Drop by here for info straight from the Shanester about the progress of their recording. This should be helpful to y'all!
HAPPY DAY...HAPPY DAY....HAPPY DAY.....HAPPY DAY..... HAPPY DAY...HAPPY DAY....
I am picking up my girlfriend from the Los Angeles airport this morning at 10 o'clock. It has been a long while since we have been together so i will be bowing out of this universe for about a week. For anyone who has ever been in a long distance relationship before, im sure my departing for the next week is something that you can relate to very easily. I will be back in full swing in about a week. Thanks for understanding...
Heres a little trivia while i am away.....
What was Shanes first and only drum teachers name? What did Shane always do when he had to practice?
What was Shads first actual guitar? Who was his guitar teacher? Where were his lessons at?
Good luck, and may the best person get the correct answers...
Today was quite an interesting day. Shad and i had a couple meetings today regarding the official SHAD HILLS BAND web page. We met with our photographer(Jason Schmitz) and let him in on some of the ideas we have for our web page and just wanted to see what we need to get video on the page. I believe it was Erika awhile back who wrote to me and told me about how it is all done but you know me and computer lingo.........
Our page will be a host for the most recent up to date information regarding everything imaginable. New piics will be on almost every week and as soon as we are all set to go full ahead with the release of the record, we will be starting up an official SHAD HILLS BAND fan club. As a member of THE OFFICIAL SHAD HILLS BAND FAN CLUB, Members will recieve unreleased music that only members will be able to recieve, SHAD HILLS BAND laminated club cards, SHAD HILLS BAND members only posters....and much much more.....To be quite honest with all of you who have supported us from the very beginning i am Sooooooooooo excited to be able to do great things for you all. I am truly having a great time with all of you and you can bet that this band will go the full distance for anyone who takes the time to give us a shot at being one of the bands that settle into your cd collection...Much more details about THE OFFICIAL SHAD HILLS BAND web page will be available in the near future....Sorry for any inconvenience. The web address when finished will of course be www.shadhillsband.com
Ok, i would like to extend my journal today to thank two HUGE SHB supporters. Last week Kim Jopke(www.angelfire.com/wi/shaneshad/index.html) from EauClair, Wisconsin, flew into Los Angeles to meet up with another SHB supporter "Christy". Christy resides in Ventura county, just outside of L.A. county.
Through the powers that be, Kim and Christy had a little extra time today and decided to drive down to Los Angeles a little adventure of sorts. I got in contact with them and we decided to meet them both for dinner. Since it was short notice, we just decided to go to rock n roll Dennys on sunset strip in Hollywood. We talked about are plans for the future, signed some goofy notes in her book and got a little feedback from them both on things they like when it comes to bands of today.....Thank you both for your input and just hangin out....After dinner Shad and i had to get back to the studio for a meeting with the fabulous Producers"B&K".......Im sure that Kim will have some pics and other stuff on her web page regarding her L.A,SHB trip. Check out what she thought of her vacation,,,,,www.angelfire.com/wi/shaneshad/index.html
After rehearsing my butt off again for like the umpteenth time in a row Shad and I got together at a cool little dinner spot in NoHo to discuss what thoughts we have for the album cover. Of course there are a million ideas that have been swirling in our heads and we are just not sure what we want to see on the cover. We need to hear some feed back from you all on something. Do you remember back in the day when cds did not exist and records were the happening form of music. Well, im sure not all of you remember that but some of you out there must remember when records were popular. I remember when I bought records and they always came with posters or little bubble gums or stickers, sometimes the album popped up, and even on the Rolling stones album cover they had a real zipper on the album cover attatched to a picture of a pair of pants. I ask you, in this day and age,with cds being the most popular form of music around, What would you like to see a little extra of when you buy a cd? Do you long for that piece of gum inside? How about like a hockey card thingy? What would you like to see? I was just wondering your thoughts on this. Or do you even care? Does it matter to you if you get a little something extra in a cd case? Let me know what you think on this subject. I know that I miss getting neat little extras when it comes to buying music. Ok well with that said………..
It looks as though Recording will start up again Next week. We have worked out a lot of parts that we needed to work out and we are ready to get back in The Hideout and lay them all down to tape. As soon as we get back in there I will be sure to let you all know how it is going. You know that goes without saying. . .. .. . . . . ……………..
Ok,, So did you see Party of five tonight? Isn't this show just getting way to good. Bailey is well on his way to completely tearing the family apart due to his infatuation with Slowen, oops, I mean Owen. LOL. Thank god Julia finally got a clue and left that jerk Ned(the beater). I cant stop wondering how long that will actually last. It was just so easy for her to leave him that I know this thing between them is not over yet. Cant wait to see where it goes….And whats up with Charlie? Isnt it about time he takes Bailey outside to give him a knuckle sandwich? I think so..
