We just completed the cover shot photo session for the new record. It was a blast. For any of that session to make sense I need to tell you that we're changing the title of the record to "Working Until I Die"
Why is Royal Monaco on the trash heap (for now)? We spent a great deal of time talking about the concept for the album design. Royal Monaco is a car, in fact the first car I learned to drive, but I liked the title because it could be anything. When we started working on exactly what the cover should be it was difficult to nail it down.
We talked about shooting a car, but i did that on the 2004 record, Road Side Service. Not interested in a cover that comes to close to that one. So, that pretty much ruled out a car image.
We also began to look at the songs that made the record and how they might be related. Royal Monaco was conceived as a title before I had even written some of the songs that will make up the playlist. When I looked at the 13 tracks that will make up the record I started to see a through-line.
I saw a smart article the other day that examined which 10 year span in the history of the country has been the worst. The civil war years were, if I remember, the worst. WWII, The Depression, are all up there...and the last ten years - from Sept 2001 to Sept 2011 are in the top five. Not to bring the room down, but it just seems that whatever safety net we ever had...rising home prices, a pension...those things are gone. Perhaps never to return and so like I say in the song, "I'll be working until I die."
So, when I look at the song list I see titles like, Little Less Fun, I Ain't That Kind of Cowboy, Coming For You, and the mentioned, Working Until I Die I saw aggressive subjects....fighting, insisting, mourning....working hard and refusing to give up. I still couldn't quite nail it down.
One night over many beers Tony Horkins said, I've got it. This about is about working until you die and it should be called, Working Until I Die. Damn he was right.
So WUID it is. That fed right into our cover photo, which we shot in the most bland and soulless corporate office we could find. Here are some behind the scene's snapshots. I felt so fortunate to have British mega talent photog John Chappel on the job. His work is amazing and although I haven't seen the final images I'm confident it's going to be great.
-----
WHAT'S NEXT?
We're deep in the post-production stage of this record. The songs are being mixed in Boston. We're getting email tracks every day - making notes and rushing around to listen in different sound environments. Some people say to me, "Who cares if it sounds good? Everybody just dumbs it down to MP3's and listens with ear buds. It doesn't need to sound good!" I just can't do that. I still have my fingers crossed that someday we'll be back to the high fidelity world, and I want the record to sound as good as it can. Even if most people won't notice. I'LL NOTICE!
So there's mixing, mastering (more on that when it happens) album art design, and manufacturing. I'm projecting a January 15 completion date...keep your fingers crossed.
I just had the extreme good fortune today to attend an intimate acoustic "show" with Dave playing solo in someone’s home. As I drove away on my scooter, I started thinking about the lessons I had just absorbed from this master songwriter and performer.
If age ever mattered, It doesn’t now
There is this notion out there that an artist’s best work is done in his younger years, and by the time he’s past 50, certainly, he’s done as a creative force. The press loves to take a legendary artist and then compare a new song they’ve heard twice to a song they’ve been living with for 30 years. This happens daily. But to my ears, Dave’s powers of melody, story and songcraft are increasing. And the signs of age, only add to the personae and gravitas of his work. He doesn’t need to dye his beard or wear a wig or pretend to be 25.
Respect the New Material
Dave will play an old song, but he plays the new stuff and he stands up next to it and says, “This is as good as anything I’ve ever done.” He doesn’t beg you to sit through the new material as payment to hear an old favorite. He treats his new material with love and dignity.
Give The Audience Some Help…
Dave talks about his songs. He sometimes gives you a sentence, and sometimes a whole story. But whichever way he goes, he gives you just enough to be in the world of the song. You’re hungry for every word. You’ve been completely primed for the experience.
…But Don’t Kiss Their Ass
Dave exhibits great dignity even in a humble surrounding playing for 25 people. He doesn’t glad hand and kiss ass. He’s there on business, and he means business. He stands apart, warming up and getting ready. He’s not taking himself too seriously, but he takes the work seriously.
