PRE-PRODUCTION IN LA WITH ROB SHNAPF
December 17, 2003 03:53 AM
That's a giant building with an i-pod ad on it. Very cool.
Driving down the road.
WOO HOO...eisley was here twice.
Stacy playing her new song on guitar while we're waiting on gear.
Before Weston had drumsticks, he used these.
She can't hear that good really.
Rob with guitar...producing.
Rob producing. Others looking on.
Pre-production in progress.
Another i-pod billboard across from our hotel.
I'm not through with images. Don't give up on me.
---------------------more images from the week.
Driving to Cole Rehearsal studios
There's that giant i-pod ad painted on the building. (note size of dump
truck in the foreground...)
Remember those "seguay's" we rode at one of the Ca. venues on the
Coldplay tour? Steve Wazniak from Apple let us ride them. See images
somewhere. 
Chauntelle and Weston. right.
Stacy pondering. They're working on figuring out what all the weird
chords that Eisley plays that nobody knows the names for.
Sherri, hooded, singing...
Jon and Stacy dancing.
Jon pondering... they're working on arrangements with Rob.
Singing, I think.
work. work. work.
Rob smiles often.
Rob saying, "oh".
clipping across.
Rob's little boy painted his nails that day - because it was fun.
I have more but we have to check out and go home. Unless they let
us have a late check out...we'll see. YES. they did.
She can't take the stress and starts smoking like a sailor...
She doesn't get it. Or something is frustrating.
Sherri face.
Weston bought these at some Arizona trade store and wears them
all the time these days.
Weston does this weird dance and makes his hands do the edward
sissorhands thing...
Weston enjoys life by making others laugh.
Chauntelle sits down for a while.
Chauntelle tired.
Sherri tired.
Stacy tired.
Sherri shoes.
Sherri trying to look cute or whatever.
Craig Aaronson came by with wife and child just to give us ice cream
and hang out... oh, and listen to some fun music.
Weston at a normal moment.
Sherri outfit.
I spied them out at the hot tub by the pool... moments later, Jon came in
soaking wet... because Weston pushed him in, of course.
---------------------
This (below) Chronolojizes the goings on of the band - Eisley, while in LA for
Pre-production with Rob Shnapf for the new full length record, now in
progress. Photos above were taken throughout the week. bd
-----------------------
Hi. It's 4:00am your time; luckily here, i'ts ONLY 2:00 here. I'll try to
bring you guys up to date. hold on.
Tuesday, December 15
We arrived in LA on Monday around 1:45pm, at the Burbank Airport,
stood in line at the conveyor belt for our bags and gear; did I say gear?
Count em'... one guitar...check... but three never came out. The belt
stopped, people left, it was lonely. They never came. We just kept
looking...both directions.
We picked up our van, drove to the hotel and layed around...BUT NOT
FOR LONG!! becuz Weston said either two things were going to happen if
he didn't eat: 1.) his eyes wold pop out of his head 2.) He would implode.
Since Brand New just did some huge show here in LA with tons of other
bands, Jesse met up with us and is hanging off and on this week. SO, he
wanted to go to Mel's Diner....which we all like, so Mel's it was. And we
ate happily ever after; milk shakes, hamburgers, stuff. I dunno.
All I remember about the first night was there was lots of violence back
in our room till real, real, late. Weston bought a box of chocolate candy
and he and Jesse were throwing it at each other so hard it was knocking
knots on heads...and then everyone was stuffing candy into mouths...
and Sherri's and Jon's mouths were bleeding...and then Weston and
Jesse were throwing wet rags... laughing and wrestling all over the room.
And they were throwing TV's out the window. (JUST kidding) I was just
on-line; it was background noise. Then we watched every talk show on
TV until it was over. Jesse left and we all conked out. That was day
one.. but that was yesterday.
