CDCC

Welcome To The Communist Day Care Center

Tell Your Mother I Hate Her! Tell Your Mother I Hate You!

Changes, Updates, Projects!

Hello All!

I am sorry for the lengthy absence from any news, updates, new content or any of it. There are good things a-comin'.

First up there is a website overhaul in the making. The website as you know it, and which is currently still running, was designed specifically to launch the album. Having sucessfully launched the album, now the site needs to be changed to promote the music and live band as well as the album, and thus turn into an actual website.

Also in web news is the launching of CommunistDayCareCenter.Net. I have not linked it because I bought the domain and hosting tonight and there is not anything on the site. This will finally make public the moniker I have used since high school as a production company for any media I out out. As it stands I would like to find some a band or two to put out on this label if it will help us all out. It should be noted that eventually all the CDCC material from previous years will be posted as well, and yes this does include the infamous "Alien Incident In Rochester."

Gigs should be on the way. I've got the feelers out to do some booking so I'm excited to see where that goes. As well as the full group shows, I am also looking to do some solo and smaller group projects, all of which I am very excited about. You will know about dates as soon as I do.

That's about it for now, but all news front facade aside, I really can't wait to get out and play some more. The things that have been keeping me from attending to the things here, and from actively booking, have been as of recent times very crushing, and unfortunately will continue to for a while. Anyway, I know I disappear easily sometimes and I just want everyone to know that I'll keep playing whenever I can as long as you keep listening when you can.

Thanks.

HIDDEN TRACK!

Hidden track is hidden. Http://dandylyonwhine.net

Thanks to all that came out to VARNERSTOCK '09! It was good rockin' for a good cause. Soon I will have audio up on the website. Hopefully I will have the time to do a website revamp soon as well!

In more immediate news, THE CUTLASS VIDEO IS DONE!

Check it out here: CUTLASS VIDEO!

GIG!

Come see DandyLyon Whine make their FULL BAND debut at VARNERSTOCK '09!

One week from today (Sat. Sept. 26th, 2009) at 7:00 pm in Varner Recital Hall on the campus of Oakland University DandyLyon Whine will kick off VARNERSTOCK '09! This is a free show, but all donations benefit the Danny Jordan Endowment.

Album Doing Well

Wow. It has been a while since I've written.

Sorry for that, my life has been hectic. Between working a couple of crazy 14 hour overnight shifts, to a teachers strike at school, to being sick for the last four days I really haven't gotten much done. Certainly nothing has been finished on time.

The album is doing well and I thank each and every one of you that has taken the time to download and listen to it. I hope that listening has proven to be an enjoyable endeavor. So far the album has been downloaded 33 times in the MP3 format and 6 times in the AIF format. To add to that I am, as I write this blog, uploading a copy of the album in FLAC format for those of you that want loss less in a non-apple format.

I have also updated the MySpace page to have a few more tunes on it. I will most likely upload the enitre album over the next few months now that MySpace allows one to post ten tunes.

I have had a few orders of the print disc as well. Thanks much to those who have made that purchase. I hope that the packaging and extra disc live up to the cost.

Thanks again. Check back very soon for some info on an upcoming gig.

Restocking Fee

I'm putting this one up early because the ALBUM DROPS AT MIDNIGHT!

Restocking Fee is certainly the capstone of the album. If there is a thinly woven concept throughout then this song is the plot summary. It is the embodiment of my writing style, which I characterize as simple, standard, yet beautifully voiced chord progressions and desperate, hopeless lyrics.

The title comes from the fact that I bought a chest freezer I was going to convert into a kegerator that ended up not working out. I had to return it, and of course there was a restocking fee. The term just seemed to fit. The very first demo I made of the song included the voicemail message I got from her explaining the return policy and etc. Unfortunately I am not sure exactly what happened to that version or else it would have ended up on The Day Before Labor Day.


So, that's it. 9 tunes, 1 album, 1 summer, no rest. Back to regular life, the grind, and no recovery over the last 3 months. Tomorrow is the day after labor day, the day you go back to school, the first day of fall. Summer is over and it is time to start working again, pick yourself up by the bootstraps and go onward. It is the end of the childhood; The end of innocence. It is the time to realize there is nothing out there you can count on but yourself, that anything can change at any moment, and nothing is worth relying on. If it needs to get done you need do it. It's time to grow up and it is time to start being a man.

4:10 (Sure)

4:10 (Sure) was created in 12 hours. One night at 4:10 am responded with "Sure" and sealed an inevitability. By noon the next day the song was written, and by 4 pm the demo was recorded. It was the right answer, but the wrong situation. I'm not the kind of guy that says "Don't." I am also not the most interesting guy at the table.

