Almost Done WIth The Bass

I went to my Dads today to record more tracks on the bass. I'm using a Fender Jazz bass that is way scratched up with stickers everywhere. When I play it I feel like Krist Novoselic(for those who don't know, He was the bassist for Nirvana). It just made me feel real punk rock, like I wanted to play bass with a pick. Anyway, I'll take some pics and share em' with ya. So far I've got bass down on:

If I Fall
Ran Away
Comin' Home
Remain
Thunder In Me

We still have:

I Believe
You Are Good
You Alone
I'm Alive
Sacrifice

I go back on Wednesday to finish the rest. Thus far it has gone smooth, after I lay all the bass down we can start concentrating on the production of the song. Vocals will be the last thing to record which will be the hardest. More later.

Shalom Ya'll

Sigh***

Well my Internet is up and running again (I must say at a cost $$) and I am now able to update. I had a great time with my family at Cedar Point and I was able to ride a coaster that shoots you 120 mph up a vertical 420 ft track. It was quite the rush. If I ever go to Cedar Point again it will be in the beginning of June. We didn't have to wait any longer than 30-40 minutes to get on a ride. Some, you could just walk right on and only have to wait for the next car to come. We rode all but 3 and some twice. So it was a lot of fun. Next week it's back in the studio for a couple of days to lay down bass tracks for the rest of the songs. I hope it goes smoothly. I'm gonna try to get a Cd of what we've done this far so I can start to listen to these songs more often. Just to see if any ideas come. Next week, I also embark on the journey of a road that was once traveled. And this time, I intend to clear the path.

"But the prodigal did not stay way, There was a destiny he had to keep. And I may have gave my mind a dirty day. But tonight I've got floors to sweep" - Don Chaffer

The Story Of My Life

Does anyone struggle with this as much as I do. Gas is now 3.99 a gallon and I haven't seen a half tank in months it seems. Oh well, I still have my motorcycle and I suppose we could get everyone to ride bikes to the grocery store.

That's A Wrap

Well, Mike, Neil, My Dad and me finished recording the necessary parts in Neil's basement. So far all of the songs now for sure have the drum parts recorded. Now it is a matter of adding other instruments, vocals and other what-nots. It feels good to have it done and I can't wait till it all starts to come together. Mt next post I'll talk a little about the concept of the album and list the final songs. Until then, enjoy this vid.

Neils Basement

Some Of My Fam

Here is an old picture I found with me, my brother and my sister. This is one of the few photos (maybe the only one) in existence with all of us together. I like to keep it around cause my wife says I'm hot.....in a dirty hippy kinda way. Hey, she sought me out.

Recording Session 4 / Bringin' The Bass

Well I was off to my Dads today to lay down some bass tracks for as many songs as I could. I was able to record on "Thunder In Me" and "If I Fall". Those are the longest songs thus far so later I hope to get some more done. Last Monday we laid the tracks for "I'm Alive" and "You Alone". It went real smooth and I can't wait to get the bass and vocals down on those. We are six songs in the mix so we need to record at least six more, I would hope, to have a full cd. Here are the lyrics for "I'm Alive and "You Alone".

I'm Alive:

Your right, I know better than this
To be doing the things that I’ve been
Truth, I know it comes from Your lips
And the lie is in willful sin

All my life I’ve been running in my head
In their eyes I am the walking dead but I am alive

Now I lay before Your mighty throne
In hope that You would cleanse me
Bound, by this lust and wickedness
I am Yours to be made free

All my life I’ve been running in my head
In their eyes I am the walking dead but I am alive

I know that I have turned away from You
And at times, I’m even angry
Here I am so helpless and alone
You are my hope and my day spring

All my life I’ve been running in my head
In their eyes I am the walking dead but I am alive


You Alone:

King of Kings, to You I bow
Before Your Mighty Throne
Lord of Lord I lift my voice
To You and You alone

Hallelujah

Also check out the pics from my Dads home studio and catch a sneek peek of "I Believe" on my mini player (to the right). Keep in mind that there are no vacals on the track and it is a rough mix down.

