I’m off-loading some recordings from the H2 onto the computer to use in a track I’m working on. Victoria is in the kitchen, cooking the Easter meal we’re going to have this evening with Michelle and possibly Katie. The house smells wonderful. I’d like to get into the Easter spirit, or whatever you call it, but it’s not my holiday. I’m happy to tinker around in here for the time being, and I’m more than happy to show up when the vittles are being served. I am a Chaney, after …

I’ve been thinking of ways that Windhaven could bring more percussion without getting into personnel additions. I’d already bought a stomp box to use as extra percussion, but then it occurred to me that I could use it to trigger my Alesis D4 drum machine. I could use it, for example, to play a bass drum with my foot, adding a much needed extra dimension to our sound. But I started thinking that I want a snare, too. At first I thought maybe Victoria could play the snare to my …

If you talk to people who don’t know anything about live professional performance, you’re likely to hear an opinion that “real musicians” don’t use backing tracks. But if you know anything at all about live performance, you know that’s just not true. Many of the world’s top performers use backing tracks.
What I can’t figure out is why this is such a taboo for local performers. Victoria and I watched ZZ Top last night, and I couldn’t help but notice that there was occasionally an extra guitar or an extra vocal …

My band, Windhaven, is recording an album, so I thought it would make sense to finally get my ART SGX-2000 back up and running. The only thing that’s been wrong with it has been that the pots were so dirty that the unit was practically unusable. There was just no way to make those fine-tuned adjustments that let you zero in on the perfect sound without getting a whole lot of extraneous noise. I never really thought that cleaning the pots would be a big deal, but it would mean …

It’s amazing how a good cleaning can improve your general outlook, not to mention your flow of energy. In recent weeks I’ve let my bad habits pile up in the studio, like the detritus of some half-crazed hoarder. It’s no wonder there’s been no progress on Windhaven’s album. The studio had become so cluttered that I didn’t like going in there anymore. It was like kicking aside trash in a landfill trying to find a clean place to sit down. Okay, it wasn’t remotely that bad. But it’s certainly true that days …

I’ve just wrapped up another version of “This Old Dawg”. This version was done with Windhaven, and features a more acoustic vibe. I’m actually surprised by the results. How is it possible to remove the Rock drum kit and the signature bass line and have a song sound even more powerful? This new version grooves in a way that the original never did. And I think I can finally say that I’m happy with “This Old Dawg”. Maybe that was the problem with the other versions. Whether I knew it …

I recently had a revelation concerning my Facebook pages. I have two of them, you know. One is a personal page where I talk to old friend and relatives. The other is an artist page. I’ve always considered the latter to be a music page, and never really approached it in any other way. But recently someone asked me why I didn’t have any of my artwork on that page. That got me to thinking. I’ve been wrong to think of it solely as a means to market my music. …

It’s hard being silent to keep the peace
When certain maggots know that they’re out of reach
But when the meat is gone, at the end of the day
We can watch the maggots wither away.
We can watch the maggots wither away.
We can watch the maggots wither away.

This is a song that was written by my friend, Gary Ramsey, who was the first musician I ever jammed with. We recorded this version in the late 1980′s on a cassette 4-track recorder. Gary recently made this video and uploaded it to YouTube.

CREDITS

Gary Ramsey – vocals, lead guitar
Wicasta Lovelace – rhythm guitar, bass, keyboards, drums

I’ve talked Victoria into playing bass some  for our band, Windhaven. We decided that my Alembic Spoiler was too big for her, and so I looked at alternatives. It didn’t take me long to realize that my old Aria Pro II TSB-350 (my first real bass) is a perfect fit. It’s a medium scale bass that has always stunned people by how easy it is to play. So while I can’t give the bass to Victoria, I’ve essentially turned it over to her. She’s already made great leaps and bounds …

When we put together our acoustic band, I immediately started looking for a way that I could bring some extra percussion to the table. One of the coolest gadgets I came across is my searches was a stomp box. There are many different flavors, but the one enduring concept is that it’s a block of wood with an acoustic guitar pickup mounted inside of it. This is thought of as foot percussion, which you’re supposed to tap on with your foot, but you can play it with your hands or …

Windhaven’s cover of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” was completed on June 30, 2010.
Love I get so lost, sometimes
Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart
When I want to run away
I drive off in my car
But whichever way I go
I come back to the place you are
All my instincts, they return
And the grand facade, so soon will burn
Without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside
In your eyes
The light the heat
In your eyes
I am complete
In your eyes
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
In your eyes
The resolution of …