So, if you haven't heard or read, we have pulled up stakes and moved. The old studio is no more and the new studio is in the works. We have found ourselves a nice little spot on Cherokee Street, just east of Jefferson and are currently residing there while we finalize plans with our architect to build our studio. It is a spacious three story behemoth, with tons of character and so far headaches and setbacks, but we shall overcome. In the meantime, we are functioning in one of the apartment spaces and working feverishly to finish upcoming releases from The Jovian Chorus and Jason and the Beast. With the exception of the drums, which were cut at my friend Jason's place called Sawhorse, all of the new Jovian stuff was cut here and sounds mighty fine. Hope to have a couple of sneak peaks up in the next week.
Check back as now that work is about to begin, we will be posting pics and a rehab/construction journal more regularly. Sorry for the lag of entries while we have been on hiatus, and hope to keep up a little better on posting news. Thanks and rock on!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Newsflash!
I had this great idea (at least as far as my ideas go, this one seemed better than usual), that I wanted to both fulfill my creative wanderlust and at the same time help musicians trying to get their ideas on tape with a modest bankroll all while not squashing the creative environs necessary for these ideas to flow. Through a parting of ways of sorts, a mutual space came available that allowed me and some friends to share a space that was also where they lived. It worked out nicely. The problem was I wasn't willing to spend very much money to convert this living space into a ful blown recording space. It wasn't that this space was not suited for recording, because it worked quite nicely for our needs, but there were always obstacles that couldn't be overcome without redesigning the whole building, which clearly wasn't gonna keep anyones overhead down. That being said, we forged ahead as is. The vibe was nice, the place was functional, just limited.
So idea 2 comes along. This idea was start looking for a place that already exhibits qualities in a spacethat lend itself to recording. What a novel idea, a place for recording. (Hey dumbass --- these are called recording studios!) Oh yeah, so I guess I was looking for a space to build a studio. A modest studio. One that I could live above and keep my office in. And one that sounded nice and had a nice vibe. And oh yeah, one that I could afford. So I started looking. LOOKING. Plan was see what's out there, what I can afford, where I could afford, etc. Get my ducks in a row, so next Spring, I could put all this dream stuff into reality. Well you know how that goes...
Looking turned into finding, finding into investigating, investigating into offering and with a lot of luck, a LOT LOT LOT of patience, some good friends, and as EL says everyone's calendars being aligned (how 'bout them calendars), we gots us a place:
Look at her in all her majesty! She needs some TLC for sure but I really think it will be a perfect fit for Yellow Hat. I hope to keep a blog of the rehab of this joint going so all 2 of you who actually look at this can see where we are. Hopefully with any luck, we will be rocking the new joint by January 1st. Stay tuned for more details!
cheers,
-w
So idea 2 comes along. This idea was start looking for a place that already exhibits qualities in a spacethat lend itself to recording. What a novel idea, a place for recording. (Hey dumbass --- these are called recording studios!) Oh yeah, so I guess I was looking for a space to build a studio. A modest studio. One that I could live above and keep my office in. And one that sounded nice and had a nice vibe. And oh yeah, one that I could afford. So I started looking. LOOKING. Plan was see what's out there, what I can afford, where I could afford, etc. Get my ducks in a row, so next Spring, I could put all this dream stuff into reality. Well you know how that goes...
Looking turned into finding, finding into investigating, investigating into offering and with a lot of luck, a LOT LOT LOT of patience, some good friends, and as EL says everyone's calendars being aligned (how 'bout them calendars), we gots us a place:
Look at her in all her majesty! She needs some TLC for sure but I really think it will be a perfect fit for Yellow Hat. I hope to keep a blog of the rehab of this joint going so all 2 of you who actually look at this can see where we are. Hopefully with any luck, we will be rocking the new joint by January 1st. Stay tuned for more details!
cheers,
-w
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Lolla Day Three (Final Day!)
