Roxy Theatre

On December 26, I had the chance to put a band together of my favorite dudes and back up the up the fabulous TAYLOR WARREN for a show at the ROXY THEATRE. Hollywood was freezing and super windy so we decided to treat ourselves with another famous L.A. delight... Rossco's Chickin And Waffles. My wife snapped a few shots while me and the boys were on stage. Check em out!

Taylor Warren







Tyler DeYoung

[notice the stellar facial expression]



Rakeshrift, The Gluten Free Priest





Loren Ferard




ME!


'Twas a blast. Lookin forward to the next gig... whenever that shall be. I'll keep you posted.

Birtho del Savioro

Wishing You The Merriest Of Christmases!

Some things that went down.

December has been a busy month for this guy. Here's a quick summary of the pretty crazy things going on right now:



My wife and I took a sweet vacation to Las Vegas. It was the best week of our year!! Plus we took some rad pictures. I'll probably post more later, but here's two for now:









Then I got sick, whilst in Vegas. I got Manda sick. I've been sick SINCE Vegas.








Oh yah, then this happened again:







As if once wasn't bad enough. Then Amanda's company had a photo shoot and of course, as her assistant, I was a part of it [not sure how proud I am of that but I do think that hanging out with my wife is pretty cool]...








Musically speaking, it's been busy, too! We've been finishing up and re-arranging all of the stuff for Lifetime, as I talked about previously. When Brando and I aren't busy doing that, I've been writing for ABC more and more and he's been doing totally lame school stuff [masters shmasters, am I right??]. I'll show you some of those songs later- one of them is on the cusp [yes, cusp] of being placed on a commercial for the show "Brothers and Sisters". Yippee! And another Prime Time placement is up and coming in January. I'll keep you on your toes just because I can. Until then.... stay classy.

Well, this was embarrassing!

And I'm NOT talking about our facial expressions!




Yes, that's right. Brandon and I have been working together so much that he showed up at my house wearing the same shirt that I was wearing. Regardless of the fact that it is MY band's shirt and it's far, far more lame for me to be wearing it than it is for him.... I still think I wear it better. What do YOU think??

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

That aside, B and I spent tonight filming some awesomeness for our SUPER sweet 2nd edition of our studio's video blog. You'll hate it, just you wait! Until then, hold onto your butts!

VIDEO BLOG #1 The Magical World Of Josh And Brandon

So for the past few weeks, Brandon and I have been working with Lifetime. You know, the t.v. station you'll catch your mom, wife and sister huddled around shedding out tears. Well, they needed bacground music for a whole new re-branding add campaign and we got the opportunity to be apart of this. Its been an interesting road filled with multiple genre demos, chipotle and Brandon and I going slightly insane at the studio. But we got the job!!! And finally got the music supervisors the right music for these commercials.

So we thought it would be good to start up a video blog to show you the rest of our journey with Lifetime.
The song doesn't have any drums or percussion but you'll get the idea.

Enjoy!

Too Late.

So I wrote this sweet new ABC song last week. I made a little youtube clippage for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think!





In other news, me and Brandon are still working on the re-branding for that TV station I mentioned last week or so. We're going round and round, back and forth with the producers trying to get it right. I'll keep you posted. We'd love to see our music up on the screen, airing daily! Now, back to the pro-tools.

Up To You

Hey all. So I know I haven't been able to finish MY version of the song "Up To You" that I told you about HERE [remember all the pretty pictures??] and recorded at The Den Recorders in Pasadena. BUT, I did get a chance to have my favorite protege, Taylor Warren track vocals on it. Since he's on his way to the top, I figured I'd finish his version before mine.


Go ahead and check out his Myspace Site to hear his version of "Up To You"! It came out great and the young ladies are already wanting to have his babies [which may or may not be due to any of the songs I'll write for him, ever].


And in case you're wondering, this is the REAL reason all of those ladies are wanting Taylor babies:






Pretty easy on the eyes! Anyway, hope to get my version done in the next few days and put it up on the old 'space. Until then, I'm spending most of my time killin' ABC with the mad hits I'm writing!

This commercial

Gets him every time:






P.S.- Happy Halloween from the Auers!

Re-Branding.

So my good buddy Phil calls me from time to time whenever he needs a custom piece of music for something. He's the person responsible for getting my song "Love Grabs You" on that TV show [RIP] "What I Like About You", and for many many other cool placements.


