Kompressor

Did some tracking for the Kompressor CD. Using Cubase VST and Reason software is an extremely fast way to work for me. I've never had this kind of flexibility with my musical tools before. I can't say enough about the Reason software. For years I relied on my trusty Roland S-550 sampler and Atari Mega ST4 computer. I would sample little bits of sound and layer the part together using the Atari as my main sequencer. The biggest limitation in that set-up was the limited sampling time (28.8 seconds total!) and the samplers low-fi sampling rate (30khz). Still it was state of the art back in 1988 and I made more than 6 albums worth of music with it. People used to come over to my home studio and couldn't believe that I actually still made albums with my archaic gear. My upgrade was a long time coming. The other thing computer based systems do, is simplify your mixer and outboard gear connections. I used to have to patch and re patch my way through all my recording sessions. Then struggle with mixer and sub-mixer settings. When it's all in your computer you can reconfigure your entire "virtual" patch bay in seconds and save it as part of the songs file. Anyway the skinny of this new way of working is increased output. That's what we all crave anyway...isn't it. INCREASED OUTPUT. I output mine, you output yours. Everybody's happy.

Teen Feeding Frenzy!

Putin' pantyhose on the girls for the new Teen Feeding Frenzy! CD cover artwork. It's a minor detail but on several of the photos of the girls, their legs didn't have enough contrast to the back ground, etc. So I darkened them. Ahh the wonders of Photoshop. I also reddened the meat and adjusted some of the background colors. Here's some examples...

Taxes

Been working on my taxes for the last 2 weeks. The IRS is auditing my wife and I for the 1999 tax year, so we've been going through boxes and boxes of receipts and tax documents trying to get it all in order. To be audited by Uncle Sam is the All-American nightmare. Anyways I also started laying out 3 new songs for the Kill Switch...Klick - Kompressor CD and working a bit on the old Flathand 5 tracks. There's always something going on around here...

CD Release Party

We had a little CD release party for two of the bands on Go-Kustom last night at the Sunset Tavern in lovely downtown Ballard (Seattle, Washington). Good turn out and both the bands, Bill Wolford's Head and The Penningtones, rocked the joint. I took some good photos and will have a photos page up shortly. Opening the show was The Polaris Experience with a very heavy old school prog rock kinda set. Next up was Bill Wolford and his upright bassist. They started out with the acoustic guitar and bass and after several songs Jeremy Sever (who also plays in The Penningtones) joined them on stage as they switched into a more rockin' electric sound. A very eclectic set! The last band of the evening was the Alternative Country stylings of The Penningtones. They've progressed leaps and bounds from their first show at the University Bookstore back in 1998. That was a promo show for the CD Americana: A Tribute To Johnny Cash that I released that same year. As a band they sound very tight now, like they've been playing together for a decade or more. These two bands make me proud to be doing what I'm doing with Go-Kustom Rekords. Getting good music out to the masses.