Ghost Ghost is trying out a test of the “Let’s all work on the same song from all of our respective studios in our respective states” approach to recording. It’s for a new Karl song called “Hey Princess” that was originally commissioned for a video by Makerbot. Everybody is doing their own parts and uploading them to Soundcloud or Gobbler and then Kevin is assembling and mixing. So far it seems to be working well. I am loving the song and it’s becoming clear just how good Kevin is at mixing (very). Hopefully it will be out as a single but it probably won’t be until after we get back from South By Southwest. Oh, I didn’t tell you? We’re doing SXSW again this year, and this time I will be there with the rest of the band. I hope Texas will survive.
For that matter, where the hell did Fall go as well?
In the midst of an unplanned hiatus to deal with some family health issues but to recap:
Ghost Ghost did the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and The Delancy (on the LES) as part of the CMJ Festival. Stone Document battled away at mixing and mastering the next record (Too Red For The Room). Radio Underground will probably do the LaVigne Family Christmas Spectacular with Zack at the Monkey House sometime during the holidays.
That about covers it. More soon (hopefully).
Oh, here’s a pick of Ghost Ghost onstage at the Knitting Factory:
Ghost Ghost got booked to play an event at South By South West Interactive in Austin, Texas. As the band isn’t getting paid enough to justify my traveling to every gig I stayed in Vermont. This however did not prevent me from appearing with the band at the show. Using 4 laptops (2 on each end) we used Skype to allow me to play with the band via the interwebs.
There was a lot of latency to deal with but as I was playing mostly ambient asynchronous loops and intermittent guitar outfreakage it wasn’t really an issue.
Spent the weekend in Sparta, New Jersey mixing the next Stone Document disc. At the helm at Homebrew Studio was Kevin Lacatena. Between him and Mike Roze they dialed up some amazing sounds (awesome drums). It is close to sounding like a record. Just mastering and arguing over song titles left to do.
Day off. Karl had other commitments so Kevin, Mike D. and I wandered around the city. Ended up at Dolores Park a veritable sea of humanity soaking up the sun. We were fairly easy to spot – three pasty-white guys in black t-shirts and the only people standing in the shade.
One of the highlights of the day was the bacon bloody marys at the 500 Club. And they had one of the best-stocked jukeboxes I’ve ever encountered. Replacements and Nick Cave? Awesome.
Rehearsed all day with the full line up (Karl, Kev, me, Mike DeBlois on drums and Michael Mahoney on synth) and the came the schlepp into the city. Checked in and then headed to the venue. We were met there by none other than Mr. Keith Watts (former drummer for Regional Science Fair as well as many other improvisational outings with me). Grabbed some food and then loaded in. Soundcheck was good although it was a bit tricky figuring out how we’d fit. Ended up with Karl and Kevlar in front of the stage, the rest of us behind them on the riser.
We hit at about 10 PM and was pleased to see a lot of faces I hadn’t seen in years – family, old college friends and ex-bandmates among them. Odd that I have to travel thousands of miles to get people to turn up at a show.
The set went well (but LOUD!). Felt good to rock again – this being the first show since drummer Tim’s departure. I think the crowd enjoyed it as well. HIJK was splendid as well.
Post show we all posed for this pic in front of Li Po lounge:
L to R: Kevlar, Mike D., Mike M., Karl, me, Dave Tsui, Karl Tupper and Trevor Wencl
Got off the plane from Vermont in San Francisco, grabbed my stuff, hopped on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to Oakland to rehearse with Ghost Ghost at HIJK‘s rehearsal space. Tired? Feh!