Phil is working with a TV channel/network who is in the hopes of re-branding their image to reflect their target market and create a younger scene. All last week, Brandon and I worked on composing a custom piece inspired by, in the words of Phil:

"Looking for a unique instrumental track....upbeat with exotic travel kinda sounds. Must be kind of romantic (_________ is for chicks).
If you have any thing with Hawaiian sounds...big plus. Think of the branding theme of a new Airlines. Actually pretend you are scoring a new TV ad for an Airlines that takes gals away... to a fantasy land...far away from their horrible miserable lives."


We made a few different versions to give them variety and show them what we can do, but here's my favorite.





So, ladies, where to? Hawaii? The Bahamas?

Cross your fingers for us! It's looking pretty good at this point. I'll keep you posted when I get more info. And here's a picture from my wife and I's anniversary cruise back in September:

Janu and the Whalesharks

For the past two weeks, I've had the pleasure of mixing and mastering the stellar tunes of this funky indie band. I gotta be honest- their music is catchy as hell! I've loved being a part of this project for them and even more than that, I'm honored to be the one that gets to finally help them wrap-up their long anticipated EP.

You must check them out! Now, I'm pretty sure that the final mixes aren't yet up on their 'space, but when they are.. prepare for greatness! These are some talented kids so keep an eye out!


Listen to 'em HERE!


Still, lots of stuff going on for TV and other random creative outlets. I'll keep you posted. Until next time...

Sorry!

I know, I know. I'm trying to break old habits, not get back into them.


This past week or so has been crazy busy with some great exciting projects, but one thing at a time. First, some sweet studio pictures that my wife took:





Tyler DeYoung, drummer extraordinaire, came up to track drums for me.







A big thanks to my buddy Trever Hoehne for allowing me to borrow some of his gear, including this awesome pedal... Super Hard On. Yes... seriously.






Sometimes when my wife takes pictures of me I panic and then I try to eat things. This explains a lot, right?




I think Todd and I both have come to the understanding that he is never getting this back.





It's so good, it's almost painful. Well, maybe more painful, less good. And now for some killer "action" shots:









More thanks to my good friend Travis Ryan for allowing me to borrow his guitar as well. You read it here first, people... I would be nowhere if it wasn't for people giving me stuff. I mean, lending me stuff temporarily [or, more long term, you know, depending on where I move to... very suddenly... out of nowhere, and happen to pack with me]. Really though, the day was awesome and my friend Charlie really killed it with being the producer for the day. To take a back seat on that end of it was really different and equally refreshing for me! I had to battle myself to just be the artist.

The song I tracked was called "Up To You" and it should be listen-able in the next week or so. Gotta finish the editing on it. It came out pretty damn good if I don't say so myself when you consider that we didn't load in until 2pm, start tracking until 3:30pm and had to be DONE and packed up by 11:00pm! It was a quick day but totally worth it. If I haven't told you yet, I work well under pressure.


Now, back to my current projects... you'll hear more from me later.

Any Guess?

From these pictures, can anyone guess what my wife and I have been up to lately? Here's a hint: it takes us to the eXtreme in this almost 90 degree weather...


Oh yah, and here's a mushy one, for the ladies:






In other news, I'm going into the studio [a REAL studio] here in a few hours to record the song "Up To You". My good friend Charlie picked me do gift a free session to, because he's doing some training thing and wanted someone who not only wrote rockin' tunes, but could bang out a song in a day. That's me, folks! Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted with pictures and stuff later.

Taylor's New Song.

So, since good old [or young, you know] Taylor seems to be on the rise with his career, I figured maybe I should put a bit more time into the music I'd been writing him. The more $ONG$ I can write for him now, the more $ONG$ his potential label loves, the more $ONG$ make it onto his album, and the more.... awesome he sounds [well, too]. Anyway, since Taylor and his dad are having a bunch of meetings with a bunch of people, I figured I'd let them browse through some of my older stuff, [think AVNER] and re-vamp it for them [with all the stuff I've learned about producing since I recorded them originally]. They picked a few songs, which I'll be showing you on here. The first of which is one of my favorites, and will indeed be on my OWN album when that happens.


It's called A Loss For Words, and you can listen to the original version [with my vocals, the old recording] in the video below [no fun stuff to look at this time... just black... like your hearts].





Now, to hear Taylor's new, kick-your-teeth-in version, visit his Myspace page HERE! It's the first song on his player.



