Word 'em!

Recording is coming right along! Tom from MySpace.com came over wearing his FW shirt last night...'twas awesome.

Tom in the studio

There's some crazy fires going on in Los Angelas right now...we can see them and smell them from the studio and from our hotel...kinda scary! We can't swim in our hot tub out here because there are too many ashes in it (EVEN SCARIER!!!)

FIRES!

Andrew on the toy piano

Josh on the xylophone

Vocals and Guitars...WORD!

Josh, Atom, and Andrew recording some vocals

Me

Josh and Andrew on the porch

API Mic Preamps

Matt's dogs...walkin' around my dogs...

Atom and Andrew

Atom playing guitar

Andrew wanted this one to be called "Boob Job"

Andrew and Purdy

Andrew at Dave Foley’s house says: “Bottom line is, David, I gotta piss, and I don’t feel comfortable walkin’ in there by myself, so you’re gonna have to come with me.”

Josh says: “I can’t believe I just hid in Dave Foley’s closet for three hours.”

Atom says: “Gnome Saskatchewan?“

Matt says: “Do it today, tomorrow it may be illegal."

Jeff says: “Andrew, let’s leave it up to fate. If the maids take it in the morning, then I wasn’t meant to keep it.”

Guitars, vocals, word 'em.

So, we've been working about 13 hours a day, and we're finally working on vocals!

Josh workin' it

Josh and Matt

Atom and Andrew hanging out on the porch

Andrew and dalmations in stereo!

Dave on the porch...

Slack came by to hang out with us!

Matt says: "Did you guys ever have TV POW?"

Recording Guitars!

Atom peepin' the mix

Me peepin' the pix

Our friend Rory and me

Guitar room!

Matt setting up a room mic for guitars

Vox AC30!

Peavey?

Josh tuning up

Dave techin' the guitars!

GUITARS!

Josh

Matt micing a guitar cab

Matt says: “I got these shoes at a gay yard sale…some dudes that opened up an ill-fated store on Santa Monica called ‘Man.’”

Dave says: “Don’t even look at the amp!”

Andrew says: “You gotta be defensive!”

Josh says: “I’m gonna name my son God Diamond Phillips.”

Atom says: “Good game!”

Jeff says: “Matt said ‘It’s so nice to record some real rock n’ roll.’”

In the studio!

So, we're here now! We're recording with our great awesome friend and music wizard Matt Mahaffey. We met Matt's friend Dave Lichens - after just a few hours with him we felt like we've known him for years!

Matt and his wife Rebecca have 2 dalmations, Pongo and Purdy, that are both so fun! Dave brought his dog, Arthur, over too!

Atom with Purdy

We started and finished drums, and got started on bass guitar.

The first two nights of recording, Rebecca made us such amazing dinners!

Dinner - night 1!

Dinner - night 2!

Us hanging out in the studio...

Matt at the console...

Mario Kart!!!!

Gear!!

Me working on the computer...

Josh, Dave, and Atom

Me with Darth Vader!!!!!

Bass guitar - ready to record!

Dave & Atom

Atom and Andrew in the hot tub

Atom and Darth Vader!

Atom peacin'

Andrew recording bass guitar!

Andrew reading his book about Little Richard

Andrew and his bass cabinet

Andrew reading. What a nerd!

Dave says: “Dude, did you just go wet your hair down?”

Andrew says: “This is badass bass, take one, I have awesome technique.”

Matt says: “Allright check it…8 tracks, man…”

Atom says: “I just wanna live this life, man, I just wanna live this life.”

Josh says: “Ben Affleck is almost as much of a tool as Carson Daly.”

Jeff says: “Andrew, WATCH OUT!!! WATCH OUT!!!!”

Day Off (...kinda)

Atom says: "The music business is the bomb."

Josh says: "Jeff got 20 4th's on Mario Cart today."

Jeff says: "I miss WWCC."

Andrew says: "Gary, I think I'm gay, Dad."

California Dreams, Episode 42

Arriving in Arizona

Arriving in California!

We went to the largest, and most well preserved meteor crater in the world...it was awesome again!

Meteor Crater, Arizona

Atom at Meteor Crater, AZ

Andrew, Meteor Crater, AZ

The Grand Canyon...jeah...

Grand Canyon

Atom at the Grand Canyon

Josh at the Grand Canyon

Arriving in Los Angeles

San Deem Us!!!

We met up with our friends from home, Slack, who are recording in Dave Grohl's studio...we played Kurt Cobain's guitars. It was so awesome to see Slack!

Dave Grohl's Ping-Pong Paddle

Dave Grohl's Studio

Dave Grohl's Studio

Atom says: "Del Taco, In & Out Burger, I can't think of a better way to kill myself"

Jeff says: "I can feel the atmosphere of Andrew's butt"

Josh says: "...and God said, that Jesus said, let Josh get drunk"

Andrew says: "So when can I meet this Katrina chick?"

Albuquerque, New Mexico!

Final destination: Los Angeles

We have a GameCube in the van now!!

FEMA truck on way to the New Orleans relief

Josh

Memphis

Oklahoma City

New Mexico

Atom in Albuquerque, NM

2FN HOT

?

Josh in Albuquerque, NM

Andrew in Albuquerque, NM

Atom found an energy drink called Pimpjuice...

PIMPJUICE VIDEO!

We'll be in LA in two days, then the action starts!

Andrew RULES it.

Andrew's graduation, and still recording demos!

Andrew graduated college!!!

The console, and us in one of the isolation booths

Josh and Atom, in the demo studio

Our great friend Delmar, and his brilliant contraption to keep Josh's headphones on his crazy rockin' out head!

Josh and Atom recording

Demo's!!!

Josh getting PUMPED!

Atom playing...something?

Atom and Josh, and then us in the control room

The next time I write in this journal, our Man's Van will have taken us to Los Angeles! I'll have more photos when we get there!
Love,
Jeff