Hello!
It’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged on here. Sorry for that! I’ve been super super busy lately (which is precisely what this blog will be about). I’ll let you know what I’ve been up to first, and then what’s been up with WHY?.

My last tour with WHY? was in the summer of 2010. I had to miss out on their small tour in Japan in the fall of 2010 due to scheduling conflicts. Needless to say, I was very, very bummed out about this. After the last US WHY? tour, I took month long European vacation. I went to Amsterdam for 4 days, Berlin for 10, and Barcelona for 22 days. It was a really great trip, and I left with some very fond memories. Afterwards, I flew to England to meet up with the first of four different bands I will end up touring with until May of this year.

NEON INDIAN

The first band that I ended up working for was the “Chillwave” or “Glo-fi” band Neon Indian. I’ve known Alan, Jason, Ronald, and Leanne for a while. We all lived in Denton, TX (where I still live) at the same time, and I had done some work with Jason and Ronald’s previous band, Gazelles. Touring with them was a lot of fun (when is it not fun traveling around the world with you friends!). We toured England, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Netherlands, Iceland, Canada, and the US. I ended up touring with them for about 3 months straight (August – November). These people definitely know how to have a good time! Much silliness and partying ensued during our time together. I feel like I became close with all of them and saw a side of the music industry that I don’t normally see with WHY?.

WHY? is a small business. The only people that currently work for them are their booking agents, PR people, Liz (Josiah’s fiancee / merchandise extraordinaire), and me. Neon Indian on the other hand has a large team devoted to the success of the band. No offense to WHY?, but it’s definitely a tighter ship when you have lawyers and accountants with you on every move. WHY? is more of a handshake type band whereas Neon Indian is definitely the contract type. I think both have their advantages and disadvantages depending on the popularity of the band, size of production, and budget. I feel like I made great connections touring with them. When you only tour with one band, I feel like you start to meet the same people over and over again. While this is not a bad thing, it’s great to make new connections and have new opportunities. One of Neon Indian’s managers passed along my contact information to another band manager who hired me for the next band I would go on tour with.

The Phenomenal Handclap Band

The second band I’ve toured with since WHY? was The Phenomenal Handclap Band. This was a short run to Europe for a few weeks in December 2010. We hit up France, England, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Spain. This was a pretty hectic tour due to flying to almost every show. We only had a driver (the amazing Shaun Whitehouse, who also drove for Neon Indian in England, and is a big Denton, TX music fan) for the last few days of the tour. This band operated in a very similar manner as Neon Indian (they also have the same booking agents as them). I’ve grown to really like working with Managers and Business Managers. I think it helps a lot with financial decisions and general structure and organization. PHB was a great time and I felt we became friends during our short trip to Europe. The interesting part about working for this band is that before I was asked to do the tour, I had never met the band or management, and never heard their music before. This was a big leap of faith. Accepting a tour with people you’ve never met and mixing sound for a band you’ve never heard is an interesting position to be put in (I know I ended this sentence with a preposition, sorry!). I was pleasantly surprised when I found out they were all awesome people with interesting lives (not to mention, unbelievable musicians). On that tour I saw a lot of friends around Europe, and tried to enjoy myself as much as possible, while still remaining professional. The main difference (aside from the music) between Neon Indian and PHB is the experience level. The members of PHB are older (mid to late 30s) where as the people in Neon Indian are much younger (early to mid 20s). I could definitely tell a difference in life experience and touring experience. Not that this is a slight against Neon Indian, but experience takes time, and PHB have 10 years experience on Neon Indian. The most prevalent difference was in the amount of partying and hours of sleep required to function properly the next day. Given the geographical zig zagging of the PHB tour, I think I did a great job planning our travel and getting us the most sleep and hassle free travel possible. I definitely have fond memories of the tour with them. While I was in Europe with them, I received a text message from Mr. David J Colvin asking me to tour with his band this February.

