2011 So Far

Hard to believe it is almost April and has been more than 3 months since my last post.  2011 seems to be flying by and while my beautiful baby girl has been keeping me very busy I have also begun working on music again, as much as time will allow at least.  Since combining the Brahman Shaman and Ghost in My House Studio blog I will be giving updates on the activities of both below:

Brahman Shaman
My plan is do only do about one live Shaman performance per month in 2011 to allow me more time to spend with my daughter and to work on writing and recording the follow up to Animist, so I have only done a couple of shows thus far this year.  Both of these shows were OneManBand affairs, the first at the Root Note in February and the second, last week at Winona State University for a Midwest Music Fest promotional event.  The equipment setup for the one man band is still evolving as I find I can't really be sure what is going to work until I try it in front of people and playing drums with both feet while playing guitar and singing has some inherent difficulties.  So far I have tried using a miniature 16" kick drum both with a regular snare drum or an electronic snare trigger.  The trigger is nice because it sounds good, especially through the P.A. but there is no option for dynamics.  However, I am thinking about trying a trigger for both kick and snare next.  Anyway, below is a video of a version of the Clairaudience utilizing both the 16" kick drum and the actual snare drum also played with a kick drum pedal.

I have also been rehearsing the electric trio Shaman setup with Jaran Carson & Joe Dawson and we will be playing our first show of the year with that setup on Saturday, April 16th at Dibs Cafe in Winona for the Midwest Music Fest.  A bunch of great bands are playing at Dibs on the 16th including my personal favorite, Porcupine, click here for more info. There are also more than 80 bands playing at the festival at several venues on both April 15th and 16th.  Check out the Midwest Music Fest site for tickets and more info.  The OneManBand setup has been both challenging and fun but I am really looking to playing a more rocking show as the trio.

Ghost In My House Studio
I have been too busy to do a lot studio work thus far in 2011 but have been kept busy enough working on projects for Of The Fact for a debut EP and Neon for the follow up to their 2010 release, If It Was.  I continue to really enjoy this work and expect to be doing some more work with both of these groups and Michelle Lynn in 2011 as well as whatever else pops up.

Michelle Lynn & The Bad Passengers
I have begun rehearsing with Michelle and Adam again and am really looking forward some upcoming gigs including our first show together since November, 2010, which will be Thursday, April 14th at Del's Bar in La Crosse, WI.  Playing with Michelle again and the prospect of toting a full drum kit around all summer inspired me to put together a mini drum set for my shows with her.  Check out the pic and the rough video demo.

2010 Year In Review

2010 has been a very busy and productive year both musically and personally.  While the recent birth of my wife and I's first child, Cecilia, was by far the high-point, the amount of music I had the opportunity to write, record, and perform, coupled with the number of musicians I have had the pleasure of getting to know and working with, both at Ghost In My House Studio and during live performance, has been enjoyable and enriching beyond measure.  It has been about 4 months since my last blog post so I thought it would be fitting to end the year with a summary of the above mentioned musical activity.  Although I do not have the time to write, or you, the time to read as detailed an account as this year's musical journey deserves, please accept this summary as a snapshot.  I would also encourage you to follow the links provided to learn more about many of the artists mentioned.  If I have left a musical milestone I had with any of you out, it was not on purpose and I will have to blame the extreme loss of sleep that the care of an infant provides....

Live Performances - 39:
12 shows as Brahman Shaman - 4 Solo, 2 as a duo (one with Jaran Carson on drums and one with Andy Blessing), 6 shows as a trio with Jaran Carson on drums and Joe Dawson on bass.  I am very thankful to both Joe and Jaran for supporting me live and allowing me to rock a lot harder than I can on my own...

These Brahman Shaman performances also gave me the opportunity to hear and support a lot of great musicians and bands including in no particular order:  Porcupine, Dream 13, ConQueso, Adja Gildersleeve, Corey Koehler, Kasey McKee, Talking Tree, Akai, Brilliant Beast, Hyphon, Alex Toast, Mouse Pocket, Nick Shattuck, Michelle Lynn, Dan-Electric, WigglePuppy, Imaginary Jack, Tugg, Chicane Theory and the Johnson Twins.

