January 23, 2007: Back In The Studio

To parody Rod Stewart's hit, 'the first cut is the hardest'. Windrush was back in Alan's studio this week to try to put the pieces together for our first recording, "Rhythm Of The Radio (Favorite Position)". A week earlier, Alan had given us an excellent near-final mix of this song, but after listening to it closely, we decided that we wanted to take a shot at replacing the drum track with a new one using a different sound from Bob's V-drums. Plus, we wanted to add some cowbell in a couple of places, as well as a new guitar accent by Mike.

Adding the cowbell and Mike's new guitar parts were a snap. However, replacing the existing drum track while keeping every other track in the song intact proved to be tricky. Bob played 3 live drum track 'keepers' from which Alan will try to stitch together a new single drum track that fits the existing tempo of all the other tracks. If this proves do-able, our first recorded song is done and we can move on to the next one, "Bad, Bad Man". If not, we'll go back to step one and record the song all over again. Either way, we are inching closer to the milestone of completing the first song. It's been a great learning experience that no doubt will help us move faster on subsequent songs.

For future songs, the plan is to record the basic tracks on the new 8-channel Korg hard-disk recorder in the basement practice studio, then take the basic tracks to Alan's studio for tweaking and final polishing.

In the meantime, at the last practice session we recorded a quick demo version of "Watch It What You Say", which is a song that John's 60's garage band, the Trojans, recorded in Iowa way back when. The new version rocks, featuring lots of delay, trippy guitars and wah, while staying true to the flavor of the original - definitely a 60's throwback sound on this one that we are excited about. Doug will probably do the vocals on this one. If you want to hear the original 60's Trojan version, check out the Dutch internet radio website, Beyond The Beat Generation, which has the song on it's playlist. The story of the Trojans can be found at the 60sgaragebands website.

January 7, 2007: More Cowbell!

The regular Sunday morning practice (or, as we like to think of it, "The Prince George Church of Rock 'n Roll" revival service) was another solid one. Our technical problems transferring the digital recordings from ADAT to Alan's studio DAW (a sampling rate discrepancy) have been resolved, so now we can move forward with our plan to record basic tracks in the Prince George practice studio, then take them to Alan Alba's studio for finishing touches and polishing.

We spent much of this morning's practice re-visiting "Rhythm of the Radio (Favorite Position)", playing it 'live' a number of times and recording a demo version, complete with the addition of more cowbell (Will Farrell would be proud). We've come to realize that, as a practice discipline, we need to play through our growing inventory of songs at the start of each session before working on and recording our new material. We have found ourselves lately with new song overload (a wonderful problem to have) - spending all of our time on new material at the expense of practicing our existing material. We are fortunate to have so much new original material, but realize that we may have opportunities to perform in the near future, so we need to have an inventory of performance material ready to go when we get a chance to play.

In particular, we're beginning to hear talk of a possible high school reunion (Walnut Ridge) this summer - maybe even a multi-class reunion - that may be an opportunity for us, as well as our friends, the Marquis66, to perform. And even if there is no reunion, it's likely that we'll find a place that can accommodate a live band and throw our own private party, so we need to be prepared to perform live.

Thanks to our friend Pat McGloughlin (Gas Pump Jockeys), we recently learned of a new music distribution site, Tunecore, that makes songs/CD's available for purchase via iTunes, Napster, etc. While we don't expect revenue from our original songs (no private jets and villas in France just yet), anything is possible, so it is an intriguing thought to consider. If nothing else, we are learning quickly that it's prudent to copyright songs and maybe even set up a business entity to at least protect what we create and allow for the possibility that the 'next level' might occur.

The next item on our 'to do' list is checking out the repaired studio version of "Rhythm of the Radio" and finalizing "Bad, Bad Man" (maybe a shortened re-recorded version), so we can move on to some of our other in-progress material.

January 4, 2007: The CD art has arrived!

It's been a while since I've posted a Windrush blog entry, so it's catch-up time. It's not that we haven't been busy - we've been practicing as usual and continuing to create new material. It's just that there has not been a significant milestone to report . . . until now.

Drummer Bob's younger brother, William McCarthy, is a nationally renowned artist and was kind enough to create custom artwork for our CD cover. Bob brought copies of the artwork to the last practice session and we were collectively stunned by the Will's magnificent paintings. We were also surprised to find 2 paintings instead of one, so now we can cover the front and back of the CD. And now that we've seen the paintings, we're thinking that we may have to press some vinyl LP's (anyone remember vinyl?) so we can have a larger cover space to better display Will's artwork. This is a very special thing for us and is much appreciated. You can check out Will's art at: www.williammccarthyfineart.com.

I guess maybe now it's time to report on a few of the non-milestone Windrush happenings just to keep the flow going.

Recent practices have been devoted mostly to working out Bob's new-but-not-really-so-new funk song, "Hold The Phone", that has been rattling around in his head for so many years. We've recorded a couple of 'sketch' versions on the ADAT and are still searching for the right feel, i.e., the one that sounds like us. We're still not just just what 'sounds like us' really is, but figure we'll know it when we hit on it. That's the way it goes when you're creating originals as opposed to covers. And that's a good thing, no doubt. It just makes the process a little unpredictable, i.e., you never know when lightning will strike, as it already has a few times for us in the recent past. For "Hold The Phone" it looks like we may have a guest contributor in the near future, a certain person who will do vocals, as well as add a little sax. Definitely something to look forward to.

