Hey again! We’ve been busy in the studio all this week, but we wanted to take a few minutes to let you know what’s been going on here at Killingsworth Recording Studios. We’ve been piecing together songs and trying to stay on schedule. Here’s what happened since we last posted:

The next song we began working on is called “Pick Me Up.” It’s another new one, and it’s a little different for us, coming from heavy synths in This Machine is Me. It has a much lighter, folkier sound to it that you probably wouldn’t expect. But with this record and new band – we aren’t trying to do what you’d expect, we’re doing what feels honest and genuine.

After rearranging “Pick Me Up”, Blake decided on the studio’s telecaster for it’s twang. What started as just drums and guitar then quickly blossomed into something else entirely, once bells, violins, cellos, and airplane swoops were added. We wrote this song completely out of our comfort zone and we feel that ultimately a band needs to do that to be taken seriously – and it is sounding soo good so far!

The days out here are so sunny and hot, and with the studio having a swimming pool, it can really get in the way of productivity. Baker says most of the producers that work here like to take the graveyard shift just so they can have the days to hang out by the pool, and I can see why. The nights, on the other hand, are cooler, so its kind of like being out in a desert.

The next song we began with was called “Connect the Dots” and it’s a great pop song with an awesome beat. We started building drums on it before laying down synth after synth after synth. It’s more in the same vein as TMIM, but we spent more time strategically writing every single aspect so this time around, our music is much more focused, cohesive, and honest. We are now trying to go at a pace of recording two songs a day instrument-wise, but by midnight we only had the verse and chorus keys laid down. Two people playing the parts of five and then some seemed to be a little more overwhelming than we had expected. Oh well, tomorrow we can get it finished…right?

Before starting for today, Baker offered to take us to a grocery store called Vons to stock up on more food before we started. The place was a madhouse, people flying through the parking lot, cutting people off, and yelling at one another. I thought it was crazy that people would be so riled up just to get groceries. We didn’t end up seeing the singer from Simple Plan this time, like we did the first night we got here, but Blake did think he spotted Lisa Kudrow (except the woman had dark brown hair and looked nothing like her in reality).

Jumping right back into “Connect the Dots,” we needed to work on the bridge keys and ending. We finally finished those and moved on to the next song.

While Baker finished mixing and editing drums, he told us to go out on the town for two days and sightsee, and since these days were our only days off, we decided to go check out Universal Citywalk and see Iron Man 2 on the IMAX screen. There, Blake was dazzled by the neon lights and acted like a kid in a candy store.

The next day we decided to head down to Hollywood Boulevard to see the sights, and along the way we met up with Yoda, Cinderella, the Burger King, and Indiana Jones. We ate at Mel’s Diner, famous for being the site of George Lucas’ American Graffitti. We checked out Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, where all the film premieres are, and Jayna just about peed her pants in excitement to discover an H&M across the street. We also were lucky enough to catch Nightmare on Elm Street – not lucky to catch the remake but to actualy see the film INSIDE Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. We were two of maybe eight people total at the latest showing – and let me tell you, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre is HUGE and terrifying to walk into when everything is decorated in dark red while the Nightmare on Elm Street’s score plays in the background. Check out the last bit of Episode #8 on Death of Paris TV to see the inside of Grauman’s.

By the time we got back to the studio late that night, Baker was still up and said that starting the next day we’d need to start pulling all-nighters to finish on time – we finally accepted the reality of how much extra work it was going to take. The next day we knew we needed to start stocking up on energy drinks, so We headed to Gelson’s, another grocery story, and noticed how PERFECT the shelves were stocked. It was like some sort of illusion how symmetrical the aisles looked. We loaded up on 30 dollars of Red Bull and got to work, cranking out the brand new versions of “Models & Bottles” and “Rome is Burning.”

The next day Baker hadn’t yet risen from the coma he sank into after the all-nighter, so both of us went down to Studio C to practice some songs, rewrite some lyrics, and to get inspired and along the way ended up having a sing-along to Metro Station’s “Shake It.” We shook it alright and soon started tracking again, this time working on early TMIM’s “Narcoleptic at the Wheel,” a dirty rock song with some newly inspired percussion and sass.