The album version of this song is actually recorded from the demo. Both of the guitar tracks and the organ track are in the original recording. I attempted to start the song from scratch, but after laying down about 5 guitar tracks and trying all sorts of methods I just could not get as good a sound as I got on that original demo. Thus I used the original demo file and rerecorded drums, vocals, and added bass.

If Lazy Sunday is the least personal song on the album, this one is the most personal song on the album. I look at the lyrics and think that some of them are hokey and cliche, but each one of them is linked to a memory during a very specific time my real life.

One left to go. Today is the day before labor day, which is the title of the demo CD that comes with the limited edition print version of The Day After Labor Day. If you were interested in hearing that demo, well it's on there. www.dandylyonwhine.net

Doubling Up

I missed one, so today you get two!

ON THE EVE OF THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE is the only completely new song for this album. The song has no demo because it was written during final recording. It is a fairly straight ahead rock tune with a blues progression that goes to 4 at the bridge. Pretty standard stuff. The name has nothing to do with the song, but it works. I don't know about you but I think that leaving town on the eve of the zombie apocalypse is a good idea. The other possible name for it was IT'S TOO HOT TODAY, a Simpsons reference. Decent, but not as good as the final.

LAZY SUNDAY is the classic hit. It's the one that all the girls like and is the only hopeful song on the album. Every other tune is really desperate, this one is willing. The truth: it was inspired by a Country Time Lemonade commercial. It is the least personal song on the album and the one removed the farthest from my true feelings.

The demo is missing the beginning of the bridge section, due to the fact that it did not exist at the time that the demo was recorded. That section was written during the song's tenure as a Russian Spy Orchestration song. Like I Don't Wear My Seatbelt Either this song had different, better lyrics. I think we called the song "Goodnight Berlin."

Two more to go. Two days till release!

Knights Of Livonia

KNIGHTS OF LIVONIA was originally known as LOST AND FOUND. As with most of my songs, this one was fairly complete musically long before it was finished lyrically. I specifically remember sitting down on the patio of my buddy Josh's house the summer before I re-entered school and playing this song on his old cheap hand me down acoustic. I played the tune a lot that summer because it was the newest completed song. If you buy the print edition with the extra disc of demos you will hear the lyricless version.

I'm not sure when the lyrics began. Once they were written they remained basically unchanged, but key words and ideas started to move around after I was kicked out of my fathers house by his girlfriend. I felt homeless for a long time after that. I have since remedied that, but the situation has completely changed my outlook on life.

There is nobody else. There is no one else. You can't count on anyone but yourself. Those who claim to love you will turn their back on you. If you want it done right, do it yourself. It's true when they say you can't go home. etc...

TRY SO HARD has been floating around for a while. My best guess places it sometime shortly after high school; I'm ten years out by the way. However it was in a completely different form at the time. As you can hear from the album preview that is available on the MySpace page, the song is currently in a slow swing, countyesque style. The original was a straight ahead rocker. Unfortunately I have no original version of the song recorded. I am toying with the idea of playing that version live when I get a band together for gigging.

This song is definitely a favorite around the campfire.

The Co. Ink

THE Co. INK was the first song I ever wrote that really related to, even depicted, real events in my life. That first verse "Ever since that night behind the bar / sandwiched between you and your car / I can't sleep at all. / I stay awake ..." I suppose it helps that I have sleep problems. Anything out of the ordinary causes me to stay awake, just for its sake.

Cutlass was written shortly after a friend of mine committed suicide. He put his heart and soul into restoring a '71 Oldsmobile Cutlass. I am sure that he had many other issues weighing on his mind as well, but wrecking it threw him over the edge. He was at least able to drive the car home and park it in his garage one last time.

The song has more to do with my own suicidal fantasies and my longing to not burn out, but fade away. The lines asking "Will you take me back?" are often misinterpreted as a jilted man asking to reenter a relationship. They actually are the character talking to God and asking if it's ok to come back early.

Update and Song Series

Quick updates and then the beginning of a series on the individual songs of the album.

