OK...

I wrote a whole new update for tonite...then I deleted it by accident...

Really quick....

Today....

Short day...sang "Faces" and "Life, Crazy Life"....went very well....decided to go to the ZO2 CD release party....saw a lot of TSO friends....Alex was in the house too...the trio is fun to watch!

Saw my friend Paul Morris....TSO/Rainbow....keyboardist....decided to reconsider my plan to play guitar keyboards...HE RULES!

Wed. he is coming to the studio!

I am tired...it all starts again tomorrow...so...I get to be lazy in the typing department tonite!!!

Goodnight!

Chris

Burp!!!!

Today was awfully bizarre!

I woke up early to do some business e-mail with Europe...then I chatted on-line with K....still exhausted I went back to sleep for another 2 hours...

12:30 I woke up and did my vocal workouts...the voice was tired...but so was I!!!!

I forgot to eat on Monday so I was starving!

I decided I wanted McDonald's for some stupid reason!

Nick picked me up to get to the studio at 1:30. I needed a volume pedal for some leads so we went to Guitar Center before we grabbed lunch.

It was then we made the mistake...McDonald's...

Big Macs and McNuggets...fries...soda...seemed harmless enough!

WRONG!!!!

A few things happened...We both lost our minds for like 2 hours. It was so bizarre. I was forgetting my songs...we screwed up arrangements...that shit is weird. What the frick is in it?

I kinda screwed up the arrangement of "Faces"...the song. We fixed it...but it was just part of this Twilight Zone 3 hours that we went through.

I decided to try to sing "The Mold". VERY difficult song to sing/scream! My voice seemed tired...BUT...it started to warm up as I brutalized it. I finished the lead voacls and decided to fix a few lines I was missing on "Faces". My raspy voice was warming up...so I decided to try "Beat Me". It sounded great...really twisted lead vocal...there was a part that I wanted to sing really high and clean. This super clean Geddy Lee kinda voice all of a sudden shot out of me. It was so weird. I never had it before. The part went as high as an Eflat...in my real voice. I won't tell you what we did next, but we let a few people in the studio facility listen to "Beat Me" when I finished the vox...mission accomplished. GDWAR is really starting to explode into a creature of its own!

Speaking of exploding....this McDonald's creature that lived in my stomache! It was really tough to sing without belching! Every time I drank any liquid there was a bizarre reaction in my stomach that just made me belch. There was some pretty funny stuff on tape! I will never eat McDonald's again!!!!!!!!!! I had a package sent to me at the studio today...a TSO/CC fan sent me some new energy drink. It is called "Impulse". Similar to Red Bull...I tried one and I was wired out of my mind!!!!!!!!!

I decided to keep singing...I put up the song "Remember"...it is something I wanted to sing very clean...the voice was working perfect for it. This song has serious US Rock Radio potential. I finished all of the lead vocals and back-ups by 1AM...then I hit the lead...by 2:30 we dropped down a rough mix and backed-up the days work...

I have 5 guitar solos and 5 lead vocals left to finish....I am almost done!!! I have some back-ups on some other songs and I am sure I will find some little things to fix when we edit...but the recording mission is almost done! 30 songs in under 30 days in the studio!!!!!!!! I am so fried, but so proud of what we have done so far! I think I will be finished recording with the main guitars and vox by Friday. Paul Morris is stopping by tomorrow to pick up CD's of the demos to get familiar with the tunes. We will record the keyboard assault next week at Nick's place.

I am off to sleep, I am sure McDonald's will offer me some interesting dreams!!!!

Goodnight and Happy Burpday to you!!!!

Chris

5AM and I just got in!

The nights get later and later...

Today I felt like playing guitar...a good thing considering I am a guitar player too!!!! The singing thing has been so much fun I have not really mentioned much about the guitar work!

30 songs are an awful lot! I want to keep the guitars/solos fresh and different. I have done lots of things...different sounds...13 different tunings...different string guages...different picks...you name it!

Today I started with "Piece be with you"...the solos came out great! I am really happy with the guitars on this CD...

Next we moved onto "The Mold". Nick and I had a really funny/cool vocal idea for an intro. Got it the other night at McCann's! We tried it and holy shit dude....it is funny! The solos in this song are very unique!!!!

I went to the studio in pajamas again today. I wanted to be playing guitar and feel like I was home in my room! The time came for "Abandoned". This song is really intense. Lyrically...musically...emotionally. There is a guitar solo piece that is about 3 minutes long in the intro. I wanted to be alone when I played this. Dinner arrived, but I decided to wait. I sat in the control room with the lights dimmed for an hour alone...I have a cool loop of music under the solo...my idea was working well...then it hit me..."Abandoned"....."All allone in this world...but I'm still standing"...I solo'd thr guitar and recorded it alone...no click track...no plan...just Chris Caffery...the kid who grabbed a guitar 26 years ago and has not looked back since. I decided to use the metal pick for this solo...I wanted to gather up all of the spirits that I could...then it happened...something really weird...I just played...I was all alone....recording my solo CD...but, I felt something...an emotion came to me. I just played from another side of my soul...things I had never even tried before...I was alone...but I wasn't...all of the love of my friends and family...all of the love of my loyal fans...Even the hate of the jealous and disrespectful, those who wish for me to fail...all of this energy hit me. It was insane. I could feel a room full of spirits...past, present and future. Chills rushed through me, my mind was swirling with every emotion imaginable as I played as one with my guitar.

