OVERHANG

We got good news recently on the Joel injury front. Joel went to a doctor specializing in musician's injuries and she confirmed that he does not suffer from an actual injury. His pain and discomfort has been caused by stress. She said that the fire and the loss of the band and financial pressures have not helped the situation at all. She prescribed playing guitar (single notes, no bar chords) and swimming--all things Joel can do. This means that practice sessions with Jeff can now include Joel, so we're just missing one more element--the b*** guitar!

Right now, Joel is sending an email to Rik Simpson in London. He produced Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, did something on Coldplay's "A Rush of Blood to the Head" and has had involvement with Portishead. He has a relationship with Janis, so we may want to set up a recording session with Janis as the assistant producer. This would mean Janis would have to sell all the equipment so we can put the money towards recording. It most likely still wouldn't be enough and it would suck to take away Janis' dream of having his own studio, but it is money we designated for the recording of our album and since Janis can't do it alone, we have to figure out a way to still put that money to use (but it might be good for Janis' career in the long run, anyway). What to do, what to do...

After Mitch Dane's positive reaction to our stuff, we are at least convinced that the music is there. The only thing left is to make it sound as good as it feels already before it sounds good like it feels like it should feel like it sounds. ya know?

Posted by Grant Elgersma at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Janis is recording bands in his new studio. It is good that he is able to do that, finally. It would have really sucked if he had to quit his dream.

In other news:
Last week, Joel sent our demo to Mitch, an engineer in Nashville who is very excited about our stuff. He wants to set up a meeting with EMI so that we could get some major label support and record with him. Though he (who has engineered for "Jars of Clay") is not quite what we had in mind, it would be great to be working with a Christian with lots of engineering experience and it would be nice not to have to ask our friends and family for $20,000+ to record, provided a label would indeed be interested in us. The problem, though, is that we don't relate to immediately to his aesthetic. But the producers we'd really like to work with are too expensive and too well-known. The other guy in the studio with Mitch produced Tom Waits (you know the "Big in Japan" beat? Yeah, that was him), Smashmouth and Kings of Leon and that stuff sounds great and would be alot closer to what we're going for sonically, but he costs over $50,000 a month.

It's agonizing to know what we want sonically but not have the resources to get it. So we find ourselves faced with a choice between two ways of going forward:

Option 1-- You have to start somewhere. So just take the first step, even if it's not what you ideally want. But then you think, we've spent over 5 years working on this stuff so the production is fresh and new and wild. We don't want to take a producer who might just make it sound the same. But Mr. Dane says he likes the freshness and wants to be part of a band that thinks innovatively about sound. If he likes it so much, maybe others would too--maybe other engineers who fit our aesthetic a little bit better. But would they help set up a meeting with a major label? If we say no, are we passing up a good opportunity or remaining true to our musical/artistic ideals? Or maybe we're holding on too tight to these ideals.

Option 2--Hold out until you can afford that special someone (this might take years of touring etc.). So far we've taken this route and although it has not achieved financial success, it has been the wiser path for our art. But is it time to try a new strategy?

Posted by Grant Elgersma at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For the third time in as many months, Joel is moving to a new place. In the last couple of years, Joel was able to accomodate a few friends when they needed a place to stay or needed to store stuff. Now they are returning the favor. This latest move should be more long-term, however. He'll stay in an apartment in Wrigleyville with a couple of guys for as long as he needs to--no lease hanging over his head. He's working part-time for a former room-mate (a fellow survivor of the fire) who has his own business modifying studio equipment. Matt has agreed to pay Joel a bit of money for his services and has also been very gracious by supplying OVERHANG with top-of-the-line studio equipment.

Grant went through several weeks of job interviews with a company that teaches reading skills to all ages only to find out at the end that he really could not do the job and music at the same time. The money would have really helped with the debts that have accrued after Grant's illness and and his wife's very expensive and time-consuming schooling. Grant's inability to muster up the passion for a job that would have really helped financially is just one more example of how much this music thing has a hold on him. Fortunately, the wife understands--that is not always a given for many people.

Joel and Grant met with Nate Bierdeman (a producer/engineer who is finishing up at the Berklee School of Music) and his girlfriend on Friday at the Cultural Center in Chicago. We listened to music and talked about various music-related things. It was alot of fun. OVERHANG is searching for a way to finish the "Another Hole..." album but after the last couple years of trial and error we are thinking it would be best to give it to someone who has had lots of experience with every sonic problem known to man. In the past, we've tried to save money by doing it ourselves or giving it to an "up-and-comer" but that hasn't worked. Of course, being able to hand it to an experienced person who's already made a name for himself means we would need some sort of support (label or otherwise) to be able to afford him. Or we could just sell all the equipment we loaned to Janis, but we're hoping Janis is able to get his studio off the ground so he can make payments starting in May.

Posted by Grant Elgersma at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)