The print copy is on the way. It is a double disc set, "The Day After Labor Day" is the album, "The Day Before Labor Day " is a disc containing demos of all the songs except for "I Don't Wear My Seatbelt Either," and "On The Eve Of The Zombie Apocalypse." Answers to questions about those songs not having demos will be answered in their individual profiles. I have the jackets in hand, they will be assembled and numbered individually on demand. The discs themselves are being produced by an outside company and will be arriving about the time that the album comes out. Orders will be processed as quickly as possible. The official track listing is as follows:

1.) I Don't Wear My Seatbelt Either
2.) Cutlass
3.) The Co. Ink
4.) Try So Hard
5.) Knights Of Livonia
6.) On The Eve Of The Zombie Apocalypse
7.) Lazy Sunday
8.) 4:10 (Sure)
9.) Restocking Fee

I am still trying to devise the best way to set up the downloading. If anyone has experience with web design and file distribution let me know. Help would certainly warrant beer.

If you have not heard it, the album cut of "Try So Hard" is currently on the MySpace

For the next nine days, which happen to lead up to the release of the album, I will be giving, in album order, info on one song per day.

I DON'T WEAR MY SEATBELT EITHER does have a lost demo somewhere. If a copy actually exists I don't know. I would love to get my hands on it, but I'm not sure if anyone that has a copy would remember it. I suppose the story starts quite a while ago. I went to go see the band Mofro with my friend Jonny. The band has adequately named their genre 'Back Porch Soul." After seeing their amazing lap steel player, I mentioned to my father in passing that I was interested in procuring a similar instrument. Lo and behold next Christmas I received such an instrument as a gift from my father. The music for IDWMSE was written a few hours later. This song floated around for a good while without any lyrics. Eventually I ended up jamming with some guys known as Russian Spy Orchestration, which was an early grouping of what is now the band Prussia. In this band I played a drums and lap steel. We did record a demo, but as I said, I have no clue where it is. I would love to hear it again, espescially with the lyrics that Ryan came up with for it, which I don't remember at all but I am sure they were much better than mine.

Then one night about a month ago on a warm, wet night, on a forty minute drive home on semi back roads coming home from a friends house, I blew through a yellow light. A while back someone taught me that when you go through a yellow light that you kiss your hand and touch the ceiling of the vehicle you are in. Some people think this is for good luck, or good sex, but this person, and subsequently I, believe that a yellow light is the traffic light gods winking at you, letting one know that at any time they could send someone through that intersection and take your life from you. A kiss is just your acknowledgment back to them that you are humble to their mighty power. Going through this particular yellow light inspired the lyrics for this song.

Blowing past a yellow light is just like God is winking right at you
'Cause next time you go past one you don't quite know if you will make it through.
Drivin' with me you know that you take your life in your own hands
'Cause ridin' with me you know you won't take me as your man.
But I'm gonna keep on drivin' straight, gonna blow every red light that I can.

ALBUM COMPLETE!

I finished the album at about 12:15 today, today being Sunday, August 23, 2009.

Now comes the fun of designing the website to get the album out. Truthfully I am not even sure if I have the bandwidth to get the album out there. That was not something I even thought about until after I had purchased the space. It doesn't really matter, because I have no clue how many people are going to download it. I suppose I will cross that bridge when I get to it. For the record I am going to make the album available in high quality MP3 and Aiff Formats.

I also am Ninety-Nine percent sure that I will have a print copy available for purchase. The idea is that the print copy will be a double disc set with all the early demos from the album on the second disc. The title of the album as you know will be "The Day After Labor Day;" the demo disc will be titled "The Day Before Labor Day."


DandyLyon Whine - "The Day After Labor Day" - Get it 16 days from now on the day after labor day, 2009.

Finished Tracking

Tracking for The Day After Labor Day wrapped up last night, Sunday August 9th, at approximately 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. I've spent the morning mixing two of the songs, "The Co. Ink," and "Try So Hard." I am going to do a first mix of all the songs and then give them a multiple stereo test as a group as opposed to doing that with each track individually. That way I can create the tones I want first and fine tune later, while at the same time getting a chance to experiment with album order.

While it is important to use as much ass power as one can to finish a project, I believe the rest of the afternoon is going to be spent rummaging the local Salvation Army in search of personal cassette players for use in the Walkman Mellotron I am building, and fishing.

The album will come out as scheduled, available as a free download from my website, DandyLyonWhine.Net, at Midnight September 8th, 2009, which happens to be the day after labor day.

Tracking To Wrap Up This Sunday

Or, at least that's the plan. I am getting pretty close. I think...

I've been told that it's time to talk a little more about the music itself, and not so much the process. I've described basically all of what I am doing on the recording and technical side of this project already. The problem is that I am not quite sure of what direction to go. How does one describe the artistic side of it? How does one describe something that is supposed to hit people different ways? Certainly I have crossed into pretentiousness; My music is far from high art. I think for the moment I will give a list of what tunes are going to be on the album.

