back from la – part 2

another excellent part of our audience in the studio was musician, engineer and videographer Kristian Anderson.

Kristian approached me ten years ago or so about shopping our “I feel fine” ep in Australia. he paid for the manufacturing of the ep and basically went to work trying to make us huge in Oz. it didn’t really happen, but he became a good friend and valuable ally in getting all kinds of technical stuff handled as we learned to do everything ourselves.

Kristian had a long time vision of shooting a live-performance DVD for us down under, and we got pretty close a couple of times to actually making a date. but a lack of money and other stuff always kept getting in our way.

then a few years ago Kristian got cancer. not young-guy-will-definitely-survive cancer but serious, lethal-like liver and bowel cancer. he’s got a wife and two young kids so he went to war, opened up his veins and let them pour the poison in, all in the hopes of sticking around for his sons’ childhoods.

along the way he put his skills and connections to work making a video for his wife’s birthday. anyone willing to have their heart ripped out can check it out right here.

meanwhile, Oprah saw the vid and during her week broadcasting from Australia invited Kristian and Rachel up on stage. you can see that here. this helped things out on the financial side. it also made them kinda famous.

Rachel seems like an incredibly cool person, because when Kristian found out we were going to be in LA recording piano, she said, “you should go film them.” so Kristian loaded up his brand new, $65,000 Red Epic, flew to LA from Oz, called his friend Joseph, and the two of them shot video of the sessions for three days.

I’ll be honest, he didn’t look so good when he got here, and each day he looked substantially worse. I told him I didn’t want him to die just because black lab needed some video shot. he just laughed.

in fact, he did a lot of laughing over the three days. it was great to meet him in person after all these years — he’s one of those fans that has contributed a lot to us and become a partner in what we do. but it was particularly amazing to feel his positivity in the face of sickness and potential death, of endless chemical treatments and the possibility of losing his kids (and, what is worse for a father, the possibility of his kids losing their dad).

we’re grateful Kristian got to come and can’t wait to see the footage (stills below from tracking ‘this night’). you can check out his blog here.

Back from La

we had a great time in the studio, banging out piano and acoustic guitar for the latest surprise we have in store for you. it was good to be somewhere other than our little rooms again.

studios used to feel so cold to me, and I was always stressed out, feeling the clock tick away the dollars. now it’s great — you just pay your money to gain entrance into a world that is 100% about making music. I have a new vision, which is to have my studio — the computer, the shelves, everything be just about the making of music, and some kind of separate space somewhere else for doing business, design, etc. of course, we’re always just trying to move the circumstances around to make things perfect, but a guy can dream, right?

Andy had been practicing piano for a month to get ready for the sessions and he absolutely killed that shit. dude is a stone cold assassin when it comes to those big things with all the black and white buttons. a lot of warmth that doesn’t come across in his guitar playing comes out in the piano — which to me is great since I think guitars need to be cold while pianos are always a bit cold already. it was a nice opportunity for him to express his british roots and get his drone on.

friend and fan Shelby Keller and her fiance Conor Dickenson came in and shot photos. usually I hate all that click clicking but it was kind of like having a very friendly, quiet, low-key audience in the room and helped give us some juice when things got tired. Shelby and Connor met when she was shooting his band and he put “gates of the country” on. she was like, “how do you know this song!?!” and he was like, “how do YOU know this song!?!” so I like to take credit for their union; they have promised me their firstborn.

anyway, as always can’t wait for you all to hear it. I think it’s gonna be rad.

love,
p

free mp3 of the month: ‘dust in the wind’

you gotta admit, this is one of those 70′s cheeseball ballads that holds up. in the midst of writer’s block and too many business-related chores, I banged out this sweet little trip-hop version, just because trip-hop is really fun, really easy and generates something that, at the end of the evening, I really like listening to (I guess I’m still a child of the 90′s).

anyway, hope you like.

we’re in LA cranking it out so hopefully will have some pics for you soon.

hope you’re all well!

p

why we do what we do

recently, someone asked me why black lab’s music got pulled off of spotify. the reason is that spotify and rhapsody pay almost nothing for the songs they stream. this is fine if you’re madonna — a whole lot of almost-nothing adds up to something. but for us, if all our music was accessed via a subscription model we would be out of the business of making music.

the thing is, what we want to do is make the best music we possibly can. we are completely focused on honoring the interest and commitment our fans show us by doing it the max, taking whatever talent we’ve got and going balls to the wall. we’re not interested in becoming rock stars, wasting our lives traveling, doing endless interviews, promotional appearances, meet & greets, etc. etc. etc. we are just hunkered down making the best shit we can.

yeah, we do the social media thing ’cause it’s fun to be in touch with you. but we’re not here to make a million fans. we’re here to make music. spotify helps get us in front of many more people, but it kills our ability to focus on making music because it kills our ability to earn a living wage from making music.

I love the idea of spotify, but until they figure out how to monetize it in a way that is not just great for their company, advertisers and listeners, but also for the artists, I’m afraid we’re going to have to bow out.

wanted: photographer

hey, so Andy and I are sweating to get ready to go into the studio. one still needs to go to a studio to record proper piano so I’ll be in LA the first couple of weeks in september, banging out arrangements for the lovely surprise we have in store for you (november??).

I’d like to document the process and unfortunately I can’t produce, play, sing and photograph all at the same time. I also can’t afford to hire someone — and frankly don’t want some stranger who doesn’t know anything about the band in there with us.

so we’re looking for someone who would like to come in for a day, sometime between the 6th and 8th of september, to shoot some still and — if they have the gear — video footage. we’re wondering if anyone in the LA would like to invest some time in this project with us, someone with experience and gear and, well, you know, talent and stuff.

if so, let us know! shoot us a link to your portfolio or yousendit a .zip file of shots to contact AT blacklabworld.com. video capability a bonus. it will be mostly photojournalistic, just shooting us as we work (and going to poquito mas for ahi burritos, of course). could be fun…

thanks!

paul