So, the last day of Lolla fell with a twinge of humidity and we once again found ourselves looking back over the experience, the highs, the lows, but wait! (insert record skip sound fx)... it's not even over yet!!!
We started the day right with a proper face melting from the Whigs who could have benefited from a proper sound guy (who didn't struggle with the concept and operation of gates). They rocked anyway and are definitely on my must catch again list! We also caught bits of Brazilian Girls, Chromeo, and get this, Perry Farrell and Slash doing a medley of cover tunes including "Superstition", "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", and Jane's Addiction favorite "Mountain Song". Pretty cool stuff.
After a quick bio break (30 minutes of standing in line!), we settled in on the north side of the park for Flogging Molly who drove us straight to hell on the sinner bus with a witty and enjoyable set that kicked off with the lead singer demanding, "How are ya doin', ya bastards?!?" Afterwards we saw Love and Rockets, who ,while not terrible, wasn't among my favorite moments. I'm not hatin', just saying. They summed up my feelings with one song that spelled it out, "time moves so slow..." Ain't that the truth. Why did I sit through this if it were so bad, only to have a long distance seat for the National (who ruled, by the way)? Why, to have a bitchin' view for the mind exploding rockfest that was NIN! Amazing sound, amazing visuals and brilliant theatrics made this one of my favs for sure, not to mention they played their collective asses off. Get yourself over to YouTube and check out the vids. Wow!
We started the day right with a proper face melting from the Whigs who could have benefited from a proper sound guy (who didn't struggle with the concept and operation of gates). They rocked anyway and are definitely on my must catch again list! We also caught bits of Brazilian Girls, Chromeo, and get this, Perry Farrell and Slash doing a medley of cover tunes including "Superstition", "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", and Jane's Addiction favorite "Mountain Song". Pretty cool stuff.
After a quick bio break (30 minutes of standing in line!), we settled in on the north side of the park for Flogging Molly who drove us straight to hell on the sinner bus with a witty and enjoyable set that kicked off with the lead singer demanding, "How are ya doin', ya bastards?!?" Afterwards we saw Love and Rockets, who ,while not terrible, wasn't among my favorite moments. I'm not hatin', just saying. They summed up my feelings with one song that spelled it out, "time moves so slow..." Ain't that the truth. Why did I sit through this if it were so bad, only to have a long distance seat for the National (who ruled, by the way)? Why, to have a bitchin' view for the mind exploding rockfest that was NIN! Amazing sound, amazing visuals and brilliant theatrics made this one of my favs for sure, not to mention they played their collective asses off. Get yourself over to YouTube and check out the vids. Wow!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Lolla Day Two
Day Two. Cooler. Happier. More ready to rock. Having the massive rockfest that was Radiohead behind us, and a decent night's sleep, Sarah and I head off for some coffee and quiet time and quickly find ourselves on Michigan Avenue and directly in the shop of an unnamed purveyor of such things. We order our beverages and find seats in the mostly quiet storefront. As I author the Lolla Day One blog here I find myself somewhat distracted by three males and one female--"band dudes" we will call them. Only distracted in the way that upon hearing a few choice words like beggin' strips or wanna go outside would make any dog's attention stir, not to say I am a dog or even dog-like. At any rate, some words were spoken and I only caught a few like, "the coolest little apartment in the Village", and "yeah, that band is way too much", and "what time do we hit the stage?". Special Note: I only saw one from the front, which was the female and I didn't really study her appearance other than to note she was indeed a female and that she was wearing a red and black striped shirt. As for the dudes, I didn't really catch their faces, only that they were all wearing fedoras. They drank their coffee (or whatever they had, I didn't notice) and vacated the premises. After they left, I got my wife's attention and said, "Did you see those guys? Obviously playing the fest, obviously today, and what douchebag New York hipster-band are these guys in anyway?" Why is this significant you ask? Which band were these cats with? All in good time, all in good time.
Back to the fest.