Moving on, we tackled two new songs, “Villains” a dark electronic song and “Trapdoor,” a ballad that goes by the codename “oubliette.” Both songs took a lot out of all of us, due to their complexities.

These past 2 weeks haven’t been a breeze by any means. With only both of us and Baker creating the entire album, it has proved to be some long days and nights for all of us. Jayna has been resting the past few days and begins vocals today.

After suffering from a minor moment of crisis – worrying about whether or not we would have enough time to completely record everything we need and still have enough time for vocals – Jayna got up bright and early – determined to get half of the vocals done in one day. And she did just that. Seven hot teas, two multivitamins, two hits of dayquil, one cough drop, and five hours later – she had successfully gotten through “East or West,” “Narcoleptic at the Wheel,” “Models & Bottles,” and “Pick Me Up.” We were on a roll, but her voice was starting to give out and the frontman from the band Tiger Army was coming in to use the vocal booth for a project.

In the meantime, Blake has been hard at work finishing the instrumental for “Choke,” which we are recording right now. We felt this song needed to be more lyrically exposing and that it really called for a certain rawness that it hasn’t been rightfully given in our live shows. This will be the first time that we’ve ever recorded “Choke,” and we are so excited for you to hear it in this new very simple and honest acoustic-only version!

Jayna is determined to track at least two more songs by the end of tonight. We’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks for reading!!!

-Jayna and Blake, Death of Paris

Death of Paris studio journal

Hey everyone! We are in the studio at Killingsworth Recording Company in Los Angeles, CA where we are working with producer David Baker. We will be posting new episodes on Death of Paris TV (http://www.youtube.com/deathofparis) daily so that you can be a part of the studio experience as well. We are also constantly updating our Twitter page so follow us on there, too. This is our very first full length studio album, as well as the very first album from our new band, Death of Paris. We want to bring you all along for the ride because as a new band we want everyone to grow with us from the very start. To catch up with us and our journey so far, check out Episode #2 on Death of Paris TV!

Thanks SCENESC for helping us make these awesome cards!

DEATH OF PARIS TV EPISODE #2:

Here we go:

May 2nd, 2010
We began today by scrambling to pack everything we could into two suitcases. Just as we were ready to leave Columbia to catch our flight in Charlotte – the weather channel confirmed Jayna’s worst fears… and somehow fulfilled her premonitions (Final Destination style).

DEATH OF PARIS TV EPISODE #3:

But we continued on and somehow safely made it to our connecting flight in Memphis, after we had to reroute an hour out of the way. Once we boarded the plane in Memphis, everything seemed like it was smooth sailing until we got to the runway. The flight attendant came to the front of the plane and got on the speaker, “Will everyone please return to their seats? We can’t take off until all of our passengers are secured in their seats.”

She noticed that someone was still in the bathroom of the plane. “Excuse me,” she said. “Will whoever is in the lavatory please come out, we need to take off.” 5-10 minutes went by and no one came out. She then ran to the back of the plane and started beating on the door. Still nothing. This is when Jayna whispered, “That’s going to be one hell of a walk of shame.” As we finished getting to the runway, a man exited the bathroom and sat back down.

We thought we were ready to go then we heard, “Passengers, this is the flight deck. We are experiencing a few mechanical issues and need to return to the terminal to check them out. Sorry for the delays.”

And so we turned around, and went back to the terminal. I looked out the window and saw 3 different cars heading our way. Officia-looking people stepped out and pretty soon the door to the plane opened. In came TSA agents, Police and other mechanic-looking people. A few men took the man and removed him from the plane. Then more mechanics, and even an undercover Air Marshal who was on the plane went back to the bathroom to check it out.

After another 30 minutes, the pilot came on again and thanked us for our patience. We taxied back out to the runway and took off.

We finally made it to LA! LAX is a big airport. Everyone seemed to be having something interesting going on. Jayna and I walked through the terminal looking around at everybody, and in my mind all I could hear was “Party in the USA” playing. Damn you, Miley, damn you.

