Well, the Shaggy crew made it back to Bloomington.  After 5 days of hard work the guys laid down 5 songs that are absolutely amazing.  I don't even know how to begin to tell you all how great they sound.  Their talent, creativity, and work ethic is inspiring, and their determination to accept nothing less then 120% is apparent in every note and beat.  Any Way You Know, Only Like This, Nuthin' Boy, Backline, and Light and Peace are completely finished and only awaiting the final vocal tracks and then the mixing and mastering.  This next album is going to be off the hook so start getting excited now!!  If any of you are interested in the actual process of studio recording, check out our photo blog on the web page.  Vince took some great pictures and then explained what's going on in them.  It's a great way to get a feel for what the guy's have been doing for the last week. 

Here is the link to the Photo Blog - http://www.shaggywonda.com/pictures/071228Recording/ 

Now that we're back in the "real world" be looking for a show coming your way.  We're starting '08 off on the 12th at The Verve in Terre Haute.  Hope to see you all there!  Jenn   

Shaggy Wonda. . . had no idea!

 

Yo Yo---its huffy here. another long day at the studio, im beat, u know sitting around listening to tunes, watching dvds and eating Jenns homemade lasagna all day is really tiring. Jealous!? anyway been working on Light & Peace for most of the day. It sounds killer by the way. Everyones taking a break now and gettin set for Nuthin' Boy. Got to see alot of nashville today. we drove around for about 4 hours doin errands and goin to clubs, passin out press kits, shakin babies and kissing hands, that sort of thing. i think we even got booked for a whole weekend night, just on Jenns smooth talking alone, not too shabby. ok all stay tuned, maybe tomorrow we can get colby to rant at cha about lord knows what.
Peace, Huffy

P.S. dude got my very first air mattress today. super deluxe edition, u know how i roll, im pretty sure itll beat the shit out of sleepin on the floor, anyway. HOLLER.

Let's just start at the beginning. . . we left yesterday, and in typical Shaggy Wonda fashion we were hours late in our departure time from C-bus. Believe it or not, all bodies were accounted for, it was our trusty steed White Lightening we were waiting on. Finally, after months and months of working on the van, she's running like a champ. It was a smooth ride to Cashville. When we arrived at the studio the next several hours were spent setting up gear, equipment, and mics, and getting all the technical bs out of the way so that the guys could hit the ground running today. The upgrade to Studio A is sweet! We're definitely enjoying all the extra space and couches as we are basically calling this place home this week. And Colby has a Hula lamp with a chick wearing a thong. Could one ask for anything more? We were at the studio until almost 2:00 and then retired to Taylor's house for some much needed sleep! After covering the floor of Taylor's house with air mattresses, we all passed out quickly. Abe didn't get much sleep since he spent the night whoring around trying out everyone's sleeping arrangement to see which one he liked best. Lucky for us we're not expecting much out of him in the next few days! We arrived at the studio around 11:30 today and they got started shortly after. The recording session kicked off with Any Way You Know. So far things have gone really smoothly. They were able to lay down all the tracks without many hang ups at all. We just finished celebrating its completion and now they are moving onto Light and Peace. We'll probably stick around for a few more hours and then call it quits on day 1. Huffy's up next. . . we'll be back tomorrow! Peace - Jenn

hey y'alls, its huffy from nashville tennessee. Just letting y'alls know that mad blogs r on the way. jenn's up first...stay tuned!

Ever Wonda? – Vol. 1 – Cover Bands..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

                The idea behind starting to do this weekly blog can be broken up into two separate, but equal, parts. The first of which is to open up the proverbial doors to the inner workings and happenings of a grass roots band attempting to get their music heard through the tangled web of tones and sound pressure waves that fill the air, and then praying that people enjoy it enough to seek it out and contribute their attention, and yes, their money to our musical venture. The second reason for this blogs inception is to take advantage of the opportunity a forum like this gives to my over-opinionated ass and the other over-opinionated asses in the band.

                With this groundwork in mind let us delve into the inaugural topic, cover bands. The relationship between cover bands and bands that focus on original material is very much like that of characters in a comic book, one the arch nemesis of the other, spawning from different worlds of origin and philosophy. From the moment that a group of musicians get together for the first time, no matter how loosely based, they are faced with the choice of which path they will travel. Will they spend their time constructing parts to a song that one of the parties has written, or will they begin to ask each other what songs from the radio each of them know? From the onset this decision will define their band in every aspect. In our case, we chose the former. From the very beginning of Shaggy Wonda there has been a commitment to writing music that was so concrete that it need not ever be mentioned. From the house parties in the beginning to headlining club nights, we have with every show put the focus and emphasis on our songs. As our commitment to making a career out of this project has deepened, the more we run into the villainy of cover bands.

                Now I am not so idealistic to try to preach for the boycotting and belittling of these human jukeboxes, because I understand, and appreciate (to a point), the role they play. I will even admit to raising my glass to an inspired version of 'Last Dance With Mary Jane' a time or two. The conflict lies below the surface and out of sight of the listening public. In our case, the college town which we are based out of is the front lines of this clash. We, like any other band, want to get our music out to as many people as possible, and in our town the place to find all these people is on evenings at the local clubs that have good drink specials. The thinking here is that the drinks get them there and then it is up to us to win them over. More often than not however, the cover bands are selected to play these nights. In fact often times the same band will play the two biggest nights in the same week, playing the same songs, in the same order. The by-products of this deluge is that the general public begin to think that these are the only bands out there and even go so far as to give them the same sort of respect they would give to the band that they are covering. Not to mention that the bigger nights mean bigger pay days for the cover bands and so the financial reward is given to guys who most likely are involved in the band for a finite amount of time and have no higher aspirations. For Shaggy Wonda, we are fortunate enough to have earned a dedicated fan base and have the ability to create our own big club nights, however, we are a growing band with overhead costs for promotion, recording, merchandise, and travel expenses so the money that we make from our shows goes right back to the effort of getting the band off the ground and on the road. What we are left with is a scale that is out of balance, on one side you have the cover bands who have no overhead, no goals, and no integrity but have stuffed pockets, and on the other you have bands like us who are dedicated, motivated, and offer something new to the people but we have to scrounge and claw for every dollar we make.

