January 16, 2010: Bass Guitar + What Happens When you Sign To Dead Daisy + Other Stuff
Layin' down the bass at Blackmaple Studios. Photo by Darryl Lahteenmaa.
This week I shredded some bass for Dylan's project which I'm producing. We started out using an Ernie Ball bass but it sounded like a tin-wrapped fork scraping along a someone's anus so we switched to the Fender. Yum! I thought about selling my little Fender Musicmaster the other day, but then I played it and it needs a lot of work but man I love the way it sounds. Can I nerd out a little more here? Shall I talk about signal path and Pro-Tools plug-ins or compressors or synth patches? I could turn my blog into "bedtime reading" - the literary equivalent of Celestial Seasonings sleepytime tea. Although I guess GOOP! has that covered. Zzzzzzzzzzz. Besides, I used the word "anus" in this paragraph.
Someone who actually CAN write about gear and music and not bore you, is my brother! Check out his latest article for Premier Guitar magazine here!
This week, I had a wonderous time mailing out advance copies of Colleen Brown's "Foot In Heart" album. I'm releasing the album (with Outside Music) on Mar 16. Technically, I'm re-releasing it.
This is what happened, and it's all Buck 65's fault:
1. I heard Colleen's song "Love You Baby" on CBC Radio 2 Drive hosted by Buck 65 aka Rich Terfry.
2. I googled her, kept playing her playlist and then got in touch with her.
3. "Hey," I said. "What's your story?" which is when I found out she's the nicest person ever, and not enough people knew about her great album.
4. I went to Edmonton and met with her. We made a plan to re-release the album. No big changes, except re-doing the artwork.
BEFORE & AFTER
5. Jeff Rogers (veteran artist manager, responsible for Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm being loved the world over) heard Colleen on CBC too! And he fell in love with the music and it made him come out of his non-managing coma.
6. I went to The Drake one night with Cpan and Bobby Black Bush to see Colleen sing live and WHAT THE %$#@....she sings the balls off her songs and puts everyone to shame.
7. She's a bit of a legend...check her out here!
Anyway, as prez of Dead Daisy (island of one) I often don't enjoy the dirty work of mailing out CDs, but in this case, I thought with every envelope sealed...how lucky is this person to hear this music and if they don't listen to it, how stupid are they!!
just kidding.
When i went to the local post office to mail the packages, Dave from the local diner ran into me and said "Wow, I see you're opening for Randy Bachman in Stratford! This is a real full-time thing for you!"
By the way, I have to say I've been terrible at listening to demos if you're reading this and you've sent them in. But now that I'm moving house, I'm becoming 200% more organized than I have been and I have all demos sent to me in a pile and plan to listen in February. Apologies for taking so bloody long to listen.
Oh and I've been writing! I wrote a bad-ass song with Joe Corcoran called "Live Like Legends" and then I wrote one on my own called "Still". I feel a huge celebration in my ribcage when I get songs done that I know don't blow.
I've been of course stunned into sadness by what's happened in Haiti. It's frustrating to donate money but then click onto the next page and think, fuck, is that all I can do? I know I'm not alone in this feeling. What a terrible thing. But how wonderous how everyone comes together at a time like this, to at least try to help.
In concert news, what a week coming up - Mötley Crüe, Jann Arden and Guns N Roses all coming to town, all in the span of a week. Who will leave the messiest dressing room? Who will make the audience laugh more - Tommy, Jann or Axl? Rico is on tour with Guns N Roses and I am looking forward to seeing my favourite hockey-obsessed Swede.
Thank you for continuing to pre-order the EP! And tweeting about it, some of you! I just love you all.