this one a few years ago, when we were preparing songs for Dream Magazine. The results were satisfactory, but it seemed a good idea to have a consistant sound across the whole of the remade Shambaholic.

With five songs completed, we called it day and walked down to the Emerson for an art opening. Colter was in attendance, and finally met Ric. Dinner took longer than expected, so we never returned to the studio. We will start fresh today, Saturday.

15 May

We started the second day with the least developed of the new ideas. "Cardboard Army" started with a simple set of chord changes I found in my demo folder. I played it for Deniz, and he agreed it could be used. We spent some time just playing the chords and trying ideas. I recorded the session and later edited the best bits together. This is what Ric heard. He was given the instructions to create something, knowing we would expand on his contribution. By the time he sat down, had an idea.

The rest of the day would be spent on some older things from the archive. Jim Kehoe's song Cary Grant originally appeared on the Buttefly Wheel cassette. This seemed like a good time to resolve the drum issue. Seth Lyon had given it a try a few years ago, but the results missed the mark. Ric heard more Ramones than Stones, which was the original concept. I let him run with this. After completing the first take, Ric asked for a break for lunch. When we returned, he suggested he had a better one. It took a few times. The furious tempo made this one particularly challenging. By the time he nailed it, he had fine tuned the performances. There was enough Stones feel to satisfy me, and plenty of power to please Ric.

After that demanding effort, I figured the next one on the list should be something completely different. Row Out is the final track on the original Shambaholic album. It appeared as a hidden track on the Tiny Crustacean album. All this one would need is a little bit of color. Ric, of course took it a bit further. And now all the Shambaholic tracks have real drum. Seventeen years after the fact, this album is now the record I imagined when we started work on it in the early 90's. In typical Brain fashion; in the midst of our most creative period ever, we would take this project on. It's tempting to put the new album aside to complete the mixes of this older material. I think I'll concentrate on the new album for now, but that won't stop me from workng on the cover for this archival release.

50,000,000 Years Before My Time is often considered the first "real" Donovan's Brain song. After writing this one, I knew the direcrtion all future Brain recordings would take. I wrote this one one section at a time, words and music. The arrangement is a little odd, but not so much to make it impossible for Ric to suss out. This song has been around the block a few times. It first appeared on Butterfly Wheel, then the Get Hip single, and finally on Carelessly Restored Art. I think it got some new vocals for the latter.

The other very old song on the list was another Butterfly Wheel song, Beautiful Enigma. It's a long rambling piece with lots of guitars. The new drums give it a solid beat, which was missing from the original. Butterfly Wheel is the only one of the cassette releases I feel is of sufficent quality to be heard. 50,000,000 Years and Follow The Shining Path were released on Carelessly Restored Art. Underdose and House Of Edward Devotion were rerecorded and appear on Eclipse And Debris and Tiny Crustacean LIghtshow. Pioneers Of The West has been rerecorded but never released. Jim's two songs from the Egg sessions have been handed back to him for his own use. That only leaves Sorry The Swamp Thing Ever Got Out and Wreck.

While preparing for this session I pulled the 8 track reels off the shelf to transfer to hard drive. Sadly the time SMPTE time code on Swamp Thing was corrupt and I wasn't able to salvage that track. Apparently Jason McKnight attempted to put drums on Wreck during the Tiny Crust sessions. The results were not satisfactory, but at least we had that one on 16 track with all the drums and click printed. Ric was more than happy to have a go at it, but part way through the first take, the power in our neighborhood went out, and we had to call it a night.

16 May

Sunday was meant to be a free day, with a trip over the hill to Livingston planned. I was able to leave work early, so we were back from our drive earlier than expected. Ric was happy to complete work on Wreck, which only took a couple of passes. While setting that one up, I realized that Ric was now on all but two of the 28 tracks under consideration for the next album. Your Number was one of four songs Colter wrote for Great Leap while he was living in Boise. Following Orders was used for Great Leap, but the other two we had worked on didn't make the cut. I Saw Your LIght and the idea which became Carefully Considered Answers can be heard on Fires Which Burnt Brightly. I thought it would be a good idea to redo the drums on Your Number so it would match the others with Ric's drumming. We have done some work on this one in anticipation of it appearing on one of the new albums. Deniz replaced my harpsichord solo with a nice bit of guitar. Bob Sutliff has been assigned the task of fixing the 12 string, and Colter will redo the vocals.

