Vote For Jered's photo!

Many of you remember this shot that I photoshopped myself into from the Switchfoot show. Well, our great friend Jered Scott has entered the original photo into a VH1 music photography contest of sorts.

He could use ALL of the votes he can get! So, please go here and VOTE NOW. He has until the 31st and he really does deserve to win with a shot like this:




Please note: you DO have to sign up for a VH1 account in order to vote, but it's no big deal. Feel free to make up bogus information about yourself as well.

Once again, go here to vote!!!

Merry Christmas!

So, for the second year in a row, my wife, her sister and I are recording a few songs of re-worked hymns for our parents as a personal [and cost-effective] Christmas gift. You can listen to last year's here.



This year, to spice it up, we decided to add some pictures onto the package. So, thanks to our good friend, Jered Scott, we have this to show for it:






And a few of me, "hans solo":






Okay, so maybe that last one is a bit over the top.

Stay tuned for more photos from the studio and clips of the three of us and this year's project!

Anatomy Of A Christmas Cover Song

Being in the spirit of Christmas, my good buddy Matt [Courage Call] and I decided to record a last minute Christmas Song. Now, when choosing a cover song, one must abide by a few key rules...
1. The song cant be too too famous.
2. The artist must no longer be performing said song.
3. [and most important] The song MUST date back to a time period between 1986 - 1994.
Using these guidelines, we were forced to choose none other than Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas." An Obvious choice.


At first, the thought was just to do a shot gun recording for our Myspaces, but as we got more involved in the arrangement and ideas started to pour, we decided to do a full production and invite some of our friends down to join in.

I used my computer to snap some shots throughout the session for your viewing pleasure. Thanks to Apple's Photobooth, we are all now left handed.

Enjoy!


Our good friend Tyler [Amaradio] came down to play some drums for us. All the arrangements are square so its time to start tracking.



Matt thought it'd be funny to hold the headphone chord while i was playing. Unfortunately it was. Turns out, many things are funny at 2am.


Here, matt demonstrates how large his... triton is. Again...2am.

Matt had a great idea where the bridge of the song drops out to just stomps, claps and a large gang vocal. So we threw up a couple mics on a wooden stage and got to stompin'.

Next Comes the Vocals!!!


Hey! Amanda showed up!


Problem... Turns out Mariah was very talented and sang some challenging vocal lines. At this point we're having a hard time with a melody in the third verse.

hmmm....


NICE!!! Now for a little background vocals...


A couple of last minute edits and voi la!!! Its as simple as that! Take a LISTEN and let us know what you think... and then buy me something for Christmas.

New Song Up on Myspace!

Hey all,

Josh posted the song that was picked up by Reaper on his myspace earlier today. We'd love to get some comments about the song so go listen and come back to tell us what you think!!

The song is called Tell Me! Remember, it was supposed to be along the lines of the punk/rock band Jet. How do you think he did??

Recording Session Gone Bad...

This weekend, i had the opportunity to co-write and play bass/guitar on a song with producer Philip Steir. Philip and I go way back. We met in San Francisco in 2002, when we worked on "Engage," my first band's sophomore album. Since then, we've worked on a whole heap of great projects together. So when i got the call for this, i agreed without question.

The song [which will be used for an independent food documentary due out in 2009ish... i think] was supposed to be kind of a dark, eerie piano piece. Think Tori Amos meets "American Beauty" meets "Nightmare Before Christmas." I'm always down for something challenging. But for me and my pop-rock background, this definitely stretched my boundries. In the end it turned out pretty sweet, but while writing and recording i spent about 11 hours in a 55 degree tracking room. Low and behold, today I wake up with a lovely sinus infection.

I'm ready to start a new week filled with song writing, Emergen-C, and hittin' the Singer's Saving Grace pretty hard until I feel my flawless self again.

I Need You Video

Thanks to a new acquaintance who we'll call "miss duct," you can all see just how awkward i look on stage without a bass to hide behind.

Well well...

Looks like someone got to play with Switchfoot last night, too.

