BANG!

We hit WAR hard today....I am still working. We got "I" mixed. It came out great!!!!!
I wanted to put a few WAR speeches in the song....I searched and found one from Winston Churchill....no need for anything but that one....it is so eerie in the song!

Horror Metal meets Pink Floyd!

Now we are beginning "Fool, Fool!"

This song is probably the heaviest song on either CD...My prediction is that Fool, Fool and Pisses Me off will become ring songs for a pro wrestler...just a hunch...

The scene is 3,000 souls flying around the Trade Centers as they tumble to the ground....basically saying...you fools...you should have seen it coming....

Spoke to Darryl Pediford today...he may stop by at the end of the week. Stevie B again too. Jeff is coming into town to record drums for TSO...so he will be here on Wed. Tomorrow I have a German journalist coming into town to do a studio report and write my Bio....more details once he arrives...I think he landed in the US today....What the frick do I know...

We are going to get this thing a little further ahead and get out of here soon...

Tomorrow I will hope to get "Fool" finished and get another done by the end of the night....

It is almost 2 o'scotch!!!

Bye again....

Chris

Howdy!

It is once again in the 70's here today...I was just up on the roof of the studio...it is very nice there...I was impressed cuz a few birds had crapped on the sattelite dish....Kamakaze birds of doom!!! I will take photos!!!

Matthias Breusch is in town....should be here soon...he is the journalist I mentioned to you earlier...For years he wrote for Rock Hard magazine in Germany...still writes...so...he is doing a story on this mess here in the studio!

Not sure what time he will get here...he has a bit of the flu...I told him Scotch will kill it!

Fool, Fool is almost done....another hour or so...not sure what will follow...maybe "Erase".

Talk to you in a few hours!

Hmm....it is 3 o'scotch!

Amazing!

This was the scene a few minutes ago...
I played my rendition of Amazing Grace here in the studio. Paul Morris came by to say hello to Matthias. He ran in to the studio live room to the piano.
He came up with a piano arrangement.
We put up one mic...I sang it live with him. Really cool...sounds like an old radio station!
Matthias took photos...any questions he had about my voice live were answered immediately!!!!
"Fool, Fool"...done...."Piece Be With You"....done...god Damn War....Kicking frickin ass....
One week to go til I get some form of rest!
Matthias is very excited, I think he senses the honesty and energy here. He was excited to hear that only one song he has heard resembled Savatage. This stuff is different....I get more confident in my singing and the material as people hear it...

'Til tomorrow!

See ya!

Chris at War!!!!

Hidie Ho!

Or shall I say...ho, ho, ho!!!

We put the finishing touches on "Piece Be With You"...

Now we are working on an instrumental bonus track...things are very festive here...Jeff Plate arrived. He is going to record some drums on the TSO CD. I believe Johnny Lee comes in Saturday night and he will play bass next week. I am supposed to do some guitars soon...that is if I ever finish my frickin' CD!!!!!!

I have a few business meetings here this week and I wanted to have this particular bonus track presentable...WAR will go on as scheduled...I feel we have about 6-8 more days mixing here...

Matthias' main comment about the CD's was that he thought I sounded like a singer that had been recording hard rock/metal for 15 years...said I sounded like a cross between Halford, Dio and Oliva...I will take that!

I am going to be social....talk to you soon...

Chris

Still mixing the instrumental here...

Kinda tough to make 20 different lead instrument parts make sense together in a few hours!

It sounds great! Great mood....

Today was also full of business adventures...interviews...scheduling for the summer...etc.

I should be pretty busy...

Another hour or so here....then I need sleep!

Once again congrats to the Z Brothers ond ZO2 on their upcoming summer tour with Kiss!!!

Remember Skippy...CBGB's!!!!!

Chris

HELP!

OK...I am fine now!
Today I had to once again balance meetings, interviews, listening sessions along with mixing and creating...

The instrumental is done....of course we just managed to get one other song done....

"God Damn War" is 95% there...I think we may try to fix "The Mold" before I go to sleep...

Today's reactions were great...I had a full listening session of everything once again with Matthias, along with explaining the lyrics and concepts...This happened in the editing studio....

He walked into the main mix room and Nik asked him what he thought.

His quote was..."Well, it is a masterpiece."

I have known Matthias for years...he wrote the big history of Savatage that Rock Hard magazine did years ago. He is a very critical fan and friend as well as a journalist. I was so happy to hear his thoughts.

In another light, I was told after a different listening sessiion tonite that "God Damn War" needs to come out now! I kinda get this feeling more every day. This CD is very different. A "Post Nuclear Black Sabbath" as some may put it.

I apologize once again if I seem excited...but...I AM!!!!

Back to work!

Chris at WAR!!!!

Greetings from WAR central...

Almost done with GDWAR...the song here..."Edge of Darkness" is next!

I just received the list of countries that I will visit for my press tour of Europe that will take place in June. They are as follows...

GREECE
ITALY
PORTUGAL
SPAIN
FRANCE
ENGLAND
SWEDEN
FINLAND
NORWAY
HOLLAND
POLAND
GERMANY

I will put up the exact dates when I know them for sure. I think it starts on June 24th in Athens!

I am also going to be appearing as a special guest for a few songs with Doro at the Wacken festival in Germany this August... More details on this as they develop. Not sure, but I may show up in Cleveland at the Metal Fest as a guest there too. This will be a good way for me to do some press and see a lot of friends!

Lots to do...but getting closer!

Talk to you later on today!

Chris

OK...

We almost have Darkness done...Then...we will put up "Beat Me...You'll Never Beat Me".

So...By tomorrow night we will have "Beat Me" and "Saddamize" mixed....

Good 'ole family fun!!!!!!!!!!

Mixing is funny...we always say we will get stuff done...then we spend another 2 hours tweaking it...and tweaking it...

It is my first solo CD, I am going to make sure it is not the last...so the mission is to kick your frickin' ass....no matter how long it takes!

It is weird...this studio usually has a good flow of bands in and out. I have pretty much had it on complete lock-out for 3 months!!!!

I am actually scared to go back out into the real world!

I have to go re-heat my Saki...

Chris

WOW!!!

Another quick mix turned 11 hours...

Change an EQ here...add a track there...yikes! I might as well accept the fact that it is going to take about 1 day to mix each song!!!

We finished Beat me and headed to Saddamize...I know...friendly!

The fun part was creating the Greek Cafe' in the studio...talking...bar noise...Lute playing...it sounds so cool! I walk in and I start to talk in English...the end result is very funny!!! But, not really...

We are eating...next is adding the Lute to Saddamize....

I doubt the song will be mixed by the time we leave...but it will be close. I have never heard a song like this in my life...I doubt you have either...

Once again...folks...I can't wait for you to hear this CD...

Chris