http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:45:00 GMT http://bandzoogle.com http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1445831      The two of us, Denver and myself, are two very blessed guys.  We don't forget that.  Ever.  I'm not saying that we have a glamorous life.  There's a thousand stories we could tell of the hardships and humbling moments that beset us each and every time we're on tour.  But that's just it.  We're able to take this music and the message it contains ON TOUR.  Not only that but each and every time we've been brought home safely to loving arms and healing hugs.  Although I've never asked Denver this specifically, I'm positive that neither of us feel like we deserve any of this.  Don't get me wrong!  We work hard and we work tirelessly on every aspect of this band including the songs, performances, bookings, bus driving, loading gear in and out, talking to and praying for and with folks.  But we don't ever think those efforts entitle us to anything, least of which to be able to carry the banner of a just and loving God.        I think it's VERY important to know and understand that from the start of C?M we have always tried to write songs about life.  We've never shied away from the fact that this is overwhelmingly impacted by the fact that we've made a commitment to live according to the Bible in faith.  In the beginning, while most of us were brand new at this, the songs talked about how thankful we were for the mere opportunity to be forgiven and our hopes for becoming a better example of what a person can be in the likeness of Christ.  As time went on we branched into the other predominent themes (or the three "L's") of being: Life, Love, and Loss.  All the while we tried to make it clear where credit was due for whatever good may have come to or through us and accepting the fault for our shortcomings.        So now here we are.  We've come to a place in the life cycle of the band where we both feel such a gratitude being able to continue doing this and to have been able to see it reach this point.  And it's not just existing... We're seeing things we've never seen before! 2011 has been the most successful year we've ever had and we crossed that mark in August!  But I'm not just talking numbers or dollars.  I'm also referring to the frequency and depth with which we've been able to make meaningful connections while being on the road.  The type of interactions that make it impossible to forget the real reason why we've been given these bonus innings of time as a group.        It's that feeling of living in "bonus time" that was the heart of this song.  THE EVIDENCE is a song about how the fact that we're still playing and the scope of our reach is increases should only be seen AS EVIDENCE that God sees the heart of a person or people.  We both feel like there are enough reasons stacked against us why God was justified to turn his back on us, and yet we both felt His call to reunite and have tried to follow that call ever since.  The best way I could explain it in the song was saying that instead of the day growing dark and turning to night, the sun hung and stared.  This is represented by the opening melody line that seems like it could end naturally anywhere along the way, but yet it continues through the body of the song.  It was my way of saying that for the band to have passed into the sunset at any phase along the way would've been not just possible, but natural.  Instead the impossible seems to be happening and all signs point to it continuing that way for a while.        The final section of the song says that we've taken the position that there may be a day coming where "... the strum will be silenced, not a beat in the air" but as long as He provides us with songs to sing and places to play them, we'll take this music and this message wherever He leads and hopefully be just as excited showing up to a concert in this, our second decade, as we were the first night we played.        And then we finish the song with a bit of instrumental music that is further EVIDENCE of our joy of still being able to do in our 30's what we dreamed of as kids.        I think it's VERY important to know and understand that from the start of C?M we have always tried to write songs about life.  We've never shied away from the fact that this is overwhelmingly impacted by the fact that we've made a commitment to live according to the Bible in faith.  In the beginning, while most of us were brand new at this, the songs talked about how thankful we were for the mere opportunity to be forgiven and our hopes for becoming a better example of what a person can be in the likeness of Christ.  As time went on we branched into the other predominent themes (or the three "L's") of being: Life, Love, and Loss.  All the while we tried to make it clear where credit was due for whatever good may have come to or through us and accepting the fault for our shortcomings.  
     So now here we are.  We've come to a place in the life cycle of the band where we both feel such a gratitude being able to continue doing this and to have been able to see it reach this point.  And it's not just existing... We're seeing things we've never seen before! 2011 has been the most successful year we've ever had and we crossed that mark in August!  But I'm not just talking numbers or dollars.  I'm also referring to the frequency and depth with which we've been able to make meaningful connections while being on the road.  The type of interactions that make it impossible to forget the real reason why we've been given these bonus innings of time as a group.  
     It's that feeling of living in "bonus time" that was the heart of this song.  THE EVIDENCE is a song about how the fact that we're still playing and the scope of our reach is increases should only be seen AS EVIDENCE that God sees the heart of a person or people.  We both feel like there are enough reasons stacked against us why God was justified to turn his back on us, and yet we both felt His call to reunite and have tried to follow that call ever since.  The best way I could explain it in the song was saying that instead of the day growing dark and turning to night, the sun hung and stared.  This is represented by the opening melody line that seems like it could end naturally anywhere along the way, but yet it continues through the body of the song.  It was my way of saying that for the band to have passed into the sunset at any phase along the way would've been not just possible, but natural.  Instead the impossible seems to be happening and all signs point to it continuing that way for a while.  
     The final section of the song says that we've taken the position that there may be a day coming where "... the strum will be silenced, not a beat in the air" but as long as He provides us with songs to sing and places to play them, we'll take this music and this message wherever He leads and hopefully be just as excited showing up to a concert in this, our second decade, as we were the first night we played.  
     And then we finish the song with a bit of instrumental music that is further EVIDENCE of our joy of still being able to do in our 30's what we dreamed of as kids.  

]]> Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:45:00 GMT 8635DFDCD9B15444A2233EAB7D388DE8 http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1441128      This song was a battle ground from start to finish.  There were two different demos done of JUST the music and even with that we went into rehearsals knowing that we needed yet another version before we'd be happy enough with it to even record it .  The lyrics were the roughest to get out and finalize on paper and because of the subject matter it wasn't the sort of song that you celebrate when it's completed.  So lets just say this was a dark horse to make the album.        All that to say that this was the first song that both Denver and I agreed that we love.  I know... didn't see it coming, but for some reason the feel of the third version of this song really put it over the top and took on a feel that made me put the song on repeat six times over as I was listening to the rough mix for the first time.   And I'm relieved to feel so confident in the music of the song because the lyrics are so straightforward that there needs to be a strong arrangement behind it.        The message behind this song is the conversation so many of us have had with someone we love, someone we don't, and sometimes with ourselves.  You've heard that something is just wrong, or wrong for you.  Yet because the temptation or the person who you're tempted by is so convincing that you try to convince yourself that you're doing the right thing.  When I think of the time I was that person it came with an "us against the world" mentality and it was so convincing.  But the problem with that mindset is that if you need to convince yourself, then you know it's a lie from the start.  Something is either true or it isn't.  You shouldn't have to convince yourself of anything.  The worst part is that it's not the one thing that you're rationalizing that is so dangerous.  It's a combined effect of what takes place afterward.  Once you loosen part of your foundation, it's far easier to disregard the rest of it and from there you may find everything you knew crumbling beneath you.  So this song talks about crossing that line too many times until eventualy you "bought the lie".        The version of the song that we captured has the slippery slope idea running underneath it.  The body of the song is continually building in intensity, but it also has a rising arpeggio built into the chording of the chorus that is my sonic metaphor for mercury rising on the temperature of the character's life, but in a behind the scenes sort of way.  Much the same way that, at least in my experience, one you realize your life's reached the equivalent of being sick and feverish it came as a surprise.  The signs are there and you would've recognized it too if it was happening to almost anyone else, but it almost always blindsides the one involved.        By the time the last chorus comes in and the last line of the chorus switches from "Crossed the Line..." to "Bought the Lie" the character's life is out of control.  The chords of the chorus have changed from a primarily two-chord phrase to a four-chord one.  The drums and the guitar both push the 1st beat of every 8 measures to help drive home that anxious feeling, and song ends with an decision to take out the 3rd note of the chord and replace it with an 9th so that it blurs the line of whether it's a minor or major (bad or good) resolution to the song.   Don't worry though... the next song will help pull the listener back from the Dark Side. :) 
     All that to say that this was the first song that both Denver and I agreed that we love.  I know... didn't see it coming, but for some reason the feel of the third version of this song really put it over the top and took on a feel that made me put the song on repeat six times over as I was listening to the rough mix for the first time.   And I'm relieved to feel so confident in the music of the song because the lyrics are so straightforward that there needs to be a strong arrangement behind it.  

