UPDATE: Dark Side of the Moon

Howdy 7kers! I know, I know....long time no bloggy blog. I'm truly sorry and promise to check in more regularly. In case you're new to the blog I'm Corey, the drummer/avid blogger, go back and read through my 'tales from the road' series for a chuckle as well as a detailed play-by-play from various points in both of 7k's US Tours. I am climbing the walls over here and thought I'd blow-off some steam in our beloved blog. Cool?

The three of us are in the 'valley' in terms of any traditional album cycle. The 'peak' in that cycle for me personally is a two-way tie between recording and touring since I love both equally. For now though, we're in that 'dark side of the moon' phase where we rarely see one another which is really tough since we were basically joined at the hip for 30 days on tour in April. Imagine being in the same room with your two best friends for five weeks straight...720 hours in a row! Then POOF! ...nothing (insert queasy feeling here). We played a 4 hour show a couple weeks ago in Fullerton (see new pics) and that was quite literally the most time we'd been together since early May! I had seen Jeff and David in person just TWICE before that show since getting home from tour. We had a post-tour meeting over dinner (said with sarcasm: complete with spreadsheet analysis) and one rehearsal to knock the rust off before the show. That hardly constitutes as satisfactory for me. I suppose there are hundreds of reasons to be in a band, but some of my favorites are the musical bond, the camaraderie and the friendship. What I'm sayin' here is: I MISS MY BAND; I MISS MY BOYS!!

Admittedly, 7k got lucky. We had the opportunity to see much of this country TWICE in support of our most recent CD. That was really cool, and a pretty rare occurrence for a band at our level. Getting re-acclimated to home-life was certainly tougher this time around knowing the 'valley' was upon us, though I don't mean to paint such a grim portrait- each of us has been busy.

For David, it has meant time to dive into something he really enjoys: producing loops. David is the mastermind behind all things soundscape. Between you and me, it's a gigantic can of worms that most professional bands have to come to grips with at some point, and let's just say that 7k is TRULY STOKED to have a Jedi Master-Ninja Guru-Super Hero like David Neil Black!! Long story short, he busts his butt creating additive musical ingredients that are lightly sprinkled into every 7k live performance. And by 'lightly' I mean, you may not even know they're there...but if they weren't there you might find yourself furrowing your brow wondering 'hey, what's missing?'. And, not to burst your bubble or anything, every band you've seen perform live in the past 5-10 years is doing this unless they're actually paying additional musicians to play with them onstage (or just offstage so you don't see them). Want proof? YouTube Green Day from their 'Bullet in a Bible' tour. All those cool songs you loved from 'American Idiot' are being reproduced flawlessly thanks to...ooooopps....extra musicians onstage. Anyhow, with that little newsflash out of the way....David has also been busy being a rockstar. He did a SPECTACULAR promotional photo shoot with Paul Rivera with all of his beloved Parker guitars and H&K amp. The photos are stunningly bitchen and find David smiling wider than ever. As if that weren't enough, the folks at Brace Wireless have a new product (which Jeff & David helped to beta test on tour) about to hit shelves that feature a live photo of David rocking right there on the package!!! Seriously, it seems like his face should be plastered on a Wheaties box month. Kudos to my brother David.

Jeff has been a busy fellow too. As of this blog, he's currently enjoying Jamaica with his lovely wife. Before he left, and when he gets home, Jeff can be found writing new music, or writing new music, then writing new music, or doing yard work, tackling various home improvement projects and hanging with his menagerie of animals...and friends, for that matter. Enter 'traditional'. When a band gets home from tour, they traditionally write new material, record new material, do a promo push for new material, then tour. Traditionally, much of the genesis of a great hit song comes from the experience of one individual that can be universally translated to many individuals (Ex. 'Every Breath You Take' The Police or 'With or Without You' U2). That said, Jeff regularly keeps track (by voicenote in his phone usually) of life's little incidents that he finds particularly inspirational. On a side note, if you drop Jeff's phone JUST RIGHT, it'll actually start playing all those voicenotes loudly on speaker phone. It is as uncomfortable as it is hilarious. Anyway, Jeff sits down, not unlike a painter selecting colors from a pallet for his next painting, and combs through all his ideas, then starts to paint....err...write. Enter 'unorthodox'. One thing we've grown accustomed to within 7k is an unorthodox approach to songwriting thanks to a concept introduced by our Producer, Eric Rathgeber. Generally speaking, David and I aren't exposed to the song ideas until we reach pre-production. In a sense, we are musically ambushed by dozens of musical ideas at once (since we've never heard them before). The process keeps us unbalanced and on our toes. We are sharp as we constantly try to grasp new things and we relish in the organic, ever-evolving flow of giving life to new songs. For Jeff this is arguably the busiest time in the cycle as he spends MOST of his time locked away writing and writing and writing and writing. Typically, our goal is to enter pre-production with 30 song ideas, so as a songwriter, maybe this is Jeff's favorite time...but you'd have to ask him. :) We look forward to hearing all the neat little things swimming around in Jeff's head and adding all the things swimming around in ours. My guess is Jamaica will inspire tales of love and sunshine...sounds great! In any case, the initial writing phase is a herculean task to be sure. Kudos to my brother Jeff.

As for me, life has been full of surprises. The first (and biggest) surprise technically happened while 7k was still on the road, but the day after I got home, we welcomed a bundle of joy, an 8 week old black lab pup. She has certainly kept me busy as her 'ball of raw energy' puppy craze is in full swing. I'm a proud dad even though she was apparently stuck in fast-forward over the past 2 weeks, gaining almost 10 pounds and morphing into a small dog rather than a puppy. Why do I get the feeling she'll be pleasantly ginormous? Another surprise came in printed form, published, that is. Months ago I sat down at my computer and typed a document outlining some of the drum-related injuries I've had over the years and what I recently discovered to avoid further injury. On a whim, I emailed the document to the managing editor of Drumhead Magazine. I was flattered to read in an email that they planned to publish my document as a featured article in the 'avoiding injury' section. To hold a physical copy in my hand (pg. 74 of the issue with Greg Bissonette on the cover) was truly thrilling. I am proud to be a member of that community and would jump at the chance to reach out to help my fellow drummers...so it was truly a delightful surprise. I've also kept myself busy behind the drums too, a pre-requisite for my personal sense of balance. If I'm being particularly snarky (yep, that's a real word) those around me generally recommend some quality drum time. My other outlets to reduce snarkiness, as many of you know, are video games and sports as I am 7k's resident gaming junkie and selective sports nut. Since my beloved PS3 died on tour, my hockey team made an early exit from the playoffs and we're in the midst of the excruciating drought before football season begins, I've discovered new levels of quality drum time. Needless to say, I've tinkered a lot, rebuilt my mixer box and added some new 'toys' to my drum set-up. In the coming weeks I'm set to be joined in the studio by Chuck, a drummer buddy, to start reviewing ideas for our drum/drum project and by Jeff to revisit rhythm section rehearsals...but to me it all just feels like chomping at the bit.

I sit here finishing off this blog, looking down at my feet. As I click my heels together three times, I wish to look up and be playing drums somewhere...anywhere. This evening, I'll blissfully blast away behind the kit for a few hours and as many times as I can squeeze in before the next show, and the next. All the while I'll be thinking about regular rehearsal schedules, pre-production and wondering 'are we there yet?'


Love.

Til next time,
Jeff, David & Corey