Eisley Recording their new US ep in Tyler, Texas CONTINUED
September 25, 2003 08:28 PM
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CONTINUED
I spent much time trying to go back in time and pull images from last
weeks session at Rosewood with Dan, but it's getting super late and I
don't have time to post them. I also have new images from this week,
but I have the ep cover hanging over my head like a hot lead balloon.
Time is running out for me. Alas, I must sadly leave my post at the forum
(note, no entries yesterday) and refrain from delivering all the journaling
and images for the past week. I WILL, however, post them when I return
home if deadlines are met this week on other fronts. This is the busiest
I've been. The week is going great. Marvy Things is sounding extremely marvelous.
But, for now...let's go back and revisit last week at Rosewood in Tyler,
TX. through a visual dialogue. That is I don't want to spend a lot of time
journaling and recreating:
This pretty much the layout...here's the band tracking the songs "scratch"
just so Wes and Jon can begin doing takes.
This is a photo of sherri's blue legs.
Stacy's back as she records some song.
This is half of stacy - but look at that Wulitzer. Sherri and Stacy write all
those dreamy songs on that old clunker. And it was actually used in the
studio on these songs.
That's Sherri smiling and that's Greg (owns the studio) chatting about
something...
Chauntelle's pedals and the foot that operates the pedal board.
Sherri with her new muff face attachment.
Dan at the helm...Greg looking cautiously.
Jon and Chauntelle tracking.
Chauntelle gazing.
cereal for breakfast? or something. can't remember.
here comes the sun king.
Those are Lee Ann's platinum records above their heads... like "Blue" and
others.
Dan on the phone with friend - Guy (Coldplay's bassist) who wants Dan
to hurry and come home to finish building the studio in Guy's home...
Dan finds out he's being video'd.
Two skinny, manly-men on the sofa.
Lately, they lock each other in their eisley cases and spin them wildly.
I think that's a fourth of stacy's head... where the eyes are located.
Weston walked around videotaping through a plant - so nobody would
see him.
Of course, everyone can see him, he's 6' 4" holding a potplant and a
video camera.
Silly-ouette of Stacy.
big smiling sherri. wait. smiling big - Sherri.
Her and Stacy were spoofing about something.
Weston and Jon acting like they're running the board. This went on for
like... 15 minutes.
Weston yawning.... it's not some rock pose. sorry.
English toast and home made stawberry jam.
Maxwell House coffee thermos's.... I love these. Found them in junk
shops over the years... back before we crater'd to e-bay.
Dan looks happy to be in Texas.
Well, it was a fun 10 days or whatever with Dan. He's an awesome guy
and we all really got along swell. I think we wore out our "do they have
this in the UK?" ... or "How would you say this in the UK?".... The sessions
were good overall. There were a few boggles at the beginning - very typ-
ical, but nothing that didn't work itself out "in the mix", as we say...
more later. we're hungry in Seattle. boydout.
Eisley Recording their new US ep in Tyler, Texas
September 14, 2003 03:36 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
LA TIMES photoshoot right in TYLER, TX.
August 28, 2003 11:31 AM
Hey. LA Times is doing a story on Eisley... the
article highlights the trend that labels are signing bands with young
members...heretofore typical with mostly solo artists. I'm not sure
what other bands are included, but...my understanding is that eisley
is...well, important in the story. I think it'll be color - on the cover of "the
Calendar", which is their lifestyle, culture, music, etc section. Don't hold
me to that.
Anyway, not to take anything away from singer/songwriters - but, let's
face it, most of the single signed aren't. Young bands don't
annoy me as long as they are good; the age thing can be cheesy if they
exploit it for the wrong reasons. As a hook, I guess it works..and who
cares...but in the end, the music has to deliver or it will all go away
fast....very fast.
btw. Bands have gone away fast, like Hansen, but they were able to
retire after just a few records. Just so you'll know, Eisley doesn't really
care about retiring. How boring would that be? It's not about money.
