Throttle Body-ology

2010 report - new recording in progress

2010-08-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

Hi friends and fans. Just wanted to let you know that we have begun recording a new album. Not sure if it will be released under the TBMC catalog or not, as it's a total departure in style. Tracking on the nine-song project began two nights ago and I'm very excited to explore the unlikely world of downtempo and ambient that I have loved since I bought "Another Green World" by Eno back in September of 1975. Stat tuned!

"A Typical Wednesday" LIVE on iTunes

2009-10-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you know that the new album is now available for purchase on iTunes worldwide! Get your copy today!

Mix complete! "A Typical Wednesday" ships today

2009-09-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, the day you've all waited for is here. The mix for all 13 tracks of the new Throttle Body m/c release is complete and it will be shipped to Tunecore today for distribution to iTunes worldwide, Amazon, Napster, IMVU, lala, Rhapsody and other outlets.

The final track list is:

A Typical Wednesday
Safe
Long Time
While I Was Gone
Girl
Love Is A Heavy Load
Woe Is Me
Hole In My Heart
Reminders Of You
Raindrops Falling Down
Falling Apart at the Seams
Mother's Eyes
Butterfly

It will probably take a few weeks to go live on all these sites, but the good news is that the wait is almost over!

Cheers!

There's a hole in my drum part

2009-09-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

Well the mixing is moving right along - six songs in the can with both mono and stereo mixes available. I've even begun preparing the artwork for the release and as that moves ahead, I will be revising the website (throttlebodymc.com) as well.

After four days spent mixing the track, "Girl", I was looking forward to moving onto "Hole In My Heart" tonight. It's a really open, moody song, in the spirit of "Come Together" by The Beatles (newly remastered collection available today!), and after the mid-range density of the last track, I was looking for relief.

Unfortunately, there's a hole in "Hole". Somehow when Dan and I were tracking, I missed a burp in the drum track. See, the track is actually made up of three performances, as we found "best" sections for the front end, middle 8 and backend solos. It was put down in reverse, where we got the backend of the song done first, then the front end and finally the middle. Unfortunately I didn't notice the middle has a burp in it that I don't think I can heal digitally. After about 20 attempts tonight I stepped away from the mix. Tomorrow I'll look back through the various takes of the middle 8 (four in all) and see if one of them will do the job. If not, the drum track will need to be redone from scratch.

Not the best of nights for me...

FOLLOW UP - the track worked out! Everything is good and it will be included on the release.

Mixing begins

2009-08-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

If you've been following the Throttle Body Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/jerryhammack), you'll know that recording is more or less complete and that the mixing of the new album has begun.

I've been reading a lot about how The Beatles' engineers at Abbey Road in London mixed their sessions and have been applying that knowledge to these tracks. In particular, I've been starting the process by mixing everything to MONO. Yes, you read it right - not STEREO, not 5:1 SURROUND...to MONO! The idea is, if you can articulate the instruments and vocals when they are stacked upon each other and have them sound great, then the STEREO mix is a slam dunk.

Ten of the twelve original Beatles albums were mixed this way, and they sound killer to this day. Each mix is taking about two days of work to get right, but I'm really pleased with the results. I'm sure you will be too.

I'm even considering releasing this session as a Deluxe set, including both MONO and STEREO mixes of the sessions. What do you think?

Stay tuned for news of a new title for the album too!

Cheers!

Mother's Eyes complete

2009-08-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

Dan Ruiter rocks the coronet on "Mother's Eyes"

A little late on the session update, but the heat here in Seattle will do that to you - make you lethargic. Dan Ruiter completed the drum track for "Mother's Eyes" on the 23rd of last month, before the miserable 100 degree temps hit the area. Not only did he complete a tight drum track, but he also added a beautiful coronet solo to the tune on the same night. Completely his idea of course - and a great one at that. Drum sessions are set to proceed tomorrow night. Stay tuned!

