4/12/08 - IPR Studios - Tony

April 12, 2008
IPR Studios
Minneapolis, Minn.

Studio Diary - Tony (4/12/08) Hey there, true believers. There have been many one- or two-person sessions since I last posted a studio diary, but I decided that last night's session warranted an entry. Well, to back up a bit, last week we ventured to a different studio in Minneapolis to record some organ parts. Dustin and Anthony had their way with the organ. That's what she said. The organ is good. You will enjoy it. All what she said. Last night's session was indeed quite productive. While Dan and Anthony were working on vocals in Studio 7, Gabe and I were listening while a fella named Dylan Lewis laid down some banjo in Studio 2. Yep. Banjo. In one section of one song. Pretty sweet. After Dylan was finished, Gabe set me up to record some auxilliary percussion. I laid down some congas on a couple tracks, some shaker, a few tambourines and some hand claps. It has sure been awhile since I played auxiliiary so much. My hands are actually somewhat sore today. Not what she said. After that was finished, we did some sweet gang vocals for a track, others to be added to the gang later. Very exciting stuff. My wife, Liza, got a nice sneak peek last night. She showed up at the studio to visit and we played back a few tracks for her. She loved them. Success! After I left at about 2 a.m., Anthony stayed behind with the intention of finishing up his acoustic guitars and vocals. I haven't spoken with him today, so I'm not aware of how that ended up. Regardless, this album is really coming along. Every session we have is moving us one step closer to end. The tentative goal is to have all parts recorded by the end of next weekend if at all possible. That's when Elizabeth is reported to be visiting from Aberdeen to lay down her violin tracks. It's going to be great, folks. Be excited! ...tony...

3/2/08 - IPR Studios - Tony

March 2, 2008
IPR Studios
Minneapolis, Minn.

Studio Diary - Tony (3/2/08) Drums for Share are finished! Tonight was our final drum session at IPR Studios in Minneapolis. It was also the most successful session in terms of time efficiency. In the past, mic setup has seemed to take a long time, but it turns out that perhaps we, the band, were just in the way! The studio was booked starting at 4:00 p.m., so Gabe and Dan got all the mics and stands ready and we loaded in about 4:30. We got amps and drums set up, and then went to eat at Grumpy's. By the time we were done eating, we were nearly ready to roll. Our first take came in at around 7:15 or so, rather than our record latest start of about 8:45. And by 9:30, we already had drum takes solid for two out of three songs. A fun little tidbit about this final drum session is that we ended on the song, "M'Lady." That was also the very first track we recorded back on December 2 – exactly three months from this session. After a number of successful sessions, we listened back to the very first tracks, and they didn't sound good at all. We realized that we actually learned how to better play in the studio, listening to one another and to the click track. We decided that we could definitely do "M'Lady" better justice. So it served as a bookend to the drum experience for this record. It's surprising how well this session went. Dustin and I had both expressed concern that perhaps we weren't quite ready yet on two of three of the songs; that maybe we were rushing ourselves by recording these songs right now. That, and our rehearsal this afternoon was only the first or second time Kai has joined us on "Aphrodite" and "So True." It was hard to tell once we got into the studio, however. We got several solid takes on all the tunes, and we were all satisfied with what got put down. We wrapped at about 11:15. After listening to a few takes and packing up, we still had time to go back to Grumpy's for a drink and karaoke. The karaoke performances were as follows: Dustin – "White Wedding" by Billy Idol Anthony – "All These Things I've Done" by The Killers Tony – "Tomorrow" by Silverchair Kai – "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies Gabe – "Hey Ya" by Outkast ...tony...

2/24/08 - IPR Studios - Tony

February 24, 2008
IPR Studios
Minneapolis, Minn.

Studio Diary - Tony (2/24/08) Tonight, the four of us made it into the studio and to my surprise, in all of this, tonight was the first time that Kai met Dan. Strange. Tonight we decided to hit two of our bigger songs and a third if we had time. Well, we didn't have time for a third, but that's okay because we got some good work done on both "Chosen Ones" and "Share." We haven't played "Share" for a long time. We played it at some shows in 2006, but not really much since then. But tonight was fine. We got drum and bass tracks down. It'll come out fine. "Chosen Ones" underwent a lot of discussion in rehearsal. Some parts we felt were too long, others felt out of place. Sometimes it felt like there wasn't enough differentiation between sections. Our rehearsal seemed to bleed into the studio. The start of the takes was delayed, because we were still discussing the structure of the song! But in the end, it all worked out. I accidentally came up with a new portion of a drum part while sound-checking the kit. That single part seemed to give the song what it needed. Now it's unstoppable, baby. And other words like that. Gabe wasn't with us all night, as he had a previous engagement. Dan ran the show tonight, with Gabe present at the beginning and the end of the night. ...tony...

2/22/08 - IPR Studios - Tony

February 22, 2008
IPR Studios
Minneapolis, Minn.

