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News and happenings

So we went and got ourselves a rehearsal space at Downtown Rehearsal. It's nice to have a spot, and we've been writing. I think we'll be debuting a new tune at the next gig, which is 4/19 at the M Bar. We're looking forward to rocking that shit...

By the way, have you seen this? I mapped every download of the EP. Pretty fun to see who's listening.


View Bear Baiting Downloads in a larger map

What's in a name?

It has been brought to my attention that some may think our name is in support of the despicable practice of bear baiting. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm not going to go into detail what bear baiting is, you can look it up. I will, however, explain the metaphor.

This project is unconventional in nature, and personally my first fore into writing, recording, and producing my own material. I entered into it with tons of trepidation, not knowing how it would be received in a world of everyone trying to "make it" doing the same tired thing. I've never "exposed" myself in this way, and felt a vulnerability I've never felt in all my years playing music. When Matt brought the name up as a possibility, I immediately thought of its potentially all encompassing meaning.

Right off the bat, it stands as an illustration of man's horrible and cruel nature as it sits atop the food chain. It's a disturbing reminder how shitty man has been to the world, albeit one of many examples. I have a distain for most of humanity, and felt it a good way to take a jab and point out one of its shortcomings. Secondly, it illustrated what we were feeling with respect to the aforementioned vulnerability. In short, we are the bears, chained to a stake, and you all are the dogs.

I hope this clears things up. Discuss...

-d

Gig UN-cancelled

Our gig on 3/2 is back on. Sorry for the confusion....I'm as confused as you are...

Will play for beer....

Our first booking is 3/2/12, but we're still looking for something in February. If you know of a gig we'd be a good fit for, please contact us via the email link on the right.

Hey there, handsome....

Well it's been nearly a month since the E.P. has been released and it's being received better than expected. Nearly 100 people have downloaded it from around the world, and our Facebook page has over tripled in likes. Not too shabby if you ask me.

Next order of business is a gig. We are playing with a drummer, a longtime friend and former bandmate of Matt's. Nothing is booked at the moment, but we are looking at the first weekend in February. Stay tuned!

-BB

Satisfaction

Well, friends, at long last, the E.P. is complete. Head on over to our Bandcamp or Facebook pages and get yourself a copy!

We hope you love it as much as we do. Be on the lookout for a gig in the near future!

Pride

Well, I haven't updated in quite some time. Just a little of what's been happening: We finished tracking and began to move into mixing. I was of the opinion it was better to have someone else mix for us, since mixing is not my strong suit. After having someone do a test mix, we found that the best way to do this is to do it ourselves. Thus began my first attempt at mixing. After nearly 3 long months, I'm proud to say The E.P. is done. The only thing left now is mastering, which I should have buttoned up in the next couple of weeks. I'm proud of us.

Time flies

Oh man, I just realized I haven't blogged in a month! I know everyone is rabid for an update, so here goes...

Tracking is complete, edits are complete, and as of last night, keyboards are complete. I played some of them myself, but most came from a long time friend of Matt's, Cody. He did a great job, and really elevated the songs to a point where I can hardly stand to be away from listening to them for too long.

I don't know how this project is going to be received. I feel like it's a quality endeavor, with little regard to much else other than self indulgence. The pure pleasure of putting these songs together is enough. I have little faith anyone other than friends will really be feeling it. Either way, the satisfaction of making it a reality is a great feeling, and anything more is simply gravy. Bear Baiting is a shining beacon in an otherwise tumultuous time, personally speaking.

We'll be re-amping with Derek soon, and we're in the home stretch! It appears that an end of August completion is in the realm of possibility, at which time, my musings will pick up considerably. Thanks.

-d

Big Bottom

Well, I am 95% sure that the bass tracking phase is complete. I'm editing this week and will achieve a new plateau. I've been tinkering with some keyboard sub-melodies, and Matt even came up with...dare I say it...a VOCAL melody! Quite an eventful week, to say the least...

Productivity has slowed significantly in recent weeks. I plan to get back on track after the long weekend. Tracking and edits are done on a little over half the tunes, but work schedules and personal lives are getting in the way as of late. Regardless, this thing should be wrapped up this summer, but a release date is still TBD.

In other news, I'm so excited to have a piece of my personal history back. Thanks to the modern day internet juggernaut, Facebook, I got in touch with an old friend who I was in a band with for about a year in 1995-1996. She had copies of our demo and a video from a gig that I had long forgotten. This was essentially my first real "band", but my archives were lost awhile back. I had flyers, cassettes, and VHS tapes, all taken from a storage unit in North Hollywood years ago. I'm so happy to have the demo and video back, it was the only thing I had done musically that I had no record of.

That's it for now, more to come...
-d

What's cookin' good lookin'?

The EP is coming along great. I admit, I have not been as diligent as I should about tracking, but nothing has been diligent since this project's inception. I've finished my tracks for "The Contrarian" and "Phrenetic" and so far so good....

Until next time...
Bandcamp

-d

Awwww yeeeeaaa..

Drums are DONE. Midi is complete on all songs, and I'm so happy with them. They're simple, and they rock. I have not yet tracked them as audio because I want to keep the sessions light, in a cpu usage kind of way. I think dropping them in later is better anyway because I can see how they fit best. Kind of a mix-on-the-go, if you will. Anyway, bass tracking will begin with one of us this week. I'll probably start getting sounds tomorrow for the Music Man.

I'm taking down all the songs next week with the exception of "Untitled"....which is no longer untitled....

-d

Keep on Truckin'

Drums are almost complete, and the songs all finally have names. I feel like a proud poppa. Can't decide if the E.P. will be self-titled. I'm leaning toward yes. Feels good to have a goal and work toward it. I haven't felt this positive about something for a while. Probably since tracking bass for the last Helen 55 record.

...end transmission...

-d

Drums are coming along nicely. I'm a little over half done with programming the entire E.P. and have been happy with the results thus far. Tracking will start soon enough...