Cheers - Jer

Faces of Throttle Body - Dan Ruiter

2009-07-23T14:03:00.001-07:00

Dan Ruiter is the club's newest member, being a fantastic drummer and having previously worked with Jerry in both the Joe Arrants Band and Dry Bones, Dan brings the groove (as well as a little dose of joy every time he plays).

Let there be drums

2009-07-23T10:06:00.001-07:00

Dan Ruiter officially joined the Club last night as he tracked drums, bongos, tambourine and cowbell on "Girl" and "Safe" for the new Throttle Body session. The Seattle studio was brimming with groove as Dan suffered through take after take while your friendly producer worked hard to tear down every natural, instinctive groove he had. Here's a sample of the comments:

"Ok, add a snare hit with that..."

"Hmmm, now that I hear it, maybe two hits right there..."

"Do you think you could give me a little roll of the cymbals there the first time, but the second time, just play through?"

"I liked that, but lets do it again." (repeat 17 times)

Ahhhh the joys of club membership!

Scotch 45 update - all vocal tracks completed

2009-07-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

Wow - I guess I should check how long it's been, but actually, I'm really happy - the vocals are all in the can! Tonight I recorded "Safe", "Mother's Eyes" and "Reminders of You" in a marathon five hour session. My throat is dead. Still and all, I'm diggin the results and of course with the vocals, the sessions are almost completed.

Now onto the drum tracks, which I'll be playing along with Dan Ruiter. Haven't decided quite who will play what yet, but it's bound to be rockin!

We're on track for an end of Summer release to iTunes, Amazon and the like worldwide!

Guess it's time to start revising the website for the new release!

Cheers!

"Love Is A Heavy Load" vocals completed

2009-07-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

Just like the title says, making good progress now that I'm back from Arizona and back focused again. This song took a lot of takes to complete. It's a single, intimate vocal and since it is so out front in the song, I tried to pay attention to every nuance of the notes I was singing.

I don't talk about it a lot, but it's difficult to produce, engineer and record yourself. The thought processes for each skill are not exactly similar. Producers want something interesting and powerful happening in each song - making the most of the moment. Engineers just want it to technically sound right and to technically capture the intent of the producer. The performer just wants to play the best they can. Sometimes the producer is an ass and and I just want to go home - or the take is perfect, but the engineer screwed it up...

Well, at least I wont have to work with these clowns on this session for too much longer!

"Hole In My Heart" vocals in the can

2009-07-01T07:31:00.001-07:00

While not the epic progress that I made the other day on the vocals for the session, "Hole in My Heart" was in the can yesterday after about three hours of singing. The vocals ended up comprising seven parts in all, and I have begun to take my approach to them from my days working with Michael Lord.

Here's the deal: sing the song - the whole song. Sing it like you mean it. Sing the whole song like you mean it until you think you like it. Then listen to every bit of it in isolation, line by line. Don't like a line? Then fix it. Once the lead vocals are done, I'll go through for any doubling of the lead I want to hear or primary harmony, then add backing vocals and harmonies and kaboom - seven vocals tracks are suddenly there to manage, and I'm a step closer.

How did I ever think I would finish this in April? Crazy.

Sing, baby! Sing!

2009-06-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

Since my last check in, I've made a lot of progress (finally) on the vocals. The following songs are in the can, ready for drums and the final mix:

"A Typical Wednesday"
"Falling Apart At The Seams"
"Raindrops Falling Down"
"Girl"
"While I Was Gone"

These tunes represent an average of five vocal performances per tune (lead vocal, some doubling leads, and up to three-part backing vocals). I had a good night last week where I actually got almost three entire tunes in the can in about five hours before my voice gave out.

All the vocals are being done through a Berhinger B1 condenser mic set at cardiod and prerouted through a Mackie board where compression and limiting are added, then into ProTools where additional compression and limiting are added. It's sounding rather nice!

Started working on "Hole In My Heart" tonight after I finished "While I Was Gone", but my voice started to give, so I hung it up.

Five in the can - I'm halfway home!

Cheers!