     The message behind this song is the conversation so many of us have had with someone we love, someone we don't, and sometimes with ourselves.  You've heard that something is just wrong, or wrong for you.  Yet because the temptation or the person who you're tempted by is so convincing that you try to convince yourself that you're doing the right thing.  When I think of the time I was that person it came with an "us against the world" mentality and it was so convincing.  But the problem with that mindset is that if you need to convince yourself, then you know it's a lie from the start.  Something is either true or it isn't.  You shouldn't have to convince yourself of anything.  The worst part is that it's not the one thing that you're rationalizing that is so dangerous.  It's a combined effect of what takes place afterward.  Once you loosen part of your foundation, it's far easier to disregard the rest of it and from there you may find everything you knew crumbling beneath you.  So this song talks about crossing that line too many times until eventualy you "bought the lie".  

     The version of the song that we captured has the slippery slope idea running underneath it.  The body of the song is continually building in intensity, but it also has a rising arpeggio built into the chording of the chorus that is my sonic metaphor for mercury rising on the temperature of the character's life, but in a behind the scenes sort of way.  Much the same way that, at least in my experience, one you realize your life's reached the equivalent of being sick and feverish it came as a surprise.  The signs are there and you would've recognized it too if it was happening to almost anyone else, but it almost always blindsides the one involved.  

     By the time the last chorus comes in and the last line of the chorus switches from "Crossed the Line..." to "Bought the Lie" the character's life is out of control.  The chords of the chorus have changed from a primarily two-chord phrase to a four-chord one.  The drums and the guitar both push the 1st beat of every 8 measures to help drive home that anxious feeling, and song ends with an decision to take out the 3rd note of the chord and replace it with an 9th so that it blurs the line of whether it's a minor or major (bad or good) resolution to the song.  

Don't worry though... the next song will help pull the listener back from the Dark Side. :) 
]]> Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:15:00 GMT 79B735112AB26031B81F8C44BC0C18FF http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1437370      This song was one of the three songs from my solo album that we decided to integrate into the C?M setlist.  It took on such a fuller and more carnal feel that I felt it was an even stronger song than ever before.  We felt like we really wanted to hear the C?M version of this song in the studio and so we used these sessions as the opportunity to make that happen.  However, the message hasn't changed and I'm posting here the original journal that I wrote about the song, it's origin, and it's meaning.       This song started off as a feeling. Dustin and I had just finished recording for the evening, we were wrapping things up and just talking a little with my fiancee, and I was just playing on the guitar without thinking much about what was being played, but I was just kind of strumming a little soundtrack to the moment I was in. I don't think anyone else heard what I was playing, and it wasn't a momentous conversation, it was just one of those nights. After we finished talking, I asked Dustin if he could record just a few seconds of this unfinished guitar part so that I wouldn't forget it and maybe pick up on it tomorrow. He hit record and the whole song came out within the next ten minutes. We had the entire version of the song as a guitar track. It was such a compelling scratch track, that we kept it as a reference and each time I was going to record a track on this song, I'd listen to it for reference until I felt like the song embodied the emotion that the original track was layed down with.      The emotion, as best as I can describe, is the kind of feeling that I would call a blessed relief. It's the kind of feeling that I've had when I've been stretched to what I believed was my breaking point, and then I see God stepping in on by behalf. Or another time I felt it was when I felt like I was struggling with certain aspects of my life and I felt like God provided me an answer to those seemingly impossible obstacles. It's a feeling of victory that you couldn't have won on your own. You've overcome, but moreso, there's someone of the utmost importance who fought for you, believed in you, and aligned Himself to you. That feeling of worth, of value, and of strength is something that isn't an everyday feeling in the world.      So the setting (in my mind) of this song is in a car, driving at night, at speeds of your descretion. (not too fast, that changes the whole song!!!) This feeling takes hold and the reality of this change for the better starts to wash over you. There's a feeling of eternal greatfulness, elation, and a little bit of exhaustion from the struggle...all mixed together. (Multiply the feeling of being well paid on the same you put in a good honest hard day's work by about a thousand!) "Each day has enough trouble of it's own"      Jesus spoke as a very reliable witness relaying testimony on our behalf that we have every reason to be tired, worried, tested, and overwhelmed. We have every reason... but we have no right. Not if we say that we BELIVE IN God. That we TRUST IN God. If we stand behind those statements then we should know at all times that no matter what may align themselves against us, He was on our side before there were sides to take up. However, I realize that this is not reality. Problems seem larger than life when they're happening to us. They seem impossible when we're looking at them, and each new problem seems to have some new aspect of fear worked into it. It's just the way things are. It's a constant effort to have faith and this is just a song about one of the times I did something the right way. Not a song saying that I did it right every time. That's not something I'd even hint at.     It's a fun song for me.  This song is basically just my way of saying that so long as I live I can't get away from trouble, but the eternal promises that are laid out in the Bible speak encouragement to me that each day is more than I think it is, and each moment isn't what it seems.


     This song started off as a feeling. Dustin and I had just finished recording for the evening, we were wrapping things up and just talking a little with my fiancee, and I was just playing on the guitar without thinking much about what was being played, but I was just kind of strumming a little soundtrack to the moment I was in. I don't think anyone else heard what I was playing, and it wasn't a momentous conversation, it was just one of those nights.
After we finished talking, I asked Dustin if he could record just a few seconds of this unfinished guitar part so that I wouldn't forget it and maybe pick up on it tomorrow. He hit record and the whole song came out within the next ten minutes. We had the entire version of the song as a guitar track. It was such a compelling scratch track, that we kept it as a reference and each time I was going to record a track on this song, I'd listen to it for reference until I felt like the song embodied the emotion that the original track was layed down with.
     The emotion, as best as I can describe, is the kind of feeling that I would call a blessed relief. It's the kind of feeling that I've had when I've been stretched to what I believed was my breaking point, and then I see God stepping in on by behalf. Or another time I felt it was when I felt like I was struggling with certain aspects of my life and I felt like God provided me an answer to those seemingly impossible obstacles. It's a feeling of victory that you couldn't have won on your own. You've overcome, but moreso, there's someone of the utmost importance who fought for you, believed in you, and aligned Himself to you. That feeling of worth, of value, and of strength is something that isn't an everyday feeling in the world.
     So the setting (in my mind) of this song is in a car, driving at night, at speeds of your descretion. (not too fast, that changes the whole song!!!) This feeling takes hold and the reality of this change for the better starts to wash over you. There's a feeling of eternal greatfulness, elation, and a little bit of exhaustion from the struggle...all mixed together. (Multiply the feeling of being well paid on the same you put in a good honest hard day's work by about a thousand!)

