The last three days indulged

November 09, 2002

The last three days indulged my stale dated education. I spent all those years wanting to become the guy who could walk into a recording studio and play with the big dogs. It was only a few years ago that it was still important to reach down deep and figure out a way to fall back behind the beat and water-ski your way through a live track with a full band. Everyone played and the engineer recorded it on these giant reels of tape. Your eyes rolled back in your head and when you regained consciousness the song had just ended and you probably had “the take”. Everyone smiled, pulled off the headphones and walked into the control room to have a listen. It took a lot of hard knocks to be able to know when to say, “that’s it” and leave the thing alone. There were cables and microphones everywhere, the ceilings were high and there were a lot of little coloured lights. We all busted a nut trying to learn how to do this right. Then we got computers.
Digital manipulation was a different kind of fun. An Orwellian reinvention of time and space was possible. There was a chance to be better than you actually were. This process has value. All that mucking around with waveforms only helps you figure out that what you actually are is much more interesting than the impossible you. Your limitations create something far more complex and interesting. The human hand makes shapes far more complex than a million zeros and ones can describe. The iris of your eye is the most highly encrypted security code. They still dust for fingerprints. It was a life affirming and sinfully indulgent three days recording a live quartet with no “click tracks” and only a couple of kicks at the can. All the music for 13 songs with just vocals to mess around with later. Thanks to Jesse Valenzuela, Pat Steward, Doug Elliott, Simon Kendall, Blair Calibaba, Colin Nairne, Mike Rogerson, Paul Baker, and Colin James for their talents.

oh...I guess I'm nominated in two categories for the 2002 "Just Plain Folks Awards". "Best Modern Rock Album" and twice for "Best Modern Rock Song" ("Take a Hit Off This" and "Giddy Up"). I think you can even become a judge and vote. We're all just plain folks. Some of you know my record for nominations versus wins so if you're placing bets you know the odds have just narrowed for you.

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