So we just plopped two boxes, each with 440 CDs, onto my kitchen table. In other words, the Longer Days EP is finally the following things: recorded, mixed, mastered, and printed. From now until the sun burns out, we will have these to give out at our shows.

Thanks, of course, to Dave Downham and Steve Poponi at Gradwell House for recording, mixing, and mastering us (Dave did the mixing and mastering all by himself, so credit where credit's due). Thanks to Brandi for giving us at least a dozen really cool design options, and for running around dropping off copies of the art when we settled on a design. Thanks to Red Orange Morning and Chris Player from Miles From Land for the support while we whittled away at this project. An extra special thanks to anyone who came to see us play and asked us if we had a CD when we didn't have one. You would've been well within your rights to bite our faces off.

The LOL Award goes, of course, to Travis, for, you know, LOLin'.
 
Love,
Pat & Sam

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I entered a picture of Don and Trav as a Photoshop contest on the infamous Fark.com, and it has just gone front-page. For all the deviance you can handle, click here:



Don is a sexy beast.

Love,
Pat

Hi boys and girls,

Sorry (once again) for the lack of updates. It hasn't exactly been a slow time for Your Action Set, and yet the ambition to sit down and write about the goings-on simply isn't there. Well, I'm writing today.

In true Action Set fashion the release date for our EP has come and gone and yet we don't actually have a single copy of the CD. In fact, Don gave away our only legitimate copy -- the reference master CD that Dave from Gradwell gave us. I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but hopefully we'll have these fuckers in time for the show at Charlie's Den. Or not. We'll see.

So we played the North Star Bar in Philly. I don't think anybody wrote about that yet. It went pretty well, I think. Anyway, I had a good time playing it, which is usually a good sign. I think a lot of the pictures we currently have posted are from said show. Pat and I also did a couple open mics together, which I can be a real pain in the ass about. I usually don't like doing them, but we played at Doc Watson's and I had a real good time. We did "Silver Lining," "Weigh In," "Country Song," and "Sugarteeth," just the two of us, and I thought we sang pretty well, which is probably why it sticks out in my mind as a good performance, even if it was just a couple songs at an open mic. We're trying to book a show at Plough & the Stars in Philly, but it hasn't been easy. My sister's friend Stephanie got a copy of our CD (not mastered, no art - very big deal) at the North Star show and passed it on to the owner of the Plough. How cool is that? Anyway, hopefully we'll be booking a show there, soon.

Also, I moved to New York. I found a job with no problem, but I'm still looking for a place to live. If you know anybody... For now, Cyndi and Ryan have graciously been letting me sleep on their couch and eat Ryan's "All Abouts." The reason I mention it on the band page, as opposed to my own page (which doesn't exist anyway), is because it is relevant to the band. We haven't been practicing regularly as a result of my move. We did get to rehearse last weekend, and although it was a bit rushed it was a pretty solid practice. I'd really like to start adding some new (or at least different) songs to our set, but only being able to practice once a week (if we're lucky) has made that difficult. Anyway, to our friends who have already heard the songs that ended up on our EP more times than anybody should be subjected to, please bear with us a little longer. It has been a "transitional" period for the band and I, and we hope to debut some new material soon.

I played an open mic at a place called The Red Lion on Bleecher St. I did two songs by myself (I was so nervous) and I backed up Cyndi and Ryan on bass guitar. Maybe I can convince Pat to come up on a Monday nite and play... I didn't really want to do it, but Cyndi reminded me that that's why I came up here, and she was right, so I did, and I'm glad I did it. Joe from Parlay Productions came out, which was an awesome surprise. I totally didn't expect that. So, cheers to Joe.

Hope all is well. Be patient, we'll have some CDs... soon.

Sam

For those curious and hearing-impaired or uninterested in wading through the deep, deep waters of our songwriting blog, what follows is the sum total of the lyrical content of our forthcoming EP.