Tuesday, December 16
Woke up early. me. Everyone else woke up at the crack of 11:00 when
Darin called to give us the marching orders, where to go, when, etc. Meet
Rob at the rehearsal room at 12:00 noon. We did...after grabbing chinese
at a nearby place... None of the gear from S.I.R. was there yet, so we
just ate and yaked with Rob for hours. Great conversations about Elliot,
life, family, music, stuff...
Eventually the gear arrived....Fender Rhodes, Vox-AC30, Fender
Twin..etc. They worked on a song some of you may have heard called,
"Golly Sandra". Boy, I'm glad I didn't post the QT clip of the song on the
forum because, Rob changed it into this catchy samba tune with
marimba's and maraca's; no, but really... it's a joke; but they just
whittled on the song. It's exactly the same-ish. Only, I didn't like it when
Rob changed the Chorus to "Golly Bubba"... 
No. Rob is really great. Layed back, easy going, funny, warm/freindly; it
was a great day... I'm videotaping along the way, which is normal for
me, but this time, WB wants me to really capture everything so we can
make a great video about the making of... they have a cool idea, or I
should say Craig had the idea to make a limited CD run with the edited 20
minute movie about the "making of". Sounds good to me.
After, we all met up (that's Texan for "met") with A&R (Craig),
management: Dave and Darin... at a place called Gingus Khan. Very
tastey. Much laughter and fun... after that, we left and are in the hotel
room watching a movie starring Nicholas Cage.
Tomorrow, back with Rob at noon till 6:00. I have other stuff to do as
well. Gotta get some sleep. Goodnight.
Wednesday, December 17
Typical morning... it started at 12:00 midnight and varying degree's of
activities continued until daybreak. That means that we all fell asleep at
different times...but there were some that never seemed to go to sleep
until the rest of us were waking up. The TV was on all night in our room.
A trip to Jamba Juice and Starbucks gave us the necesarry vitamins and
caffenoids to sustain us for an hour...before Weston got hungry. He also
bloodied his hands from using the wrong end of worn out, saw-dust
eaten, drum sticks because they were too skinny to hold them
correct...so I had to borrow bandaids form a band here at the rehearsal
space called "Noise Rachet"...and buy drum sticks from the coolest Drum
Shop I've ever seen. Why? (you ask) Because they had a Slingerland set
on an alter....the last drumset he played on. (I almost fainted)
Rob and the band worked on....Mr. Pine and Sun Feet. (wow, oldies..!!)
I was in and out so I don't have much or know much to report on. We're
now here at the DMC offices, where I've been in meetings all afternoon -
and are the band is just milling around eating candy and drinking
corporate coffee. Super cool offices and amazing coffee bar... Coldplay
awards and photo's all over the offices...
Tonight we're going to hear "Annie" - a singer/songwriter Capitol artist
friend. That should be fun. Tomorrow, they say we're going to a Rufus
Waynewright show. (yes!) That'll help offset the fact that everyone else
has already seen a certain movie that we haven't been able to see. So,
there.
Thurs, December 18
yeH ydobyreve! (backwards) Hope you're all snug in your beds
envisioning sugar plums... and missing your moms and dads. My kids
only miss their mom...and sister and little brother. Last minute Christmas
shopping is evil...in fact, it's of the devil. Traffic is satan himself.
Don't feel jealous of us being here in LA. Please.
In continuance with the pursuit of the boring coverage (most boring ever)
of the tiny Texas band known as Eisley, well... here goes:
Last night we left you milling around Dave and Darin and Dana's new
offices - which are pretty frikin' cool. (frik is a good word. it means very)
Anyway, just so you'll know... this was important to the band: Chris
Martin was the first to see the new offices. Eisley was second... It's a
juvinille competitive thing, you understand; the subject of much muse
yesterday. Rancid might scare the other people in the building, so...not
sure it would be good for them to show up. (JuSt kiDding...shheesh)
News. DCM just signed Rilo Kiley to manage! That's the 4th band in the
portfolio. We really like Rilo Kiley so that rocks. Talk of a very important
tour with the two bands next year!
