We've posted another new song from our upcoming album, Line In/Line Out. It's called "20/20 Hindsight" and we hope you'll dig it! Give it a listen and let us know what you think. You can hear it on our Facebook page or our Myspace page. And keep your eyes peeled for more songs and album release news in the very, very near future!!
xoxo EXBF
Friday, March 12, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Hear a new song from the album!!
Hey folks, long time no post! Things are going slowly but surely here in Album Release Land. As a little teaser/treat we've uploaded a new song for you to hear. It's called "Uh-Oh!" and it's a rollicking little ditty with all of us harmonizing and having a generally grand time with it. You can hear it on our Facebook page or our Myspace page.
There's also going to be a music video for this song, directed by the incredibly talented, multimedia artist Love Ablan! It's going to be it's own little mini-movie with us appearing in it in a unique way. We can't wait for you to see it!
In the meantime, enjoy "Uh-Oh!" and tell all of your friends!!
There's also going to be a music video for this song, directed by the incredibly talented, multimedia artist Love Ablan! It's going to be it's own little mini-movie with us appearing in it in a unique way. We can't wait for you to see it!
In the meantime, enjoy "Uh-Oh!" and tell all of your friends!!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Schedulin'!
We are currently working with the ever fantastic Aaron Hellam to schedule the last few sessions we need to finish up vocals, add final touches and mix-n-master this here third album. More updates to come once that is under way. In the meantime, if you live in the Bay Area, come see us rock out at Yerba Buena on June 6th!
And since you came all the way here, why not enjoy a couple of videos that you may or may not have seen before but can totally stand to see again.
Thee official video for "Situation" from In With:
An olde video of us playing "Realtionship" (from from Dear John live at the Hemlock Tavern.
A live cover of "Burning Up" (originally by someone named "Madonna"...never heard of her!) at the Rickshaw Stop:
Patience will bring rewards,
-Chriso
And since you came all the way here, why not enjoy a couple of videos that you may or may not have seen before but can totally stand to see again.
Thee official video for "Situation" from In With:
An olde video of us playing "Realtionship" (from from Dear John live at the Hemlock Tavern.
A live cover of "Burning Up" (originally by someone named "Madonna"...never heard of her!) at the Rickshaw Stop:
Patience will bring rewards,
-Chriso
Monday, May 25, 2009
Day Eight!
Guess who was a complete and total space case and forgot to bring the camera for photographic/video capturing moments of randomness? That's right, me! But in spite of the lack of visual evidence I will tell you that yesterday was awesome. It was all about Peter doing his thing vocally and he really blew the roof off. On the past 2 albums Peter has largely contributed backing vocals and sang lead on one song , "Goodnight", the final track on In With. But this time around he's done a lot of songwriting and thus is doing a lot of songwriting. And you're so glad he did because his voice is just fantastic and you get to hear it a whole bunch.
During the course of Peter's sing-a-thon we were "treated" to the sounds of a band practicing in the studio next door. They were, for lack of a better description, The Most Boring Band Ever. We didn't know their name but Aaron and I decided it was "Stale Toast" because there was really no other choice. While being forced to hear them through the walls I came up with some really brilliant lyrics to be sung by bands made up of sensitive, heterosexual white men trying to make incredibly inoffensive "rock" music for the ladies. Here are some samples of my lyrical genius:
"I've been thinking a lot about stuff about you."
"I would like to hear about your feelings now."
"I set TIVO with a season pass for Gray's Anatomy."
"Why yes, I will gladly hold your purse while you shop for shoes."
The oddest thing about this band is how the members were decked out in tight black outfits with slashy bangs and emo stylings yet sounded like they should be playing in a beige room in beige outfits on National Beige Day. But that is kind of what the uber mainstream world of "rock" music looks like these days. Skinny dudes in eyeliner with bird hair and tattoo sleeves who look like they're gonna be all punk rock and then make Coldplay seem edgy, angry and, well, like a band that isn't totally snore-tastic.
But in spite of being submitted to this musical torture we all made it through the day and are THIS much closer to being done with the record. Soon we will reconvene to finish off Peter's vocals, record my little backing bits and polish it all up like shiny, shiny chrome. Some words that have been utilized while hearing this current batch of songs include "grand", "epic-ish", "balls out", "balls outside of the pants", "can we eat lunch now?" and "who wants to go on a beer run?" Exciting, no?