01. The Arrest

I don't care if you care anymore because I've already stopped.
I don't care what you wear anymore or who you're letting watch.
and if you feel lonely, you've got your reasons to call.
if you feel lonely, you've got your reasons to crawl.

I guess I'm unaware if I care anymore.
we got what we both want: to be less needy than we used to be.
we've got to stop counting months.
and if you feel lonely, you've got no reason to cry.
you say you feel lonely? you've got more reasons than I to lie and lie.

I see no difference in traffic lights: red or green, I just stop.

maybe you're right.
maybe it's wrong to make all our problems pretty songs
that last long after we solve them.
we could go on and on and on and on and on and on
till we stop.

I see no difference in traffic lights,
wedding nights that turn into knife fights.
no difference in wrong or right.
if you start to like, I just...

02. Give Up

shake me down now to bare branches,
with your Manchester swagger and designer sunglasses.
freshly kissed cigarette lips.
and I let my process slip.
I'm tied up in a thousand knots
when you hit me with everything you've got.
but I can grow in any garden and my stupid heart will harden.
so leave the test tones on, and let the dishes be.
they'll be there in the morning, and so will we.

it's okay to be afraid, sleeping in the bed that we made.

I long for longer days when all my tumblers will fall into place.
we do as we please: perfect hair, perfect teeth.
leave the test tones on, and let the dishes be.
they'll be there in the morning, and so will we.

it's okay to be afraid (no one is as afraid as me)
sleeping in the bed that we made (and no one's more ashamed)

03. Sugarteeth

sugarteeth and cavities; you should have learned your lesson.
honeybees were known to be your all-time favorite weapon.

don't be afraid, don't be scared.
I'll be down to meet you there at the you parade.

dial a beat on the drum machine and whistle us a tune:
"I always knew it'd come to this."
I guess we'll see soon.

don't be afraid, don't be scared.
I'll be down to meet you there at the you parade.

04. Country Song

you spent your whole life running down that country road,
getting back in shape and staying close to home.
with looks like yours, there's no telling how far you'll go.
you always turn around before you hit the county line.
you're a big fish swimming, and it suits you fine.
you'll be married here, you'll be buried here in time.

and you left me out there.
I make you scream, you make me sing,
until I've told you everything.

the day you gave me walking papers, well, I took a hike,
hitched a new direction on the old turnpike,
and I hit the city limits by early light.
and I found those things that I've been searching for:
all those just-like minds and those open doors
so I don't think much of the country anymore

since you left me out there.

well, I know one day I'm going to come back home,
going to see you walking down that country road,
and we'll stop and talk and I'll say, "I've got to go."
and you'll bat your lashes and you'll give me a smile
the prettiest thing in a country mile
but I'm thinking in city blocks since the time you were mine
and you left me out there.

05. Silver Lining

if you say so, we can freeze inside this moment, hold it forever.
you say you've gotta go. you say your train's gonna leave.
you say you need more room to breathe.
and if you say so, that's what I believe.

if you look close, you can see, inside these dark clouds, a silver lining.
and if you say so, you don't have to go.

you don't have to go.

