The Chop plays the Doug Fir in Portland

We played an awesome show at Doug Fir Lounge in Portland last week!  The venue is a log cabin with amazing sound and killer decor.  Phil (ex-Chopsmen and dear friend) was on a business trip in San Francisco (he lives in Philadelphia these days), came along for the ride to Portland, and then jumped up and played some of the old songs with us.  The whole night went smashingly.  Thanks to everyone who helped make that happen.  

Here's some pictures of us onstage, courtesy of Marty.

Hop-along Tommy!

Cavernous ceilings make my voice sound way better!

"Horsing around" in the green room, which (consequently) was as big as many of the clubs' (main rooms) we've played in the not so distant past and was also stocked with RedBull (Tom was in heaven) and other goodies.

what's that?  I can't hear you.

Recording Procedures, Technical Post

While the rest of San Francisco was enjoying the near ridiculously beautiful weather last weekend, The Chop was holed up deep in Oakland's industrial sprawl recording (you guessed it) timeless tracks.

We went in on Friday, got all the microphones setup (this takes something in the neighborhood of a few hours) and then came in all day Saturday and Sunday to track six new songs we've been working on.  We're going to do some more work on these and then make them digitally available in the next little while.

A few highlights:

James struggles through a particularly grueling "clap" track.

Tom cocks his head to better hear that minor 6th harmony he laid down.

Rob grits his teeth and wishes he was playing Arkanoid

Aaron's tenacious dome oversees all!