Happy day off,
Chriso
During the course of Peter's sing-a-thon we were "treated" to the sounds of a band practicing in the studio next door. They were, for lack of a better description, The Most Boring Band Ever. We didn't know their name but Aaron and I decided it was "Stale Toast" because there was really no other choice. While being forced to hear them through the walls I came up with some really brilliant lyrics to be sung by bands made up of sensitive, heterosexual white men trying to make incredibly inoffensive "rock" music for the ladies. Here are some samples of my lyrical genius:
"I've been thinking a lot about stuff about you."
"I would like to hear about your feelings now."
"I set TIVO with a season pass for Gray's Anatomy."
"Why yes, I will gladly hold your purse while you shop for shoes."
The oddest thing about this band is how the members were decked out in tight black outfits with slashy bangs and emo stylings yet sounded like they should be playing in a beige room in beige outfits on National Beige Day. But that is kind of what the uber mainstream world of "rock" music looks like these days. Skinny dudes in eyeliner with bird hair and tattoo sleeves who look like they're gonna be all punk rock and then make Coldplay seem edgy, angry and, well, like a band that isn't totally snore-tastic.
But in spite of being submitted to this musical torture we all made it through the day and are THIS much closer to being done with the record. Soon we will reconvene to finish off Peter's vocals, record my little backing bits and polish it all up like shiny, shiny chrome. Some words that have been utilized while hearing this current batch of songs include "grand", "epic-ish", "balls out", "balls outside of the pants", "can we eat lunch now?" and "who wants to go on a beer run?" Exciting, no?
Happy day off,
Chriso
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Day Seven!
What, you may ask, happened to days five and six? No one really knows, to be honest. There may have been some sort of temporal anomaly or a wrinkle in time or sunspots or a band-wide case of amnesia. But it's more likely that no one bothered to do anything with the camera and thus the blog was bare. But have no fear, this weekend we have a few little tidbits for the fives of sevens of you reading this! Today we began the grueling task of recording vocals. This often involves several moments known as Every Muscian's Worst Nightmare. Such a nightmare occurs when one has to hear one's vocals played back in the control room a capella without any backing tracks! It's truly heinous, gentle readers, and a fate I would not wish on my worst enemy.
But! More important than the recording of vocals is the discovery of what just might be the most perfect album art image we have ever stumbled across:
How flawless is that? Alas, we know not the name of this true artist and wordsmith so nary can we use it for our album cover lest we steal his or her thunder without credit. Okay, we kid, we kid, this is not going to be our album art. But maybe the back cover photo? Or just tucked into the liner notes? It's kind of too perfect not to use in some capacity. In searching around the compound where Castle Ultimate is housed I stumbled upon some other graffiti:
Pithy, no? But the question begs: is this graffiti emo or simply bar rock? The first line implies a somewhat emo sensibility. But the g-less "livin'" calls to mind a kind of Joe Cocker-esque bar rock vibe. It's really hard to say so let's create a new genre of "bar emo" and see if we can spread that around. Can you even imagine the lyrical and sonic horrors that could spring from this newly formed genre? The mind reels!
So today was all about Colin and his vocalizing. And all about Peter hiding in his car and feverishly trying to complete lyrics for the many songs he needs to record vocals for tomorrow. Colin crooned and wailed and belted and seranaded his way through more than half a dozen songs. At the very end he had to butch it up for his vocals on the song "Payback", an old song brought back to life that is full of scandalous lyrics of a rather prurient nature. Here's a little clip of him recording said vocals that was recorded unbeknownst to him through a dirty, dirty window:
So manly! So rawk! And yes, you can hear Aaron at the end about to tell him to do part of it over due to voice crackage. But seriously, he really howled it out for this song and I think it's going to be one of the best tracks on the album. I was really proud of Colin today because he jumped outside of a lot of his past lyrical boundaries and came up with some great stuff. But I don't wanna get all gushy and mushy here. We're heading back in tomorrow to tackle Peter's songs and maybe do my little doo-wop-shoo-wop-bop backing vocals as well. Expect more surreptitious video to come!