day 1

Hi, all,

Just a quick update before bed.  We went into the studio today to begin recording a few songs.  We got there roughly 11 in the morning.  Fortunately, the mics were still pretty well set up from another session last nite, so with a few minor adjustments we were able to get started.  Dave (our engineer) is a really good guy -- easy going and fun to work with, but no bullshit.  He seems to appreciate the sound we're trying to get and is willing to try some different mic techniques to help get it.  It's great to have an idea and to be able to communicate it to somebody else and have them get it immediately.  Anyway, Pat ended up having to work for about half the afternoon so Don recorded the drums to a click while I did a scratch track (a rough guide for Don to follow).  Travis was looking at some sort of guitar "encyclopedia."  Don was pretty solid, and though there were some moments of frustration, generally it went fairly well and none of the drum tracks took more than a few takes.  We ended up doing some minor editing to the drums to fix small flubs.  I was cautious about overdoing this, but ultimately it sounded really good.  The drums took about 3 1/2 hours I think, plus about an hour setup time.  Maybe even a little less, 'cause we took a break three songs in to have a quick lunch.  Once the drums were done, Travis did the bass guitar.  We used a beat-up looking Fender bass (P bass, I think... Trav probably knows better than I do).  We ran the bass to a direct box which split the signal, with one output going direct and the second going to a bass amp, which was mic'd.  We spent some time getting a good bass sound, trying two different bass guitars, and three different amps.  Initially, I wasn't thrilled with the bass sound, but I wasn't sure because Dave was moving so fast I had a tough time telling which sound I did like.  Trav nailed the basslines without much incident, although there was some minor disagreement about "Give Up" and the end of "Sugarteeth" ended up being a bitch.  But we got it.  So at the end of Day 1, we have the drums and bass done.  Tomorrow we're going in for six hours and the goal is to get the guitars done.  So far, so good.

Keep your fingers crossed.  We'll let you know how it goes.

sam

day 2

Day 2:

Hello, again,

Yesterday we did guitars.  We did the acoustic stuff first.  It was pretty smooth, and we didn't have to do much fixing.  The acoustic sounds great.  Remember to listen for it in "Silver Lining" when we're done and we've got the songs posted... it's mirroring the rhythm I play on electric, and together they sound really good.  After the acoustic, I laid down electric tracks.  I used my Gibson SG on everything but "Country Song," but Dave liked the clean sound on my Rickenbacher 360 so we went back and re-recorded "The Arrest" with that guitar.  Dave had to split so his partner Steve took over to record Pat.  Steve and Pat were pretty funny.  Steve seemed to be less interested in the band.  Not to say we're not happy with the sound, but he would get Pat started and then turn the monitors down and we would talk in the control room.  But they (Pat and Steve) had a good dynamic -- they were shitting on each other, like for example, when Pat was struggling on "Give Up," I asked what people did before digital recording, he said into the mic so Pat could hear, "They learned their songs."  Pat was giving it back to him, though.  It was a good vibe between the two of them.  Anyway, Pat started with "Give Up," and as I mentioned he had some trouble getting it, but eventually he did.  It's just one of those things where you play it 1,000 times but as soon as you record you can't seem to get it right.  After that it went pretty smoothly except for a couple small fixes.  But it took us right up to the end.  Steve burned us a couple CDs, backed the songs up to our hard drive, and told us to beat it, which we did.

We go in again Friday.  The goal is doing vocals and getting Cyndi from ROM in to do some textures.  Saturday (if all goes well) we do percussion overdubs (shakers, tamborines) and mix.  We'll let you know how it goes.

sam

There's a little music rag article in the bathroom at Gradwell about the top things that will take up your time in the studio (in a wasteful manner). One of the responses is that, in the studio, a musician loses 20% of their ability. Yesterday, I must've taken at least an hour to get my guitar on "Give Up" right, much to my own chagrin and frustration. The truth is, I'm still not exactly happy with the way it sounds. The song is a bit slow for my tastes (a subject on which there is much debate within the band), while "The Arrest" is a tad fast. However, those ships have sailed, so there's nothing to be done about that.

For the gear nerds, here's a bit about what we've been recording with. Don laid down the drum tracks on a drum kit. That's all I know. Travis played what appears to be a Fender Precision Bass with a humbucker-sized fretless bass pickup in the neck position through a DI box for all of the tracks. Sam played his Alvarez acoustic on "Give Up," "Sugarteeth," and "Silver Lining," which I also used for the rhythm guitar on "Country Song." He played his Rickenbacker on "The Arrest" and his Gibson SG for everything else. I played my Strat on everything but "Country Song," and I played through a Vox AC30 (for a clean sound) and a Boss Blues Driver (for gain). Sam played his new Orange amp, model whatever. Also, things were miked using microphones. That's about it.

