Slappin D'Bayss

See that title? Yah. D'Bayss. I'm not quite sure how to properly spell that out, phonetically but it helps if you say it out loud, with kind of an Irish accent. Now with a Jamaican accent. Now kind of in between... There you go. SLAPPIN D'BAYSS!
Just to be clear, that's not a ridiculous pseudonym that I came up with for Damian today in the studio. Not even after watching him absolutely slay the bass parts for a slew of new songs. Not even after rocking the eff out beside him every night on stage. Slappin D'Bayss is just simply what he does. And does it so well.

Today we were in the studio - Astareaway studios, with our homie Johnny Simmen. Drums were done a few days ago, and so, lineally, it was time for bass. Damian did such a killer job. Laying down the bass for these new tracks got me so excited about the album to come! It also helped that I was working on the cover art as these tracks were being recorded, and Damian and Johnny were on either side of me, being uber-productive.

Speaking of the upcoming album, I'm making myself kind of crazy with this track listing, in a good way! I knew that it would be tough to figure out which songs were placed where, & so I'm taking it in stride and having fun getting excited about it. There are so many aspects of putting out an independent full-length album, and I'm loving every second of it. Everything from the DESIGN - album art, the fonts, the colors, the concept, the REPLICATION - digipak? jewel case? cardboard sleeve? quantity? drop cards? CDs? Digital? Vinyl? how about the SONGS - number of songs, the song order, (bonus tracks? hidden tracks? downloadable exclusive tracks?) how about MASTERING and how about DEADLINES and ALBUM RELEASE DATE and... Well, you get the idea. The point is, there is oh-so-much to think about, to deal with, to figure out, and it's all so important and so exciting!

To sum it up:
Today's bass session was fluid, productive, and successful. This album is going to be a culmination of many years of hard work, and it's already proving to be an intense and exciting process thus far.

See you all during guitar sessions this coming weekend!

Dan