Studio Diary - Tony (2/22/08) Tonight's session was a quickie, focusing on specific aspects of "Moon Over the Water" and "Last Night." I came in to record vibe parts for both songs and all three of us recorded our vocals for "Last Night" as well. Both Gabe and Dan are entering each of these songs into a showcase sponsored by the school, and the winner will be working on projects with industry producers. To keep it short and sweet, the vibe parts were simple, and the vocal parts were straightforward. It was a quick, efficient session. ...tony...

2/10/08 - IPR Studios - Tony

February 10, 2008
IPR Studios
Minneapolis, Minn.

Studio Diary - Tony (2/10/08) It was another good night at IPR. We ushered ourselves into Studio 7 for a shorter session, focusing exclusively on "Moon Over the Water," which is a song that probably nobody else has heard, except the Junebug girlfriends and perhaps Danny Ch. It's coming along beautifully. First of all, we nailed down Anthony's vocals and then Dustin and I tried our hands in the vocal booth. We threw, down, baby...and that's a fact. Amongst the three of us, we put down a sweet four-part harmony that you are looking forward to. That's also a fact. After the vox were wrapped, Dustin threw down some pretty sweet guitar tracks that will rock someone's face off. Probably yours. Afterward, there was discussion of ogran, vibes, chimes, and more. We'll see how this one fleshes out. The rock is happening. Fact. And Danny Ch. gets HUGE props. You know what I'm talking about, nuge. Rawk it. That is all. ...tony...

1/27/08 - IPR Studios - Tony

January 27, 2008
IPR Studios
Minneapolis, Minn.

Studio Diary - Tony (1/27/08) Another decent studio session took place, focusing on bass and guitars. We worked on "Moon Over the Water," "Spring Fever," and "M'Lady." "Spring Fever" is sounding nice and "Moon" is sounding really beautiful thus far. We've half-way decided to scrap what we've done with "M'Lady" and do it over, since it was the very FIRST thing we've recorded and we've gotten better at playing in the studio since then. So that may take up a little more time than we had originally expected. There was a lot of reading of The Onion, attempts at crosswords, viewing of YouTube videos and re-hashing of dirty jokes involving family members. It was a good day. Yeah. That's what your mom said last night. Rawk it! ...tony...

1/19/08 - IPR Studios - Tony

January 19, 2008
IPR Studios
Minneapolis, Minn.

Studio Diary - Tony (1/19/08) It was another good night at IPR Studios in Minneapolis. We put down some solid drum tracks on Spring Fever and Moon Over the Water, and some guitar keepers as well. We were working with Gabe and Dan tonight, on a sort of low-key session. Spring Fever and Moon Over the Water don't exactly BRING THE ROCK, but they do bring the VERY NICE VIBES. Also recorded was a Spring Fever reprise, currently titled "Summertime." Along the same theme, "Winterlude," which became instantly available for download from our MySpace profile. We are brilliant. That is all about that. Next weekend we plan on working on guitars and vocals on a few things and in a couple weeks, we'll be back for more drum tracking. Nicely nicely. We ate Taco Bell last night. Gotta go. ...tony...

1/5/08 - IPR Studios - Tony

January 5, 2008
IPR Studios
Minneapolis, Minn.

Studio Diary - Tony (1/5/08) After taking a few weeks' break for the holidays, Junebug went back to IPR Studios with Gabe and a new assistant, Matt. It wasn't too hard to get back into the swing of things. However, there was a problem at the studio regarding the closing of some door and some boiler room not venting and a board nearly frying or something. None of this was due to us, but it caused some minor complications. We recorded drums on "M'Lady" in our very first session a month ago, but we were going to attempt to lay down the guitar and bass tonight. But as it was, right when it was set up to record, the studio we were in was to be occupied by another group. So we abandoned it for the night and moved on in to studio 2. We started off with a seriously solid three takes of "Last Night" in which we captured very usuable drum and bass tracks. The third take of "Last Night" was by far the best thing we recorded in this session. Look forward to it. It sounds great. Regarding the bass, we have a new bassist in studio with us now, which is very welcome news for us. We've been bassless since our last show in August, and it feels great to play with the low end again. Anthony knows him from his Fargo days, and I actually met him in 1994 at the North Dakota state one-acts competition. He's a tough guy to forget. His name is Kai Catudio and he's living in Minneapolis and he fits our groove quite nicely. We had two rehearsals with Kai earlier this week and he was ready to jump right into the studio with us tonight and he had a great showing. The other song we recorded tonight was "Good Vibes," and like "Last Night," we got some pretty solid takes. We knocked down the drum and bass parts on Good Vibes as well, and everything is really shaping up to be fantastic. Out of the (currently) eleven tracks slated for the album, we've got drums tracks for five of them and we're nearly finished with two songs. We talked briefly tonight and it looks like at this point we're shooting for a mid-summer release of the album. Don't quote that, however. We never know what may come up to delay production and such. There was also talk of a possible pre-release EP including a couple of album tracks and a couple non-album tracks as well. Again, it's just an idea at this point, but it's a good one, you know. So 2008 is off to a good start for us. We're back in the studio, we're playing with a bassist, we've got some finalists in the new name pool, and we're looking to the future. On and ever upward. And stuff. ...tony...