In early January Collin and I were tracking drums and piano for our good friends Esterhaazy in a beautiful cabin in Virginia. Thanks to the ridiculous talent or their drummer we were ahead of schedule and decided to use the second day to record some drum tracks of our own. We had been kicking around the idea of recording again for awhile, but this was the first step to a real, concrete product, and it was one heck of a first step.

This will be the fifth project that Collin and I have recorded together and we are really getting our wits about us, thanks mostly to the awesome monstrosity that was recording The Restoration. In a day we had knocked out four songs on drums and the result was a tremendous sonic departure for the band. Thanks to the days’ previous drum session with Esterhaazy there was a very nice drumkit available, but the challenge was to make it sound different enough that anyone who heard both EPs would never know that they both used the same kit. Well, I guess now you know, but who cares right?

Since Esterhaazy’s music is an interesting blend of classical, pop, and jazz the drum sounds have a very tight, jazzy feel blended with a little rock for good measure. Our new EP if anything, is not that. So, essentially everything on the kit was tuned down for a huge boom, and the mics arranged in a way that would capitalize on it. In the end, you get drums that will punch you in the face. I’ve never been satisfied with any drums I’ve recorded sonically or playing wise, so it was a new feeling to actually be happy after a recording session. I credit that first to Collin’s engineering, second to the inspiring environment and musicians present (Esterhaazy’s drummer and pianist both dropped in), and to a huge amount of excitement for these new songs. Yes, everyone says that when they are recording a new joint, so let me be more transparent.

Of the four songs (there will be 4 or 5 on the EP, we aren’t sure yet) only one has ever been played live, unlike the last album where we performed everything live except for the title track “No One Is Fine” in some form. While those songs took on some new dimensions in the studio, we were all so familiar with them that there weren’t many surprises. In the drums, for one example, I had become so content with how I played them live that I rarely challenged myself to do anything new. Shame!! The result was a solid album for sure, but the process and end result weren’t quite as exciting because less risks are taken.

On the other hand, the title track was written almost entirely as a result of cutting fan-favorite alt-pop song Dragonflies which left us with only nine songs (fun fact: Dragonflies was cut from this release too. Poor, poor Dragonflies). The result was a song written and produced almost entirely during the recording process, and we were more floored with that result of that song than any other. There is just something about building something right there in the moment and writing lyrics mere minutes before they are recorded that really connected with us.

I think all bands record in different ways. Some get a kick out of creating their live sound on record, which admittedly, we also enjoy. However, our band’s songwriting process is really geared to the studio approach since we are often writing by recording and e-mailing song parts to each other anyway. As a result we are really at our best when we are in the studio and taking risks with the songwriting and arrangements. This go around, three of the songs that we had demo’ed received major structural changes on that very day, especially “Spy Theme” which we actually finished writing oh, five minutes before we laid down drums.

The next creative phase brought more excitement because we literally did not know what would come next. The reason was simple: we had tapped child prodigy Jesse James (who toured with us last summer) to write and record all of the basslines. For the last album we had, I think, four different bassists perform, and many of the parts were written by myself or Collin. It was creative, sure, but there is nothing quite like giving the reigns over to someone who is not even in the band and seeing how they will interpret your music. As of yesterday Jesse’s basslines went down and we are so pleased with the result. Jesse is not a bassist first, but his understanding of tone, rhythm and structure really gave these songs new personality that they certainly wouldn’t have had otherwise. Just wait until you hear “Break Me Down”!

So, what is next? Collin is laying down rhythm guitar for the four songs as I type this and then we enter the next phase and it is the big one. Not only will the lead guitar be laid down next month, we will also be tapping into the astounding group of people we have met over the last three years and asking many of them to contribute something to this EP. I won’t give away those who have agreed to it, but I can say that those outside contributions are just one more reason why we are so into this project creatively. The most beautiful thing though is that we don’t know where this is going to go before it is done, and that is a GREAT feeling.

Get excited, people.

After getting into a very interesting discussion about the process of discovering new music with both with members of The Restoration and The Fire Tonight I decided to let you know where I go for new music. In addition to recommendations from friends I consistently go to three websites.

