It's a Wrap!

The recording of our new CD is complete!  Since the last post on Dino's rhythm guitars:

• Danno ripped through the bass tracks on his Thunderbird including chords, harmonies and other fancy finger-work that will make for a deep, rich sound.
• Next Dino delivered, as usual, on lead guitars including an incredible array of solos.  Most of it was with his trusty Les Paul Custom, but he also borrowed a new Telecaster from Chris at Belle City Sound for a different guitar voice on some embellishments.
• After that, Danno was back in the hot seat for the vocal tracks.  We play a wider variety of song styles on this CD and Danno brought the right vocal tool for the job on each and every one of them.
• Last but not least, we teamed-up for some "Gang Vocals", which amounted to all of us shouting a key phrase in a key song over & over again in a relatively non-musical way, which was perfect for me.  I'm sure you'll agree my non-musical shouts were the best......you can tell.

This leaves all our material in the more-than-capable hands of Chris Wisco at Belle City Sound, whose work we greatly admired on our first, self-titled CD.  Like HWY 13, Chris rocks and we can't wait to hear what he can do with a bigger/better studio and some new equipment to work with.  In a few weeks we should get our rough mixes to listen through to see if there's any remaining adjustments to be made before it's carved in stone.   

We should also give a shout-out to Chris' daughter (aka "Mini Me") who definitely kept things from getting too serious in the studio.  It was all fun & games, though, until she sat in Chris' chair while he left the room for a few minutes, declared herself "The Boss" because she was sitting in the boss' chair now, and ordered me to put on a tutu.  Sorry kid, I may be a rock & roll drummer but I still have my dignity!

In any case, the hard part is over and we're happy to have it all off our minds in time for the Christmas & New Years holidays with our families.  Next gig is Saturday, January 11 at the Blue Rock in Racine, so best wishes to you for a happy holiday season, hope to see you on the 11th and keep rockin!                 

Rhythm's In!

With his trusty Les Paul Custom and an ample supply of Mountain Dew, Dino polished-off the recording of his rhythm guitars for our next CD on Friday.  If you're a follower of Dino's playing, you know he doesn't just find a style of guitar playing, he IS a style of guitar playing.  It's amazing how many other great players in town tell me they were inspired to rock at the level they're at either by playing in a band with Dino, jamming with him on the side or just watching him in action over the years.  Regardless of the band you remember him in, they were all great and they all had one thing in common...Dino!  

Next on the recording docket is bass tracks and if you hear thunder later today, don't run for the basement and hide under a sturdy table, it'll be Danno launching the heavy artillery with his Thunderbird rockin' the house at Belle City Sound.  Bass takes on a whole new meaning in a power trio and when you bring on Danno, you've opened up a whole can of "whup-ass" in the rhythm section.  

As for me I'm still in "consulting mode" with the drum tracks finished a week ago, and I'm successfully taking mental notes on us for the blog during the recording process.  Let me clarify.........I'm mentally taking notes about our success in the recording process, not successfully taking notes about our recording process being mental.  Now that I cleared that up, thanks again for tuning into the blog and keep rockin'!
  

The Beat Goes On...

No, the title of this post doesn't mean we're covering Sonny & Cher songs now.  The title refers to the completion of phase 1 of making our new CD, which is recording the drum tracks.  This is where the band plays together like a live gig, only you're not playing for drinkers while drinking and hearing everything distorted through crappy PA's & monitors. In this case, we were playing for one of the best producer/engineers in the business, Chris Wisco...and at his new & improved studio at Belle City Sound, you could hear and play everything perfectly tuned and balanced.

Making CD's is one of the few times drummers have the best job in rock & roll.  The rest of the band has to play all the attempts it takes to get the drum tracks right, then all their hard work gets tossed with only the drum tracks being saved.  Next, they have to do it all over again & again to record their various parts off the edited drum tracks.  All this, while "Yours Truly" kicks back on the comfy couch with a cold one and offers free advice on their work in progress.

In HWY 13's case, the drummer has an an even better job because his partner in rhythm...bass player Danno Armstrong...writes 98% of the songs.  Almost all our songs come from a riff or beat that one of us tripped over during a warm-up, but it's Danno who ultimately puts the complete package together with structure, lyrics and grooves that a drummer can truly feast on.  Also, Dino is such a great lead guitar player you almost forget what a great rhythm guitarist he is to play with.  Well played sirs!  

With such great songs & players to work with, we were able to get all the necessary drum tracks done in only two takes, with the first take selected for use on every song but two. As for the drumming itself, you never know how you're going to sound to the listener, especially without being able to hear all the other parts wrapped around it.  I can say, however, that the drumming felt good while I was playing, and as usual I tried to keep the beat strong & steady while mixing-in enough syncopation (off-beat stuff) to keep it from being too predictable or cliche song after song.  

You can be the judge when it's done, or you can get a sneak preview of the new songs at our upcoming gig Saturday January 11 at the Blue Rock in downtown Racine.  Thanks again for tuning into the blog and keep rockin'! 

                   

Thirteen on the Thirteenth

As expected, we'll be playing our last "thirteen on the thirteenth" gig this year on the last Friday the 13th of this year......yes folks it's HWY 13, 12/13/13 at Motor Alley, 1402 52nd St. in Kenosha (one block west of 13th Ave.!).  This time we'll be hitting the stage with Kenosha rock legends 38DD (pictured below) featuring the amazing Jamey Buencamino on guitar and the front-man of all front-men, Pat Garrett, on vocals.  These guys rrraawwkk! and Motor Alley is a great venue where players & fans can get "up-close & personal" in the stage area, and on the other side of the wall, get properly fed & lubricated at their full bar with food service.  We'll be looking forward to rocking one of our favorite venues with one of our favorite bands this coming Friday the 13th, and you should too.              

As noted in the last blog, we'll be going into the studio the very next day to start recording our 2nd CD.  We'll be placing ourselves in the capable hands of Chris Wisco at his new & improved recording studio at Belle City Sound.  Chris did a great job of capturing the power of HWY 13's sound on our self-titled debut CD and it'll be great to hear what he brings out of us on our new material...songs that include a couple of rockabilly-type rockers and a murder ballad to boot!  The fun begins Saturday the 14th by laying down the drum tracks.  

As always, we'll keep you posted on our progress and thanks again for tuning into the blog!  We've had well over 5,000 page views since our first posting back in March 2012 and we hope you've had as much fun reading about our exploits as we've had living them. Hope to see you all at Motor Alley on Friday the 13th and keep rockin'!