All major music projects are recording. It is a whirlwind of air pushing sound to magnetic tape (mostly). Here is the rundown:

• *joesepi* - We have set up some gear in our practice space to facillitate the last bits of tracking to the Sepi Sessions. By taking two songs at a time, we hope to finish recording these songs in the next couple months. And as we go along, we are hoping to write a couple more new songs to add to the mix (7+3). The basic tracks are there already, so we will want to add AJ (keys) to most if not all songs; add Bill (extra gtr) to most if not all songs; add Mike (bass) to one song; if we can we will find places to add Nate (percussion) to some songs. I may also need to redo some guitar and vox.

  The gear consists of a Mac, a Mackie, Cubase, ProTools/mBox, some outboard gear and some mics.

  We also have a fancy plug-in that analyzes your favorite song and attempts to match the frequencies in an effort to give you a satisfying eq balance in a mastering setting. We will employ this fancy plug-in to go through the Sack Set recordings and get them to a place suitable for mass public enjoyment. This is a day (and a plug-in) I have long looked forward to. Can you say “woo-hoo“?

• Century Rocket Building - We have ventured up to good ole Reelsounds to put to tape (2in.) the songs we have been hashing out with new found pounder, Dan Smith. (Actually, we have been working on these songs from before Dan joined, but I wanted to use the term ‘new found pounder’.) We were only planning on doing 6or7 songs and ended up doing 9 of the 10 new songs. Granted, the last one, #9 - ‘Switch Positions’, may need to be redone, but all in all, we are very pleased at the sounds so far. Jim has already punched and ducked bass parts to his liking. Jon is up there now (as we speak!) tidying up his guitar-ness. After that, I think we may do vocals before I go up and re-do/fix my guitar parts. The sweet sounds of success are bubbling in the lab.
• Bearhawk (softshell) - We have been recording parts for this project for quite some time now. After a forced break ($$$) we have reconvened up at Reelsounds to make some final tracking decisions and begin mixxxing this slowjam. The name may give you some clue - this session is more stripped down and dare I say ‘acoustic-ish’. Chris went in with a ton of songs (and he has two tons more!); Mouse laid down drumles; Jim gently bassted; Jon and I added guitar noodlings; Chris said ‘word!’ all over the place; and we even had a guest appearing Antoine on a B-yewtiful Steinway that was rented for a Frank Catalano session - oh the suppleness!

How do you like this?

Ok, my wonderful girlfriend bought me this stereo for my birthday. Although my birthday is next monday, she bought it last weekend and when she realized she couldn’t carry it up to our 3rd floor apartment, she had to give it to me early so I could help her get it out of her car and into our home.

I haven’t done any research on it yet, so if anyone has any enlightening info or advice (care), please chime in. Otherwise, I just wanted to share how cool this fucking thing is.

Note:
- it is a General Electric I think from 1963
- the speakers fold out and all three speakers are ‘wireless’.
- the record player folds down (it is a Garrard)
- it totally works in every way (a little dirty)
- it has 4 speeds on the record player
- the other side (opposite the record player) folds out slightly to store albums in there
- it has inputs for ‘tape’ (rca jacks - ie iPod)

We got buttons! Thanks to Nate - did most of design and made the order - a nice little satchel of buttons are sitting up at the practice space.

Busy Beaver did a great job making em and now we just gotta get em into your grubby little hands.

And of course, look for one pinned to the lapel of the charming new heart-throb on that upcoming hit tv series — premiering this fall.

Well, Found Magazine have redesigned their site and it is much easier to find finds. And so, I went there and grabbed the Dear Jessica note, “Thank you for saying yes”.

You can see it in all it’s glory here: Thank you for saying yes
You can hear the song here: Dear Jessica

Well, last weekend was great — total rock weekend. [Rock Photos]

Friday :: Chicago
We played the Underground Lounge on Friday with our good friends, Wishek. We managed to enjoy ourselves and have a great time despite the fact that the Underground sucks and they shafted us on money and offered us no free/discounted beer all night.

First up were Kyle Mann Combo - pretty boring and a little self indulgent, but their parents liked it just fine. The drummer looked like he was made of wax, which was kinda weird. Then came Lindbergh - they took way too long to get set up; they tried pretty hard to rock and look good; they were ok; they kinda rocked and looked good.

We were up third. My guitar didn’t work; turned out to be bad cables; Ike (Wishek) came to the rescue. Start playing; within a song or two Bill breaks a string; Ike comes to the rescue again; I say this Ike Turner is better than the other Ike Turner. Couple more songs; Bill breaks another string; one of the fine fellas in Lindbergh run up with a guitar. Few more songs; Bill breaks another string; we say fuck it, cut to last song and rock out minus one string. I think (and people agreed) that we rocked shit’s ass despite the technical troubles .