Relient K

So, I haven't blogged about this yet but about a year or so ago, I had the priveledge of singing back up vocals for some of my great friends in Relient K. I sang on one of the tracks from their newest album "Five Score and Seven Years Ago" called "I Need You".

Since our lives have all grown so busy in the past few years, the only time I really get to connect with these guys is when they pass through southern California on tour. So, of course I jumped at the chance to see them live and hang out when they played with Switchfoot tonight to a sold-out crowd at the Bren Center in Irvine.

It was literally like going to a high school reunion for me, since these bands and I shared many stages and tours over the years with my former band.

Tonight, when I arrived, I had no idea I was going to be pulled up on stage to sing along with the track I'd recorded with them. Luckily, my good friend Jered was there to take some shots. So... here they are.




And, the crowning glory:



Yes, that IS in fact my belly button dent that you can see through my shirt from stage. But, doesn't the black look slimming?

Video from the studio

As Amanda said earlier, I spent the day in the studio and wanted to give you all an update on my progress. This is what I'd consider the "half way" point in the song- the bass, guitars, and drums are pretty much done. I figured it'd be cool to show you all what it sounds like before I put a melody to it and finish it up. Also, enjoy some of my sweet studio pics [some are from today, others are old favorites].

Mini Vacation

After busting his finger open on Saturday, Josh took a few days off of music [which for him normally means taking time away from RECORDING, because mostly he writes in his head and not on a guitar anyway]. We spent the weekend with good friends and family and with each other! Last night we headed out to Cabazon to do some outlet shopping [and failed at our attempt to find Josh the perfect pair of black jeans]. Then, we stayed at Morongo, one of the nicest rooms we've paid for since we've been married. It was a last minute week-night splurge. But, we had a great time! It was good to take a day off, but Josh will be back in the studio this afternoon. He's working on a slower song for ABC that a soon-to-be-made-known female vocalist will be singing on, and then he's recording a few "Jet" styled songs and still trying to land one on Reaper.

Here's a pic from yesterday... more updates to come after tonight [as I'm never ceased to be amazed with what Josh can do in 5 hours alone at the studio].

A bit of frustration.

So, today I was getting ready to record some drum tracks at my studio for a new song that I'm going to try and get in on the show Reaper [which I am watching a tivo of as I type...]. I'm lowering an old mic stand, or at least trying to, and my finger got pinched in the process. I didn't even realize it was actually cut until I unscrewed what I had been doing and found a chunk of my missing skin [sorry for the graphic description].

Needles to say, drumming didn't last too long today and led to a frustrating set back...




Tomorrow's a new day and a new chance to record. Tonight, it's neosporin and me kickin' it.

Approval and getting towed.

Today, Josh got the OK on the vocals he sang for the Clay Aiken demo. Yes! We're thrilled. :)

We also got his car towed, because his key stopped working. That means 2+ weeks of one car for the two of us until his truck can get re-keyed. Yikes. At least it's on it's way to being fixed. It'd been acting up for quite some time.

We'll keep you posted on Clay Aiken.

Tonight's project.

Well, it's 10:30pm and my wife Amanda and I are in the studio tracking some vocals for a song written by the uber talented and fabulous Eve Nelson. She's sending the song over to Clay Aiken for consideration for his new album and his team wanted to hear a male vocal on it... so it came my way. Eve is a new friend of ours in the Auer family and we're delighted to see where the relationship will end up down the road. It's funny how similar Eve and I seem to be- sense of humor and all. Must be a musician thing, because we totally hit it off!

In other news, Dawn Johnson, our favorite friend and contact from ABC's affiliate Fifth Floor Music [songs composed for television] has ventured out on her own project- Take Two Productions. I'm thrilled to be a part of it, and look forward to the growing opportunity I have in working with her!

Don't worry- I will still be working with Fifth Floor in the coming year- more now than ever, and with them gaining shows left and right, be on the look out [or, would it be "be on the listen out"??] for some of my stuff on ABC's shows- from day time to prime time! Trust me, we'll alert you the SECOND we hear anything!

Now, back to recording...