I can't tell you what time we started recording "Bluest Skys," because I wasn't supposed to be working that late. The recording room was filled with burning candles, and I was on my second wind. We played the music and I stood there feeling the guitar, piano, and drum beat. Roger, my producer, sat on the couch in the other room doing something on his computer. He was ready to hear me sing "Bluest Skys." I stared at the bit of candle wax on the podium that held my music notes. I had just come from sneaking into another room where the original KINKS mixing board was. It was such a long and big mixing board that it was brought in through the second floor window as to not dismantle the whole thing. I touched it. I wanted a piece of that history. I couldn't stay long in the room, and so I left with dreams of mixing my music on that mixing board one day.
I went back into the recording room. I straightened up my music notes and prepared myself to sing "Bluest Skys." I thought about Jim Morrison and wondered what went through his mind when he sang his songs. He had recorded in the very same studio I was in at the very moment. I felt the vibe….I could hear the music through my ear phones…the Pink Floyd intro to the song…. It was perfect.
"Open up your eyes….." I imagined me saying goodbye… "We're sailing onto bluer skys…." And so I let my voice float on the notes, as I felt the music move my soul. I was jamming to the music. We all were.
"ALyX! It's wicked!" I heard Roger exclaim. I could see him put his hand on his head, telling my mom how unbelievable I sounded. It made me happy because I always try to sing so that those who listen to my music actually feel it.
"Try it again, ALyX!" Roger wanted me to try different things with my voice, but I sang it the way I felt the music and what you hear on myspace is the actual result. I continued to sing the song even thought I was really tired. I was determined to finish it! It was now, well, very, very late. We were almost finished. THUMP! (that was me falling to the ground
)
"ALyX!, ALyX! are you ok?" Roger asked. I could hear his voice through my headphones. "ALyX!"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I have to do it again. It's not perfect. It's not quite there…. Soooo, let's do it again!" I replied back to him as I pulled myself off the ground. I stared at the candles, got back into it, and redid one part of the song for like the 10th time (I think) the part where I go "…when you're around…." and do that thing I do with my voice. It had to be my voice wrapping itself around a staircase. That's what I pictured in my mind. There was no way I was going to let any machine touch my voice. NO WAY! Finally, close to the break of dawn, I got it right! It was a take! Yeah! I was done.
All my candles had burned out except for four of them. I listened to a full take of the song and had Dany burn me a CD. "Bluest Skys" is a sound that hasn't been heard in a long time and I'm bringing it back. It's part psychedelic and part L.A. mid 60's rock. I wanted to listen to it in the car. On my way back to the hotel I could see the sun coming up. I turned to my mom and said, "I swear I think I was channeling Jim Morrison when I sang Bluest Skys." I was. It's like his spirit was there in the room with me… and I could hear him say, what I often said at the beginning of my shows, "Are you ready to rock?" Love, ALyX! 