What a difference a year makes! When we last blogged, we had started to adjust to quarantined life and the associated abundance of time. We were inspired by The Never Ending Story, daring to dream a castle into existence built by the single grain of sand in our metaphorical palm. What you may or may not know is just how big that castle is now! We have much to report!
We have been radio-silent for a year to work our tails off! As we stand, we have a new album releasing on December 3rd! If you’ve been paying attention, you have already heard our first release,“Fists” and follow-up release, “A Better You.” We crafted those tracks and other new originals for you in our down-time last summer, ventured back to Bear Creek Studio to record with Ryan Hadlock. As you can imagine, it was an ambitious adventure amid the land of COVID-19, but we took all the necessary precautions to make it a safe session. Life goes on even in pandemics and we had too much at stake to stop the creative juices from flowing!
What can we say about Bear Creek Studio and out time there? Simply that is was as magical the second time as the first time we visited. Ryan and the family did an amazing job of adapting to COVID-19 safety protocols, and we rose to the challenge of collaborating with our fellow musicians via long distance since not all could leave their quarantined homes. We had the honor and pleasure of working with Ryan (both as producer and musician on the album) , Taylor Carroll on drums, Adam Neely on bass, Elliott Klein on guitar, and Dune Butler on bass. It was a solid 5 days of work in early October of 2020, but it felt like 5 minutes in hindsight. We worked through hail storms and power outages, listened to playbacks from outside the barn, and stayed warm with family-sized batches of Chili paired with Woodinville Whiskey. We nearly snuck in a visit to the local waterway to go fishing with Taylor, but alas, duty called! We tried to capture as much of the fun as we could via our social media (so sneak over to Instagram if you want to scope out the videos and pictures) but it always feels pale in comparison to the serenity of the barn. They brew a special brand of magic there that is difficult to describe. All we can do is hope you get a taste from the music, the photos, and this list of random facts from the trip:
1) Secily recorded her guitar parts without the feeling of her fingers on her left hand! We found out two months after recording these new tracks that she had two bone spurs in her neck, cutting off spinal fluid! She had the corrective surgery over Christmas following the studio session.
2) We have a track on the new EP called “Passenger Seat.” When Secily was recording her guitar part, lightning struck the barn and blew all the power out! She said the little jolt from the strings was the only thing she had felt in those fingers for days! As we walked around with candles and waited in darkness for the power to come back on, Ryan told Secily that the guitar she had been using was the same guitar Dave Grohl used to write “My Hero.” Funny enough, it’s a Gibson: the brand of guitar that sponsors Salem Meade who is the guitar-star of our “Passenger Seat” music video!
3) It was Kate’s 36th Birthday celebration on day four of recording! We celebrated with a bon-fire, a batch of chili, cake, and endless fetch with the resident (and band mascot) dog, Lexi. Secily also capped it off with a surprise video from our U.K. friends, The Distance (go youtube their music videos RIGHT NOW)! They did an epic cover of “A Kiss to Build a Dream On” by Lois Armstrong that will knock your block off! It was a perfect gift. Ryan and the studio polished off the gifts with some sweet studio merch <3.
4) The hail storm didn’t leave bruises and made the blackberries taste THAT much sweeter!
All in all, we’ll go back if we have the chance in the future. The memories made there will live forever for us and we hope you feel that when you hear the new EP. With love, always, Kate and Sess