Latest Sherwood Blog
Sherwood's latest studio blog can be read by clicking read more.Thursday, May 7, 2009
Brad spends most of the day doing some computer work. While he's doing that, our friend Grace (from college) is over hanging out. She really easy-going and fun to have around. Sherwood can sometimes be an intimidating group to penetrate socially (due to the ears spent hanging out with only ourselves; like a set of quintuplets with our own quintuplet language). In addition to Grace, a guy named Lance Drake who directs music videos (http://lancedrake.com) is hanging out. We really like his work, so we're talking about the possibility of having him direct the next Sherwood video. All seven of us go to lunch at a great falafel place in Studio City (a few miles away).
After Lance leaves, I go for a bike ride. It's extremely hot, dry, and kinda windy, so I cut the ride short and return home to find everyone else playing in the pool (Brad is still doing computer work). We all spend an hour or two playing in the pool, throwing frisbees, etc. It feels like a high school summer. So fun! We even pick some lemons in our backyard and make some lemonade. Niccceee!
Later, Nate sings the vocals for No Better. Around 7 o'clock we all go over to the studio to discuss what we're doing in the remaining eight days at the studio. There are three softer songs that need a lot of work or haven't even been started (Worn, Talk, and Shelter). After listening to the demos of these songs, we decide that Talk is a bit weaker than the rest, and decide to pursue another soft song called In the Air (which Dan wrote last month down here). Everyone loves In the Air, so we'll start tracking it tomorrow. That night we all sit around the living room finalizing lyrics for Ground Beneath My Feet, which Nate will sing tomorrow.
Friday, May 8, 2009
For most of the morning, Brad does some pre-mixing on No Better. Nate's voice sounds really good. I'm personally not sure how well this song will fit on the record; it's really mellow and tells a pretty dark story of a divorce. It's very un-Sherwood in many ways, which is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, we're doing a LOT of things on this album that we've never done before. We'll see what happens.
Later we start tracking acoustic guitar for the new song, In the Air. Brad later recounts that for every "keeper" take Dan performed, Dan did not like it (while every take that Dan was happy with, Brad was not). This is why you hire a producer, folks. It's another pool party day, complete with frisbees and extreme divesI leave to go to Pasadena to meet a friend from back home who is down to visit her boyfriend; she brought a camera that belongs to the band so I pick it up, we chat for a bit, then head our separate ways. I hate LA traffic. What causes it?! No one knows. I also make stops at a drugstore (for toothpaste) and the bank ATM. My girlfriend is coming down from Portland this weekend to hang out. I'm so excited! Haven't seen her in three weeks, which is not that long in the grand scheme of things, but we need to take advantage of my non-touring time to see each other as much as is reasonable.
While I drive to get her at the airport, Nate records vocals for the recently-finished Ground Beneath My Feet. I'll have to wait and hear it tomorrow. I'm anxious to hear how the lyrics turned out that we worked on the night before. David goes to see an old band mate of his perform in Santa Monica. I return with girlfriend in tow; we walk to get some frozen yogurt then all sit around in the lovely weather exchanging stories, which range from last year in Japan to Nate's 7th grade year (which is the source of SO many hilarious stories). Such a fun night.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
I spend most of the day away from the studio to hang out with my lovely girlfriend, who is only in town for 48 hours. While we're hanging at Disneyland (thanks Liz!), my band mates record the following things:
- Electric guitar and piano for the solo and last chorus of Worn;
- More electric guitars in Maybe This Time and What Are You Waiting For (to beef up the chorus a little bit);
- and some more vocal work on Ground Beneath My Feet.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Day off! Mike has headed home to be with his mom for Mother's Day. Everyone else calls his mom (except me; my mom is in Fiji for a few weeks). The rest of us head out to Malibu. Brad's wife told us about a great spot where you can see dolphins. It's a decent drive (40 miles), and the sky's a bit overcast, but it's a nice day out on the beach.
Later that evening we debate going to see the new Star Trek movie but decide against it because our friend Thad is coming down to visit us and he's trying to be watchful of his spending, so we all go to frozen yogurt instead. It's good to have Thad around. He's a good dude.
Only six days of tracking left!! It's gonna be a busy week.
