Hey, it's Adam again.

06.12.2007- CST

Hey, it's Adam again. Having a blog isn't easy you know...I mean, you bring it into this world, you raise it, you watch it grow..and in return it just ends up resenting you and never calling anyway. But that doesn't mean you can just shirk your responsibility towards it. So here's my latest entry.

I've mostly been out of the studio in the last couple of months, because Fountains Of Wayne have been on tour. But just this past week, I've finally gotten back into Stratosphere to begin work on some new Ivy material with Andy Chase and Dominique Durand. Ivy, as you probably know, is a very heavy, Satan-obsessed, Death Metal band out of the Florida Panhandle. Just kidding. It's the band Andy, Dominique, and I have played in together since the mid-90's. Dominique, who's originally from Paris, has a very distinctive, intimate voice that really defines the sound of the group. Together, the three of us make pop music that for some reason sounds really good playing in clothing stores or in the background of TV shows on the WB Network (does the WB Network still exist?). But anyway, we've made a bunch of records, and we're just getting started on a new one.

Writing music for Ivy has become a very collaborative process, which is fun...the three of us just get in a room together, take an insane amount of mushrooms, and just bug out. And we have a team of engineers on hand to record every noise we make while we do this ...whether it's strumming one of our arsenal of Gibson guitars and/or basses, pounding on our gold Baldwin "Les Paul" piano, mumbling incoherently, or even just drooling. And after a few years of sessions like this, we end up with a finished Ivy record. Call it the "monkey at the typewriter" approach if you will, but it works for us.

Anyway, it's a beautiful spring in New York, which means it's a great time to stay inside the studio, pull down Stratosphere's metal grates, so no daylight gets in, and make more music! New Atlantic band Tally Hall are doing just that. They have been ensconced in Studio A, with the legendary Chris Shaw mixing their debut album. I've heard bits and pieces coming through the A room door (Chris Shaw mixing really LOUD!), and it sounds amazing.

John Holbrook is also slated to come back in soon to mix a new Brian Setzer record. John is a regular at Stratosphere, and at this point has most of the local sandwich delivery menus memorized. John is also very tall, which means he can hear frequencies that the rest of us can't hear.

In Stratosphere decorating news: I bought some cool retro airline advertisements in Japan about six months ago. I thought they would look cool in the bathroom. Right now they're in a pile on the floor of the office. I hope to have them up on the bathroom wall sometime before the end of the year. I'll keep you posted about any progress on this front.

Meanhwile, I am heading back out on the road next week. Check out fountainsofwayne.com for the schedule, if you have any interest in seeing a show. But that means I've got to go pack now. It takes a while for me to fold all my socks exactly the way I like them. Take care!

Adam