"Each day has enough trouble of it's own"

     Jesus spoke as a very reliable witness relaying testimony on our behalf that we have every reason to be tired, worried, tested, and overwhelmed. We have every reason... but we have no right. Not if we say that we BELIVE IN God. That we TRUST IN God. If we stand behind those statements then we should know at all times that no matter what may align themselves against us, He was on our side before there were sides to take up. However, I realize that this is not reality. Problems seem larger than life when they're happening to us. They seem impossible when we're looking at them, and each new problem seems to have some new aspect of fear worked into it. It's just the way things are. It's a constant effort to have faith and this is just a song about one of the times I did something the right way. Not a song saying that I did it right every time. That's not something I'd even hint at.

    It's a fun song for me.  This song is basically just my way of saying that so long as I live I can't get away from trouble, but the eternal promises that are laid out in the Bible speak encouragement to me that each day is more than I think it is, and each moment isn't what it seems.
]]> Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:34:48 GMT 5DD7054921BEA9A58B9C044B8841644D http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1432436      In Memphis, late 2010, we came to a church to play a concert and despite playing, the thing we remembered most from the night is being introduced to Celebrate Recovery.  CR is a ministry that is for anyone carrying any kind of burden who would like help learning how to either have that load lifted, or how to acknowledge that there's some burdens we carry for life and we need to learn how to carry them.  CR does an incredible job of ministering to the hurt without enabling them to continue in the behavior that brought them there in the first place.  On that night I heard the phrase "Compassion without Compromise", and was so succinctly put that I couldn't help but be intrigued.        Over the course of the next year we would play in over 30 different Celebrate Recovery events and was asked to share our testimony at most of them.  A person's testimony is a valuable thing at Celebrate Recovery events because it helps to encourage others that there can indeed be a brighter future ahead for them because the person standing before them is a tangible evidence of that.  So for the first time, perhaps in my life, I was asked to write my testimony down so that the different CR's we partnered with could view what we'll be talking about when we were with them.  It's an interesting thing to see your own written account of an important time of your life.  Especially if enough time has passed so that the event you're talking about has a sense of being historical and academic where once it was rife with emotions that could be recalled immediately...intentionally or not.        Having had to recount my own personal experience so many times throughout the last year had a two-fold effect on me.  First it put me in a bit of a funk.  After all, the time that I'm revisting wasn't the happiest time of my life and being the visual person that I am, it takes me back in a very real way each and every time I speak of it.  Sometimes even bringing up aspects or associated events that only darken the revisiting... reminding me even more why it was so necessary to take the actions I did.  But after realizing that this was causing some rather unpleasant side effects, I tried to put the timelines back into perspective and realize, in every dimension and to the fullest depth, what has transpired since then.  Immediately upon incurring this realization the words GLORIOUS FORGIVENESS came to mind and with those two words I sat down and wrote the music that became this song.        The music came quickly, but the lyrics didn't.  For some reason I had the knowledge that the song was "there" so as soon as I finished the music I immediately switched to writing some of the more problematic sets of lyrics and the concepts behind them.  I knew that this song was going to be something where if I just set aside some private, uninterrupted quiet time then it would pour fast enough to challenge my handwriting dexterity...      Two nights later I finally had the very scenario I was keeping an eye out for and things transpired much as I expected.  The song came quickly.  Very quickly.  I wrote it from the perspective of who I was in the days leading up to pronouncing my faith as a man-child who was unaware to the potency of the word CONVERSION and who was hoping that there was an additional variable to be discovered that would make the equation of his life balance itself.        Because of the setup of this song, the one difficulty in writing it was not to be TOO obtuse in the writing of it.  Otherwise the character in the story will seem like he knows all the answers even as he's asking the questions... and that certainly wasn't the case.  In my experience, it's true that the answer exists before the questions are asked, but there seems to be a veil that we all must pass through in order to be able to see that answer.  Whether that veil exists because of us or by the design of another is, well... I haven't passed through the veil of finding THAT answer yet... ;)  But I digress... the difficulty was finding a way to point to God's hand in all of this without being able to say that this character has knowledge of Him yet.  So I wrote into the arrangement a melody line that is intended to represent that still small voice that is easy to look back on and acknowledge, but at the time can be but a whisper that we're too busy or distracted to be conscious of.  It appears once during each verse just as the character is admiting that things aren't adding up and not for lack of trying.        The end of the song is a instrumental movement that finds the drums and fullness of the guitars coming together for the first time on the new album.  This is the point where the character makes his realization of God's presence and, though it isn't addressed lyrically, musically represents the new life that comes with committing to a life of faith.  David speaks repeatedly of the joys of a "New Song" and this section seconds him.  With each passing of 8 measures, the song adds another layer of depth but always keeping the melody line that represents God's presence.  The alternating between the major and minor chords supporting that motif was not just done for the variety it brings.  It also suggests that sometimes life has it's ups and downs, but the His presense is constant and unchanging.   And that's how we open the album.  :) 
     Over the course of the next year we would play in over 30 different Celebrate Recovery events and was asked to share our testimony at most of them.  A person's testimony is a valuable thing at Celebrate Recovery events because it helps to encourage others that there can indeed be a brighter future ahead for them because the person standing before them is a tangible evidence of that.  So for the first time, perhaps in my life, I was asked to write my testimony down so that the different CR's we partnered with could view what we'll be talking about when we were with them.  It's an interesting thing to see your own written account of an important time of your life.  Especially if enough time has passed so that the event you're talking about has a sense of being historical and academic where once it was rife with emotions that could be recalled immediately...intentionally or not.  

     Having had to recount my own personal experience so many times throughout the last year had a two-fold effect on me.  First it put me in a bit of a funk.  After all, the time that I'm revisting wasn't the happiest time of my life and being the visual person that I am, it takes me back in a very real way each and every time I speak of it.  Sometimes even bringing up aspects or associated events that only darken the revisiting... reminding me even more why it was so necessary to take the actions I did.  But after realizing that this was causing some rather unpleasant side effects, I tried to put the timelines back into perspective and realize, in every dimension and to the fullest depth, what has transpired since then.  Immediately upon incurring this realization the words GLORIOUS FORGIVENESS came to mind and with those two words I sat down and wrote the music that became this song.  

