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Current mood:sincere
Category: Music
When the fires were burning last November in Southern California, we began recording our new album. You could see the fires on the ridge by the studio and ashes and soot filled the air. One of the studio days was cancelled because the producer David Bianco couldn't drive out of his neighborhood. As the trees turned to ash and blew down into the parking lot we went through what turned out to be the highlight of our musical career as a band.
Since we were recording in a room full of smoke on some days, it seemed like the right choice to take the name of the song "Roomful of Smoke" and make it the title.
Working with David was an incredible and intimidating experience. David has worked with artists like Tom Petty and Bob Dylan. He recorded the best Teenage Fanclub records(according to Jim Bowers and others), as well as the Dropkick Murphys, Tift Merritt and more. I tortured him by being my indecisive self many times. Sometimes I think hardest part of being a producer must be keeping a straight face.
Still, David worked late into the night with us. He rearranged Salvation and Roomful of Smoke. He produced, engineered and mixed the whole record and gave us more time than we deserved. Many of the vocals were sung with a microphone Bob Dylan recorded with sitting right before me on the ledge of the vocal booth and I really liked that. I tried using it, but it wasn't right for my voice. I wore a big straw hat in the car on the way to the studio to make myself feel confident and it kind of worked some days, oddly enough. I turned off the lights and cried while singing Ballpark Lights(a song about loving someone so much that you feel brighter than the Ballpark Lights) and many friends of the band, Tristan, Dan, Stephanie, Dave, Mike Locke from Rhino, even songwriter Buffy Visick, came in to sing on the sing-a-long song "It's Ok to Trip but Don't Fall."
"I'm glad somebody's doing something they want to do" -Big Edie, Grey Gardens.
That's us, doing what we want to do...making what we want to make despite what some people say.
It's inspiring to be in Los Angeles right now. I'm really hoping that this record strikes a nerve with some of you out there. I don't like to admit it but I'm a little nervous about everyone hearing this record even though it's the best thing we've done so far.
Thank you truly for being here, both those of you who have been with us from the beginning and those of you who have just started listening more recently.
From the bottom of my dusty, overly sentimental heart,
Leslie
10:05 PM
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