Eisley Recording their new US ep in Tyler, Texas
Sun Sep 14, 2003 3:36 pm
This is my attention studio. Now read on and see new session pics.
This is my workspace...I like it. Though it's small, I have all of the essential niceties to make my tiny
world a merry place. Excuse the soft drink nostalgia. I used to have a Coke habit...but I've kicked it.
4 SONG EP BEING RECORDED THIS WEEK
Tuesday Sept. 9th -
We recieved word from Nettwerk on Monday afternoon that Coldplay's
Dan Green would be flying in to DFW on Tuesday and we'd need to pick
him up, bring him back to Tyler and start working on Eisley's US ep right
away. It wasn't a total shock since, Dan began talking with manager Dave
Holmes before V-Fest about wanting to produce Eisley; of course the
band was ecstatic and there was more conversation in London with Dan
and Dave about the possibility of Dan coming to Tyer sometime in Sept.
I have footage already from stuff this week which I'll be posting clips
from. This journey will span several weeks, since we're leaving to go to
Seattle to record with Aaron Sprinkle the next week. Of course, I'll be
bringing you shots from the sessions this week and information about
how it's all going, what songs are being recorded...
•••••••• (i'll put these to mark where I left off last time)
Anyway, naturally, Monday night we scurried like pigs on a dog day night
to clean, prepare, beautify, sterilize, etc. the place (eisley manor) in
grave effort to impress the British-man. Actually, this was quite
successful. Not knowing if he'd be keen on staying at the house, we
turned Collin's room into a cool little flat with a trundle bed and a nice bed
spread. Everything was set.
Tuesday, I did yard work and the farmer-in-the-dell activities continued
(hi-ho-the-merrio). Myself, Chauntelle and Jon scooted off in the van to
fetch young Dan from DFW. After a bit of stupidity, we finally found him at
the "international" baggage exit and east we went.
It was great having 2.3 hours to hang out, listen to any and all of eisley's
new rough tracks all the way home so Dan could become familiar and
begin thinking about what songs to record. Of course, he's heard many of
the newer tunes....like 23 or so shows worth; but there were newer ones
still that he hadn't heard like "musical seeds", "trolley wood" and others.
You guys have seen the slow process involved in picking tunes on one of
the threads here on this forum, so I don't need to revisit that.
Tuesday night, we went to eat at Cheddars (one of our regular hang outs)
and dropped Dan off at his hotel (with cabel modem, thanks to my careful
selection).
I didn't shoot much the first day. Here's us leaving to go to Cheddars
on the first day. Why should I pull out a camera and shoot him?
Wednesday Sept. 10th
I don't really have the time for this. I'm working on graphics for this cd.
To be continued...later tonight perhaps. Not sure. Right now I'm out on
the deck by myself surrounded by candles, those wonderful tiki lamps
and a hot grill that I'm preparing to cook texas, mesquite chip smoked,
hamburgers for Dan and fam. Have to shut down. Take care everyone.
bdout.
The meat is on the grill now. Dan and I are out here with our Titaniums...
and, of course, the night sounds. It's quite nice. (use English accent)
Flash - now we're all finished eating outside. We digress. end of short story.
••••••••••••
Wed. we picked up Dan around 11:00am, drug him over to the house for
the first time, fed him fresh ground, Costa Rican Terazu with a small glug
of half and half. He rather fancied it and has frequently asked for more:
"if you don't mind, I'll have anothah coffee"... then after, he asks, "what
kind was that?"...because, of course, my coffee is really good. (grinding,
brewing, etc.)
Everyone just sat around you know...well, after giving him the nickel tour
of the place; then we just listened to music, playing a lot of eisley's
stuff... all 14 rough tracks; gosh. It's getting foggy now. Basically hours
and hours of conversations; out on the deck, inside, upstairs... whatever.
Sometime that afternoon, a whole army of freinds dropped by - namely
Taylor Muse from the band: The Connotations. Also, Alan, Monica, Leiah,
Mike and Johnny. They hung out for a while inside and outside and then left. Here is proof of their visitation.
hanging out outside. a few of the 4 sisters shown.
