Heavy snow kept a few of the band members from arriving as planned. But the good news is, they’re all here! Jason lives in Clayton, so he gets off easy. Teaspoon surprised everyone by showing up right after church on Sunday, while Denis & Becca pulled in just in time for dinner. Ron & Val left a message on my voice mail at midnight, saying they got in just fine. But Nate gets the gold medal, as he departed from Rochester at 6am Monday (due to not being able to get out of the city Sunday night), and didn’t get into Watertown until after 11am. The poor guy spent 3 hours going a max speed of 30mph on Rt. 81 N, a section that normally is drivable in an hour.
Yesterday morning and early afternoon was spent striking the entire stage at New Life, bringing in a new front-of-house and monitor set-up, then resetting the stage with our vast array of gear. After a quick sound check at 1pm, we busted our popsicle stand and went somewhere “with no grease.” What’s up with that? Jeck Subs. Which, consequently, I managed to find a lot of grease at. The food was good, the company better.
With spirits high, and everyone eager, we decided to go late and worked our way through 2 brand new songs, “Set Me Free,” and, “The God Who Saves,” and revisited 2 others I wrote in 2005, “Take Me Deeper,” and “Only.” While the ladies stayed home, the guys had an adrenaline-filled five-hour jam session, laying down thick electric guitar parts and pads to absolutely killer rhythm sections. I can’t even begin to describe how excited we all were to literally feel the energy and anointing coming off the stage. It was like we were all 10 years old again, just discovering what a perfect chord progression feels like coming from your brand new 10 watt guitar amp (that your little sister breaks the next day by having a tea party on).
With more snow finishing the day out just like it started, we finally made it home a little after 9pm to find an incredible Mexican dinner prepared by Julie Brennan. Conversations went long and we enjoyed one another’s company until yours truly had to amble upstairs to work on edits for Venom and Song.
With what we put together yesterday, and the set list yet to come, I can honestly say, this was the album I was born to record with some of my dearest friends. ch:
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