Vocals - "A Typical Wednesday"

2009-06-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

Well I did finally get the vocals started on the Scotch 45 session tonight. Screw the end of the construction around the studio - it was time to sing. I started on "A Typical Wednesday", which is a fairly brief song, with a bit of a Beatles "Getting Better" vibe to it. The lead vocal went down with only a couple patches and then I built up a double-track for the choruses and finally four tracks of backing vocals that come in on the bridge from Chorus to verse. It took about an hour and a half to track.

I started in on "Falling Apart At The Seams" but the lead vocal is kind of precise and I'm not hearing it all that well right now, so I stepped away and will pick it up tomorrow night.

I am really going to try and get these vocals done in short order while my voice is pretty strong, so I plan on singing for the next two nights and seeing what damage I can do!

Cheers! - Jer

Session news - guitars and delays!

2009-06-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

Good news and bad news on the Scotch 45 front:

The good news is that the guitar work appears to be in the can. I listened to Aaron's work again (which KILLS), and added my own touches to the balance of songs, and after going over them and over them, I have to believe the guitar work is in the can! I'm sure I'll find a little something more to do on them after some time away, but perhaps not - in which case the end of the road is well in sight.

I was planning on hitting the vocals this week (and may still get to them), however, events are converging to push them out a little later than planned. Specifically, there is a road construction project going on just a couple blocks from the studio. Due to the project, traffic is being diverted right to the studio door 24/7 for the next week. The roar of jake-brakes, the rumble of busses, the thump of hip hop from over-amped kids in under-amped cars, all make for a poor atmosphere to try and get vocal tracks done - even at this hour of the day (830pm). Since the project is due to be completed in a week, I think its best just to take some time off and chill, enjoy the summer to come, and play with the dogs.

Learning new stuff on the ukelele is also fun (my grandfather's 1929 Hollywood).

Cheers - Jer

Session update - Aaron rocks four tunes!

2009-05-15T11:03:00.001-07:00

Aaron Taylor visited the Club studios in south Seattle yesterday and added some rockin' guitar work to "Gone", "Hole in my Heart", "Reminders of You" and another tune I can't remember the title of in a six-hour session. Always a joy to work with and despite a hand injury that had him inventing new fingering for some parts that wouldn't strain the Ace bandage he sported, Aaron was focused and inspired as he ripped through the parts. Despite my best attempts to influence everything he was playing, the parts sound great! Thanks, Aaron! We took a break for some great teriyaki, courtesy of Yum Yum and ended the evening both fat and happy.

Yes, it's late

2009-04-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

When I started the Scotch 45 sessions, the intention was a sort of "instant karma" approach, where things would get decided and get done quickly. Unfortunately, the calendar is no respecter of such plans. Here it is, almost a month after I intended having the session shipped to iTunes, and I'm still missing the guitar work, vocal work and mixing work.

When John Lennon recorded "instant karma", I have to remember that he had a band, the whole engineering team at Parlaphone/EMI/Apple and a mainline into the manufacturing process. So I guess I can give myself a little break.

I do have the guitar work scheduled now, and in the meantime, I am going to get vocals completed next week.

The good news is that the tracks sound great! And after all is said and done, isn't that what matters most?

Scotch 45 sessions report

2009-03-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

The new sessions are motoring along. Now both keyboard and all bass parts are complete on the 10 songs. I had a great day last week where I both created and recorded five of the bass parts in a little over five hours. It helped that I had spent days in advance just getting the bass sound the way I wanted. There are those days as a musician when the mind and the skills are in harmony - when what you hear in your head you can play immediately with your hands. This was one of those days. In addition, the immediacy of the session is preserved by this rush of activity. It sounds and feels both unified and fresh.

Next up - guitars! I've decided to play most of these myself, but we'll see how it goes...Rod and Aaron are far more skilled.

Cheers until next time!

Scotch 45 sessions update

2009-02-03T21:57:00.000-08:00

Here it is February already and I'm making fairly good progress on the Scotch 45 sessions. Tried a pass at "Shrug It Off" - a bouncy (for lack of a better term) rocker, but just wasn't feeling it, so I laid down a tune called "Falling Down" which I think is more in keeping with the feel of the session so far.

