So Mark was freaked out by the falsetto vocal tracks I had on Sad Silence until I told him it was backing vocals. So we added more manly vocals, and you know, we might even add some more. The more the merrier with this song it seems. So, go ahead and try to sing along. It needs all the help it can get. Thanks.
Listen hear: RS-13.2.mp3
Lyrics (so you can sing along)- Sad Silence
Mark was here Sunday adding bass and guitar tracks to the stuff I recorded last week. Here is another version of Dread Pirate Roberts, with Mark’s bass. I redid the vocal, and added more percussion to beat it up a bit.
Listen hear: RS-15.1.mp3
Now that I’m a parent, time means more to me than it ever has before. Life gets so busy, it’s unbelievable. To find time to spend with my sweetie seems impossible. I don’t know what to do, I miss her so much. When we do find that time to relax with one another, it’s so special. Of all the things that are difficult about parenting, it’s not the child that’s difficult. It’s finding the time to still be you that is difficult. Remember to hold your love. It’s so simple… and yet such a challenge to get there.
Every year after day light savings, and Spring is ready to go “Boing”, the sky seems to get brighter and brighter each day until my whole face is a squinting wrinkle. My whole face hurts from squinting the last two days. Now, I don’t want to complain about the nice weather, we all want the winter’s cold to take a break. I like sunny days as long as I can slumber about, and do very little. I am a night person. I have a lot of energy at night, but during the day, I just want to find a warm shady spot, and snooze. It’s always nice to have some company. Turns the whole thing into a Siesta. Ahhhh, Siesta.
When you’ve gotta get there and get the job done. Who else is gonna do it? No one. You’re gonna do it. This song is for driving down the road. Driving down the road going to work. You’re gonna get the job done. And when it’s done it’s gonna be done right, and then you go home. It’s all in a day’s work. Now get outta the way.
Listen hear: RS-16.mp3
I recorded the vocal track over and over today on RS-11. I tried every voice I have. Deep, dark and close to the mic, big and loud far away from the mic… soft and stoney… this is the closest I got so far. A regular relaxed, just “me” voice. I’ll try to learn the song from here, and record a better vocal later on. It takes a while for it all to sink in. These raw versions really help me prepare for the final sessions. Hopefully Mark will be over Sunday to juice up what I’ve recorded thus far.
California is a song I wrote in 1997 after I moved from the Bay Area to New York City. I missed California, and it was getting to me. I only lived in NY for a few years, and returned to CA, my adopted home. This place just has a vibe I jive with.
Here’s the latest tune: RS-11.mp3
Mark and I have been recording forever. And when I say forever, I mean that we are old. Far too old to be out touring around away from our families. Instead we like to get our recordings into movies and films. A lot of folk out there like to make movies, shorts, animation, or videos, and many of you need music. We have all sorts of music here at the Rain Station, and we’d like to be part of any movie or video you are working on. Our music ranges from bare bones rock and roll, pop, heavy mellow, spooky Halloween music, and Mark’s super scary Pumpkinland Hauntscape CD’s. If you are making a drama, comedy, feel good movie, science fiction, action, suspense, or horror, we have music you could use. We have a sliding scale depending if your movie is big budget, or a student film, or home made movie. If your movie is not big budget, then you can use our music for free.
Hey so the Long Distance Jamming Experiment works, and it’s easy for Tony to add bass tracks to our project, and simply email us the bass. Once I drag it to GarageBand, it just works the way we had hoped. Tony emailed two different mp3 files. One with just a bass track added, and another in a “Googin On Beast mix”. Here they are:
My daughter was going on and on making up a story about a pirate and a princess. I got to thinking about the Dread Pirate Roberts, and what may have happened after he and his Princess Bride sailed off together.
I was going to watch American Idol, but instead, I wrote and recorded this silly little song: RS-15.mp3
I feel really rusty. Or do I? I say it’s more like I just don’t have total confidence in myself yet. It’s been a while since I’ve rocked for the Rain Station, so I feel the need to saturate myself into the project to get warmed up and ready. I don’t feel like I’ve hit target yet. Gotta get into the sweet spot, and the only way to get there is to just keep working until you find that groove.
It’s been nearly 8 years since Mark and I have recorded, but it’s been eons since we’ve recorded on my gear. After our first 4 track recording, Criminal Goat (original release date: May 3rd, 1837), all other recordings were on Mark’s gear. When he asked last week to come jam on my Mac I was surprised, and wasn’t sure I was ready. I still don’t feel ready, and he’s already come and gone. However there is nothing I want more than a project right now, so it’s heaven sent. This little project is saving my life. Otherwise I would fall more and more away from being a weirdo musician.
I love to make music, but I’ve never pursued it as a career. It’s too personal and spiritual for me to push it commercially or something, even though I hate that kind of arty sentiment. I guess I like the fun part, and don’t even bother with the work of getting it “out there”. Rain Station doesn’t play live very often, and when we have, it’s usually just the two of us with acoustic guitars in a living room or basement. Our recordings are unique in that we both play multiple instruments, so we’d have to grow extra arms to play out. Why turn fun into work? We like to get together and record tunes for the love of doing it.
I’m hoping Mark can get over here often, because I can’t stop fooling around with the tracks. I say keep adding tracks, creating different versions until they really pop and come to life. To be honest I already find myself thinking and writing in a “Rain Station” mind set, whatever that is. We’ve always been dark, moody, and introspective. When I record solo, I tend to be very silly and record humorous stuff like: Mitchell Vaillant’s Toe Nails, but when I hear any music Mark and I work on together, it sounds so… Rain Stationy.
I had a drum track that didn’t work out so well, but I used it to record guitar to, and then just got rid of the bum drum track. I can’t wait to hear what Mark does to this: RS-14.mp3