Ric thought the original drum track was fine, but understood my goals, and did a very nice job of it. The results have a much better feel, and a bit of swing missing on the original. With that, most of the work on basic tracks is now complete. There is still one more Bobby had submitted, but he's not supplied the tracks as of yet. There will be time to address this later this summer when Deniz returns to work on his new album.

24 May

In the week since Ric was here, things haven't slowed down. I sent Bobby the drum track for You Should Have Known Better.He has continued working on this new songs. A rough mix was sent on to Bob's friend, Mitch Easter, who pronounced it "awesome".

Before work would resume here, there was the matter of completing a Roy Loney track for the next Hit The Hay compilation. How Would I Know was a song Deniz and I had expected to appear on Roy's album, Shake It Or Leave It. We were determined to see it released in the future. Jerker Emmanuelson asked if we had a song for release. Roy was agreeable, but nothing moved forward until late last year. It was simply a matter of finding the time to get this song into shape. I wanted to recreate some ideas Scott McCughey had offered, but never delivered. Bob added new acoustic guitars, a solo and an organ track. With the new parts in hand, the mix fell into place quickly. This release is a continuation of a long relationship with Jerker, and Sound Asleep Records. The first Donovan's Brain release was on the debut edition of Hit The Hay. Bobby Sutliff and the Young Fresh Fellows also had songs on the album.

Work on the Brain album will resume this week. One of the first goals will be to develope a priorities list. 28 songs is a daunting task, but not impossible. So far there has been no effort to create a track lists for the two potential albums.

29 May

The last three days have been spent working through my songs to see where I left off. Lyrics for "Crows" and Managers Of Time are now completed and scratch vocals have been recorded. I was surprised to find out what I had sung over the Sounds Of 73 track. It'll have a new title when I decided what direction to take this. Currently there is only one verse and one chorus written. I spun off quick rough mixes so I can share these with the rest of the band.

Today I returned to Connie Companion. When Ric was last here, I asked him to have another go at the drums. He was fond of the original take, but the feeling was it needed a strong backbeat to hold this swirling concotion together. After we got a good take, Ric asked to hear it with the mallet toms from the original. Ah, the best of both worlds. We were very pleased with the possibilities. When I listened closer today, I did find a couple of spots where things didn't quite line up. It was an easy fix. The results are probably what I had hoped for when we first approached this one. It seems like there is two verses and one chorus written. I'll have to sit down and figure out how to resolve this one. It's just another dream transcribed and sung

 

14 June

The original plan called for writing the songs for the album in 2010. We did finish the year with plenty of good songs for a new album. Much to our suprise the songs kept coming at a furious rate. Both Bobby Sutliff and myself have put new ideas on the table right up to this week's session. Three new songs appeared at the end of the week. My goal was to rewrite a piece that has been around for a while. The original was inspired by The Mockingbirds, You Stole My Love. I was never happy with the arrangement, but I did write some lyrics I thought would work.

When I pulled up the original track to see what went wrong, I quickly realized, there was nothing about it that I liked. With lyrics in hand, I started from scratch. This time I found an idea that would fit the shape of the words, and it was in a key that I could manage. It only took a few minutes to land on a new idea for the verse. The chorus also came quickly. Now it was a matter of determining the arrangement. I decided to focus on the music, now that I new what the progression would be. I had a working track in just a couple of hours. I decided to wait until Friday to record the guide vocals.

Later that night, I came up with another bit of lyric which was based on an incident at my day job. I typed out two verses before I collapsed for the day. I'd totally fogotten about it when I woke on Friday morning. With my day already booked, I had to decide if I could spend time to write another piece of music. I got the vocal for Selfish Modern out of the way and turned to the new one. I was sure this one would be short and simple. The idea didn't require an involved arrangement. Again, it was just a matter of finding the right chord changes to suit the melody. That didn't take long at all. I had a track recorded in less than an hour.