After coffee, we got into the fest and commenced the rocking directly. Do not pass go. Forget all about collecting $200 (Lolla tix?). Just go directly to Rock. Why, you ask? Three words. The Gutter Twins. Maybe, quite possibly, the best ass-kicking I got all weekend. Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan (not to mention the band) were stellar. Did I mention that this dark creation played at 2:30 in the afternoon? YEAH. Bad-ASS. The day continued on a good note with an amazing performance from the always fantastic Explosions in the Sky. Note here: My wife almost got into a fight after people kept coming up past us in the rudest of ways upsetting not only us but many other fans. Cooler heads prevailed and a riot was kept at bay.
Next we made our next stop at the Citi stage for the first half of a blistering set from Battles which was amazing. We decided to head on, walking across the park in hopes of catching the last half of Broken Social Scene's timeslot. As we approached that stage, the camera shot on the screen was of the singer sporting a fedora, quickly cutting to a girl singing in, you guessed it, a red and black shirt. Uh, um, yep, this was the band I uh was calling um a hipster NY... uh, yeah, I had coffee next to... Broken Social Scene. I feel like a huge dork. At least I didn't verbally say something stupid. Anyways, they ruled from what we saw and I am glad I caught the end of their set. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings strutted and grooved our souls next and we got equally rocked directly by a stunning set from Chicago's own (not to mention just a guy formerly from 'round here) Wilco. Yeah, I know. We didn't watch Rage. I'm over it. I saw enough last year at Coachella. Awesome day. All in all.
Back to the fest.
After coffee, we got into the fest and commenced the rocking directly. Do not pass go. Forget all about collecting $200 (Lolla tix?). Just go directly to Rock. Why, you ask? Three words. The Gutter Twins. Maybe, quite possibly, the best ass-kicking I got all weekend. Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan (not to mention the band) were stellar. Did I mention that this dark creation played at 2:30 in the afternoon? YEAH. Bad-ASS. The day continued on a good note with an amazing performance from the always fantastic Explosions in the Sky. Note here: My wife almost got into a fight after people kept coming up past us in the rudest of ways upsetting not only us but many other fans. Cooler heads prevailed and a riot was kept at bay.
Next we made our next stop at the Citi stage for the first half of a blistering set from Battles which was amazing. We decided to head on, walking across the park in hopes of catching the last half of Broken Social Scene's timeslot. As we approached that stage, the camera shot on the screen was of the singer sporting a fedora, quickly cutting to a girl singing in, you guessed it, a red and black shirt. Uh, um, yep, this was the band I uh was calling um a hipster NY... uh, yeah, I had coffee next to... Broken Social Scene. I feel like a huge dork. At least I didn't verbally say something stupid. Anyways, they ruled from what we saw and I am glad I caught the end of their set. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings strutted and grooved our souls next and we got equally rocked directly by a stunning set from Chicago's own (not to mention just a guy formerly from 'round here) Wilco. Yeah, I know. We didn't watch Rage. I'm over it. I saw enough last year at Coachella. Awesome day. All in all.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Lolla Day One
Chicago. What a great town. Just in general, always a good time to be had in the windy city, you just have to find it. Not hard to spot the location where surely fun can be had this weekend. Inside the beautiful greenness of Grant Park, nestled on the banks of Lake Michigan, one can find a cornucopia of fun that calls itself Lollapalooza. My wife and I made the pilgrimage again this year, joined up here by Shae, Annie and another player to be named later.
It all began on Friday. Actually, nope. Let's rewind that. It all began on Thursday, for us at least.
Thursday. We took the train from the Lou up, which is always something to behold. Always an interesting mix of folks on the train and always something that makes for good stories (maybe next time). Once we made it to Chi-town, we checked into our deluxe accomodations and found some food and made our way to the first of shows to be seen, a secret-prepalooza show for Butch Walker (formerly of the Marvelous Three and Southgang), known on the bill as Chalky Jesus. This was a cool show for many reasons, one being the fact I have been trying to see Chalky for almost the last 5 years, but due to schedule conflicts and canceling shows due to sickness (his not mine) he has evaded my grasp. But more to the point, this show was for industry folks (who didn't seem to know much about him), and a handful of fans who caught his blog and bought tix. The venue held only 130 people so it was quite intimate, and he played solo on acoustic guitar, rhodes and assorted percussion. Great show. Worth the wait.
