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'Fool For You', the first song from our Clarkesdale recordings is off to mastering. Yay! Took quite a bit of fettling...

This was a writing problem as much as a mixing problem. Recording songs that are brand brand new is pretty normal for us, which is why I always figured that the best versions would be the live ones, after they have taken some road testing. 

When Millage had to pull out of the tour this year we had a few days spare and opted to push for recordings. That meant a brief but intense songwriting session in Memphis. Just how we like it. 

Thanks to COVID we adjusted the expected production chain and brought the files back here to...wait?

I thought Fool For You had the elements of a banger of a tune, if cut well. It defied my best attempts for the last few months.

Friend of the band Marcus said 'nah, re-record mate.'

Friend of the band "Unnamed Engineer' said 'Where do you get these from?'

Friend of the Band Ben said "hmm...lemme clean these up see what you think"

 Even the smartest producer in Sydney that I can think of (but not name cos I dont wanna get scalped) was 'hmm, I like the vocals but...'

Cleaned up and set, the problems were still evident. Hit the marble block the wrong way, it'd shatter. Or in this case, the song would suuuuck.

Marcus tested some keyboard. It sounded promising but apparenly every keyboard player in the greater sydney basin was busy for the last six months during the pandemic! Who knew!

Working with randomness is a thing. Hi Thomson, stay safe over there bro.

T. stepped in and 48 hours after I had asked, sent me some ideas. From there it began to make sense.

Thanks to Ben for setting the foundations straight and to Thomson for his excellent keys. Also apparently my hand claps are considered 'non professional' but Theo's are considered 'a professional sound.'

Thanks also to Friend Of The Band, Mr MM who also had a crack at a version.

Funny thing was, while doing this other version, I tried imagining what he might do :) It's curious how we influence one another.

Working on the videoclip idea next.

paypal.me/stormcellarband if you would like to contribute to make the next stuff and finishing this

After a week off, the last few episodes of downtime kickoff with Episode 12, around 12 hours from now :)

Song needed Sax. So they did. This next clip is from MJEb's 'montage' period where he began using all the gathered images he'd collected for blogging. Enjoy!

No Downtime ep last week as we had some chill and Fox TCOB. 

Things are getting back to the new-normal locally, if traffic is anything to judge by.

After some effort, it was time to have a crack at fixing Fool For You. I havent been happy with it :(

I decided to try adding some keyboard and it took almost 3 months to get someone to jump on it. Go figure.

Thus we extend our compliments to Thomson K. for breaking it loose. Also to Brother Ben for getting the mix into a new phase.

This brought me to a studio moment on Friday to try a new vocal approach.

Of course returning to 'normal' in Sydney is...

For some reason the tradies opted to run long so we mixed before doing the vocals.

Taking some chances here... yay! no rules!

I'm a happy camper. It worked. Final mixing on the track this week, with luck we're heading for a single!

EP asked me 'what's the videoclip?"

Oh...that's gonna keep me busy for a while. We're active. Might not be playing in bars but we is doing work!

Stay tuned.

Contribute here!

www.paypal.me/stormcellarband

 Out in the field, often armed only with a phone and a stabiliser, MJEb has been documenting sounds from our mates. This is a cracking tune by Dinesh Moylan, live at the Nimmitabel Hotel.