Vocals

Now I am perfectly aware that I do not posses the best vocals on the planet and actually far from. My voice is an "accuired taste"(my friend Jason made this comment back when we were in a band a 17 years old) and since this comment I've come to know it's truth. I have had people come to me and say that they love my voice and I've also have had people close to me say it's really bad. Nevertheless, I enjoy singing and I try to do it with as much emotion that I possibly can. Who wants to hear someone sing when their heart is just not into it. Last week I went to Mikes house to lay down vocals for the song "If I fall" and "Thunder in me". It was a lot of fun and surprisingly relaxed. I did a couple of takes and it seemed we had em for the most part. I will go later next week to redo any parts I missed and to lay down tracks for the other songs. Here are some pics from Mikes

Recording Session 3

Last Monday I found myself in Neils basement recording a song I wrote about 2 years ago originally called "Falling In Love" and then referred to as "Falling"(to many mushy things sometimes and I don't want to seem like I have Jesus is my boyfriend syndrome) into now being called "If I Fall". The song is a two part song so the second half needed a name. So in essence the song is now called "If I fall(Draw me Away)". Let's hear it for the two part song name. Iknow, Iknow......lame. Anyway, this song is really meaningful to me as it represents my ongoing struggle with honesty before God and myself. I have never actually got to hear the song as I heard it in my head until Monday. It has a nice flow and completely expresses the emotion of the lyrics musically if that makes sense. We had to record the song in two different segments as there are two different time signatures in the song. We did about five takes of each part and will sort it out later. The lyrics are as follows

If I fall(Draw me Away)

These days are getting shorter, and the nights are so long
When it seems that every choice I make, just turns out all wrong
But through everything that I have gained, I count it all as loss
For the sake of knowing You, to carry my cross

If I fall let it be, that I'm falling in love with You

All that You are, is all that I need
A Healer, a Saviour and a Lover, King of Kings
The higher I lift You, the lower I go
Now that I've found You, I will never let You go

If I fall let it be, that I'm falling in love with You

Take my life, only You remain
Draw me away, kiss me again

Draw me away, draw me away, draw me away


It should be interesting once this recording is complete because there are a lot of things to get in place. Instrument parts, vocals, soloists, choirs, samples, you know, parts. It's becoming a full time job if I really ever plan on getting this done. I NEED PRAYER!!

*all lyrics are subject to change during the recording process*

Check this out for a really cool recording session

Explaining The Lyrics Part 1

Well I called this part one because I'm sure I might need to explain others along the way. There has been some thought on whether the line in the song You are Good is an acceptable thought that makes sense, so let me explain. The line in question is "Your love endures me". Let me start with the definition of endures.

endure:
v. tr.
1. To carry on through, despite hardships; undergo: endure an Arctic winter.
2. To bear with tolerance: "We seek the truth, and will endure the consequences" (Charles Seymour).

v. intr.
1. To continue in existence; last: buildings that have endured for centuries.
2. To suffer patiently without yielding.

What it is that I'm saying here is that it is the love of God that endures me, my actions, and who I am. It is the reason that I am able to continually come to God despite the fact I continue to fall short on many occasions. If you were to ask the question of "Why does God continue to accept you even though your life may seem contradictory to what God desires. What is the thing that causes Him to endure a relationship with so many hardships". The answer to that question would be, His love. It's His love that causes Him to endure this relationship with me. His love endures me. I hope this makes sense. As a writer I want to get my point across all while maintaining an artistic form in the way that I understand my relationship with Christ to be. Plus the phrase "Your love endures me" flows better than the phrase "Your love will endure me" or "Your love is enduring me". Anyway I hope this explains it.

