Jim Welt, Voda’s bassist emeritus, has resurfaced in MySpace form.   There’s a link to his MySpace site from the Personnel page.

Shalom, Jim!

On April 12, we had another songwriting session, minus Dave, who was having car troubles.  Matt “filled in” on drums quite admirably on the still-evolving “Call Me Doctor”.  It’s looking more and more like it will actually keep that name.

We also ran through the usual batch of practice songs, which sound richer and fuller with the keyboards than they do without.  Whenever Dave’s not there, they feel incomplete, which lends credence to the idea that you can’t miss something you never had.  Of course, if that were really true, the lyrical content of our music would be vastly different to what it is.  But the real point I’m making here is that Dave is really an outstanding asset to the group.  He’s a sixth man in the best sense of the term.

Also, we’re still plugging away at Bobby Fischer, which is providing us with an excellent opportunity to dig up some old, unused lyrics.

In other news, Greek salad is great, we’re in the market for a Firewire recording interface, and a certain unsung member of our outfit is going to be getting a MySpace account.  Here’s a hint: he really enjoys Thai food and the Flaming Lips, and his least-favorite band is Coldplay.

Links to Jeff and Cory’s MySpace pages have been added to the Personnel page.

The Voda equipment binge of 2007 continues: Jeff has purchased a Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine.  I think it might be a DR-670, but the exact model number escapes me.

With Wednesday’s practice cancelled due to incliment weather, we all got together at Decent Rita last night and ran through the usual roster of songs.  We also got started on a new one, which is tentatively titled “Bobby Fischer”, which may well feature two drummers.  There might be some involvement with a drum machine, but it’s too soon to tell.  It sort of sounds like the spooky spy movie stuff that Radiohead was writing circa 1997.  Still a lot of work to be done, but it’s sounding very nice for something that came out of a quick jam.

We also played “Call Me Doctor” for the first time with Matt present.  At this point, the thinking is that Dave will be the drummer on that particular track, with Matt will be playing an instrument to be named later.  He played around with keyboards, percussion, and even playing some kind of secondary drum part.  Who knows, maybe he’ll pick up a guitar.  The beginnings of some lyrics for the chorus started to take shape, and even some more possibilities for a final title: “Harvard Square is Over”, “Go Home Again”, and “How it is Nowadays”.

Not bad for a Thursday.

Streaming Audio has been added to the Audio page so that you can now listen to and download the available music. Other than the flash player (which should be part of your browser), you don’t need any plugins.

Jeff picked up a Line6 Pod for Decent Rita studios. It’s already paying some dividends in terms of giving his lead guitar tones some more definition, resonance and personality. Plus, he’s coming through a lot more clearly in the mix now. It even makes my crummy amplifier sound respectable, which is no small feat.

Says Jeff on the subject: “I made Andrew’s amp sound good through the power of my pod. I am Touchdown Jesus. And I just ordered a drum machine.”

Indeed.