(written on Dec 6th and Dec. 7th)December 6 -
Well, here I am ...in Vancouver. 1st day. It all has been nothing short of perfect so far. We got in last night, got the rental car, drove to the 5 star HOLIDAY INN (I kid you not, I think it's the nicest freaking Holida Inn I've ever seen...or maybe it's just Canadian) Man, can I say how much I LOVE Canada? Maybe it's just BC. Or Vancouver. But whatever, I'm loving it. So, last night, Luis and I weent down to the bar and ended up chatting it up with Fritz, the owner til 2 am. He told us all about his adventures as an ex-street luger (like the luge but on a skateboard) and Pot farmer and how he came to buy the bar. This morning I got up and ran 3 miles and then John (my producer's manager) met us for coffee and we headed to BAKERSTREET STUDIOS. Wow. this place is the bomb. Not because it's fancy, but it's just completely vibey. t's right on the wharf by the water and big ships, overlooking downtown Vancouver. It's cold out but not too cold and it's partly sunny. It reminds me of late february / early March in Cincy. We got in and got right to work..."Fairytale" It's about 2:30 and we're just about to get some sushi for lunch and come back and do "Unraveled" and "Bobbi" for today. More later...
December 7 -
Hey! Well, I finally got access to a computer - man, i was going nuts. So yesterday was a 14 hour day, as the rest of them probably will be too. The funny thing is, I don't even notice the time passing...I am in my element here and it is great. Yesterday we finished all three - FAIRYTALE, UNRAVELED, and BOBBI. I'm really happy with where they are going and the 3 of us work so well together. Today we are trying to get through 4...HOME (which we are just finishing up) and then SPARE CHANGE, DIRTY LAUNDRY, and DRINK MYSELF PRETTY. Phew. Gonna be a challenge. Alright...i'll keep you all posted and soon i hope to have some photos too!!!
(written DEC 9TH)Beautiful Vancouver, BC. it's 10:45pm on the fourth day of 14 hour days...I think we're all a little burnt and slap happy...man, it's been a ride. I'm sure that Vancouver is a lovely place but I haven't seen any of it, ha. oh well, next time. I'm coming very close to accomplishing what I came to accomplish: the music. we've recorded the beds (*meaning the bass/drums) for 11 songs in 3 1/2 days AND we've got rhythm guitar on all of them too. We finished everything up around 5 today and went out for some food. It was cold and rainy and i had yummy soup and some kind of pale ale. It was the perfect comfort food. When we got back, we listened to all the tracks. Wow. It started to sound like a real album! Everything is gelling really nicely and you can start to see the flavor of the album. (Fuckin' cool would be that flavor, btw) It's turning out to be this bluesy/soulful Stones meets Zepelin meets Lucinda Williams. I'm pretty jazzed.
Right now Luis is recording the harp on any song we can think of that might want to have it on it, just so Ryan has options when he starts to mix. Tomorrow we will probably record the 3 acoustic tracks that are left and then Luis and I head off to the airport to come back to home sweet home.
A lot of you have asked, "So, when will it be ready?"
From here, my producer will be getting guys to come in and fill in the songs with piano, organ, cello, and of course, lead guitar. He'll be emailing me MP3s of it all with rough mixes and we'll go back and forth on those to get to the final mixes on all of the tracks which should probably be finished by mid January. At that point, sometime at the end of January/beginning of February, I'll be coming back to Vancouver for another week to record my final vocals. Then the final mixes will be done and MP3ed to me to hear and once all is approved and complete, the album will be mastered and sometime in late February, the actual album should be finished.
That's when we officially chose a single and release that and all of the publicity and marketing begins, leading up to the Spring release of the album. Of course, during that time, album artwork will be done and sent to a manufacturer to be pressed.
So, as you can see, there is still a ways to go....oh, we are only at the beginning. :)
Sound issues....it's 11:03 and we can't get the harp to come through the mic we set up...this engineering thing is complicated...."Route 25 through gear 28. What channel? Whatever we're dealing with....the overhead...110." K, that might as well be Japanese to me.
Speaking of Japanese, we've had some AMAZING sushi here. So fresh and so abundant. It's like Starbucks is to the States....one on every corner. Yesterday we ate at one that was a bit scary. Not the sushi....the servers. Brett, our assistant, and Luis ordered all you can eat and we the rest of us didn't. They sent a man over to our table to "watch" us and make sure they didn't share the "all you can eat" with us. He was like a guard. Not sure what would have happened if we tried. I was imagining alarms going off and gates with bars flying down from the ceiling and Samurais careening towards us, swinging and waving large bladed swords in our faces. But we played it safe. Our little guard man was a bit unnerving.
The sound for the harp works now. Good. Ok. Time to get back to work. :)
See all you los angelenos very soon!!!!
xo,
jules
Our view from the studio (in North Vancouver) over the water to downtown Vancouver
Another view from the studio...one of a very big boat.
The whole crew: Producer Ryan Stewart, Asst. Brett, ME, and Luis (bass, dobro, harp) 
Crazy Harp Man
Fonky Bass Mon
Awww, the little drummer boy. Ha, Ryan's gonna kick my ass for that one, eh? :)
We are clearly approaching slap-happydom here...where's my Heineken?
Post-Heineken, wake it up with some Starbucks...clearly Ryan (out of shot) has made a suggestion that I am a bit hesitant about. Luis is like, "Whatever, let's just play."
Oh, I remember this night. We started on "Take Me" around 9-ish, thinking it'd be an easier one to wrap up the evening with...ha! All I'll say is "Ha!"...but after a night of blood, sweat, and beers I think we got a winner...
Oooo. Intensity, Mr. Producer.
Me, the badass (* see tattoo) callin' some shots.
Mr. Oliart and the Jules, takin' a breather
Figuring out the arrangement to our last minute bonus live track :)
...coordinating it with the troops...
THE END...for now. This was taken about 5 minutes before we left for the airport back to the states. What a team, man. Vancouver, don't go missin' me too much because, in the words of my state's governor..."I'LL BE BACK..."
