After working on the lyric re-writes for about a week, I returned to the Goodsite studio to complete the demo.
When I arrived to work on the songs, Bob had a friend in the studio. Scott was a keyboard player that Bob was collaborating with and they had some work planned for a bit later in the day. Bob asked if I would mind that Scott hung around and though it did make me a little uncomfortable, I said it would be fine.
We listened to playback of the tracks from the previous session to get warmed up. I asked Bob if we could re-track a couple of the lead guitar overdubs that just didn't quite work. I ran down a basic feel that I wanted to change and Bob talked to me about using a new stomp box he just bought, a phase shifter. We hooked it up and did a quick rehearsal on one of the tracks I wanted to record. It sounded great! Little did I know that Bob ran live tape on the rehearsal take. When it was done, he said, "Dave, listen to this. I think that song is done now." He was right. My test became the keeper for that song. It just sort of flowed forth and with the phase shifter, it was a perfect fit. Quickly working through the remaining overdubs, we moved to the lyric parts.
Should have stopped while I was ahead. A singer, I'm not. Still.
Bob offered some ideas to help me with my delivery and did a fair amount of tape tricks to minimize the poor performance. Rather than trying to force something that just wasn't there, I decided to get the lyrics down and call it a day.
Despite the vocals, this session did a lot to bolster my self-confidence as a songwriter/performer. It allowed me to see that I could write material and perform it on my own. (I could always hire a singer, right? Take voice lessons?) For the next couple of months, I "shopped" my tape around to other musicians I knew and began to educate myself in recording techniques. I continued writing and fashioned a rudimentary multitrack recording set-up using 2 standard cassette recorders. This allowed me to develop my ideas in greater detail and rehearse the vocal parts in advance. This would help me to convey the concept to other musicians must easier and save me time and money and frustration.
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Collision of Vision
I experienced a lot of frustration in the days following our meeting with Don Brewer. What added to my frustration was learning that members of our "entourage" were secretly laughing and poking fun at the tape behind our backs. I let my ego get the best of me and I began to lash out at the others involved in our project. This stressed the relationships with everyone and ultimately caused a cessation of rehearsals. The fact is: I quit. I began writing some new material and set a goal to record on my own. I auditioned for couple other local groups but found it difficult to absorb their respective cultures. In these cases, I was the extra member of the band and not really a contributor to the creative process. This left me largely unfulfilled and more frustrated.
About six months after the first recording sessions, I contacted Bob Goodsite again to schedule some more sessions and began recording some of the new material. I had written an overly ambitious medley of songs, a theme song in the style of "2112" by the band, Rush.
This time, I was the only person in the studio playing all instruments. Now, playing drums was NOT my forte and I quickly decided this session would be sans-percussion.
The first day of recording started as before, laying the basic foundation tracks for the piece. The medley was written for an approximate running time of 17 minutes. There were 6 distinct component passages to the work, 4 parts had lyric content woven with 2 instrumental segues. I ran through the piece once for setting proper levels before we began to print tape. Quickly, the rhythm guitar parts were laid and I started to overdub bass guitar. I immediately felt the piece was not going to work and I was losing my drive to salvage it in it's intend form.
I decided to break up the medley, using the stronger musical passages, and make them individual songs. This decision left me with 3 songs that I felt comfortable about and we began to re-track the foundations for the songs.
Song titles were:
1. Rain Forest of Tugin / Findleragin (I kept the concept from the original medley, "Infinite Destiny".)
2. Ocohed
3. We'll Be Together
The first session ended on a much higher note (sorry) than it had begun. All initial tracks recorded with bass guitar and lead guitar overdubs complete. There were some sound effects added to the Rain Forest song and these were finished as well. At the end of the day, Bob made me a rough mix dub tape and I would spend the next week fine tuning (sorry again) the lay of the lyrics.