     The music came quickly, but the lyrics didn't.  For some reason I had the knowledge that the song was "there" so as soon as I finished the music I immediately switched to writing some of the more problematic sets of lyrics and the concepts behind them.  I knew that this song was going to be something where if I just set aside some private, uninterrupted quiet time then it would pour fast enough to challenge my handwriting dexterity...

     Two nights later I finally had the very scenario I was keeping an eye out for and things transpired much as I expected.  The song came quickly.  Very quickly.  I wrote it from the perspective of who I was in the days leading up to pronouncing my faith as a man-child who was unaware to the potency of the word CONVERSION and who was hoping that there was an additional variable to be discovered that would make the equation of his life balance itself.  

     Because of the setup of this song, the one difficulty in writing it was not to be TOO obtuse in the writing of it.  Otherwise the character in the story will seem like he knows all the answers even as he's asking the questions... and that certainly wasn't the case.  In my experience, it's true that the answer exists before the questions are asked, but there seems to be a veil that we all must pass through in order to be able to see that answer.  Whether that veil exists because of us or by the design of another is, well... I haven't passed through the veil of finding THAT answer yet... ;)  But I digress... the difficulty was finding a way to point to God's hand in all of this without being able to say that this character has knowledge of Him yet.  So I wrote into the arrangement a melody line that is intended to represent that still small voice that is easy to look back on and acknowledge, but at the time can be but a whisper that we're too busy or distracted to be conscious of.  It appears once during each verse just as the character is admiting that things aren't adding up and not for lack of trying.  

     The end of the song is a instrumental movement that finds the drums and fullness of the guitars coming together for the first time on the new album.  This is the point where the character makes his realization of God's presence and, though it isn't addressed lyrically, musically represents the new life that comes with committing to a life of faith.  David speaks repeatedly of the joys of a "New Song" and this section seconds him.  With each passing of 8 measures, the song adds another layer of depth but always keeping the melody line that represents God's presence.  The alternating between the major and minor chords supporting that motif was not just done for the variety it brings.  It also suggests that sometimes life has it's ups and downs, but the His presense is constant and unchanging.  

And that's how we open the album.  :) 


]]> Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:45:00 GMT C771745A567030EEC688623FE88DDE02 http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1427325      When it was first written in it's demo form, this was the first song that we both gravitated towards.  Even in that demo state, with no lyrics or vocal melodies, it was something that we felt captured who we are and what we want to sound like.  What was equally as exciting to us is that we noticed we were able to pack the same dynamic range we wanted into a structure that suggested the longer musical interludes that we're known for but in a more efficient 5 minute package.  So when it came time to start writing the lyrics and melodies for the demos, this was the first one in line.        The idea behind the song was inspired by a couple of days spent on some of the social networks that we have.  I was trying to let people know about the new project and was making updates and blog posts over the course of a few days.  But during that time I would stumble upon a glimpse of people's posts and some of the patterns that started to show up on the threads recalled in me the words of my senior year high school literature teacher.  She was insistently and repetitively saying, "Foreshadowing and Conclusions.  Always keep an eye out for the connection between foreshadowing it's enevitable conclusions while reading."  Ironically, her name was Ms. Link.        As I saw some of these posts such as what a friend was planning again for a Friday night followed by the status of a girl with a notoriously bad choice in men professing her renewed love of life after a first date, the voice of my teacher made a cameo in my psyche as the foreshadowing preluded an almost enevitable followup post within hours or days when the effects of the Friday plans would lead to Saturday's ill effects or ill regrets, and when the second date took place in better lighting so the tan lines where the date's wedding ring had recently sat were more visable.        So in a moment of piousness I sat thinking, "How could NOT see that coming!  It's the real life equivalent of a character in a horror movie going to check out the sound they heard in the dark.  At the very least it's gonna give you a scare, with the only variable being the degree of the fright the character will receive and how long they'll have to live with it."  But then a second thought quickly corrected my first one... "What if they hadn't seen (for the purpose of this metaphor) a horror movie before?  The only way I knew what was coming is because I had either seen this sort of movie before or read the book/script."  Ultimately our knowledge seems to come from either experience or education.  Experience can be a hit or miss thing based on locations, interactions, length of life, and enough other factors that contemplating it scrambles my brain.  But education?  Education comes from a source.  What if that source was made available to all so that the potentially randomness of experience could be bypassed?         You probably could've predicted three paragraphs ago where this line of thinking would end up, but it's important to me to stress that this is not a song about "I told you so's".  It's a song about how every single one of us has plenty of decisions or actions in our lives (if not our daily routines) that we wish we could take back again.  So often most, if not all, of these are warned against in the pages of the Bible.  Maybe not all of them specifically by name but enough so that simply integrating the coaching that book provides can help prepare someone enough that if a situation feels completely foreign or takes us off guard then by paring down the moment to the lowest common denominator or the heart of the matter it becomes so much more defineable and, in many cases... avoidable.        This has been a very wordy way of trying to explain the simple idea that by studying and practicing that ideas and concepts that are found in the Bible, so much of the heartache and wounds we incur can be sidestepped.  And I know some would say that many of these experiences are what makes "life" worth living.  I'm not at all suggesting that we should hope to miss out on the great parts of life that are privaledges that we humans get to experience that all other beings of creation would proclaim their jealousy for (if they were able).  I'm talking about heading the warnings of a book that can help us keep from these self-inflicted wounds or worse, the pain that we cause others when if we would have had a chance to think about it, beforehand or after, we'd "Take (it) Back Again".              
     The idea behind the song was inspired by a couple of days spent on some of the social networks that we have.  I was trying to let people know about the new project and was making updates and blog posts over the course of a few days.  But during that time I would stumble upon a glimpse of people's posts and some of the patterns that started to show up on the threads recalled in me the words of my senior year high school literature teacher.  She was insistently and repetitively saying, "Foreshadowing and Conclusions.  Always keep an eye out for the connection between foreshadowing it's enevitable conclusions while reading."  Ironically, her name was Ms. Link.  

     As I saw some of these posts such as what a friend was planning again for a Friday night followed by the status of a girl with a notoriously bad choice in men professing her renewed love of life after a first date, the voice of my teacher made a cameo in my psyche as the foreshadowing preluded an almost enevitable followup post within hours or days when the effects of the Friday plans would lead to Saturday's ill effects or ill regrets, and when the second date took place in better lighting so the tan lines where the date's wedding ring had recently sat were more visable.  

     So in a moment of piousness I sat thinking, "How could NOT see that coming!  It's the real life equivalent of a character in a horror movie going to check out the sound they heard in the dark.  At the very least it's gonna give you a scare, with the only variable being the degree of the fright the character will receive and how long they'll have to live with it."  But then a second thought quickly corrected my first one... "What if they hadn't seen (for the purpose of this metaphor) a horror movie before?  The only way I knew what was coming is because I had either seen this sort of movie before or read the book/script."  Ultimately our knowledge seems to come from either experience or education.  Experience can be a hit or miss thing based on locations, interactions, length of life, and enough other factors that contemplating it scrambles my brain.  But education?  Education comes from a source.  What if that source was made available to all so that the potentially randomness of experience could be bypassed?
  