23 shows playing drums - 10 for Nick Shattuck and 13 for Michelle Lynn.  I would not have considered myself a drummer before this year but after so many performances I do do feel a lot more confident behind the kit than I used to.  I also had the opportunity through these performances to get to know and play with a number of great musicians including in no particular order:  Pat Longmire, Margit Severson, Adam Ptacek and Andrew Steeno.

4 shows with other bands - 2 as the bass player for WigglePuppy and 2 in my original musical role as the guitar player for Rearview Mirror.

I also had the opportunity to be on local on-air music radio programs either performing or playing and discussing pre-recorded material on radio stations in Decorah, IA, Eau Claire, WI, Winona, MN and La Crosse, WI.  Special thanks here goes out to Adam Wiltgen at Driftless Music & 89.1 The Blend, Jeni Holtan-Grouws at KDEC FM 100.5, Ballzy Ballzer at Z93, and Dio at 95.7 The Rock.

Studio work at Ghost In My House Studio:
Nick Shattuck - Chorus & Verse
Moth Mountain - EP
HavanaVana - EP
Brahman Shaman - Animist
Neon - If It Was
Michelle Lynn & The Bad Passengers - Sundial Tree
Steppin' Out in Pink - Randy Erickson
Objective Subject - Adjectives
Corey Koehler - Let's Take a Walk (single)
as well as tracking for some other projects including those by Hyphon and Efftup.

The studio, basically a home studio prior to 2010 kept me much busier than I expected and I learned a lot along the way.  The resulting recordings turned out good enough to be featured on a number of area radio stations on more than 15+ occasions.

Teaching:
27 guitar lessons given.  I also tried my hand at teaching this year which was also a great learning experience.

Blog:
80+ blog posts over the past year, most readable here some at Thought from Ghost In My House Studio.

While I could go into much greater detail about the above experiences and the talent of the musicians and bands mentioned the above attempt at brevity seems long... so just follow the links and find out more for yourself.  Thanks to all of you.  Best to you and yours in 2011.

Update July 19th - August 17th - Perspectives

It has been a busy time in both my personal and musical life which has resulted in it being nearly a month since my last blog update.  While I have been busy with a variety of different projects and obligations the main points are summarized below.

Impending Fatherhood:  My wife and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first child, a baby girl this Fall and have been busy preparing both mentally and logistically for the big changes ahead.  Besides classes, doctor's visits etc.. I have also been busy reassessing my musical and creative priorities.  I am excited to be a Father and plan to pretty much focus on parenthood alone for a couple of months surrounding the babies birth and then slowly reincorporate writing, live performances and recording projects into my daily schedule.

Studio:  The two main projects I have been working on this Summer are Neon's debut album and Michelle Lynn's 4th album, Twisted Logic.  Both of these projects have been a lot of fun to work on and I am definitely looking forward to getting a physical copy of both albums in my hand in the very near future.  The studio continues to remain busier than I have expected and I look forward to the challenge of new projects in the coming months.

• Neon - Currently wrapping up the mixing portion of their 9 song debut album and getting pretty excited about the final result.  These guys are talented song-writers and their youth only accentuates this.  I think they have made a great first album and I feel privileged to be a part of helping them capture their creativity in more finished and polished form.  I am really looking forward to watching these guys develop over the coming years and can only imagine the quality of material they will write!

• Michelle Lynn - After working with Michelle to some extent on her previous two albums I am definitely most excited for the current project.  I have always enjoyed Michelle's music and lyrics and I think her soon-to-be released 4th album, Twisted Logic is really a step ahead of anything she has done to date!  The album was recorded at Ghost in My House Studio and Michelle's project studio and we have been finalizing the mixes and overdubs over the past couple of weeks.  I have really enjoyed the opportunity to play drums and even some guitar on a number of her new songs.

• Steppin' Out in Pink - The song Randy Erickson wrote and subsequently recorded at Ghost in My House Studio for Gundersen Lutheran's Breast Cancer Awareness Fundraiser has finally been released with the a video.  I feel privileged to have been a part of a great cause and am hoping to have the opportunity to work with more non-profit and charitable organizations in the future.  

