July 19th, 2010 by ha-ha-tonka
Cape Cod! It’s as beautiful as you could imagine. The venue is a rockus little joint RIGHT on the beach. So nice that even the bitchy bartenders couldn’t get me down from this view. We all went out on the sand after an amazing meal and ended up catching a glimpse of a seal making his way up and down the coastline. One of the locals said the great white’s have been coming in after the seals recently. I was dead set on making that happen, but alas… no go. I left my chum back in MO, so there was nothing I could do.
Our first clue that this show had potential was when Luke got labeled “Best Buns” by a bachelorette party before we even hit a note. We were right. Let’s just say that this one has some serious odds to go down as one of the nastiest of the tour, if not THE nastiest. By the time we were halfway through the set the crowd had kicked it into overdrive and everybody seemed to be shakin’ it, and having a great time. I love nights like this. So many thanks to the people of Cape Cod for making us feel so welcome. The cape could be to the east what Emporia, KS is to the midwest. I know, that was a bold statement…
Langhorne of course killed it again… and the tour rolled on.
LB/HHT opening for the LST
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July 19th, 2010 by ha-ha-tonka
Ah, Boston. Beautiful town, terrible traffic. This trip just happened to be THE WORST we’ve had from NYC. 6 hrs. Fun? Not so much… but we made it and met up with the one and only Chance Bone (Brother of Lennon Bone/Musician/Actor/Co-Owner of the Bone Zone.) It’s good to see this mans face.
Now, we’ve played the Middle East Club a hand full of times, and each and every time has been rowdy as all get out. We of course expected nothing less from the kind east coast folk this time around, and they delivered. Great crowd, and we played what I felt was way better than expected for the second show out. Found out the amp problems from NYC were being delivered from over heating, as well as a connection issue in one of our tuners… just in case you were all losing sleep about that issue.
Tonight was the first time that I was able to catch all of Langhorne’s set from the front, and I was absolutely blown away. He’s such an incredible performer with such an amazing respect for what music is and it shows up on stage. Not only that, but he’s surrounded by some monster players that are just absolute sweethearts. All amazing dudes. This tour is going to be a blast.
As if it wasn’t enough that we’re touring with an outstanding group of people, we ended up sleeping in a mansion formerly owned by one of the Boston Celtics, currently owned by our friend Taylor’s dad. HUGE place. Pool table, player piano, movie theater, poker set, flat screens out the arse, Ms. PacMan, Mortal Combat, pinball machines, etc. It totally made up for the terrible 6 hour drive to Boston… and the tour rolls on.
- LB/HHT opening for the LST
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July 19th, 2010 by ha-ha-tonka
We got the rough mixes done! Still some takes to sift through to try and get the best results, but already it’s exciting to hear the songs one step closer to their end result. We said goodbye to Kevin and the barn and made our way into the big city.
The night night marked the beginning of our tour with Langhorne Slim. We kicked it off at the Brooklyn Bowl, a venue that doubles as a bowling alley and restaurant. Killer catfish sandwich. The rootbeer float (although delicious) was a little small. I’m over it. It felt amazing to have all the gang back together. James Dean (sound engineer/tour manager/bad-ass), Matt Mentele (Booking Agent), and the rest of the crew. We had a bit of a rough start to the set when Brett’s amp quit working, but the kind folks at the venue hooked us up with a house amp and we rolled through the tunes with only a few minor hickups. First show down.
The night ended with a killer dance party hosted by the one and only ?uestlove behind the board. It was pretty inspiring to be in the company of such an amazing musician and predominant figure in the industry. Dancing ensued. We saw and caught up with many friends from Via Audio, Linfinity and Ludo. Party was had. Life was good, and the tour rolled on.
- LB/HHT opening the LST
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July 14th, 2010 by ha-ha-tonka
Our first session is coming to a close, and Brett and I were finally able to put a bow on our harms at about 10p last night. It’s tougher than you might think to spend 8 hours in a room working to get the best take at the same time, but I think the reward will be well worth it. There’s already more vocal parts on this record than anything we’ve done in the past, and I personally feel it’s some of our best harmony work yet. Nothing too extravagant, we’re working to keep things simple… but they’re there, and we’re very proud of what’s happening.