The studio was about 20 minutes away from the airport, but once we got there we got right to work. Since Decemeber, Jayna and I have been hard at work writing new material for the album, which resulted in over 20 new songs. After arriving at the studio, we immediately sat down with producer David Baker and started going through the tracks, discussing the direction of the album, and finally settling on what we believe are the 10 best tracks.

DEATH OF PARIS TV EPISODE #4:

By that time our excitement from the newness of LA had dissipated into jetlag and lack of sleep, so we passed out in our band bungalow/dorm. Did we mention how ridiculous this studio is??

DEATH OF PARIS EPISODE #5:

May 3rd, 2010
Waking up was easy enough, but I can see now that my allergies are going to have a field day here. Apparently as Baker says, the Santa Ana winds blow some mean dust down from the hills and make it nasty on the senses – but it’s still got nothing on the death grip of Columbia’s pollen. Today was the day we got right to work on the songs, and that meant now that we had to go over each song we chose with a fine-toothed comb, deciding what kinds of sounds we wanted to use in each part of each song. Things to be considered: different instrumental arrangements, what songs needed electronic drum arrangements vs. the live drums, new vocal melodies, and overall mapping out the guitar sounds. Keep in mind – ONLY Jayna and I flew out to make this record, and because this is our new musical venture, we felt it needed to be solely us to actually make the record so that it could be exactly that – distinctly us.
We also decided what needed to be reworked and rewritten.

As I said in Episode #4, we are bringing back some old songs, and recording them in ways you’ve never heard before. We’ve made it a point to say “Death of Paris – new band, new sound, etc” but Jayna and I were the writing force behind This Machine is Me and we felt that sometimes our songs went in other directions than we had intended them to. This time around, we are giving songs like “Models & Bottles,” “Narcoleptic,” “Rome is Burning,” and Jayna’s personal favorite “Choke,” the attention and the direction that has been a long time coming. It was a very difficult decision for us to include TMIM songs on this record, for fear of what people might say – “they just changed their name” “they’re milking TMIM songs” etc. etc. But ultimately, these are some of the strongest songs that we have written and they need to be heard outside of Columbia, too. We aren’t just rerecording them either – you will be surprised.

Whereas “Choke” was an all out rock song before, it may become a little more raw and intimate, as Jayna originally intended. “Rome” is going to bring together a barrage of different instrumentation, from standard guitars and drums, to wurlitzers, rhodes, maybe even xylophone. All this was part of preproduction, which is one of the most laboring parts of the recording process, of what Baker says is often neglected by many producers and artists. But after spending over 18 hours in the studio our first day, we know that we are completely in the right hands and we wouldn’t want anyone else but David Baker (a Columbia native himself) to be bringing these songs to life.

May 4th, 2010
With scratch tracks done, we had to wait until Killingsworth producer, studio musician, and LA based band Scarlet Grey’s drummer Keith Cooper was free to be able to track drums for us. Everything else on the album will be played by Jayna and I, so we go to work tracking keyboards and guitar for a brand new song called “East or West.” First Baker had me lay down the backing synth pad to it, a really dark, deep, bassy chord progression that makes up the entire song. This song is going to be simple in the way it is only one chord progression, but much like how OneRepublic does their songs, it’s the dynamics and instrumentation that makes the songs really stand out. This song is unique because it was one of the first songs Jayna and I wrote after TMIM dissolved. The song itself is about standing at a point where you have two directions to go or two choices to take. One choice can lead you to progress and to excel, to move away from what you left behind and be better because of it. The other choice is to ultimately fail, and to let other’s down in your failure. It was very important to both of us to write so soon after TMIM broke up because we knew that for some, a band breakup could mean the end, but for some it doesn’t have to be that way. The song “East or West” is in a way, a message to many bands that have come and gone in Columbia – ultimately it’s not about you as a musician, bands don’t seem to think about the fans they are letting down by their giving up. And those people deserve a band they can count on.