September 9th is my birthday...I will release this CD as close to this day as possible...my gift to my friends, fans and family...I will be so proud and so thankful for all of you. It is a dream come true. As is so much of my life...

I finished the solo...listened back as the chills continued...afterwards I took the song off and ate dinner...

I decided to sing after I ate. I started with "I Miss You, Sometimes". It is a catchy rock ballad...bonus track...The voice was tired...not the right vibe...I then put up "Forever we'll be". This song is a ballad, just me and a guitar...The voice was perfect for it. Tired and very emotional. I wrote the lyrics in this song for my best friend. The chorus sez...

"All you need is a friend, by your side 'til the end. As the thick becomes thin, then the roulette will spin. As it falls into place, look my friend at my face. In the eyes you will see that Forever We'll Be".

I can truly say that I would not be doing this CD if it were not for my friend Kemp. She believed in me and this CD from the first note that she heard. The roughest demos. Always sez, "I told you so"...We shall see!!! I think you may wnat to thank her when you finally get to hear this CD/s. This particular song is very spiritual to sing. Makes me want to smile and cry. I finished the lead vocal and we packed things in for the night. This was 3:45AM...

I have to get to bed...I think Damond is coming into town tomorrow to sing on the new TSO stuff. He will be staying here with me for a week. I am not sure what time his flight gets in, but I know he lost his keys!

I am off for a short Winter's nap!

Peace!!!!

Chris

YAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!

If I could talk I would yell right now!

23 days and tracking is 95% finished on everything! The next phase begins tomorrow!

We will make working edit slaves of all 30 songs. Then Monday it is fix, pick and choose time! The slaves are to save time backing up and help make the editing possible on just about any Pro-Tools system. I have about 60G of music recorded! This is a ton of files! I think 1G alone is just belching!!!!! Lots of Diet Pepsi!!!!

I have 2 guitar solos left to play. I will do one tomorrow...just wanted to be awake when I played it! The other I have a wacky idea for...so I may do it at home. It will be nuts if it works!

I finished 30 songs of rhythm guitars...28 songs of leads...29 songs of lead and background vocals...all in 15 1/2 days!!!!! This includes 4 songs on bass and the drum tracks for WARPED too!!!!!

Today was very busy...tons of fun! My friend Butch came to the studio...Steve Broderick too. I got a whole 3 hours of sleep...Damond arrived at 9AM with Tanya and I had to let them in! I tried to go back to sleep, but the phone kept ringing.....

Stevie B was really psyched to hear the stuff. It was nice to have someone close hear it and be so excited. He is really the only person to write anything with me on this CD. He co-wrote lyrics and melodies with me for "Bag-O-Bones". Kemp came up with a couple lines in PMO and had the idea to use the name Saddamize...other than that I wrote every note and every word on the 30 songs...

I started by finishing "Music Man". This song has a ton of vocals...kinda Crosby, Stills and Nash like....I then took a few more shots at "I Miss U"...The voice always takes a few hours to really warm up! I finished the remaining background vocals...."WARPED", "Fool, Fool"...these needed some parts. I re-sang the intro to "Jealousy". It was then time for "Abandoned". I wanted to sing this song last from the very first day. I had some stuff to do on PMO...but...I really don't need to sing that song...it is kinda like shouting in tune!!! So...I saved that for the late night capper.

"Abandoned" is 10 minutes of insanity. I love this song...I think it is the peak on the CD for sure...emotionally...vocally...and in my guitar playing...
I was nervous about singing this...it is really tough, tons of textures...but it went down in 70 minutes...I was so happy!

We ordered cheeseburgers and had dinner at 2AM...I hit PMO last...I needed one little guitar part for the intro...there is a 7 part counterpoint guitar intro!!!! The musical version of me losing my mind! I then took a few passes at the lead vocal. I had one from 2 weeks ago, I just thought I could beat it. This was possible and happened right away! I then recorded a few lines over for censorship reasons. I think this song can be a huge hit...but I say F@#%$ about 10 times in it! So...I recorded a few Frickin and Fricks!!! Really silly. Just in case I need an alternate version. It is funny cuz we made it obvious that they were edited in! 3:14 AM I was officially finished with my vocals!!!!!

Tomorrow I don't have to be in the studio 'til 5...I am going to sleep! I will end the week's diary tomorrow night...I am too tired to think now!

Thanks again for your friendship and support. This CD is really frickin cool!

Goodnight...

Chris