The days leading up to and into the new year have been busy at Man's Game Studio, which is where we are working on Ryan Traster's first full-length album as a solo artist. The core ensemble of Ryan, myself, Peter Anderson, and Jim O'Neill is back with Nick Johnson in on bass and a number of guests. As seen in the photo we are also frequently joined by Sadie, my Great Pyrenees.
At the moment, we have drums, bass, rhythm guitar, and some vocals finished, but a unique issue has arisen in the process. This is the first project we've done without an outside producer, and while the total freedom is nice, the lack of another editing voice has been a challenge. Ryan's EP, The Tourists, was tracked mostly live on a tight budget and timeline, meaning that we truly had to live or die by the few performances of each song that we got. Having our own space to record has given us (maybe too much) time to mull over details.
We'll be taking a few days off this week for some performances, which will include Ryan sitting in with Jim's group tonight at the Aster Cafe on St. Anthony Main and another Music Sketch event this Friday with Patrick Kemal Pryor. I'm especially looking forward to using my new Epiphone Mandobird with Jim's group and seeing the results of another Music Sketch.