We have to redo some of my guitar tracks on Friday, mostly notably "The Arrest" and "Silver Lining," on which there is some tonal disparity between my guitar and Sam's guitar, mostly like the fault of Raritan Guitar Bay not bothering to take the fifty bucks I paid them and intonate my guitar, which Steve from Gradwell gracefully did on the spot when we discovered the problem. Suffice to say, Guitar Center and their Raritan Bay guitar monkey can ride a hot horse to hell. On Friday, I have every intention of trying out the Sovtek Mig-60 head they have when I rerecord "Silver Lining" and take another pass at doing a version of "Give Up" that's solid all the way through. I've read the reviews online, and nearly every single one rates the sound of it as a 10, some going so far as to call it "majestic" and "the best amp I've ever played through." It helps that most of these reviews come from people who played Strats through the amp. Also, it's apparently a vintange-Marshall-sounding amp, which just tickles me pinker than peaches.

I fully expect vocals to go off without much of a hitch, as long as good health prevails, although I was certainly wrong about my guitar parts going smoothly and without incident. For now, I'm chalking it up to the nerves of being in a new situation musically and hoping I can shake it off when we reenter Gradwell Friday at noon.

As you are no doubt catching on, we'll keep you posted.

Pat

day 3

After much contention regarding whether or not my guitar was out of tune with Sam's from last Sunday's recording session, we reentered the studio today and were surprised to find that everything sounded pretty good when properly mixed together. I had to go back and record a missing lead for "Give Up" that we somehow missed last week, and once that was finished, we moved on to some leftover instrumentation. Cyndi from Red Orange Morning laid down some glockenspeil (a sort of xylophone) on parts of "The Arrest" and (if memory serves) "Sugarteeth," as well as some Fender Rhodes parts on "Give Up," some synth on "Sugarteeth," and probably something else that I'm forgetting. Sam also recorded a little piano thing for the chorus of "Give Up." All the extra little accents and additions we recorded today, in fact, make the songs sound a lot fuller, especially "The Arrest," which has so much going on in the last chorus now that I was afraid that Sam would start intoning his well-honed "this rocks too hard" mantra.

Since Don was still in Philadelphia saving people's lives (rock 'n roll and DJs have also been known to save lives, but not as often as Don Ocava does), we broke for lunch and then proceeded directly to vocals. Sam has come a long was as a vocalist since we started the band nearly two years ago, but he still gets self-conscious singing in a recording environment, so he took his time in the isolation booth, usually saying "I can live with that" and asking me if I thought the takes sounded good, bless his heart. He ended up doing a great job, as I expected, and eventually gave the kind of performance I knew he was capable of on every track. Then I went into the tank and pretty much kicked the microphone's ass on my first takes, although I generally recorded a second take just to be on the safe side and to cover our asses for double-tracking or fixing missed dead parts tomorrow. Vocals are pretty much the only part of the studio process I have no trepidation about, so I was glad to be done with guitar and do something I'm confident about. Travis did a few background vocals, and then I pinch-hit for him on the choruses of "The Arrest."

Finally, upon arrival of one Donathan Ocava, we added some tambourine and shakers (courtesty of Don), and some claps (to "Give Up"). Dave, our engineer at Gradwell, did some quick mixes and bumped them onto a CD, which you suckers don't get to hear yet. Suffice to say, we're making out pretty okay so far, and we should be done with the studio by tomorrow afternoon, after our last session mixing with Dave. After that, the only real concern left to cover is whether or not to master the five songs, which I think we all agree we're going to do.

Either way, we will have copies of the EP available at our show at the North Star on March 6th. We also have tickets available for that show, so if you're interested in coming (and we kinda sorta beg you to come), there's the added incentive of a free EP to entice you into tracking one of us down and buying a ticket.

Love,
Pat

day 4

2pm:
So far, we've listened to the final mix of "Country Song," tweaked a few things, and played Gamecube and arcade games. Right now, we're waiting for Chinese food, and I'm going to die of hunger. So hungry. Starving.