About six months after the first recording sessions, I contacted Bob Goodsite again to schedule some more sessions and began recording some of the new material. I had written an overly ambitious medley of songs, a theme song in the style of "2112" by the band, Rush.
This time, I was the only person in the studio playing all instruments. Now, playing drums was NOT my forte and I quickly decided this session would be sans-percussion.
The first day of recording started as before, laying the basic foundation tracks for the piece. The medley was written for an approximate running time of 17 minutes. There were 6 distinct component passages to the work, 4 parts had lyric content woven with 2 instrumental segues. I ran through the piece once for setting proper levels before we began to print tape. Quickly, the rhythm guitar parts were laid and I started to overdub bass guitar. I immediately felt the piece was not going to work and I was losing my drive to salvage it in it's intend form.
I decided to break up the medley, using the stronger musical passages, and make them individual songs. This decision left me with 3 songs that I felt comfortable about and we began to re-track the foundations for the songs.
Song titles were:
1. Rain Forest of Tugin / Findleragin (I kept the concept from the original medley, "Infinite Destiny".)
2. Ocohed
3. We'll Be Together
The first session ended on a much higher note (sorry) than it had begun. All initial tracks recorded with bass guitar and lead guitar overdubs complete. There were some sound effects added to the Rain Forest song and these were finished as well. At the end of the day, Bob made me a rough mix dub tape and I would spend the next week fine tuning (sorry again) the lay of the lyrics.
Monday, October 04, 2004
Lake Shannon Days
Now flash forward about 7 months from the day we met Don Brewer at his home. It is now about 4 months after we finished recording our demo tape and we decided to take it to our new mentor in Parshalville.
We drove to Don Brewer's house several different times but were unable to find him at home. Finally after these many failed attempts, we hit pay dirt. Fortunately, he remembered us and invited us into the house. "So, you guys have a tape with you?", he said. "C'mon in and sit down so we can listen to it."
My thoughts were overwhelmed by the fact that he had invited us into his home and had done it so naturally as if we were old friends. Now, here I was, looking around the room to see what his years of a successful career in music had afforded him. There was a surreal quality about sitting on his living couch admiring the artwork and other decor. I don't remember who was holding the tape but somehow it found it's way into his hands and then onto his open reel equipment on a nearby tape. He returned to the center of the room and sat on the arm of an easy chair as the tape began the countoff for the first song.
Panic!
Suddenly I was struck by a rapid and deepening panic. It was so odd and I am sure my face betrayed this emerging fear I was experiencing. The first song was nearly ended and I had the realization that this was NOT going to result in anything GOOD. I knew, I knew, I knew. I watched his face for some sign, some visible reaction, some reassurance, that he would take some pity upon us in his final assessment. He would occasionally smile and nod his approval at certain times through listening to the rest of the demo. Me, I found myself wincing at moments when I knew some part of the song had failed to hit the mark, missed the beat, or was offkey. Sadly, there were many such moments. My palms grew damp and a bead of unending sweat had formed on my forehead. Hell, my ears were even perspiring.
It's almost over, it's almost over, god, let it be almost over!
I found myself hoping we could pretend we hadn't brought a tape and that we could talk about sports or cars or women or beehives or fish hooks or ANYTHING!
Once the tape was though, he walked over to rewind the reel. He kept his back to us the entire time and I sensed that he was purposely taking extra time to compose his words before delivering the verdict. I swear it was almost in slow motion, the way he slowly turned around and walked up to me to hand me the tape. As he handed me the tape, he smiled with a gentle expression for I am sure he knew what I knew he knew.?
"Well guys," he began, "it's not bad. The one thing, the main thing, I would suggest is that you need to get your sound tighter." I know he kept talking but I truly cannot recall what was said for the next several moments. I was battling my own demons at that time. After a few moments, the other guys stood up and I realized it was the cue to hit the road.
As we walked out onto his front porch, Don offered, "When you guys put another tape together, feel free to bring up here again. Don't give up, just keep working on it."