Recording Session 2

This week we hopefully knocked out two songs. When I say knocked out, I'm referring to nailing the drum parts. Everything else can be overdubbed as needed. We set out to record the song "You are good" and in doing so, it seemed to go pretty smooth. We did maybe five takes and all of them seemed pretty good. Now we can pick and choose which was the best. After that we felt pretty good so we decided to take a run at "Thunder in me". We took two takes and it really sounded good. Hopefully we were able to get those two songs wired in. Here are the lyrics to both songs.

You are Good:

Oh Lord, I am waiting, to hear You speak my name
For Your voice is sweet and Your love endures me

Oh Lord, if You are for me, then who can be against me
Even though I’m weak, You are strong

You are good, You are faithful
I am Yours, You are mine

Thunder in Me:

You thunder in me, shaking me to change
Your burning, what's inside me, only You remain
You were broken beaten, Your blood poured out for me
King of the redeemed, to You we will sing

Worthy You are Worthy Worthy is the Lord

Your beauty defines me , You are all I crave
Jasper, resounding, in Your majesty

Worthy You are Worthy Worthy is the Lord

We are waiting for Your great return
Awaken the watchmen let the incense burn
Gather the people to the House of the Lord
Surely He is coming sound the alarm

Hopefully we can knock out two more next week. Please keep us in your prayers. I also have been working hard on compiling all of my songs together. I went through my books and it seems I have about twenty three completed songs. Now the task is being able to pick the cream of the crop, which is hard to do because I have a personal attachment to them all. I think I might put that job in the hands of someone else. Plus it's interesting to hear the different styles of the songs. There are about three that are straight up bluegrass, as amazing as it may seem. Maybe that comes from all the years of listening to classic bluegrass and fixating on the Grateful Deads music. Just be prepared, this record is gonna contain blues, rock, bluegrass, arena rock, alternative and funk. But trust me, it won't be all over the place as much to sound like a compilation cd or anything. The key is in the placement of the songs. Like I said, keep us in your prayers.

Recording Session 1

Today we got set up in Neils basement to start recording some tracks to the song I Believe. It was a simple set up with just two guitars, keys and drums. The basic point today was to get at least the drums close, if not complete for this track. That way later you can add instruments and even redo some of the guitar parts. I will add bass guitar later when the drums are all tracked. Tomorrow I'm gonna meet with Mike and try to lock in some keyboard/organ parts. Being in the studio is definitely a foot in front of the other type of thing. This album is not about writing the next cool worship song or trying to get my name out there. I've had the vision for some of these songs for a long time so they have developed in my mind for some time now. The point is to try and capture that vision, all while staying true to any kind of anointing that may reside on the song in general. I'm putting my heart out there and letting the listener in on my journey thus far. Like when you put your heart and soul into a painting that is representing who you are. I want this album to represent who I am and what I aspire to be. But not only that, I want it to be something that is a worthy offering to God. So making sure that we are not only playing through the songs but we are worshiping God at the same time. Sounds simple enough but you can get so wrapped up in wanting the song to come off right that you lose your focus on why you wrote the song in the first place. If our hearts are not in the right place while recording the songs then it will definitely sound dry. Oh, I got to play and record with a Martin today and it felt real nice. It was like the Lord was like "I know you really like Martins(the grocery store to, but in this case the guitar) so for your first recording session, I'll let you play this one". And boy was it nice. But in dramatic Eric fashion, I played to hard and broke a string. Ahhhh. Oh well, it's just a string. I want to list the different guitars that are used, you know basses and drums and stuff. It's the musician in me. All in all I feel like I am creating art and I just found the colors that I needed. And I pray that it all goes smooth and that there is purpose in all of it. This is my chance to capture a moment in my life. A diary of sorts. I'm gonna take my camera and try to capture some pictures to show ya'll what the sitch looks like. On that note, here are the lyrics to the first song

I Believe:

I believe, You are who You say
I believe, Your the Truth, the Life, the Way
I believe, You didn't die in vain, I believe

I believe, my sins are washed away
I believe, You've taken all my shame
I believe, Your healings’ for today, I believe