The band was working on stuff when an entourage of long lost friends
stopped by...Taylor Muse and company (in route from Nashville to
Austin to join The Connotations - band members. Other's were there
also. I don't know what Sherri is doing to Christie... your guess.
Why not put Taylor's mug up on the www? A good friend
from Texas over the years...close as always.
And then "in" they went. They went in. Went, they in.
That night, we went out to eat again because our dishwasher had gone
out and we couldn't get the kitchen tidy. After, we came back home and
found Kevin Kirkwood on our couch; so, naturally, we made a fat pot of
dark roast coffee and hung out...talking and relating for hours. In fact, it
spread to the back deck where Kevin and I and Sherri and Stacy talked
until almost 3:00am about everything imaginable...mostly about bands
and music and production and philosophies of production and what makes
music timeless... what gives band longevity... what records are we
listening to today that will sound trendy and outdated in two years? It was
a great chance to learn a little about Dan's brilliance. Kevin dropped Dan
off at his hotel on his way home around 3:00am.
Thursday Sept. 11th
We picked Dan up sometime around 1:00, I guess...came back to the
house, made him coffee; he, Chauntelle, Sherri and Stacy started going
through each song with a notepad - making suggestions, talking about
creative ideas, etc... by this time, 4 songs had begun to emerge. I
remember Dave and Darin calling suggesting that "memories" a.k.a. -
"Musical Seeds" be one of the tunes... and I said, "to use your words...
that's a no brainer..." the kids love it...to which he replied, "good, that's
done then...I always have the good ideas"...(it's a standing joke designed
to ridicule Darin).
Oh, and Dan thought it was funny that after all of their discussion. (the
girls didn't say much...shyness) he glanced at their notepads and all
there was were drawings and doodles. 
All I remember was that I had to get some work done; the rest of them
all including Weston and Jon went upstairs in Weston's room to continue
the creative session - making notes and discussing meter, intro's/outro's,
dynamics, etc.
That afternoon, Kevin Kirkwood came over and hung out with us again
for a while. Lots of male bonding as the girls flitted about. But the day
started making sense when we ventured out in quest of anchient "vinyl".
(i have a few shots of each of these events and will post them after journaling)
•••••••••••••
So we headed to one junk market, but after digging about for a bit, Dan
discovered they were all scratched, so...we dropped Kim off at the house,
gave hugs to Kevin who was heading back to Dallas, and zipped over to
"Timeless Books and Records" where we spend 2 hours digging around.
If anyone is looking for quality records spanning the decades, you should
check this place out. It's on Broadway right next to the Burger King just a
block inside the loop. Dan found major scores.... stuff that was not so
rare here but very rare in the UK. He bought tons of records - old
MoTown stuff, old phsychedelica/folk rock - like Buffalo Springfield, The
Byrds, etc.
Getting out of the van. See them...if you look close, you can
almost see them getting out of the van. We're at the record store
Sherri doesn't like this shot...but me and her sisters veto'd her. I think
she looks like an urban cleopatra. I always think she's cute...but she
never does. Just like her mom.
Here they are walking in to the store... if you look closely, you can
almost see them walking up to the store.
...and here they are closer to the doorway.
Then it started raining and thundering...I was about to jump out
and someone slammed the van door...that's when I saw this
beautiful scene.
That night...and any time during the day, we were all on line.
Note that Collin is playing Dan's game boy.
btw, Have I talked about Dan very much?
Dan Green
I'll just give you what I know... 24 years of age, lives in Brighton,
England - which is about 2 hours outside of London on the coast. His
family hojme has windows that face the ocean. He and his younger
brother - 21 ( i think) have always recorded bands and been in bands...
about 5 years ago, after messing around with about a year or less of
sound engineering in a local college, he started working in London as a
sound guy. As the simple story goes, he was mixing sound in a "pub",
when a band called Starfish came through; after running
sound for them that night, the bands manager told him he did a really
good job and would he like to do some more work for the band...(?)
Ironically, that night, the band changed their name to Coldplay ...he
mixed their first show under the new name. Long story short, he began
working with the band, became very good friends - and is probably their
most trusted, integral person...preceding the entourage of other support
team members now in place.