We drove to Don Brewer's house several different times but were unable to find him at home. Finally after these many failed attempts, we hit pay dirt. Fortunately, he remembered us and invited us into the house. "So, you guys have a tape with you?", he said. "C'mon in and sit down so we can listen to it."
My thoughts were overwhelmed by the fact that he had invited us into his home and had done it so naturally as if we were old friends. Now, here I was, looking around the room to see what his years of a successful career in music had afforded him. There was a surreal quality about sitting on his living couch admiring the artwork and other decor. I don't remember who was holding the tape but somehow it found it's way into his hands and then onto his open reel equipment on a nearby tape. He returned to the center of the room and sat on the arm of an easy chair as the tape began the countoff for the first song.
Panic!
Suddenly I was struck by a rapid and deepening panic. It was so odd and I am sure my face betrayed this emerging fear I was experiencing. The first song was nearly ended and I had the realization that this was NOT going to result in anything GOOD. I knew, I knew, I knew. I watched his face for some sign, some visible reaction, some reassurance, that he would take some pity upon us in his final assessment. He would occasionally smile and nod his approval at certain times through listening to the rest of the demo. Me, I found myself wincing at moments when I knew some part of the song had failed to hit the mark, missed the beat, or was offkey. Sadly, there were many such moments. My palms grew damp and a bead of unending sweat had formed on my forehead. Hell, my ears were even perspiring.
It's almost over, it's almost over, god, let it be almost over!
I found myself hoping we could pretend we hadn't brought a tape and that we could talk about sports or cars or women or beehives or fish hooks or ANYTHING!
Once the tape was though, he walked over to rewind the reel. He kept his back to us the entire time and I sensed that he was purposely taking extra time to compose his words before delivering the verdict. I swear it was almost in slow motion, the way he slowly turned around and walked up to me to hand me the tape. As he handed me the tape, he smiled with a gentle expression for I am sure he knew what I knew he knew.?
"Well guys," he began, "it's not bad. The one thing, the main thing, I would suggest is that you need to get your sound tighter." I know he kept talking but I truly cannot recall what was said for the next several moments. I was battling my own demons at that time. After a few moments, the other guys stood up and I realized it was the cue to hit the road.
As we walked out onto his front porch, Don offered, "When you guys put another tape together, feel free to bring up here again. Don't give up, just keep working on it."
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad
Our would-be mentor, Don Brewer, drummer extraordinaire for Grand Funk Railroad. Donnie was a source of mucho inspiration and would give us some critical insight that had a dramatic impact on the direction we followed in our musical pursuits.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Demo Afterglow
The agony of my vocal nightmare notwithstanding, we were really jazzed about our first demo recording. For the next week after concluding our session, I listened to our mix tape everyday. I managed to find way to work into every conversation, a mention of THE tape and I just happened to have a copy that we could listen to right now.
It was like parental love, unconditional, forgiving, and totally blinded to faults that were obvious to just about everyone on the planet. This was my view of our project, at least, at first. Later it took on a completely different complexion. It evolved into my nemesis within the next few months and even brought about a temporary breakdown of the group for a period.
Several months prior, I had the incredibly good fortune to learn the addresses of two members of the band, Grand Funk Railroad. These guys were my idols. Mark Farner was the reason I took up playing guitar. Grand Funk was based out of Flint, Michigan and so they were considered local boys and this was also a source of great musical pride for many natives. My parents are in the real estate business and had begun working with an exclusive, custom home builder in the Flint area. As it turned out, he built the home of the drummer, Don Brewer, in an upscale neighborhood on Lake Shannon near Parshallville, MI, about 45 minutes northwest of the metro Detroit area.
Using platte maps that my parents had, I was able to locate not only Don Brewer's house, but I found property listings for Mark Farner!
