Last night Patrick and Bruce surprised me with a dinner trip to PF CHANGS!! Woot Woot!! Someone had given them a gift card to use and they wanted to save it till I returned. (thanks boys) It was a nice break to put down our instruments and thoughts about our next record. It’s really healthy to step back from something you’ve really been invested in. I think it helps you regain the picture in its entirety and return to work on it with a rekindled passion. Including food in the stepping back is always a plus too!

We boys are curious as to what you kids out there do to unwind, re-juvinate, to re-inspire. So give us a shout if you want to share or have recommendations that we could try out!

We ended the night with Frosties..MMmmm….Frosties & Fries

Today we met with our good friend Nick Lambert from Seven Years Absence to discuss a tour we’re planning during the month of August. The first time we set on the road for a tour we teamed up with these SYA boys and we had such a blast that we felt sorrow when it came to an end.

We met at The Shop which is a renovated mechanics shop turned cafe. We each got this amazing veggie sandwich with veggies and hummus on the side, it seemed to be the only thing to tame the 100 degree weather. YIKES!

On the calender of future dates we are working on touring in August and recording our next record during the month of September. That means by earliest we could have a new record out at the end of October. That is the ruff idea right now but know this, we are the most eager we’ve ever been to get this next record out. We like these new songs more than what we’ve ever written and I think that is a good sign!

Friends! I’m excited to share the currents of GV in my first blog back with Tric and Bruce. We’ve been apart for several months and are now back in the same state, van, kitchen, and each others tangible love! Woot Woot!

My dear brother Benjamin Panigot has lent me his D70 Nikon camera for awhile and I shall be posting as often as I can with current visuals so keep coming back to see the latest. There is going to be a lot to keep up with as we are preparing for our next record.

Tric & I are currently celebrating over our new instrumental additions to the band: Cowbell and Dr. Z amp head YUM!

This past Friday we dove into heavy amounts of new piano tunes that have great classical and jazz elements to them. We also are playing around with 2 keyboards at once. I’m on the piano and Bruce is utilizing Fender Rhodes and Clavinet sounds. Here are the titles of a few of the new songs.

1: Kick It On Back
2: I Will Await Your Peace
3: Two Ships a’Passin’
4: Pick Up Arms
5: Tips of Your Hands

We also have more untitled piano songs in the works. They have a bit of my classical upbringing showing through. I was privileged to take 12 years of piano lessons (thanks mom) in which I discovered my great joy of Bach and his piano pieces called Inventions. They were very detailed with counter melodies intertwining and different rhythms in left and right hand from beginning to end. I’m taking some of Bach’s’ influences into some of these new tunes and mixing it into our natural jazzy selves. :D

We can’t wait to share and will be debuting the new tunes for our next record at our July 18 show at the Caterina Winery in Spokane.

Please keep close as we’ll be sharing our steps in releasing our next record in many future blogs!

I’d like to hear a song so beautiful that I’d tear up, but I can’t think of any right now, and that’s a little disappointing. So I’m listening to “I’m Nowhere and You’re Everything” by Chris Thile, because it’s pretty close.

Yesterday I listened to over half an hour of “The Look of Love” by Burt Bacharach. I heard it performed by the Zombies, Dusty Springfield, Sergio Mendes, Diana Krall, Burt Bacharach, Isaac Hayes, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Nina Simone, and a couple other people. It’s interesting hearing so many different versions of one song.

Pretty much, Burt Bacharach is an amazing songwriter. I’d probably say that a lot more, except that he also wrote “What’s New, Pussy Cat?”, which has to be the worst song written in the last century.

So after listening to the song, I found the chords online and tried to play it on piano, but I couldn’t figure it out. I’ve been trying to play more jazz-type pieces. Today I attempted “Aguas de Marco (Waters of March)” – my favorite bossa nova piece – by Antonio Carlos Jobim, and I could only play the first line. That song has 34 chords in it, no joke! So maybe I’ll be able to play it around Christmas time.

Today Patrick and I had one of our best duo practices yet (Tommy isn’t here till Thursday). We started on bass and drums, and then I moved to piano.

We’ve been watching plenty jazz drumming videos; solos by Max Roach, Buddy Rich, Art Blakey and the like. They are inspiring.

Right now my tone on my bass amp is the best it’s ever been. When i strum up around the 24th fret, it sounds like a guitar because it has a bit of natural overdrive. I’ll be using that for sure.

We’ve been working on these pieces: Pick Up Arms, Among Lions, He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord, an untitled piece, and a couple others. Patrick has been playing tuba a lot. Otherwise, we’re just working on technique, honing our skills until Tommy arrives.

More words soon.

Good night,

Bruce