Given that we practiced on Christmas Eve day, it's timely that Mike unveiled to the rest of Windrush his newly written Christmas Song - another excellent tune from our prolific songsmith - this one done in a quiet acoustic style. We also experimented with recording acoustic guitars, capturing sketch versions of Mike's Christmas Song, a new yet-to-be-named song from Mike and a song in progress from Doug, "If You Could",, which will probably end up as a rock-oriented electric 12-string piece.

We are finding that we have accumulated a number of song sketches - songs that have the core constructed, but need finishing touches, final arrangements and production polish. We probably have around a dozen song sketches in varying stages of completion. We are confident that, once completed, these will be songs that we can be proud of. The challenge for now is to complete these songs, one at a time, and get them recorded in their final versions.

The freedom to create songs in any way we choose is extremely intoxicating, but we finding that the process of completing a song from A to Z is much more challenging than we at first envisioned. Finding the right arrangement, the right overall sound and the best performance are all challenging, but the most challenging of all is knowing when to stop and let the song be what it is. The technology is seductive, because it's now possible to add and change without end, making it a temptation to over-do a song. It's all part of a fascinating and inspiring journey.

December 2, 2006: Hold The Phone

You never know what you're gonna get when the Prince George basement studio is open for business. Today Bob, via his alter-ego Bobby Delicious (he did the dishes at Frisch's), unveiled the funk song he put together years ago and has been carrying around in his head ever since. The song: "Hold The Phone". Is it funk? Is it rap? Is it hip-hop? Is it be-bop? Only time will tell, as we build on Bob's ideas for the song. One thing for sure, you won't hear lyrics like, "You're tore up from the floor up" and "Save the drama for your momma" anywhere else.

The bass line drives the song, so to get started we recorded the bass and a canned drum loop, plus Bob's scat vocals and the background chorus, performed by the PG singers, Mike, Doug and Debbie. Very funky, very loose and lots of fun. Funkalicious.

We also listened to the most recent mix from Alan of our last recording, "Rhythm Of The Radio (Favorite Position)" and came up with a couple of ideas for some minor tweaking. All in all, though, the song is close to being finished. We also have a little work remaining on the first recording, "Bad, Bad Man". Next in line is "Call Me" and, of course, "Hold The Phone".

November 20, 2006: "Call Me" Practice Session

The full band was in the basement for practice this morning. The focus today was "Call Me", another gem by Mike Casey. Mike added a minor change to the song and the rest of the band kicked in with some minor tweaking, including a short drum break and a touch of Rickenbacker 12-string in a couple of transition spots. We recorded a rough demo of the song on ADAT, adding a tracking vocal later. The core of the song is there, although we are still giving some thought to how best to end the song. It looks like we will end the song with back-and-forth guitar solos that eventually fade out.

Next week we will refine "Call Me" and hopefully get a good version recorded on ADAT, which we will then take to Alan's studio for final tweaking.

By the way, a 45 by one of Bob McCarthy's former Columbus bands, the Myrchents ("Darkest Hour/I Gotta Know If You're Leaving" on the Ironside label, a sub-label of Mus-I-Col) sold last week on EBay for $100. As the story goes, only 200 copies were pressed.

November 16, 2006: Return Of The Caravelle

Tonight's Windrush practice session was a special one, with ex-Caravelle Jack Vanderzee returning to Columbus and hanging with the band. We made some noise, rehearsed a little and reminisced a lot.

Back in the day, Jack played bass and rhythm guitar for Joe Walker's garage band, the 'Caravelles'. The Caravelles were one of the WR bands that sprouted on the far east side of Columbus during the mid-60's. As Jack remembers it, they played many street dances in the area from 1965 to 1966, usually for no pay - they just wanted the opportunity to play in front of a crowd (and impress their girlfriends).

For those of you not familiar with the term 'street dance', there was a time in Columbus when the moms and pops of a neighborhood could obtain a permit to block off a street and have a party, usually with a band playing. Anyone could attend and there was rarely a charge to get in. The bands that played were usually made up of local high-school kids, although occasionally a more prominent band like the Dantes or Fifth Order would play.

The street dance era was short-lived, but provided a great opportunity for many garage bands to (literally) get out of the garage and play a real live gig. The Caravelles were certainly one of those vintage street-dance bands. Although they did not leave behind any recordings for us to hear today, they played frequently in the WR area and were well known in that part of town.

On a hot summer night, what could be better than hearing a band at a street dance playing "Gloria" and "I'm A Man" and a pepperoni-and-mushroom pizza at Tommy's afterward? Joe Walker - where are you now?

November 12, 2006: "Rhythm Of The Radio"

Windrush returned to Alan's studio this morning to begin work on song #2 - "Rhythm Of The Radio (Favorite Position)", another Mike Casey original. This song was actually recorded a couple of months ago in Doug's basement studio direct to ADAT and we decided that we liked the original recording well enough to use the ADAT recording as the base for today's recording session. We dumped the ADAT tracks to the studio PC and began work on re-recording a couple of tracks, namely the vocal, bass and a couple of short drum sections.

Both John's bass and Mike's vocal tracks were completely re-recorded today and ended up as we had envisioned - significantly better than the original basement tracks. Bob's original drum track was superb as originally recorded, so only a few beats of an intro and a short lead-in break later in the song were added. We left the studio confident that our work on this son, performance-wise, is complete, leaving only Alan's post-recording 'magic' to be applied. This song has a raucous, raw and rocking feeling to it, which is exactly what we were looking for.

The plan now is for Doug and Mike to reconvene in Doug's basement to work on finding the right rhythm guitar sound for "Bad, Bad Man" so we can finalize that song. During the next couple of weeks we will be in the practice studio to work on the next set of songs prior to returning to Alan's studio.

We are energized and inspired. The 'rush' continues.