There were two of Bobby's songs I had penciled in for the session. The problem was he hadn't sent me the tracks broken out, just a mix of the song. Early in the week, another new backing track arrived, followed a few days later with a more fleshed out song. Still no working tracks. A busy schedule had disrupted Bob's free time. I was determined to get drums on all these anyway. This would mean we had to complete five drum tracks before Deniz would arrive on Saturday afternoon. Ric didn't think there would be a problem getting this all knocked back in short order. Thinking there might be a chance Bob could send tracks before he had to go to work, I decided we would work on my songs first.

Bread Man Burning was no trouble and clocking in at less than two minutes, it didn't take us long to get a keeper. I explained the concept of Selfish Modern to Ric, and told him he had to invent the drum part. He had the idea before he even sat down behind the drums. This one took a little longer to work out. The quirky arrangement took a bit to master, but the results exceeded my original vision. The barebones nature of the track left a lot of room for Ric to create something all his own. This effort earned him a share of the songwriting credit.

Still no word from Bobby, so we proceeded with our fallback plan. Ric just played along with the tracks we had been sent. The results were nothing less than brilliant. It'll take time to make sure the drums line up with the multitrack, but it's not an impossible task. Bob now has ten songs up for consideration. What the Brain doesn't use may well become the beginnings of Bobby's next solo album. In the next few weeks, we will be making some determinations about the disposition of the new songs.

Deniz arrived as we were finishing up the last of Bob's tracks. He was anxious to get working, so we regrouped and prepared to record guitar and drums. Deniz had recorded three songs in Billing well over a year ago. At the time it was thought these might be the beginnings of the album. After Den's first session with Ric, he decided it would be best if there was a consistant drum sound across the whole record. An attempt to replace the drums on two of Billings tracks was abandoned and we agreed to record new tracks. With notebook in hand, we would record five new songs, as well are re-recording three. With one quickly wrapped up on Saturday, we called it a day and would return at noon on Sunday.

The remaining seven tracks were cut in just over five hours. A pretty amazing feat. Some of the songs were still being worked out as we recorded them. Ideas were discussed and tried out. Ric came up with some serious ideas for his drum parts, which succeeded in pushing the songs into some new areas. Deniz seemed well pleased, and didn't want to stop. The final song of the afternoon, Night Shifter seemed to only be a basic riff when he started playing it. It would be recorded on acoustic guitar. While I set up, Ric and Den jammed on the lick looking for an approach. I picked up the electric and played some slide to see if that would work. Deniz got it pretty quick then added a second guitar part before calling it a day.

This put 13 songs in Deniz's column and 33 for the new Brain record. Another 16 vintage Brain records were also updated over the last year. I know have some ideas about the release schedule. A couple of songs will be set aside for a Brain and Friends EP. The remaining songs will be reviewed and work will proceed on 16 or so. We will finish them all, but the sheer quantity means there has to be some priorities.

26 June

I've finally reached a point where I have some idea what the first album is going to look like. Rough mixes of most all the tracks have been completed, including the eight we recorded for Deniz's record. We have never been in this situation, where we have so much good material on the table. The Tiny Crustacean - Great Leap albums were recorded in four distinct phases. I just pulled some songs off the Tiny Crust list and saved them for the follow up. This time around, it's been one long dedicated songwriting project. After reviewing what we have, I split the songs into two lists. This is the only way we can set some priorities. Some very good songs are being set aside for now, as it would be impossible to work on them all. This gives us a soild center for the second album. A few songs will need more work to give us a clue as to their potential. The list may be revised in the near future, but I will exercise my A&R muscle to make this first call.

At least two songs have been around for a while. Your Number was originally recorded for Great Leap Forward, but was deemed in need of work and saved for another day. It's come off the shelf a few times for additional overdubs. Most recently Deniz replaced a harpischord solo with guitar, and Ric recorded a fresh drum track. Restless Night was written and recorded for a proposed Windbreakers album which never materialized. Bob has written some new lyrics and recorded a new track.

For now, the two Terry Dolan covers and the two Dave Walker sung tracks have been assigned to a third project which we will tackle in the future. I'm sure we will find time to work on these as needed, but with so much strong new material they would seem out of place on the first album. Yet another future album under consideration is Bobby Sutliff's follow up to On A Ladder. I've promised to return any of his songs that might not fit the Brain profile. There is also a Bob Dylan cover under construction this week, which will go straight to the Sutliff folder.