At 14, you don't write songs in your bedroom for money any more than
you paint custom art on your walls for money.
I digress...I migress...I migrate...I digrate..I turn randomizer off now:
Here are my own shots taken at the shoot - all crappy screen captures (I
call them "craptures"...picture taken of the desktop and whatever is open
on it) - I tend focus on the event rather than to capture the "glam".
Anyway, there was very little glam yesterday, because...
(thank God) there were no make up artists and hair people. I'm sorry,
but these guys always try to turn the girls into these glamorous babes.
They're just regular, ordinary girls. I hate it when that happens. And they
look all weird in these magazines...like, too beautiful. It's not natural, I
tell you...it's not normal. Can't Eisley just be normal? Is that too much to
ask? I'm not just making this up....(get it?) The girls feel the same way.
One magazine tried to turn Stacy into a little red light woman. Of course,
she said, "um...I think it's too much...I don't like it..." and the gay make
up artist had hurt feelings and was really pissy after that.
Meanwhile, back at this photoshoot....thunderstorms were threatening,
the humidity was like 100%, the wind was nice and it wasn't too hot.
Perfect eve for some shutter flappin'. We parked downtown near the jail
and walked around until we found several white backgrounds - which was
what the newspaper suggested. As usual, fun was had... lots of goofing
around and interaction.
Matt Rourke is a nice guy - seemed to get the right shots from what I
could tell, and asked if it would be cheesy to get his CD signed. aww...
how nice, right? He's been to shows and seen the band, so there was a
good connection. Plus, he works with Alican from the Dallas Morning
News, who came here and stayed with us and shot the band, as you
might remember is a wonderful person.
ok. Here's a few images just for fun:
----------------------------------------------------
All of this stuff is are just boidisms...I'm not taking anything away from
their shoot.
Weston and Jon are too much fun...and too weird...in a funny way.
Everyone gave Stacy a hard time because she was being forced to be
like "the Star"...which is very much not like reality..(no stars), but in this
case, it was permissible because the story is about the age factor - I
guess the 17 and 19 year old in the band are considered young too..
i dunno.
I thought this was cool. Reverse order - creates a visual vortex with
Stacy at the focal point. But it's done in a cool way. I like to photograph
photographers photographing the band. These guys have replaced me. In
the day, that's what I did...but we keep shooting stuff because we can
control the outcome. In fact, we need to do another shoot soon.
14 going on 26.
I have way more and will toss them up but the kids grandmother just
arrived and wants to hear the Rob Cavallo sessions. gotta go. bd
-------------------
back now. they went to eat lunch. we got a new DOG!! a boxer...yesterday. And today, we gave our barkohaulic dog to some people who have tons of acres and a pond. She'll be in dog heaven.
Our new boxer is rad...she's amazing.
She didn't want to do it...but it was funny. Sherri kept fixing her hair.
grinning at the world.
the men. they will act like men.
I gave her a blonde wig treatment... the glue holds rather nicely
when you use elmers glue.
striking expressions... the meaning is unknown.
get'n-jiggy-wit-it.
large man with strange metal flying apparatus flanked by
red, firey decepticons.
this group called eisley...shown above.
Stacy started laughing and apologized to the photographer; of
course, it was probably the kodak moment he was looking for.
And this moment, when Sherri was patting her little sister on
the head...
huh? You dropped hamburger meat behind the fridge?
huh? You can't be for real... the amp only goes to 11.
huh? Then why did he say we were going on tour with Beyonce'?
huh? Fine...I told you we shouldn't have put Telescope Eyes on the ep.
"Out one day, walking one day...out one day with you halellujah..."
(lyric to new eisley smash hit - never been heard by human ears,
"Trolley Wood".)
That's all that this little event deserves. It's just a day in the life and is probably boring you to tears. I did it because, "THIS...is my XANGA..."
the end.