We've rapped up our time at Kingsize Soundlabs. Let me give you a rundown of what happened.
5 days of all day long studio work is a little disorienting, but at the end of the day the majority of the 11 tracks we recorded went down between 2pm Monday and 4pm Tuesday. The band played and played and played. I have to hand it to Tony Horkins, Josh Fleeger, and Larry Marciano. I was not sure if these guys could record live as a unit. It's pressure-filled and you've got to have you A game working. They all kicked ass.
After 4pm tuesday we started thinking about fixing the little mistakes we made but keeping the basic tracks. So, for instance, 98% of Josh's bass track would be fine. Josh would either punch in and fix his mistake or Producer Paul would find a note somewhere in the song that was the same as the flub and cut and paste the fix in. This is an amazing and terrible tool. Luckily, we didn't have to do too much computer magic to get things where they should be.
Then Larry and I began playing around with different guitars to create some interesting tones on top of what we already had. The details of all this may bore some readers, but I brought two amps into the session. A 1965 Fender Deluxe reissue and a 1964 Fender VibroVerb reissue. The idea behind re-issued amps is that a company will pull the old original schematic for a very popular amplifier and make a new version. It let's you get your hands on the old fashioned sound without paying thousands and thousands of dollars. It's also important if you're a traveling band because things had a tendency to get stolen. Losing an original 1965 deluxe on the road would put me in the frame of mind to slash my wrists. So, this is a good option.
The deluxe was too noisy, so we used the big 'un, the vibroverb to cut my guitar parts with my Gretsch 6120 guitar. Once we had that tone down we went back with my beloved 1976 Les Paul and THE studio amp, an actual late 60's Fender Princeton. It's a small amp, but it just sounds perfect.
Then Larry came in and did some additional parts, mixing tones and parts. We've got some video of Larry sitting with Paul and working on guitar parts.
Then I cut some mandolin, some B3, (very basic B3), and a little Farfeeza organ, which you may never hear in the final product. Just experimenting. Along the way tony jumped in when someone had to have a smoke break and cut tambourine, shaker, and other percussion.
Because a man can only sing so much in a day, I tried to cut vocals a little each day. But of course, we're doing all this in 5 days and that doesn't leave as much luxury for 11 songs as you might like. By Thursday night I had knocked out most everything. Friday morning, I was patching up a few parts and leaned in too close to the mic, causing it to distort. When it comes to guitars distortion is a good thing, and a slight distortion on a vocal is also pretty charming. If you listen to the old Otis Redding records he drives that microphone so hard. It distorts at every turn, and man, he sounds great. I've never done it before, but Paul liked what he heard and so...I basically RE-SANG in the entire album on Friday. One right after the next...Bam, Bam, Bam. I was a mess when it was over.
In fact I had to go be on a radio show...hosted by my friend Shark. 103.1 is the station and I've got some photos here from that as well. WHAT A DAY! I even met Donald Duck at the radio station!
So, by the time we got to the end of the evening on Friday we had 11 tunes, lacking only some overdubs. It was hard work and an amazing experience. I'll keep you in the loop as we continue forward with ROYAL MONACO!
[caption id="attachment_1288" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Paul manning the board..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1289" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The team after a week of hard work..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1290" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The man in the booth..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1293" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fleeger lays down his massive and imposing licks on the ugliest ovation bass..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1294" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dont ask..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1295" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="I bump into Donald Duck at the radio station..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1297" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="The Indie 103.1 studio and DJ Shark..."][/caption]
KINGSIZE SOUND
Glassell Park, CA
So, here we are at 5pm on the 2nd day of our work together. All 6 of us...band, producer, and engineer packed into a smallish studio. We've cut some of all the tunes we want to record. It's been a new and interesting process for us. I was talking during lunch today how in the 14 years that I've been recording professional records in studios not one time have I ever tracked the entire band playing at the same time. That may come as a shock to many of you, but it's just not the typical way bands work anymore. Scheduling can be hard. Getting 4 guys in a room together is a challenge. You need a studio that can accommodate four or five players in such a way that isolates their instruments. These kinds of studios are typically more expensive. In fact, many of the places I've worked would not even allow for the tracking of a full drum set. These tiny studios are perfectly good for recording vocals, guitars, etc...but you're usually in there all by yourself.