     You probably could've predicted three paragraphs ago where this line of thinking would end up, but it's important to me to stress that this is not a song about "I told you so's".  It's a song about how every single one of us has plenty of decisions or actions in our lives (if not our daily routines) that we wish we could take back again.  So often most, if not all, of these are warned against in the pages of the Bible.  Maybe not all of them specifically by name but enough so that simply integrating the coaching that book provides can help prepare someone enough that if a situation feels completely foreign or takes us off guard then by paring down the moment to the lowest common denominator or the heart of the matter it becomes so much more defineable and, in many cases... avoidable.  

     This has been a very wordy way of trying to explain the simple idea that by studying and practicing that ideas and concepts that are found in the Bible, so much of the heartache and wounds we incur can be sidestepped.  And I know some would say that many of these experiences are what makes "life" worth living.  I'm not at all suggesting that we should hope to miss out on the great parts of life that are privaledges that we humans get to experience that all other beings of creation would proclaim their jealousy for (if they were able).  I'm talking about heading the warnings of a book that can help us keep from these self-inflicted wounds or worse, the pain that we cause others when if we would have had a chance to think about it, beforehand or after, we'd "Take (it) Back Again".  

     



     
]]> Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:50:00 GMT BD188D470188C8BA1DAE4D7F92E0598F http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1427212      Whereas guitars and percussion have tangable dimensions of difficulty that one has to be aware of when recording, I find that vocals are all about the intangables.  Emotion, performance, and confidence are the 3 main aspects of recording vocals that I try to focus on.  Now... that being said, confidence is not my strong point when it comes to singing.  It's the least confident thing I do.  Tapping into emotions are also not really a strong suit of mine either, but since I wrote the material I sing it's not too difficult to at least try and put myself back into the memory or the story of which I'm singing about.  But as we were wrapping up the first run through of the first song of the day I got a call from my wife...      Lindee's parents were on vacation in North Georgia and her dad woke up with severe pains and had to be rushed to the hospital.  Little was known of his prognosis at the time of the first call, but it was enough to worry the family greatly and so Lindee called me to talk about what we were going to do.  We decided that we'd finish our workday out, her at her job, me in the studio, and upon completion of the day we'd drive through the night to Georgia.  We decided we'd pack our camping equipment that we had planned to use that weekend as a celebration of wrapping the writing and recording part of the production, and we'd find a local campground instead of staying in hotels so that we could affordably stay as long as we could or as long as we were needed.        This phone call cast a shadow on the day that, while troubling, was the necessary catalyst to stir the emotional component to the performance, while putting things into perspective in a way that made a mockery of thoughts of self-consciousness or worry about singing.  So it was simply a matter of doing the best I could with the material and time at hand.  And for some reason that really worked for me.        The vocals were finished in a matter of 5 hours, including background vocals.  But it wasn't about the efficiency of the recording, they were sounding so clear and so pure in that environment, that I truly felt like we captured everything that the songs needed to fully convey the messages that each one wants to transmit.  It's a powerful thing to listen back to the rough mix of this album and feel like we've made something truly greater than what we thought possible.  I have no idea if it will feel that way to every listener or not.  I don't even know if anyone else will feel the same way, but I know that most things in my life are a little worse than I hoped, but no where near as bad as I fear.  This album exceeded my dreams of what it could be.  
     Lindee's parents were on vacation in North Georgia and her dad woke up with severe pains and had to be rushed to the hospital.  Little was known of his prognosis at the time of the first call, but it was enough to worry the family greatly and so Lindee called me to talk about what we were going to do.  We decided that we'd finish our workday out, her at her job, me in the studio, and upon completion of the day we'd drive through the night to Georgia.  We decided we'd pack our camping equipment that we had planned to use that weekend as a celebration of wrapping the writing and recording part of the production, and we'd find a local campground instead of staying in hotels so that we could affordably stay as long as we could or as long as we were needed.  

     This phone call cast a shadow on the day that, while troubling, was the necessary catalyst to stir the emotional component to the performance, while putting things into perspective in a way that made a mockery of thoughts of self-consciousness or worry about singing.  So it was simply a matter of doing the best I could with the material and time at hand.  And for some reason that really worked for me.  

     The vocals were finished in a matter of 5 hours, including background vocals.  But it wasn't about the efficiency of the recording, they were sounding so clear and so pure in that environment, that I truly felt like we captured everything that the songs needed to fully convey the messages that each one wants to transmit.  It's a powerful thing to listen back to the rough mix of this album and feel like we've made something truly greater than what we thought possible.  I have no idea if it will feel that way to every listener or not.  I don't even know if anyone else will feel the same way, but I know that most things in my life are a little worse than I hoped, but no where near as bad as I fear.  This album exceeded my dreams of what it could be.  


]]> Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:10:00 GMT 3305EA7BC9CC56E9CCA39FE87A1301FE http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1415221      Can I admit something to you?  I HATE recording acoustic guitars.  I LOVE playing acoustic guitars, but I HATE recording them.  They will forever be the bane of my studio existance because no matter how one may try to compensate for it, acoustic guitars will have tonal issues, string squeeking, intonation problems, and mic phasing that will inevitably happen during the course of a recording session.  Electric guitars are SO much easier because the mics get placed on the amp, not the guitar, and the amps never move.  They get plugged in directly which allows for stronger signals which should mean less noise, and I've always had an easier time matching intonation on electric guitar parts than I do acoustic because I typically use sections of the guitar neck on electric guitar parts, whereas I may cover as many as 10-12 frets on any given acoustic guitar part.  So psyching myself up for recording acoustic guitar is no small task.  That being said, we were lucky to have been able to finish the drum recording early enough to start guitars late into the first day of recording.  It wasn't going too swell either...        We were making progress, but it wasn't going as quickly as hoped and there seemed to be timing issues.  After finishing 1 and a half songs, it was time to call it a night.  Over the course of the night I obsessed about how the session were going.  Partly because that's what I do at night, and partly because I'm feeling an additional amount of attachment and hope for these songs so I want them to sound and feel as good as I think they can.  Because of this I was able to think of a couple adjustments to make that could potentially help me have a better feel for the overall sound and not just the guitar.  This approach was as close to a "fix-all" as I could've hoped for.  By hearing a more accurate reproduction of the midrange levels, I was able to have a better overall feel of the timing and the tone of the song and it helped me fall into the songs as they were being played which create and capture a much more realistic live performance.  It went fairly smooth from there until....  ...the guitar solo... da da daaaaaa....      If you're a longtime fan of the band, you can probably understand why I'm apprehensive about recording guitar solos.  If you're new to us, the best way I can explain it is that appreciating guitar solos in the studio is similar to why it's difficult to appreciate Saturday Night Live.  Because it's unfamiliar and "in the moment", it's difficult to really feel it's place in the context in the song, similar to how Saturday Night Live is sometimes difficult to fully appreciate because it's about brand new characters that you're unfamiliar with, doing things that feel like they should be funny, but if you're not familiar with the characters or the setting it's just not as funny as it could or should be.  (thus the reason for repeating characters on the show so that some sense of familiarity can help the viewer integrate with the sketch at a faster rate).        In other words, it's hard for me to appreciate the guitar solo as it's being played because it's a brand new sound in the song and it's difficult for me to attach to one particular solo over another.  So I just get into a rut where I constantly re-record solos until my fingers are blistered and no one solo feels any better to me than another.  The good news?  I'm aware of this and so I was able to rein that habit in a little earlier than usual.  Am I happy with the part?  I'm sure I will be after I've heard it a time or two more... :)       After that, the last song was "Idea Song".  It wasn't just the last, it actually stood out to me more than any other because of some accompanying parts that really has fleshed the song out for me.  I litterally got chills hearing a new melody that enters into the song during the second verse and I think it's going to be one of my favorite moments on the album.  It just feels "right".        So guitars are wrapped and all that remains to be recorded are the vocals.  Not too shabby!
     We were making progress, but it wasn't going as quickly as hoped and there seemed to be timing issues.  After finishing 1 and a half songs, it was time to call it a night.  Over the course of the night I obsessed about how the session were going.  Partly because that's what I do at night, and partly because I'm feeling an additional amount of attachment and hope for these songs so I want them to sound and feel as good as I think they can.  Because of this I was able to think of a couple adjustments to make that could potentially help me have a better feel for the overall sound and not just the guitar.  This approach was as close to a "fix-all" as I could've hoped for.  By hearing a more accurate reproduction of the midrange levels, I was able to have a better overall feel of the timing and the tone of the song and it helped me fall into the songs as they were being played which create and capture a much more realistic live performance.  It went fairly smooth from there until.... 

