Dennis Brennan: I'm excited to let you know a bit about our new record.
The White Owls: Tim, Steve, Jim, Andy, and me, have performed every Monday at Toad for the past eight years. It's grounded us knowing we could be with friends onstage and off on a regular basis. It's made us better. The music went into the ether and perhaps it helped someone else feel better. I do know we always try something different. We don't stand still.
"You guys have to document this," someone said. But "live" recordings are rarely live. Too often they are enhanced with overdubbing and post performance studio trickery. You can make as many mistakes as you want when you play live and you can bet no one's going to call you out. A recording is forever, however, and who wants their failures laid bare?
Andy, our drummer and head of Electric Andyland, pushed us to produce a live in-studio recording. He wanted everybody in the same room, playing and singing at the same time. Live. The way music was recorded up until the mid 1950's.
I put my harp amplifier in the room with everyone else but insisted on singing and playing in the hall separate from the band. Once three-track recorders came along, it was common to put the singer in a broom closet or somewhere separate from the band. If I blew a lyric but we got a good take that meant the song wasn't ruined.
We're proud of this recording. It sure doesn't sound like anything else out there now and it reflects the years of musical collaboration we've made and continue to make.
We're The White Owls. Mondays at Toad, Cambridge. Dennis Brennan, February 9, 2019
"I endorse [Andy] as a studio owner, engineer, producer, drummer and all around good dude." Dave Westner, Wooly Mammoth Sound, Waltham, MA.
"It was my favorite experience as far as recording goes. It’s very organic." Josh Buckley,
"[Andy's] enthusiasm, passion, giant musicality, perfectionism and sense of humor make him just about the best guy to work with (period). Over the last couple of years I have enjoyed and benefited from his dialing Electric Andyland recording studio to a finely tuned machine. Truly impressed and excited about what he is doing." Andy Santaspago.
Recipient of 2014 Iguana Music Fund grant.
"It was my favorite experience as far as recording goes. It’s very organic." Josh Buckley,
"[Andy's] enthusiasm, passion, giant musicality, perfectionism and sense of humor make him just about the best guy to work with (period). Over the last couple of years I have enjoyed and benefited from his dialing Electric Andyland recording studio to a finely tuned machine. Truly impressed and excited about what he is doing." Andy Santaspago.
Recipient of 2014 Iguana Music Fund grant.