Making Records is Like Making Sausages...

 

Everybody enjoys the final product, but you don't want to know what goes into making it.
So Philbillie has a sinus infection, and I’ve had a cold for a week. 

But even in the face of adversity we soldier on, and are nearing completion of the long-awaited (by us at least) CD. Today we tracked background vocals on a couple of tracks with the fabulous Lady Chi and Pamela Parker who sing with RonKat Spearman of P-Funk in Katdelic. We forgot to turn on the video when the girls were here.  Too bad. They’re really cute, and sing great too.

Monday we go to the East Bay to re-record some more B3 with Harry O.  See, we almost completed one of the main songs.  But after tracking the lead vocals we realized that the key was far too low.  So we scrapped the lot, saved the drums and proceeded to recut basses, guitars, banjos, vocals all in one day.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise since in the process we made it even bigger better fatter and groovier.  You could even catch a glimpse of some the overdubs on the jennykerrband youtube channel  or just look at the little video roll on the left.  Stay tuned, we’ll have some sweet video up soon of Harry and his big organ (Hammond B3, that is), and also Eric McFadden as he tracks some mandolin.  

Train to Salvation recorded at Okey Doke

Philbillie is really proud of this record; he recorded and co-produced it with Eric and of course worked his hiney off on the mix .  I got to play harmonica and banjo sing a little on it (I'm part of the 'Drunk and Dirty Angel Choir').  I think it's gorgeous.  The title track is epic.


In the press: 

WWW.BLUESMATTERS.COM
Eric McFadden is an American guitarist but this album – his first for French label Bad Reputation – has a decidedly French feel to it, albeit French on the Mexican border. If you are after ‘normal’ Blues this won’t float your boat but if your tastes are more to the seedy side of life and death and you enjoy polka and accordion then he has it all and in spades. McFadden’s guitar work is a delight and his voice is gruff and dense, world-worn and full of life’s experiences. The titles tell part of the story – ‘Last Day Of My Life’ or ‘Stealing From The Dead’ – but his songs are exquisitely painworn and felt

PARIS-MOVE.COM
Véritable ‘coup de cœur’, cet album de McFadden mérite la note maximale, ‘Indispensable’, car dès la première écoute cet opus vous deviendra indispensable tant il est géant. Monumental.

Chicken and ABCs

Click over to Amazon and check out the rave reviews for our dear friend Marissa's album featuring the talents of Jenny Kerr and co.


What's It All About?Marisa Martinez is hoping to help kids learn while getting a big dose of musical inspiration with her newly-released compact disc, ABC And Chickens. Martinez, a National Board Certified teacher with a Masters in Elementary education, and a Bachelors Science in Special education, also performs regularly in several bands. This kindergarten teacher and longtime musical performer hopes to support music in the schools through the production and sale of an educational CD for children.
Music has helped so many children learn to read and become excited about learning and after completing her master's thesis on the crucial interaction between music and art in a young student's educational development, Martinez realized that ongoing cuts in music classes both in her school district and hundreds of schools across the country were robbing students of that important component of schooling. Aimed at the pre-K to 2nd grade set, the 18 songs on ABC And Chickens help kids learn counting, naming the days of the week, spelling, social skills and other important lessons.
Marisa has been a full-time Kindergarten teacher for almost 10 years, singing and playing these songs with her classes for years. These songs align with the teaching standards and have helped children learn all they need to know in preschool, kindergarten and beyond. She has three daughters, three cats, three dogs, and one husband.
Working with producer Phil "Philbillie" Milner, Martinez gathered a few friends who happen to be some of the most noteworthy players in San Francisco, all former or current band mates - guitarist Eric McFadden (George Clinton, Eric Burdon), drummer Paulo Baldi (Les Claypool, Cake), cellist Sam Bass (Les Claypool), bassist/tubist Ed Ivey (Faraway Brothers, Brass Monkey Brass Band) , multi-instrumentalist Jenny Kerr and Mike Anderson on the Bass. Martinez composed most of the songs and sang or played on every cut. The recording sessions were great fun for the musicians and more than a few admitted they learned something new just being involved.

New CD in the works at Okey Doke Studio

Live in the studio at Okey Doke records with producer/engineer Philbillie Milner and drummer Anthony Vito as they set up to record tracks on the upcoming Jenny Kerr release tentatively titled "The Good Life" Here they demonstrate the "Glynn Johns" drum miking technique for that massive John Bonham sound.