16 July

Back to work again. Found time to get back into the studio over the last two weeks. Deniz was over a week ago. I had done work on Bread Man Burning in anticipation of his visit. In a mad moment, I'd added four more guitar parts, two on slide. Piano and more organ were also tracked. There was still a big space waiting for a guitar solo. Deniz played across the whole song, and then worked out the lead section. He seemed to like the song, which is always a good sign. This was the last one written for the album, and may be the first completed.

I've also done some piano and guitar for a Dylan cover Bob Sutliff has been working on. After Den's visit, I had a look at one of his. We'd done a version in Billings over a year ago. I had added organ and mellotron parts. Since then it was decided to rerecord all three of the Billings tracks with Ric. I figured I should add my parts to the new version while it I had time.

 

 

August 22, 2011

Now that Donovan's Brain seem to have finished recording tracks for the new album, the focus in now on finish work. This has meant finalizing lyrics and working out melodies.

The final tally looks something like this - Thirty five songs have been recorded for the new Donovan's record. Bobby Sutliff will probably reclaim a few of his, and the Dylan cover for a solo album. The twelve songs which make up the Shambaholic album were the recipiant of new drum tracks. Five other vintage Brain bits were also updated with Ric Parnell drum overdubs. At the last session the original version of No Cops, Haul Ass was pulled off the shelf for a makeover. For good measure, two Armchair Explorers soundtrack pieces were dusted off for the drum treatment. A grand total of 52 songs were worked on over the course of a little more than a year. Add to this, 14 songs for the Deniz Tek album. One of these, originally recorded with the Brain for the abandoned second Angie Pepper album. Hana Tek recorded a new lead vocal, so this has been set aside for a proposed single.

Sixty six tracks in just 13 months, an impressive effort. In the past we were happy to have an extra song or two at the end of the project. Only the marathon Tiny Crustacean - Great Leap sessions can match the current productivity.

There has been much thought and discussion as to what the new album might look like. The 16 songs on the Album 1 list will most likely appear on the finished release. There are a few others also under consideration, but lack lyrics at this point. Anything not used for the first release will probably become a part of the follow up. There is always the possibility of more new songs being written and recorded. In the past, songs have appeared at the very last minute which made it on to the album.

The next six months will see non-stop work, with emphisis on the new album tracks. It will be hard to resist looking at some of the other songs. Adding drums to the two Armchair Explorers' tracks has restarted work on that long dormant project.I reviewed the work I had done a few years ago, and decided to rebuild some of the pieces. There are some good elements and a few completed songs. I've not taken inventory to see where it stands today.I'm also considering further work on the Central Services remix I did for the Bridger ski films.Don't be surprised if this surfaces in the future.

13 Sept, 2011

Just as I feared, more songs are being written. A few weeks back, I had a dream, which I transcribed as a some lines of lyrics. My original intention was to sketch some ideas for Cardboard Army.I thought these new lyrics could be an alternate idea. Last week the music for this new bit came to me, the general shape anyway. I fussed with a bit of Ric's drums and created some loops. The verse came pretty easily. I figured this one would be something Bobby would have some ideas for. Rather than send him a finished idea, I just roughed out the verse and a mock up chorus with a hint of the bridge. I've sent these rough ideas over to him to had a go at.

With that out of my hands I returned to Cardboard Army. The basic track was really just a one chord idea, with a chorus. I wanted to record it because I knew if the drums were right, I could do anything with it. Deniz and I just jammed to a tambourine loop. Later I cut it up into an arrangement for thedrum overdub. The first try at a proper bass track was way too busy, so I tried again. I still wasn't happy. Last night I got the idea I could strip off the most of the guitar and the bass and open it up a little. With that in mind, I've filled the long verses with some simple organ chords, just so I can count out the verse sections. The drums are great, so now it's just a matter of working out how the vocals might work. Tomorrow will be dedicated to this experiment.

10 October, 2011

Attention to the new album has been the priority the last week or so. The first task was to try and made some sense of Cardboard Army. Extensive overdubs were committed and a guide vocal sung. A full flight of overdubs have also been added to Bobby's song, My Own Skin.