After laying down the chord progression we added more synth leads, arpreggios and lead and rhythm guitars. Baker had me lay down 4 of the same guitar tracks that we are layering together for the choruses, and now they sound so huge. We worked on synth leads until midnight, and it left us with a few more things left to do instrumentally for the song. For tomorrow, we will most likely be finishing the instruments on “East or West,” and moving on to the next song.

DEATH OF PARIS EPISODE #6:

May 5th, 2010
Cinco de Mayo is an awesome holiday, and while it might not be Mexico’s Independence Day, I couldn’t pass up celebrating. I mean, we are in Taco Central, CA, so we have to celebrate. We started the day off by listening to “East or West” and figuring out what we would need to finish on it. Baker wanted me to retrack some guitars and then finish some synth parts on the bridge. We worked on the song all day, finishing all the guitar work before we took a dinner break. The whole time we were tracking, I was thinking “Man, all my friends are celebrating Cinco de Mayo today, and I really want to go celebrate too.” We took a walk down the road and came across an awesome mexican restaurant called “El Chavo.” It’s small, with only 5 or 6 tables, but the food was delicious! They even fried their own tortillas to make the tacos. We might even be back before we leave.

After dinner, we came back to find Baker already working on the track, and this time drums had been added. The song sounds so good! All it needed was the bridge to be finished, which is what we worked on for the rest of the night. At around 1am, the bridge was finished, but who knows what tomorrow will bring. Baker might want us to add more. Next song coming up: “connect the dots”

Thanks so much for taking the time to catch up on what we’re doing! More posts soon. We can’t wait to come back to Columbia and share our new music with you!!!

-Jayna and Blake, Death of Paris

Your favorite song about evolution and religion Monkey Lovin

02 Monkey Lovin’

If there is one thing you can count on every year, it is A) American Gun will be playing a show at Art Bar on Valentines day and 2) Todd Mathis and Kevin Kimbrell will be hammered at that show.  Some say they are hammered because they miss playing Monkey Lovin’ live, others say it is a self protective numbing feature to be able to endure the constant heckling from the crowd.  I have to agree with both reasons.  Either way we can’t shake these bastards on singles awareness day.

Here is what American Gun had to say about it.

While Stretch Armstrong plays another farewell show,Baumer are gone, The Machine Is Me couldn’t hack it, Marry A Thief are calling it quits, American Gun is still around. You just can’t seem to get rid of these bastards can you Columbia? Even with all the bullshit excuses like the tanking economy, creative differences, line-up changes, whatever, we get drunk, bitch, and half kill each other every 6 months or so but are still alive and kicking. With the departure of founding member Donald Merckle, (forestry sabbatical) the band will perform its first show as a 4-piece on February 13th at the Art Bar. An all electric American Gun promises to be as raucous as before. Oh, and who the hell are Magnetic Flowers?

Day 2 – Westgate Mall, Spartanburg, SC
I’m beginning to feel like a shopaholic. In the past 3 days, we’ve been in 3 very different malls. While Rock Hill’s
Mall seemed pretty slow for a Tuesday, Westgate Mall in Spartanburg proved pretty surprising for only being a Wednesday. When we’ve done Hot Topic events in Columbia, people would usually wait until we had played the full set and then approached us afterward, but here in Spartanburg, a group of people actually started looking over our merch table and then, right in the middle of our set, asked if we could sign some posters and CDs they had bought.
It was a really cool feeling, and while we made sure to let them know that the CD versions of the songs would be
vastly different from the stripped down acoustic versions we were playing, they still wanted to buy them after Hot
Topic played the CD over their store speakers.
This week we are lucky to have Jayna’s relatives in Greenville to crash with, otherwise we would be looking at some costly hotel expenses. After the Spartanburg show, we drove 30 minutes to Greenville and relaxed. As you’ll see in the videos at the end of this, we are all card playing fiends, especially Jayna. I repeat, DO NOT let her fool you into thinking she is just learning, SHE IS A PRO and will take your money.

