Soft Rock and Hard Times

This is it, my last week of gainful, taxed employment before going out on my own as a sound engineer ONLY. It's taken me almost 6 years (since graduating college) of toiling away in wage labor-land, in and out of some unbearable situations all in the name of survival.

But now it's paying off, or so it seems : My constant night jobs running live sound are now going to be my main source of income, instead of a bother to my ever-suffering employers.

So, it seems a fitting time to finally begin this blog I've been waiting to start. Really it's the current incarnation of "The Church of Sound", which I began as a series of shows in 2005. At some point it may end up being a label, in fact rather soon perhaps since we have to press a Groggs 7". In the meantime, it remains the umbrella for all my dealings in sound, booking, recording, etc.. And now it's a real-live digital rag.

So, to waste no further time with introductions, we begin.

Tomorrow I begin production on a 7" for a band from SLO, CA called BAD ASSETS. They are fronted by a friend named Joe Machamer, with whom I've crossed paths many time since I created The Church Of Sound. First time I met Joe it was a show I booked for his band, DARK SKIES, at The Blue Lagoon in Santa Cruz. Denim warriors from the Northwest kicking out screaming blues and dirty rock & roll. High-flying shredinators like some japanese robotic Bruce Springsteen.

After many more encounters of the like, Joe and BAD ASSETS played Octamont, a driveway show I organized at the end of Summer 2009. Joe, Shea and John laid down some wicked rock right there on the concrete! Dark balladry with twisted melodies, doom and gloom and thunder! All with a tinge of things that I love - Dead Moon, Roky Erickson, even a little Cream. It became apparent to me that where most people have marrow in their bones, Joe Mac has instead some kind of undulating jalapeno napalm jelly that can only be sublimated by unholy stick riffage. And we're gonna harvest all that gooey goodness. Can't wait to hear it on wax.

Speaking of wax, as mentioned before, we are working on putting out The Groggs 7" which we recorded between October and December of last year. Nine songs were produced but we're picking the cream of the crop to go on this 4-song sampler, simply because we can't afford to put out a 12". I've been passing around the MP3 versions a bit, but I am really looking forward to hearing this one on record as it's just a wild mix of old and new sounds, drenched in reverb with a burning wall of sound throughout. The remaining tracks will be archived for future release, and two will appear on a cassette split for 1019 Records, with Tyred Eyes from Sweden. I've just got to take those tracks and blow the hell out of them on my old 4-track, to a cassette master. It's gonna sound sweet, sharp and sticky.

I'm also hoping to start round two of home recordings with my friend Matt Hintze, guitarist and crooner for THE SPURTS. We got together one day when we lived together and recorded in the bathroom upstairs at THE OCTAGON. Did some tricky stuff to milk that bathroom verb for all it was worth, laid down three of Matt's songs. Hoping he has a few more since I'm gonna have a lot more time to pace around my apartment, and it would be nice to have something I can work on at home.

Also hoping for some other gigs to come down the pipeline at THE COMPOUND, where I recently got promoted from intern to engineer. So hopefully I get to record some things that might not otherwise come my way.

Now if I could just find some new jams to listen to in the off time... I keep falling back on the few country records I own and a Nirvana tape that broke in my cassette deck recently. That's the irony of all this - the more time I spend in music, the further I get from it. Recommendations please.

Thanks for reading! I'll try to have the next chapter posted with the quickness.