High fives one and all!
Seeing as so much has happened over these
past few months I thought I would do my bit to try and put you guys in the
picture a little so that you can jump inside, walk about and learn some stuff
that is not always broadcast around here.
So at the end of July we crossed the
Atlantic for the third time in nine months, it would prove to be the most
important time for Two Spot Gobi so far and certainly some of the most life
changing time spent away from home for many of us. We knew that we had come to
record our second album but with only a handful of tracks properly finished and
no real idea of what was to come, the mood in the Gobi camp was definitely
mixed.
All doubt and uncertainty was soon cast
aside as soon as we arrived in California. I remember on our first day in
Oceanside when Dino, Ellis and I went down to the beach and I felt like we had
properly arrived. Everything was just so fucking cool, the shop signs, the
cars, the waves, the blue pacific, the beach row avenues and their palm trees,
the surf shops and the music, it was the stuff of dreams. This was the
California that people write and sing about, this was the California I had
always dreamt of visiting, it was like a trip back to another place and time
completely, a time warp where I could happily lie wondering for hours.
It was only a day or so later after we had
gathered all of the equipment we would need to record, that we first met the guy
that was going to produce our album, Niko... Niko Bolas can only be described as a
complete hero, straight-talking, no nonsense (unless it is appropriate) and
100% pro at all times. Niko instantly got what we were all about musically,
instantly worked out how to communicate with us on a level we could all
understand and within hours of our initial meeting we were in the studio and
the whole vibe was immense. He got our personalities, our sound and what we were out to achieve, he was
perfect. You could feel the energy between the six of us in the live room and
between Niko and Dre (our dear friend and engineer) in the control room... There
was some magic gunna happen this summer.
So much of the recording experience was
enhanced by the incredible surroundings and intense natural beauty that was all
around us. At Casa Del Mraz you step outside and you instantly feel like you
are one with nature, the hills and avocado groves are green and rolling and the
wildlife was plentiful and varied. Every single day the sun shone and you would
never get more than a light breeze between the trees, it was perhaps the most
idyllic setting for what we had come to do…
From my journal:
‘Though I’m sure not everyone noticed it
at the time, throughout the course of the summer we had grown closer together
in many ways. Almost a year before hand we had dealt with dramatic ups and
downs... We had come so far, we had been ripped off, lied to, led astray, told
that what we were doing would never work, told to change our image, our name
and we had sacked a manager who achieved nothing for us other than to dash our
dreams upon the rocks. But here we were, staying at a mutli-platinum selling,
globally successful artists’ house, playing music that we loved, with a great
producer, a fantastic engineer and a good set of people around us to encourage
us.,,....
Some days we would be more productive
than others, some days we would just lie on the beach for an afternoon and then
some days would be intensive, but none of it ever really felt like work. I
thought to myself on more than one occasion how fortunate I was to be making
music that I love, with a group of my closest and best friends in the best
place on earth. It surely couldn’t get better. I realized what I loved and
appreciated about each individual and how Two Spot Gobi had become a proper
band, that’s what we had become a proper fucking band. When you hear the songs
on the album, we are really playing, we really fucking mean it and or
performances at shows throughout the summer just got tighter and more
enjoyable…’
By the end of these few months, we had a
set of great recordings to take home that we could not be happier with, they
just sound so great and I can’t for you guys to hear what we came out with over
this summer just gone. We have played some incredible shows and have met so
many folks that we love and miss dearly and who I know we will be in
contact with for years to come.
some of our cali family at the Casa - we miss you guys!!
This record would not have been the same
without California… It was the key ingredient. When you are there you just feel
like a king, the sun shines every day, the roads unfold like one long
possibility and the people smile.
From my journal:
‘It was hard to take on board really, at
the time it didn’t really seem real, but then I was focused on the task at
hand, writing songs, recording new tracks and editing together clips from our
incredible journey. In the last few days that we were in California, everything
began to fully sink in and I began to realize the enormity of what we had
actually accomplished, it was completely overwhelming. ....
It was a lunch-time on one of our last
days in California and Jason and a whole load his buddies had returned back to
the house. John Morro (the artist and co-founder of Blend apparel) was there,
Tricia (Jason’s assistant) was present, Ryland (from Café Gratitude) was there,
Mike Schriber (Manager of the Makepeace brothers) was there also, along with
Billy, Natalie, Tawney, Dre and a few others. Ryland had cooked some incredible
vegan food for us all to feast upon, but before we plated up, he invited us to
stand up and hold hands in a circle around the steaming goodness that lay on
the table. He said we should all say what we were grateful for at that very
moment in time and give thanks for the wonderful meal that had been prepared.
It was not something I had ever really
done before and as people spoke their feelings around the circle I began to
shake nervously, worrying about what I might share with all these incredible
people. As it got closer I was
shaking in both arms and gripping tightly to the two people on either side of
me, I felt like I was going to implode or something. I was the last person in
the circle and as soon as the person to my right had spoken, I felt all eyes in
the circle move to me. My voice was trembling and my arms and legs were shaking,
and then I just said the first thing that came into my head which was, ‘I am
grateful for this summer, for all the amazing people we have met and for being
welcomed into this community, I can honestly say that this has been the best
summer of my whole life and I truly mean that and I know that everyone else in
the band at home feels the same way’. As I spoke I was looking all around at
peoples’ faces, not looking into their eyes for too long, but long enough to
notice how much love was present in that circle at that moment. Why had I
worried about saying how I felt? I knew that everyone had appreciated the
honesty of what I had just said and all of a sudden it like I was really part
of something that very few people get a chance to experience in life. I had been
on the most insane journey of discovery with the band and it had all just been
an out of this world experience. As I finished my last sentence, to my relief,
everyone cheered and raised their hands up in the air. Everyone was smiling.
God bless you California.’
I hope that sharing these few snippets and
talking a little has given you some idea of just how much we have all valued
this experience and just how proud we are of the new music that we will be
sharing with everyone in the not so distant future.
Right now we are planning our activities
for the next 12 months and it is looking very cool indeed. In the near future we have Autumn shows coming
up in the UK and we will of course be continuing the stream of videos, blogs,
tweets, downloads, podcasts and music for all you faithful followers…
We thankyou, we love you, bless you all
Sending positive vibes and big smiles from
sunny Devon (soon to be moving to Brighton and in with Rob)
X J
JR