I have been sweating it out in rehearsals lately trying to come up with some of my most interesting drum ideas for this record. Shad has backed off a little bit so I could just focus on coming up with some of the coolest stuff on the drums and my machines. While I have been pounding away in the studio rehearsing all my parts, Shad has been constantly writing more and more songs. I believe that the most important and best thing about this record that we are recording is that it is a record that we can take are time on and make sure we can do our best job so that when you hear it,you will know that our time, as well as yours was well spent. After rehearsing today I went over to Shads house and we worked on a lot of the mailing list stuff we have goin on. It wont be to long from now until everyone on our list gets some neat stuff in the mail. Shad and I are also planning out a touring route for when we go on the road. We were thinking about starting off playing at all the Hard Rock cafes in the U.S. Soooo, if there is one that you would like to see us play at by all means let us know and we will be sure to get to it and play for ya. I have played the Hard Rocks in the past and they are a blast to play a concert at. Its up close and personel. It will be a good way to kick off the forever long tour. We would love to hear some of your ideas on cool places that you like to see a band play at when they come to your town. Not the smallest, and not the biggest, just the coolest place you have watched a band play, and what band it was that you went to see……….
I spent the day working on the mailing list and Shad spent the wjole day with our graphics designer Devin. The official SHAD HILLS BAND web page is now in the works. The foundations have been layed and it is going to be a great page with lots of new and creative ideas hosted by a team of Shad Hills Band family members from the Los Angeles division. If there is anything you want to see on the page make sure that you let us know and all will be considered. The page is not available yet, its just in the works. The wheels are turning babyyyy. You will all be notified when it will be activaded for all to see. The address of course will be www.shadhillsband.com
Make sure that when you visit the page that you sign our guest book and everything else we will have available for you to join, comment on or submit your ideas to. Oh and by the way, our good friend Meegie (Shad Hills Band family member,Jacksonville,FL Division) has just finished her new page and it would be nice of you all to go and visit her web page and mayby even sign her guest book. She has worked hard on it and I know that she would appreciate it if you dropped by and left her your comments about her page. The address is http://members.tripod.com/VaselineMouth So please drop in and leave a couple words. Thanks Meegie for your hard work.
Ok kiddies and kidets, grab your popcorn and gummy bears and get yourself ready for……that's right……..you guessed it………Part Of Five……..
It appears that our little friend Ned is gonna get his naked ass ripped out of the shower by either bailey or Charlie. I predict that Charlie loses his marbles after he finds out that this creep has been beating on his sister. Then he will be mad at julia for letting it all happen. And then before the show ends Bailey and Charlie will have a fistfight over who gets custody of their little brother owen……….I know im right…….LOL
Shad predicts that Julia will get real pissed off for her brothers interference, and still , will not yet learn, and will run off with Ned (the beater) once again. Shad also predicts that the fued will continue on between Bailey and Charlie over the custody of owen, and will continue on into future episodes. Shad feels that Bailey will prevail…..
There ya go folks…….I gotta get ready for the main event. Hope it turns out just the way you want it to……….Till our next update, stay real…..keep the peace, and be good to your mom……….
I would like to also thank Kristina Carpenter(Shad Hills Band family member. Largo, FL Division). She has also worked very hard on the Vaseline Mouth web page with Meegie........Thnk you both.........And Erin Bristwistle(Shad Hills Band family member. Ottawa, Canada Division) has started up a new and exciting Shad Hills Band fan club for all of us to enjoy. Erin i apoligize for not having that address at the moment....This is a very worthy page and i would urge you all to check out her hard work....Mail Erin at hope111_love@hotmail.com and she will gladly supply you with that address.....I will get it for you as quick as possible for all of you as well.....
The hideout was a pretty busy dwelling today. This afternoon,the infamous"Kenny Meredith" arrived right on schedule to grace us with his wild guitar antics. Kenny layed down numerous guitar tracks for the song"ORDINARY DAY". Most of the tracks that Brian Reeves and Kevin Anderson caught on tape were recorded from an acoustic guitar. One of the guitars that just hummed like a little baby was this classic Guild acoustic guitar, This baby has a nice dark cherry wood finish that screams vintage. It looks just as young as it did when it was born back in the year 1971(same year Shad was born). A great guitar for any player. The day was just spent with Kenny tracking and experimenting with new sounds on the song"ORDINARY DAY". There was a lot of great ideas caught on tape to say the least. This will be one of the songs that we will be releasing on MP3, I know you will love this song, it is one of my favorites(this week) LOL……
I must apoligize for being a little absent lately. Everyone has kept me soooo busy that it just doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day anymore. We have some of the Coolest web pages popping up all over the place and with all these springing up we need to keep up with everyone. Wow, what a week it has been. The Shad Hills Band had rehearsals all this week. We had to work out a lot of new material for some recording coming up. As well as recording, we are focusing on how we are going to be presenting you all the music live. We want to make sure that it is balls to the walls when you come out and invest your time in seeing a Shad Hills Band concert. This involves making sure that the set list of songs are all in the right order, and that we don't have any dead space between songs if we don't need it. Some space is good to have, but a lot kinda slows things down a little. We have also been getting things out to our web masters and everyone who is involved in the "Hills" family. Some of you may have already received a little somethin somethin in the mail, if you havent yet, it will be in soon. We are still working on the entire mailing list so everyone please bare with us while we get this together. Today after Chomping down some 39 cent cheeseburgers from McDonalds, some of us went down to Long beach to spend some time with our friend Captain Jeff. You will be hearing more about Captain Jeff in the future, as well as receiving some links to his web sitees on the internet. We helped wash his boat before taking a little spin around the marina. He is purchasing a 60 footer sometime in the next month or so and we may just run a contest in the upcomming future to win a overnight trip to Catalina island as well a little deep sea fishing. Of course it will be for you and a friend, so look out for that. Catalina island is full of beautiful shops and tropical atmosphere that is soothing to the soul. Ill keep you posted on the details as soon as they are available.
