Ahhhhh...hello. I am sitting in our studio watching Steve plug leads into sockets.
We are about to start the second writing session. The first was successful. 9 songs in as many days. Some songs complete. Some songs need lyrics and arrangements. Some need just lyrics. Everything sounds new and exciting, edgier, less accoustic, without sacrificing melody. We have an album title too! Don't ask :)
At the end of the last tour, our equipment was shipped back to the UK but somewhere between America and here, my Marshall combo went walkies so I replaced it with a VOX AC30 which has opened up new sonic avenues, and more importantly inspired a "key song" upon which many of the others will hang. I also switched to playing a Fender Jazzmaster instead of my telecaster. This has helped a great deal too. Deeper growl.
We have set some shows in February which are there primarily to force us to finish songs and secondly to rehearse them in front of folks. The recording process will be short. 2 weeks we have set aside.
The Sgt. Pepper Lovely Rita experience was key in making us realise how quickly we can work. Alot of the recording time in the past was spent working out songs and re jigging things. The last few recording sessions of The Boy With No Name came from writing sessions which meant songs were ready to record before we went to the studio. (Selfish Jean, Battleships, Eyes Wide Open and One Night came this way). We'd got into the bad habit of going into the studio with the seeds of afew great ideas and not finished songs. This isn't bad. It's just indulgent.
Why so soon in the studio? It's simple. Baby Dougie/Kelly is due in March. Dougie will need afew months to slip into fatherhood and so we thought we'd try and get it all done before he disappears. If we waited, we'd be way behind the game and the momentum we built up on the recent tour would have dissipated. So it's kind of necessary to just get stuck into it. And I'm glad we have.
So. I will try and keep you abreast of the developments as they happen.
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