Our First Rehearsal

It's been a long couple of weeks, trying to set my plans in motion for the new CD. After many setbacks, yesterday we held our first rehearsal.

Right now the band consists of myself, John Howk on electric guitar and/or bass, and Cody Byassee on drums. John and Cody are students here at OSU and have played together before. They are professional-minded musicians and are working hard with me to create arrangements well-suited to each song. I'm lucky to have found them!

We still need either a keyboard player or a bass player. If you know anybody, shoot me an email - monty@montyharper.com!

We worked on three songs yesterday: "Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet," "Hanging Out With Heroes at the Library," and "You're a Dinosaur." I brought home a recording of our best efforts for evaluation. We have a long way to go, but I'm very excited about the direction it's taking! This CD is going to have an energy and excitement to it that will make it a real standout recording.

Our first live show (out of three) is tentatively scheduled for November 10 in Stillwater, so mark your calendars! The recording engineer will be Steve McLinn of Ojas Studio in OKC. Steve is a recording guru - he knows equipment better than anyone I know, and he has a fantastic ear. He'll capture sparkling recordings of our shows.

We are working on the idea of providing a CD for sale immediately after each program. Of course it will be offered "as is" with all the glitches inherent in a live performance. But audience members will be able to take home the ultimate souvenir - a recording of the exact concert they just saw, with their own voices cheering and singing along.

The commercial release will consist of the best performance of each song, selected from among the various programs, and the sound will be improved with careful editing, mixing, and mastering - just a bit of polish to make sure the CD will stand up really well to repeated listening.

Stay tuned!