Today rocked! Another day in the studio is just one more day closer to finishing the record. Oh diddlee dee. Shad and myself were down at The Hideout working with Brian Anderson and Kevin Reeves(The Producers). Basically we worked on the arrangement of the song . I stopped ina little after Shad got there and B&K and Shad were already in full swing of arranging.
I was only there for about 2 hours and then it was time for lunch, so I drove down to McDonalds and picked up about 1 and a half dozen cheeseburgers for everyone. It was 39 cent cheeseburger day so it was very cheap as always.
After lunch I had to head out to do some errands that I was getting a little behind on. Shad on the other hand stayed at The Hideout all day and they eventually got "If you love me to" tracked on to tape. We have a day or so until we actually decide if that's the excact one we are gonna keep. Im sure it will the one but we"ll see how it goes.
Shad will be back in the studio at the beginning of the week sometime working on "If you love me to" and it looks like I will be in The Hideout at the end of the week sometime or shortly after to track "If you love me to" and one more that I think Shad is going to track before I get in there again……..
All I can say is I can not wait till two weeks from now so I can see Ned get his ass kicked by the whole family. What a trip this guy is. Did you see him almost loose it in his therapy meeting? What a character this clown is. Charlie didn't like it when he saw griffin still in his house. I how the cat is going to be let out of the back on the next episode……?????? Oh I cant wait……………………………
Rehearsals at The hideout have been keeping us very busy lately. It seems like there is just not enough hours in the day anymore. We have been taking a break from recording to work out some of the new songs and to polish up some of the existing songs that are in THE SHAD HILLS BAND catalog. I really am excited about all the progress we have been making lately. We have been putting our blood sweat and tears into this band,literally I have cried of happiness, he he. Shad and myself have been leaking quite a lot. And Shad still gives his blood every 2 weeks like he has been doing for the last 4 years or so. Back when Shad started doing that it was for the extra money he would make to help the band survive and these days he gives his blood purely to help out the many cancer patients out there who need the help. We had a close friend die of cancer this year, so it means a lot to Shad to keep on giving. Im trying to get my butt down there as soon as I can but honestly, needles freak me out and, well……..enough about that…..
We are going to be in the studio all next week, we are starting on three new songs and we will try and get the foundations tracked next week….The songs we will be tracking are called "2 Days", " If you love me to" and finally, "Vaseline Mouth" is finally going to tape. So needless to say we will talk in a couple weeks ….LOL We are gonna tear it up this week…….Wish us luck……….
Happy Happy Happy Valentines day all you little mugwamps….. Today was very relaxing here in Los Angeles. We took the whole day off from everything and everyone today.. No, recording, No rehearsing, No nothing except lunch, a little shopping and then some dinner.
Shad. Tina and myself started the day off with a little lunch in NoHo at a little place called "Pit Fire". Pit Fire is a little lunch and coffee place on the corner of Lankershim and Magnolia and it has become the new local hot spot.
After washing my tasty lunch down with my tasty beverage, we decided to go hit some clothing stores in the Burbank area. Shad, Tina and I were ripping all over the place looking for some cool threads and there were only a couple places that were open… First stop was "Vavoom". Basically it was a shop only for tina because it is a womens store. Then after that little stop we burned over to "Tumblin Dice". We shopped and shopped and shopped and we talked with the store owner for quite awhile about his shirt company and how he got it all started……We listened to him for a bit and then we split.
After going home and chillin for awhile, we all decided to do something a little different than usual. Instead of the always mild, always wild 39cent cheeseburgers at Mcdonalds, we had a wicked dinner at this italian spot by my place called "Genios". I had a big FAT juicy steak and boy oh boy was it tasty…..After ,after dinner coffe I split for home. The only thing I missed was my girfriend who is in Atlanta right now. I wish we were together for Val Day but it looks like we will have to try harder next year to be together on this special day………………
Ok way to groovy and happening, This is to all our SHAD HILLS BAND web page people, or webmasters, webbies or whatever the politically correct term is that is used for all you upbeat nuttyt people who are crazy enough to get involved with us. We just picked up a little somethin somethin from a certain place and we will be sending a little of it out your way in the mail very shortly. Today Shad and myself worked at getting it all together and ready for shipping. We will have The amazing and wonderful Tina printing up all your address labels so that these have a place to go once they are mailed..Like I said its just a little somethin somethin so don't be expecting a car or anything that extravegant .LOL..That would be great though wouldn't it? Mayby when were rich..LOL..Looks like THE SHAD HILLS BAND will be rehearsing later this eveing also. We are going to play until our hands and fingers fall off. To everyone else who is on our mailing list . Please be patient with us. We will be shipping you a whole bunch of nifty stuff as well very soon.I don't know if I will be available for the next couple of days so I will say to you all now, Have a wonderful Valentines day and may your special someone treat you very special this weekend. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY from me and everyone over here in THE SHAD HILLS BAND.
