January 30, 2018,
So here we are in the new year with my 4th blog already, and time just flies by when you are doing what you love most. I often refer to the making of a brand new studio album as to the building of a cake. Once you have all the right ingredients in place, you start out with a sold base and then start adding on all the layers until you finally reach the sweet toppings.
Well, that's about where we are right now...
After the Christmas break, I went back into the studio on Friday, December 29th and January 7th to record my background vocals and harmonies. I did the majority of all the backing vocals and harmonies with the exception of a few songs. Bassist Michael Palumbo added some backing vocals to the songs "Falling in Love," "Second Hand Rose," and then squeezed another one in on "Some Time Ago" -- and I do mean squeeze. Between flying back and forth from San Francisco every other week, and for him to reach for those very high notes I had left for him, he definitely needed to squeeze. LOL! Some tunes just called for a little touch of harmony while others got that much bigger 80s chorus effect. Needless to say, all the backing vocals and harmonies worked out quite nicely.
On Saturdays January 13th & 20th we had our secret weapon come in -- aka keyboardist Jeremy Heussi, who is practically a band member, having performed live with us over the years and who has also appeared on the last two MASS studio albums and Christmas EP. Jeremy did his homework and added some great texture and flavor, enhancing these tunes and bringing them to another level. Just the right touch of strings in areas and applying that heavy organ sound ala the late great Jon Lord in areas, just simply rocked!
Next up...
Rough mixes will be sent to our label and then we will have the hard decision as to who will be mixing and mastering. So hopefully in my next and final blog I will have that information for you, plus album artwork and a planned release date.
Ciao for Now!
Louis
