So the big news around my water cooler is the fact that Life On Loan is finally heading into the studio this weekend to record our first EP. We'll be working on getting at least five songs recorded at Premium Recording on Saturday from 1pm - midnight, and maybe have to trickle over into Sunday if something relatively untoward and unforeseen happens. My personal goal is to have the EP ready to release by the end of the year, but that may not happen. We'll see.
I will admit that I am really enjoying being able to throw out the "yeah, well my band's going into the studio this weekend, so..." line in conversation - whether it's an excuse why I can't do something, or in response to the ever-popular "got any big weekend plans?" question, or just telling someone what's new, being able to say I'm going to be in the studio totally kicks ass! I totally feel like a rock star now, and I'm loving every minute of it. God's allowing me to participate in so many cool things musically this year, and the studio thing is just a great way to cap off the year. Truly amazing!
I'm trying not to totally let it go to my head, though. It's funny - people sort of respond with the same awe and wonder when I mention going into the studio as the non-technical folks do when I say that I work for IBM. Going into the studio is something that pretty much anyone can do if they have the money and the time, and the current state of the music biz pretty much makes it possible for any band to get well-produced music out there to a niche market. You could have five fans and make an EP or a full CD if you have the money to block out the time at the studio.
However, I think that the phrase "going into the studio" still carries a lot of weight behind it from the old days when the only people that ever did that were bands that were backed by a record label. I think that phrase shows that you're really serious about your music - either someone likes you enough to pay your way into the studio (rare) or you believe in your stuff enough to spend the hefty chunk of change to get a professional recording done. I think the studio for musicians is akin to the minor leagues for baseball players - it signals that while you're not quite there in the "big show" yet, you're definitely more serious than just playing pickup games on Saturday nights.
So, yeah...this is kind of big for us. Big for me. Another personal dream, and I'm looking forward to having something in my hands that I can play for people and say, "yeah, that's me on the drums and my band made a recording. Me and three other guys took songs from nothing, created them, crafted them, and recorded them and here they are." The songs have been reworked, sound very little like the ones that we recorded for the demo, and will hopefully come out the other side sounding professional and ear-catching. This is one of the most awesome things I have ever done, and I am thankful to God that He is allowing me to do this.
I'm also hoping to tweet and twitpic the studio recording process, so hopefully I'll have a good real-time diary going on of how things are going and what the experience is like. I also need to update the MySpace page as well.
This is going to be so much fun!
