hello all!

if you have a look at the wikipedia entry for the trashcans, it says “they finally returned in 2004 with weightlifting, which was warmly received by the critics (citation needed)…”  made me laugh, anyway.  how are you?  speaking of citations, i’ve dragged myself away from the official judgement in paul and heather’s divorce hearing to write this blog.  i can’t believe the judge is so, well, judgmental.  is it balanced to call paul “an icon”?  c’mon heather, appeal!  my favourite part is where paul finally admits to being an oldies artist, saying he earned money during the marriage, but only because he sang beatles and wings songs at his gigs, new recordings being “unprofitable”.  maybe he’ll turn his collar down now and quit it with the botox and chestnut brown hair dye.  heather’s pretty funny, asking for 627,000 per year of paul’s (beatles and wings-generated) dosh “for charitable donations”…she wants him to give her money for her to give to charity?  maybe i should hire a lawyer to read and explain this stuff to me.  that’s how it works, isn’t it?  i’ve read “bleak hoose”.

i’ve just returned from a week in the new york with the new record.  as previously mentioned, the backing tracks (as we singers in our gasconade call them) were recorded live with all the band set up in the same room, give or take the odd baffle or glass door, but the vocals i did at that time - known as “scratch vocals” - were not really up to scratch at all, so this trip was arranged for me to finish them off.  andy chase has a studio set-up in his home and it was a very relaxed situation altogether:  family around, kids to talk to, jigsaws to do, two of the sweetest, fluffiest cats i’ve ever met curled up on the couch…it was like shabby road all over again, but with sunlight, a working shower and better food.  (recently, i got a craving for shabby road’s most oft-served meal: tuna/pasta twists/mayonnaise with corn - and no, paul, there’s no onion in it.)  

 so the songs were sung and now we’re all listening through and trying to come to a consensus on which melodic inflection, tiny lyrical twist, elvis-y grunt we all prefer.  we’re hoping to mix in april/may time, though andy is managing to nudge the songs along as we go so it shouldn’t take forever to mix whenever we do start - we also want to try some radical (if you’re us) editing ideas.

a friend put me onto a band called the fleet foxes, from seattle - check them out, they’re great! wasn’t it south by southwest last week?  man, that’s some good eatin’ down there!

pip pip,

frank xx

Hi all,

I would like to draw your attention to our ‘fan cover’ section. You can find it via the multimedia link on the front page. They are all interesting in various ways… I’m sure you will find something you like/hate. My favorites, at the moment, are Eddi Readers sublime “Wild Mountainside” , “Iceberg” by Beckalina and a recently received gem by The Goodbye Notes from Australia.  A waltz time rendition of “Weightlifting” that is just beautiful. I love the instrumentation… double bass, brushes on the drums, acoustic guitars and a wonderful singer (and an appearance by a Gecko on the first chorus that is strangely fitting). check it out and let me know what you think…

love,

John

now that frank, john and paul have left martha’s vineyard, where do the recordings stand?  they left for the vineyard in cold, clear weather on january 21.  they had recorded the backing tracks for 14 songs in new york during november-december and hoped to finish overdubs and vocals on the vineyard. 

the band spent their time camped out at producer andy chase’s house, near the highest point on martha’s vineyard, with carly simon’s home also in the neighborhood!  the home doesn’t have a built-in studio, so andy and ruddy (production assistant) rigged a recording area and adjoining control room, complete with an ocean view. 

as frank said in his blog entry, he got sick on the vineyard and was unable to sing for a few days.  good thing he didn’t get steaming before going out to martha’s vineyard, or it could have been much worse!  for the sessions, one of the first decisions they made was that “the abba song” (working title) wasn’t ready for the album.  they hadn’t written complete lyrics for the song and decided to leave it behind.  they’ll hopefully be able to use the recorded backing track at a later date, once they write some suitable lyrics.