~Shane D Hills
P.S Look for another Story from the past coming from myself in the next week. I hope you all enjoy reading them because when I just sit down and write about my past I get a huge kick out of what I am actually typing and it brings back a lot of old memories for me, So as long as you keep reading them I will take great pleasure in writing them for you
~SDH
Well as you all know we started rehearsing yesterday at THE HIDEOUT and tonight we did the same thing. Shad had a meeting with his producers during the day and they just talked about the next dates that shad will be in cutting some tracks. I will be going in to re-cut a couple tracks that are already have recorded down on to tape. When excactley will I be in doing that ? Im not sure. There shall be no drums before their time! LOL.. Shad and I went over about ¼ of the songs tonight and were very happy with the progress that we have been making. Its been about 3 years since we have actually played live together so you could imagine how exciting it was for us both to get back in rehearsals and just jam the shit out of our instruments..It was like a reunion or something , to me it was just like the beatles getting back together', Like Ozzy getting back with Black sabbath', Like Shane back with Shad', or like, Pete rose coming back to baseball.. LOL Obviously he will never go back to baseball, that's kinda how I felt about getting back with Shad. I never thought it would happen, but the planets aligned and look where we are now. Good luck Pete.
Shad and I took his 1963 Corvair for a trip up to the Hollywood sign so we could just kick back and sorta regroup our thoughts and basically inhale all our experiences that have been happening to us lately….You see Shad and I were not speaking to each other for quite some time and being back together has completely re charged our whole attitudes, our desire and our direction in which we choose this musical path to take us all. We are writing some of the strongest songs that we have ever written together and with everybodys support I believe that in ten years you will still be with us and THE SHAD HILLS BAND will be on record number 12 and it will still sound as fresh as ever.
After our little trip up to the sign, it was time for rehearsal. We started
rehearsing for the big tours that will be coming up in a few months and we are
talking about starting to do some shows around town mayby in about a month or
2 while we are still recording the record. We feel that its always good to
keep playing and perfecting your talent...I'll keep you all informed on
that...anyway, our rehearsal went very well. If you have ever been to a
rehearsal you know what its like, just a rehearsal. We did work on a couple
new songs that Shad wrote and also worked on the ones that we already
recorded...Obviously we were interrupted at 9:00 pm due to Party of Five.
Can you believe that Claudia went and bailed out Griffin??? I cant believe
it! 'Cody', whats his deal? Steals a guitar pick from his work to give to
"Claudia" What is this guy thinking? Not only did he loose his, now
Claudia wont go out with him because he is a thief…….Whats next I wonder?
SHAD HILLS RECORDING JOURNAL
Written by: Shane Darnell Hills
February/09/1999
Thank you Rachel for that wonderful cake…..he he…..It was a little to moist when we received it…….It ended up being a water log cake….LOL. Im bummed that it didn't turn out for the best, but it's the thought that counts and the intentions were all there and all good………
Ok so not much goin on today really. Shad and I will be picking up some SHAD HILLS BAND merch tomorrow( just a small start) so when we get everything completely organized here we will be slowly but surely sending stuff out to everyone………….
On another note, we will be starting to rehearse tomorrow as well, so that when it comes time to get out on tour we will be a well oiled machine. Good things are happening for all of us and it feels great doesn't it.
I saw my very good friend yesterday and he had some great news to share. Some of you may remember him from behind the soundboard. Well I am proud to announce that Chris Guardia and his lovely wife will be having a baby soon. Linda is 3 months pregnant and still looking great…………. CONGRADULATIONS CHRIS AND LINDA from everyone and all of us who are, and who are involved with THE SHAD HILLS BAND.
LIVE LONG AND PROSPER ……………
Last week I told Shad and Tina about this volunteer help that was needed out in North Hollywood. There was this warehouse that was full of clothes and food that was given by everyone to have it all eventually end up in Nicaragua. They have been under a lot of pressure lately due to a lot of floodings that have happened and a earthquake that ripped through there recently has left a lot of people homeless, hungry, and short of some decent clothes to wear. Everything was going smooth with this whole operation until the wheels just all of a sudden stopped turning and there was this 30 000 sq ft warehouse that was just packed with clothes and food that wasn't going anywhere. So anyway, They needed a lot of volunteers to box, bag, and package all this stuff upo and toss it into some semi trailers so that it could eventually get to Nicaragua and help them with their struggles. After running through mcdonalds for some 39 cent cheeseburgers Shad, Tina, and myself went to the van owen warehouse and helped load these trailers. Mostly we put clothes in a bag so they could be wrapped on pallets and be forklifted on to the semi trailers……Unfortunatly we couldn't do it all and to tell ya the truth there is still aa lotleft to do over there and it is sad to see that after all these people have donated all this stuff for the cause, it just has so many problems getting to its destination. What a shame…… After we finished up at the warehouse we headed over to The Hideout to go over a few things with Brian and Kevin. Shad and I will be rehearsing the songs this wed and we have so many things that we need done to do the rehearsals, so that's pretty much what we did today………..Now I am glad to be home havin a little R&R. Hope you are all doin well………..