Keyboard parts are almost complete on ten songs, representing about 30 finished performances. I'm pretty happy with how things are starting to sound.

Aaron Taylor and Rod Moody are on board for guitar work, which is very exciting.

I'd like to have these sessions completed and ready for iTunes by April. I still believe it can be done!

Cheers!

New Throttle Body Sessions Started!

2008-12-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

Almost four years since the completion of "Air Canada", I am now starting work on the follow-up album. With a working title of "Scotch 45" this new album was born out of the boon of songs rediscovered in the spring archiving project. Titles will include "Falling Apart At The Seams", "Girl", "A Typical Wednesday", "Hole In My Heart", "Reminders of You" and many more. Scratch tracks and clicks are laid down already, as are the acoustic guitar tracks. Hopefully this new CD wont take the year that "Air Canada" did to record!

Cheers! - Jer

Sound on Sound (1978) - the balance of tunes

2008-11-18T14:20:00.000-08:00

I've made you all wait long enough. Here's the balance of the "Sound on Sound" sessions for your enjoyment.

"Heartache" is a rockin' little tune that I re-recorded for the "Air Canada" sessions. It's a basic story of "I'm warning you" to a girl about all those bad for you men - of which I am one, it turns out! When you're young, it's always someone else, of course.

"Red Car" is a song I wrote about this Datsun station wagon I drove when I was a kid. I swore one day, I would get a better car. In retrospect, it wasn't too bad!

"Girl" is a great song, as far as I'm concerned. One of those I wrote early that is seemingly simple, but actually changing slightly the entire time. It's a quality I love in a pop song. I hope you do too.

"Don't Cry For Me" and "Who Do You Love" were my first emulations of love for the end-of-the-decade burnout of Fleetwood Mac. I loved Lindsay Buckingham's simple rock tunes - just driving and driving, like "What Makes You Think You're The One" from Tusk and also loved Christine MacVie's sad songs like "You'll Never Make Me Cry" - so simple. These tunes are a take on that feel and sound - only with a lot more hiss as I pretty much wore the cassette tape out at this point.

Download "Heartache"

Download "Red Car"

Download "Girl"

Download "Don't Cry For Me"

Download "Who Do You Love"

(right click the link above and "Save Target As..." to your local machine)

Almost Home - the demo tape encoding saga concludes

2008-09-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm on the home stretch of my demo tape encoding. It's been a long process, and the entire task is only partially complete. So far, however, I have some observations:

When I was young, I flexed a lot of muscles. I wrote songs at a pretty impressive rate. This was my "Elton" period - one that continues to this day. Mostly piano-based songs, with complex chord progressions, strong melodies.

A short flirtation with end of the decade malaise was followed by a power pop phase - Elvis Costello/Nick Lowe/Stiff Records-influenced.

Come the time of the Throttle Body sessions, I was making very immediate pop-rock, simple, fast and clean. As TBMC matured in the 90's I entered the final stage chronicled on these tapes, which I would characterize as riff-rock. I didn't even bother singing half the time. Or more.

The way back machine has been filled with the joy of rediscovery, sadness and regret and inspiration to get back to some of the best of these tunes and see what they have to offer.

History is hard on the heart

2008-08-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

As I am archiving these song tapes, it's getting a bit rough on me. I had the habit at the time of playing the skeleton of the song I was working on and then just letting the tape roll to pick up what was going on around me while I was writing. I would also narrate the events of my days and capture friends and family in the process. So now as I listen back to these tapes so many years later, there are ghosts of my past coming back to life. Funny how joy can turn to regret with the passing of years. But these songs, if ever properly recorded, will never be now what they were meant to be then and I guess I'm just a reflection of that same fact.

What goes on

2008-08-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

Ok - it's been awhile, but remember, there's no promise of productivity here, just an archive that is building organically. So what's been going on during all the silence? Primarily a huge archiving project. I am in the process of transferring 35 cassettes with somewhere near 300 song demos onto Pro Tools. It's a huge project that'll require many passes. Eventually some of these songs will be developed into final, finished versions.

