Alright.  New Year=new commitment to keeping you guys in the loop with stuff.

The last session we did of note(which we got pics of...) was with Alex McMaster.  She's killer.  I wouldn't kid about this stuff. She plays with a band called A Northern Chorus.  

Here's a pic of her laying down a cello part:

In other recording news, we laid down some of the best drums I've ever been part of at Craig Lapsley's :  Adam Warner played his drums ... I forget the brand ... I think it's Ludwig ... doesn't really matter i guess ... point is they sound like GOD ... it's the kit with the huge kik drum ... 26"  ... think led Zepplin III  ...

"Stuff is going really well.  I can't wait 'til ya'll get to hear it." 

... so here's a pic of me in the studio layin' some guit-box.

Salut,

rob

Good god did i get a massive shock at last night's session.

Dave King and I did a session just the two of us at the Barn.  We were trying to get a version of "Paper Planes", a 3/4 time waltzy tune that I've tried to record many times, but never felt I "got " it.  So we're setting up the session so we can record live with me playing guitar and singing while Dave's on the kit.  I've got Dave's prized Guild hollowbody(read: bitchin' guitar) plugged into a vintage Vox amp and I'm testing the mic and as soon as I touch my lips to it I get THE MOST MASSIVE SHOCK EVER.  I see a lightning bolt flash before my eyes and the lights go out (in my head) for a second, and when I come to, Dave's guitar is on the floor(!!) and he's lookin' at me: "are you alright man?".

Turns out the ol' Vox amp isn't grounded properly ... somewhat common with amps of that vintage, and since it's british, i'm sure there's some other tech stuff going on that shot a whole bunch of current though my body.  My friend Brad who knows about that stuff told me that I "completed the circuit".  Nice.  Didn't feel very "complete" for few minutes there.  Felt like someone had pulled the top of my head off, and scrubbed the inside of my skull with a wire brush.  Anyway, I put the "it's no problem, I'm cool" face on and was feelin' kinda sheepish about it 'cause us musician-types, we get shocked all the time right?  I don't want Dave to think I'm some kind of sissy who can't take a few hundred volts, and just drop his guitar on account of such a minor occurrence ... it's not like Dave said anything about it, 'cause he's golden and would never wanna make me feel bad, but i felt funny nevertheless ...

... so we proceed to try and source out the problem, and the technique commonly used so you don't keep shocking yourself is to make whatever change in the power source you're gonna make (i.e. plug the amp into a different outlet, reverse the ground, whatever) and then you test the situation again, but you wanna do it without shocking yourself, so the way you do it is you hold the guitar by the wood part and you touch the strings to the mic stand, or mic ... you can usually see a little static electricity in the air like from your laundry, or hear a tiny little buzzing if you're still gonna get shocked ... so I start doing that ... no problem, looks like we've solved it ... i lift the guitar up to touch the strings to the mic just to be safe, and BOOM! ... no word of a lie, a lightning bolt shoots from the mic to the neck of the guitar, there's burst of flame as the bolt singes the string in half where it hit!!!!!!! 

... Dave and I are left standing there with the "Dooood, did you see what i just saw?" dumb looks on our faces as a small cloud of smoke billows from the neck of the guitar.

Whooaaaoohw ... that shit went through ME the 1st time around (!) ... started not to feel so bad about dropping Dave's guitar...

So there you have it ... had to have a little sit down over a glass of brandy before we could resume the session ... we got a pretty cool take ... maybe that'll end up being the one that makes the CD  ...who knows ...

rob

(Click on the pics to make 'em larger.  The cast: On drums: Dave King, On Bass: Steve Strongman, On Knobs & Headphones: Scott Cooper, On Guitar voice and general malaise: Moi.)

Here's a pic from a few weeks ago of Roger Travassos while he was in the booth laying the Udu drum for the song "No One" ... beside that, you'll find a pic of me recording some guit the same day ...

Progress on the new CD/DVD project is ... ummm... progressing ... Sessions are scheduled for this weekend at my friend Dave King's place.  It's a huge beautiful barn that's been gutted and turned into a recording studio up on the escarpment near Hamilton.  The crew will be Dave King on drums, Steve Strongman on bass and Scott Cooper will be engineering.  I feel pretty lucky to be recording in such an environment, with such a group of badasses (or is it badassi?), so we'll see what happens ... to check out "The Barn", go to www.daveking.ca and check out the "photos" section under "Barn" ...

In other news, we've been working on the DVD element as well, shooting videos for "No One" (the old Plasticine track that i'm re-recording), and "Sad Song" with genius Director Cal Brunker and his team.  here's a pic from the shoot featuring Matt Whelan who's been acting his ass off ...

**Like A Metaphor Progress Blog begins HERE-Read Upwards**