Day 3 – Haywood Mall, Greenville, SC

This was easily the biggest mall yet, with two stories of shops and kiosks. We’ve been carrying around one of our HUGE PA speakers to play keys, vocals and guitars through, and the first two stops killed me and Scott lugging the gigantic speaker around the mall. Malls, for some reason, only seem to be made to walk into easily when you have nothing and walk out easily when you have something. After learning our lesson from the first two stops, me and Scott were able to get a hand truck from Brandon, store manager at Haywood and it made life so much easier.

Everyone working at this store was so friendly and engaging. As soon as we walked in, they had already begun playing our CD on the speakers for people to hear, as well as telling everyone to stick around for our set. While Scott and Jayna finished setting up the merch table, I went to look for a bathroom and ended up walking about a mile down the mall. I don’t know why I walked that far, but I just kept following the signs and they led me all the way around the mall to the food court. I got back and it was 15 minutes after we were supposed to begin. That’s when the Hot Topic employees informed me of a bathroom conveniently located downstairs. I felt dumb. Luckily, my trip across the mall let me know just how many snack and food eateries exist at Haywood Mall, probably more than any mall I’ve ever been in. Whether you like Godiva Chocolates, Candy Corn or Tea, there is a store that somehow suits it.

This set went great, we were able to teach some kids to sing along to the chorus to “11+2=12+1” and they ended up stopping us (again) midset for some signage and purchases. I don’t know whether or not it was the location of this store being on the second floor or what, but they actually asked us to turn everything up louder, so we happily obliged. Because of that, a bunch more people heard us from outside and walked in, with Robin from Hot Topic ushering them inside.

It was sad times leaving Jayna’s aunt’s place, but we told them we will be back. After all, we are playing at The Channel in Greenville on July 31 anyway.

Onto Augusta Mall, which, according to Robin at Haywood Mall, is her second favorite Hot Topic people. (1st being the Columbia store (duh.))

Hopefully our bros in Say Vandelay can make it out to see us there before they hit up warped tour this year.

So here we are, and the first day is done. Our first destination of the tour was the The Galleria in Rock Hill, which is conveniently located right off of I-77, only about an hour or so from Columbia. Touring Hot Topic’s verses regular venues is a whole new concept to us, and because of that, we have to take it in a very different way.
For one, none of these gigs are paying, so it is vital that everyone in the band reaches out to any and all people who come to see the show. Merchandise is key here, and it will be for the next two weeks. If we don’t sell enough of it, we may run out of money for gas to get to the next place. Luckily, I have a plan, for everyone who purchases a Dance Fever Shirt/CD/Poster Combo for $18, i’m going to give them an additional CD to give to a friend.

Rock Hill generated about as much volume as a town like Rock Hill could do on a Tuesday night. We shared some funny stories about how our friends in the band The Stellas all look like movie stars, and the people in the audience who knew of them totally agreed. Video of all of this will come at the very end in a big montage kind of deal like in all the 90′s teen movies.

Well, we’re about to head to Westgate Mall for round 2. Let’s see what happens.

TMIM

There is nothing more American than Synth Rock, Apple Pie and the melting pot which is Art Bar.  It is a little known fact that Blake Arambula loves apple pie.  He has even been known to slip a slice of cheese on top when no one is looking.

Our founding fathers were all fans of music and if they had IPods in the late 1700′s they would definitely have the latest EP from This Machine Is Me.  It was only 233 years ago that 4 men left from Columbia, only a block from where Art Bar is now, to declare our independence.  They put their John Hancock right there beside, well Herbie Hancocks’.  When the young Edward Rutledge took the old horse and carriage up to Washington he introduced the old timers Thomas Heyward Jr., Thomas Lynch Jr. and Arthur Middleton to the new music of the 70′s, the 1770′s.  It is quite funny because the music he introduced to them wasn’t that much different than a stripped down version of The Reason Your Listening, Drew Jacobs, Ruby Blue and the Isnauts and The Lights, Fluorescent.  They were all songs, hip for their time, they had melodies, a song structure and were built of some sort of call and refrain.  Since the ride was too bumpy for their wind up record player, the group of trailblazers stuck to sing alongs.  The legend is they sang Models and Bottles over 100 times on the trip.