I've been saying to musician friends lately who are aware of the project that I always meant to return to these songs - I just didn't realize it would be (in some cases) 30 years later!

I'll try not to neglect the posting of demos for too much longer, but in case you were wondering, that's what goes on...

"Sound on Sound" 1978 - Tracks 4,5,6 - "All That Matters", "She Doesn't Seem To Be That Nice of Girl", "Diana"

2008-06-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a group of songs, two of which were re-recorded for 2005's "Air Canada" session. Across these three songs, I think I turned a little corner in my young songwriting career.

"All That Matters" was this really simple 4-chord tune, but had this marvelous asymetrical hook that used two chords and built up the tension really nicely.

"She Doesn't Seem To Be That Nice Of Girl" was my attempt at a "Hard Days Night" era Beatles tune, with a swinging groove and very forward melody. It's clean and simple and rockin' and a tune I still like a lot.

"Diana" is a song I really should treat properly one day. It's another piece of pretty good songwriting, with multiple movements that don't seem so different on the surface, but accomplish that Roy Orbison trick of slight, continuous variation from top to tail of the tape.

You'll notice the sound getting "hissier" as I add more instruments and vocals on the tape. I was starting to push to see how much I could add without losing the whole sound of the songs at this point. Something else I always loved about these sesssions was the sound of the Hofner bass (a Beatle-bass), which you can still hear pretty clearly on "All That Matters". When I re-recorded the song for "Air Canada" I tried to re-create the sound with a Fender Percision, and the bass just dominates the mix as a result.

I hope you enjoy these three from the "Sound on Sound" sessions.

Download "All That Matters"

Download "She Doesn't Seem To Be That Nice Of Girl"

Download "Diana"

(right click the link above and "Save Target As..." to your local machine)

"Sound on Sound" 1978 - Track 3: "Everytime (Jill's Song)"

2008-05-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

I was crazy about Jill Utz. I think I was probably crazy about her for three years. But I was one of those outsider types in high school, and Jill was definitely "in-crowd" material, so nothing ever came of it but a sweet friendship that I still treasure. I lost touch with Jill right after high school and always wonder what happened to her. I remember hearing she married her high school boyfriend and I think had one of those happily ever after lives that good souls deserve so much. I certainly hope that was the case.

"Everytime (Jill's Song)" is actually a pretty good piece of song craft, and still holds up today to my ears. It has a nice groove and round to it, appropriately sentimental lyrics, and that gentle 70's-ness quality now known as "smooth". It remains one of my favorite songs I've ever written.

When working on the "Air Canada" sessions, I revisited the "Sound on Sound" tape and this was one of the tracks that I refreshed and recorded properly. I gave it a nice "Daniel"-esque feel with electric pianos and synths and am pretty happy with the version. You can pick it up on iTunes if you want, or hear it at the Throttle Body m/c website.

Download "Everytime (Jill's Song)"
(right click the link above and "Save Target As..." to your local machine)

"Sound on Sound" 1978 - Track 2: "Together"

2008-05-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

The "Sound on Sound" session was created in the order it appears here, one track after the other. In some cases, like this one, I had a backing track that I had previously recorded, and simply made a few additions to it. "Together" features Lenny Dahlstrom on guitar and backing vocals, as well as Thom Brisendine on backing vocals. The backing track was recorded at my best friend Paul Ralph's basement and the only addition I made for this version was the bass guitar. Lenny was a cool guitar player who knew how to rock in the old-school "rock and roll" kind of way and his playing made a number of these tunes come to life.

Download "Together"
(right click the link above and "Save Target As..." to your local machine)

"Sound on Sound 1978" - Track 1: "Besides Love You"

2008-04-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

In 1978 I was a Junior in High School in Federal Way, WA and was writing a lot of songs, all of which I was certain were hits. In retrospect of course, some of them were actually pretty good and some of them were horrible.

