A year is a long time. A lot gets crammed into those 365 days.
But for us, it turns out that a year is not enough.
A brief pass through the blog posts shows that right around 12 months ago, we we're getting excited about tracking our first record at Arcade Audio. With the tracking behind us, it sure felt like we were "almost done", or at the very least, pretty close. Oh, how wrong we were. And now that we're getting close for this dubious "anniversary", it's hard not to feel at least a little...I'm not sure what the word is - lazy? Guilty? Perhaps a bit of each.
I originally intended not to update this blog until the overdubs were finished. They're not done, but we are close - of the 15 original songs, 10 are in the books and three are in progress. Getting to this point has taken a lot more work then I expected. We have been fairly active tracking at my house for the last four months. My three-year old asks "Is Mark coming over?" on a nightly basis now. I think he has enjoyed this process more than we have, probably because our "studio" is one corner and one wall in his playroom (allowing for rousing games of Don't Break The Ice between takes).
Tracking usually takes place after work on weekdays, between the hours of 7 PM and midnight. Some nights, we start a little later and go until around 1 AM. Then it's back to work the next morning until the whole cycle starts over again. Getting motivated after working all day is difficult. There are a lot of distractions, including the always popular options of sleep or even just crashing on the couch. Fortunately, we've had some help - thank you to the New York Yankees for their rapid postseason exit and Cablevision for blocking Fox 5 during the World Series. You kept me focused, and I'll keep checking my mailbox for those refund checks.
I've gotten to the point where I'm no longer making predictions on "when" it will be done, at least not in the form of firm calendar time. The short answer is soon - later then Christmas, but earlier than spring training...oh please, let it be earlier then spring training.
We've started making preparations for our first shows of 2011, including two very optimistic dates in January. We're playing back-to-back shows in Baltimore and Hoboken with the Seldon Plan (MINI TOUR!!!). We'll be posting more about these dates in the next few weeks in all of the usual places.
For those of you who are have been asking about where we are at with the record, thanks for your patience. We think you're going to like it.
- Jerry
