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Tiger Army: Wow. I didn’t realize that it’s been over a month since I last wrote from the studio! If you knew how hard we’ve been working, you wouldn’t blame me. The good news is, as of Wednesday evening, recording for the album is basically done! I say “basically” because I still have to do a vocal for a non-album b-side at some point, but it still feels like a huge hurdle has been leapt.

While we are finished recording for the album, we are by no means finished in the studio ?? the mixing process has just begun. It started yesterday, and will last for about a week and a half total. Yesterday, we moved to our third and final studio of the record for that purpose. Today was grey, rainy and distinctly atypical of Southern California.

For me, mixing has always been the fun part of the album. There’s a good deal of stress in trying to nail a difficult guitar or vocal part, but in the mixing process, you can sit back and take in what’s been created, it’s about figuring out just the right way to present all a songs elements to the world. What’s even nicer this time around is that since our producer Jerry Finn is as renowned for his mixing as he is for his producing, that’s even less pressure on my shoulders that we’ll get great results.

The first mix is already done for a song called “Where the Moss Slowly Grows.” On this album, once again we were lucky enough to have the incredible talent of Greg Leisz on the pedal steel guitar. While he’s played with many artists more widely known than we, Tiger Army fans will recognize his name & playing from the songs “Outlaw Heart,” “In the Orchard” and “The Long Road.” That’s something we’re asked before every record “Will there be a song in the style of “Outlaw Heart” or “In the Orchard?” The answer, and you heard it here first, is “Yes, there is.” Donny Nemarnik, who’s accompanied us on our last few tours as pedal steel player and guitar tech, was bummed not because he wasn’t playing, but because he couldn’t make it to the studio on the day Greg was recording, he’s a fan of his playing.

Speaking of guests, there are quite a few on this record. Another fun thing in recording are “backup days,” the days when you have friends come by to contribute backup vocals to various songs. Davey Havok of AFI, longtime Morrissey co-songwriter Alain Whyte, Brandan Schieppati of Bleeding Through, Dan Smith of The Dear & Departed are but a few of the friends who came by to lend a hand, or in this case, a throat. They all did an amazing job.

I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am about this record. The album is called Music From Regions Beyond and it comes out June 5th. That’s my Mom’s birthday, so it seems like a lucky day for a release date. It can’t get here quickly enough.

Always,
n13
TAND