Today was a very productive day. Everyday that Shad and I write a song is a very good day. Shad and I wrote a new song that at this point is called "If you love me to". The title may change but so far that is what we have named that one. It is a beatlesque kinda song that has a powerful melody and lots of catchy hooks. Its kinda becoming one of my new favorite songs that we are working on…The song came together pretty quickly, and after Shad and I brainstormed on all the parts that are in the song , a song was born. I will let you know if the title changes. Also, We were busy with all the Hills teamsters making sure that everyone is getting updated on what is going on and sorting out a whole bunch of new ideas we have for everyone. Of course there were a whole bunch of new ideas from a few certain people that I think will grow into something great……Details will be out soon… Shad and I ate El polo loco tostada salads for lunch and fast food for dinner…..Mayby this is the sorts thing that helps us write a great song? Salads and fastfood! LOL
What a lovely day today was. The weather was sunny, the temperature a warm 80 degrees and I woke up breathing. Do you ever stop and realize just how lucky you are to be part of this whole universe?? I forget sometimes that just being here is golden……….Shad worked on some music by himself today and was just tryibg to find the right choruses for a song he has been writing for the last little while…It has no song title but you know as soon as it does I will be keeping you informed………..ure a warm 80 degrees and I woke up breathing. Do you ever stop and realize just how lucky you are to be part of this whole universe?? I forget sometimes that just being here is golden……….Shad worked on some music by himself today and was just tryibg to find the right choruses for a song he has been writing for the last little while…It has no song title but you know as soon as it does I will be keeping you informed………..ure a warm 80 degrees and I woke up breathing. Do you ever stop and realize just how lucky you are to be part of this whole universe?? I forget sometimes that just being here is golden……….Shad worked on some music by himself today and was just tryibg to find the right choruses for a song he has been writing for the last little while…It has no song title but you know as soon as it does I will be keeping you informed………..I want to take a time out and thank a lot of people who have been behind THE SHAD HILLS BAND from the get go. Supporting our music, our ideas, and especially working with each other in keeping this whole band afloat….With out you this whole band would not exist………Thank you,…Maureen McGowan-----Stefani Wiseman------Kendamonium Amato-------Rachel Wilson-------Brittany Anderson-----Rachel Wilson-----Kelsey Stratton-----Amy Jackson-----Morgan from Exton,PA-----Jocelyn Junaid(Joce)-------Zenaida Gonzalas-----Meegie from Jacksonville,FL ------Erika Jurek------Lindsey Turney------Alexandra Johanna Kent a.k.a AJ, a.k.a Apple Juice-----Kristina Carpenter-----Nicky Neulist-----Lisa Stacy-----Christina Laub-----Elizabeth Stellato-----Kim Jopke-----And Deb de la Fuente……There are many many more people to thank and I will get to you all……Let it be known that with out all your hard work and support THE SHAD HILLS BAND WOULD would be nothing……..We appreciate each and everyone of you and hope to continue a great future with all of you…. Ok, with that said I forgot one more important notice that is about to take place in about ten minutes…….First,,,,,The word is that Griffin is going to ask Justin if he could help out Julia Who is being abused by Ned……We don't like Ned…And, it looks like Charlie is going to be searching the night for Daphne..I wonder whats goin on there? Oh my, How sweet is this. Get out your cameras folks because it looks as though Claudia and tucker are going to sharing there first kiss together…………. The good , The bad, and the ugly……Sounds like the real world huh! Of course I am speaking about Shads favorite show "PARTY OF FIVE", Quickly becoming one of mine,LOL Nighty night and sweet dreams
Well, well, well Todays journal is gonna be a little short because we really didn't do to much today. Well actually, im wrong about that. Shad wrote a brand new song today that he calls " Plain to see" It's a song "he says, is basically about everday life for everyday people". When I asked shad what it is that inspires him to write these kind of songs, Shad tells me"Passed failed relationships.
Wow…..Deep. So everyday, so everyone, so you, so me.. I know we have all had these. I ve had em. You've had em, Your parents had em, your nieghbours had em…….These make for good topics to sing about because we all feel the same way about em.. Everyone loves a good relationship song,, especially the ones that make ya cry……..