Friday, Lolla.
Yeah, lots of cool bands on the bill for Friday; Butch playing with his band the Let's Go Out Tonites, The Go! Team, Jeff Tweedy on the Kidapalooza stage, Gogol Bordello, The Kills, and so many more. But the reason most people were there was the amazing mysticism that is Radiohead. Yeah, they rocked. And so did their crew. Sounds like such an odd statement, but seriously. The lighting and sound were so good. At times I asked myself if they were even playing because it sounded so good. The tones were amazing and their performance was amazing. And the lights. Don't even get me started. Also amazing was the band we saw right before Radiohead, the Raconteurs. Brendan Benson, Jack White and the boys smoked the other side of the park with a blistering set of energetic rockers. This was the second time I caught them in the past month and they delivered an even more powerful mix of jams this go around. At one point White says to the multi-thousand numbered crowd, "I broke two strings, Patrick (the drummer) has broken two bass drum pedals, Brendan blew a tube in his amp, and Jack Lawrence (the bass player) is just blowin' my mind!" Yup, that is a good sum up.
Today should prove to be interesting, lots more good rock to be had. Check later for more not so useful descriptions from me!
cheers!
-w
It all began on Friday. Actually, nope. Let's rewind that. It all began on Thursday, for us at least.
Thursday. We took the train from the Lou up, which is always something to behold. Always an interesting mix of folks on the train and always something that makes for good stories (maybe next time). Once we made it to Chi-town, we checked into our deluxe accomodations and found some food and made our way to the first of shows to be seen, a secret-prepalooza show for Butch Walker (formerly of the Marvelous Three and Southgang), known on the bill as Chalky Jesus. This was a cool show for many reasons, one being the fact I have been trying to see Chalky for almost the last 5 years, but due to schedule conflicts and canceling shows due to sickness (his not mine) he has evaded my grasp. But more to the point, this show was for industry folks (who didn't seem to know much about him), and a handful of fans who caught his blog and bought tix. The venue held only 130 people so it was quite intimate, and he played solo on acoustic guitar, rhodes and assorted percussion. Great show. Worth the wait.
Friday, Lolla.
Yeah, lots of cool bands on the bill for Friday; Butch playing with his band the Let's Go Out Tonites, The Go! Team, Jeff Tweedy on the Kidapalooza stage, Gogol Bordello, The Kills, and so many more. But the reason most people were there was the amazing mysticism that is Radiohead. Yeah, they rocked. And so did their crew. Sounds like such an odd statement, but seriously. The lighting and sound were so good. At times I asked myself if they were even playing because it sounded so good. The tones were amazing and their performance was amazing. And the lights. Don't even get me started. Also amazing was the band we saw right before Radiohead, the Raconteurs. Brendan Benson, Jack White and the boys smoked the other side of the park with a blistering set of energetic rockers. This was the second time I caught them in the past month and they delivered an even more powerful mix of jams this go around. At one point White says to the multi-thousand numbered crowd, "I broke two strings, Patrick (the drummer) has broken two bass drum pedals, Brendan blew a tube in his amp, and Jack Lawrence (the bass player) is just blowin' my mind!" Yup, that is a good sum up.
Today should prove to be interesting, lots more good rock to be had. Check later for more not so useful descriptions from me!
cheers!
-w
Friday, August 1, 2008
Echo Bravo sounds sick!
Wednesday night the Bravo boys came through to finish mixes of their first effort with Yellow Hat and it was a rocking good time. You can check out one of the tunes on our MySpace and I believe all three are available on theirs. Now you won't confuse them with a Cannibal Corpse Tribute Band! Good stuff. I hope they come back and rock with us some more soon!
cheers!
-w
cheers!
