Recording...Day 2

Yesterday marked Day 2 of our first intensive recording weekend for our new album. Friday, though it started with some frustrating set backs, proved to be a productive evening. We were all looking forward to Saturday and another productive day of recording. Of course, we are GFT, and so things can never go ENTIRELY smoothly. As we were to be recording in our recording space/recording studio, which is not very well isolated from external noise, we needed to have a plan in case the neighbor decided to mow his lawn. So Saturday morning, an hour before our session was to begin, we devised a plan that involved some major construction of an iso booth. Jeff and I took off to the local Lowes to get supplies while Peter, Amanda, and Kelly started tracking before the neighbors were up to start making a bunch of noise. When Jeff and I got back, we all started constructing our iso booth. Certainly not everyone in GFT has construction experience, but things went smoothly and before too long, we had a little iso booth. Of course, we made it out of 2x4 and drywall, so it is massively heavy.

I think it's also worthwhile to mention that while we were all brainstorming and slaving on the booth, James was off with his kid at a parade (see below)...hmmm.


All in all, though the session started a little late, the day proved to be another productive day of recording. There are some loose ends to tie up on "Shining Star," but some good progress was made. We'll get another session on the books soon. Time to start editing!

Brennan
GFT

Recording Day 1

Considering Groove for Thought is about ten years old, we figured it's about time we cut another album. A lot has changed for us in the past few months, but there's no rest for the wicked(ly awesome). Of course, as is the GFT way, nothing can go completely without some kind of problem. In this case, we were all ready to record at Bellevue College. Kelly went up early and set up mics and cables and got the room all ready. There are large fans in the room, however, and we needed to get these turned off. Apparently this was supposed to be done BEFORE the session, but when we showed up, the fans were roaring. So Kelly, Peter, and Brennan trekked across campus to the Campus Ops building to get the fans turned off. Thirty minutes later (and after trying to communicate with an Russian lady with a VERY heavy accent), the fans were turned off and we were ready to get recording...or so we thought.


Upon arriving back at the recording studio, we discovered that the IT people at the college had picked that day to do a system update on the studio computer, and the install was not going smoothly. The install was finished, but the computer was not restarting. So, we called James, Amanda, and Stephanie, told them to pull over and wait for word on the computer, and waited to see if the computer would reboot. After waiting for 45 minutes, we decided it wasn't worth the wait and all seven of us headed to Renton to our rehearsal space/recording studio. So here we are, recording "Shining Star" after a couple hours of traditional GFT hassle. We'll keep you posted as we continue recording through the weekend.

Brennan, Peter, and Stephanie

GFT

GFT 5.0

Usually I would start one of these posts with a "Hello Friends and Family", but I'm going to skip all that this time because I just can't wait to tell you all some exciting news. See what I did there? Boy am I clever.

We would like to officially announce that Groove for Thought has two new members. Yes. You read that correctly. Amanda Kunz and Stephanie Collins are the two newest members of Groove for Thought. While Amanda has been performing with us for awhile, Stephanie will be making her GFT debut this Thursday (March 11th) at the ACDA Northwestern Division Conference. If you'd like to see Amanda and Stephanie in action (and who could blame you), check out our schedule page for more information.

Don't forget to check out our website, facebook, and myspace (yes its still there) for news, exclusive photos, videos, and more.

Peter

So... its been awhile

Hello family and friends!

We haven't really had too much going on... except for a little thing called MANFEST! Talk about a blast. All of us left the gig talking about how much fun we had. Manfest, if you don't know, is a music festival for guys (grades 8 through 12) enrolled in choir that is designed to "encourage males in a female-dominated field and expose audiences to underrepresented talent". All of the guys that participated in the festival were fantastic. Its encouraging to see such enthusiasm for the choral arts. Especially from the guys. (If that last "sentence" bugs you, deal with it! This is my show and I'm making my own rules.) I probably shouldn't write these when I'm this tired.

I've got a bit of announcement. I think James said it best when he said that "we are beginning the process of starting to record another CD". If that very odd quote gets you super excited (and it should) you can get a bit of a sneak peek right now on our website. Thats right. Pick up your jaws and I'll let you know where you can find a brand new GFT track. As you probably remember, GFT (well Jake, Brennan, and Jeff) did a radio interview that air on BBC back in October. During that interview, the full version of "Hallelujah I Love Her So" was played. You can find a link to the whole interview here.

So... that is kind of what we've been up to lately. Like I said earlier, we've been working hard on some new stuff and getting ready for some upcoming performances. Remember to check our schedule page to see when we are going to be performing near you. We have some fun things coming up and, like always, we would love to see you there.

Peter

GFT on BBC

At our last performance, we mentioned that GFT recently did a radio interview for BBC. It is going to "air" at 10:30AM (Seattle time) this Sunday (10/18) on this website.

If 10:30 is too early on a Sunday (and trust me, I feel ya), don't fret. We will have the interview up on our website shortly, so you can listen to it whenever you want.

Peter
GFT

Thanks

Hello everyone!

Its been a few days since our Broadway Performance Hall gig and I would like to thank everyone that came out and made the evening a night to remember. I'm glad that so many friends and family members were able to come and (as always) it was great to see some new faces as well.

If you missed the show (I know you are still beating yourself up about it), then you are in luck. We had a good friend in the audience (Tupu) who filmed quite a bit of the show and threw it up on youtube. Here are a couple videos.



So, it is right after this tune (our opening song) that James walks up front to introduce the next tune. Just as he steps forward, his daughter Olivia (almost on cue) yells "Hi Daddy!" Hold on. Come to think of it. Every time James has a family member in the audience, they have a "random outburst" at some point during the performance. I'm on to you James. It doesn't count when you seed the audience with your own personal cheerleaders.



Thats kind of how I was hoping it would have gone in Holland, but I'm glad it worked out well this time.



There are more videos (you can find them in our video gallery) so check them out.

Again, thank you to everyone that came out. You know what? I'm in a giving mood. I'll even thank those of you that really wanted to come and weren't able to. There will be other gigs that you could always go to (talk about beautiful transitions).

Friday, November 20, 2009
Mercer Island Presbyterian Church
3605 84th Ave. SE
Mercer Island, WA
www.mipc.org

This is our next public gig. If you missed the last one (you don't want to be the person that misses 2 GFT gigs in a row. Do you?), then you really don't want to miss this one. If you made it to the last gig, then you already know that you don't want to miss this one (but I'll tell you again). You don't want to miss this one. Longer set, more intimate venue, more Jake ... the list goes on. I'll see ya there.

Peter
GFT

Tomorrow at Seattle's Broadway Performance Hall!

Just wanted to send out a reminder to everyone that Groove for Thought will be performing at the Broadway Performance Hall tomorrow night (October 9th). Doors open at 8:00pm and you can buy tickets at the door (for all of you who haven't purchased your tickets online. I'm not going to name names, but you know who you are). General admission is $15 and students get in for only $10!

All of us GFT guys (and ladies) are really excited about this show. This will be the first time we've performed at home since our summer tour and we have been diligently working on making this performanc as fun and entertaining (for both us and you) as possible. If you haven't already heard, we are bringing along a couple of special guests (Zach Trandum and Amanda Taylor). We've had the opportunity to rehearse with these two amazing artists for the past couple of weeks and it has been a blast. If you don't know who these guys are, it would behoove you to look them up. Don't give me that look. People still use the word behoove.

In other words, you aren't going to want to miss this one!