Recording with a wizard

So we just returned from a short one week trip to the Bay Area and back. We spent 4 days recording in a large West Oakland warehouse called Ear Hammer - home of Greg and Salvador - 2 awesome and generous folks who had a cozy environment to accommodate all 5 of us as we tried new ideas and tried lots of amps and drums of which all belonged to them! Attention to detail, good spirits, open to new ideas, incredibly affordable, and a freaking bass wizard from Brainoil who's background is playing in, doing live sound for, amp repair, and recording heavy music running the knobs and computer. That's my favorite set up; analog board, diverse mics, super fast and efficient computer set up with tons of vintage plug-ins.Our homie and roadie of many years, Buddy Stedman, came along and was an awesome addition to the crew. Besides loading gear, selling merch, etc., he was grocery and beer shopping for all of us as well as preparing some killer meals and snacks for everyone. Not to mention the tremendous amount of herbal and alcohol abuse!He was always the guy with the fancy phone and could google anything for us. It was convenient and everything but i miss the old traveling days of no cell phones and computers. Oh well. Hopefully I can keep focused on fascination. The recording rules and it is 4 songs in 16 minutes and it is heavy and powerful sounding. The tones are awesome and clear and the mix is solid. Hopefully to become a split LP with another PDX band.

The few shows we played were really fun and we got the luxury of playing with a lot of diverse and cool bands. I love seeing polished sounding metal bands as much as i do love watching a young forming punk band playing their hearts out on shitty equipment. Keep it mixed, keep it fun, and no matter how metal you think you are... keep it punk.

Here's a few side notes: The Bay Area is fucking expensive. Oakland is way less sketchy than it used to be. Arcata still knows how to have a good time and throw killer shows. Greg Wilkinson rules. Redwoods rule. Roaming around San Fransisco on a nice day rules. Playing hardcore punk with your friends still rules. Wondering why some people love mediocre music still baffles me. The smell of 5 burrito dudes is gross.

Next show is on Friday, April 8th with Elitist, Atriarch (cd release show), and Druden at Blackwater Records! Super rad lineup and only $3! 7PM sharp!!!!