In those days, other than large-scale recording studios like Bear Creek in Woodinville and some downtown Seattle ones who's names now esacpe me (one even partially owned by Heart!), the options for the young artist were only a couple - TASCAM or OTARI. Both companies made 4 and 8 track home multi-track machines, neither of which I could afford, being in the multi-thousand dollar price range.

What I could afford to do was trick a casette recorder into being a multi-track. If I recall the process, I would record a signal into, say the left stereo channel, then I would send the output of that channel to the right channel while I recorded a new part with it. This process could survive maybe 4-5 overdubs before the whole track was lost in hiss, but it was my first stab at making my own recordings and I remember having fun despite the noise of the tape. I was never good in those days at saturating the signal - it was always on the weak side - and that meant even more tape hiss!

But I WAS making recordings. I was following the footsteps of my heros. In my basement I had my own Abby Road and I was George Martin AND The Beatles all at once.

So, from 30 years ago, in a long, narrow basement room with no windows where a kid sat for hours plucking out tunes on a 1956 Gibson ES225, a Hofner violin bass, an Ibaznez Performer and cardboard boxes that served as drums; here's the first of the "Sound on Sound' sessions - a little offering I called, "Besides Love You".

Download "Besides Love You"
(right click the link above and "Save Target As..." to your local machine)

Living the dream - "Freebird" LIVE, 1978

2008-03-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

When I was in high school, if you were a musician, there was one song you better know how to play if you wanted to be cool. That song, was "Freebird" by Lynrd Skynrd. At Decatur HS in 1978, the song was selected as the Homecoming theme. A good friend, and graduate, Bob Neal, returned to play guitar with us Seniors, and he was joined by Jerry Luckenback, a local "he can really play" legend on another solo guitar. Jerry was a "real" musician. He had played in a bar or two. He was over 21. We were impressed. He smoked and everything.

The rest of the band I can almost entirely remember...Brian (Last name escapes me) on drums, Paul Ralph, my best friend, on Rickenbacker 4001 bass, and Lenny Dahlstrom on guitar and vocals. I was the keyboard player. you can hear me early on on piano and later on electric piano (a real Fender Rhoads 88), actually not tearing it up too badly considering we never had a rehearsal.

It's a joke today to call out requests at shows of any size, and usually someone yells, "Freebird!" But in 1978...I was livin the dream, baby!

If you were at Decatur High School in Federal Way, WA between 1976 and 1981, this one's for you.

Download "Freebird"
(right click this link and "Save Target As..." to your local machine)

More Faces of Throttle Body - Rod Moody

2008-03-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

Rod Moody with Jerry, busking it up in Seattle as "Dry Bones"

Rod Moody is a long time friend who joined TBMC in one of the lonelier periods, that of 2000's "Tears in Rain." Rod also lent his home to the creation of "Air Canada", though for some reason, perhaps living in Rhode Island, he didn't play a lick on it! But that's not important - what is is the work he contributed, the inspiration he continues to contribute and the great music he's made over the years in the ka-jillion bands he's played in. Whenever I introduce Rod, it's "now this is a real rock star..." and I sincerely mean it - the man has rocked his whole life, and put his music out there for all to hear, and he lives and loves music. Rod is my idol.

"Restless Cowboys" - December 1977

2008-03-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

So...it's the Winter of 1977 and I'm 15 years old. I'm at a new High School (Decatur) in Federal Way, WA and with a brand new (literally) school are brand new pianos, and in particular, a brand new Grand piano in the Choir room. A 6'5" Kawai if I remember.

For a kid with delusions of Elton John, a big black piano all to his own is quite a thing. And since I was well ahead of my classes, I could use the room at my leisure. So, pretty much every day you could find me in the choir room, playing that grand piano and writing songs.

This particular Winter day, I wheeled a pair of boom mic stands in, set up a stereo cassette and recorded a song I had been writing, "Restless Cowboys". It's a very Elton-y tune to be sure - I even fake a British accent here and there!

The take you're about to hear suffers for the deterioration of the cassette at the top, but at least the whole performance wasn't destroyed. Really calls out the need to archive these 30-year old recordings. So, for your enjoyment, here's the missing song from "Tumbleweed Connection," (hee :) ) "Restless Cowboys" - enjoy!