We have found ourselves in the awkward postition of having to decide what to do about Colter's migration to the Seattle coast. A year after cutting four new songs, he had never made it back over to sing on any of them. At least two were on the short list for the album. I'd talked to Tony Miller some time ago about helping us out on the new record. I figured he might be able to come up with some ideas for Colter's four unfinished songs. Tony had contributed backing vocals on two songs on Fires. Having him on board again has always been part of the plan.

It was Cardboard Army that first caught Tony's attention. I agreed to hand the tracks over to him to sing on. There was the matter of the chorus, which I hadn't written yet. With lyrics in hand, I instructed Tony to see if he had any ideas that would fit with the concept. The first draft he returned was soundly approved. We are both excited to have another contributor to the album, and expect he'll take up the task of the unfinished tracks and other chores to be determined.

With these two major projects accomplished, I have now moved on to another nagging issue. The song known as Sun Goes began as one of Bobby's demos. I liked the chorus bit and suggested he rewrite it as such. Bob, in response, told me to see what I could do with that idea. The track I assembled used a bit of Bob's original track as a place holder. This resulted in a jarring transition. After listening for a year to this track, I was convinved that my arrangement had two extra bars in the first section. It took a couple of tries to determine which two bars to cut, but the final edit is seamless. After a couple of days working on this, I heard a new idea for the bit which was Bob's original inspiration. Now to see if I can play it.

Some major revisions have now been carried out. I've passed it back to Bobby for further work. Time to move on to something else.

11 Oct, 2011

Before I sent a mix of Sun Goes to Bob, I needed to add one more bit of organ. Songs are usually demoed in Logic, and then moved over to Digital Performer for major work. Logic is great for banging out ideas quickly and there are some nice software instruments offered. I dropped a rough mix back in to Logic to complete the organ overdubs.

Before I could move on, I needed to have a look at my Fender Vibro Champ Amp. This had been a favorite on the last record, but it developed a fault, and started to give a nasty shock and buzz. It was apparent there was a ground issue. I've been avoiding this task for a while, but today would be the day I'd get it sorted out. The power connections looked ok. I needed to get a continuity checker to see where the break was. Turned out the problem was on the plug end of the power lead. Had it fixed in 15 minutes. Good to have this back in the arsenal.

The next song I wanted to work on is another of Bob's, Morning Side Dream. Both Ric and myself thought this was a strong one and a major piece on the new album. We added drums at one of the later sessions. The song could be considered done as it stands, though I think Bob intends to redo theeh vocal. I needed to add some small bits of color to put the Brain stamp on it. In the end, just some touches of mellotron were all that were needed.

I'm not sure what will be next up. I have some lyrics I may try to graft onto Colter's track Okay. We shall see...

15 Oct 2011

Bob Sutliff and I had a long talk on Thursday. My goal was to get Bob to organize the files I need from his studio. Bob, on the other hand, has been trying to get me to pin down the list of tracks we will focus on. With Colter's four songs in question, we discussed what we might do to fill the gap. One possibility is for us to finish work on at least one of those. A while back, we had moved some of Bob's songs into a solo album folder. It was suggested we reclaim A Great Divide for the Brain album. I honestly didn't remember adding drums to this one. Once I found the files, and listened I had to agree this was a good one and suitable for our needs.

This would put six of Bobby's songs on the A list, plus the collaboration. I'm going to keep Colter's song Okay on the list for now as I think I can come up with something. Tony Miller has said he will give a listen once he's done working on ideas for Cardboard Army. If Tony is going to sing one, he might as well find a second one to give him more than a "guest" presence on the album. I'm sure there will plenty of backing vocals for Tony to do, before we are done. It now feels like we have moved past the writing phase and are on the path to completion.

18 Oct 2011

First files from Bob arrived and have been successfully inserted into the song. Morning Side Dream was one of three songs which drums were added to a rough mix. These weren't in the usual format. There are various methods for synchronizing files for transfer, none of which were applied here. I figured it shouldn't be a big problem as there were several cues which, in theory, would make it easy to line everything up. In the end, I used the vocal track Bob sent and listened for the delay between this and the rough mix. Once I was sure things were sounding about right, I then soloed the bass against the drums. It locked right in. That is good enough for me. I probably won't feel secure until all these "wild sync" tracks have been reassembled.