We're having to head out to WB for a meeting with marketing and A&R
and just to walk the band through the halls to smile and look pretty. I
have more under this topic later. Will report in as soon as I get a line up
today. More time with Rob Shnapf today...
Gotta Go!
bd
-------------finishing the 18th---------
WB meeting was more just to hang out. I guess they just wanted to hang
out. That's what we did. Saw the new offices, listened to new bands they
were signing, listened to the John Shanks sessions (another topic?),
watched the Eisley video, ate bagels and orange juice, talked to
marketing (really just listened to records in his office), A&R (listened to
records in his office), yakked with publicity, new media, merchandising...
etc. Lots of hugs. That's all really. They all relayed to us how impressed
the entire WB company of 850 or whatever was at Craig's presentation of
the band at the "Town Meeting". He showed the new Eisely video on large
screens after talking about them... and admittedly choking up in
referrence to how special this band was...so much that he named his
daughter after the band. (woah) ( insert photo of the girls holding little
Eisley here whenever i have a change). Anyway, he said afterward
people were coming up to him and saying how much they loved the song
and the video, etc. Now the entire WB family knows of Eisley if they didn't
already.
We left, went to eat at a place called Cactus, back the rehearsal space
where eisley worked with Rob on Trolley Wood...and a bunch of other
ones. I can't remember now. At the end of the day, we rushed into the
traffic to eat, rushed back through the traffic to the hotel for a few
minutes, rushed back out in the traffic to purchase tickets to see Lord of
the Rings, rushed through the traffic over to see Rufus Waynewright, left
in a rush back into the traffic to get to L.O.T.R.'s at the Arc Lite (sp?)
before our movie started.... got there and ordered pop corn and drinks
with 15 seconds to spare before movie started. Watched the movie, most
everybody cried, left at 3:30 am through NO traffic, got back to hotel,
eventually went to sleep. it's was a long day and I'm skimming.
Songs worked on today:
Trolley Wood
They All Surrounded Me
Queen of Leaves
Friday, December 19
The band is at the rehearsal space already. We got up, ate, and I
droppped them off. I'm trying to get caught up on posting before I head
back over. Will report in on this date later. Thanks guys. Boring DuPree
signing off. But first, I'll post some photos at the top of this thread.
woah, sorry about the weirdly dated posts. I must not have taken my
dorogon pills laced with blorm sauce. I think I have it right now...sorta.
Friday continued. The band worked hard all day with Rob on the following songs:
Finished up on Trolley Wood,
Lost at Sea
Escaping Song
Possible Songs in the line up for full length:
Many more to consider. Don't get your hopes set
on any song yet...
Mr. Pine (recut)
I Wasn't Prepared (redo)
Brightly Wound
They All Surrounded Me
Silver Bugs
Trolley Wood
Golly Sandra
Sun Feet
Queen of Leaves
New Songs unrecorded in progress:
One Day I Slowly Floated Away
Lost at Sea
Vintage People
Plenty of Paper
The Escaping Song
Hit Singles
Just Like We Do
Wicked Minded
Darling Look
Cry if You Want To
Come with Us
Stars That Fail
So, Friday they pretty much finished working with Rob. Everyone in LA is
leaving for Christmas at the end of the day, so we're on our own in this
big, lonely town. So, we gathered up ourselves, sent Jesse on his way
back to New York...(he's coming back to hang with us in Tyler; hooking
up with us for the Dallas show. What can I say? We've become good
buds).
We came back to the hotel, stared at the walls for a few minutes and
said, lets walk down to Hollywood avenue and go see a flick. So we went
and bought tickets for The Last Samuri - like 2 hours before showtime.
The rest of the time, we just hung out together, bored for the most part,
at that place...uh, something like walk of the stars? Where the giant
Elephant god towers over the open mall? Anyway, yeah,....coffee at
Starbucks, Nestle's Toll House, a bunch of stupid girlie shops and make
up shops where the girls took WAY too long...and Weston was doing this
"put make up on" dance to the electronica that was vibing our whiteboy
torsos...