                I suppose if there is any particular point to this rant it is to appeal to you, the reader, to be a little more aware of the dynamic involved, and to have a better understanding of where your cover charge goes to. Let's be cautious before we begin bestowing awards like 'best band…' to groups that may not deserve the title, and above all, support your local original music, because the customers are the ones that can dictate who these clubs book to play. Meanwhile, we will continue on etching out our own path and writing songs about the adventure as we go.  Thanks for checking out the first go at this blog, and check it out next week when we will talk about the process of the band getting ready to return to the studio in a few weeks.

 

Colby Miller

Shaggy Wonda

Ok Shaggyheads---Huffy here with an update. It might have been hard for ya'll to get ur Shaggy fix lately. We have been sleeping. Sike (i frickin' wish) Every body has been busy handling other stuff. I especially like to congradulate Steve "Bear Grylls" Laine who caught a fish bear handed in the gulf of mexico. Settle down P.E.T.A. he let it go, I think. Anyway, Get Ready cuz the bus is rollin'. With the tremendous help of Jenn, our "new" manager (sometimes a great thing is right in front of you) We have numerous gigs booked. Whiskeystock in TN should be tight. Anyway, check the line-up on MySpace or our website. If ur in BTOWN get to JaKES or the bluebird. If you've moved away look for a show near you and get there. If it's within 100 miles of ur present location, u have no excuse to miss the show. Bring some friends,get drunk, dance ur ass just have a good time. You guys mean so much to us, we just want to reciprocate the love so we'll put on a great show if u'll have a great time. Until we meet again, Mahalo, HUFFY

Thats right, less than a week away from the release of our first full-length album entitled, 'Not Bad For Tuesday'. If you only knew the calamity that has been occuring over the past few months leading up to this date you would either laugh your ass off or be rendered speechless from sheer shock at the ridiculousness of the tale. But now we are closing in on it. We are extremely proud of this record and we think it is going to be the key tool in furthering this grand experiment that we call Shaggy Wonda. So come out and celebrate with us on Thursday and pick up a copy of the album. Oh and be on the look out for the Shaggy Bus around Bloomington on the day of the show......oh you will see.

Colby

Wassup ShaggyHeads, Huffmaster-General at ur service. So even tho the weather is beautiful here in B-Town, I'm pissed that I'm stuck here working when the guys are down in Cashville at the beautiful Hide-a-way Studios finishing up recording and working on the master mix!!!  Can u feel that in the air?  Yeah... thats the static electricity building up that a soon to be released KICK MAJOR ASS album produces.  Patience my friends patience, it will soon be here.  We'll see you all at the record release party at Fester's on April 19, 2007.  This also happens to be during Little 5 week at IU , so if for some insane reason you need more excuses to travel from miles around to Bloomington, this is it.  General Out.  Peace

Huffy here. We have been sucked into the deep, dark cave of the recording studio and just managed to see daylight to send off another update. The last coupla days have been long and crazy. The fellas have been working hard at it so we are ahead of schedule and can take it a bit easier now. I believe we have all but one song done as far as bass and drum tracks and like 8 of 11 guitar tracks. The more songs that get finished the more excited I get about this thing we have goin here. The sound is killer and I truly don't mind spacing out and listening to great sounds all day, I could even get used to it I think. We kicked it old school at the studio for New Years ( last night, night before?) and even did some recording, probably the first recording done in 2007 in the whole FRICKIN' world!!! That's it from Cashville, Huffy over and out.


Oh Yeah: I am the greatest Tony Hawk gamer in the universe, all bow before my skillz!!

So the sessions are off and running. We arrived without much obstacle and we were able to spend the evening last night getting all set up so that we could come right in and get to work. Of course we had to make time for a much needed grocery run, where all the essentials were stocked; peanutbutter, chocolate milk, hot pockets, and beer (etc.). Also when we got to the studio today we learned that we will be sharing the building with the one and only Billy Ray Cyrus, who is recording in studio A for a disney project. How freakin hilarious is that, pictures to come, I promise.

We began tracking a little after noon, beginning, of course, on 'The Cut'. These first days will focus on getting perfect drum and bass parts down. The entire band plays together, but the focus is really on Steve and Panama. The parts that Dan and I play are scratch but it allows us to firm up our parts, tones, and effects that we'll use when we overdub them after Steve and Panama are happy. This process is esspecially hard on Panama. He has to maintain a pefect time along with a metronome tick-tocking in his headphones. Beyond that he has to be sure that he attcks every hit with his hands and feet consistently or else it sounds awkward. The difference between a good take and a throw away could be so faint that most casual music listeners would not tell the difference, but in this setting we are so focused on each and every note or sound that it can literally drive you to a point of hysteria if you think something might have slipped through the cracks. The good news about this is that everyone is stepping up. Panama and Steve have already made it through 'The Cut' and 'Mystery Song' and as their confidence builds their work gets better.

I also have to take the time to mention, once again, how big of an all-star Huffy is. He is taking his studio presence to a whole new level. After gaining experience last year he has come in and been able to really help Taylor in setup which makes the process move along even smoother. So we are about to get back to work, so I will sign-off for now, another update coming tomorrow.