The Restoration was replaced on this show by Ruby Blue and The Isnauts.  An adventurous band featuring some of the same members as The Restoration.  Think indie rock with a female singer like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  They too will be in costume as The Restoration always is.

I hope this Independence Day goes better than the movie did.  Those aliens were trouble.

Blake really does love apple pie and Edward Rutledge was young when he signed the Declaration of independence, but after that not much of this is true.

WXRY Unsigned 8-9 PM

I am going on 99.3 WXRY Unsigned tonight from 8-9 to talk about Scene’s First Birthday Bash going down July 9th at New Brookland Tavern.  I really hope this goes better than my real first birthday where I am pretty sure I crapped my Huggies and cried in front of all of my extended family.  For my family that is reading this don’t get that mixed up with my 14th birthday.

Anyways, I am really excited about the 4 bands we got to celebrate our first birthday.  For our kick off party last November we got our friends Phil Windsor, Marry a Thief, This Machine is Me and The Decade to play and promote our cause.  For our First Birthday we have 4 more great bands that I can’t wait to reveal to you tonight on WXRY.  You’ll have to tune in to find out who they are.

This Machine is Me has made it a habit to be one of the best promoting bands in Columbia.  In the last year they have been featured on Scene SC, in The Free Times, The State paper, The Daily Gamecock and Garnet and Black magazine.  They have been on WXRY a couple of times, WUSC a couple of times, played acoustic shows in Russell House, had student projects done about them and they are now playing their second acoustic meet and greet at Hot Topic.

This Friday from 4-6 PM This Machine is Me will be playing a couple of acoustic songs and giving out free adolescent advice at the Hot Topic at Columbiana.  This is all in promotion of one of their summer blowout shows June 20th at New Brookland Tavern with The Decade, Say Vandelay, O’Verona and Man with a Gun.  I say one of their blowout Summer Shows because again on July 4th they will be at Art Bar with The Restoration,The Reason Your Listening, The Dirty Eighties, Twilight Armada and The Lights, Fluorescent.

O’Verona was at the same Hot Topic last week promoting this show also.  Videos from that event can be found on their myspace.  I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting how many people will be at shows and according to my expert calculations I am predicting 234 at the June 20th show.

For tickets to the June 20th show you can either call Byron at 803 606 2256 or purchase them at the meet and greet for $5.

Written By-Bakari

Cayla Fralick-Just as Quietly from Scene SC on Vimeo.

So. I went to USC’s Acoustic Cafe last night, and it was pretty fantastic. Everyone who played impressed me, I must say.

Cayla Fralick
Andy Lehman
Cherry Case
This Machine is Me.

My wife Cayla Fralick was up first, and was spectacular. I’ve never actually listened to her perform and wasn’t surprised that she was amazing, because I’ve heard such great things about her music. All of them were true. Her voice is airy while continuing to be captivating which makes it so amazing.

Andy Lehman was next. Andy Lehman is from Greenville, South Carolina, and I had never heard of him until this acoustic show. He was rather good. I really enjoyed the power and range of his voice. His guitar skills also impressed me. He knows how to rock a Tele. I was so impressed that I asked him to send his album to the station (WUSC) and he gave me one on the spot! I will be sure to review his album, “Landline” as soon as possible as to get it put into rotation. I will also add an album review to Scene SC, which I now am a staff member for!

I had heard of Cherry Case once before, but have never heard them play. I must say their set was quite interesting. I’m slightly intrigued and I’d love to hear them again.

This Machine Is Me-Starbucks In Russell House from Scene SC on Vimeo.

This Machine is Me played last. I yelled at Blake to take his glasses off, and he obliged. Then he replaced them. Anyway, they did a pretty good acoustic set. Jayna’s voice sounded really good, and the guitars were tight on. Blake also did a vocal solo on one of the covers. It was rather enchanting.

Personally, I love the Acoustic Cafes. I think they’re a great way to learn of the awesome talent on campus and off. I seriously urge everyone to at least check out one Acoustic Cafe this year.