yes yes yes!

Happy?
Not good enough.

Excited?
Nope. that won't do.

Ecstatic?
Not even close.

Magnifi-tastico-rrific-zowie-wowie with a GI-NORMOUS smile on my face.
That would be close.

Yes!
Our album is pretty much mixed. After hours and hours and hours of pure passion and sweat from us and Scott Gordon and Adam Weiner, our third cd will go off to be mastered in the next few weeks. Whew. I'm high from the feeling! If you don't know what I mean.......

Stage I:
We recorded four songs at the end of 2002 just before Bam and I went on tour with Alice Cooper. These four tracks were before Luke was in the band and it was just us three. (with Brian.) We put this out ...sort of...as Chapter 7.

Stage II:
We returned from the Alice Cooper tour broke and homeless. Our landlords had sold our home and we had to pack up and move out in 4 days. Not a big deal, right? We also own our very own 24 track recording studio which we built from the ground up. Every screw, every piece of drywall and soundboard was put up by us. (there was that day when the screw gun went right into Bam's thumb. blood everywhere!) My point is, it's not easy to find a place to live in Los Angeles that you can actually live in and have a recording studio with a control room!

Stage III:
The universe smiled and we found a place to live with an awesome landlord who blessed our use of the garage as a recording studio. Bam unscrewed every piece of drywall and soundboard and slowly reassembled our studio. It was now April 2003 and we had a fully restored, and 100% recycled studio. Including the leopard print carpet and all the miscellaneous wall coverings! Bubble-Land II had arrived!

Stage IV:
Luke had since joined the band and we'd written a bunch of new songs. In the spring and summer of 2003, we wrote a ton of material and decided to streamline this record to be very focused. No ballads. No mid tempos. (well, one.) Eventually, we got the songs picked and Bam laid his drum tracks down in spite of the 120 degree heat. (no a/c in the studio of course!)

Stage V:
What with everyone's day jobs and schedules, it took longer than we thought and we finally finished recording the album in October 2003. Bam started to mix and we realized we didn't really have enough compressors and outboard gear to get the sound we wanted. He mixed anyway. He mixed more. He mixed it more. He remixed and remixed and remixed until the songs were literally dripping out of his ears. Every note, every beat, every nuance, every vocal........he knew them all.

Stage VI:
Now it was January 2004. We weren't happy with all those mixes that Bam had struggled with. It wasn't that the mixes weren't good. This album deserved to be the best it could be. And that just wasn't the best. Enter our ole pal, Adam Weiner. He mixed our first album, "how 'bout this?" and also mixed the Dogs D'Amour "Happy Ever After" album that we produced. (he also mixed Butterfly Jones and DADA) We scheduled time with him to bring his rack of gear over and he would mix in his 'spare time'. In February, after mixing 6 songs over a period of a few weeks, he realized that his mixes were not the best that this record could sound either.

Enter depression. We thought about trashing the whole thing and just forgetting about it. We thought maybe it was the universe telling us we were wasting our time. We wondered why we were struggling with this so much when there was not some big audience waiting for this record. We truly thought about quitting altogether and just calling it a day. (but we all know THAT won't happen!)

Stage VII:
Then Adam phoned his friend Scott Gordon. We knew Scott because he mastered the Dogs D'Amour album and did some crazy stuff for old tracks of ours. He had just finished up the Alanis Morissette album and we didn't think he would have time for our little Bubble album. He said yes to a few tracks. Then that grew and pretty soon, Bam was coming home with a fire wire drive to spend hours getting the drum sounds for ALL the tracks.

After many 40 mile drives to Scott's house, 21 hour days (day job and mix time), barbecues, Greek food, ice cream, cookies and anything else we could muster up to bribe Scott and Adam to keep going....

The whole album is mixed.

I can't fucking believe it.

I know everyone thinks their latest creation is always the best.
This record is the album I've waited my whole life to make.
It ain't pretty.
It ain't ballad-esque.
It ain't some little friendly ball of pop.
It IS full of angst and hope at the same time.
It IS full of the emotions of an addictive personality.
It DOES SERIOUSLY ROCK.
It is the result of listening to Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, AC/DC, The Sex Pistols, The Beatles, The Who, Nirvana, Cheap Trick, Humble Pie, The Faces, The Stranglers, The Vibrators, Aerosmith....well, you get the idea.

Sorry to go on and on. But I had pour this out.

Rock n roll hell is my dream rock album.
Finally.
Now I just have to wait through the mastering and getting the damn thing pressed up.
Which means finishing the artwork etc.
Piece of cake!

Then the terrifying part......
releasing it into the world.
will people love it or hate it?
will anyone care about it?
will it even get the slightest notice?
will we get compared to good shit or bad shit?

ah well.
after making it and mixing it that part will be easy.

Of course, since beginning the album, I've learned to knit!
And now.......I'm gonna go knit work on a little star sweater.
Whew.

Comments

[Jen L]

Congratulations on making something you are so proud of! All that hard work, time and energy... it's aswesome that you're so excited about the outcome. When does it hit the shelves? And where will I be able to buy a copy? :)

[rock chick]

Great news - congrats!

[Nathania]

Wow, Share! That's fan-f*ckingtastic news! You and Bam must be over the moon.

[Amanda]

I previewed some of your songs on your website, and I LOVE them! I can't wait until the album is out; I'll be first to buy it! How many CDs do you guys have out? I want the whole catlog!

[Crsytal]

Wow!! That is so great. I totally want to buy a copy! You are the rockin-est chicka I've ever met so I MUST get a copy. Would you and Bam and Luke and Brian sign it for me if I buy a copy?

That would totally rock.

[share]

To JEN L, ROCK CHICK, NATHANIA, AMANDA, AND CRYSTAL:

First of all, thank you for sharing in my enthusaism!

re: buying it. Since we're completely indie, the cd will be for sale on our site thru paypal and on cdbaby.com when we get it there. but it will be a while as we have to master it and then find the money to press it.

re: the catalog...this is our third full cd and we also have 3 eps. But pretty much everything is sold out.

re: signing it...yes crystal. of course we will sign any cd for knitters! :-)

cheeeeeeeeeeerz.
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