Bruising/Cruising/Musing

I was good for nothing for days after just two in the studio - that level of nervous energy and concentration was something I hadn't been through in a while. I recorded a totally brand new song - in itself this is entirely amazing, because I've not written a song for just ages and ages. The surprising result was a song that sounded like the band I was in as an 18/19yr old, Lustre 4, minus the painful screaming. (I listen to that and think ' woah, who is that') Anyway, it's sort of poppy up-tempo and guitar jangley with a chorus that I think , I think... is catchy. We'll see - judging that part's not up to me now is it.

Being so over focused on that first day as being the beginning of a process that I've talked about, obsessed with, put off, lost sleep over, created bad habits to avoid, cried about, ect, ect, I subconsciously exhausted myself to take the edge off the nerves and brevity. Not the healthiest way of dealing, but quite effective as far as temporary measures go. Except my singing voice was not great, so I'll have to re-do some vocals. And the verses I threw together the morning of weren't amazing either. Ahhh yes, this may take many many years. (!)

My friend Joe Costa (above), engineer/advisor extraordinaire is.. well, extraordinary. Such an fantastic person to work with. He's in major demand in this town, and its little wonder why. I feel lucky indeed to have his expertise and assistance.

So there's those times when inspiration comes, the muse as they call it, and there's also those times when you just sit and make yourself work no matter how inspired your feeling.

The other day my friend Tyler dispatched a gem in relation to these things. He said the best thing you can do is support yourself in a way that inspiration/the muse can access you as a channel for creativity. It's completely obvious I suppose, but I guess the way he said was perfect or I was really receptive to the idea at that time. So yes, sometimes, that's sitting at the piano, (writing desk, dance studio, whatevs) until something happens, and it usually does (if you do stay there for 9 hours). But it might be a less directly related activity: taking a bath, going for a walk, the movies, phone sex, napping and writing down a dream, or kicking it with a friend. And while it can be a slippery slope into time-wasting territory (my particular brand is real estate website addiction - serious, very serious - many many hours, bad bad) it's fairly easy to recognize when you're encouraging creative spirit versus hemmoraging it.

I've been working in that disciplined way (first time ever) - forcing myself to keep going, to follow the little threads, literally talking to myself ("This is really fun !! keep going Lara !!") and staying in the studio by myself, layering ideas, joining them and changing them, despite feeling tired to the point of nodding off in my chair. Today the thought of making that sort of effort that made me start crying on the phone to (lovely) Kyle. I realised it was a day to stay home and absorb things, there was nothing left to squeeze out.

So yeah, I stayed in bed for ages and read, listened to lots of music, and then - woah attack - I *actually* left the house and am writing this in a cafe - with people in it ! People all around !

ok ok ,
heres photos from the official first two El May in-a proper-studio-recording days.

The end of the 1st day: Thank God I took a photo of this drumming bruise when I did. (It got better by the morning = less impressive.)



Studio spaghetti:


OK time for a bath and some phone sex.