With this information, we put our balls on and decided to drive to Parshallville and locate the houses belonging to our heroes. Mark Farner's house, a farm actually, was pretty easy to find. I mean, we had a map and all, just like Hollywood. His mailbox had no name except for a sign that said "Singing Spruce Farm" and we knew this was the place. There was a clapboard fence along the road and an electronic gate with security access. We pulled into the driveway and pushed the announce button. Finally, after several minutes, a voice asked, "what can I do fer ya". I said, "Is Mark home?" (Like, can Markie come out and play?) We were told he was not at home so we had not choice but to move on down the road.
We next navigated our way through the country roads of Parshallville looking for Lake Shannon. After some basic directions from a local cyclist, we found ourselves driving through a neighborhood of large, distinctive houses. I had the house address with me and we once again, summoned our courage to pull into the driveway. There was a jeep in front of the attached garage and we took that as a "good" sign. NO fence. NO wandering attack dogs. NO surveillance cameras to be seen. All "good" signs. After arguing the merits of getting out of the car for about 15 minutes, we disembarked and walked up to the front door. The house was of a modern architectural design using natural woods and a lot of angled glass windows. We rang the doorbell. Through the open expanse of the entryway, we could see the house was a split level and then we saw Don Brewer walking up a set of stairs to answer his door. Holy crap!
He opened the door and we introduced ourselves as big fans. We told him that we were in a band and that he and Grand Funk were a huge inspiration to us. We made groupie fan talk for another minute and then I asked the question. "If we brought you a demo tape of our group, would you give us an honest evaluation of what we should do next?", I asked.
(Don Brewer drum roll inserted here)
"Sure, I'd be happy to, I enjoy helping new bands get things together", was his reply.
If only he knew what he had gotten himself into with that statement and that we had every intention of taking him up on his foolish generosity.
It was like parental love, unconditional, forgiving, and totally blinded to faults that were obvious to just about everyone on the planet. This was my view of our project, at least, at first. Later it took on a completely different complexion. It evolved into my nemesis within the next few months and even brought about a temporary breakdown of the group for a period.
Several months prior, I had the incredibly good fortune to learn the addresses of two members of the band, Grand Funk Railroad. These guys were my idols. Mark Farner was the reason I took up playing guitar. Grand Funk was based out of Flint, Michigan and so they were considered local boys and this was also a source of great musical pride for many natives. My parents are in the real estate business and had begun working with an exclusive, custom home builder in the Flint area. As it turned out, he built the home of the drummer, Don Brewer, in an upscale neighborhood on Lake Shannon near Parshallville, MI, about 45 minutes northwest of the metro Detroit area.
Using platte maps that my parents had, I was able to locate not only Don Brewer's house, but I found property listings for Mark Farner!
With this information, we put our balls on and decided to drive to Parshallville and locate the houses belonging to our heroes. Mark Farner's house, a farm actually, was pretty easy to find. I mean, we had a map and all, just like Hollywood. His mailbox had no name except for a sign that said "Singing Spruce Farm" and we knew this was the place. There was a clapboard fence along the road and an electronic gate with security access. We pulled into the driveway and pushed the announce button. Finally, after several minutes, a voice asked, "what can I do fer ya". I said, "Is Mark home?" (Like, can Markie come out and play?) We were told he was not at home so we had not choice but to move on down the road.
We next navigated our way through the country roads of Parshallville looking for Lake Shannon. After some basic directions from a local cyclist, we found ourselves driving through a neighborhood of large, distinctive houses. I had the house address with me and we once again, summoned our courage to pull into the driveway. There was a jeep in front of the attached garage and we took that as a "good" sign. NO fence. NO wandering attack dogs. NO surveillance cameras to be seen. All "good" signs. After arguing the merits of getting out of the car for about 15 minutes, we disembarked and walked up to the front door. The house was of a modern architectural design using natural woods and a lot of angled glass windows. We rang the doorbell. Through the open expanse of the entryway, we could see the house was a split level and then we saw Don Brewer walking up a set of stairs to answer his door. Holy crap!
