Twelve Eight o Eight

Finally. After months of delay and mild procrastination I announce with jubilation, Tim and Bob have a studio recording date at Abbey Road. TaDA.... December 8th!!!!!! 

Finally!!! This year has dragged on with endless bothersome things like...work...which got in the way of THE recording session that won't be denied. But no more. We go.

Yes, December 8th we show up at the front door of #3 Abbey Road with our little guitars and drumsticks in tow for a full day of recording like a Beatle.

So, be a friend would you and pass the Pepto, as Bob and I are now both officially queasy. The reality seems to be sinking in the gut region. And we thought this would be a breeze. We are not even close to being ready. But we will be. Will we ever.

Our Blog will now have frequent postings with up-to-date reality checks. Pull up a chair, as a splendid time is guaranteed for all. 

On a more sombre note, as many of you know, December 8th also marks the anniversary of the death of John Lennon. Most people remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard of this tragic and senseless murder...I was watching football on TV when the shocking news was announced. Click here to watch the first public announcement. 

Memories From Two Different Brains

OK. We have to get this out of the way first... What I said to Tim was NOT that his song, "Don't Blink" had the ingredients to make a "nice little diddy." What I said was "this song is so f#$%^ing full of hooks it's at least 3 hit songs in one!!!!"

I mean, I hate to point out what turning 50 can do to one's memory. Clearly, one of us is remembering wrongly (hint - it's him).

So, the rest of what he says is right on the money. Tim and I had an iChat rehearsal a few weeks ago, which was a blast. We kicked ideas back and forth for "Don't Blink" and came up with a good approach. A couple nights later, I put my interpretation of what we talked about down in Logic and did a quick mix. My vocals were the couple of lines that Tim mentions, repeated over and over with some sort of humming and nonsense lyrics thrown in where there are none yet. I did three tracks - lead and a set of harmony backgrounds - and I gotta say they were absolute rubbish - out of tune, out of time, out of my league. But, thanks to todays modern tools, I was able to bend the recordings into tune and cut them up to make the timing right.

I did my best Beatle backgrounds and, perhaps, one day when the Anthology of this project comes out, you'll get to hear the demos.

I gave my take to Tim, who has been adding some stupendous drum parts. And most recently, he's shown me his "Wall Of Sound" remix with huge drums and bass. It's sounding great!

My tune, as Tim notes, is called "It's Girls." And I did complete the demo in one day - New Year's Day. But in all fairness, it was a song that I'd started WAAAY back in the late 1980s to sing with my then band Personal Effects. At the time, I had a couple of verses and a couple of choruses, and the music was completely different. For this demo, I rewrote the words and came up with an entirely new melody. I had a blast doing the demo, singing at the top of my lungs, and learning how to get those wonderful Liverpool sounds out of my guitar and bass.

The demo ends up sounding like BeatlesBeachboys-amatic - as if you tossed them into a blender and got a surfing on the Thames kind of sound.

So, the next step is for Tim to get off his duff and finish up some words. I've offered to have a lyric rehearsal so he could get some feedback in real time - a real John and Paul approach. I hope he takes me up on it.

Anyway, I think it's clear that we've got two giant hits on our hands. All we have to do is get to England, record and mix them in a day, get them out into the market, get some musicians to tour with, make a trillion dollars and fend off the groupies.

I am looking forward to the England part AND the trillion dollars. I have my own groupies at home...

Time Sure Do Pass Don't It?

Sorry for the long time no talk. So..let's update shall we?

2008 New Years Resolution found me standing in front of the world wide mirror vowing to lose some weight, get into shape...and most importantly starting voice lessons, bass lessons, and writing a hit song.

Well, Nadda. Zip. Nothing. But YES!!!! to the procrastinating!!! I SO rock at that. 

With the arrival of Spring however...progress is about to be made. Not on the weight front..geez...no...but real important stuff like my song. It hath been mostly written but not yet sung. What I mean by that is I lack just a few things...like actual lyrics. Bob has been keen to use several working phrases that now are permanently etched into my feeble brain blocking me even more.  Anyway, my song does have a title which is...drum roll please.."Don't Blink". The song has progressed from my working title of "Don't Stink". 

"Funny, the only thing that separates Stink from Blink is a single letter"  Nigel Tufnel...Spinal Tap

I have had great help and encouragement from close friends Bill Davie and Roland Burdge...both of whom are gifted musicians and even more talented friends. The song passed their smell test and I got a couple of very usable phrases.

