posted by Chance
With less than two weeks to go til Vegas, I’m happy to see the progress on live versions of the new songs. Yesterday, we had a (get this) 8 hour practice. Flanders came back from his two week surfing trip to Bali (he also did some volunteer work!), so it was our first practice with him in a little while.
Steve, Mike & Bob met up with me at the studio at 1 PM. The place was already hot, and since it’s so small and unventilated, it was going to get an excruciating day in terms of heat. We spent alot of time focusing on the little details, and working up that feeling that every musician feels when he/she knows the music comes naturally. Not until that feeling are you ever truly comfortable with a song’s performance, and not until that feeling can you escape your own body language betraying your confidence. So, if a song is taking a while to get to that point, you gotta break it down, hit it hard and keep doing the parts over and over til it makes sense. You really are training your subconscious, not just “learning the notes.”
Around 4 PM, Flanders shows up. We were taking a lunch break (I brought ham & cheese sandwiches; tuna for Bob because he’s a godless vegetarian). It was great to see him and after a quick set up of his stuff, we spent the next 4 hours powering away at 5 songs. I’m guessing 3 of them will make the Vegas set.
Only 3 practices left before the show; time to write the set (or at least decide on the songs). This Thursday will let me know which of the new ones are ready to be premiered.