In no particular order (meaning that I haven't even thought of the album lineup) :

I Don't Wear My Seatbelt Either
Cutlass
Try So Hard
Restocking Fee
Lazy Sunday
the Co. Ink
Knights Of Livonia
Leavin' Tune (Working Title, will certainly change)
410 am - Sure

As it stands that is 9 tunes, something that my buddy O.T. will appreciate.

The other day I started to track Knights Of Livonia, and my friend Josh came over and took some pictures, which is something I really appreciate because I find it hard to take pictures of myself when I am recording. Myspace angles don't flatter me anyway. Here are some of the photos. If you haven't seen it, he also took the picture on the front of my website. Here are some of the best shots.
















The most important part of the recording process is making sure that there is hot coffee at hand.

His Mind, His Memories, His In Your Face Interface

Here it is, the one, the only, M-Audio Fast Track Pro:

Mic's Came In!

The mic's I ordered have come in! The recording can resume after having to take a few days off from tracking. The micropnones include two Audio-Technica Pro-37's and an Audio-Technica AT2035. Here are some pictures:



















I also received word today that the audio interface I ordered has reached the distributer and was shipped to the store today, and thus it should be in my possession within the next few days. Needless to say I am quite excited.

I used the AT2035 to record some tracks tonight through the preamp I've been using for the rest of the recordings so far and am already really happy with it. It is easily the best microphone I have ever used. It is super sensitive while running very quiet.

I also decided that it was time to show off the guitar I bought a month ago specifically for this recording process. It is an Epiphone Sheraton II.




As a side note: I saw one of my favorite performers for the first time last night, Jason Lytle, formerly of the band Grandaddy. When I say favorite I really mean it. This guy really speaks to me. It was an amazing performance. I picked up his new album and I can't stop listening to it. It is a little more laid back and mellow than the Grandaddy stuff, but it is so desperately sad that I literally have to choke back tears at times when listening to it. The album is called "Yours Truly, The Commuter" and it is on Anti Records. You should own a copy.

Lyrics.

Some of the tunes I've been working on are brand new. Some of them have been floating around for a while missing parts. Most of the time those missing parts are lyrics.

Tonight some of those lyrics came to me on a long late-night drive home.

Now all I need are the bridge and final verse lyrics to a brand new song and I will have all the album lyrics finished.

THE BEAST!

THE BEAST, My friends is a Lowrey Organ that I acquired for free many years ago now. I was working the floor at the drum shop and a call came in asking if we would take an organ. I said that the shop did not, but asked the older woman on the other end of the line what she wanted for it. She told me that it was free to anyone who would come pick it up. The following Sunday my Father and I wrestled this behemoth down the steep and narrow staircase of a condo. We narrowly avoided hitting her walls on the way down, and at one point my Father nearly swung the Lowrey into the lady's TV. From then on it has lived in the basement on 2nd St., the basement of my Father's new house where it was continuously abused by his Grandkids-In-Law, and finally in it's proper station in my basement studio, The Communist Day Care Center.

This instrument is being heavily featured on this album and I am having a blast finding all the different tones I can get out of it. Just wait until you hear the bite on "Lazy Sunday"! So without further ado - A pictorial of THE BEAST!


The other day I was working on recording the organ track for "Restocking Fee" and one of the C#'s on the upper manual (keyboard) was sticking. I'd had this trouble before and I decided that I would open up the back of the organ, something I hadn't done before. I figured I would be able to access and fix the key easily and I would get a good look at the electronics, as one of my recent ideas was that I could get in there and do a point to point cleaning so that all the connections would be good and the sound
would improve. This is what I found.

fa

















There is no way I'm going through and cleaning all of that. Not only would it have to be amazingly meticulous and time consuming, but I'm almost certain to knock a wire loose and have no clue of where it came from.

The Lowrey does have a Leslie Speaker as you can see. I thought I'd point that out because it's pretty sweet. It also has a place to connect an external Leslie as well.


Oh Crap! I shouldn't have told them it was a Lowrey! Oh Crap! I shouldn't have told them it was on the album! Oh Crap! I certainly shouldn't have said it was "Lazy Sunday," and "Restocking Fee!" ......It's too hot today.

Website Up And Walking!

Http://DandyLyonWhine.Net

There is now a website. There really isn't anything on it but a photo right now, but it's there. I spent most of last night getting my domain name to link to my web host, and then most of this morning getting Dream Weaver to link to communicate with the site. My main focus right now is on finishing the album, but when I'm done I have to have some place to put it, right?

