For my birthday this year my best friend and my wife conspired to give me the best gifts I could imagine. Chase Slagle built this beautiful guitar, a replica of a Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) signature model DG-335. The real guitar used to sell for $4,000 at a minimum, but were a limited run and now sell for over $10k. And to top it off, he flew in from California to deliver it and hang out for a few days.

I got a hold of the stems from Everlong and cut out the guitars.  Then I recorded this beauty on top. I tried to highlight a few different sounds.

Everlong - Guitar Cover

A band I played with back in '06.  Vocals, drums, and synths by Caden Painter, bass and backup vocals by Michael Moore, vocals and guitars by myself.  This is a rough mix that kinda sounds like crap.

OneFlightDown - Demons - Rough Mixdown

"So Cold" by Beauty for Ashes (otherwise known as OneFlightDown).  Remastered by Chase Slagle at Iron Oak Studios.

Beauty For Ashes - So Cold - Mix Ref 17Oct Rev2

"Cytosine" - Written by Andy Voelker (2003).  Vocals and rhythm guitar by Andy Voelker.  Drums by Michael Cannon.  Lead guitar, effects, and piano by Chase Slagle.  Mixing and mastering by Chase Slagle of Iron Oak Studios.  Song originally written for and performed by Loafers-Glory (Chase Slagle, Richard Ritter, Keith McQuarrie, Andy Voelker).

Cytosine, in biological terms, is a component of DNA.  This song explores the concept of identity.  Nature vs Nurture.  The struggle to accept the things that define you and fight against them at the same time.  Can we ever get away from some aspects of our identity and can we ever become what we truly want to be?

"Cytosine" by Loafers Glory

I'm kicking off a new series called "Marry/Boff/Kill Covers."  I'll select a song to marry (and cover it with a lot of care and love), one song to boff (have fun with it for a night but nothing serious), and one song to kill (a song I hate and just want to change into something unrecognizable).  This is my marry song, originally written by Jimmy Eat World off the Invented album.

Mixtape has always stuck out to me.  It is a hidden gem.  I've always loved this song, and I didn't have time to truly do it justice and there are things I'd love to go back and fix, but that's marriage: never quite perfect, but still beautiful.
All vocals,instruments, mixing, and engineering by Andy Voelker.  Some consulting advice from Chase Slage at Iron Oak Studios.

"Mixtape" by Jimmy Eat World (Cover song)

This is a group of guys I played with for a little while back in '08-ish called Watch the Sky.  We just got together and hung out.   It was fun.  We never played any shows.  We recorded this in a tattoo parlor that two of the members owned.  It was pretty epic.   I played synth.
song written by Matt Heisler.  Recording by Jeremy Rose.

Watch the Sky - "Circles"

All it needs is some vocals.  I tried and I just can't pull it off.

Make no mistake

I can't carry a tune, but I can scream.  This is from about 8 years ago.  Recorded in a crappy apartment above a convenience store downtown.

So Cold

I'm old school autotune.  Oh yeah.  With Chase Slagle on guitar, backup vox, Richie Ritter on drums and backup vox, Keith McQuarrie on bass, and myself on lead vox and guitar.  Circa 2003.

thesesimplewords

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