Hey all! Since it's been a while since I posted here, just thought if
any of you wanted to hear where we are in work on the next record, I'd
chime in my perspective.

   We haven't begun tracking yet, but we're learning and honing the last
two songs Karl has written for this record - and they are killer!
"Information Overload" is like a marriage of Rush, Marillion and
Spock's Beard, with the relentless energy of The Pat Metheny
Group-circa 1980 in places and proggy hooks the size of the Grand
Canyon. After learning one wildly infectious rhythmic figure Karl
wrote for Bill and me to play against the biggest hook in the song, I
was overcome with the heady rush of exhilaration and proclaimed him a
genius!
   The second tune is called "Two Eyes Open" and is an almost all
acoustic anthem about the innocence of childhood (I think) that makes
me want to hold a lighter up in a darkened arena. The demo of this was
so powerful that I got goosebumps listening to it - and once the hook
has burrowed into my soul, out comes this glorious Ebow solo that's
just perfect. If he can't match it, I'll make him fly in the original!
   People I've played the other tracks for, especially "Love In Our
Hands" (which I've been touting as the best thing I've ever played and
what I think will become for us what "And You And I" is for Yes) have
told me they can't BELIEVE how strong the writing is. Indeed, we will
be taking all the time we need to capture this material the way it
needs to be done.
   Encouraging criticisms from the guy who did the drum track engineering
for the last Steve Morse Band album "Split Decision" have made us do
an about face from the loose sessions for A Man's Reach (the
remastered version of which I still love and you can finally hear what
I'm doing at the end of "Unsung Hero"!). Where there was no click
track used for that record, this time we are not only using a click
for me but Karl and Bill's parts will be recorded first with a
sequencer and then matched on their instruments, to hold ourselves to
a higher standard of perfection.
   A local drum master (mistress? she just happens to be female) will be
loaning me her Yamaha Custom Recording kit and assisting me with
tuning, miking and head combinations. She's a monster player and (much
to my surprise) a big fan as well.
Hopefully the actual tracking will begin in September - and we'll try
to keep you updated.
   Oh... and there IS an 18 to 20 minute epic piece that was great when
Karl brought it in - and he graciously allowed Bill and me to rip it
apart and reassemble it during our brutal arrangement sessions
(probably spent 4 months arranging this one piece!) till it reached
our very high compositional aspirations for it - at any point, Karl
knew we could have hacked it in half or shot it down in flames if it
wasn't just "saying it" at every point - but somehow (LUCK!!!!) we got
there.
I can't WAIT for you all to hear it.
If only there was a better DRUMMER to play on all this stuff....
Kind regards and dreams of Eliza Dushku,
Greg Jones