plug in

b-b-b-birthdays

Today is WJP's 30th birthday. Congratulations! Thanks to wikepedia.com I found out that Baby Spice, Goedele Liekens, Jeff Koons and some of our favorite singers (Billy Ocean, Freddy Breck and Placido Domingo) also celebrate their birthdays today. So now you know too.

road trip

it's never enough

With Boyke and WJP behind a computer in 's-Hertogenboch doing some pre mixing and Rob still on some Thai beach, JL, Ted and I decided to revisit some guitar parts. One last attempt before our (final) recording session at The Void, to make what's already good even better. JL percussive, distorted ramblin' in Try Harder could be just what was missing. MKMV already had a great 'Autobahn' feel. What we came up with Yesterday makes it sound like the perfect soundtrack for a highway cruise through the desert. Adding some extra guitars to The Charm didn't work out though. What's already there, simply seems to be good enough.

say smith

saturday afternoon conversation

With Rob far and away and without Boyke due to a combination of flue and a hangover, we spent the afternoon in 's-Hertogenbosch. Listening to the music, we discussed where we stand at this point and how to finish the album.
It looks like there's going to be one more recording sessions at The Void, early February. In March and April we'll be mixing, hopefully to be ready for mastering in May. Getting it done earlier is simply impossible. We're behind on payments already... Hey, we've got artwork, a new website and a live set to worry about. Perhaps we can even get a label interested. We won't be bored.

back to mine (21)

the information

The special guest in The Void I was refering to in Yesterdays entry was Thom Kooijmans. Thom is Boyke's brother and a great saxophone player. Can't say anything about what he did as I wasn't there. Got an enthusiastic text message from WJP though. Translated in English it goes something like this:
"Decisive steps have been made in The Charm and Make a move. Think Kraftwerk. The sax is great! Think John Coltrane. Pieter is making some mixes for us to take home".
Well well well.

echo and the spidermen

lost and found

We resumed our work yesterday morning, starting with the lead vocals on Try Harder, Umbrella and On a Breeze. I must admit I was a bit shaky about it. I'm not the most self-assured person when it comes down to my singing. My increasingly bad health is certainly not approving my singing voice. Do believe things turned out rather good. Space echo and distortion may have something to do with that.
In the late afternoon and evening Ted and JL did some dreamy, dub flavoured guitar work. I loved it, but we kinda lost Pieter here. He really is a great person and a fantastic producer, but when it comes to taste in music he's not exactly living on the same planet as we do. That's okay, he's keeping us sharp, he makes us sound good. That's what matters.
Boyke and WJP are busy in the studio as I'm writing this entry and I've heard they've brought a special guest with them. More on that later...

up in flames

back on track

So it's 2008. Great. We're starting the year with a recording session at The Void. That'll be coming Friday the 4th, and not Thursday as I've said before. We'll be mostly doing some guitar, bass and vocals on Friday. The next day is for keyboards and who knows what else. We'll keep you posted.