Though the trials by fire, burn me deeper everyday
Even when I can’t see, when Your right in front of me
I believe,

I believe, You've risen from the grave
I believe, Your coming back again
I believe, That all will be made clean, I believe

Though the trials by fire, burn me deeper everyday
Even when I can’t see, when Your right in front of me
I believe,

I believe in You Jesus, I believe Your the Son of Man
I believe in You Jesus, Lion and the Lamb

In the times when I feel like, I will never become free
All I do is remember, when You first said You love me, I believe

I believe in You Jesus, I believe Your the Son of Man
I believe in You Jesus, Lion and the Lamb

*Yes, I do say I believe 21 times in this song but that's the point.

Back In The Studio

Well my Dad has lined up some studio time for me in the basement of Neil Kyle. Yes, Mike and Neil will be helping me on this project as well as my Dad. This is good because I feel the Kyles get a good sense of my musical style from our little stint with Jubal Forest. I will be recording some old and some new, eventually creating a good sounding studio Cd. So far this is where I'm going with the song selection

I Believe
Thunder In Me (Worthy)
You Alone (King of Kings)
My Everything
You are Good
Falling

Here are some that I would like to do if possible, to round out a full album
Arise O Lord
Remain
Capture Me

Plus I have some that I'm currently writing which I hope to have done during this time. Also a lot of the songs need to be reworked in places and lyric tightened up a little. It's all part of the process but I'm looking forward to it. We are meeting this Monday so I'll be sure to post, not only to journal the experience for myself but to let you all in on the process. Which it is a long one. Please keep me in your prayers. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time and with the right people. So God is definitely lining it up.

Steve Thompson For President

My friend Ryan called me up and told me to check this out. He regularly attends MorningStar and told me that the video people there decided to have some fun with editing. He said they ran it at the church and everyone got a kick out of it. I thought it was hilarious, especially the Rick Joyner parts. Leonard had me cracking up to.

Jeez

I woke up this morning to find that the wind had blown in such a correct manner to catch the tarp covering my motorcycle. Needless to say, the wind knocked it over. When I looked out my front window I was kinda in disbelief. Luckily there were only a few minor scratches. I decided to put the bike on my back porch so the wind could not catch a full gust, strong enough to knock over a motorcycle anyway. I haven't posted in a long time and I don't feel bad about it. Usually I do, but this time I don't. I've been really trying to understand where God wants us to go, as a worship team and congregation. Our Sunday mornings have been good (with a few snags here and there, musically). People seem to be drawing closer to God and there is an excitement and a refreshing that comes along with it. But more about that in another post. This one is just to catch up. My friends "The Scheids" are coming home in late May and I am eager to hang and seek and play music with my friend Kris again. Plus having Jean and the kids back makes for an exciting summer for me, my wife and family. I'm looking forward to the warm weather this year like never before. I'm just ready to open the windows and really enjoy spring. I sure by the time it gets really hot I will long for fall. But, that's why I live here. The changing of the seasons is awesome. But the older I get, the more I long for a consistent temperature. You know, like 77 - 87 degrees, all year around. Well I'm gonna bail now. The day is full of things to do and places to rest.

Freedom

One of my favorite poets is Josh Garrels

A Thankful Heart......Part 1

Wow, it's been a long time. I am not going to promise a post anymore. I've learned my lesson. At any rate I have been preparing to speak about the importance of a thankful heart. To say the least I've been getting rocked on this issue ever since I was asked to speak about it. It's hard to realize that your not thankful enough. As a worshiper it is enlightening to see how often I come to God without being thankful for the simple fact of who He is and What He's done. Always having an agenda to accomplish in worship. That being His presence or for the Spirit to move. That is usually my utmost concern. That God shows up. Not often do I spend time before I enter in, preparing my heart to receive by being thankful for the many blessings in my life. It's been good because it has changed my perspective on life itself. Focusing on what God has done and thanking Him for it. The words "You are good" mean a lot more these days. All this being said, I have to speak tomorrow. I've never been a real good speaker. Nor have I often had the opportunity to practice and get better. God is faithful though and I'm not nervous, well maybe a little. I pray that I can encourage and give a little hope to people.