Luke will be blowing up the low end today, and then the plan is to try and get some rough mixes down to take home with us to painstakingly pick apart. From there the tracks will go to The Ryantist in Kansas City who will begin to put his production touches on what’s been laid out. We’re all very confident that when everything is said and done, and the tracks pass through both Kevin and Ryan’s fingers we will have something truly unique to what it is we are trying to do.
Again, this process has been and will continue to be very different for us. It’s not always the most comfortable, but we’re trying new things, and a lot of times new things will take you outside of your comfort zone. We’re trying to expand. Trying to make the best record we can possibly make. Hopefully, our best yet.
- LB/HHT working on the LP3
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July 13th, 2010 by ha-ha-tonka
We can see the light.
Nearly all the big picture sort of tracks are done. We’ll be trying to wrap up all of the harmonies today. We were fortunate enough to get our first review of our unfinished and unreleased record last night.
“Holy SHIT! Mother fucker…” – Jesse from New Paltz, NY
We think it’s a good thing.
- LB/HHT working on the LP3
Posted in HHT LP3 | 1 Comment »
July 12th, 2010 by ha-ha-tonka
The following tracking is now complete:
- 100% Drums
- 100% Acoustic Guitar
- 100% Mandolin
- 90% Bass
- 70% Electric Guitar
It’s sounding great. It’s really neat to see the changes come together since we recorded the demo’s for all of these tunes. Some things are working better than others, but the big picture is coming together and it’s apparent that this record will be something that we’re all very proud of in the end. We’ve still got a whole other batch of songs we’re working on, and another session in September for tracking, so we’re a ways from the finish line, but things are certainly moving forward.
Today we wrap up all the electric guitar/ bass stuff and move on to our favorite part, vocals!
- LB/HHT working on the LP3
Posted in HHT LP3 | 5 Comments »
July 11th, 2010 by ha-ha-tonka
Yaay! Photo’s!
We started tracking acoustic last night after wrapping up the drums. It’s a completely new approach for us, as Brian is simply sitting in the big room of the barn playing his little tushy off while the rest of us drink beer and watch, walk around, etc. Pretty awesome, and it sounds great.
Time is money. So, until tomorrow. (These pics took way too long for me to upload.)
- LB/HHT working on the LP3
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July 10th, 2010 by ha-ha-tonka
We’re all currently sitting in Kevin’s living room taking our shower rotations. My personal first in 3 days. It felt good. Gold Bond will only get you so far on freshness, but I’ll continue to live and die by the stuff.
Another day down. We were able to wrap up all of the drums minus one track yesterday, and around 80% of the bass tracks are done as well. It was nice to make some hefty progress on the basics so we can begin to hear the tunes come together as a whole. I think today will start to get interesting. Well, less interesting for me personally as I’ll be doing a lot of hanging out until we get to vocals, but more interesting as far as listening is concerned.
Again, no photo’s today. Sorry. For some reason the blog is giving me fits and anything I upload won’t show up. We WILL get it fixed, I promise.
Until next time.
- LB/HHT working on the LP3
Posted in HHT LP3 | 3 Comments »
July 9th, 2010 by ha-ha-tonka
Greetings from New Paltz, a quaint and beautiful little town located in upstate NY. We’re here kicking off the recording sessions that will be Ha Ha Tonka’s third LP. Last night marked the end of day one, and we were able to get a good amount of basics down on three of the eleven songs we have prepared. There’s a whole lot to be done, but we’re starting to get a feel for how things are going to work out here.
Our home for this week is a barn just outside of New Paltz. Our host is Kevin McMahon, co-producer/engineer for the project.
I have photos, but alas I’m unable to upload them to this site right now. Soon though, soon. Be calm children. Calm…
We have no internet out at the barn, go figure. It is a barn after all. So I’m updating you all from the local Starbucks, a nice little coffee shop I believe to be unique to New Paltz. We’ll update as often as possible, and will try to be here daily, so be on the look out.
- LB/HHT working on the LP3
Posted in HHT LP3 | 10 Comments »