THE HEARTLESS BASTARDS
Dave’s band is called The Heartless Bastards. He’s Doug McDiarmid’s (from WHY?) cousin. They’re a kind of female-fronted-alt-country-two-guitar-rock band. Touring with them is a little bit more similar to WHY?. They have had a manager in the past, but are currently in between management. With the HBs, I answer to them, not a manager. Therefore, things are a little more democratic and discussed with everyone before any decisions are made (this changes by varying degrees depending on the bands relationship with each other and their management). I knew most of the people in the HBs before the tour started. Mainly through WHY?, encounters in Cincinnati, and mutual friends. It definitely has a little more of the “family” vibe that I get with WHY?. Maybe because some of WHY?’s family are actually in this band! Working out the kinks and adjusting things for each person’s personality was a little more fluid than it was with either of the two previous bands. We’re only a week into the tour, but so far, it’s been great! I’ve been having a lot of fun. We’re supporting the band The Drive-By Truckers for most of this tour. As you guys know, I LOVE mixing in old theaters and good sounding large venues. This tour is going to hit some of my favorites and some favorites of others that I haven’t had a chance to tour through yet. Right after I left with the HBs, I got an email requesting me to work for the last band I will tour with before I go into the studio to engineer the next WHY? record.

YACHT

Jona and Claire, the masterminds behind YACHT, are two of the nicest people I’ve ever met on tour. I first met Jona at a festival on the French Riviera during my very first tour with WHY?. The second time I ran into YACHT was in New Zealand (again, I was with WHY?). Randomly, they were playing in New Zealand right when we were and ended up having the same guy pick us up from the airport. The last time I hung out with them was in Copenhagen in the fall while I was with Neon Indian. We went to their show in Christiania and had a great time! I’ve never hung out with them in America before, but I expect we’ll be a good pairing and end up have a fun time driving around the US.

WHY?

Meanwhile, WHY? stuff was still happening. I had to miss a tour in Japan with WHY? because it conflicted with some Neon Indian dates. And as much as I wanted to go to Japan, financially, I just couldn’t afford to not tour with Neon Indian (it was 3 months of touring vs. less than a week). Property tax is expensive! They took the guy who mixed both Alopecia and Eskimo Snow to mix live sound for them. I composed a 3000 word essay on my nuances of mixing the band live and a list of all the effects cues I use for WHY?.

While I was with Neon Indian, I received a call from Yoni. This is when he asked me to engineer the next WHY? record! Needless to say, I was VERY VERY excited when I got the call. I work so much more live than in the studio, that it will be a nice change of pace. I can’t even imagine what it will be like to go home every night after work! The reason Yoni asked me to do it is because he feel comfortable enough with me to be able to “step on my toes” without worrying about offending me if we have differing opinions. We work really well together in a high stress live environment where everyone is malnourished and sleep deprived, so I think we’ll be able to work together even better in a controlled environment where everyone is eating well and sleeping properly.

I really can’t wait to get in the studio. I helped Josiah a little bit with his solo record, but other than that I haven’t done much studio work in the past few years (I’m kind of addicted to traveling). We got a great studio near my home town called The Echo Lab (http://www.theecholab.com). It’s a great place that is owned and operated by friends of mine. The studio is out in rural North Texas. It’s almost cottage like in appearance. They’ve got great gear and I’ve got some interesting ideas for recording techniques. I get the demos in about a month. I can’t wait to start listening and jotting down ideas for the record. Let’s hope I don’t mess this one up!

I’m also just really looking forward to spending a month with some of my best friends making a record together. I’m excited to show them around Denton and let them see a little piece of my life. I’ve got a bunch of friends that I’ve kind of pre-recruited to help out with different things on the record (instruments, playing, good vibes, etc…). Denton is the most underrated music community in the country. Almost every musician I know in Denton has talent just oozing from their fingertips and vocal cords. I’ve been listening to all of my favorite records and trying to pick up on certain sounds that I like, but without the demos it’s hard to know what the band’s vision is for the record. All I can get out of Yoni is that the album will “go hard”. I’m not really even sure if I know what that means.