Elaine Summers and I have been steadily chipping away at the DROGE & SUMMERS BLEND project. In November, we were joined by Jay Bellerose (drums), Jennifer Condos (bass), Scott Weddle (guitar) and Rob Stroup (engineering). As always, Puzzle Tree Assistant Ninja, Vincent LaBelle was on hand. Before the sessions we were frantically working to complete the songs and get pre-produced. We got it all ready and once everyone was here, things went smoothly. We felt like a real band that had been playing together for a long time. Things came together quickly and we wound up with plenty of time left over to share stories and laughs. Since then Elaine and I have been overdubbing and mixing. Seattle’s Hans Teuber came out to play clarinet and pocket trumpet. And Portland’s Paul Brainard will be here soon to play some “poor man’s Jerry Garcia” style pedal steel guitar. I am not making any promises about when this will be released. We will serve no song before it’s time. We are enjoying the luxury of having our own studio. Plus, we are woodshedding on mixing and studying the way people used to put records together sonically.
I have been jumping away for the Blend record from time to time to work on the score for the documentary Worlds Apart. In a few days, I will begin working on the music for a short ‘preview’ trailer.
That’s it for now… Happy New Year!