Broken Fences World

It's almost 8am and I am wide awake. I was lying in bed actually thinking of a blog to write, so here I am. I decided that while its cool and the total purpose of talking about what we're doing in the studio and music stuff, I also think it would be neat to tell you things that about our normal everyday life. Lets start with today.

Guy is up this early morning as well, and going for a run with the lou dog. He's got a busy day today involving piano tunings and a chorus concert. My day is a bit more relaxed due to my having just gotten my wisdom teeth out yesterday, all four of them! I can't complain though, I am not in horrible pain, just dull achy pain. So it's not stopping me from doing the last of my christmas shopping and decorating the tree.

That's what our day consists of, just to give you a peek into our lives :) Signing off..
-Morgan

STRINGS!

The time has come for strings. Beautiful string parts that will help make our songs amazing. Guy has written some beautiful string parts for all the songs that need it, with a little help from me and a lot of help from Dave. The other day we had a meeting at Treelady, after being there the night before for their holiday party, so I guess we should have just slept overnight haha The meeting went well and we figured out alot of things to do to the string parts, changed things here and there. Overall, it was sounding pretty great, and I was getting more and more excited by the minute. 

We are officially recording strings on the 19th, and yours truly will be blogging all about it. Honestly, I'm a little nervous about how it's going to be, as we have never met the people who will be playing cello  

and violin. But I will hold on to hoe that it will all go smoothly, and we will love the final sound.
-Morgan

It's been awhile....

...since I've posted. Right now, things are a bit slow. Were done with all of the tracks, except for the string parts and a certain sax.  The 19th, strings will happen and hopefully the sax will happen soon. No one ever said that this process was quick, I just wish it were more constant. Being away from the album makes it feel like it's not happening at all, but it is. In the meantime, we are planning the cd release party, thinking about touring, and playing a few shows here and there. Our next show is December 23rd, at Arsenal Cider House.  We will get paid in a jug of wine.

In other news, our single "Wait" is played in an episode of Flashpoint which airs on ION and on CBS in the summer. Here is a link to the clip so you can watch it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsFUtNKnBKY&feature=related

That in of itself, was an awesome experience. Guy and I were sitting on the couch, and he pressed play. When we heard our song fade into the scene, it was pure magic. and a bit surreal. It almost seems like it didn't happen. Which is crazy I know.  I hope I dont go in to denial further and further as we get bigger and bigger haha

Soon we'll be in the editing and mixing part of the album and all things will feel better. Just hold tight, I know I am.
-Morgan

Guy

Since I'm mainly the one who's writing this blog, I see no problem in talking about my band mate Guy Russo. I met Guy a year ago (gosh, has it really been that long already?)  through Zoob. Guy and Zoob are the best of friends and occasionally sing together (You've most definitely probably heard them sing White Winter by Fleet Foxes). One day at a concert they were performing together, I saw guy, thought he looked alright, didn't think much hahaha (joking ) But afterwards, we all went to a bar with Zoob and our friends Tim Ruff and Mark Dignam. Guy and I hit it off instantly. Suddenly we were mainly just talking to each other and soon we decided that we should jam. so a couple of weeks later, I went over to his apartment and we learned two songs, The Beatles song, If I Fell (which we will be performing at the Beatles show November 11th at the Hard Rock Cafe) and Close Your Eyes by James Taylor. I knew that  we really had something going for us. It was so obvious, our voices  felt good together, we could keep up with each other in harmonies and tune. It just fit too well.  He told me to write a song for us to sing, so I sat down for all of two seconds (haha) and wrote our single "Wait"  (which you can listen to on  Brokenfencesband.com) From then on, we decided we should become a band. We came up with the name Broken Fences at a party at Treelady studios, little did we know that we would be recording there  months later. Mark Dignam was talking to us about creating a name for our band and how important a name is. I looked at Guy, and bear with me cause I'm probably going to toot my own horn here, and  thought about how different we were, we both come from very different backgrounds, we were brought up in very different ways and in very different parts of the East Coast. But with all those differences, we had broken down this wall and connected in the way outcasts connect, therefore becoming Broken Fences (cause Broken Walls doesn't sound as good, don't you think?)  So there you have it, the beginnings of Broken Fences. But to talk about Guy,  is simply and I'm sorry but I have to  say, a miracle.   I have ever connected with someone on so many levels and with music as I do with Guy. He himself is patient with me and willing to put up with anything because he knows that our band is  something special that we share. No one could ask for a better friend or a better band mate.  It's funny how life works ha. Anyway, I'm so sorry for being the corniest thing on the block right now, but everyday I seriously feel so grateful to have him in my life.