The Last Samuri is good. We all had good reviews. Actually, it's a great
film. Tears. Very well produced. No cheese. No hollywood.
Then we walked back to the hotel, and I worked and they slept and that
was it.
-----------------------------
Saturday, December 20
We, (they) slept in; now we're up and are heading to go eat and go to the
rehearsal studio to work on songs. Craig Aaronson is going to meet us
and talk about the record....he's bringing his little boy; and then we'll go
eat ice cream or something. fun. But not as fun as going home.
Gotta go. bd
Deep Ellum Post - Eisley Pics from 10/02/03
October 07, 2003 07:47 PM
First of all.. I'm doing my best, but as hard as i try, i can't really seem to
keep up. Last night, (get small fiddle out) I pulled in all the video,
carefully picked out each moment, made screen captures...(pdf's) - a
process that took 2.5 hours. Then I transferred the over to my firewire,
trashed the ones on my Titanium, and when I went to open them on the
firewire, they were corrupt. (destroyed) My brain started turning
red, and sirens were spinning around and then...tilt. I just stared in a
stupor; I was at ground zero because I'd also not saved the fat imovie
file. 2.5 hours down the drain. AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
So...AFTER I made changes I got from WB on the ep graphics, I began
the long process again...and conked over dead at 3:35am.
Today was crazy....but here I am, on Stacy's birthday posting pics. We're
eating hotdogs and chips and yummy dip...and Sherri made her a real
live Harry Potter cake. I already feel full, so why should i eat hot dogs.
But, that dip...mmmm... and ice cream for later.
It's too late to journal this event. Who cares, right? Most of you were
there anyway. Here's a few (fewer than I did have) images.
Disclaimer:
There are inadequate representations from the rhythm section of this
band in this pile . I do have a (one) photo of Jon.... but Weston's all
turned out crappy. Chauntelle had some nice lighting on her so, it's sortof
Chauntelle heavy; also Stacy's blue light modeled her nicely. Sherri, on
the other hand had this bright red lighting that didn't make for good
shots. So there.
Taken before the show...rummaging around on stage.
This may be the last shot of Weston using MY vintage kit.
Have to go eat now. will post the bevy in a bit. (the pot, the flock, the
covey, the cauldron, the tank, the load....) Oh, and NOw Weston wants
to "PARTY"... Sherri made this nice card to go with Stacy's present. We
have to do Cake and ice cream, you know.
I promise, I'll come back to this. Tonight. bd
ok. Eisley did some tv thing... I can't remember now...will post
it later, i promise.
And here are some more clips from the 20 minute filming.
This was all done somewhere in Club Clearview right before
the show.
This is Stacy (14) singing the intro song to the show...
I did a study. Very technical. Don't try this yourself. One has
no flash; one is WITH a flash... well, someone else's flash.
It's a study. Research. Very hi-tech.
I don't see why bands are any more important than the
crowds that come. It's a relationship. Can't have one without
the other...and versa.
Sherri in Blue. It's fake. I turned her blue because I was unsure
about the red lights.
This is classic Sherri stance. I think she looks cute.
I can't comment on this grouping. I think the girl had some good
light on her. Makes my job look easy.
yeah, totally just the lighting. Otherwise, what would we be looking at?
And here he is...the thumping man wig himself. i love jon.
That's W. My Sony Digital 8 couldn't seem to find him.
A big blue one clipped also from the intro song.
Time to pack out and get off the stage.
We always head down to Cafe' Brazille. In this case, it's right across the
street. Anyway, Chauntelle and sis' Christie decide on what to split. We
always split. In Texas, they give you too much food for one eater!
That's our friend Dustin from Canton or surrounding boondocks.
Those people listed are what this image is of. Still in Cafe' Brazille.
Stacy smiling or something at her mom...scraping food into what
we used to call "doggie bag's" because they give you way too much
food for even two eaters... so you take it home to eat or split the
next day...only you're sick of it, so you feed it to your dog.