Sleep tight,
Chriso
But! More important than the recording of vocals is the discovery of what just might be the most perfect album art image we have ever stumbled across:
How flawless is that? Alas, we know not the name of this true artist and wordsmith so nary can we use it for our album cover lest we steal his or her thunder without credit. Okay, we kid, we kid, this is not going to be our album art. But maybe the back cover photo? Or just tucked into the liner notes? It's kind of too perfect not to use in some capacity. In searching around the compound where Castle Ultimate is housed I stumbled upon some other graffiti:
Pithy, no? But the question begs: is this graffiti emo or simply bar rock? The first line implies a somewhat emo sensibility. But the g-less "livin'" calls to mind a kind of Joe Cocker-esque bar rock vibe. It's really hard to say so let's create a new genre of "bar emo" and see if we can spread that around. Can you even imagine the lyrical and sonic horrors that could spring from this newly formed genre? The mind reels!
So today was all about Colin and his vocalizing. And all about Peter hiding in his car and feverishly trying to complete lyrics for the many songs he needs to record vocals for tomorrow. Colin crooned and wailed and belted and seranaded his way through more than half a dozen songs. At the very end he had to butch it up for his vocals on the song "Payback", an old song brought back to life that is full of scandalous lyrics of a rather prurient nature. Here's a little clip of him recording said vocals that was recorded unbeknownst to him through a dirty, dirty window:
So manly! So rawk! And yes, you can hear Aaron at the end about to tell him to do part of it over due to voice crackage. But seriously, he really howled it out for this song and I think it's going to be one of the best tracks on the album. I was really proud of Colin today because he jumped outside of a lot of his past lyrical boundaries and came up with some great stuff. But I don't wanna get all gushy and mushy here. We're heading back in tomorrow to tackle Peter's songs and maybe do my little doo-wop-shoo-wop-bop backing vocals as well. Expect more surreptitious video to come!
Sleep tight,
Chriso
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Days Three & Four!
The second weekend of recording has come and gone. Shall I tell you what exactly transpired over those two industrious days?
Well, we were done with the drums, so no Sharkbite luxuriousness for us this weekend. Still, Castle Ultimate Studios almost feels like home at this point. We've spent so many hours in the various rooms there experiencing however many emotions one can feel while recording. So, it was nice to be back in familiar territory.
Saturday started around noon. After a BART mixup with Peter waiting for me at West Oakland as he had done the weekend before and my reverting back to disembarking at Ashby, the day was underway. First things first: restringing guitars. I know, it sounds like the most fun anyone could be having on a gorgeous, sunny, hot Saturday in the East Bay! And it isn't!
So, once the geetars were all gussied up and sounding beautiful, we started tackling the songs one by one. The one aspect of recording that I always forget--or more likely shove to the back of my brain--is that we use a myriad (Heather would never use the word . . .) of guitars, most of which are Aaron's. And all guitars, no matter how much they look alike, are different. Add new strings (which bend and pull much easier than old strings) to unfamiliar guitars and you pretty much have my worst nightmare.
But Aaron is a great recording engineer and he always has the perfect suggestion or helpful tip to nail a take. It is only one of the many reasons why we choose to record with him over and over again. He also is a pretty phenomenal guitar player himself so he understands what sounds and tones he can get out of the guitars. It's really interesting to watch how easily he locks into a certain sound and then realize it sounds purrrrrfect for that specific song.
Saturday was an 8 hour day and we completed 6 songs. Go us!
Sunday was Mother's Day so we decided not to record and instead fly our mothers into San Francisco and take them to brunch. Not really, silly reader.
We flew in our mothers so that THEY could record the guitars. Duh!
Anyway, due to the sacred day that all mothers secretly wait for all year, our session would begin later that day at 2pm. And of course that gave me all morning to relax and hang out and enjoy the weather. Nope! All I could think of was how those bendy strings were going to feel like wet noodles underneath my fingers later that afternoon. Positive thinking at its best!
Well, Sunday started with a few songs on which Peter plays guitar. I love hearing him play the guitar. He is that kind of guitar player that can make you hear every single note in the chord that he is playing. And he does so effortlessly.
It was at this point during Peter's time under the microphone that I went out to have a smoke. There in the hot sun, I heard Peter playing a chiming guitar to a song that is sort of a dark horse in the running as my favorite song. It was very Unrest meets Nada Surf and it made me smile.
I could go on about the rest of the day but it was more of the same. And how many more wet noodle references do you really need in your day? I thought so. Just take comfort knowing that there will be a wondrous, beautifully toned, chiming guitar floating just above the drums on one of our songs.
