could it be?

I got a text from Jack today. “Wanna make final tweaks and call it done?” Of course, he was talking about the new record. We got over to the 411 yesterday and dug in our claws trying to make the deadline for a March release. We added some badass fuzz-bass to the first song, “Goin’ or Comin’” (last week Greg came in gave it a little of that Ian Stewart tickle…rockin’!) We mixed (which means Jon, putting up with Jack and me barking over his shoulder, what a trooper!) “Lover Like That” with the new vocal line I had sang behind the final 2 choruses last Wednesday night. That kinda took it where it needed to be, for me anyway. (Funny how that shit happens. I’m listening to mixes on the way over and just as I pull up to the curb to go in this melody runs through my head. I sing it to Jon and he sets up a mic and away we go!) “Found Missin’” has been the real asshole of the pile. No matter what we did, it would just NOT move in the Chuck/Dave Edmunds/runka runka style we were wanting it to. Finally yesterday, Jack replaced his bass line with a more rollicking one and things started feeling right. (He had already gotten so frustrated with it the night before that he sat there and recorded 50-11 new guitar parts, some of which we kept). So with that stuff outta the way, we re-mixed “Wrong for that” without Shirley Q. rapping at the end, instead with me saying shit like “Now that you’re in house arrest, I’ll always know where to find you!” The other elephant in the room was the sequence. Jack wasn’t digging “Indy 500” coming out of “Had Me at Get Lost” and I wasn’t digging his alternative of the slower “About You” after it, so we wrote the names down and cut’m out and moved’m around until we both were happy.

Goin’ or Comin’
Willie Mayes
Lost Your Number
Had Me at Get Lost
Is We or Ain’t We
Upchuck’n
About You
Indy 500
Pow’ful Merka
Wrong For That
Lover Like That
Found Missin’
Feel Right Now

It’s amazing how long it takes to make 41 minutes of Rock history. A long road to be sure, it always is, but I think the results are gonna be pretty magnificent after mastering. And like anything, part of the fun of sitting down and listening to your new record is to ponder the twists and turns it took to finally get there.
Paul’s got great ideas for the cover and I’ve spent part of my day writing liner notes and such. There just may be a chance at getting it out in March after all.