He opened the door and we introduced ourselves as big fans. We told him that we were in a band and that he and Grand Funk were a huge inspiration to us. We made groupie fan talk for another minute and then I asked the question. "If we brought you a demo tape of our group, would you give us an honest evaluation of what we should do next?", I asked.
(Don Brewer drum roll inserted here)
"Sure, I'd be happy to, I enjoy helping new bands get things together", was his reply.
If only he knew what he had gotten himself into with that statement and that we had every intention of taking him up on his foolish generosity.
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Dreaded Vocal Overdubs - Day Two
We spent the next week fawning over the dub tape we had from our first recording session. I had worked on trying to edit the lyrics and make sure they were a good blend with the music tracks.
We returned to Bob Goodsite's studio the next Sunday to wrap up our first demo tape. There were a couple of minor re-takes that needed to be done on one of the lead guitar sections so we did that first. This went quickly and Bob began to set up the vocal mics we would be using. I was getting so nervous because singing was just not something I was very confident about and it really showed once I began to sing the first line. Oh man. It was horrible! I felt so self-conscious and became very frustrated by how unprepared I felt.
I opted to take a break and let Todd work on his vocal parts (Cruisin' Down The Road) first. He did a great job and I quickly ditched my attitude as I enjoyed the performance. He was able to get the keeper track after only 2 takes! I was very excited again and, with words of encouragement from Todd, I once again set upon the task. One of the songs I was to sing was a love ballad (I Need Your Love) and the other (Stand Up) was more of a rocker. I chose to sing the second one first in hopes of building my confidence for what would be a more lyric featured song. Good thing too. (I am listening to this tape now as I am writing and, believe me, I am almost reliving each painful note.)
Personal agony. That is the best way for me to describe it. I had gone from feeling so good about the music we had recorded to be extremely discouraged by my contribution on the vocals. I tried to get Todd to take the vocals on all the songs but he wasn't rehearsed to where he felt comfortable. He kept telling me "c'mon Dave, you wrote those words. Remember how you felt when you did? Just let it out. You can do it". Thanks Todd. You have been a good friend but perhaps never more than at that moment. Of course, HE WAS LYING!
We returned to Bob Goodsite's studio the next Sunday to wrap up our first demo tape. There were a couple of minor re-takes that needed to be done on one of the lead guitar sections so we did that first. This went quickly and Bob began to set up the vocal mics we would be using. I was getting so nervous because singing was just not something I was very confident about and it really showed once I began to sing the first line. Oh man. It was horrible! I felt so self-conscious and became very frustrated by how unprepared I felt.
I opted to take a break and let Todd work on his vocal parts (Cruisin' Down The Road) first. He did a great job and I quickly ditched my attitude as I enjoyed the performance. He was able to get the keeper track after only 2 takes! I was very excited again and, with words of encouragement from Todd, I once again set upon the task. One of the songs I was to sing was a love ballad (I Need Your Love) and the other (Stand Up) was more of a rocker. I chose to sing the second one first in hopes of building my confidence for what would be a more lyric featured song. Good thing too. (I am listening to this tape now as I am writing and, believe me, I am almost reliving each painful note.)
Personal agony. That is the best way for me to describe it. I had gone from feeling so good about the music we had recorded to be extremely discouraged by my contribution on the vocals. I tried to get Todd to take the vocals on all the songs but he wasn't rehearsed to where he felt comfortable. He kept telling me "c'mon Dave, you wrote those words. Remember how you felt when you did? Just let it out. You can do it". Thanks Todd. You have been a good friend but perhaps never more than at that moment. Of course, HE WAS LYING!
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Our First Day of Recording
We arrived at the Goodsite Studios around 9:30 on a cold Sunday morning. Our cars were packed full with our instruments and various accessories. Our entourage consisted of a 3 car motorcade, Todd drove his van loaded with his drum equipment, I drove my car with my gear, and a third car with our "roadies" to provide moral support and provide security in the event of overzealous autograph seekers. OK, then.
