Good morning, a few little things before the wild games take place.
Little Personal Things: Let me tell you a Friday story... gather close... Ok, maybe I practice witchcraft and maybe I don't. We all have our little things you know, that help us pass the time. Allow me to be a little vulnerable, imagine that, Hadder... vulnerable.. I guess there is a god. I’ve been struggling a little as of late. I feel like I’m being tested… I can’t explain it.. but the path in is getting pretty thick with brush, so high in fact that the I can’t see the sky any longer. It’s been dark since the beginning of the year. My hands are tired and the Bokbrush thorns have left my legs and forearms bloody and weak. I’m still crawling however… hopeful that this darkness will lift soon, but I just don’t know for sure. It hasn’t stopped my momentum though and the only thing keeping me going is some odd will and strength that I can’t explain and that borders on insanity or absolute genius. Both can feel like a straitjacket and land you in a room without a window.. understanding which of the two is haunting me is becoming a problem. We all face the things I personally face. We all stand at the cliff of doubt and fear… and if you haven’t yet, you will. Time has a wonderful way of slapping us around. You think this way… for this long… and then you think that way… for that long… and then you wake up one day and you wonder what this and that were and why you did what you did in the first place. Gesh, it’s a roller coaster of a life. And then we throw love into the mix, love for things and love for people… oh yeh and loss, losses on all levels of the word. You can’t avoid the losses… so when the gains come, put them somewhere safe, you’ll need them I promise. For the time being, I have too much work to do, so simply sitting in the brush, bleeding out and giving up or turning back just isn’t an option. I’ll keep going for now… even though it’s dark.. that’s the mind set on this Friday on the cusp of a new spring. I can hear a running stream up ahead, although I’ve been telling myself that for weeks… it could just be the rustling of the worry tree leaves in anticipation of the spring winds… I have my open heart set on a clearing and I’m dreaming of a sunny afternoon on that hill ahead, where I can stare back at the path I cleared and breath a sigh of relief that I made it through that. Well, enough of the personal trials and tribulations... so what is new in the Hadder world?
New Music: I’ve been pleasantly listening to a mix of “Long is the Road”. The first few puzzle pieces are in place and it’s a little road map for the final picture. I image that while I’m watching the games this weekend, I’ll be looking for more pieces and by Tuesday of next week.. I think I’ll see the big picture come into focus. Spent the night in the city tracking bass with johnny… City of Fire was first on the list… assimilation is underway. It’s great to have a bass specialist on the track. We were able to finish a mix and now it’s listening and finalizing. Eventually I’ll post updates as tracks get released with johnny on bass guitar.
Website and Novel: Just about done with the new Field Notes page redesign, although I haven’t updated the website with it just yet. Like I said there will be “Audio Narrations” now for each field note, along with some ambient music landscapes…. performed by nonother than me.. my goal for this revamp was so that people could simply play them one by one while they go about their day. Words are nice for all us book worms… but there’s just something nice about hitting play and letting your imagination run away with you while your out and about on your own hills following your own dreams. This was a goal of mine months ago and although it might slow the process of newer field notes, considering the extra work involved in the release process, I think it will make the releases a little more fun… for you and for me. Who knows how complex I’ll start getting with the music landscapes under the narrations… perhaps it’s the start of the 2nd Hadder record in disguise? I don’t know… I’m not taking credit for what might transpire… but I do foresee this little animal turning into a beautiful beast of sorts… just from past experiences. Small insignificant sparks and melodies might happen accidently, and those small fires might soon turn into a blaze in the future. A blaze that could be the Novel in music form. We’ll see. Don’t hold me to it.
The Stargazer Crew: Tomorrow is a big recording and filming day.
“Look through the people, and on through the mist To the hill of the headless cross Where all witches meet, on a night such as this And the power of darkness is host”
Drum tracking for the “Headless Cross” and “Rainbow in the Dark”… should be a lot of fun. Joey has an amazing drum kit and I love a good drum tracking day. He generally records everything the old school way, micing drums in a live room with great reverbs and a big open sound and then basically pounding out drums the way drums should be pounded out. I’m pretty convinced he’s one of the best rock drummers in LA. I hope to do some running full takes and also film myself doing the actual vocal takes in my studio as well as filming Bass and Guitar takes if possible… and using all that footage to assemble a nice fun video for at least one of the actual music videos. Kind of like a behind the scenes… but really it’s all footage of the actual takes on the track. We’ll see if I can make that happen. You really have to be on call 24/7 to get it all, with multiple cameras. I’m up for the challenge. I think it will be fun.
In closing I think it’s best to just quote ‘Rainbow in the Dark” and the man behind those words… as he seemed to have a way of embodying the common voice for a generation of people like me.
“When there's lightning, you know it always brings me down 'Cause it's free and I see that it's me Who's lost and never found I cry out for magic, I feel it dancing in the light It was cold, I lost my hold To the shadows of the night”
I really don’t think I could say it any f&%king better than that. Thanks Ronnie.
-j
Video: Some random video clips to last nights rough tracking session with the man in the mystery machine.