Brahman Shaman - Besides the upcoming peformance at JB's Speakeasy in La Crosse, WI on September 3rd with the electric trio I am slowing up on the Brahman Shaman activity for the time being.  Frankly I have been to busy with the studio projects detailed above to put much time into it besides the occasional rehearsal. I am sort of using this time to reassess what I want to accomplish with the project and am really trying to learn how to just enjoy doing it instead of focusing on some particular commercial goal.  I do have about 5 new songs written and plan to continue to write as much as possible but the official release of any new Brahman Shaman material won't be for sometime.  I am continuing to work on the One Man Band setup and have had a couple of good shows doing it that way.  I recently performed at the 1st Annual Midwest Music in Winona, MN.  Driftless Music founder Adam Wiltgen was kind enough to video and post a performance of one my newer works in progress Reactions Inertia.

Moth Mountain, WigglePuppy, Michelle Lynn, Rearview Mirror:  Having the opportunity to play music with different groups and with different instruments is extremely enjoyable and I can't help but wish I would have spent more time in my musical youth playing with other people.  I continue to rehearse with the groups above and hope to continue performing and/or recording as part of these projects for the foreseeable future.  I am anxious for the September 3rd show at JB's Speakeasy in La Crosse, WI in which I will get to play different roles in all four of the bands, should be both an exhausting and rewarding evening!

Until next time...

Weekly Update - July 12th - 18th - Busy Busy Busy

This past week ended up being very busy.  Monday I worked and rehearsed the foot drumming.  After work Tuesday I spent an hour working on mixing with Michelle Lynn followed by a rehearsal with her and Adam.  Wednesday, Nick from Neon was over and we continued to work on vocals for as long as his voice could handle it.  We are making good progress and the tracking for the album is very near completion.  Wednesday evening, Jaran and Joe were over and we ran through the Brahman Shaman songs in preparation for our show at the Root Note on Saturday.

Thursday I worked and headed up to Kathy's Pub in Rochester, MN afterwards to drum for Michelle Lynn as one of the two Bad Passengers.  The show was a lot of fun, but it ended up being a long day after playing working and playing for four hours and driving home etc.., such is the life of the musician though and I am definitely not complaining.  Slept in Friday trying to recover from the late night at Kathy's Pub and found out when I awoke that I was needed to open for Porcupine and ConQueso at JB's Speakeasy that night in La Crosse, WI.  I rehearsed through the one man band set in a very warm garage with a cup of coffee and felt comfortable enough to debut the live one man band later that night at JB's.  The show was a ton of fun and went surprisingly well which served as a good proof of concept for future shows as a one man band.

Saturday was a warm one and besides some errands and some yard cleanup from the recent storms I tried to stay cool and rested inside.  Saturday night I headed down to the Root Note in La Crosse, WI to do a Brahman Shaman set with the Electric Trio (Jaran & Joe) and I also played some more drums for Michelle Lynn during her set.  The show was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed watching Hyphon's set, especially when he was joined onstage by Efftupp.

Weekly Update - July 5th - July 11th - Nesting

This past week was pretty routine music wise but still very productive and a lot of fun.  Monday was a holiday so I had ample time to work on the one man band in the garage and feel myself slowly improving.  Tuesday was work followed by a few hours of mixing and rehearsal with Michelle Lynn.

Wednesday, Nick Mass from NEON was over at Ghost in My House Studio and we started to tackle the final lead vocal tracking and made some good progress.  Wednesday night, Jaran and Joe were over to rehearse some Brahman Shaman material for the show this Saturday night at the Root Note with Michelle Lynn & Hyphon.  Looks like we may be ready to try a couple of new songs as a three piece which will be a nice change of pace.

Thursday was spent working with some time to rehearse the one man band before the day was through.  Nick Mass was over again on Friday morning to lay down some more lead vocals but the session was cut short as the firewire port on my studio computer finally crapped out for good.  Spent a good portion of the rest of the day trying out different Firewire Notebook cards to no avail and had to end up buying a whole new computer which brought on a whole new set of compatibility issues between the new 64 bit windows and the older 32 bit software and plugins but I think I have it all straight now and should be able to get back to work this week.

Most of the weekend was spent assembling some new bedroom furniture and rearranging and reorganizing the whole house which was exhausting but productive.

I have a couple of shows this week, the first being drumming for Michelle Lynn & The Bad Passengers at Kathy's Pub in Rochester on Thursday night and the second being a Brahman Shaman electric trio set at the Root Note in LaCrosse on Saturday night.  One of my favorite bands, Porcupine is playing at JB's Speakeasy in LaCrosse this Friday and I suggest you check it out!

Until next week...

