A Special Thank You to The Gap

On Friday night, I took a stroll down to my local Gap store to cash in a few certificates I received from the company for free jeans. Yes, free Gap jeans. It was my payment for driving my but up to Racine, Wisconsin, last summer, to perform for The Gap's Born to Play artist performance series.

Let me say that my experience at The Gap was superb. Thank you so much, Stephanie and Sanja, for letting me hang out with you in the store, after hours, trying on jeans and shirts, to make sure that I got just what I needed for my photoshoot on Saturday. You two were awesome! In fact, you were so awesome that I'd like to give you each a free download of my album, Glimmer. The only issue is, I don't have your email addresses... So, if you're reading this, please send it on over to this email address: email {at} jaymathes {dot} com.

You two are awesome! Thank you so much! I'll post pics from the shoot soon.

Eight Hours, New Vocals

Over the past two days, I have spent eight hours recording vocals and mixing for one of my new songs. It's called "So Far", and it will be up on http://thecitymusic.com sometime in the next two weeks.

Maybe it's just me, but I totally feel like I am a biased listener when I listen to my own music. I can play some of my recordings side-by-side with those from major artists and hear the difference, but not know whether the difference is bad or good or just different. Their guitars have slightly different tones, their vocals are just a bit more perfect, and my drums are never "Jimmy drums".

I guess what I'm saying is I'll let you know when I post the song, and I'd love to get your input about it. You can love it or hate it, but feel free to post a little something here...

Recording Vocals

I've never been excited about recording vocals for an album before. This is changing.

For the past two months, I've been training - quite rigorously - using a vocal program called Speech Level Singing, developed by Seth Riggs. I'm not using the *actual* SLS program, because I think it's like over $100, but I am using a book called "Singing for the Stars". You can check it out on Amazon.com. All I can say is that it's freakin' fantastic.

Like anything worth anything in life, vocal training takes time; and for the first time ever, I can say that I feel like I'm gaining legitimate confidence in how I sing. (When I was in high school, I was overly-confident in an untrained, ignorant sort of way.)

And although I don't have a "vocal coach" or instructor to walk me through some of this stuff, step-by-step, I do feel like I have a pretty good ear for matching tone quality, and a sense of whether or not something "feels right" as I'm singing it...

All of this to say that I'm actually looking forward to recording lead vocals tomorrow.

Mosquito Fleet's Debut Album and Release Show

Are you a fan of Mute Math, Jars of Clay, Snow Patrol, Pedro the Lion, Death Cab for Cutie? Well if you are, then I know a band that you need to know: Mosquito Fleet.

Just went to their CD release show at Wheaton College. Bought the record, too. Impressive on all fronts. About the album, All Those Who Wander Are Not Lost:

Most memorable track on first listen: God's Not Listening
Most interesting rhythms: Bright Sadness
Best Lyrics: Times Are Changing

One wouldn't think it possible, but Mosquito Fleet sounds almost *identical* in concert as on the record. What exactly does that mean? It means they're polished, they're lead singer (Joel Yoshonis) is actually *a musician* and doesn't need his vocals tweaked [excessively] by auto-tune. It means they're guitarist (Alex Mrakovich) knows his gear and knows how to get exactly the tones that he wants - every time. It means the group plays as a band.

Aspects of the live show need some tweaking, but for a group that has been together for less than two years, they show an uncommon maturity - one that is hard to find in 10-year-0ld bands who have played all of the big venues. I expect that, if Mosquito Fleet wants it enough, they can get there, too. Everything good takes time, dedication, sacrifice. I look forward to years of music ahead as the group continues to hone their pop-alt-rock anthem sound.

I like these guys so much, in fact, that I'm going to try to book a few shows with them. If I had to pick a young band to co-tour with right now, these would be the guys.

Learn more about the band and buy their new record at: http://www.wearemosquitofleet.com

Concert Tonight!

No, not mine! A friend of mine. His name is Alex Mrakovich, and his band, Mosquito Fleet, has a *free* show tonight at Wheaton College. If you're available tonight, you should definitely come on out. They just released their first full-length album, which I haven't heard yet, but I'm sure it's amazing. And if you can't make it, at least check out their MySpace Music page. Check it. I'll hit everybody again and let you all know how the show goes...

Plans for This Summer

It's official! I bought my plane ticket to Denver this morning, for a trip this summer to the Wind River Mountain Range of Wyoming. Ever here of it? If you're an outdoorsy type, you probably have. For a whole week in August, we'll be concerning ourselves with nothing more than backpacking, trout fishing, and day hiking. Well, of course I'll have a guitar. And plenty of time to write, for sure. But I'm afraid that I won't be doing much climbing while I'm there...

Getting outdoors helps me recharge my batteries - mentally, physically, emotionally; and I'm really looking forward to spending some time with good friends, basking in the glory exuded by nature, and remembering again what it's like to live simply. Here's a picture from the USGS of the Cirque of Towers - right where we'll be.

I Can't Wait

I can't wait to see my brother on Sunday. He has been away - pretty much since the beginning of the year - at the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. It will be good to see him and hang out over his Spring Break. At least, I think we'll be able to. (I haven't confirmed with him yet if he already has plans for his time off.)

This is going to be a busy weekend for me again. It pretty much always seems to fall that way. Tomorrow, Saturday, I'm recording all day with my friend Gary, for our band The City. (Learn more about our project on our website: http://thecitymusic.com.) And on Sunday afternoon, I'll be at my brother's glee club concert, which happens to be in the next town over from me.

Are you doing anything special this weekend?