Shad and I have been through a lot of BS in our lives and we have had some
learning experiences that we will never forget. For me, I am happy that I
have learned the true value of family, friendships and relationships. If I
had not let myself realize the importance of that, Shad and myself might not
be together today……………
THE END
Yippee yahoo, Shad is back in the studio today…….Wee hoooooo…OOO eeee woooooooo……er…….uh…… ok So Shad went to THE HIDEOUT and spent the entire day with Brian Reeves and Kevin Anderson( the producers) comping the vocals for"Ordinary Day" . They were at it all day up until around 8 oclock pm. I had some errands I needed to get done that pretty much took me all day but when I was done I headed to THE HIDEOUT and met up Everybody who was there…A few people were over listening to Shads track "ordinary Day". When I showed up Kevin was in the middle of recording a B3 organ on the song and it sounded pretty darn good……Out of the 7 people who were at THE HIDEOUT when I get there 1 of the guys was Kenny Meredith. Kenny is a guitar player who Shad has brought aboard to play a few parts on the record. Kenny played on such tracks as "Ordinary Day", "Rage" and a new tune called "Breath". Shad really loves Kennys guitar style and is happy that he has been a part of Shads record. I am looking forward to working with Kenny myself. From what I have heard and after meeting him, I am looking forward to playing together….. After we were all done at THE HIDEOUT all of us headed on over to Dennys for a little late night fine dining……..We talked about some things we have ideas for as far as THE SHAD HILLS BAND and after a little hearty meal we all headed home………It was a very good day and we all got a lot accomplished…………………goodnight peeps
40- Love……….That is what Shad has been hearing all morning. He being the love, and I being the 40…..That was almost how every score on every set ended up being in todays tennis match between Hills vs Hills….LOL Tennis was great, it help loosen up your muscles and gets them ready for intense playing on musical instruments….Yeah ok; Well its super bowl Sunday and we just took it easy today. A game of tennis in the morning right after some delicious Mcdonalds 39 cent cheeseburgers that Shad brought over……..After The tennis match we headed to my place and watched a little bit of the football game. I bet my Pops 5 dollars that the broncos would win,and since my dad is in canada, im not sure if we bet 5 canadian or 5 american???? I guess if we bet 5 american, that would mean he owes me $894. 36 Canadian. That's about right,right? It was neat to see kiss in the original form , once again putting every other band on the planet to shame…….I guess when you need the best and want the best, You go see KISS….That's what I hear anyway……I missed THE BLACK CROWES so I was kinda bumbed about that a little….I remember when they were recording three snakes and a charm in atlanta in a big house in the woods……I used to go there a little bit to see what was shakin….Never got to meet Chris though………..Oh well……..Goodnight to all and to all a good night. GO BEARS
Hopscotch skippydoo, One more day till the Superbowl…Yes siree. Im gonna paint my belly blue,Throw down the tailgate of my truck that doesn't exist and and cook a pork chop on the sidewalk…….That's what your supposet to do right? Actually you all know that I am really not into football that much. I am though, super high on seeing Kiss perform " Rock n Roll all night and Party every Day " . I know Rob S from Another man down will have his eyes glued all over the tube to see that…he he Shad and I basically spent the day working on new material For the album and future albums to come…..Shad is like a songwriting factory right now. He seems to be coming up with some really great music I think your all gonna like. I really cant wait to get out some samples for all of you who have been with us from the beginning of THE SHAD HILLS BAND. Shad and myself were discussing cover tunes again for the record or live and we really wanted to do "Last kiss" by J FRANK WILSON AND THE CAVELIERS and we heard some news that may put a halt on that one for now. Im sure we will do it live though when we are out and playing live….One other we want to record or play live is," Starting all over again" by MEL and TIM…I guess we will see what happens…..If you have heard either song, let us know what you think about it……we would love to hear what ideas you think would make a good Shad and Shane song. That's about all for today. Brian and kevin were working on another record today so it looks like Shad will be back in The Hideout in the next couple of days……Super bowl is tomorrow so I would assume Shad will be back in on Monday or so…….Peace out.
SHAD HILLS RECORDING JOURNAL
Written by Shane Darnell Hills
January/28/1999
Today was a little slow in the recording studio. Brian and Kevin were in comping a lot of Shads vocals today. Its Ok though because Shad needs a little time to recouperate from last nights episode of "Party of five", LOL. Shad and I sat around his apartment today writing more songs and figuring out certain arrangements for a few of his songs….He has so many ideas that I will be surprised if we don't end up doin a double album…Were sorta talkin about it a bit, so who knows what will happen. Why don't you guys mail us with your ideas on this matter. We would certainly love to hear what your opinion is on doin a double album……Tonight we worked with our peeps and threw out a lot of ideas that we would like to work on in the futere…….There never seems to be a shortage of ideas.
So what a night the Shad man had last night. I drove to The Hideout with him
and stayed till about 1 am in the morning. He recorded vocals on all his
songs last night including "house burned down" Ordinary days" " Rage", "It's
a dream" and a couple others ……….I left around 1 oclock in the morning and
shad stayed till about 6:30 in the morning recording about six vocal tracks
for each song…..So when I woke up this morning, I decided to take a drive down
to Pacific Coast Highway so I could cruise the coastline and think about what
lies in the future for us…..I see nothing but great things. Were healthy, we
are having the time of our lives and people are really digging the vibe that
we have going on with everyone who is involved. We cant wait to get this
record finished up as quick as we can but unfortunatly Shad wont be able to
make it to The Hideout tonight because as you know, Shads favorite T.V show is
on tonight (Part of Five) and apparently, Griffin(julias ex-husband), beats up
Ned(julias current boyfriend.The guy who hit her) but denies it…..I believe
Julia forgives Ned(I don't understant it), and then decides to Griffen about
Neds abuse…..What irony don't ya think?
Hopefully Shad will find some inspiration from all that to write another
song…….LOL. Anyway that's pretty much it for today…..I do believe in all
seriousness that Shad may go to The Hideout after his program over…….Lets just
see what ho chooses to do. Ill let you know if he cries tonight……
Well Shad and I are spending a lot of time trying to figure out what it is we can do for all our friends and fans in return for all the help we have been receiving. We came up with a few ideas but so far I think the best is throwing a private Bnad party for everyone who is involved in The hills family….We were thinking of throwing it here in los angeles…..It's a little idea that we think we will expand on…… Last night I spoke with some friends in Atlanta and if you want you can soon check them out at www.anothermandown.com I know ive been hearing a lot of you people who are starting to dig Atlanta bands and I figured I wopuld give you the inside scoop on who THE BEST atlanta band really is…. So remember….ANOTHER MAN DOWN…..thay kick butt. They pack all there shows and usually have a line down the street, so if you go to atlanta to see them, make sure you get there early. Ok so it looks like Shad and I are going to "The Hideout" tonight to work on "House Burned Down" and " Ordinary Day" .. What I hope to achieve with this journal is to have all of you people see what it actually takes to record a great record. You don't just show up and sing a song once and be done with it. It takes months and many takes to achieve the stuff you really want to keep…Trhrough this journal you will get the full grasp of what it is day to day that goes into making a record. Some may disagree with me about sharing this information but I see it as a new way for all of you to experience a new bands rise from the ground up……This is going to be a great journey and one you wont get to experience much anywhere else……..If you have questions simply e mail us at www.arrecords .com and I will answer any and all questions you have regarding this journal …and more….This may just be the first internet day to day recording joural ever done before…….
