WHEN IT ALL COMES TOGETHER…

Last night was one for the books. First time playing Thirsty Farmer in Sussex, NJ with Supernova, and to my surprise it was THEIR first time playing there. I thought they played there with their guitarist Frank but what do I know? It’s a nice place, very lively, and the crowd…

Oh Lord that crowd was wild!

When it all comes together, it’s the most magical feeling in the world. I’m talking about when the band sounds “on” and the crowd reacts in kind by dancing, singing along and of course copious amounts of alcohol consumed. From the first note to the last, the place was jumpin’! Moments like that we all want to trap in a bottle and save for a rainy day. We played two long sets instead of three short ones, as the crowd kept egging us on for MORE MORE MORE! Even had to pull songs out that hadn’t been touched in a while.

Glad my memory still works.

But that picture above…do tell, Steve!

I knew that my friend Wendy (DJ Metal Mistress) was coming to the show, and her fiance Bill was with her. Always great to see them! However, I didn’t have members of the metal band Scarlet King on my bingo card. Now I do. I looked out into the audience and saw singer Mike and bassist Kevin, standing there thinking “Bello’s playing Bryan Adams?!” But hey, even the most die-hard metal fans will sing along to these kinds of songs. (I still don’t get the big deal about “Mr. Brightside” though!)

Was nice seeing them and talking shop about music and such. I admit that a part of me thought “Wow these guys must think I’m lame now” but they said I played well and nailed the material down. They asked me about working on new music with drummer Mike Sabatini, and I mentioned that things are going extremely well, better than expected…

One snag though: I was ready to talk about “Hey we worked on a sixth song” but Mike and I both agreed that it didn’t fit with the rest of the music, so I tossed it. That’s okay, as I have plenty of other ideas to lobby at him. The tune was cool but felt more like a chore to play than something fun. And when I think my music is a bit too much, we’re in trouble!

Still, I couldn’t be more pleased with how things are turning out in pre-production. Mike is definitely laying down some grooves and cool fills, and my riffs are even making me stare at my hands in disbelief. There’s no deadline, no release date, nothing. We’re relaxed, focused and when the songs are where they should be, then we will say “Time to record!”

Right now it’s time to nap.