...the guitar solo... da da daaaaaa....

     If you're a longtime fan of the band, you can probably understand why I'm apprehensive about recording guitar solos.  If you're new to us, the best way I can explain it is that appreciating guitar solos in the studio is similar to why it's difficult to appreciate Saturday Night Live.  Because it's unfamiliar and "in the moment", it's difficult to really feel it's place in the context in the song, similar to how Saturday Night Live is sometimes difficult to fully appreciate because it's about brand new characters that you're unfamiliar with, doing things that feel like they should be funny, but if you're not familiar with the characters or the setting it's just not as funny as it could or should be.  (thus the reason for repeating characters on the show so that some sense of familiarity can help the viewer integrate with the sketch at a faster rate).  
     In other words, it's hard for me to appreciate the guitar solo as it's being played because it's a brand new sound in the song and it's difficult for me to attach to one particular solo over another.  So I just get into a rut where I constantly re-record solos until my fingers are blistered and no one solo feels any better to me than another.  The good news?  I'm aware of this and so I was able to rein that habit in a little earlier than usual.  Am I happy with the part?  I'm sure I will be after I've heard it a time or two more... :) 

     After that, the last song was "Idea Song".  It wasn't just the last, it actually stood out to me more than any other because of some accompanying parts that really has fleshed the song out for me.  I litterally got chills hearing a new melody that enters into the song during the second verse and I think it's going to be one of my favorite moments on the album.  It just feels "right".  

     So guitars are wrapped and all that remains to be recorded are the vocals.  Not too shabby!


]]> Wed, 12 Oct 2011 09:45:00 GMT 5EFDFA11E24BFD095CFC126C6CAC1670 http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1414990      Up to this point, I (travis) have always been either the engineer or the producer (or both) on our albums.  One of my drawbacks is that I have limited experience in making drums sound the way they should in the mix.  The most difficult part of mixing is getting a tight low end sound, and that's exactly where drums sit.  So my (and I'm sure Denver's too) excitement level is pretty high to work with an engineer who's primary instrument are the drums.  The first thing that stuck out to me when I was listening to Nathan's mixes was just how incredibly full and tight the low end was in his mixes.        The first day didn't disappoint.  Nathan had the drums mic'd, eq'd, and sounding better than I've ever come close to making them sound in a matter of about an hour.  Not only did they sound like drums should sound, but they bring out the tonal uniqueness of Denver's cocktail kit including the airy qualities housed in the upright kickdrum.        As for Denver, he was solid.  The title track of the project, "The Evidence" has an extended outro a la "Don't Fade Away" in it, and for as few times as we've played this song (since it was only written about two weeks ago), the fact that Denver was able to knock it out park in a total of 5 takes, including overdubs, was an amazing feat.  You'll agree when you hear the final product!  Another high point for me was hearing the song "Bought the Lie" rise from the ashes.  It was a song that going into rehearsals was my least favorite, but after spending some time finding a different tone for it's presentation, it became my favorite of the rehearsals.  So heading into the recording sessions I was curious to see if it would get played closer to the rehearsal version, or whether it was slip back into the pre-reheasal ho-hum-ness... I'm VERY excited to say that after hearing the drums that were laid down on it, I'm pretty certain it may even surpass the rehearsal version.        We were able to knock out the drums in enough time to get an early jump on guitars before the end of the day, but I'll include all the guitar reflections in it's own post.   Bottom Line: Denver has the album sounding better than any of our previous works from the start.  We'll see if we can keep that going!      The first day didn't disappoint.  Nathan had the drums mic'd, eq'd, and sounding better than I've ever come close to making them sound in a matter of about an hour.  Not only did they sound like drums should sound, but they bring out the tonal uniqueness of Denver's cocktail kit including the airy qualities housed in the upright kickdrum.  
     As for Denver, he was solid.  The title track of the project, "The Evidence" has an extended outro a la "Don't Fade Away" in it, and for as few times as we've played this song (since it was only written about two weeks ago), the fact that Denver was able to knock it out park in a total of 5 takes, including overdubs, was an amazing feat.  You'll agree when you hear the final product!  Another high point for me was hearing the song "Bought the Lie" rise from the ashes.  It was a song that going into rehearsals was my least favorite, but after spending some time finding a different tone for it's presentation, it became my favorite of the rehearsals.  So heading into the recording sessions I was curious to see if it would get played closer to the rehearsal version, or whether it was slip back into the pre-reheasal ho-hum-ness... I'm VERY excited to say that after hearing the drums that were laid down on it, I'm pretty certain it may even surpass the rehearsal version.  
     We were able to knock out the drums in enough time to get an early jump on guitars before the end of the day, but I'll include all the guitar reflections in it's own post.  

Bottom Line: Denver has the album sounding better than any of our previous works from the start.  We'll see if we can keep that going!