Think how crazy that is...you mix some unknown band playing in some
dive club for about 50 people...and 5 years later, you've done multiple
world tours and have run front of house for a band poised to be the
biggest in the world - at every major rock venue in the world. woah.
Do they trust him? He recently mixed their DVD at Abbey Road. For all
you Coldplay buffs, this was recorded live in Sidney, Austrailia; it's the
Sudden Rush of Blood tour and will be realeased I think before the year's
end. Despite Coldplay's label wanting to find a big name mixer, the boys
in the band fought for Dan's ears; who else but Dan would know what
they should sound like, right? very cool indeed.
Thursday - continued
Anyway, we left the record store just as the bottom dropped out... and
were safe inside just as the deluge struck Tyler. That was all the time we
needed to drink more coffee and prepare for a massive barbaque. We
drug the grill under the over hang, fired that baby up and I grilled pre
marinated Chicken that was eye-watering, smoke tasting good. After
more conversations and music, we took boy wonder home. (hotel)
••••••••••••
Friday - September 12, 03
Plans were sketchy for Friday. All that was really on the agenda was for
eisley to have some solid pre-production time at rehersal space with Dan.
I worked, along with everyone else on various eisley tasks, a bit of
cleaning, etc. before he called that afternoon; said he had rested and
listening to their music again...working out the parts and making sure
everything was prepared for that night. We picked Dan around 6 and
loaded the entire trailer at the Vineyard so they could begin around 7:00.
They ordered food from Julians downstairs and began working.
Kim and I popped in on them around 9:30 after a little date we cooked up
so I could shoot a bit of video. (see below whenever I get "stills".) They
were working very hard on "Musical Seeds" - which sounded amazing.
The meter is now slowed down so that the song grooves more.
I picked them up around 2:30 - or 3:00am, to find the hilarious bunch
chortling, baying, kackling with vim, vigor and vitality... Weston was
mocking English laughing at the top of his lungs...the band was laughing
so hard, they were about to pee in their pants. That's the truth... and
apparently, this had gone on all night. When we dropped Dan off, Weston
was boisterously glacking out spews of English dribble - saying whatever
he wanted to in character to Dan... and final goodbyes.
At the Vineyard (aka practice space) they begin setting meters for
different songs and "having a go".
More discussions...all under the lose category of pre-production.
They were all in a great mood - having a great time as you can
see from the images here that I have shown you on this forum.
The great thing about Dan is...he looks 17. And that sorta makes him
x-tra cool; How would you like to look 17 and play Coldplay for 20,000
people at a time? Dan has humility to spare.
I didn't say it, but Chauntelle and Stacy said she looked like a flapper.
Stacy looking down...getting ready to run through musical seeds.
Do you see what I see? Careful photo-enhancement shows that
Dan had a fall back plan - in case Eisley didn't like the meter for
musical seeds. Luckily, the band was agreeable and narrowly
escaped his blade.
Lurking in the shadow - she carefully selects her time to charge
Dan and free the knife from his hand.
more scenes from the pre-production rehearsal.
Spelled with phonetical mastery, Weston's label making career
is just taking off.
Sherri's amp. what's the point?
a nicer study of Chauntelle's amp.
Weston is generous with his products, supplies and talent.
meter in her ear helped her stay with the new slower tempo.
I went back to get them around 3:00am
Once in the van, they proceded to tell me how funny they were for Dan
and how they made him laugh so hard... (he's the quiet sort...not given
into outbursts); "Dad, oh my gosh....we were SO funny...we were funnier
than we've ever been for Dan... it was amazing...we had so much fun...
(stacy:) I started singing - in place of " Orange Gold and Green"....
"Orange Gol- Dan Green"; we had him laughing so hard...
I guess I missed out on all the fun and it's not recorded on tape, but the
recreation of the night was worth it for me... we all came home and faced
some other troublesome new: We have close friends - Tim and Deanda -
young married couple with little baby Oden who had some big trouble
that night...seems that Deanda started having massive pain and had to
be taken to ER; so they dropped off Oden with us...after the band got
back, the girls and Kim stayed up till 4:30 with unhappy Oden....that was
hard but worth it; these guys are our dear friends and have been having
so much trouble lately. We went to be around 5:00; Tim, the dad
knocked at 6:15am to get Oden...i finally went back to bed around
6:45am and had to get up to take Jesse to school at 7:15am. very
wasted was I.