while frank was recovering, john and paul recorded various guitar and other instrumental overdubs and everyone continued to work on lyrics for a few unfinished songs.  one of the songs giving them trouble is “the jimmy webb song.”  they had written some lyrics for the original demo recording and rehearsals, but when the song was recorded in new york, it ended up a bit different and the lyrics no longer fit the song’s vibe.  they were also working on bits of “people”, “i hung my harp upon the willows”, “i wish you’d met her” and “down and out in new york city.”

after 10 days (returning to cape cod in a torrential downpour), they managed to finish all of the instrumental overdubs as well as the vocals for nine songs.  the four songs where vocals still need to be recorded are “astronomy”, “i just don’t know how”, “i wish you’d met her” (lyrics still unfinished) and “the jimmy webb song” (lyrics still unfinished).  one song, “down and out in new york city” was recorded a couple of different ways.  the band had an initial version and melody, then andy came up with an idea for a new melody, for which john wrote new lyrics and frank re-recorded the vocals.  the versions of the song are quite different and the band is going to wait until the mixing is complete to see which version, if either, will end up on the album.  

the next step is for the lyrics to be completed by the time frank returns to new york around mid-march to record the vocals for the four remaining songs.  john and paul may be there to lend moral support.  the album mixing was originally scheduled for february/march, but will now be pushed out a bit, probably sometime after march.  the band still needs to secure a record deal, so the album release date is still very much up in the air.   

as you can see from the band’s blog entries, they’re very excited about the songs for “album #5″ and want to be careful, making sure they license it to someone who will treat the album and the band the way they deserve…instead of being taken advantage of (by the way, they have written another song about their experiences in new york city and were thinking about recording it now, but are going to keep it in reserve for the time being).  although it has been almost 3 1/2 years since the release of weightlifting, which was released eight years after a happy pocket, what’s a few more months between friends?  

Hi all…We are days away from leaving Marthas Vineyard and finishing our recording. Our days and nights here have been filled with beautiful sunrises, blood red moons,  ocean views, crystal clear night skies, snowstorms, wild deer and rabbits… and our songs floating through the air … songs that appeared here, songs born at home, songs that became clearer here… the silence and beautiful isolation of this place has been great for the general muse.Last night, during singing breaks, we moongazed with the telescope, watched the fishing boat lights out near the horizon, and eventually watched the sun rise as we harmonised…. All the while sipping on hot cocktails… and thus..

My recipe for this blog is for an “Engine”. A Marthas Vineyard cocktail created by Rudyard Lee Cullers in early 2008. Take a half glass of hot herbal lemon tea (remove teabag), add half spoon of honey, add some apple and pear slices soaked overnight in Quantreau, a decent measure of Canadian Whisky.  Stir and sip slowly through the night, singing until the sunrises over the Atlantic……….. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

John x

hi everyone,

just a wee update on what we’re up to.

since monday, we’ve been staying at a beautiful house on the island of martha’s vineyard, just off the cape cod coast.  ridiculous i know, but true.  and stranger still, it seems to suit us!   andy (producer) and ruddy (engineer) have rigged up a studio for us, where we’ve been polishing off the songs for the album - a bit of guitar here, some keyboard business there and a lot of singing.  we’re going to get some photos to you, just as soon as we get our camera shit together.  meanwhile, the 5th trashcan album is taking shape.  naturally, as the singer, i am falling ill every day with some bug or other and feeling very sheepish about it but despite these self-indulgences, work is being done; carbon is being pressed into diamond.  we’ve got 13 songs recorded (i could list them, they’re that close to being finished, but i’ll hold off for now) and well, it’s just a really wonderful record.  hopefully everyone who hears it will fall in love with it and to it.

recipe for really good eggnog, from my sister barbara:

whip 6 eggs, two at a time until light, add 3 pints of milk and 0.75 cup of sugar (no, i don’t know what a cup is either) and mix until sugar dissolves.  put a quarter-pint of rum and the same of scottish whisky and american bourbon into a measuring jug, add the three-quarters of a pint of hard booze gradually and stir it into the mixture.  in a separate bowl, whisk a pint of heavy cream until it’s thick (but not stiff) and mix that into the whole shebang.  let it chill in the fridge till very cold and serve in a cold glass with a sprinkle of nutmeg.  takes about 10 minutes if you have a food mixer, and it’s DELICIOUS!  if i’ve forgotten anything, i’ll update this recipe.  and let me know if anyone tries it.