This is a painting my mom just did. We like it and in case you haven't
forgotten - "THIS...is MY Xanga!" I can do whatever I want. 
well...this red image wasn't so bad. So, here. You can see it.
That's all folks. The show is over. Later, i will post a few happy birthday
Stacy images from our little eatery. Not here. Out there in some
eisleyblog. bd
SEATTLE - Recording with Aaron Sprinkle
September 25, 2003 11:17 PM
Who's Aaron Sprinkle?
He's this really great guy...this really great producer. This is what I know
about him - He and Jeremy Enich (former Sunny Day Real Estate / now
Fire Theft) were in bands together in Jr. High and are long time friends,
His band - "Poor Ole Lou" was very cool; they made records, toured...and
still play Cornerstone Festival and make random appearances whenever
they feel like it, we're huge fans of his solo career, he's been friends with
Brandon Ebel and remembers the day Brandon asked him, "what do you
think about the name: "Tooth n Nail records"? He discovered MXPX,
recorded them, has been producing record after record for Tooth n Nail
since 2000..., has worked with StarFlyer, Pedro and tons of cool indie
bands; like, he's produced 100 records and he's only 29.
Why and how are we here?
Short History...
Eisley played a festival in Illinois called Cornerstone (mostly punk and
hard core bands... but, like 30,000 people in attendance) in 2001, (had
like 7 labels trying to sign them - one of which was Tooth n Nail) we saw
Aaron perform and were freaked out, some of the girls went to introduce
themselves (as fans) while he was waiting in line to use the porta-potty
, at the end of the festival we gave friend Josiah Holland a cd to
give Aaron because his band "Holland" was on their way to record a
record with him at Tooth n Nail; Aaron heard eisley's indie ep2 and
freaked out. He called Seattle Music Attorney Michael Barber to tell him
about eisley...that very night; and Michael called the house that very
night and said he was freaking out, etc...and flew down the next week to
hear the band live at BrewTones with Ester Drang and Midlake...
and the rest is "history", as they say....
But back to Aaron -
Aaron passed the band upwards... unselfishly, knowing he probably
wouldn't get to work with the band or get anything in return... 
We kept in touch with him just a little...but not really until after the band
got signed; just a few emails and short "how is everything?" for a long
time until - on the Coldplay tour, we hooked up with him at "The Gorge"
in Washington and the rest of the band met him for the first time.
We expressed interest in the distant hope of working with him - in spite of
the big label thing...etc. It was this "precious moments" talk on a hill at
dusk - right before we had to leave for the next gig. It was kinda like,
"yeah, that would be nice, huh...but, you know...big labels...want big
producers..." Hugs and goodbyes.
Skip to the end of August - we were hanging out in our kitchen talking
about what to do...this was after the trip to LA and there had been
recordings done already... we had been saying earlier that day, "man,
too bad we couldn't have had a chance to work with Aaron....
brrrrrringggg...."hey, it's Aaron".
Long story short...he tells us that Brandon (Tooth and Nail hancho) wants
to pay to fly the band to Seattle, give free studio time...and he'll produce
a song for free...that they'll even put up the band in the condo above the
studio and feed us, etc.... just because he believes in Aaron and eisley.
And of course, have a chance to prove themselves.
So...here we are. How could anyone turn down an offer like that? And it's
been a great week. I just heard the final unmixed version...only
moments after Aaron slammed it all together. I freaked out. I honestly
freaked out in a big way.
Now we're going over to his house for coffee and to go up on his roof.
To be continued. I have images.
Where's Seattle?
Top left.
How good is the coffee here?
Ok. This is the most important subject. I've heard my entire adult life
about how amazing the coffee is supposed to be in Seattle. Keep in mind
that in Tyler, Texas - Starbucks is the highest level of coffeeness that can
be attained. It's the epi-center of all culture, community, intelligence...
