2004-03-16 - 12:32 p.m.
We played two shows for Halloween up in a small theater in Vermont. We all went as famous rock stars. I was Angus Young from AC/DC. We each learned a song by our respective rock star impersonation (“Shook Me All Night” for me!). I got to play electric guitar in the band for the first time. I love playing electric guitar (been doing it for many, many years in the Blue Sparks From Hell). It was a pretty wild weekend but personally was interrupted by my intestinal hernia acting up on both Friday and Saturday nights. I almost had someone take me to the emergency room on Friday. I knew I had to have surgery but was trying to tuff it out until after we recorded our new record in January. I ditched that idea and made an appointment for surgery on December 4th. We played two great Thanksgiving shows in New Jersey and shortly thereafter I went under the knife. It sucked, as I expected. Why people would have elective surgery is beyond my comprehension. I had to sleep on my back for ten days; something I don’t do very well. After a few weeks I was feeling strong enough to get back to work. We played a private party in our rehearsal space for New Years. I couldn’t sing (something I love to do) but even though I took it easy, it was cool to play again.
We spent the month of November and December (interrupted by my surgery) holed up in the barn where we practice, writing and rehearsing what would become our new album. It was decided that we would use a producer for the first time and Stewart Lerman came into our lives. Stewart had produced a few of my favorite records including Jules Shear’s “The Great Puzzle” and the compilation “Bleeker Street”. I had suggested him for “Bird In The House” and now I was finally getting a chance to work with him. He came to a bunch of the rehearsals; made arrangement and song suggestions and in early January we entered Water Music recording studios in Hoboken, New Jersey to begin work on our second album for Sugar Hill and our third overall. I was excited to work with Stewart because I thought I could learn a lot from him. Before getting involved with Railroad Earth, I spent a large amount of time and made a third of my living producing records. Working with a pro like Stewart, who was someone I admired, was a great opportunity for me and I intended to get the most out of it. We tracked basics on the first four or five days and got to work putting the vocals and various other instruments down. Andy, John and myself play a lot of different instruments and we were given the opportunity to pull out all the stops. It was a long process that was hard work but also a lot of fun. I learned a lot from the experience and made good friends of Stewart and our fantastic engineer Teddy. We mixed in February and it sounds great. Going to press as I tippy tap this journal in fact.
Next time……..it’s back to gigging!
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