We quickly set up our equipment in the cramped sound room. As I stated earlier, the studio owner left some major pieces of equipment in the room which made our set-up a little difficult. There was a full drum set enclosed by a baffle system, 2 small amplifiers, a suitcase piano, as well as a grand piano with more baffles.
Once the initial set was finished, Bob Goodsite, studio owner, began the process of microphone placement and conducting recording levels check. By noon, we were ready to start cutting tracks. Bob gave us a brief explanation of the process we would follow to record as the studio used only 4-track equipment. We reviewed the songs we intended to record with Bob and soon set about the recording process.
Our goal for today was to record all instrument tracks with overdubs for bass guitar and lead guitar parts. We had to wrap up the day's work by 4:00 pm that day so we burned through the initial recording phases. At the time, we were not really aware of how much we were conceding in terms of performance quality. There were many mistakes, some minor and some major, that we allowed to remain on tape in favor of our recording schedule.
The centerpiece of this day's session has to be while recording "Stand Up". We decided to incorporate a drum solo in the middle of the song. We added the drum solo a few days prior to this session so most the timing of this song we still "sight cues". We had a few of the guys in the sound room while cutting these tracks adding vocal encouragement for the drummer. Studio owner Bob added some special tape effects while recording the drum solo, reverb and echo effects, that really added character to the recording.
We barely completed our band tracks in time that day. Bob made a rough mix tape from our session for us to take with us. We set the next record date to be one week later and planned to finish the songs with any edits for the music and start recording of the vocals. This next session was NOT so much fun for me. More about that next time.
We quickly set up our equipment in the cramped sound room. As I stated earlier, the studio owner left some major pieces of equipment in the room which made our set-up a little difficult. There was a full drum set enclosed by a baffle system, 2 small amplifiers, a suitcase piano, as well as a grand piano with more baffles.
Once the initial set was finished, Bob Goodsite, studio owner, began the process of microphone placement and conducting recording levels check. By noon, we were ready to start cutting tracks. Bob gave us a brief explanation of the process we would follow to record as the studio used only 4-track equipment. We reviewed the songs we intended to record with Bob and soon set about the recording process.
Our goal for today was to record all instrument tracks with overdubs for bass guitar and lead guitar parts. We had to wrap up the day's work by 4:00 pm that day so we burned through the initial recording phases. At the time, we were not really aware of how much we were conceding in terms of performance quality. There were many mistakes, some minor and some major, that we allowed to remain on tape in favor of our recording schedule.
The centerpiece of this day's session has to be while recording "Stand Up". We decided to incorporate a drum solo in the middle of the song. We added the drum solo a few days prior to this session so most the timing of this song we still "sight cues". We had a few of the guys in the sound room while cutting these tracks adding vocal encouragement for the drummer. Studio owner Bob added some special tape effects while recording the drum solo, reverb and echo effects, that really added character to the recording.
We barely completed our band tracks in time that day. Bob made a rough mix tape from our session for us to take with us. We set the next record date to be one week later and planned to finish the songs with any edits for the music and start recording of the vocals. This next session was NOT so much fun for me. More about that next time.
Sunday, August 08, 2004
Todd Katke
Day One: This is a picture of Todd Katke during microphone level check. The studio owner left all his equipment set up in the room so we had to wedge our equipment anywhere we could find the space. Todd played such a large drum kit, finding room was challenging to say the least. I think the cramped quarters actually added to the enthusiasm we were experiencing that day.
Dave Stone
Day One: Here I am getting ready to start recording band tracks. It was a cold day outside and we just had a big snow the night before as you can see out the window behind me. I was 17 years old at the time.