]]> Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:35:00 GMT E8D75C73DC091AAFBC72AE0CBEDF9CB6 http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1414902      We underwent two days of rehearsals to make sure that we're ready to play the songs up to speed and as flawlessly as possible during our time in the studio.  The first major downside to recording in someone else's studio is that we have to pay for every minute of studio time, whether it's productive or not!  On our prior projects we were usually able to expiriment until our puzzlers were sore, but this week needs to be an exercise in efficiency.  So that was our mindset in the rehearsals.  We wanted to have everything ready to play and yet still allow for a little bit of inspirational creativity in the moment as well.        Rehearsals can be the an interesting time as a band.  You've got these songs, then you have opinions, then you have personal "styles" of play, and add in a healthy dose of time-constraint induced stress, and it can be a volitle mix.  However, we can honestly say that there were no "fireworks" to these sessions.  There was a couple of longer conversations about the songs that showed just how invested we were.  There were also a few hurdles that had to be cleared with some of the arrangements that weren't quite "there" yet.  But really, this was an incredible productive and unifying set of rehearsals, not just for the album but also for us as a group.        Another major difference in this project is that our other previous albums had production windows of a couple months of pre-production followed by another month or two of recording, and then a really tight mixing recording (because our recording schedule usually went over...).  This one, however, has been mostly focused on the video and live components of the DVD, so the new songs portion of this project will be the most concise, focused project we've ever done.  It's certainly felt that way up to this point and I'm hoping that this focus can be maintained through the end of recording and then onto the mixing portion as well.        Either way, it's TIME... Studio time starts in T-minus 9 hours....
     Rehearsals can be the an interesting time as a band.  You've got these songs, then you have opinions, then you have personal "styles" of play, and add in a healthy dose of time-constraint induced stress, and it can be a volitle mix.  However, we can honestly say that there were no "fireworks" to these sessions.  There was a couple of longer conversations about the songs that showed just how invested we were.  There were also a few hurdles that had to be cleared with some of the arrangements that weren't quite "there" yet.  But really, this was an incredible productive and unifying set of rehearsals, not just for the album but also for us as a group.  

     Another major difference in this project is that our other previous albums had production windows of a couple months of pre-production followed by another month or two of recording, and then a really tight mixing recording (because our recording schedule usually went over...).  This one, however, has been mostly focused on the video and live components of the DVD, so the new songs portion of this project will be the most concise, focused project we've ever done.  It's certainly felt that way up to this point and I'm hoping that this focus can be maintained through the end of recording and then onto the mixing portion as well.  

     Either way, it's TIME... Studio time starts in T-minus 9 hours....


]]> Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:45:00 GMT 460ED72DAB7D39AAD44D0ECA251E1EA2 http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1404285 The songwriting chapter in the preproduction of this project has come to a close.  We ended up with 9 demos, and two rewrites of those demos, so a total of 11 seperate ideas plus 1 song we knew we would be recording that was already written.  I'm very excited about how cohesive these songs are and how they truly have an "album" feel to the collection.  I think there will be a pretty seamless vibe to the listening experience of these songs, which hasn't happened on our other, more eclectic offerings.  Instead of thinking on a grand scale of movements and cycles that our previous albums had, it was nice just to write and pour out the best that I could and know that there's no reason to let any of the larger scale ideas seep into the process since we only had half an album to work with.  It was simply and chance to write and let the best and strongest come to the forefront.   From here we enter rehearsals and there we'll see the songs move from the single dimension of being the creation of one person to then becoming the 2D version that is the result of hearing not only Denver's input on the song, but also how once that input is made we begin the process of playing off of each other WHILE playing the song.  If it can be visually represented I would describe the starting of the rehearsal process as similar to the PONG games of old.  I play the song and share my thoughts.  Denver then plays what comes to mind and shares his thoughts.  Then I react and repeat and then he does as well.  But as soon as the song is ready it then is suspended between the two of us as we no longer are bouncing ideas off of each other, but are instead both working on holding the song up between us as we try to pour ourselves, our energies, and our perspectives into it, or at least as much as our abilities allow. So that happens on tomorrow and Sunday... We'll see how it goes!  
From here we enter rehearsals and there we'll see the songs move from the single dimension of being the creation of one person to then becoming the 2D version that is the result of hearing not only Denver's input on the song, but also how once that input is made we begin the process of playing off of each other WHILE playing the song.  If it can be visually represented I would describe the starting of the rehearsal process as similar to the PONG games of old.  I play the song and share my thoughts.  Denver then plays what comes to mind and shares his thoughts.  Then I react and repeat and then he does as well.  But as soon as the song is ready it then is suspended between the two of us as we no longer are bouncing ideas off of each other, but are instead both working on holding the song up between us as we try to pour ourselves, our energies, and our perspectives into it, or at least as much as our abilities allow.

So that happens on tomorrow and Sunday... We'll see how it goes!

 
]]> Sat, 08 Oct 2011 09:05:00 GMT 8242FC4FFD56DCA96CA71B7E6B7615CC http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1404252 Knowing that the time I'd have to work on songs would be short once I returned home after our September tour dates, I tried to get a head start by putting together some of the lyrics while on the road with whatever spare time was available.  However, being one half of two man band who has no touring support crew or tour manager (or bus driver) leaves much less time than one would think, so I was only able to finish two of the six songs I had hope to write while away.   The first of the finished songs was Demo 3, which will now be called "Take Back Again".  It's got the musical feel that I love to write.  A sort of drive, but with a pent up sense of kinetic energy that never quite tips it's hand.   The second is a potential first draft of a song called "Peaceful Moments".  I've only been able to write the chorus so far (at least to the point that I think it's any good).  But this is the song I alluded to in the last blog about how there are times where we mistake a calm spell in life as being God's blessing to us, and so long as it continues it must be what God wants for us.  However, we don't actively look or listen for ways in which He's leading us back into the fray and we aren't attacked from the enemy at all because he knows that as long as we're content to remain in a comfy and cozy bubble, we're no more a threat to him than a sideline gatorade cooler is to a kickoff returner.   That's all so far... but there are new sets of music coming as well.  The number of keepable sets of music is now around 8.  We're still only wanting to put 5 on the album, so we're already in a position to be "choosy" about what we're going to bring to the table on this project.  But time is now against the hope of being too much more prolific in writing more music, so there may not be too many more opportunities to allow music to come if the lyrics aren't yet caught up.  
The first of the finished songs was Demo 3, which will now be called "Take Back Again".  It's got the musical feel that I love to write.  A sort of drive, but with a pent up sense of kinetic energy that never quite tips it's hand.  

The second is a potential first draft of a song called "Peaceful Moments".  I've only been able to write the chorus so far (at least to the point that I think it's any good).  But this is the song I alluded to in the last blog about how there are times where we mistake a calm spell in life as being God's blessing to us, and so long as it continues it must be what God wants for us.  However, we don't actively look or listen for ways in which He's leading us back into the fray and we aren't attacked from the enemy at all because he knows that as long as we're content to remain in a comfy and cozy bubble, we're no more a threat to him than a sideline gatorade cooler is to a kickoff returner.  