Anyway, that's pretty much it as of 2pm. What do the next four hours hold? Only the Shadow knows.

8pm
So, today we mainly played arcade games (Travis & I nearly beat some long-forgotten Neo Geo game and Don pwned Madden 2005 on Gamecube), ate Chinese food, and quibbled over where effects should start and begin. It was a sea change from the previous three days in the studio, where we were essentially laying down tracks and waiting for each other to get everything right, which is nerve-racking, to say the least. Sam and Don hit the studio early to do some additional percussion and to rerecord sam's vocals for "Sugarteeth." Dave sat in front of his computer for almost 8 solid hours (he was occassionally spotted wandering around the parking lot with a 2-liter of Mug Root Beer), pretty much only getting up to eat an L24 from No. 1 Chinese Restaurant (I often wonder if Chinese immigrants know that there's a difference between an ad slogan and a business name) and to bring us down from the loft to listen to a mix.

Everything sounds, well, legitimate. Whatever it is that makes a recording sound "real" to my ears, this EP has it, which pleases me to no end. Your Action Set had its first ever run-ins with Autotune, as neither Sam nor I are perfect singers, but by and large, we fixed most of the instrumental flubs when we were laying tracks. Travis dropped his usual "I like it both ways! And I like... candy" (candy part of the quote added in post-production) bit and had an opinion more often than not, Don paced around and commanded what things be brought up and down, and Sam and I generally just smiled happily at the playbacks.

There's an awful lot of cool things going on in the recording now, little bits and pieces that add up to make the songs fuller and more interesting. My uncle calls 'em "textures," and I like that description as good as any. In fact, he called me within ten minutes of getting the mp3s to glow about the songs, which is pretty much the only litmus test outside of myself and the band's opinions that counts to me. All that's left is for us to take our tracks and have them mastered professionally, and we're officially done.

As an added bonus, I contacted our friend Chris from the band Miles From Land to see if he, by some cosmic happenstance, still had the master file from our little session in November of 2005. Essentially, if the file was gone, we'd have to tack on an unmastered track to five mastered songs, which would probably sound weird, although I cannot attest to that fact in a court of law. I'm not sure what kind of court case would require me to prove such a thing, but given my track record, it would somehow come up, and I'd land in jail. As luck would have it, Chris is an audio packrat (we share that quality) and still has the file, meaning we can official master "Hide & Seek" and make it track six on the EP. I could not possibly be happier.

Okay, maybe I could be happier if we can Autotune my vocals on H&S to fix that weird one-cent flatness I've heard in my vocals since we recorded it. I had a cold.

Your Action Set is excited, recorded, and ready for the next thing. We've got the North Star show on March 6th and a newly-announced show at the newly-renovated (and hopefully operational) Charlie's Den on April 14th. My main goal from here on out is to book as many shows as possible while we continue to work on finishing our growing backlog of songs (is thirty-or-so enough to consider a backlog?).

Pat

Hello, again,

Don's in the basement getting ready for the weekend.  As you may be aware we are going into the Gradwell House located in scenic downtown Haddon Heights this weekend to begin recording some songs.  We've been working our tails off, and it's coming down to the wire.  I think the five songs we plan to do have benefited from the focused attention, even though some nites it felt kinda tedious.  We also played a show at Charlie's Den last Saturday nite, and though I initially felt like we really played well I have heard mixed reviews.  Oh well, I guess.  We managed to have a good time.  There's some pictures of it currently posted, courtesy of Cheryl.  And I'm sure Pat will post them on Flickr if he hasn't done so already.  Also, we booked a show at the North Star bar in Philly.  This is a really big deal to me, personally, and us as a band.  I've seen some really cool shows at the North Star, and I didn't want to rush to play it and then suck.  So Pat took the initiative and booked us in a bold move I probably never would have made, and now I'm really excited to play there, and I can semi-confidently say we will not suck.  How's that for a sales pitch?  They do something on Tuesday nites where it's five bands for five bucks.  So, if you think about it, it's like a dollar to come see us play.  We should be getting the tickets shortly, so if you're interested in hanging out get in touch with one of us and we will gladly relieve you of $5.  I'm gonna go downstairs and practice with Don now, so I'll catch up with you later.  Also, just a quick note:  if you're not listening to Dr. Dog you're missing out.