•••••••••••••
Saturday September 13, 03
Most everybody slept in as long as possible, there were errands to run...
stuff to do... Weston and I went out on a mission to find him some great
speakers for his bedroom, some went to a Matinee'. (Pirates of the
Carribean for the 4th time, but this time with Kim who hadn't seen it).
blah, blah, blah... we picked Dan up (who said he was....continued later)
They're all watching my new Led Zeppelin DVD upstairs in Weston's
room. I'll post later before turning in...i think. goodnight. bd
•••••••••••••
omg. after listening to 1000's and 1000's of hours of Led Zeppelin's music
over the years, seeing them live has freaked my gord out. After about 4
songs, Dan said, "so...ready to make a move?"....which I found out
meant, he was ready to go back to the hotel...or to be taken.... sorta
like, when we say, "are you ready to take me home?" That's funny huh.
ANYWAY!!!! That eve, we picked Dan up and hauled the band back to
rehearsal space to work on pre-production until about 9:30pm. We took
Dan back to the hotel, and loaded out everything; I don't remember
much after that... I think we went to be early because Kim made us; (we
have to get up early ok...we're the band at church and there are two
services. It's a very cool job and we've been doing it for years. Without
this amazing opportunity, Chauntelle probably wouldn't be a guitar
player, and the girls wouldn't have been singing together for years; And
it continues to give me a drum outet and keeps our family doing stuff
together. so THERE.
Sunday - September 14, 03
Up early, church, home by 12:40, milled around, started getting food out
and Dan called to be picked up... "I thought I'd pop over if you don't
mind". So I nabbed him and we came back and ate big fat deli
sandwhiches. I asked him what he wanted to drink and he said, "i'll have
one of your coffee's if you don't mind". So, we drank coffee with our meal.
Afterward, he played me cool 60's music like from, "The Funkadelics" and
"Sly and the Family Stone"....everyone else was alseep. We yammered
on for hours about production and music again; then they started waking
up and we drug all the gear up to Rosewood Studio's and loaded in. I
have footage from this boring event; we set everything up, tweaked the
drums....(not i), tested different drums, set up the Rhodes/the organ
while a piano tuner tuned the baby grand...watched a bit of "the
newlyweds" while waiting (oh mygosh...poor Jessica; she has it so hard)
and eventually came back home.
Once home, we made massive, fat, juicy hamburgers on the grill. (well, I
did) and ate till we were fat as little, lard-soaked piggies. Ah, and we all
ate by candle and tiki light out on the deck in the cool of the night. It was
nice. good memories... After, Dan went up with Weston to listen to old
music trying to find good drum sounds they might want to model after. I
did this and ran up to catch some Zeppelin. Jon took Dan home and here
I am... We start early tomorrow. Gotta find drum heads, eat smoothies
and pick Dan up at 10:30am. the end.
I don't have time for this.
•••••••••••••••
Sunday - September 16, 03
Monday. ok. folks...I really can't afford the time right now so, I have to
sorta back off all this laboriousness. I must crank full time on the CD
graphics.
Here's the day in one paragraph:
We got up, Weston and I left early to get heads and drumsticks, we
grabbed "smoothies" for everyone, picked up Dan, came back to get the
girls, headed to the studio, the crew basically worked on drum sounds for
hours and hours, I got bored and came home to work, later i went back
just in time for their break, we came back to the house and got on line,
we then went back to the studio and they started laying down ruff tracks
on "musical things" (capturing drums at the same time), layed down
bass, layed down keys, layed down guitars, got tired, came home, here I
am, they're now in bed. the end. i love you, but I can't take anymore
time tonight. bd
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I haven't been a good boyd...too busy. But i will post more..right now Weston and I are leaving to go back up to the studio where Dan and eisley (well, and me a bit) will be there to mix the two songs that got recorded this week: Musical Seeds and Sea King. Sorry. No Mr. Pine. Not enough time... but I have more to tell on all of this as it developes. Thanks for being patient if you were. If you weren't, then...it's ok to hate me and many of you will surely charge and attack me if you see me.
boyd
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