Hello everyone. I just got back from LA to see some good friends and do some exploring. You can check out my pics/descriptions HERE!. Or follow the link below. Enjoy!
 
https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=307794&id=814403829&l=3572b7b694

 Hello all
I realize I haven't been on here much and I do apologize. I've been busy with work and music but I wanted to let you all know we've released a live recording of what we've been doing at the W Hotel here in Scottsdale (recorded and produced by yours truly). You can listen to some tracks on our ReverbNation page, or buy the disc/individual tracks here. The song "Just Another Day" is the sound we're working towards on our upcoming rock EP. I'll post more later, but long story short, my band Critch (two piece consisting of me on drums/vocals and Mitch on keys/vocals) is heading into the studio September 27th to record a 3 song EP - sounds like The White Stripes, The Black Keys and The White Rabbits (all black and white I guess). Like I said, I'll post more later and will definitely let everyone know how the process goes. 
Hope all is well and I'll write more soon.
cheers

 

I have been learning about the inter-workings of electric guitars with help from my friend Boot, who is a bass/guitar tech for bands such as Motley Crue, Marilyn Manson, Thrice, etc. He has been kind enough to come to my workshop and help me "customize" a guitar I got from my roommate Horsman. 
 
When we first got the guitar, it had a standard 2 humbucker, 1 volume pot (knob), 1 tone pot, and a 3-way switch configuration. I wanted to learn how to install push/pull pots, which allows you to split the coils on the humbuckers to achieve single coil sounds - think Jimi Hendrix or David Gilmore, as opposed to Kirk Hammett or Steve Vai sounds. To do this, we replaced the 1 volume and 1 tone pot with 2 push/pull pots and wired them to 2 new DiMarzio humbuckers (which have 4 conductor wires, therefore allowing coil splitting). 
 
I posted some pics of the process on my facebook page which you can see here. 
 

For Molly and I's 2.4 year anniversary (29 months) I did what any other caring boyfriend would do; I took her to a metal show :). Knowing she could hang - I've already taken her to see Meshuggah and various other "ridiculous" bands - I got some VIP tickets from a friend of mine who won them in a contest. The tickets included  VIP parking (easier entrance/exit), catered food, passes to the VIP club (where there was an air conditioned bathroom and a bar), and seats in a box right up front. Being 118 degrees outside and it was an outdoor gig, the air conditioned bathrooms won MVP by far! Bands we saw included Killswitch Engage, Slayer and Marilyn Manson.
 
Not a typical show for us, but hey, free tickets are free tickets, and free VIP tickets are even better so you get my logic. Also, a good friend of ours is the bass tech for Marilyn Manson, as another friend just landed the gig as the bassist (Andy Gerold - google him), so we got to meet the bands and I got a whole bunch of guitar picks to add to my collection!
 

I recently went back home to Iowa for a friends wedding in CF. I was lucky enough to spend a few days with Andrew at his farm house in Iowa City. Thought I'd post some pics to show everyone how bad ass this house is! Gorgeous plot of land (and the day didn't hurt either).

View of the house

view of the land

more land...

jam time!!
 
All in all, I had a blast going home. Got to see Dad and Grandma for lunch in Iowa City and then all my old high school friends from CF at the wedding. I'll post a blog about CF when I get a chance. I also want to do a 'cribs' style video of my studio so you can see/hear what I'm currently working on. Anyone know if I can post videos?
That's all for now... more coming later
 
Cheers