Musically, Bob has reassured me that "Don't Blink" contains all the necessary ingredients to make a nice little diddy. Whatever that means...

Speaking of Bob. His song was written on the day he intended to write it and as expected...perfect right out of the can. Titled "It's Girls" this song has all the designated hooks one would expect from a Beatles junkie. I'll let him tell you all about it if he chooses to write a line or two on the blog.  As his designated studio drummer he has instructed me to emulate not Ringo Starr but an automated drummer named "The Remulac 8000" which plays 120 beats per minute in perfect tempo. Plus I hear the Remulac doesn't drink all the beer and steal the guitar players girlfriend after the gig.

Okay gotta jog to the fridge. More later.

Love Me Do

2 Minutes, 23 Seconds.

The Beatles first "A" side record,  "Love Me Do" was 2 Minutes, 23 Seconds. 

So, the way I look at it, I'm just 2 Minutes, 23 Seconds short of a Hit Song.

I can come up with the 4 Chords, it's just the Lyrics and Hook Line that are graying my hair even more than it already is.

Let's really examine the first verse.

Love, Love Me Do

You Know I Love You

I'll Always Be True

So Pleeeeease......Love Me Do. 

Man, those simple words launched quite a career for four lads from Liverpool.

I really must stop over-thinking the lyrics.

Regret Minimization FrameWork

Just heard that description from an interview with Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos. His reason for starting Amazon was to "Regret Minimization FrameWork". I thought it quickly summed up the description of what this journey to Abbey Road is for me personally. No regrets when I'm 80 (if I make it that far).

So we (Tim and Bob) plod on to our goal of recording in Studio 2 at Abbey Road. Speaking of which, a feeble attempt has been undertaken by moi to actually begin writing my "hit song". Over the last several weeks nothing even close to a "A-Side" single has flowed from my Fender Stratacaster guitar. so here is my
Mr. Obvious Realization #1... This is hard.
Go Figure. Who could have known?

I'm going to write (gasp) a Pop Song. A song like the Beatles would have recorded at Abbey Road in 1964 or whereabouts. Lyrics about girls probably. Key of G... or maybe not.

So...back to practicing and writing.

Lyrics? Chords? Talent? ...Don't fail me now...

_Tim

The Stuff of Dreams - Literally

15. That's how old I was when Abbey Road, the album, was released in 1969. Of course, by then, I was already hopelessly afflicted with Beatlemania - a very real and documentable disease. 

I had been a fan since before the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. My sisters get credit for bringing them to my attention. I was also a very early entrepreneur. Seeing how my sisters and their friends would go ga ga over anything Beatles, I realized that if I spent 25 cents on a magazine, I could cut out the 20 or so large photos and sell them for a nickel apiece... a tidy profit! (Wish I could make that kind of return today). Finally seeing them perform on Ed Sullivan made me realize that keeping the magazines intact meant more to me than the money.

Starting with Introducing The Beatles, I was in line to get every new record the day it was released. Woolworths sold the mono albums for $3.47 and the singles for 99 cents, and was only a mile or so from my house.  Stereo albums, a dollar more, were to come en masse later when I realized that I actually had a collection to maintain.

The release of the Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields single in early 1967 was a turning point for me. Those incredible new sounds were absolutely exciting. I began to follow the progress of the recording of the Sergeant Pepper album, tracking down every tidbit I could find in the media. I found and began to frequent a store called Worldwide News, which carried magazines from around the world - to point, magazines from England. Through New Musical Express, Melody Maker, Beat and Rave, as well as American books such as Teen Datebook (which published excerpts from The Beatles Monthly magazine), Teen Set and even 16 Magazine, I was able to chart almost daily progress on Sgt Pepper.

The thing that really began to pique my interest was the side story - the bits about the studio and how it worked. How 4-tracks could be stacked to combine 4 cohesive performances. How vocals could be double tracked to let two John Lennons be on the same recording! How tracks could be processed to have that phase shifted or flanged sound. Little did I realize that these guys were making all this stuff up as they went!

By the time Abbey Road, the album, came out, I pretty well knew Abbey Road, the studio, vicariously. I knew about the 8-track recorder coming in. I knew about the Beatles failed attempt to build a good studio in the Apple building (and their subsequent return to Abbey Road). I knew about George Martin and Geoff Emerick's production and engineering techniques. And I dreamt that one day I'd get to record at Abbey Road.

