SEATTLE - Recording with Aaron Sprinkle
Thu Sep 25, 2003 5:17 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.
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