And just so you don't get bored, here's a couple pictures of me from the good hair day I had last week:











I'll bet you all almost forgot what I looked like, huh?? Speaking of my album [from above], a friend of mine offered me a day in a pro studio to track one of my songs! I'll be doing that next week, so stay tuned for studio pictures and general delirium!

New Song.

I wrote this song a few years back right after my band, PAX217 broke up. At the time, it was really theraputic and serious. I figured now was as good a time as any to re-vamp it a bit and sell it along with the rest of my soul, to ABC.
I figured it was only right to put up some memories of the good ol' days with my boys for this one. Enjoy!

Kinda Cool.

So, last year Amanda's sister [that would be my sister in law, yes] asked me to write a song about New York because her friends were planning a trip and she was making some rather intense and personal travel kits. I say intense in a good way... the planning gene must run in their family!

I, of course, whipped up a super sweet song that she gave me a poem to use as lyrics for. She included it onto the mix CD of New York songs she gave each of her friends for their trip.


About two months ago, Westways Magazine wrote up an article on making travel kits and my song was mentioned. Seeing as I got my name in the press, figured I'd share...















Hopefully one mention in the press of many, many, [undeniably] MANY more to come. If you recognize this issue, scan the pages to feel in person the ink that my name in nation wide syndication!

It's going to be a long day.

So, my home-made vocal booth has been getting more and more shady for a while now. Last night, in a surge of empowerment, I decided to tackle the booth and make it more stable and strong [like myself]. Since it got too late for me to go out and buy anything, the project dragged it's feet into today and I'm spending my afternoon drilling and building instead of writing and tracking. Not happy. Here's me being proud of myself for being 80% done:





Until I noticed something.


See this proerly made corner right here. This is bitchin.





See this corner:






These do NOT look the same. Why, why, WHY in my right mind did I screw the cross beam to the outside of the verticle brace [don't worry, it's guy lingo. Dudes... you got me, right?]??






Oh yah, Brandon was here to help. And make fun of me. Wait... with me. Make fun WITH me. Here I am, delirious at this point, wearing a tiny witch hat in silent protest to what I know I must do....





And here I am, fixing the problem. Oh by the way, note the back corner, which was ALSO put together wrong [and differently than the other wrong corner]. Can't I just write songs and be cool?? I am clearly not cut out to be a construction worker.





Hopefully tonight and tomorrow will be filled with nothing less than my glorious voice filling our hallways. Well, I guess not... that's what a vocal booth is for. To hold sound in [or out]. But at least I'll be surround by it!

Super sweet.

So, over the summer, me writing for ABC slowed down a LOT as their fiscal year came to a close [and begins again in October.... counting down the days, seriously!!].

As I took a step back from actual song writing for ABC [which you can see a few posts down, I've been doing a ton of producing], I got the opportunity to write songs for an up-and-coming young artist [slash super cool dude that lives near my wife and I] Taylor Warren. Writing songs for Taylor has been really fun for me, and it's been great for him, too. If you click on the link and go to his 'space, you'll hear "Who I Am", which is a song I wrote about a month and a half ago and had him sing on [and already has 17,000 plays on his site]. Oh yah, you can also buy "Who I Am" on iTunes if you search the music store for Taylor's stuff. You should. Trust me. Not only is the song amazing but I get paid. Which should be your main concern. Plus that way you can have a piece of me to take with you everywhere you go.


Just spent the day today finishing the bridge and mixing/mastering the second song for Taylor and his myspace, named "Someone Like You", which my sweet dude friend Brandon co-wrote with me. I'm sure Taylor has what it takes to make it a hit! Nothing like writing a song and then finding someone who sounds ten times cooler than you to sing the crap outta it!


In honor of the fact that I have the skills to do so.... a quick pre-release snip of Taylor's new song, "Someone Like You" [accompanied by a vibe-y picture from Taylor's video shoot a few months back]:





Keep your eyes on Taylor. He'll be the next big thing, guaranteed! And, if I can, I'll be holding on for dear life as he rises to the top [special thanks to his dad, Todd, for allowing me and encouraging me to do so!!].


Hopefully I'll be previewing many more songs for Taylor and for ABC to you in this fashion. Would that make you, blog readers, feel special? I hope so. Because to me, you are all so, so special. And just to keep your interest [as I know that's what 90% of you are really here to see...], here's a picture of me standing in front of bricks in Mexico.







Yes, I know. But ladies, I'm still happily married... hate to be the continual heartbreaker but what can you do if you're born like this??