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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Let's Record: Phase One Day One

Day 1 at Phase One

We did our second rehearsal the night before our first day in the studio.
What can I say Eyeswide is more of an off the cuff entity.
I suppose it's not meant to be an exact science.
So that kept me up until 2am.
I awake at 7 to get ready for the drive down to Toronto for a 10 am start.
Of course since we are all musicians we did not start until 12.
That just seems the way things work out with the musically inclined.
Today it was Adam Skinner (who's in a fancy little band called Atlantis Blueprint, they just opened for The Trews not too long ago), Fraser Gauthier, and me.
Plus Jeff Pelletier running the boards and ripping on Adam as much as possible.
Adam only had 2 hours sleep since he had to get up at 4am to drive down and pick up part of his kit.
He's a trooper.

We laid down all the Bed tracks for the drums 6 tracks, bas for 2, and some beginnings of guitar.
It was a long day and I didn't get out of the studio until 11pm.
Fraser will be getting the rest of the bass down next.
The album will be out in June in time for the Summer tour.
Here is a video and a little rough audio sample of something very much unfinished.


Here is a mish-mash of photos taken with a good ol' Cannon and the not as spectacular iPhone.




We arrive  
Fras and his long neck.

drum set up

most of Gina's day

Adam kickin' it!

Lesson time. 


Fraser, you're out. I'm in.

Jeff, this man has a good ear.






I did not create this chart, although we all stood by it.
Kidding Adam!

Closer look at the chart.


The team Mike, Adam, Neil, Jeff, and Fraser.

 Only 2 hours sleep was wearing on Adam Gina re enacts Where The Wild Things Are.






Phase One can make a recrd...

Showing mostly Canadian but thee were gold and platinum albums for Ludicris, Rhianna, 50 Cent as well.

Hurry Up Adam!




Th only thing that gets me through the day.


There you go. Day one complete.
The tour dates promoting this new CD are up on www.eyeswide.ca
and head to www.eyeswidemusic.bandcamp.com to download #22 for FREE!
As well for the 1st time T-Shirts are now available to order online at www.eyeswide.ca!

-Neil
www.eyeswide.ca

Thursday, April 12, 2012

The New Album starts on Monday

I am sick.
Not in the trendy mis-spelled way those youths like to say.
I've got a swollen throat and sore muscles and I'm cold.
I tried a half day of work yesterday, decided to stay in today.
So I'll be laying bed, drinking tea, gargling salt, and rubbing oil of oregano on my throat (also a lot of winching.)

My favourite quote I read about myself that I discovered today via twitter "Eyeswide what Ass or what one doesn't look for at Walmart."
Well jokes on you I don't have CD's in Walmart! Ha!
Score one for Neil!

I did an interview the other day.
You will never see it printed.
When I met with the interviewer she said, so this is going to be an article on your art, I didn't even know you did art.
I laughed. Are you sure? I haven't done any new photography for a while now and I don't plan on doing any until after the summer. I'm recording and new CD and going on a big tour in the summer. You sure you don't want to write about that?
No?
Alright what are the questions?
Needless to say The article was scrapped but we did have a nice chat over a beer at one of my favourite bars, The Local Gastropub.

Recording begins on Monday.
I won't be singing that day we'll be laying down drums and bass maybe get to some guitar.
I was a little stressed out about it for awhile. Phase One is a much bigger and well known studio than I'm used to (check out their Client List) and I was having trouble procuring my drummer. As scheduling is not an easy thing to do, it seems. Every musician I know has a regular job to help assist them being a musician. It worked out that Adam Skinner of Atlantis Blueprint will be on drums, Julien Michaud of Richmond Switch will be on lead guitar. Jeff Pelletier will be the sound engineer and mixing the tunes.
I'll be recording 5 songs at Phase One all full band arrrangments. Its going to be quite different from the last album. And I'll also be doing some small solo/ duo/trio songs in a studio in Barrie.
And who knows maybe I'll do some of those at Phase One.
I'm excited to start. I hope some of you are excited to hear some new recordings.
I was planning on making this album into an LP but the costs of this album are already pretty high despite getting a small recording grant from the city of Barrie, I will most likely have to save that for the next CD.
Over the course of recording I will be taking photos and video clips and posting them so you can see all the work we do to make this happen.
I do want to make a video for one of the songs but not myself personally. I think I'm over making videos. I've only done one and that was enough #22.

I start touring in June starting in Austria, then to Italy, and finally coming back to do All of Canada.
But first I will be in Las Vegas at the end of the month, playing at The Freakin' Frog.

The summer tour is coming along nicely. There are quite a few dates that I'm still trying to fill so if you have suggestions or want a house concert get in touch neil@eyeswide.ca
Here's the rundown so far. Some familiar cities and some new ones too.



Apr 14, 2012   Private Party            Toronto, ON
Apr 21, 2012   The Lazy Tulip        Barrie, ON
Apr 26, 2012   Freakin' Frog            Las Vegas, NV
May 04, 2012   The Brownstone      Orillia, ON
May 11, 2012   Michael & Marion's Barrie, ON
May 12, 2012   Michael & Marion's Barrie, ON
May 25, 2012   The Local                Barrie, ON
Jun 14, 2012   Cafe Concerto          Vienna, AU
Jun 16, 2012   One Eyed Jack         Florence, IT
Jun 22, 2012   Clubhouse                Florence, IT
Jul 13, 2012   Pappy's Cafe             Wabigoon, ON
Jul 14, 2012   Shooters                    Kenora, ON
Jul 18, 2012   Spadina Freehouse   Saskatoon, SK
Jul 19, 2012   Akropol                    Swift Current, SK
Jul 26, 2012   Haven Cafe              Sherwood Park, AB
Jul 27, 2012   Velvet Olive             Red Deer, AB
Jul 28, 2012   Rum Runner             Coleman, AB
Aug 01, 2012   The Storm Cellar   Banff, AB
Aug 02, 2012   Tonics                   Kelowna, BC
Aug 03, 2012   The Last Drop      Revelstoke, BC
Aug 08, 2012   Bushwakker Brewery Regina, SK
Aug 25, 2012   The Old Nick       Toronto, ON
Aug 29, 2012   TBA                     Oshawa, ON
Aug 30, 2012   The Stinking Rose  Campbellford, ON
Aug 31, 2012   La Maison Tavern   Cornwall, ON
Sep 01, 2012   Avant Guarde         Ottawa, ON
Sep 07, 2012   The Loyalist Inn    Shelburne, NS
Sep 08, 2012   Rudders                Yarmouth, NS
Sep 09, 2012   House Concert      Yarmouth, NS
Sep 11, 2012   House Concert      Lunenburg, NS
Sep 12, 2012   Plan B                  Moncton, NB
Sep 14, 2012   The Cellar            Fredericton, NB
Sep 24, 2012   The Old Nick       Toronto, ON
Nov 15, 2012   Fables                 Tatamagouche, NS


I've joined Bandcamp. You can find my album for sale there, the cheapest of any online site selling it plus, I'm giving #22 away for FREE. So take advantage of that.


Once again I don't really have any new photos. 
here's an old one from Halloween


-Neil
www.eyeswide.ca