lots of love to you all,

frank xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Well…. here we are in 2008… so glad you made it. How was our 2007 ? Low key is one way to put it. After the previous few years of touring the U.S.A., Australia, Japan, Ireland and the U.K. with our ‘Weightlifting’ masterpiece, we needed some time at home to recharge the batteries, rejoin our families and get back to normality. Most of the year was spent at home in Scotland. Writing was done, one new song was released on the “Ballads Of The Book” album, a concert was broadcast on Australian TV, and three shows were played. Those are the bare facts… between the lines our musical journey continued apace in a small rehearsal room behind the Bay Horse Tavern in Shawlands, Glasgow. We grew into a six piece band. Davy Hughes could not join the fold due to family/work commitments. Grant Wilson ( A friend from Kilmarnock who has played with us at various times over the years when Davy could not make it ) picked up the bass. Stevie Mulhearn (A friend from Troon who also played with us a few times in the past) joined us on the keyboards.

The room was made comfortable with coffee machine, ashtrays, kettle, cups and atmospheric lighting. We would congregate most weeks and jam the latest songs that were written or just jam whatever riff/chords/feel that the mood brought. Some days were hungover, some days were paraletic, some days were straight… the music was always evocative. We had decided to change our working habits and being ‘in the moment’ seemed to be the answer. No slaving over guitar parts or working out exact arrangements of songs. The groove became king. If the ‘feel’ was good then we were happy boys.

After a Spring and Summer of this lovely behaviour, we decided to leave the room, (Autumn had kicked in and dampness arrived), and head to New York to record. Paul got married and the party of the season was had in the Hunting Lodge, Kilmarnock….just across the road from our old Shabby Road studios. Pauls best man was Jody Stoddart, and old Kilmarnock friend and the finest guitar slinger in the west. Paul had the inspired idea of asking him to join us on our New York recording sessions. So six became seven and the air fares increased… but so did the good times. We finished 2007 in the best of moods…. 3 weeks in Glasgows finest son… New York City. The results of our trip will be released sometime in 2008. It is our finest record so far… the songs are top of the range, the band is rockin’ …. 2008 looks like it will be ours. All the best to you and yours, we shall see you on the road somewhere soon.

Love,

John xxxxxxx

Okay, let’s clear up the confusion here. We have, indeed, been recording our new L.P. At Stratosphere Sound in New York City, to be exact. We couldn’t really mention it before because of the silly rules of a grant we applied for (didnae get it). Andy Chase is producing and Rudyard Lee Cullers, engineering (they mixed Weightlifting and we’ve wanted to do a whole album with them ever since). These guys are just amazing. They created an incredibly productive atmosphere, not to mention all the beautiful sounds and smart ideas. And we had our pick of about forty vintage guitars! Grant Wilson did his best bubbling bass and Stevie Mulhearn was surrounded by banks of keyboards-all he was missing was a pointy hat and cape. Also along for the ride was old Kilmarnock friend and expert guitarer Jody Stoddart, who proved to be invaluable. We didn’t really rehearse any songs before we went, concentrating on just having fun jamming instead - the idea being to capture the excitement of playing something for the first time. From the first day, it was obvious that we were onto something special - the sessions were a dream. We just went in and played live all day and night for about a week, and stopped when we’d done fourteen songs. The next stage is in Martha’s Vineyard in January, where we will do some overdubs and singing. We are very excited (and a little bit surprised) by all of this, especially as we were royally ripped off by that con man Jeff Price and his band of thieves at Spinart (I’m sure someone will tell that tale here eventually). But we are used to rising above such bullshit, and we will prevail! Hooray!

Happy holidays everybody, and we’ll see you next year!

Love,

Paul Livingston