29 Oct 2011

I had time over the last few days to learn and try some overdubs on Colter's song Okay. I tweaked the arrangement a little. The second verse was missing an 8 bar section. I'm sure Colter had a good reason for that, but I figured it would make room for a guitar solo. I added another guitar, redid the organ and worked out a string arrangement. It all seems to work. I've thrown it back at Colter to see if he'll have any ideas. He does have the facilities to record at home. Not sure if he'll follow through, but I had to ask before we more on our own.

On the other side, Deniz has asked for two of the tracks we recorded for the Bridger Bowl ski films. His "Song For Dave" is good as it stands. I imagine he'll want to add some more bits before we are done. The other is one of mine, which has Deniz on guitar. I extended the arrangement and suggested Den write some words. We shall see what happens with that. We will add drums to both next month. Bobby has also sent over a new song which we can also add Ric to. I may have one more to round out the session.

Again the question of what to do with so much material has come up. Deniz has already suggested a double album. I was reluctant until now.

31 October 2011

The power of suggestion. Colter and Tony are now working together on Okay. Colter has promised to send over a scratch vocal with his ideas, and has expressed interest in anything Tony can come up with. Tony is also working a idea for Bobby's "New Piece". Safety in numbers I always say. Good to start mixing up ideas. I will now start working on a progress chart and assigning tasks to all involved

7 November 2011

Overdubs are the main focus here now. this is the fun part. Applying bits of color. I'm walking around with these songs in my head, looking for answers to the puzzle we have created. As The Crows Fly has been on the front burner this week. Not all is adding new material, there is some sculpting, with chunks of marble being removed to find the form underneath. Another day is planned for tomorrow. Guitars next.

Overdubs are the main focus here now. this is the fun part. Applying bits of color. I'm walking around with these songs in my head, looking for answers to the puzzle we have created. As The Crows Fly has been on the front burner this week. Not all is adding new material, there is some sculpting, with chunks of marble being removed to find the form underneath. Another day is planned for tomorrow. Guitars next.

25 November 2011

There was extensive work done on Crows. Several guitar parts have been added, electric and acoustic. I've sent this one over to Tony to add his voice. His vocal tracks for Cardboard Army have now been added to the master. I was surprised at the complexity of the arrangement. Very nice. Bobby has a new song with we want to complete. He initially suggested I write words for it. When we talked last week he said he's now got the bridge, but hasn't had any luck with the verse. I suggested he talk to Tony and see if they can put something together. Bob was agreeable. I'm waiting to hear back from them.

I decided to turn my attention to a song that seems to have at least three titles. It might be called All My Friends, or Sunshine Days. It is also is known as Clouds Will Clear. I will have to make a decision soon or risk losing track of this one. I'm still struggling with the lyrics and phrasing. The chorus has never felt right to me. It's easy enough to create a new version, which I did. Everything except the drums were muted in the section under review. Several guitar ideas were tried before I decided to have a go at an organ part. The new part I worked out is the same chords as the original. The variation gives the section a much better feel.

This basis for this song dates back to 1992. I recorded three demos at the time, but put it aside. In 1998-9 we recorded a much different version, and played it live at least once. That recording wasn't used for Great Leap, and once again was shelved. The current version is built ontop of the third demo. A few elements from the original survive. There is always the concern that one can over work a song and make things worse. A quick review shows that this one is coming along fine. A new vocal track will be needed and some work on the lyrics to improve the phrasing.

26 November 2011

I spent the day fussing with lyrics and singing a few takes. Not a keeper, but a much better guide track to work with. A few ideas for additional vocals appeared in the process and will be pursued. There are a couple of guitar bits which I need to work out. That will be the next task before I move on to the next song.

20 December 2011

As the year winds down, finding time to work has been a problem. In the interim, Bobby sent over all the tracks for two more of hism songs. I had done extensive overdubs on My Own Skin. Restless Nights - Many Dreams was rescued from and abandoned Windbreakers reunion. Bob's remake is just lacking the end solo which we hope Deniz will take care of. I'll have to find something to add if I want to be a part of this one. I sent Bob tracks for Your Number. He will need to redo the 12 string part. Colter did the original take, and I did some repairs to that. It's never sounded right. I realized that it needed and end solo, which he's been asked to do as well.