There is nothing above Starbucks. I, of course, in my infinite coffee
wisdom aspire to rise above the mindset of mass merchandising generic
beans that are baked one step below combustion in the oven and served
to uninformed brand-patrons like fine wine. I only know this because a
coffee client we had who owned and operated one of the most fertile
valley's in Costa Rica....and grew beans as an experiment to see how
good a bean he could grow if "money was no object". He came up with
"Costa Rican Terazu" and market's it under the brand name of "Distant
Lands Coffee" - which I did the logo and packaging. He was a high strung,
eccentric man and eventually fired our small agency like he fired
everyone in his life. I still buy the beans because they're the best.
Anyway, all that to say, I experienced the next level here in Seattle.
If you order a lotte from Starbucks, you could count the bubbles in the
cream - like, there are 100. The coffee I've had here had 30,000
bubbles. A distinct difference. And, well, it tasted really good. Like about
20 times better. So, even though the Starbucks factory is right up Capitol
Hill from here, I guess there are better cups of coffee being brewed in
the little mom and pop stores below.
Well, I have to pack and we have to get ready to go back down to the
studio to see Aaron and Zac one last time. Oh, Zack is Aaron's 19 year
old apprentice/intern who actually does a lot of producing here at the
studio for Tooth and Nail. A super nice guy; loves Eisley's music... great
times.
Again, Marvy Things is marvelous...you guys are going to love it. I think
this is the sound the band has been looking for; it's creative, textural, fat,
has amazing dynamic, beauty, fragility, it rocks hard, it's layered but not
cluttered, the guitar tones are freaking amazing... my teeth were kicked
in....but, that's just my own teeth. Eisley is looking for false teeth also.
Marvelous Things will be the title of this next ep. There's still more work
to be done on this before we leave for the tour.
Sherriattle.
An amazing coffee house - Bauhaus Coffee House. (the next level)
Chauntelle getting milk out of the fridge in the condo.
Walking back from eating at a really nice Italian Restaurant - That's Dave of Pedro. I don't know how to spell Bizzan...Bezan. Bizahn.
Dave and Brandon.
Dave getting a bear arm hug.
Chauntelle.
I'll try to grab a bunch of more images from the week...(I have 2
complete tapes of footage) and work on them on the plane - and post
maybe tomorrow or late tonight.
Thanks for listening to my bogus writing and tuning into "Finding Eisley".
••••••••••••••••••••••
Posted after we got home (Tyler) from Seattle...it's 3:00am.
The next level
out one day....walking one day...
It was too dark in the studio to get good images. Stacy doing vox's.
That's another Aaron....a drum tech. Tours with the Wallflowers - and I
think he said, Feona Apple? or some one like that. Super great guy. I
think he sorta really loved eisley's stuff. See the smile?
The two Aaron's were laughing when Weston was tracking. They dug the
"freshness" and solidness of his playing.
I look just like this when I track vocals...
yeah, that's where she gets her looks from...
Of course, I have way more...way better images for you.
I could't get my camera out and hook it up and have space or power to
last...on the plane today. Stay tuned. boyd
••••••••••••••••••
NOW HEAR THIS!!!
Eisley fans apparently have to dig deep for information. Just think...this is
a post on a thread embedded into a category of a category on a forum
embedded within a website that doesn't even have a listing on any of the
major search engines. So, it's not really that important in the grand
scheme of things. I mean, having knowledge about this band isn't going to stop world hunger or save the whales.
Anyway, here's the final song list for the "Marvelous Things" ep: (in no order)
Musical Seeds (produced by Dan Green)
Sun Feet (Mike Mogis)
Sea King (Dan Green)
Marvelous Things (Aaron Sprinkle)
So there. Eisley is finished with something to toss out into the market
again while they're preparing for and working on the full length. Thought
I'd let you know. Absolutely WILL post more images from the week with
Aaron.
NOW HEAR THIS!!!
Well...the song list; hmm... anythying could change I guess. Creative types never set things in concrete until they have to. Will keep you posted.