-w
Monday, July 28, 2008
Long time, No see...
Well,
It seems that time flies when you're having fun, but it also seems that sometimes it flies when you are just doing what you do. We have been busy for the last month and I apologize in advance for the lack of info during that time. So, what's new?
First and foremost, projects.
Stella Mora. All tracks are cut editing has begun and mixes to follow. Very excited as this project just keeps sounding better and better. Way excited.
Echo Bravo. Did some rough mixes with Shae and happy how these turned out. The guys are stopping by on Wednesday to do some tweaking and hopefully walk out with smiles on their faces. Nice stuff for them to share with the masses. Stoked.
Jason and the Beast. EP done. Really nice touches put on by Shae on the drums and percussion really helped breathe some life into the wickedness of the Beast's bumping beats. Hoping to catch up with Jason next week to begin work on the rest of his tunes for his upcoming full-length effort. Awesome.
Syna So Pro. I got to hang out and engineer the drums for Elshua (producer) on this project. Shae rocked the skins and we got some bitchin' tones. Really great songs. Excited to hear how this turns out.
So what else? I decided to entertain the notion I got a month or so ago to start looking for a new space to move my residence and studio to and really make it what I really see in my mind. I found a building and I am working on negotiations currently and hope to know if this is the "one" by the end of this week. Will keep you posted on this as it develops. It could prove to be wicked awesome. This process also includes getting the old place ready to put on the market which is quite a bit of work and has totally monopolized my time. Not a bad thing, but a busy thing as well as quite an inconvenience. I cannot say I was hoping that I would find a place I was so interested in this quickly, I was more hoping to see what was out there and get my "ducks in a row", so to speak. However, the energy and vibe that surrounds this building I am currently trying to acquire, is so strong that I have to see it through. So thanks to Shae and Elshua for staying flexible and amenable during this crazy time.
So as the sun may be setting on this chapter of the Yellow Hat story, another is already being scripted. I am totally excited (not to mention nervous) to be embarking on the next part of my journey. More soon!
-w
It seems that time flies when you're having fun, but it also seems that sometimes it flies when you are just doing what you do. We have been busy for the last month and I apologize in advance for the lack of info during that time. So, what's new?
First and foremost, projects.
Stella Mora. All tracks are cut editing has begun and mixes to follow. Very excited as this project just keeps sounding better and better. Way excited.
Echo Bravo. Did some rough mixes with Shae and happy how these turned out. The guys are stopping by on Wednesday to do some tweaking and hopefully walk out with smiles on their faces. Nice stuff for them to share with the masses. Stoked.
Jason and the Beast. EP done. Really nice touches put on by Shae on the drums and percussion really helped breathe some life into the wickedness of the Beast's bumping beats. Hoping to catch up with Jason next week to begin work on the rest of his tunes for his upcoming full-length effort. Awesome.
Syna So Pro. I got to hang out and engineer the drums for Elshua (producer) on this project. Shae rocked the skins and we got some bitchin' tones. Really great songs. Excited to hear how this turns out.
So what else? I decided to entertain the notion I got a month or so ago to start looking for a new space to move my residence and studio to and really make it what I really see in my mind. I found a building and I am working on negotiations currently and hope to know if this is the "one" by the end of this week. Will keep you posted on this as it develops. It could prove to be wicked awesome. This process also includes getting the old place ready to put on the market which is quite a bit of work and has totally monopolized my time. Not a bad thing, but a busy thing as well as quite an inconvenience. I cannot say I was hoping that I would find a place I was so interested in this quickly, I was more hoping to see what was out there and get my "ducks in a row", so to speak. However, the energy and vibe that surrounds this building I am currently trying to acquire, is so strong that I have to see it through. So thanks to Shae and Elshua for staying flexible and amenable during this crazy time.
So as the sun may be setting on this chapter of the Yellow Hat story, another is already being scripted. I am totally excited (not to mention nervous) to be embarking on the next part of my journey. More soon!
-w
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