Organized Chaos

I have been an organizational fool the past couple of weeks. I like to be organized in my own life but when your job is to come in and organize someone elses it can tend to be frustrating. Frustrating within, not with them of course. I guess that I tend to be organized because all while growing up my life was in complete chaos. I had no goals or any desire to prepare for the future. My Mom calls me her "free spirit" if that gives you ant clue to my childhood. Now, after surviving those brutal years I tend to over prepare sometimes. I love spontaneity and would never sacrifice that for an organized plan. But I do like to at least have a prepared option. Anyway, boring post I know, but I am committed to posting at least once a month. Maybe when I get more time I'll shoot for twice a month. Yippee!!

Sorry About The Mini Sermon

Ok, so it seems that God is overwhelmingly dealing with me on some issues that I may need to address within myself. Not sure about others but this seems to happen on a regular basis and if it doesn't I begin to ask myself if my pursuit is even advancing. Anyway, it seems that I often try to put God into some kind of form. For example, something is done and the presence of God shows up and the tendency is to think, well God showed up last time we did a, b and c so that must be the formula to His presence. I would just like to say that I believe that when we put God into a form we are totally missing out on the very thing that God wants to accomplish, that being freedom. Most of us, if we were really honest with ourselves, would recognize that we have done this in some way. Through a worship service, a message, or a word. The problem with putting God into a form is that we begin to rely on the form instead of God. Basically it's a form of idolatry that begins to take root in our lives and we go living our walk from one form to the next. Then when we get around to realizing that God is not there we search the Christian realm to find where God is at next. I'll frankly say that usually by the time we find it, God has already left that thing, because it was made another form and we are getting and experiencing only remnants of His presence, which we associate with His actual presence. Make sense? If not I understand because I tend to get long winded and I don't feel like retyping. Let me just say this. One of the greatest acts of spiritual warfare is to wait on God. The enemy would so rather have us trying to keep busy on finding the next form, or giving our lives to a form than to actually wait on God and move as He moves, not moving where He's been. Waiting can be just as powerful as just being. Being who you are instead of dressing yourself up like your brother to receive a blessing. There is no fooling God, so those who are afraid to be themselves aren't looking for Gods blessing they're looking for mans. But hey we all go through this stuff right. It's all part of "the journey". So why is it that no one wants to hear it until it comes from a valid and comfortable source. I guess that goes into another subject which would be an issue of rank. This blog is already to long so I will tackle that another day. Point you ask? If you do have a form or formula in which you think God responds, chances are, your relying on the form more than you are on the Holy Spirit to lead us into the presence of the Father. God wants nothing more than for us to finally surrender all of the bull and simplify our walk with Him. We just gotta be willing to let it go.

Yes, I am Excited About The Colts

I am not ashamed to say that I enjoy watching the Colts. Just wanted to let Ya'll know. Kickoff is on the way. Gotta run.

Fwa-bapp!?#!

Not sure why but I have always stayed up really late. It's quarter till' three in the mornin' and I am just starting to get tired. I woke this mornin' at nine or so. Once I got home today I felt that I could nap but I pushed through thinking I would get to bed at a decent time. Yeah Right! Right now I am so exhausted I can't think straight. All this to say that I know I need to get up early tomorrow and that I will go to bed late and so on and so on. Pretty soon something will have to give and I will catch a good ten hour sleep night. I remember when I was a kid and I would stay the night at my friends house and we would stay up all night. We would have a couple of friends stay over and the first one asleep either got his legs shaved, drenched with garlic pills (they'd smell for a few days after, even with showers) or shaving cream in the hand. We'd feather they're nose to make it itch and wham! They'd wake up to the flavor of Barbasol. We were bad kids. Well not really bad, just creative and bored. There's an oxymoron for ya'. G'night all.