We arrived in London in time to miss a rainstorm heading our way. Troy says that they get quite the bit of storms around that area. We relaxed for the remainder of the day with some beer and chili that Connie had prepared for us. Thanks Connie! Troy brought out a few gifts for Connie from the West Coast and then we watched a slew of TV, mostly involving this show called Cock’d Gunns which is a hilarious mockumentary about two brothers in Brampton Ontario trying to make a rock band. If you enjoy Tenacious D and Flight of the Conchords, I don’t think you will find this show disappointing.
The next day we set out to do some recording of 705. I had these grand visions of getting it all done in the afternoon but I had no realized how long it would take to select the drums. It is quite the process and took us most of the afternoon which is fine with me. After getting the drum tracks down and a scratch guitar track, we also looked into getting the guitar tone right for the song. I was looking for the old classic rock vibe that’s apparent in Mountain’s Mississippi Queen or more recently 850 Commando by Matt Mays (who can emulate the classic rock guitar wall like no other). We finally settled on two tones and voila. The song is born.
After dinner, Troy’s friend Darryl showed up and although it wasn’t as infamous of a meeting of the first time Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx met, it was close. It was like musical geniuses entered the room together and created a force to be reckoned with. Darryl had already added some amazing vocal and bass work on The Stomper last year and had helped Troy out with a few other tunes as well. I was intrigued to be sitting in the same room with him watching what he does on the bass guitar.
In the end, seeing that he was flying solo that night, we decided to listen to 705 again and to lay down some vocal work. I flubbed a few times as it’s very hard to sing the chorus perfectly with a high tempo. It’s definitely hard to take a breath in between saying “In the 705, it’s good to be alive” four times in a row. Darryl then took the mic duties for awhile and threw in three harmony parts for the entire song so we can decide what to do with them. I am using Troy’s original demo take on the song as a template for what I liked and we’ll see if any other parts can be added to flesh it out more. I definitely want to redo my vocals although Troy was really impressed with the majority of them. I guess I’ll take another listen to them when Troy gets around to sending me the WAV files. This time around, the plan is to really see how we can work on this virtually. I’m going to have the WAV files sent to me, I’m going to load them up on my recording console, record a rhythm guitar track, maybe do another vocal take, then I’ll send it back to Troy so he can add his guitar work (and other vocals if he wants to take a crack at them) to it. We’ll see if it works or not. If it does, it will be the start of a more easier way to do things instead of me having to drop by London every year.
After that, Darryl, Troy and I jammed for a few hours which was also recorded. There was quite the energy in the room that night as the three of us had finally come together. It was like the joining of the two swords of Castle Greyskull in He-Man. It just clicked. I’m excited to hear the recording as we took a crack a few dozen tunes, along with some originals and they sounded great. After Darryl left for the night, Troy was jacked up after having played an amazing session that we had so much energy an proceeded to watch a Motley Crue and Megadeth DVD that night until the wee hours of the morning. I was all Corona’d out so we had to switch to rye. We weren’t feeling too hot the next morning but we had had this amazing night and I’m glad it was recorded. Mental note, I need to pick up an condenser microphone as it’s amazing for recording those intimate nights of jamming.
The next day we were feeling pretty rough so we headed out for lunch and I picked up the new Coldplay CD and then we headed back home to relax. We definitely were not in much shape to do much of anything. We were actually a little scared that our cousin Rick was dropping by for a night out at Chaucer’s pub. Fortunately for us, the last time he went to Chaucer’s had scared him into agreeing that we only needed to go and have a few beers that evening. Chaucer’s is famous for it’s atmosphere and more importantly; their sausage platter. Filled with sauerkraut, three different sausages and beets, it is a delicious meal. We had a few beers, talked shop about all subjects and then called it a fairly early night as Rick had to work the next morning and I was planning on leaving to go back to Ottawa.
The next morning, I felt decent (although Rick looked a little rough as he left for work) and headed out around 10AM. I thanked Troy for his hospitality and the good times we had in the past week. I am excited that we have become closer than ever during the past few years. I feel like him and I are like Dad and Uncle Brent were in the past…good brothers having a good time. Here’s a special thank you to Connie for being a gracious soul while I stayed over and I give her a 9.5/10 for the hospitality this time around (the Crown Royal on the pillow definitely clinched it this time around!). I didn’t get a chance to say good bye to her in person and thank her, so here it is for her to read.
Unfortunately for me, the trip to Ottawa was hell because the 401 had construction on it which brought it down to two lanes. I literally spent 1.5 hours crawling from one end to the other. It was horrible. Don’t they usually have construction on the highways only at night? If not, they should start.
All in all, it was a great little vacation. It was more family oriented than ‘grand event’ oriented. It was very relaxing and I enjoyed getting out on the bicycle every day for 15 kilometers along some great trails. I enjoyed spending time with my parents as they drove me around the island and I enjoyed spending time with Nanny, Troy, Uncle Brent and Aunt Ree. It was a great trip, no bad weather and it introduced me to the West Coast. I would definitely go back in the future and I must look into what Aeroplan has to offer in that department.