- Colin
Well, we were done with the drums, so no Sharkbite luxuriousness for us this weekend. Still, Castle Ultimate Studios almost feels like home at this point. We've spent so many hours in the various rooms there experiencing however many emotions one can feel while recording. So, it was nice to be back in familiar territory.
Saturday started around noon. After a BART mixup with Peter waiting for me at West Oakland as he had done the weekend before and my reverting back to disembarking at Ashby, the day was underway. First things first: restringing guitars. I know, it sounds like the most fun anyone could be having on a gorgeous, sunny, hot Saturday in the East Bay! And it isn't!
So, once the geetars were all gussied up and sounding beautiful, we started tackling the songs one by one. The one aspect of recording that I always forget--or more likely shove to the back of my brain--is that we use a myriad (Heather would never use the word . . .) of guitars, most of which are Aaron's. And all guitars, no matter how much they look alike, are different. Add new strings (which bend and pull much easier than old strings) to unfamiliar guitars and you pretty much have my worst nightmare.
But Aaron is a great recording engineer and he always has the perfect suggestion or helpful tip to nail a take. It is only one of the many reasons why we choose to record with him over and over again. He also is a pretty phenomenal guitar player himself so he understands what sounds and tones he can get out of the guitars. It's really interesting to watch how easily he locks into a certain sound and then realize it sounds purrrrrfect for that specific song.
Saturday was an 8 hour day and we completed 6 songs. Go us!
Sunday was Mother's Day so we decided not to record and instead fly our mothers into San Francisco and take them to brunch. Not really, silly reader.
We flew in our mothers so that THEY could record the guitars. Duh!
Anyway, due to the sacred day that all mothers secretly wait for all year, our session would begin later that day at 2pm. And of course that gave me all morning to relax and hang out and enjoy the weather. Nope! All I could think of was how those bendy strings were going to feel like wet noodles underneath my fingers later that afternoon. Positive thinking at its best!
Well, Sunday started with a few songs on which Peter plays guitar. I love hearing him play the guitar. He is that kind of guitar player that can make you hear every single note in the chord that he is playing. And he does so effortlessly.
It was at this point during Peter's time under the microphone that I went out to have a smoke. There in the hot sun, I heard Peter playing a chiming guitar to a song that is sort of a dark horse in the running as my favorite song. It was very Unrest meets Nada Surf and it made me smile.
I could go on about the rest of the day but it was more of the same. And how many more wet noodle references do you really need in your day? I thought so. Just take comfort knowing that there will be a wondrous, beautifully toned, chiming guitar floating just above the drums on one of our songs.
- Colin
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Day Two!
Do you see what that is? That is a list of all of the songs for our third album that are now FINISHED as far as tracking drums goes. F to the i to the n to the ished! Done-zo! Complete! For drums. And then comes guitar, bass, handclaps, tambourines, bells, whistles, etc. and the dulcet tones of Peter, Colin and my not so dulcet backing vocals. Please make note of the fact that, at the bottom of said song list, a 13th song is added. Yes! We revived a song we haven't played for years that was crying out to be included on this album. It was originally an Amscray song (Colin's old band) that was never recorded and we used to play it live. Well, now it's back in recorded form and, with some always welcome advice from the fantastic Mr. Aaron Hellam, it has some rock solid drum parts and is ready to be unleashed on the world. But to be warned, it contains some "adult themes". You know, about stuff that happens without underwear on. Gasp!
And, because you are have doubtlessly been salivating for it, here is a closer look at what it looks like at Sharkbite Studios. Try to shield your eyes from the oppulent splendor of our rockstar surroundings!
A sadly non-working Star Trek pinball machine!
A real live sound engineer tuning my drums!
A complex sound board with serious markings that only professionals can understand!
Skateboarding kitty!
And an actual musician!
But all joking aside, it was really fantastic to get to spend this first weekend of recording at Sharkbite. They have such a great room for capturing drum sounds and said drums sound huge and booming and ready to have some amazing guitar and bass played over them. I think we're all really psyched to move on to the next few phases of recording and get this album finished and ready to share with our tens of twenties of fans. I am especially thrilled (although I think I speak for all of us) that Peter has contributed a lot of songwriting to this album. It really feels like a balanced, collaborative effort and it's naturally caused our sound to evolve and grow without us changing into a whole different band. I can't wait for you all to hear it! Hopefully we will have some little preview tidbits in the near future.
Have an awesome week and check back here this weekend for more recording update goodness.
Rock and/or roll,
Chriso
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