The recordings are built one instrument at a time, like a brick wall. The bass player never sees the drummer. The lead guitars never sees the singer. It's an odd way to do things, if you think about it, but economics and convenience win out time and time again.
This is a different animal. All four guys are playing together. I'm singing, although the vocals are just for a reference. We'll re-do them when the band isn't playing.
AND as if that's not all enough, we're doing this without a click track. A click track is a metronome that the drummer listens to while he plays. It keeps him strictly on tempo and makes it easy to overdub at a later time. We're going bareback. No click. Au Natural. It makes us subject to the whims of drummer Tony Horkins. If he speeds up, we speed up. So far, it's been fine, but you never really notice that stuff until you start to record things over it. Then the changes in tempo that happen during a tune hit you in the face.
Typically, we're arriving at 10am and playing together until 6 or 7pm. Sending out for lunch. Fixing odds and ends when when need a break. It's focused work, with a dash of pressure...and exactly where we want to be.
So, here's some photos, a little video documenting the last couple of days. We're working on the following tunes...
Along For the Ride, She Don't Have a Clue, Try Me, Everyone Loves Me When I Am Drunk, Coming For You, Scene of The Crime, The Honky Tonk Special, Sweet Little Girl, I Fall For It Every Time, Working Until I Die, and Trouble Knows
I have very good news to announce. I think it even falls into the GREAT category.
Thanks to so many of you fine people, we've reached the pre-sell goal for the new record! As of this moment, 134 people have purchased one of the ROYAL MONACO packages accounting for $8,051! I'm so blown away by the generosity and interest in this recording. It's really gone better than my wildest imagination and I can't thank you all enough. Truly, I cannot. One person that deserves immediate and copious thanks is my wife, Catie. Her assistance has been monumental.
Some very talent people came over last night and sat in my backyard. We made this little video demo of a song that is going to be on the new record, "Working Until I Die". The cast of contributors includes Supermodel Bassist, Josh Fleeger. Songwriter and Singer Extraordinare, Sarah Stanley, Hot Shot Guitarist and Leader of his own blues band, Johnny Hawthorn, and guitarist of the fab band Last American Buffalo, Josh Grolemund. (Here on drums)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dBitH3XDg
You can still buy pre-sell packages until the project closes on June 26th, so if you know someone who would like to buy one of the packages, tell them to go for it. If you haven't yet and want to participate in this pre-sell, feel free to go ahead. We would love you to. Click Here.
Lastly, if you have contributed. On July 1, we'll be sending a request for your mailing address and the name as you'd like it printing within the liner notes of the record. We will also be documenting each and every part of the recording process so you can keep track. I'll be updating my blog as often as possible, so bookmark this page.
http://grantlangston.com/category/blog
This is going to be a fantastic ride, I'm certain of that. Thanks for your vote of support and I look forward to sharing the final recording with you all.
Love!
G
Hi everyone,
We're announcing the pre-sell for the new Grant Langston record, ROYAL MONACO. We're asking everyone to pre-buy a copy of the new record to help fund the recording. We're trying to raise $8,000 between now and June 29th. We NEED your help. Please click the widget below to contribute...and THANKS!
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We barely got into Britain because of that darn volcano.
Shows were really good.
Order Dilantin with No Prescription, Tony got an infection in his foot, which rendered him unable to play the kick drum for a show - but it worked out just fine.
Despite minimal drinking and pronounced efforts to remain healthy, i start to feel a little tightness in my throat.
By the time we got out into the west of England, we had all the kinks worked out. The band sounded great, and we had our daily travel vibe set. Up at 11am, australia, uk, us, usa, lunch, read, Online buy Dilantin without a prescription, walk around, hit the road, check into the hotel, eat dinner, real brand Dilantin online, load in, visit, Fast shipping Dilantin, play, drink, hotel about 1am. The rhythm was comforting, ordering Dilantin online.