Well another day closer tpo finishing the record. All day we just kinda brainstormed some ideas that we want everyone involved with as far as having annual partys for our friends and stuff like that., I wrote out a bunch of cards for a few people that are working with us and just let them know how much they all mean to us……As far as the music goes, Shad went into the studio to cut more vocals for the songs " All my Days" And " Ordinary Days" He was there all night as usual and got a lot of real great stuff caught on tape……I tell ya from the way this album is starting to sound I have a feeling that you are all going to be very much welcoming this cd with open arms……….I didn't go to the studio with Shad tonight. I was too exhausted to stay up that late………
Today I couldn't even think straight. I was so tired that when my girlfriend called this morning nothing was even registering in my head….I was like "I gotta call you back". I slept a ton more until Shad and Tina woke me up with coffee and mcdonalds cheeseburgers(39 cent cheeseburger day on Sundays)). I hopped in the shower and we headed out to get some household stuff and also to barnes and nobles to look at some new books….After we did all that I just got dropped off and Shad went into "The Hideout" to work on some new ideas with B&K. At this point it is a mystery to me what it is they are doing at the moment? If I was to guess , I would guess they are reviewing the work we did last night. I think they want him in to sing some more today too. I belive when Shad gets back from "The Hideout" hes gonna chill out for awhilesince weve been hitting it pretty hard lately , then hes gonna go back in tonight for more grueling sessions on the vocal. Im sure ill be there with him making sure he doesn't erase any of the keeper tracks.(LOL). He did that the other day and we were both just like"" OH MY GOD"" "oh my god"/…….You shoulda seen us…………..ok im outty……..
Toady was a monster of a day for all of us in THE SHAD HILLS COMPUND. Our photographer (Jason Schimdt) Shad and myself headed into Hollywood to check out a new photo lab that just went up on Hollywood blvd…..We were just out for a drive and thought we would stop and check it out but it was closed. We drove by Manns Chineese Theatre and yelled out at all the tourists that were in front of the building……..We yelled out "see you in the movies"…..It was pretty funny. A couple people took pictures of us probobley thinking we were Seinfeld or something????? It was a gas. When we got back to Shads place,Jason went to his house and then I spent most of the day talking with all the members of the family and basically made sure I was on top of everything that is goin on. Around 9 oclock in the evening Shad and I headed to "The Hideout" so Shad could lay down some more vocals. When we were at the studio we had about six songs pulled up that he was to sing on..I think we only got through three though. First we worked on" House burned down" and then we tackled "Ordinary Day" and then it was "Rage". And then it was back to "House burned down". Shad and I came up with a new chorus for Rage at his apartment that he was pretty happy with so he re-recorded that as well as a whole new vocal for the entire song. On Ordinary day it was another full length vocal performance he worked on. And as far as House Burned Down, again it was a full vocal performance. About 2:30 in the morning I had to lie on the floor cause I couldn't even hold myself up anymore, I don't know how Shad did it tonight???? At around 3 am I was like "YO BRO" ill be sleeping in the lounge. LOL
Shad came in around 4 am and woke me up to go home. It took me about 5 seconds to fall asleep once I got home. Im not even sure if I made it to my bed?
Shad and I took a ride in his 1963 Corvair today. We drove up to Mulholland drive and checked out some of the views that sunny Los Angeles has to offer. A t the moment , I am working with all our web masters and just making sure thaat we are all on the same page with each other. Things as you all know have been happening so fast that we all needed a couple days just to figure out exactley where we were at. Shad is kickin back just writing new music that we are going to be recording for the album. For Shads DEBUT album we are going to record about 20-25 songs for the record so we have a good selection to choose from. It all sounds great and there doesn't seem there will be a shortage of hits on this record. We'll see though. Its all up to you guys to make any of that happen. I asked Shad and he is not sure if he will be needed in the studio tomorrow so ill be lettin ya know what goes on tomorrow when that time comes. Thanx for stickin around. The fun has just begun…
Today Brian and Kevin (B&K),producer extrordinaires, Wer once again hibernating in "THE HIDEOUT" studio working on More Shad Hills music. They were taking the vocals shad did on Tuesday and making sure they were all right on the money. I guess the best part about being on this Label(A&R records) is that we can go in at anytime and change up anything that we think can be better than what we already have. And the producers we are working with just make it very comftorable for us to vent our creative juices……..Its great. Everyday that is not spent in the studio for me, I spend with our friends and fans just talking and taking all their ideas and using them to our advantage.