sam

So, your Action Set, believe it or not, has kept themselves from prying out the aqueous  sacks in their eyeholes over the last month. Why would we want to do such prying? Well, very simply, we've been playing the same five songs over and over and over and over again since we booked studio time. For those unaware, the proposed tracks for the EP:

- Give Up
- Sugarteeth
- The Arrest
- Country Song
- Silver Lining

If you're a regular to this here blog, you know that I'm not a fan of the EP recording, although I can certainly see the merits of doing it, moreso now than before we started working out the songs we're recording. The truth is, we'll record this EP, give it out or sell it or whatever, then go back into the studio in another few months to bang out another five or so songs. At that point, we'll probably put together the two recording sessions ET VOILA that'll be our first album. For those keeping score, the "unfinished" side of the chalkboard currently looks like this:

All At Once, Hide & Seek, London Bridges, Prizefighter, Weigh In, Run (Go On), Please! Don't Go, Don't Wait Up, Dimly Lit Shoreline, This Is Not A Love Song, Emergency.

This is to say nothing (although I'm about to say something about them) about the songs that are clearly unfinished and need work, like Floating Fortress, Mmhmm, Cashing In (Blank Check), Rocket Science, All You Need To Know, Birthday Cake, The Frankenstein Song (Disappearing Act/Kinda Dark/Oh I've Known), Slowpoke, and All There Is. We're not exactly hurting for material. Your Action Set will be in its Terrible Twos this August, and it will be a terribly busy time.

But, like I said, for now we're only playing those five songs we're recording. And somehow, unlike early last year when we were working on "Floating Fortress" and I wanted to fucking bite everyone's face off, there has been frightfully few practices where anyone's gotten frustrated or fed up or angry. We practiced last night, had a very off night, and yet no one let it get to them. At the very least, we've finally learned to call a bad night and leave it at that.

That might have something to do with feeling like we're getting somewhere on these songs. While "Sugarteeth," "Country Song," and "Give Up" have been solid for months (and in the case of "Sugarteeth," well over a year, except for Don's occassional drum-related Alzheimer's, bless his little heart), "The Arrest" has grown a lot in the last month, and we're resurrected "Silver Lining" from being the "Song That Used To Be Really Fucking Good But Has All The Energy Of A Pinata Now." In fact, we had our Best Practice Ever (at least that we can prove with an audio recording; we've had some damned good practices where no Minidisc was in sight, and is therefore unprovable) on Sunday, stemming perhaps from the fact that no one had worked that day, everyone was well-rested, and there was no Eagles game to get in the way of a stress-free practice.

So. In a month. Action Set's first EP. I'm already working on art- and paperwork to make sure it's available on iTunes once we've mixed and mastered the tracks, and we're still debating whether the EP will be just a podunk little CDR we had out at shows or a modestly-packaged CD we sell for, I don't know, $5. This depends greatly on my ability to put together a package that seems worth five dollars. We'll see.

P.S. If we had fans, I'd refer to them as the Faction Set. Seriously.

Pat

After a year and a half as a band and nine months with the current lineup, your Action Set has its sights set on  recording.  We're checking out recording studios (last night, we peeped Gradwell House in Haddon Heights) and trying to answer some of the fundamental questions that must precede any recording sessions:

1. How many songs?
2. Which songs?
3. Sell it or give it away?
4. Where to record?
5. When?
6. What price bananas?

We disagree greatly on points 1-3, generally agree on 4 & 5, and accept the market-stabilized price of 6. I personally lean towards recording a full album, just because there's an insane backlog of music in this band even if you discount the ones still being worked out. It's also cooler to have an album than an EP, not to mention my reservations about leaving people wanting more when they finish listening to a four or five song EP. I'm also a bit concerned about a four-song EP's ability to accurately depict the range of the music we've written.