Paper Girl in a Digital World

Even though I swore to myself, and publicly, on this blog that I'd post once a month, I just can't seem to do it. Even though there's been all kinds of news to relate, like writing new songs, recording, playing with some new wonderful musicians (of late we're working with Kevin Hayes who played with Robert Cray for 20 years, and bassist Tim Eschliman who is playing with Commander Cody), I can't seem to get off my duff to blog about it. Maybe it's because Paper Doll Girl over here doesn't even seem to have a duff, or even a pelvis for that matter. Well, I guess that elimates the pesky problem of doll genitalia, or bloomers in this case. It looks like a strange immaculate conception; she is giving birth to herself and to her emotionless twin with no birth canal. Mystifying, her alternate blank face, presumably the back of her head. Well, if it's on paper, the back is already blank, so it would seem that this would be the face Doll Girl uses when she really wants to mask her emotion. Much easier cutting out this shape than tiny dark glasses, I suppose.
Bottom line, I think I've finally o.d.'ed on self-promotion, marketing and social networking. It seems everyone has a blog, and a Myspace and a website and at least one Facebook page, and a Sonicbids EPK and a Reverbnation site, and on and on ad nauseum. With all our "tips for musicians" and ruthless promotional tactics, it seems the only money being made in the music biz is by the folks providing these tips and how-to services. Just the artists are left screaming, whispering, or sincerely imploring, "Look at me, look at me, look at me."
Ambition is just a mask of the ego's sense of inferiority. I'm done, cooked, stick a fork in me. I'm making music for its own sake. Just give me a pair of scissors and let me run with it.

The Best Music You’ll Ever Make

As a result of a personal growth seminar he is participating in, Philbillie is producing an event called "Twang for Tots," a benefit for a children's music in the schools. It all started with our dear friend and fiddler Marisa Martinez who teaches at one of the most financially impoverished schools in San Francisco. We kept hearing horror stories about funding cuts and teachers spending out of their own pockets for the most basic supplies like pencils and the books. All these years, Marisa has been quietly buying art supplies for her class and teaching them to sing and draw. Phil and I went there once or twice to sing for these little munchkins. Once was Halloween. They loved it, they all sang with us and we watched the parade in the playground. But there were some sad and troubled kids in that classroom to be sure.

It has been a long-standing dream of Marisa’s to create a children’s CD, and so she has finally done it with "ABC and Chickens," www.abcandchickens.com with our good buddies, Eric McFadden, Paolo Baldi and others. Philbillie produced and engineered it. Marisa did the artwork, sang on it, played on it, wrote all the songs except a couple. I was pleased that she covered an unreleased song of mine, “Schroedinger’s Cat,” whose subject matter I thought was pretty advanced for the kidlets, but Marisa assured me that the meowing cat on the track would work just fine for them. So bleary-eyed Phil went down to the school bright and early to record the kids singing on several of the tracks. As a treat Marisa bought a pizza. Some of these kids don't know where their next meal is coming from.

Phil and I have regularly played shows for Bread and Roses, an organization that provides music for people who live in institutions or are otherwise isolated from society. They are dedicated to promoting wellness through the healing power of music. We’ve played rehab centers, cheered up abused moms and kids in shelters over Christmas, played for mentally disabled adults who could barely talk, but sure could sway to the music. We always have an indescribable feeling when we do these shows. A light feeling in the soul. It’s why we do it. The best music you’ll ever make is for the ones who need it the most.

Twang for Tots Benefit for Friday, June 4^th, 7 PM

Restoration Workshop

630 Treat Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94110-2016

415 671-5219

Philbillie@gmail.com

Broken Record

Scarier and scarier, cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); I wonder how we will ever make enough money for treacle and new shoes, now that we must give away all our beautiful music for free. No one wants records, or tapes or even CDs now. How will we ever manage? Poor dear little songs! What will we do with them? How will they ever find ears to appreciate them? And she began to cry. But slowly a plan began to take shape in Alice's mind. Why, we'll sell them outright to television shows and adverts and films...yes, we'll take them to market and sell them outright. No matter! she said bravely. And so she tucked her precious songs into a lovely basket with bright blue ribbons and started off for the covered market. But much to Alice's chagrin, as she approached the market, she saw a long line down the lane, full of other people carrying baskets with even brighter ribbons, even shinier songs. Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, to gaze on the endless line meandering like a great snake; but to get through was more hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to cry again. And then she began to blog...