Download "Restless Cowboys"
(right click this link and "Save Target As..." to your local machine)

Stephen Dorocke - from guitar to pedal steel to concertina

2008-03-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

Stephen Dorocke, original Throttle Body guitar player in 1996

Stephen Dorocke put his stamp on the TBMC sound in the 90's with a key role in the sound of both "For the Few" and "Marley's Chain". He was introduced to the band by illustrator/bass player Thom Whalen. Stephen was a great guy, always of good humor and a brilliant, original guitar player. A real Chicago bluesman, you always felt like he was exposing a piece of his heart in the flowing, sharp and decievingly complex parts he layed down. Stephen went on to master the pedal steel guitar and play with acts like the Handsome Family. He also made a name for himself in the manufacture of Concertinas for Star Concertina.

Steven Dorocke, at Star Concertina in 1999

Aaron Taylor and the Studio at Graham Street, Seattle

2008-03-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

Aaron Taylor laying down guitar during the "Air Canada" sessions, 2003.

The studio set up at Graham Street in Seattle - Pro Tools, SoundTracks CM4400 board, Mackie board, etc.

Aaron Taylor mixing "Down" by Survey Cez at Graham Street

Aaron Taylor is an amazing guitar player. I met him at a "Slobberbone" show in 2001 or 02, I forget, but fromthe start he was memorable, approachable and a blast to hang and play with. Pretty quickly we cut a deal - he joined the club and played on "Air Canada" and I recorded "Survey Cez's" "Down" for him in exchange. Nice deal all around, I'd say!

Graham Street was/is the home of Rod and Tina Moody. They were living in Rhode Island at this time (2003-2005) and allowed me to (depending on finances) house-sit or rent their wonderful home. I set up a studio on the first floor where I recorded "Air Canada", "Down" by Survey Cez. and Native Tounge's first and only release. The focus of the room was Michael Lord's wonderful Soundtracks CM4400 mixing console - a British board with a lot of character that I had recorded almost all of my finished music to date through. Michael had closed down his studio to move to British Columbia and I inherited the board. It saw some use on the "Air Canada" sessions, though not as much as I would have liked.

I owe so much to Rod and Tina for allowing me the time and space to make music in. I think it's the story of a lot of artists that if not for certain wonderful, generous people in their lives, they wouldn't get to do what they do.

Throttle Body Reunion

2008-03-08T21:24:00.000-08:00

Osama, Jer and Zoro

This is as close as I've gotten so far to a Throttle Body reunion. Zoro was in town in 2005 for a clinic in Tacoma, where Osama lives (though I rarely see him - he's so busy) and we all met at the clinic then hung out for dinner together. It was a lovely evening. This is 3/5's of the team that created "Marley's Chain" (Steven and Emily being the other two), and we all have a little less hair than we did back in the day...

Welcome - an introduction to the blog

2008-03-05T20:56:00.000-08:00

Hello friends of TBMC. Thanks for checking out the blog. So why a blog? Well, you see, I have a box full of music that is both TBMC and pre-TBMC that I really want to explore over the next few years and get it out for people to hear and enjoy. This includes work I did under the name of "Top Cat", "The Bakks" as well as demos and song-sketches.

What I'm doing is taking these old reel-to reels and cassette tapes dating back to the early 1970's and loading them into Pro Tools, and giving them a once-over to clean them up a little (though I'm not spending thousands on hiss-elimination filters or anything silly). Then the plan is to post them here with a little explanation of what they are, what I remember I was attempting to do at the time...maybe even include lyrics for them if I can find those out in the shed.

The whole idea is to create a digital archive before time wastes away anymore of fragile audio tape that these memories are contained on. It's a highly personal journey I am going to share with whoever cares to come along for the ride. Don't you ever wonder what you've done with your life? Well this is part of what I've done with and continue to do with mine.

There's no promise of productivity here: I'll get the tracks and entries done as I can fit them into other work. It should be interesting to clean the closet, though, and I do hope you find something here to enjoy!