All Roads Lead To Dead Dog Express
Our journey to DDE began while fellow band member, Todd Katke, the drummer, and I were working at a local resturant/night club in 1976. We worked in the kitchen as dishwashers. We met a waitress whose brother was an active recording/performing musician in the area named Bob Goodsite. She told us that Bob had a small recording studio in the basement of their house and occassionally rented it out for demo work. Bob had recorded several songs, some of which found their way onto an album sponsored by a local radio station that highlighted local talent in the Detroit area called "W4 - Home Grown". (FYI: W4 or WWWW were the call letters of the radio station. This was the station that Howard Stern worked at early in his career before he became syndicated.)
We had been working on several of our own songs and decided to contact Bob about using his studio to record a short demo. We continued our rehearsals to sharpen and refine our material. After spending about 3 months in the rehearsal/writing phase, we set our session dates. We entered the studio in January 1977 to record 4 songs for our first demo.
The songs titles were:
Cruisin' Down The Road
I Need Your Love
Misdemeanor
Stand Up
At the time of this session, we were minus 1 bass guitarist so I performed all bass parts as overdubs. Todd was to sing lead on 1 song (Cruisin' Down The Road) and I would sing lead on 2 songs (I Need Your Love, Stand Up). We had a small entourage in attendance while all the initial band tracks were cut. These were guys that had become our stage crew and helped us drink beer whenever it was available. We had a lot of fun during the 1st session. Plenty of clowning around. I had such an adrenalin rush from the excitement of our first recording session and hearing our songs taking shape. We even had some of the guys in the sound room while we recorded Stand Up and you can hear them yelling during the drum solo section of the song. (yeah, I know, cheesy.)
I'll scan a couple of pics from the session shortly.
To be continued............
We had been working on several of our own songs and decided to contact Bob about using his studio to record a short demo. We continued our rehearsals to sharpen and refine our material. After spending about 3 months in the rehearsal/writing phase, we set our session dates. We entered the studio in January 1977 to record 4 songs for our first demo.
The songs titles were:
Cruisin' Down The Road
I Need Your Love
Misdemeanor
Stand Up
At the time of this session, we were minus 1 bass guitarist so I performed all bass parts as overdubs. Todd was to sing lead on 1 song (Cruisin' Down The Road) and I would sing lead on 2 songs (I Need Your Love, Stand Up). We had a small entourage in attendance while all the initial band tracks were cut. These were guys that had become our stage crew and helped us drink beer whenever it was available. We had a lot of fun during the 1st session. Plenty of clowning around. I had such an adrenalin rush from the excitement of our first recording session and hearing our songs taking shape. We even had some of the guys in the sound room while we recorded Stand Up and you can hear them yelling during the drum solo section of the song. (yeah, I know, cheesy.)
I'll scan a couple of pics from the session shortly.
To be continued............
Friday, August 06, 2004
Monday, August 02, 2004
The Dead Dog Express
Finally, a photo of the Dead Dog Express This picture is facing the southwest. More to follow.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
What the hell is Dead Dog Express?
I played guitar in a band for many years. In the late 80's we were renting an outbuilding on a remote piece of property just northwest of Detroit. We were converting this building to function as a rehearsal studio and later a recording studio. We spent about a month remodeling and securing the building prior to beginning to actual rehearse. The building was set back about 250 feet from the main access road and was sort of tucked behind a small cinderblock building.
Well, one night, we were working on the place and decided to take a break and walk around the property. Our exploration led us to the frontage along the driveway. We almost tripped over the remains of a dog that had been struck by a car.
I admit now that it may have been gruesome, but we decided to name our rehearsal facility after that unfortunate animal.
Thus, The Dead Dog Express.
I will attempt to upload pictures if possible of the buildings and the surrounding property.
Well, one night, we were working on the place and decided to take a break and walk around the property. Our exploration led us to the frontage along the driveway. We almost tripped over the remains of a dog that had been struck by a car.
I admit now that it may have been gruesome, but we decided to name our rehearsal facility after that unfortunate animal.
Thus, The Dead Dog Express.
I will attempt to upload pictures if possible of the buildings and the surrounding property.
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