Last but far from least, Wishek were after us and were super great. Three guitars, cool songs and it looked like they were really having fun. In fact, Ike later told me it was one of their best shows. Luckily even though they were last there was still a decent crowd out.

Saturday :: Kalamazoo
We got a little bit of a late start on saturday. Everyone was a little lit friday night and Nate, Mark and I were even drinking on the train home from the club (after standing on the platform for a half hour, we met up with some “bro’s” and bummed a few beers out of their 12-pack). But the next morning, all of us were up at the space to load up only a little late. Except Bill and Liz who were very late, rolling up to get the gear 2 and a half hours later than we had planned. Slow start.

Nevertheless, timing and traffic weren’t too bad and we rolled into Kalamazoo around 7ish. We pulled right up to the BBQ at Ike’s where he, his bandmates and his extended family were all hanging out. Beers were doled out, burgers were just coming off the grill and some ‘nitrate-free’ weiners were just being started. Everyone at Ike’s were all top-notch folks and we really had a great pre-show get-together.

The KraftBrau Brewery was pretty cool. Don’t know much about Kalamazoo, but the brewery was right near some train tracks in this old (train station?) building. They brewed their own beer (hence the name) and gave us a deal on those beers. They were all delicious though I tended to stick with the pale ale.

Up first were Crash City Saints. They were dreamy shoegazer noise pop. With a girl up front and 3 guys on guitars (2 6-string and 1 4-string) they kept the beat and some atmospheric sounds on a disc or something (sampler, sequencer, gadget thing?). They were good and they were nice folks to boot.

We were second and came well prepared this time. I think we brought like 6 guitars — after the previous night, with all the string breaking and technical difficulties, we felt we needed to stock up. I had the great pleasure of playing Al’s ‘Reverend‘ — wow, what a sweet guitar. There was nothing wrong with my guitar, I just thought his was super cool and he said I could use it. Bill brought his Jazzmaster, which he played that evening — sounded great as well. The night had no tech troubles and we were on fire. The club was great, the sound was great, the crowd was great. Everything came together pretty well.

Wishek played after us again. K-zoo is there hometown and they seemed pretty comfortable up on this stage. Things were tight, they seemed to be having a ton of fun and they rocked pretty hard.

The end of the night came and we were planning on just grabbing a hotel nearby. As we leave, all these cop cars scream by. We were supposed to be following Ike — Al and Mike were, but Bill, Liz, Nate and I were in Bill’s car, following someone else. Turns out, we were following Aaron from Wishek and he was kind enough to take us where we needed to go. First we turned around as to not get involved with all the cop action ahead. And then when we got to the hotel it was all booked up, so we met up with Mike and Al at a great restaurant (the name escapes me) where they were patiently waiting for us. We had a great meal and decided to just drive a little and stop for a hotel outside of town. So we do. And it is booked as well. We go a little further. Again, no rooms for us. We do it again and again and again. (Turns out there is a conference in the area and a triathalon or something.) So, now it is about 5am, and we are still looking for a hotel when Mike and Al call us from their car. Al remembers his old friend has a family cabin near the Indiana Dunes. He was just there a couple weekends ago and knows where the key is stashed.

So off we go down some dirt road into the woods and soon we pull up to this cool ass cabin. They have plenty of beds and I dive into the nearest one. In the morning, I wake up to a wall of windows overlooking a thick forest - much better than a hotel. One by one, we all pop up rubbing our eyes and shaking off last night’s buzz. We pick up some bagels and coffee and whatnot and head on home.

Great Rock Weekend. Here’s Proof!

*joesepi* (the band) will be sharing shows with some friends from Kalamazoo, Wishek. First show is Friday Aug 4 at Underground Lounge here in Chicago and the second is Saturday Aug 5 at KraftBrauBrewery in Kalamazoo.

A member of Wishek is releasing a Silkworm Tribute Record
( http://www.silkwormtributerecord.com )
And *joesepi* is on there as well as many other bands, including Steve Albini/Heather Whinna, .22, Luff, Mirror America, TooManyHelicopters and Push-Pull. With many contributions, the release is now a 2-disc set slated for a Sept release (but some advanced copies may be available at these shows).

[ At the Underground on Friday, we will be on at about 10:30 with Wishek following. ]

Fri Aug 4 - Chicago IL
*joesepi*
performing with:
Wishek
Lindbergh
KyleMannCombo
AT
Underground Lounge
As a part of the Flabby Hoffman TV show and Rock Concert Experience:

Sat Aug 5 - Kalamazoo, MI
*joesepi* with Wishek
And Crash City Saints
AT
KraftBrauBrewery