Just Call Me George Martin.

George Martin was the producer for the Beatles during all of their years as a band. He was the one who asked John Lennon to kick Pete Best off of the drums and find another drummer (one Richard Starkey –i.e. Ringo. He possesses the creative drumming technique of a human metronome. The most amazing thing is that it was exactly what The Beatles needed!). The Beatles and George Martin were knighted for their musical efforts.

Anyhow, our basement has been invaded (at least this is what the dog thought). No, it is not the constant flooding because the building should have been torn down 45 years ago. It is a little phenomena called "Seven Years Absence". They have been shopping around for a studio to record at and came and checked out my studio (Studio L18). I know the band quite well. I have known Nick (guitars) and Casey (vocals) since they were pudgy little 2nd or 3rd graders, Brian (Bass) from some improv acting we did together with Nick, Alan (guitars) I've known since he was a toddler and he was a student of mine, and Mike I've known for about 3 hours and didn't really have time to get to know him over the explosions coming from his drum set. Good guys. Here is the band's MySpace site.

Anyhow, we got to work right away trying to assemble rock-climbing equipment to make up for the lack of a mic stand (I really have no idea where it went). The guys seemed pleased and we have another date to record again. Currently, they are working on some material for a soundtrack to a movie being produced in Chicago. There is much work to be done on the first song but we have a rough track and things seem fairly good. It has been a while since I have been involved in some serious recording and I almost forgot how much fun it is.

I am truly shocked that they wanted to come back and record at Studio L18 again because it is so stinking small and I have no mic stands! I have it set up for one track at a time recording (which worked out fine) but the drum set in a room the size of two twin mattresses is a bone jarring experience. In fact, I went to my yearly teacher's physical and the doctor told me that my internal organs were gelled from all of the shocking rhythm (Note for the humor impaired: that was a joke.)

Ten days from now teaching resumes but until then I think we'll see if we can't knock loose another cinder block so that our constantly flooded basement is even worse. Who knows, maybe we'll be forced to move into a house that doesn't have the Amazon running through the walls onto the floor.
Until then, I hope that things continue to go well for this new band and I hope I never end up looking like George Martin (he is bald for goodness sakes!)...although I wouldn't mind being knighted.

Sir greekspeedoman