It also makes everyone feel involved(which they most certainly are)/. We are lucky to have the fans that we do have…. Later on in the evening, Shad And myself Headed to our photographers(Jason Schmidt) house to look over some of pictures from my photo session from the other day. Once again we were very pleased with his work and while we were there Shad and I set up another shoot for this weekend with Schmidt. These new photos will be hitting the web pages very soon so keep your eyes open. Everypage will be different to. We had to Shorten our meeting withSchmidt because Shad needed to fire me on home so he could get back to his house to watch ER (another shad favorite)……………..
Well last night I did end up going to "The Hideout" to meet Up with Shad. Tina( shads yoko) ended up driving down there with me and we had some plans to get there and order up some dinner for us all since we were all pretty hungry since we hadnt eaten in awhile. Tina and I get there and Shad was in the middle of recording vocal ideas for the song "HOUSE BURNED DOWN". Tina went to watch home and garden in the lounge and I stayed in the recording room with Shad and we bashed out some melody ideas together. There were a couple parts we were really happy with as far as changing certain ideas that were already in the song. We had some pizza, Took a little break , then headed back in the recording room for more grueling effort in getting the vocals cut.
Today we didnt do too much. Shad ended up writing new songs in his bedroom while I kept all our friends and fans involved with our progress and kept track of thiers. We headed to McDonalds for 29 cent hamburger day for dinner and then I walked home from there and Shad and Tina had to race home to watch party of five(Shads favorite show.
Today was a very productive day all around. Shad has been in the studio all day recording guitar tracks for the song"house burned down", and I believe this evening sometime he will start on the vocal track for the very same song. I may end up going in a little later on to do some of the engineering so we can go over as many ideas for the vocal performance as we need. On the other side of things. Our web page base has grown by about 4 pages today and we are overwhelmed at the supoport we are getting from all of you…..The list where we talk to fans is growing out of control by the second…… Its been a very busy day. For all of us I might add. Good night. Shane Hills
So anyway today was again pretty much spent with all our staff and fans just trying to keep up with the whole progress of THE SHAD HILLS BAND. Brian and Kevin Spent the whole day working some things out on the song" All my days " while shad and I rearranged the chorus for the song " RAGE "
All afternoon we sang a lot of different parts to try and find a good chorus for the song…We believe we created one that fits the song like a licsence plate fits a car…. Shad spent time writing more material while I coordinated a few things for THE SHAD HILLS team players… Sounds like we have a couple new players on board with us….From seattle as well. How cool is that.. They are going to be doing a new web page and from what I hear they are very creative, so lets see what happens……. Shad goes in the studio tomorrow and I believe he is recording guitars on 3 separate songs……Well see what happens.
Have a great night and see ya soon/.
Not to sure what the agenda will be for tomorrow but will keep you posted…
Shane Hills
THE SHAD HILLS BAND
January 16, 1999….Saturday
Well, once again we had one kick ass day over here in sunny Los Angeles. Today shad and I tried getting into the studio but Brian(Reeves) and Kevin(Anderson) said they would not let us in if we showed up…Essentially they had locked us out of the studio while they hibernated all day In The Hideout(studio name) working on the SHAD HILLS song"Ordinary Day". We just spoke with B&K and and they tell us that their day was full of editing and jumbling things around on the track so that it could be ready for Shad to lay down a guitar track onto it. Were not sure yet but Shad may go in this evening to record the guitar. If not he will be in Monday morning because B&k have been working so hard that they decided to take Sunday off and go fishing……As far as Shad and I, We spent the day working with all our friends again collecting information and sending out a little information of our own. We had a great lunch at Julianas in Burbank with Shads girlfriend Tina and then we went to this sweet electronics shop called Fry's so we could pick up some software so we can keep better track of what everone is doing as far as all these web pages go….We are also putting our mailing list in order so we can send you all stuff in the mail as soon as we can……I just jumped aboard this project on Dec 21 1998 so we are still a little disorganized with all the mailing list stuff but we are getting it all in order slowly but shurely…..Bare with us……. Everyone have a great Sunday and we will see you here on the page Monday sometime..
Lotsa love,
Shane Hills
The SHAD HILLS BAND
January 15th 1999…..Friday
1st day of the studio diaries
Well today was a very productive day as usual. Shad and I started our day off with tea and crumpets then did our daily yoga session……Kidding of course. Actually shad and I went to the studio today to listen to a couple of tracks that I had recorded about 5 DAYS EARLIER……Our producers Brian Reeves and Kevin Anderson did a kick ass job at making sure all the drum parts were right where they should be and as usual surprised us with a couple tricks on the tracks of their own….I was shocked at the work they had done on the tracks we recorded..
After a listen we went for lunch at some coffe café that was right across from Starbucks coffe that a car had drove through that morning during a high speed police chase that ended in the inside of starbucks……… We had lunh and a cold coffe and then headed back to the studio…. We worked on some things as far as moving instruments around and got things ready for Shad. He was laying down a vocal track down today.
I had some work to do with our SHAD HILLS Staff so I headed to the office and basically spent the rest of the day working out details for new web pages and new people who are deciding to hop on the Shane and Shad Hills express……..
It looks like Shad is in the studio tomorrow as well so I will keep up on the progress……
Till next time,
Shane Hills
THE SHAD HILLS