But the day we got to Swindon, my luck ran out.
I had felt bad, and been taking medicine, Order Dilantin with No Prescription. Buy Dilantin from mexico, I had been working the Netti Pot and the hot water bottle, but when I woke up the morning of the Swindon show, I just couldn't sing. My usual full-voice range is from low G to high E or F, Dilantin from canadian pharmacy. Today it was low G to middle E. That's about 5 notes. Order Dilantin with No Prescription, While the boys hit the town, and have fun I'm in the hotel room worrying, gargling, medicating, standing in the bathroom with the hot water creating steam breathing deep, hoping for a miracle. Buy generic Dilantin, We could cancel the show, but on these tours the money is already spent. You need to play every night to keep the books balanced. We don't cancel, rx free Dilantin.
As we drive over to the club I'm still thinking I can make it through. I know that I'll have to rewrite the melody lines as I go, Order Dilantin with No Prescription. There's no way I can sing these songs as written. Dilantin samples, I'm no Pavarotti, but I like to write melodies that go up and down...tonight the voice ain't going up and down. Tony tells me that someone he knows is going to be there with a 4 camera rig ready to record the show for posterity, sweet jesus, purchase Dilantin online.
We unload, set it up, Dilantin price, coupon, and I go to the toilet to warm up. Order Dilantin with No Prescription, Except that i have no voice. No nothing. Not 5 notes...Not 1 note. I can hear these guys tuning up, where can i find Dilantin online, and I'm in trouble. I go grab Johnny (Hawthorn who is playing guitar on this tour) and tell him the bad news. "Johnny is there anyway we can get up a list of blues numbers that you can sing, so we can entertain these folks tonight?" He nods and we start digging into the songs that we can perform, Order Dilantin with No Prescription. Purchase Dilantin online no prescription, Much to my surprise, we work up two sets worth of music that Johnny can sing, and we can hack our way through. I know Johnny is a talented guy who has his own band, order Dilantin online overnight delivery no prescription, but it's 20 minutes til show time and most of these songs are complete unknowns to Josh, Tony and myself. Buy no prescription Dilantin online, I take the mic and explain to the club what's up. The people are very gracious and once we get going things sound pretty damn good. Order Dilantin with No Prescription, Johnny sounds really good. It KILLS me to see all that video tape burning on the band doing Muddy Waters tunes, but I'm so thankful that we're getting through it, ordering Dilantin online. At the end of the night, the bartendar makes me a hot toddy and we head back to the hotel feeling like we dodged a bullet. Dilantin from canadian pharmacy, The next night is in Bristol. We played in Bristol 3 years ago...a great club called The Prom and I had a migraine headache. We made it through but I was barely able to stand up, Order Dilantin with No Prescription. In fact, I remember the pain of that night much more than I remember anything about the club, where to buy Dilantin. I'm so worried that tonight is going to be another substandard performance. I feel like I need to make up for the last show here, Order Dilantin from United States pharmacy, not limp in with another excuse to be terrible.
Once we get to the hotel, the boys set off for fun and I stay in the hotel room doing my routine. Order Dilantin with No Prescription, After 3 hours of hot shows, gargling, hot tea and netti pot, I get hungry and go looking for some grub. There's nothing good nearby, buying Dilantin online over the counter, but I do see a KFC. Now, Purchase Dilantin online no prescription, I'm trying to eat a little better these days, but I think that KFC would be a good choice for one reason. I can grab lots of little packets of salt, which I can use for my hot salt water gargle, buy Dilantin no prescription. Once inside I decide that a little fried chicken couldn't hurt, and I get a two piece meal.
