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Oh, well, let’s see…
The house was built in the 1930s for a railway manger here in Laon. So it’s big and things that are necessities now were luxuries then. It has also been a rental for 6 years. So lots of work to do. More really than we can manage before moving in…
External Wall Insulation going on, new windows and doors going in, new kitchen, new bathroom, paint & paper, plumbing work, electrical work. And at the moment I have to sort out why the furnace/water heater won’t start –in French.
But we have proper electricity, water, phones, and internet service. So I’m working here even before we move in.
There will be a TON of garden/yard work to do: Demo the old garage with the asbestos imbedded corrugated concrete panel roof, clean up and modernize the little outbuldings, build a new garage on the other side of the yard. Remove and replace the cypress hedge in a few years when they finally die of whatever disease is killing them from the ground up. Plant a couple fruit trees (apples and pears prob.). Get the garden going again. Put in a new barbecue (I had to knock the old concrete one down to allow the EWI to go in properly).
The yard work will begin probably next spring. We’re moving in at the end of October, after the insulation, windows, doors, and kitchen. But before the new bathroom. (There are 2 half baths, one shower room, and one full bathroom. It’s the full bathroom that’s getting the renovation. So we are OK for toilets and washing.)
whew!
Daniel
Matt,
It’s a really nice distortion box. Needs a bit of a clean-up as the foam padding in the box (which I still have) disintegrated around the pedal. I put a new battery in it and tested it late last week. It works well. No noise in the knobs.
Email me please? daniel.nestlerode@gmail.com
Daniel
Thanks Zorro,
I agonised over that with the first CD. It took me several days to settle on a running order, and I think it’s the best order those tunes could have been run in. The order makes for a good, listenable album experience. But no one wants those anymore, present company excepted.
For the second one, I tried to pay more attention to first impressions, while still providing a good listenable album experience.
This one has pretty diverse material going form trad folk to pop with a bit of country thrown in. It has guitars, mandolins (acoustic and electric versions of both), octave mandolin, mandola, stand-up bass, electric bass, drums, Marxophone, Dulcitone, harmonium, toy piano (sampled so that it plays in tune), handclaps, shakers, and tambourine. Not all of these instruments are on all the tracks. Getting it all to flow, especially if I include Blackberry Blossom (which would be a third instrumental track), will be the goal.
I’m hoping I can spend some time promoting this CD. And then tour behind it.
🙂
Daniel
OK. Well I think we have all the material recorded. The album will have 10 to 13 songs. I’m really happy with the new material and the new sound. It ain’t folk anymore. Not sure what it is… Yacht Rock maybe? 🙂
The new song is called After All, and has 2 different e-mandos (solid body and hollow body) 2 different acoustic guitars (my ‘posh’ SCGC as Chris calls it and his beat up baby Taylor), my E-Squier, Fender P bass, drums, harmonium, and dulcitone. Though I’m not sure all 9 instruments will make it to the final mix.
Once the mixes are complete I’ll start popping stuff over to my Soundcloud page, and give you links.
We did some overdubs and mix work on other songs as well: Parting Glass (Irish traditional), Being a Boy (original), Vacant Chair (American trad), C’est Noyé (cover), Living the Dream (original), Tout ce qui fais toi (original)
Four others, Unexpectedly (orig), White Flower Waltz (orig. instrumental), Windrush (orig. instrumental), and Blackberry Blossom (trad instrumental) need a little tweaking maybe. Then we’ll be done.
Blackberry Blossom may end up on the cutting room floor.
I’ve recorded a version of Hugh Aufray’s Santiano, but it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the material, My Christmas song from 2017, A Bit of Magic, could be dropped in but maybe I’ll just leave it a single.
Thinking with my fingers…
DanielOh! BTW. I have an idea for the CD cover… Check out a few photos from an open air sculpture called Constellation de la Douleur (Constellation of Pain) on the Chemin des Dames…
The album will, I think, be called Windrush and carry an image like one of these photos. It will wrap from back to front, so that when you open the cover up you can see something of a panorama.
Daniel
Afternoon Jadies and Lentilmen,
Friday we’re taking a trip from L’Aisne and crossing the Channel to visit Cambridgeshire. I’ve booked 2 days in at Saltwell Studio, and my lovely wife does not want me to try to drive the whole thing alone.
So… Another new original to record and some overdubs & mixing to get sorted. The original is called After All, and is a break up song. (8 years, another marriage, 2 kids, and 2 countries after the fact I’m singing about my divorce. Go figure.) I’ve got to talk to Chris about the recording of Santiano I did in Laon as well. (Some challenges there I think.
After All will definitely be the last song under consideration for the ‘new’ album.
Hugs!
Daniel
Oh dear God no. The jams in this area aren’t lots of fun if you can actually play. The Dead would break a few minds I think! 😉
Indeed. SCGC meet-up EU should happen after all the renovations and Claudine and I sort out schedules. So in 2020.
April 1-4 is Musikmesse in Frankfurt, which is about 5 hours east by car. But a direct line from Paris by train, so about 6 and a half hours form Laon.
There are a couple SCGC dealers in Paris, the one in Orly looks promising as they are also an authorised repair place. Orly is the other side of Paris from us. It’s about 2.5hrs by car, depending on Paris traffic. Paris traffic doesn’t compare to Bay Area or LA traffic, but it almost never eases up.
Maybe we could get help from the mothership in developing their interest.
Our area is pretty amazing in terms of things to do and see. Lots happening in Laon depending on the time of year. The catherdral is magnificent. If you’re into WWI history you can walk trenches, view the former front on the Chemin des Dames from an observatory tower over the destroyed town of Craonne. (There are lots of ‘villages detruit’ in our area, I’ve seen most of them. Chamouille, where I live at the moment, was here before the Napoleonic Wars and was far enough into German occupied territory during WWI that it wasn’t destroyed by shelling in the Nivelle offensive.) There are pubs and clubs, etc.
So have a look online and bring your families.
Daniel
