ENTRY 9 - 3/08/04

We finished tracking on Saturday night....actually Sunday morningg to be exact. I drove home to my place with the rough mixes blasting and the windows open. I'm very proud and happy with the way the record turned out. We begin mixing today.

ENTRY 8 - 3/04/04

Almost done!! Just finishing up the final touches. I find this part of the process to be the most fun. We laid down the necessities and now it's just candy. The stuff that you only hear and appreciate after repeated listening. Or maybe you won't hear it at all but it's there and it's helping. We start mixing on Monday. The final stretch. Side note...went to the doc today. Turns out i have shingles of all things. Comes at a particularly annoying time. Don't know why i am sharing. I guess cuz it's all i can think about at the moment.

ENTRY 7 - 2/28/04

It's been a while since i've written. Sorry. Busy doing vocals now. The songs are really starting to come together. I don't think I ever said the names of the new songs we are working on. They are "Bury Me," "The Patient Patient," "A Medical Display" and "Separate Things." I had to take the day off from singing yesterday cuz the night before I was screaming too much and my voice has been scratchy ever since. It was just for this little part of one song but we wanted it to be perfect and I ended up doing it a million times after a full day of singing. Bad idea. Pushed it a bit too far. But that's what it's all about. A record unlike a live performance is permanent and it's got to contain some kind of magic to move people. I hope we captured some.

ENTRY 6 - 2/18/04

A rainy day. The first one since i've been here. It was hard to get out of bed and i knew something was up cuz i've been popping up everyday with no problem. It must have been the rain cuz this was the first really really difficult day in the studio. We started guitars and just got off to a rough start. Oh well. Start again tomorrow. One thing i will mention is this radio station they have here. 103.1FM. It's an independently owned station and they play all kinds of stuff you don't normally here on other stations. It's really refreshing. It's rock based, underground stuff. We don't have anything like it in NY besides college stations. It's a shame. But i'm glad stations like this still exist somewhere.

ENTRY 5 - 2/15/04

So where were we? Friday and Saturday we just spruced up the drums a bit and started to move on to bass. Rob Tanico, who sometimes performs with us live, flew in from NJ to lay down some bass tracks. He's an incredible bassplayer. Unfortunately, the time in the studio was kind of uneventful so there is not much to tell, only that things are sounding great and i'm 110% confident that this is going to turn out great. Mark is nearly obsessive-compulsive in his quest for the right sound for whatever it is we are recording. It's the kind of thing where you just have to get out of the way and let him do his thing. It's obvious his records sound great so whatever it takes is fine by me. Otherwise, Mark and Jason have been pushing me to new food limits. Those of you who know me, know that i'm unadventurous...to put it mildly...when it comes to food. On Friday night we had Thai food which i really, really enjoyed. And then Mexican on Valentine's day. I'm like a fucken alien visiting Earth for the first time.

ENTRY 4 - 2/11/04

Today we recorded drums for what many people on the team think will be the single off of the upcoming album. A tune called "Bury Me." Atom's playing on this song made me stand up and walk around the control room in a nervous waltz. He hits so hard it makes you all jittered and i felt the need to literally get up out of my chair. Total Dave Grohl style. Super-excited about this track now. Oh yeah, and for dinner Mark and assistant engineer Jason Cupp convinced me to try this new thing they have in LA called sushi. Interesting. I must notify the people back home.

ENTRY 3 - 2/10/04

Today we continued drums at Ocean. Joey came back and laid down drums for 2 songs. After that Atom Willard from The Offspring and Rocket From The Crypt came by to lay down some more drum tracks. The guy hits like a fucken animal. Crazy.

ENTRY 02 - 2/9/04

Headed over to Ocean studios today in Burbank. Real nice studio. Used to be a card dealership in the Twenties. Recording drums with Joey Waronker who has played with all kinds of bands like REM, Smashing Pumpkins, Elliot Smith, Beck, you get the picture. Super-nice guy. Excellent touch.

ENTRY 01 - 2/8/04

Yesterday was my first day in the studio here in Los Angeles working on the new CD. For starters the weather is a relief. East coast winters are unpleasant to say the least. We're recording in this little nondescript studio called Mama Jo's in North Hollywood where Mark recently did some tracks for the upcoming Rilo Kiley record...which he has not played for me yet but which i am dying to hear. It's a pretty comfy place. I'll have to take some pictures to show everybody. We're just doing pre-production on the new songs. Still choosing which ones to record. Tomorrow we already start drums so i guess today is the day for us to make some decisions. I better go do that.