I Can't Sing

So I had more band practice today. Well, actually it was more recording. Today was the vocals. I was expecting it to take a long time, but it actually went pretty fast. Wyatt, the singer (rapper, actually), got most of the songs down in one take, which was pretty sweet. I thought it would be a lot more since he is a perfectionist. The only problem was the chorus for one song. Our old guitar player used to sing it, and it had a deep reggae/Jamaican feel to it. Well Wyatt can't actually sing and hold a note, Slo-Mo can sing, but has the wrong style for that part. He reminds me a lot of the singer from Incubus. And I can't sing. So we were trying to figure out what to do. We tried Wyatt singing it alone, and we almost died. Then Aaron tried, but it didn't fit. So I tried it. Actually a lot better than anyone was thinking, but still not great. So then we decided to try me and Wyatt at the same time. And surprisingly it worked. It's not the greatest solution, but it's the best of a bad situation. And it's only a demo, so it's not that big of a deal. But I was really surprised at my voice. I've never considered myself a singer. I'll sing along in the car or shower, but never seriously, you know? So now I'll have four different credits on the album. Drumming, bass, vocals, and writing. All I need to do is lay a guitar track down, and I've done everything! I guess some minor engineering too, but that hardly counts since we're doing it ourselves on the computer. I'm pretty happy with the results so far too. Sunday I'll lay down the bass tracks, and then we're done. Then we just need to mail it to Aaron's dad and he'll mix and master it for us, and the demo's done! Sweetness.

Wednesday I had a little adventure. I got home from a bike ride, and Erik was outside working on a car, as usual. He asked if I wanted to something adventurous tonight, and skeptically I said sure. Turns out he needed to tow a car from his work to our house. Now for most people that wouldn't be a big deal. They'd either call a tow company, or rent a trailer or something. But no, not us. Time to bust out the old tow strap! So we jumped into my truck and went to his shop. The car wouldn't turn on at all, so it had no power brakes.

Now I don't know if you know about towing a vehicle with a strap, but the tow vehicle does the accelerating, while the vehicle being towed does the majority of the braking. That way the strap stays tight, and you don't jerk the car around when you start moving again because of the slack being pulled out. Make sense?

Anyways, the car had no power brakes, so it was going to be a challenge. A 2,500 pound car trying to stop a 6,000 pound truck. So we took off without any major problems. Towing like that isn't exactly what you would call legal, so we were on the lookout for cops. Fortunately we didn't see one the entire trip, but it was a tense ride, checking all the cars around if they were cops. We made it the 15 or so miles back to my house (by back roads, no highway) uneventfully and then unhooked the car. Now it's sitting outside my house, waiting for Erik to have time to fix it.

It wasn't the first time I've towed a car like that, but it was the longest distance I've gone towing without a trailer. And I was glad Erik was able to muscle the brakes well enough not to run into me when we stopped.

Well that's about it. I should be getting my new phone tomorrow. I went to the store on Tuesday, but they had to order one for me because they didn't have anymore at the shop. They said 2 day shipping, but since it was after 3PM, they said it would probably be Friday. I hope it comes, I'm tired of not having a phone! Although it is nice not having to talk to people unless I want to.

My mom said Lynn and Doug might need me Sunday/Monday, but will call me tomorrow and let me know. I kinda hope they don't, since I'm supposed to record the bass tracks on Sunday. I guess I could do it some other day, but we really want to get it done. Oh well, time will tell.

Well I'm out of things to say for now. Everyone be well and be safe.

143

-Kevin

Here is a video from my friend's band, Phased Array, that was in the battle of the bands last week. Here's 'Portrait of a Crumbling Empire'

The bass player, Blake, is also the owner of the car we towed the other night. A little bit of trivia for ya.