Everything is getting ready for the final mix. I didn’t listen to the project for awhile so that I could come back to it with fresh ears when it was time to finish up… and here it is. Basically I’m going over all the tracks one last time and the same thought keeps coming to me: more guitar. So each song is getting a little guitar love before heading down to LA. This music, which was done over a long period in three different countries, relies heavily on my voice and guitar for continuity, and I can always count on guitars – especially gritty electric or ‘low-fi’ acoustic – to bring a sense of spontaneity and rawness, which is always a good thing.

A friend of mine said the guitars on these songs were a bit understated, in a good way, but there’s nothing wrong with some good old guitar solos either, is there? I don’t know if there’s much room for the big ol’ face-melting weedly-deedlies here (not that I know how to do that), but you can’t let Guitar Hero III players have all the fun. So I put a Blue Dragonfly mic in front of the Lonestar Special, plugged in the Gibsons and some pedals, and started looking for sounds.

My first victory was on the song ‘Ruin Your Life’ which already seemed pretty thick with texture and melody, but when I put a slightly psychedelic 335 solo in the instrumental section, it really came to life. Someone asked if it was recorded backwards… I guess it’s a keeper! Between that and a sizzly single-coil riff on the choruses, I felt the song was done. That is, after I slathered both of the new guitars with some old-school tremolo.

I posted the instrumental part as the intro music for the site’s homepage.

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