-Morgan     

NAP

Taking chances, meeting new folks

Hi, we're back!
Sorry about the slowness of putting up blogs, I'm not quite used to this yet. it takes time! haha 
Todays blog is going to be about chance. Going into this project was a chance that Guy and I were/are absolutely willing to take. We've both been in many bands in our lifetimes, but this one has really stuck out for both of us, and we really feel the need to pursue it. It's exciting because to be so confident in a band feels like we've already "made it". I know personally, I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to record an album with my best friend, and we were mainly given this chance by our friend Nathan Zoob, who took a chance on us and wrote tons of newsletters and got us a meeting with Dave Hidek. Both Zoob and Dave have become part of the Broken Fences family, a family that will only get larger as time progresses. 
Working with Dave has been a very enjoyable experience. He's extremely knowledgeable, with Pro Tools, and with drum beats among other things. Not to mention, PATIENT. haha Every artist needs someone whos patient with them so the music can be created, and we are lucky enough to have such a person. All the chances that we have taken so far have proven to be well taken. 
Sitting in front of the mics was a chance on, could we really do this? it's intimidating being behind 50 thousand mics....well more like 6 or 7 as you can see in the photos, but none the less, it's intimidating! You feel the need to be perfect, because we just want the best record that we can make at this point in our lives and at this point in the Broken Fences career. I would love to say that we sounded perfect and flawless as we recorded our vocals, but in truth, there were mistakes, there were times that I personally need to take a break just from feeling worn out from singing or not feeling the song at that moment. But we got them out. We still have about two or three more songs to do vocals on, so on those days, plenty of rest the night before and a good meal the day of. But Guy if you are reading this, promise me you won't let me get so anal this time? (with my thousands of tea bags and constant need for hot water and 5 million naps or clearing my throat like there's no tomorrow, hells beast.) :)
What I'm trying to say though is that chance is everything to us right now and will be for the rest of this career, but I will try to keep a positive mood that we will take great chances and have great results.,
-Morgan

The First Day

Hello :)


Our first day. Nerves (mostly from me), excitement, not sure what we were going to work on exactly. The long drive there (which seems to be getting shorter and shorter the more we go there haha) was filled with music and talk, and finally we pulled into the parking lot of Treelady Studios. Getting our stuff together, we made our way inside to start the record. :)


Once inside, we decided that I would start the process and days work with my guitar parts. Guitar ready to go, sat down to get familiar with the tuner we would soon create a love & hate relationship with. For some reason the tuner refused to acknowledge the high E string, but moving on to better things! 


Little did I know that the setting up of the sound of my guitar would take hours. Just trying to keep in mind that it was completely worth it, I played constantly while Dave Hidek, our sound engineer/co-producer, turned knobs, clicked a million buttons on the screen, moved mics a fraction of an inch a handful of times, and recording bits and pieces of the guitar sound. Guy and Nathan Zoob sat reading, playing ping pong, ate, slept...well, maybe not slept, it didn't take that long.. 
Eventually, we were ready and set up and I started into the first song, Song For You. A song written about a lover who is needed and loved, about a lover who is not willing to let go because of silly set backs. 
A run through of the song a couple of times was all we needed to create a good take, and we moved on to five other songs, one after the other, played them a couple of times, to get good takes.  It felt good to finally be doing this, but it was alot more work than I had thought it would be. Playing guitar for fun for hours is extremely different than playing it for hours in a work situation. 
But still, the first day excitement had not left, even after when I was exhausted and just wanted a cup of tea and bed, we were glad that the recording of the record had finally begun.
-Morgan

The start

Hello,


We are Broken Fences.


Welcome to the start of our journey, the making of our debut album. We're going into the studio, looking forward to laying down tracks, discovering ways to play our songs, and just having a great time hanging out and making beautiful sounds. Of course, we were also nervous...what if things don't go right? What if something doesn't work? Well, we found out some things, but more than anything, we were really looking forward to getting into the studio and just enjoy making the music we love. This blog is to share what we have experienced so far, and what we will experience in the days to come.
-Morgan