53. That's how old I am now. Thanks to Tim's midlife crisis, it appears that dream is becoming a reality. I can't think of a better partner in this quest. We played together for the first time this past fall, and it was as if we'd always been doing it. Just like the Beatles, we have studio time booked to record our next single. All we have to do is write it. Just like the Beatles...

We can do this...

Bob

Come Together

So it begins with a simple reminder that pops up on my computer monitor. “45 Days to your Mid-Life Crisis”. Sudden realization that that the reality of the looming “50” can’t be stopped.

The deadline fast approaches. Actually, I've been looking forward to a mid-life crisis and using it as a bona-fide excuse to do something completely off the Richter scale.

I have been blessed with wonderful women in my life, so a trumped up girl-friend is just a waste of my time and resources. The REAL reason is that my wife of 30 years would kill me. I'm guessing she is partial to using poison or a dull knife. "Justified Homicide" the Tacoma News Tribune headline would say. "He was such a jerk"...shouted the jury before declaring "you are free to go and spend ALL the insurance money!!!" So, I quickly quashed the girlfriend thing. Next idea, the standard issue red sports car. Nah..too ordinary. I then seriously considered a complete body, brain makeover, deploying a team of expensive specialists which included a spiritual guru, physical trainer, dietician, Plastic Surgeon, a Psychologist, a golf coach and...that was just the beginning. Once I saw what my ala cart "mid-life refresher" would cost...I decided to just have a cup of strong coffee instead. I then scaled back and considered a very simple “Mancation” with my guy-friends, whereby, we would stand around, smoke, drink, burn furniture, complain about everything, scratching, belching…but I can do that most any weekend...so I determined that was not special enough. I was close to making a final decision that involved going to a deserted island and speaking only to a soccer ball named “Wilson” for two months. This was about the best I could come up with...until one day...

THE IDEA hit me hard like a freight train. “Record an Original Song at Abbey Road Studios in London”.

Could a worn-out, old drummer and wannabe bass player, actually book studio time and record at Abbey Road? I have an American Express Card and I'm not afraid to use it. Yes...this audacious plan could possibly happen IF I had the right person to help me pull it off and make sure I would not chicken-out. Also, I'm not too good in the music skills department so this someone would also need to make me sound good. (no small feat) Only one person could carry this heavy burden and is just crazy enough to go along with the wackiness. Accordingly, my close friend, mentor, and brilliant musician…Bob Martin was called into action. I shouted out my idea in one long yelling tirade over the Apple I-Chat camera. I paused 3 seconds for his answer.

“Yes...we could do this” he blurted. (He was up for it). (Cool).

So we began immediately formulating THE plan. Which is this. We EACH will write a song, We will practice and rehearse for months to desired perfection. We then will travel to Abbey Road and record, mix, and master both songs in a single day. All instruments and vocals will be performed by just the two of us. A videographer will be hired to document the entire experience. YES...We WILL RECORD AT ABBEY ROAD. This was more than an idea...this was now a PILGRIMAGE of BIBLICAL proportions. (well to us at least.)

Next, we thought it was best to notify Abbey Road we were coming. So, I sent an e-mail to Abbey Road, inquiring about rates and services…was this wacky idea even possible? Apparently it wasn’t. My e-mail request was never returned. (Of course, I’m often invisible…but that’s another story). Not to be denied, I groveled to Bob asking HIM to see what he could do. He called them (on the phone) and spoke with Colette who is the studio manager at Abbey Road. They arranged for Studio#2 to be occupied by Tim and Bob for a future date in August 2008. (While we will not be able to get an actual confirmed date until 3 weeks prior, she was very positive and delighted to give us the opportunity to record at Abbey Road). Money works mysterious ways. Yes it do. Hopefully the likes of McCartney or Clapton won't be occupying OUR studio when we arrive. It would be a shame to kick them out just to make room for us.

“We can do this” Bob reiterated again (this time with verve).


So, begins our journey. This blog will be our diary. Bob and I both will be contributing the content. We expect to document most steps of our expedition. We have much to do. August is only 9 months away. The sudden realization that we indeed “can do this” is already making me weak at the knees.

Cool. Weak at the knees is really cool.

Stay Tuned.

-Tim