 There is little-to-no consensus within the band regarding what songs are "out of the park home runs," save for a few we all take for granted.
This is arguably the best... argument for doing an EP instead of an album. The tracks on the EP will no doubt be "Sugarteeth," "The Arrest," "Country Song," and "Give Up," although Sam doesn't dig "Give Up" nearly as much as the rest of the band. The more I think about it, the more I want "Silver Lining" on the EP as a closing track, but there's some discussion about the song falling flat lately at practice. It is, after all, one of our two oldest songs, so it makes sense that it would suffer from Bubble Gum Syndrome, unless you factor in "Sugarteeth" as the other oldest song, which hasn't really lost its vim or vigor.

As far as distributing the EP, I think I'm alone in the band in thinking we should flip it on a dollar per track basis. Everyone else wants to give it out for free as a way to get our name out there, which I kind of don't see working out. Personally, I think the easiest way to get our name "out there" is to play as many shows as possible, get out in front of as many people as will tolerate us, and give people a reason to remember us. Reasons to remember us: 1. on the merits of our live show, 2. getting them added to our friends list here, and 3. have something to sell; music, principally, but also t-shirts and other various sundries. If I saw a band I dug, I'd shell out five bucks for a five-song EP. There's something about it--buying a CD off a band you just saw--that's very emotionally investing. From that point on, the band's your own best-kept-secret, and it starts feeling like their successes are yours. Free CDs tend to end up on the floor of cars or in the trash can outside the venue. We would, of course, still be able to put three songs from the EP onto burned CDs and distribute them to venues to get us gigs, which is where we would then generate more interest, by exposing ourselves to more and more people. Until the cops show up, that is.

As for where to record, I'm kind of excited about the idea of recording in a legitimate, looks-like-what-I-imagined-a-studio-to-look-like place. I honestly got giddy when we walked into the main recording room at Gradwell last night. Something about it gets my adrenaline going, which I think would be a great asset in the studio. There's been some debate about what to do after we finish recording and move on to mixing, as far as what level we should involve ourselves in creating the mix. I think we're all pretty much on board with the idea of letting the engineer come up with the mixes and then having us come in and decide what we like, what we don't like, what we want to change, and how we want to proceed. My main concern is having enough leeway to experiment with different sounds so that I'm not forever annoyed with my guitar tone on the finished recordings. My amp certainly isn't going to cut it in the studio, which means I have to find out what will. Things like that.

As for bananas, well, it depends on if you're buying them a la carte or en bunche. Generally, they're always a good buy.

Pat

Hi, all,

What a week for your Action Set!  We played the Grape Street Pub in Manayunk, PA, and then Charlie's Den in Edgewater, NJ a few nites later.  Right off the bat, I want to say "thanks" to Cyndi and Ryan from Redorange Morning and Laura also for driving down all the way from New York to show your support.  Thanks.  And thanks to everybody else that came to see us, deliberately or otherwise.  We had a lot of fun and, speaking for Don, Patrick, and Travis, our confidence is thru the roof.  We work really hard and (hopefully) it's starting to show.  Patrick took the initiative to contact Arlene's Grocery and Pianos in NYC to try to book a few more shows, and we're going to contact some of the bars in Philly to try to maintain some momentum.

