Seamos Recordando

Pure Boss has a new song!
Recorded, that is.
We've got lots of new songs, quite a bit fuller and better than our first album, but we've let two summers go by without coming through on our promise to "record the album this summer." So per Brian's idea, this weekend I packed up my PC and interfaces and we set up musicmaking shop in the loft of the Chima's barn. Which consequently became even MORE the coolest place in all of Ohio :-) The rain drizzled outside in the gray chillyness, but up in the loft the light glowed off the warm wood roof and avocado carpet scraps, and we filled the little hunched room with drums, mics, guitars, amps, pedals, and cables cables everywhere.

The plan was to practice Friday night and nail down the song(s) we wanted to record. Instead, we took a long time to set up, and devolved into Brian and Stephen playing X-box and me laying on the floor watching and being tired. We pretty much hit the sack that night, in Brian's now-sweet, Nick-vacated room, with Dora trying to get us to play tennis ball even though it was 1am.

Brian worked on Saturday, so I slept in (a bit too long) and met Jess after her shift at Starbucks for some catching up. Starbucks sure seems like a cool place to work! It's kinda filed away in my mind as a backup plan if I ever get out of my current career and need to find work. Next on the agenda was Guitar Center, where I finally bought the Line6 delay pedal I decided on 2 weeks ago. I met Steve there, and my cell phone finally ran out of batteries (I forgot to bring the charger), and eventually Steve and I ended up back at the Chimas. Steve put on his new drum heads, and I hooked up my new pedals. Steve Gole swung by at 4 o'clock and we got in some good jams with him before he headed to Canton to visit an old friend there. Brian was back by that time, but we didn't really get anything done with the rest of the day 'cause Brian and Steve went to a pumpkin carving party and I went over to Emily's house to hang out and watch a movie.

It was nice to have some chill time with the Fab Four (minus Christin), and by the end of the night Craig, Steve and Brian, Josh, Dave Potter, Jenica, Jess, Jen, Emily and Christin were all there. We watched The Office and Shooter and had some pizza, and by the time we left it was 2:30 and we were all 3/4ths asleep. Good times with Akron folks.

Did we go home and crash like sensible people? No no. We laid in Brian's room and talked about the band, and then Brian was like "Hey guys, we should watch that video of our concert at my grad party!" So we headed down to the basement and stayed up till 4:30 watching and critiquing our last show. Good times indeed :-)

Sunday was work day (how ironic that sounds). After church Brian and I came right back (Steve just slept through the whole morning), we ate a bit of lunch, and then hit the studio. We were up there till 11, minus a break for dinner (yay Mr. and Mrs. Chima for buying us subs!). We got drums, bass and guitar, leads, and vocals down for "City Lights Behind Me," but none of it was tight, and I got increasingly bothered by the flabbiness of it all as we went along. It's a great song--my favorite of Steve's--but the recording wasn't coming together, starting with the bongy, flabby drums and getting worse from there. I have now found peace by considering this our first pass at the song, and mostly our calibration of the new studio setup. We'll come back and record it again after we've done some more songs, and then we'll make it SWEET! But at the time, it drove me up a wall.

At the last, when the song was burning to a disc and Monday loomed ominously on the horizon, I couldn't make myself tear down the studio we had labored two days to set up. So I thought about it, decided everything there could take the cold, and left it all set up, with the promise to return the following Sunday and record another song. I took my guitar stuff with me, but left the rest.

I stopped at Starbucks on the way out to cheer Jess up on her 11:30 closing shift, and found that they had let her go early, which was merciful considering she was opening at 5:30 the next morning. So I ordered a pumpkin latte from strangers and headed home, mulling over the unavoidable mountain of time that lay between me and where I needed to be the next morning. I find it interesting to contemplate the finality of the distance when I'm in Akron. There's no way to weedle around it, bs through it, or save it for later. The miles must be crossed and there's nothing for it but to suck it up and drive. I almost went straight to work and slept in the parking lot, but I figured that was a bit weird, and I'd probably get strange looks when the shift change came in at 6. So I just headed home and did all I could to stay alert. I made it, and another week began.

It was a good weekend. Akron is one of the only areas in my life that I am relatively satisfied with right now. I'm not constrained there by my self-imposed drive to get home, be in control, and do my own things, so I actually end up with some interesting and memorable experiences, and a lot of good time with people. And that's all coupled with the enriching and purposeful band stuff, which is the best thing musically that I have going right now. So, thank You Lord for Akron, and may it serve Your purposes amidst the great fun and enjoyment!

--JPB

P.S. To clarify, my sense of usefulness and satisfaction from being in Akron is NOT because the people in Pittsburgh stink or I don't like them! The difference is in myself: I'm more the person I want to be over there, because I'm removed from home and my habits of laziness and independence. Akron is truly great, but Pittsburgh is home, and Providence is my family.