Baby Jesus gave me a hubcap

Over the past year, the Universe has been speaking to me through abandoned hubcaps. Whenever I see one on the road-side I take it as a sign that the Universe is pointing me in the right direction and helping deliver me to awesomeness. I've started collecting these lost hubcaps and covering the side of my out buildings with their tainted glory. On the drive to CBus to begin recording this week, my eye caught something shiny on the side of the freeway. I stopped to collect it and brought it with me to serve as inspiration in the studio. Mike was a bit baffled when I tried to explain the whole idea to him, but he catches on quickly. It didn't take long for him to hang the hubcap up on the wall of the vocal booth to help provide the needed connection with the unknown.

From there, you'll be happy to learn that things got off to a smashing start at the Curry House this week. Recording with Landy is fun and we share an appreciation for many of the same bands and albums. The level of communication is good between us and the brightest moments we've had so far involve us throwing caution to the wind and going off the deep end with some whacked-out sounds and new parts. We started out on Monday/Tuesday doing guitars and vocals for 'Not About You' and 'Wicked'. Both worked out well. Our pal Andy H. was kind enough to bring us over a swell Les Paul, a Stratocaster, a killer VOX amplifier and a handful of cool sounding effects pedals. These provided the inspiration for diverting from our expected path and really experimenting in a few spots. On Wednesday we started tracking guitars for 'Star Cross'd' and everything was super crunchy and great sounding. When we came to the bridge, Mike suggested just throwing some crazy, direct fuzzed-out guitar in there. It wasn't what I had planned, but man...it sounds incredible! It really elevated the part and is taking that song to another level. I hope that these types of sounds and experimentation continue to really shape the feel of this record. If they do, yr in for a real treat. For now, you can enjoy the no-frills, acoustic version of 'Star Cross'd'. But don't get too used to it, the full band version is going to seriously kick yer ass. Here's the link to download the acoustic version.

http://www.lizardfamily.com/mp3s/Star_Crossd_MCHacoustic.mp3

To download the MP3 go to File -> Save page as and store the file on yr desktop.