Our video from Audio Tree Live is online! Check it out:

Just One Song: Junior
or
Watch Complete Session

There are also some great photos from the night, courtesy of Evil Vince Photograph, which you can see here

I don’t like writing long-winded blog posts, but the fact that this was one of the coolest experiences we have had in any of our bands impels me to elaborate. Hopefully other, bigger bands will take note and track them down for a session. Are you listening Bono, Chris Martin and Right Said Fred? You can’t even get 4-star treatment like this on your private jets.

On May 4th, we packed up my Subaru with everything but drums and headed down to the loop. Traffic was much lighter than expected at 5:00 in Chicago, and we showed up about an hour early. No matter – before we could finish our smokes and coffee from the corner coffee shop, some of the team arrived from working their respective day jobs, helped unload my car, and pulled all our gear through the much-too-nice-for-Mutts lobby and into the elevator. (I get uncomfortable around polished marble walls. They remind me of my accounting days in downtown Cleveland.)

 

We got into the studio and they made us feel at home right away. The drum set was ready and waiting – a bad ass Yamaha studio kit. Chris set to adjusting it while Bob set up his bass rig and we wheeled the grand piano into position. Holy hell; a lovely grand piano, just for me.

 

 

We sound checked, they got their tones while the film crew assessed the layout, and the whole time it was laid back and fun. No stress. It took less than an hour and Rick had us sounding amazing in the headphones. Better than in real life. Like wearing the band on your ears.

 

So then we played some music, talked with Evil Vince, played more music, and it was all recorded live. It sounded so damn good in those headphones, it gave us the confidence to overcome our lack of preparation.
When it was over we hung out, listened to playback, laughed at our clunkers, ate sammiches… in my mind, providing food the best thing you can do for a musician. Those are the venues I remember on tour; the ones with the good food. Always go back to the good food.

 

Then the guys handed us a mix-down of the session and helped us load back out to the car. They even picked up the parking cost for us, which is another touring pain-in-the-ass. These guys are good; they know where to tickle a band’s fancy for sure (typically the ears, stomach and wallet, for anyone taking notes). Driving back home, the evening was a blur. We had met so many nice, talented and hard-working people. All we could think of was how great it would be to share the experience with everyone, especially other bands, so that they could have the same experience, share it with their friends and fans, and so on.

 

So here we go – tell everyone you know: Audio Tree Live is legit, check it out!