Codename: Sleeveless

Strutt made mention in his last post of the pictures I took to document the making of Common Swift's untitled EP. I had forgotten all about them. So, in lieu of a narrative documenting our weekend "on tour" in La Crosse, which I assure you is coming, enjoy these goofy-ass photos.

Strutt Jeff and Parker in our recording "command center." In order to keep the sound clean, each musician of the band was set up in a different room of the house and connected to the main mix via headphones. It certainly didn't seem natural, but it felt more natural than playing to a click track.

My rig, set up to record. We had four mics on the drums -- not by any means a professional studio's worth, but enough to mic the kick and the snare, and to get a stereo overhead mix.

I have been made fun of, in haiku form nonetheless, for being a huge wuss about how painful it is to be a drummer. But I submit to you photographic evidence of the BRUISE the gloves I was wearing left ALL THE WAY AROUND MY WRIST and UP THE HEEL AND PALM OF MY HANDS after eight hours behind the set. And know that anyone who saw it in person will attest it looked a lot worse in person. Painful though it was, it was still better than the BLISTERS drumming for eight hours would have left.

Fast forward several weeks later. It's 2:30 AM, the night before our first gig in La Crosse, and it's arts and crafts time to prepare 50 EPs to take on the road with us.

But the end product was fuckin' money.

Yes, each of our first 50 original EPs is hand-lettered and numbered. The numbering is because we're full of ourselves. The hand-lettering is because we're cheap. I think the fusion of the two is something pretty rock 'n' roll.

Covered in happiness.

Common Swift, the untitled EP, edition 00. Parker's printer ran out of ink while we were printing jackets, and the back came out in a blue-ish hue. It's a one of a kind original. The guys want to keep it. I want to sell it to someone random and see if it ever surfaces again.