So, I'll make this quick.  We played Grape Street which was a blast.  We played first (I think by choice, but I don't really remember) which was perfect.  Our crowd was modest -- mostly friends and family along with the other bands, but it was perfect.  The sound was great and we had a lot of fun playing and we got a nice response.  The production manager, Barb, seemed to really like us, which was especially nice, because I'm sure she sees a lot of bands.  And afterwards, some of the people in the other bands were saying we sounded like "a more rock version of the Beatles" and "a more funk version of the Beach Boys."  I don't entirely understand, but they sounded like compliments so we graciously accepted them as such.  On Wednesday nites, the Grape Street Pub also has an open mic (which, by the way, I will likely be playing next week), and Cyndi and Ryan decided to get up and perform.  We had to sit thru some of the standard crappy performances you always see at open mics, and then Cyndi and Ryan were the last act.  The guy running the open mic looked so happy to have them play.  He asked them back, so if you're looking to see a great band at a great bar, be at the Grape Street Pub next Wednesday (before Thanksgiving).  Actually, check out ROM's myspace to make sure they're actually going to be there.

Then Saturday nite, we drove up to Edgewater, NJ, to play at Charlie's Den.  Travis wasn't able to make it because his old man was getting married in South Carolina.  Be sure to tell Travis to pass on your congratulations when you see him.  The show was a lot like crashing a high school party.  The other bands were just kids, but I was still happy to see them up there singing their hearts out.  We met Charlie, John (the booker and Travis' old dorm-mate), and Kris.  All very nice, and Charlie particularly seems to be a music fan and looked like he was really enjoying us.  I'm sure we'll play there again soon, and we'll let you know when we do.  Either way, this is a great little cafe and you should try to get out there and support it because it's a great place to see original music and little places like that are going away fast.  Plus, the macaroni and cheese is awesome.

So now I am officially Ready To Record.  We have talked about it a lot, but have not done much in the way of making it happen, and we've got the opportunity now and we're going to take it.  Once we've hammered out the details (such as where we're recording it and what you can expect to hear) we will be sure to let you know.  But I can confidently say for the first time ever "Expect Something Soon."

Have a safe holiday.

sam

Jame Gumb, MD says:
how in the christ are there different compatibilities of thermal printer papers?

Phil Ken Sebben says:
i'm not entirely sure what you're talking -- but i'll weigh in anyway.  superman has heat vision, but jesus does not.  however, jesus can freeze things and shoot ice with his fingertips.  which makes them almost of equal strength.  which would you choose?  heat vision or freeze fingers?  they're equal but opposite.

Jame Gumb, MD says:
wait, who says jesus has freeze fingers?
I find it unlikely that he does, as it would then be very easy to freeze hell over.

Phil Ken Sebben says:
he chooses not to -- to punish the sinners.  he's in on it.

Jame Gumb, MD says:
well, this all depends, right?
freeze fingers... do they give me powers akin to Iceman?

Phil Ken Sebben says:
yes - but jesus doesn't look icey.
everybody knows that.

Jame Gumb, MD says:
yeah, but he can choose not to look icey, whereas with heat vision, that's all I've got. I can blow shit up or heat it up and that's it. freeze fingers/Iceman powers would mean I could fire ice shards at people. ice blocks.

Phil Ken Sebben says:
alright!

Jame Gumb, MD says:
and--most importantly--travel by ice slide.

Phil Ken Sebben says:
yeah.  he freezes the moisture in the air.

Jame Gumb, MD says:
also, I bet it would be awesome if I could also freeze a small part of my tongue. like having an ice cube in my mouth. girls would dig it.
so I'm picking freeze fingers.
can I also turn water into wine and then into ice wine?
also, am I immortal?
also, do I have to die on a cross?

Phil Ken Sebben says:
no they wouldn't.  would you like it if some girl rubbed an ice cube on your dick?

Jame Gumb, MD says:
I thought the ice cube in mouth was an oral sex trick for all sexes

Phil Ken Sebben says:
some asshole came up with that.  the hot/cold thing.  fucking stupid.
i'm sure they never tried it, they were just like, that would be awesome.
girls like ice on their nipples -- sometimes.  a lot of girls don't dig that.

Jame Gumb, MD says:
I don't know, it's kinda awesome when a girl makes out with you after having an ice cube in her mouth.
it sort of better delineates the inside of her mouth.
might be more tactile.

Phil Ken Sebben says:
yeah -- making out and nipples is cool.  just not genitals.