My voice is about the same as yesterday, Order Dilantin with No Prescription. Dilantin over the counter, Rough, phlegm choked, and inflexible. I'm certainly worried about the show tonight, rx free Dilantin. As soon as I eat those two pieces of chicken I remember something I heard Christian singer Amy Grant say once. When she is in the studio singing she has potato chips in the booth. Order Dilantin with No Prescription, She said that the grease lubed her vocal chords. Purchase Dilantin online, So, I tried to do a little singing in the KFC. LOW AND BEHOLD...my voice sounded pretty good. At least I had the flexibility to sing the melody, buy Dilantin online cod. WHOA. of course, in about 20 minutes the benefits were gone, but I was encouraged, Order Dilantin with No Prescription. Before I left, Order Dilantin from mexican pharmacy, I went over and grabbed about 50 little packs of salt.
When we left for the show, I grabbed the electric kettle that every European hotel room has. On the way, where can i buy cheapest Dilantin online, I stopped and got a huge bag of chips. The stage was my little vocal hospital ward. Order Dilantin with No Prescription, I put the kettle on my amp and the chips on stage left. Where can i buy Dilantin online, As we got ready to go on I wanted to do one last salt water gargle, so I ripped open one of the little KFC packets and poured it into my coffee cup. It was pepper. I had grabbed 50 packs of pepper instead, order Dilantin no prescription.
Much to my relief, the show was great. The crowd was enthusiastic and as we continued to play my throat got looser and better, Order Dilantin with No Prescription. Buy Dilantin online no prescription, We served up some country music that night.
The next day we went to Stockport, which is a part of Manchester. That show was good, fast shipping Dilantin, but strange. The crowd was...aggressive. Order Dilantin with No Prescription, After we were done playing some guy started making fun of Josh's hair, grabbing it and such. Buy Dilantin without prescription, Some woman asked me if we would play her wedding, and when I said, "I'd love to, but we live in Los Angeles." She got pissed off, where can i order Dilantin without prescription, like I thought I was too good to come and play at her wedding. The people there were so drunk -- like drinking-to-forget drunk. We waited for an hour to get some dinner, and when we got up and walked out of the restaurant the owner came out on the side walk screaming at us, "If you waited it quickly why didn't you tell me!!"
This all made our final show in Chelmsford all the better. The people there are so nice. We have some sweet and loyal peeps in that town, Order Dilantin with No Prescription. There is a great pub around the corner which we use as a dressing room. Josh beat my playing darts, and we watched 1980's videos.
That was that. Josh and Johnny flew home. Order Dilantin with No Prescription, Tony and I flew to Krakow to rest and relax about playing.
Thanks to everyone who turned up, bought a CD, bought us a beer, said hello, or just clapped. The British are VERY good clappers. The first show we did after returning to California was one of those dance hall joints where the people love to dance and have no interest in clapping. Sure made me miss some of those British audiences.
-----
WHAT'S NEXT?
We're deep in the post-production stage of this record. The songs are being mixed in Boston. We're getting email tracks every day - making notes and rushing around to listen in different sound environments. Some people say to me, "Who cares if it sounds good? Everybody just dumbs it down to MP3's and listens with ear buds. It doesn't need to sound good!" I just can't do that. I still have my fingers crossed that someday we'll be back to the high fidelity world, and I want the record to sound as good as it can. Even if most people won't notice. I'LL NOTICE!
So there's mixing, mastering (more on that when it happens) album art design, and manufacturing. I'm projecting a January 15 completion date...keep your fingers crossed. 
-----
WHAT'S NEXT?
We're deep in the post-production stage of this record. The songs are being mixed in Boston. We're getting email tracks every day - making notes and rushing around to listen in different sound environments. Some people say to me, "Who cares if it sounds good? Everybody just dumbs it down to MP3's and listens with ear buds. It doesn't need to sound good!" I just can't do that. I still have my fingers crossed that someday we'll be back to the high fidelity world, and I want the record to sound as good as it can. Even if most people won't notice. I'LL NOTICE!
So there's mixing, mastering (more on that when it happens) album art design, and manufacturing. I'm projecting a January 15 completion date...keep your fingers crossed. 
