this and that.
in the making of our second full length album, we've been lucky enough to work with a lot of the same talented people that helped us out in carnavas. darren waterston is one of them, and he is the shit. he was instrumental in giving carnavas a visual to our sound, and not to mention he has become a dear friend to us. since we're on the topic of artwork, also returning is the very creative graphic designer sara cumings. she's the one that gives our name some class. because of her, fonts will never be the same to us again. with their combined artistry, we're confident that swoon, like carnavas, will be a breath of fresh air in the dying art form of album artwork.
tony hoffer is back in the studio mixing swoon. its great to have him back and we know the songs are in very good hands. he and dave cooley are working very hard to meet our mastering deadline at the end of this month. you couldn't even imagine how many knobs are turned and frequencies embellished to make us sound pretty. its getting close to the finish line and we all await with baited breath...
new album means new band photos - that's the ugly truth. we love meeting and hanging out with photographers, but the act of being photographed is not a natural or comfortable proposition for us. but steve gullick loosened us up quickly. not only is he an amazing and storied photographer, he's a good and funny man all around. to get us at ease with him and the shoot, he started telling us jokes - some dirty, some grade school - but all hilarious. the raspy british accent may have also helped a bit. my personal favorite was -
TWO GOLDFISH IN A TANK. AND ONE SAYS TO THE OTHER, "HOW DO WE DRIVE THIS THING?"
so we're trying out this twitter thing. basically, if you want quick updates about what tricks and schemes we're up to at a moments notice, you can follow us on
www.twitter.com/sspu. right now the updates are far and few between, there's not a lot to talk about as of yet, but as we get back into the swing of things - tours, new locales, shenanigans - we'll be updating a lot more and putting up photos and what nots. it may get a little more interesting. or not.
as for other things internet and web like, we are in the process of revamping our website and myspace/facebook pages so they don't look like they're from 2006...
as for us, we're hard at work wrapping our heads around the idea of playing these new songs live. we're not quite sure yet how many smoke machines and fun house mirrors we need to make it possible, but maybe if we take our time and plug everything in correctly, we may be able to make it happen. i guess we'll find out at the upcoming U.S. music festivals later this year. you and me both.
there's no secrets this year. except for secret warm up shows. we'll keep you posted...
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the landscape of swoon from up here.
INTO THE DARK EPILOGUE
its been almost a year to the day when we entered our rehearsal space to start work on a new album. and even though it easily feels like that was just yesterday, living with swoon every single day for a whole year is the duality. we worked our asses off, tried to push the right buttons, tried not to blow up too many recording studios(that one time wasn't our fault). we tried to do something new and uncomfortable, yet have it be recognizable and reassuring. and throw in some strings and horns while we're at it. whether we reached our goal to get to the highest peak of our own proverbial mount everest, or whether we're balancing precariously atop a heap of rubble which we've created - only one thing is certain to us - we're standing on top of a mountain that is of our own making, and we're intent on enjoying the view from up here.
hopefully you'll enjoy it as well...
~xoxopher