1) OurStage.com - The site operates much like a giant battle of the bands that takes place over the course of each month and across a great list of genres. You get to be the battle of the bands judge though. So in addition to discovering new music as you go you also get to wield your voting power to help music you like and give a lower rating to music you dislike. You do have to dig in deep to find the true gems though as the tops of the charts don’t usually have the most original tunes. If you join up let them know we referred you! (The Fire Tonight on OurStage)

2. TheSixtyOne.com - I would try to explain how this site operates but I don’t understand it. There are hearts, “rep”, listens, goals, friends and clubs and I’m not sure what they all do. However, it is a site full of people who love to discover creative, original new music and the users votes (or hearts) decide what is displayed on the homepage. As opposed to OurStage where you have to dig a little you get crazy stuff right off the bat here. Again, drop us a heart or two if you decide to join! (The Fire Tonight on TheSixtyOne)

3. ObscureSound.com - This is the only music blog that I regularly check. I’m sure there are some other good ones out there but this guy seems to hit the nail on the head just about every time. He covers a range of genres but always seems to find solid groups. Plus, you get free streaming of a handful of mp3s for every band and, usually, the option to download those songs.

Of course there are some other things I do to listen to music like Hype Machine’s end of the year “zeitgeist” lists but not regularly like the first three. Anyway, enough about how I discover new music. How do you discover new music? Discovered any gems recently? Please share!

Now that we’ve gotten that business out of the way we are on a collision course with The Fire Tonight EP and boy, is it going to be awesome.  After doing some soul searching about why we are even bothering with this whole music thing we all realized that we really enjoy it.  We like performing, we like writing, we like recording.  To that end we are pursuing the fun-factor for this batch of songs by including  an omage to ridiculous classic rock, some genre influences that we would have previously said didn’t sound like The Fire Tonight, and more surprises that we are bursting at the seams to tell you!

I know we keep talking about the album without sharing specifics because, like many groups, we don’t want to let the cat out of the bag too early.  So what would you guys like to get before it comes out?  What are some things that bands you like have done to treat their fans before they released something?  As much as we are making this to have fun we’re also making it because we want to do something for you guys.  So let’s open up a discussion.

Does that bother anyone else or is it just me?

After you listen to this song I think you’ll know which category this song falls into. Watch for it on a b-sides album when we’re famous and obnoxiously rich.

My favorite part is the BALLS TO THE WALL breakdown in the drums at the end.  Trumped only by the snare solo.

How goes it interweb peoples?  I’d thought I’d start a blog discussing how I came up with ideas for our show posters that you see scattered around town when we have shows in your area.  Taking the cheap way to promote and doing them in-house I pretty much did one and impressed the other bandmates and have been doing them pretty much ever since.  I thought I’d start with the first poster that I did and which is still my favorite.

The show was on New Years Eve 2007.  We were set to play our first (and still only) cover set at New Brookland Tavern in Columbia for their New Years extravaganza.  There were three bands on the bill.  One band was covering Saves The Day, and the other Elvis.  For us it was a pretty easy decision considering how much we all admire their work.  Our choice was Radiohead.  So the idea for the poster came pretty quick.

The video for the song “Paranoid Android” is my favorite Radiohead video and thus it heavily influenced my idea for the poster.  I first went on youtube and watched the video again (probably for the 50th time) and first thought to take four characters from the video and put our faces on them.  Stephen was the to be the guy that ends up chopping he own legs and arms off.  Collin was to be the main character.  Nate (our bassist at the time) was going to be the main characters friend and I was going to be one of the mermaids (haha just kidding, I couldn’t decide who to be).  Thinking further about it how long it would take and how putting our faces on a cartoon wouldn’t look right, I scratched the idea.  Then I thought to put our heads each on copies of the main character.  But I thought that still wasn’t good enough so I then got the idea to use the main character drawing as a starting point and then morph his face and body into us, creating animated versions of us.  I searched the web and found an image of the main character which I used as the background.  After adding the album art to the shirts bandmate approval was granted, I did my victory dance, and then went to bed.

Many apologies for being away for so long!  The show in Charlotte was great, and right at this moment Collin and I are up in Nashville recording The Restoration.  We agree that it is really exciting to not have to play a single note and just tell people what to do.

Speaking of recording, we are currently writing songs for an upcoming EP!  Who is excited??  Well we are.  We’ve got a few in the works, currently named “Save My Soul Epic Song” and “James Bond Spy Theme Song.”  You know as much about the other songs as we do.

We’ll see you on the road this Fall!

Hours in the car: 47

Cities/Venues: 8

States: 4

Bands Performed With: 14

Friends Who Let 4 Sweaty Guys Crash Their Place: 5 (Thanks Rameys, Barry, Mama Tart, Winston Russes and Lexington Russes!)

Tour Videos: 6

Obnoxious and Expensive Auto Repairs: 1

Favorite Fast Food: Wendy’s

Earliest Post-Show Arrival Time: 3:30am

We had a fantastic time on the tour, friends.  We’re looking forward to playing some shows for you guys again in the near future!  Check our dates on the right for upcoming shows in August and September.