Last week, I had the melody to All Our Friends running through my head. The new lyrics didn't scan quick the same as my original idea. It was a simple matter of adding a few more bits to get it to flow. With that sorted out, I decided another guitar part migh put it right. I"ve got the tone I want, but the part hasn't quite jelled. I hate to get too distracted by this song, for fear of hitting a dead end again. When I stopped the other night, I had made a list of ideas to try. I may or may not return to this before New Year's.

Meanwhile, Deniz has not had much luck getting into the studio with Andy Newman. I suspect we'll be busy here and in Billings when he returns. The slow pace has me concerned that we might not meet our deadlines for the Fall release.

 

11 January 2012

With holidays out of the way, it's once again back to work. The first order of the day was to make the major decision as to which songs we would put on the album. Clearly, not all of the 35 songs we've tracked so far were ready for public airing. Bob Sutliff had asked that I draw up a list, so we could concentrate our energies on only those songs.

I've prepared a 16 song cd last summer to bring together what I thought were the best songs to be considered. Putting together a final running order is a major commitment and took some serious thought. Bobby and I were the major contributors to the songwriting pool this time around so it was a matter of picking the best of what we each had. We each had a pair of songs which I felt were interchangable, either of the two would suit the album.

On Saturday, I assembled a 13 song playlist and lived with it for a few days before passing it on to the band. As far as I was concerned, this was it, though discussion was encouraged. When I told Ric I was drawing up a list, he sent me a not lobbying for Managers Of Time. I'd chosen All Our Friends, from this matched pair. With Ric's encouragement, it was a simple matter of swapping the songs. I also realized I did have a mix of Bob's Restless Night that had the vocals added. A couple of weeks ago, I had an idea for a small edit, which I thought improved a transition. It was only today that Bob approved my tinkering with his excellent tune.

I also had an updated version of As The Crows Fly with both Tony and my vocals. I added these three tracks to this rough compilation. The difference was substantial to my ears, as one would expect. So for now, this is what we will be spending out time with, adding the necessary bits to complete these for mix.

It was comforting to know that are six or seven very strong songs which didn't make the cut. These will be the seeds for the next album of new material. There are several more that need to be fleshed out and a few which were recorded for yet further projects including a much discussed Bobby Sutliff solo album. There is also the Shambaholic album which just awaits a final mix. I think it best not to get distracted with this one right now.

20 Januray 2012

Donovan's Brain is the result of a series of odd encounters, paths crossed and just plain luck. The most recent example takes on a modern twist. The other day, Bob Sutliff posted a Model Rockets vid on FaceBook. He got a response from Scott Sutherland, who reminded Bob he had written the song and was chuffed it was getting some recognition. I joined the discussion, and pointed out to Bobby and Scott they had played together on the Roy Loney album. Turns out, Bob and Scott did not know each other. They quickly got together and conspired to collaborate on one of Bob's new songs. Not to let this opportunity pass, I asked Scott if he would be interested in doing some other work with us.

Earlier this week, I called Bobby to say hello and maybe talk about our next steps. We agreed that asking Scott to come on board might be a very good idea. Now that is has become obvious that Colter is going to spend his time working on his novel, some other voices are going to be needed to fill the gap. Tony Miller has already done serious work on the new record, writing lyrics and singing. Scott has written lyrics for Bob's "New Tune" and is meant to be demoing that right this moment.

I'm not actually sure when I met Scott. I think I may have seen Model Rockets open for Roy Loney and the Minus 5 on one of the tours. He had also sat in with the Longshots, for one of Roy's birthday gigs in Seattle. Roy engaged Scott to sing back ups on Shake It Or Leave It. We've been chatting regularly since then.

While talking to Bob, he made it clear he'd like to see how this new songs developes and would like it considered for the album. This is just a couple of weeks after I'd drawn up the "final running order". My mind is still very open on this matter. I had already made plans to add drums to this new track, but until now it was still just another unfinished new song. Meanshile, I had asked Tony if he'd work up an idea for one of Colter's songs. Now that we have reopened the track list for further consideration, I've told Tony to proceed. We have decided that any left over songs will become the starting point for the follow up to Donovan's Brain #7. This has been part of the five year march to victory all along, but now it seems like a reality.