That's all so far... but there are new sets of music coming as well.  The number of keepable sets of music is now around 8.  We're still only wanting to put 5 on the album, so we're already in a position to be "choosy" about what we're going to bring to the table on this project.  But time is now against the hope of being too much more prolific in writing more music, so there may not be too many more opportunities to allow music to come if the lyrics aren't yet caught up.  
]]> Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:45:00 GMT 4C8736D456A8A1312A3D720E103E3BAC http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1404189      The June set of Demo songwriting is now complete and there are 6 songs that have been demoed and of those, there are 5 really strong sets of music.  No lyrics yet... I'm a little worried about that.  I usually hope for a bit of lyrical or melodical inspiration to just sort of "happen" during the music writing process, but it hasn't occured yet in these sessions.  The bad part is that this is compounding this set of songs on top of what I hope to write at the beginning of the fall, which may possibly be an avalanche of sets of music that need lyrics.  I don't really care for making the creative process a stressful one, but at the same time it's always turned out alright, so I'm going to move forward under the assumption that it will this time too.  I mean... the worst that can happen is that we'll have a really bad album, but a really interesting blog post that speaks to how I no longer have the lease on my sanity...      That being said, it's not really as dire as that sounds.  I do have rough ideas that I'd like to see the lyrics speak to.  Concepts in rough form that are inspiring but not yet finite enough to start putting into words.  I'd like to say that I'm precise enough to always know where a song will be ending even as I am beginning the writing for it, but that is just not me. :)  There's a definite evolution to a song as it assumes a tangible form.  But right now I can say that some of the subjects will deal with preparing in advance for situations as opposed to making excuses afterwards, and the idea that a storm of "comfortability" can be just as dangerous to the affluent as a physical storm can be to the destitute.  Whether or not I can compose a competent song on those matters with any sense of brevity is a whole seperate story! :)      Check back in September to see if I'm talking nonsense or if Denver's admitted me into the sanitorium.... 
     That being said, it's not really as dire as that sounds.  I do have rough ideas that I'd like to see the lyrics speak to.  Concepts in rough form that are inspiring but not yet finite enough to start putting into words.  I'd like to say that I'm precise enough to always know where a song will be ending even as I am beginning the writing for it, but that is just not me. :)  There's a definite evolution to a song as it assumes a tangible form.  But right now I can say that some of the subjects will deal with preparing in advance for situations as opposed to making excuses afterwards, and the idea that a storm of "comfortability" can be just as dangerous to the affluent as a physical storm can be to the destitute.  Whether or not I can compose a competent song on those matters with any sense of brevity is a whole seperate story! :)

     Check back in September to see if I'm talking nonsense or if Denver's admitted me into the sanitorium.... 


]]> Wed, 20 Jul 2011 03:35:00 GMT C55477BA0772093433F2DC6A82896807 http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1099511  After much prayer, discussion, and planning, we’re set to announce the upcoming CD/DVD project on Monday. On one hand, making such announcements are incredibly exciting. Especially this one. I mean, just to have the opportunity to make a project like this makes me feel, at the very least, lucky. But to be able to share the news of it with anyone and everyone who might also be excited about it is a pretty outstanding experience. But on the other hand, this announcement is, to me anyways, also the most unsettling announcement that we’ve made surrounding a new release. My best guess as to why I feel that way is because this project is the first that we’ve decided to rely on others (professionals) to put this together. I’m VERY excited about that because this will not be a self-made project and I think it will yield better results. But there is the flip side that causes me to worry a bit about what may happen if deadlines start to fall behind, or things are coming together the way we hope. Bottom Line: Announcements mean both excitement and accountability and we’re about to have a heavy heaping helping of both. Sat, 09 Jul 2011 23:25:00 GMT F2403159A55932C2C31EEAA19A499000 http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1099510   It’s been one week of work so far on the song pool that we’ll use for our new studio songs. I’ve almost always written the music first, then the lyrics only after I’ve had a chance to really get familiar with the song. So it’s been with this latest spurt of inspiration. One change from my usual format is that I’m using rhythm loops as opposed to a simple click track. This is helping me maintain and play to a “feel” instead of just a metronome coldly keeping time. I’m enjoying the difference it’s bringing to the rough versions of these songs as they have a much better vibe to them at an earlier stage in their development. The track count is up to five right now. Of the five, I’m VERY excited about 3. One of the things I’m really enjoying about the music is that I’m hearing the difference in writing these songs from scratch after having played in the duo format for so long. They’re being written to the strengths and design of what we do now, and the difference between this and what we’ve done before is akin to the difference between wearing a nice suit and wearing a nice suit that was tailored just for the wearer. There’s just simply a better sound and feel to it. So far they’re still in just the demo state though. We won’t have a chance to start to play these as a group and hear them take their final form and sound until D and I start to put these into our sound checks on our upcoming July tour. If I can get some lyrics/melodies written for a couple of them, we may even see them make their live debut before the end of the month! We'll see...
The track count is up to five right now. Of the five, I’m VERY excited about 3. One of the things I’m really enjoying about the music is that I’m hearing the difference in writing these songs from scratch after having played in the duo format for so long. They’re being written to the strengths and design of what we do now, and the difference between this and what we’ve done before is akin to the difference between wearing a nice suit and wearing a nice suit that was tailored just for the wearer. There’s just simply a better sound and feel to it. So far they’re still in just the demo state though. We won’t have a chance to start to play these as a group and hear them take their final form and sound until D and I start to put these into our sound checks on our upcoming July tour. If I can get some lyrics/melodies written for a couple of them, we may even see them make their live debut before the end of the month!

We'll see...

]]> Mon, 04 Jul 2011 23:25:00 GMT 42B0ED93BA2DCE37826C3793E271E13F http://coincidencemaybe.com/theevidencevol1.cfm?feature=2567616&postid=1099505 It’s time... after recording and releasing a full length album that was almost immediately followed by an EP that was released all in a span of 10 months, I self-imposed a writing/recording hiatus on myself for fear that I’d hit a writer’s block so formidable that I might never recover from.  But it’s time now. We’ve been given an opportunity to release a new project that would include a DVD of a live concert and a CD that would include those live songs plus new songs written and recorded here in Nashville. When it’s all put together, we feel like this is the ultimate C?M project. We’ve always felt like THE best part of C?M is our concerts, but there’s been some pretty special moments on our albums as well. So here is the way of having both in one place, including some of the cover songs and live concert moments that have become quite a few people’s favorites over the years. This is the most excited I’ve been about a music project... well... ever! We’ve already captured the film and audio during a special concert here in Nashville back in April. That’s currently being sorted and edited. But today I being the process of putting together the songs for the studio segment of the project. Usually each album we’ve done has had a set of parameters that we’d set specifically for that album. For The Essence Project, we made sure that everything we did on the album was the exact version that we would play live. For this project, I’m wanting to take a more balanced approach and make sure there’s a fullness to the arrangements, while keeping it orchestrated in such a way that can be played live. The goal will be to have between 12-20 songs to choose the best five from. And so... with that... let the songwriting begin!
We’ve already captured the film and audio during a special concert here in Nashville back in April. That’s currently being sorted and edited. But today I being the process of putting together the songs for the studio segment of the project. Usually each album we’ve done has had a set of parameters that we’d set specifically for that album. For The Essence Project, we made sure that everything we did on the album was the exact version that we would play live. For this project, I’m wanting to take a more balanced approach and make sure there’s a fullness to the arrangements, while keeping it orchestrated in such a way that can be played live.

The goal will be to have between 12-20 songs to choose the best five from. And so... with that... let the songwriting begin!

]]> Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:20:00 GMT 60562F884F541B85B01B237E206F3032