Weekly Update - June 28th - July 4th

This past week was musically rich and more enjoyable because of it.  Taught a lesson on Monday and found some time in the evening for more one man band rehearsal.  After work on Tuesday I started work with Michelle Lynn on the mixing of her fourth album, Twisted Logic, which was followed by a rehearsal.

Wednesday, Blake Auler-Murphy (aka Hyphon) was at Ghost in My House Studio for a morning session cutting vocals for work with another producer.  The beat was really cool and Blake did a fine job of laying down his vocal performances.  Blake and I also still have a collaborative track in the works, which may see the light of day later this year.

Matthew and Nick from Neon were over at noon and we were able to finalize a majority of the guitar parts for their debut record.  Progress has been good and we all hope to begin the initial mixing in the next couple of weeks.  Wednesday evening, Joe and Evan were over for a Moth Mountain rehearsal.  The four songs that we have been focusing on at the last few practices are really starting to gel and Joe delivered a couple of inspiring new ideas.  We are hoping to have a short set of material ready for a potential debut show this Fall.

Thursday was spent at work, although I did find time to experiment with some new one man band equipment that arrived.  The riser unit, made by Drum Workshop provides a stable base to attach a kick drum pedal too as well as support legs to hold a variety of drum types, it took some adjusting but I think I got it set up well to hold a snare drum.  However, it seems balancing the volume of the snare with my miniature kick drum may take some creative ideas.  I was also able to confirm an exciting show for September 3rd at JB's Speakeasy in La Crosse, WI.  The show will serve as a warm up for Rearview Mirror's headlining set at Recession Fest in Decorah, IA on September 25th.  The JB's show will also feature performances from Brahman Shaman, Wiggle Puppy and Michelle Lynn & The Bad Passengers and I am really excited to have the opportunity to play a different role in each of those bands all in one night!

Friday morning was spent in the garage working practicing the one man band, got the snare dialed in a bit better utilizing some paper towel and painters tape on the snare/beater contact point to get the level more even with the miniature kick drum.  Gralyn and Nick from Neon were over around noon and Gralyn finalized his drum parts for the album and Nick had enough time to begin work on the final lead vocals.  After a very warm lawn mowing experience I spent the rest of the evening enjoying the company of the visiting Jason Ptacek.

Saturday was sort of a musical break day, but did find some time to jam the drums with Jason on some new material he has been working on, we had a lot of fun in a limited amount of time and are hoping to have the opportunity to work on his new material again soon.

Sunday was mostly spent assembling baby furniture and relaxing but still found ample time to rearrange the one man band rehearsal space in the garage to include some of my thrift store P.A. components which will allow me to get more used to one man banding with a microphone and amplified guitar.  While some songs give me more trouble than others I think I should have a decent set of material ready for the Brahman Shaman - One Man Band debut at Midwest Music Festival in Winona, MN at the end of July.

Weekly Update - June 21-27th - Progress

Another pretty standard musical week.  Taught a lesson on Monday after work, continued working on new material and the one man band project on Monday night.  Tuesday, had a very warm but enjoyable rehearsal with Michelle and Adam.

Wednesday, spent the morning hours working on new material and practicing more one man band.  Theo and Nick from Neon were over around noon and we got all the bass parts recorded and finalized the piano sections in all of the songs as well.  Jaran was over Wednesday night and we spent some time trying out some new material that I have been working as I am hoping to start performing some of it in the near future to get an idea of how it goes over in a live setting.

Thursday was spent working although I did get a chance to see my friend Patrick Longmire Jr. to congratulate him and wish him well on his impending move to Austin, TX to play bass for the Eric Tessmer band.  Pat is a super talented guy and I am happy to see him get the opportunity to evolve his musical career.

Friday morning was spent working on new songs and one man band practicing.  Also did some experimenting with electric guitar/one man band combination which works better for some songs than it does others.  Gralyn and Nick from Neon were over around noon and we spent the next 5 hours getting a majority of the drum parts recorded.  It is fun to hear the album coming together and I think after a few more days of tracking we should be on to the mixing stage.

A close friend of Lish and I's was visiting, so we spent most of the rest of the weekend bumming around La Crosse and doing some much needed relaxing.  However, I did get the chance to put in some good time toiling away on music in the garage and had an especially enjoyable time letting loose during the storm on Friday night as I figured the neighbors wouldn't be able to hear me over the thunder.

Until next week..