Peace and Love and Mikey Stevens

Drums! I can’t play them. Lucky for me, my good friend and UPTONES bandmate Mikey Stevens, plays them extremely well. I did this record sort of in reverse, relative to your standard guitar-rock type recording method. That is, I recorded the guitars and vocals first, then added bass and drums. The tracks actually sat for a while as I scratched my head thinking, “good lord, how am I supposed to add drums to this?!” I tried doing it myself, with a digital drum-trigger tool called a “HandSonic.” That was fun but I couldn’t get it to feel right. I also didn’t want to program the drums – even though tools to do that are pretty amazing these days – because no, Sam I Am, I do not like them on my rock ‘n roll Jams! I wanted a human baddass drumming person with limbs, ears and a heartbeat. Enter Mikey, whom I have done many UPTONES gigs and recordings with, with his sweet Ludwig drum set from like, 1950 or something. He set it up in Michael Rosen’s studio and played to the tracks, while I played bass. We rocked out and put it all down in an afternoon. Then like magic it sounded like a rock n’ roll record! It was really fun. I like fun.

Mr. Stevens runs Lost Monkey Studio in Hayward, CA, and among other amazing tricks, he’ll add live drums to your tracks and send ’em back to you via the newfangled Internets. We actually did a new one like this just recently, and I love how it sounds! So that’ll be on Peace and Love and Rock and Roll part Deux. Each track, each song in life, follows its own rules, and I have a few new ones in the works that I am excited about, including one, which started with (gasp!) programmed drums! (Huh!?) More on that later 😉

OK, I’m out! Thank you Mikey for the wonderful tracks and years of collaboration in and out of The UPTONES. You rock mieces to pieces.

Ladeeeeez and gents, Peace and Love and Rock and Roll part 1 – is available, only…… HERE!! –>

Downloads:




CDs:





Oh, a picture! I have to add a picture or this wont play nice with the socialnets. OK, here’s Mikey onstage with The UPTONES, in 2008 at the East Bay Express “Best Of The Bay” shindig. He is shrouded in mist and fiery stage lights, but I promise you, that’s him! Bye for now, E

Peace and Love and Shannon Wheeler

In 2016 I made this record. I sent the title track to my friend Shannon Wheeler, and asked him to draw a cover for it. He sent me a sketch of a dude surfing on a guitar. I was ready to use the sketch, but he insisted I send him a picture of my guitar. The result you see here! I love what he did. Thanks, Shannon!

“Peace and Love and Rock and Roll” started as an album title. I wasn’t planning on a title track. But the song came to me one night, and I recorded the guitars and vocals at home. Added my bass and Mikey Stevens’ drums and percussion at Michael Rosen’s studio.

I’ll follow this with similarly titled posts about the rest of the beautiful cats who worked on this record. And some posts about the songs. Shannon and I have been friends since high school. I was a fan of his comic, Too Much Coffee Man, before I even realized the author was my old friend! Life is full of surprises.

I ordered some more CDs, will have them soon, so have at it if you want a physical copy. The digital download version is available 24/7, and if you buy the CD, you get the download as well of course.

Downloads here:




CDs here!->





Last Call For 1st Run of CDs!

Wonders never cease, I’m almost out of CDs. Got 5 left so have at it if’n you’d like one! The download version is still avail in abundance because the little hamsters that run teh Inertnets make them to order infinitely. It’s also come to my attention that there’s no picture of me on this site, apart from my Gravatar and the lovely little likeness on the record cover by Shannon Wheeler. As such I have uploaded a high-gloss studio shot of me playing guitar on a sound stage with wind blowing through my hair. No, wait! It’s a sideways grainy selfie of me with a cat on my head! There’s a madness to my method. Here are fancy PayPal buttons. Downloads here:





CDs here!->





HUGE THANKS to everyone who has purchased this lil’ slab of Peace and Love and Rock and Roll, and for your kind feedback. Part 2 is in progress and your support motivates me to do more. There are some remixes from some of my genius mixmaster friends also in the works, and I’ll add them to the download page as they arrive!

Might I add, this is fun. Making this record helped me get through the events of 2016, personal and global, and I hope my humble contributions give some joy and fun and entertainment to you and yours.

Peace and Love and Rock and Roll forever,

Thine,

Eric Din

Hot Off The Presses!

Peace and Love and Rock and Roll part 1, 4-song EP is now in my paws! You can order the digital version for instant delivery using the handy PayPal button below. Like magic you’ll be delivered to the EP page where you can stream or download the tunes, artwork, read the lyrics and credits etc. It’s $4.00 for the download / web version! Thar she blows:




Wait, you want an actual CD?!

Well if so, you’re in luck because I made a small batch. I set the price at $20, as it’s a super-limited edition, and this includes shipping & handling. You’ll also automatically get access to the EP page for instant rocking. There’s an option in the order form if you want me to sign your CD cover, I’d be happy to personalize it to you, your sweetie, your dachshund.. just let me know to whom, and I’ll get it right out to you! Here’s a PayPal button for the CD:





UPDATE June 28, 2017!
Added my new track “The Laughing Man” to the EP page, and will add more tracks there as I finish them, til Peace and Love and Rock and Roll, the album, is complete! So if you buy the EP you my new stuff as it’s created. So there ya go 🙂 <3 Din