And So It Begins

Day one.

I couldn't sleep. Anxiety jolted me awake.

Eventually, I left my bed, settled into a chair, and began working. I started by listening to the dozens of demos we'd recorded over the past few years. There were so many that I didn't know where to start. With so many versions, it's as much about forgetting the old as it is remembering the new.

It doesn't help that we're absolutely terrible at naming works in progress. Every ridiculous name sticks, and none of them have anything to do with the actual song. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for 'Machine Gun Kelly's Roast Beef' to make the cut, but that name has got to go.

For all the seriousness of what we are as artists, we usually speak to each other with lightness and sarcasm. It's the part of the pendulum swing that keeps us in check. After all, ego is the common killer of all bands. We are all fully aware of that reality.

I made some notes for the first session and pushed off for the day. Landing first at work for a few hours before loading Ben’s drums into my truck and heading to the studio.

As a band in the process of making an album, we talk--a lot. We analyze the things that often rush by in the blur of a song. Today, we dissected nearly twenty-five song ideas in development. Each of us had different interpretations of their strengths and weaknesses. Over the course of the next few hours, we made detailed notes, with some material ultimately being cast aside.

Sometimes, it stings--the decision of what stays and what doesn't. There are things you love that end up on the cutting room floor. It happens to all of us, and it happened for me today. But it's part of the process. Something more significant than the individual is taking shape.

We worked into the evening, trial and error, getting the first two songs close to one hundred percent.

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