Travel II Part 4

This week, we have 'Instruments Pt. 2' for your viewing pleasure:
Check out the video:

For your reading pleasure, we have a new (awesome) blog post by Mr. Eric Owyoung. Check it out!

For your listening pleasure, we have the newest cut off of Travel II, called 'So Close So Far.' Check it out on myspace!

September 8th is quickly approaching! Tell your friends to check out the videos and music and we really hope you are digging the new sounds!

T.J. / fof

Recording Drums... new video... new song... yeah!

It is Tuesday Folks! That means:

-New 'behind the scenes' blog post from Eric.

-New Video (see above)

-New Song (Set Your Sails)

Hope you dig the new stuf!

As you will see from the video, we used all kinds of drums on this album. Seeing a room full of drums warmed my heart, put a glide in my stride, and a dip in my hip! It was great to listen to each section of each song and think "What drums would be cool here?" We also at times purposely avoided traditional 'drumset' parts in favor of 'drumset-esque' parts made by layering concert bass drums, taikos, boxes, claps, random other sounds, etc. Anyhoo, thanks for checking out the new music!

T.J. / fof

Travel II week 2!

It's Tuesday... which means... another new song, new video, new blog post from Eric, and a few new pictures detailing the recording process of Travel II.


Here's some links:

Listen to the new tune on myspace:

Read Eric's blog post about recording at Tuneful Yeti studio and the Sactuary at College Ave.

And... here's this week's video!


Being that I live in Hume, CA and run Tuneful Yeti studio, it was great being able to record FOF on my home turf! The studio here is beautiful, well equipped, and we have a functional coffee maker... a definite plus!

The Sanctuary at College Ave is fierce! I absolutely loved recording in there. A year ago, I attended a funeral there and I was struck at how even the design of the building seemed to pay tribute to the deceased by way of taking beautiful music and making it even more sonorous and gorgeous.

Anyhoo, stay tuned next week for track 3 from Travel II, a new video, and more background about recording this EP!

-T.J.

Hills of Indigo (and the drawer)

If you haven't yet... cruise on over to the myspace page and listen to the first cut off Travel II!

Then go to Eric's blog and read about the cabin we recorded parts of the album in.

After you are done with that, you should watch this youtube video (part 1 of the Travel II recording process)

When all that is done, you should read this blog...

The Cabin:
I hate to sound like a broken record, but this cabin is pretty darn fierce! Not only did it sound great, but it had an amazing coffee maker that kept us happy through many long stints of creativity with a huge deadline looming over our heads like a proverbial raincloud. I figured out that this coffee maker costs more than my first car... but I also figured out that it was money well spent.

The icing on the cake was the kitchen. No pot or pan went unhit with a drum stick, and no drawer was left un opened and closed in a rhythmic fashion. The cabin itself contributed a great deal to the sound of the album!

T minus 6 weeks until Travel II

Here's a little video about what the coming weeks will hold:

We'll post one song per week starting a week from today (tuesday) until the release date of September 8th. We really can't wait for you to hear these songs.

If I'm a mother bird and these songs are my chicks, then it is almost time for me to sit back and watch as they leave the nest and fly away into the glorious, vast expanse that is your musical enjoyment.

Stay tuned for weekly videos as well... chronicling one of the most draining, enjoyable and prolific months of the band's existence.

T.J.

Recording at College Ave!

Last weekend, Eric and I went to College Ave. Baptist in San Diego to record the pipe organ, timpani, bass drum, and bar chimes. We brought my protools LE rig and ran it along with some of Eric's mic pres (Neve sidecar console and Avalons).

This might sound lame to some, but I have dreamed of playing a real pipe organ for quite a while. Playing that thing was SO incredible. It had just been tuned a few days before, and the sheer power of that thing was awe inspiring. Even though we had a fine take of my part, I kept saying "I think I can do it better" just so I could keep playing! I thing the same thing happened to Eric when he was on the pipes. The thought of a building sized, room filling, beautiful behemoth instrument making it on the next EP makes me happy.

Eric and I both played the orchestral percussion, and the Timpani especially brought back memories of High School band. College Ave's sanctuary is epic, and acoustically beautiful and spacious. The bass drum might as well have been called 'the smile machine,' because a smile or laugh followed almost every room shaking syllable uttered from it's mylar and fiber mouth.

All in all, it was a very fun, long, exhausting, but unforgettable and incredible day.

-T.J.

We just finished recording pipe

We just finished recording pipe organ and timpani in a huge sanctuary for the album.