… I’m the guy in the orange tie

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Stinging Nettles have added a new guitar player and things are sounding groovy. Studio is in a transitional stage but I think some good things are coming ahead.

Stinging Nettles "Tread Softly"

Stinging Nettles’ album “Tread Softly” hits stores today. You can purchase a copy at CDbaby or download the full album or single tracks at DigStation. If you’re in the Lancaster area you can purchase a copy at Mr. Suit Records. You can also preview three full tracks at the Stinging Nettles myspace page.

Here’s a streaming audio version of the first single “Ocean Nose”:

Download audio file (OceanNose.mp3)

Stinging Nettles is a fuzz-folk/indie trio based in Lancaster PA featuring the songs of John Huebner. The record was recorded and mixed by me here in my studio and mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Mastering.

We are mighty proud of this album. (I play bass in the band as well) I hope you can check it out for yourself, pick up a copy, and support independent music!

Here’s one of the first reviews of the record from The Sentinel in Cumberland County, PA

They Were Only Satellites

I recently wrapped up some mixes for They Were Only Satellites. 3 songs quickly finished for the myspace page, compilation submissions, etc. Work on the full length continues and we’ll probably add some candy to the tracks we’ve finished. 

They Were Only Satellites is:

Clayton Mars: Vocals, Guitar, Songwriter
Tom Chaffin: Drums
Steve Brecht: Guitar
and myself: Bass, Backing Vocals

Check out a sample track by clicking the player below:

“Baby I Turn to You”  

Download audio file (BabyITurntoYou.mp3)

Joe was joined by Hugh Hamilton on stage who provided dobro, banjo, shakers, tambourine, and vocals. More of Hugh’s music can be found at myspace.com/hughhamilton and iacmusic.com/hughhamilton. Marshall Fischer from Stinging Nettles joined in on Bongos for a few tunes as well.

The entire show was recorded and filmed and we hope that a CD and/or DVD will be released at some point. Here are a few photos of the event. Special thanks to Nina Sabatino for the photos.

Click the player below to hear the song “Methodist Coloring Book”:

Download audio file (Methodist_v1.mp3)

The Stinging Nettles mixes started last Thursday afternoon and today is a little thing I like to call ‘day 8′. We’ve averaged about a day per song and have overshot our time by about double… but that’s OK. The mixes are turning out great and we’re looking forward to finishing up strong.

I’m happy to say that this record was mixed on a console with most processing done with outboard gear. I used a few plugins from Logic for certain special effects, but otherwise we worked “out of the box”. The mixes themselves are very musical and dynamic as John (Huebner) and I were able to ride the faders on every mix and really dial in what we wanted. The mix becomes the final performance in sense.

Anyway, back to work. The mixes should be done by this weekend, then we send it off for mastering. Look for a March 2009 release.

taking a break

The Stinging Nettles have given me carte blanche to record my backing vocals for the record. Which is nice as I can do it when I have the time and also take my time to get them right. So far, so good.

Been spending a lot of time in the studio lately. Splitting my time between working on the Nettles stuff and playing with parts of my new set up. I recently purchased Logic 8 and an Alesis HD24XR for tracking. I’ve used the HD’s before and it’s nice to have one of them back in the rack. I’ve been working in ProTools so long now that I feel really comfortable with it and I’m having a hard time embracing logic. I guess I just need more time.

In other news, They Were Only Satellites are set to start a record in November and I’ve been talking to Jack Dillman about doing a studio release as well. Check back for more updates.