• “these narrow streets”
• “Dozen hearts”
• “Sundown”
• “Finding a way home”
• “take a deep breath”
• “you’re sweet”
• “suits you fine “

I’ve usually written songs in batches of three of four.  It was a bit of a cold, dark winter and I’ve happened to walk out with about seven new songs in the past two months.  New songs are my saving grace.  Six of these seven have backing vocals, something I would have never dreamed of a year ago. But a lot has happened since a year ago.

We’re going to play these at our next few shows and see how they fly.  Natural selection proposes that the best songs should make it on the record.  Being written products of intelligent design might negate that theory.  Put fate into the mix and we have ourselves a good ol mexican standoff.

Man, Quyen takes fantastic shots.  These are from our first show at Hotel Cafe in Hollywood on 02.15.  These are just a few I’ve combed through. We’ll sort through and post a few more on our main site. May have to use these and make posters to put up for our Hotel Cafe return April 18.  Anyway, I couldn’t wait and posted these here.

I’m no delay expert.  But MXR’s new Carbon Copy analog delay sounds beautiful to me.  I opened one up yesterday and you can adjust width and rate mod settings with a little flathead if you’re so inclined. Plus it has a small footprint.  Mad Professor’s Deep Blue Delay is really worth trying if you can find one.  It’s not cheap but I do think it’s worth the tag. Blame the weak dollar.  Even Hohner’s harmonicas are going up, imported from Germany and all.  I’d better get into my folk/harmonica phase before it gets to costly to sing folk music.

Here’s a demo of a song I wrote on Valentine’s Day last month. It’s for gal I’m sweet on. It’s unlike most of our songs and unknowingly my best Gram Parsons attempt. After writing it I picked up a new Boss Micro-BR mini recorder which really captured a good sound. Anks the engineer put me in his lush Beverly Hills tiled bathroom for the reverb.

You’re Sweet

Just got an email from Colin who says April 18 we’ll be returning to Hotel Cafe in Hollywierd.

Backstage Cafe 03.06 (for some of the folks from Myspace)

• Hooker (definitely not new)
• Finding a way home (newish)
• Suits you fine (new)
• Dozen hearts (spankin new)
• Las Cruces (new)
• Sundown (new)
• Restless sea
• “Main St.” (new)
• Bloodburner

We took some liberties and called out six new songs Thursday night.  “Main St.” is still untitled hence the quotation marks.  I can’t wait to record these and see if they make the record.  Ah survival of the fittest.  And there we were, grabbing drinks with one Colin Beswick, in Ian Copeland’s club underneath a picture of his brother Stewart and the rest of the Police.

While working on new album songs with the band I tried the Janglebox compressor.  This thing is outrageous.  The kind folks at Janglebox are sending me one and I can’t wait.  Seriously, I want to have it for our Myspace show tomorrow night.

I played with Demeter’s Compulator today and it sounded really great. I’ve already mentioned a few other great compressors and I thought I’d give this one an honorable mention.

I’m in modern guitarist mode today, simply browsing reviews and online clips of compressors.  And I’m wondering what I would like without going out and trying them myself.  A few months ago I tried Analogman’s CompRosser which was killer.  The Keeley 4-Knob Compressor is really fun.  Both add a bit of grit to a clean tone which is fun and adds another dimension to your right hand dynamic.  I’m definitely going to try the Janglebox.   Speaking of Analogman, someone is selling a King of Tone pedal for four bills on Craigslist. Which is better than the manufacturer’s one year wait list.  I’m using one (Adam’s) on our album and it sounds ridiculously great.

I woke up in Culver City to the sounds of some real-time strategy PC gaming.  My friend has the Diablo II Battle Chest.  I’m about seven years late here but now I’m jonesing for Diablo.  Ironically I recently met the guy who scored music for Blizzard, meaning World of Warcraft and Diablo.  I mean, this guy should be like a rock star.  I wonder if he get’s royalties.

Rest in Peace Jeff Healey.