At the moment I have about eight weeks to finish tracking, mix, master, package and release the album. If I have the ass power to get that done then this is the tentative plan: The expected release date is September 8th, 2009. The album will be released on the website as high quality Mp3's for free. I plan on also releasing a physical print copy in nice packaging and with a second disc of demo tracks from the album for sale at shows and on the website.

The album is currently slated to be nine or ten tracks long. The song selection spans from some of my older work, to newer staples in the live show, along with some new songs and songs that were only played a few times a very long time ago. Right now a collaboration is in the works for one of the tracks with Brainz in '08.

The rest of today will be spent recording. Tick Tock Tick Tock ...

Track 1 Tracked!

Earlier tonight I laid down what may be the final track for track 1. These were the vocal tracks to "The Co. Ink." There are a couple of ways that the mix could come out and that could effect the tracking, so I just finished putting out a couple of rough mixes, and tommorow starts the process of listening to them on different stereos to see what the prevailing ethos of this mix should be. There is also the chance that I may throw a bass guitar track in there at some point, most likely after I aquire a bass guitar.

"The Co. Ink" is a very dreamy track, which is one of the reasons I was able to record it already. At the moment I am still waiting for my audio interface and microphones, all of which should help give a cleaner sound. The hiss that I got on this particular recording however, really adds to the ambiance of the track. I am really excited about this one. It is turning out very well and is a great way to start the project.

I started experimenting with tracking vocals tonight. The recording itself didn't come out all that great, but it lets me know what direction to head in. I'll start by showing off the vocal booth.







Yep - "Heeerrre's Johnny."



(what? too soon?)







This door leads to my illustrious vocal booth known for it's class and comfort.





This is actually the best sounding room in my house. It is small and isolated and has a nice mix of echo and reverb.











So far I've only been working on one song. This is mostly because I've been waiting on a new M-Audio FastTrack audio interface to arrive that will allow me to record easier and with more better sound quality. Currently the way I am capturing sound is by running a microphone into a Behringer Ultra-Voice-Pro Preamp/Processor and adding effects when needed by running a T.C. Electronics Dual Effects Processor in the Behringer's effects loop. (So far the only thing I've used processed effects on is tonights vocal tracks, and the way they're sounding I'll most likely retrack them without the effects). I've been sending the audio signal from there directly into the mini audio in on my MacBook and using GarageBand as the recording software. I've been using an AKG D190E Microphone I inherited to record the tracks for this song. Overall this setup has been giving a noisy background to the tracks, which is ok for this song because it needs to have a dreamy background. Anywho ... Soon I will also be purchasing a pair of Audio-Technica Pro 37s and an Audio-Techinca 3035, all of which will have better capturing capability and help make clearer recordings.

Thats all for now.

Attempt 10,000

Well, once again I am attempting to record an album's worth of material, both in quality and quantity.

I have been down this road many a time before. Each time I get impatient and settle for tracks that are not up to the standard they should be. In previous attempts either I settle for inferior performance due to impatience, or I end up with recording errors due to not setting things up right and then being too lazy to start the process over again. Most of these recordings are now floating around labeled as "demos." Check out http://www.myspace.com/dandylyonwhine if you don't believe me.

The last time I tried to do this I enlisted the help of some friends with a decent recording setup to help me record. I figured that having other people on board and excited about a project would make keep me going and doing it right. Unfortunately they live quite a ways away and schedules have not been lining up. Only getting one day in a month was not working out well for the recording process, especially with my idea behind the recording process.

My identity as a writer comes much in the American Singer/Songwriter tradition. When one comes from that tradition it is extremely easy for every tune to sound like just another fok-rock song. My philosophy for this album is to work like Wilco did on the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album, which is to deconstruct the song through the recording process and try to come up with a different approach. This can come from trying something new while recording, jamming and recording multiple takes, it can come from recording it the standard way and then trying to approach it differently. The idea overall is that I don't want these songs to sound the way I already hear them in my head. Most of these songs have been floating around for years. I'm bored with them the way they are and will and have been coming out that way on the recordings I've made.

I've started tracking already on what I hope to finally be the finished product. I already like the way it sounds and I think I'm on the right, pardon the pun, track. I've been through alot of changes and a lot of things that have been trying in the last couple of years. I've made a lot of decisions that have made major changes in my life. I am not complaining, so far I've somehow magically come out on top, but it's also been eye opening. It's a hard reality to wake up to when you realize that nothing is as it seems. What I'm getting is that this newest period of my life is the one that I'm finally somewhat coming into my own and seeing certain things the way they are, all of which prepares me to make the most honest album.