Last night Boro and Steve Dans and I returned to our favorite recording studio, Retromedia (www.retromedia.net) in Red Bank, NJ to lay down 8 tracks for our third and possibly final full-band Lifeguard Nights album, "The Last Summer."
"WHAT???" you are probably exclaiming, "What do you mean 'possibly final full-band Lifeguard Nights album'???"
Calm yourself, imaginary exasperated fan.
The plan at the moment is to release the long-awaited (mostly by me) "Lifeboat For Fatty" album under the old South Jersey Seashore Lifeguard Convention Band moniker. You see, the modus operandi of Lifeguard Nights has always been: I record the songs at home, either by myself or with buddies, and then we get together and play those songs live for a while, then we go back and re-record them in a studio. "Lifeboat For Fatty" is all new material that we've been working on together for over a year now. Not only has the process been a throwback to the SJSLCB days, but the sound and concept are also in keeping with that as well. "Lifeboat For Fatty" really feels like a follow-up to "Dark Side of the Pool" to me, and so it shall be.
AND...while we had that beach house in LBI, we recorded a bunch of other tunes that I believe fall under the SJSLCB category, and so there's already a follow-up to "Lifeboat For Fatty" in the works as well. So consider this a public service announcement: The South Jersey Seashore Lifeguard Convention Band is back!
HOWEVER....there are a bunch of Lifeguard Nights tunes that we've been playing for a while now that have really been improved by the live band, and so I wanted to capture these recordings before they got tossed by the wayside and forgotten. These recordings will make up "The Last Summer" which will be the third and final album in the trilogy that started with "The Church of Song" and "Punch Sky." Was the intention always to make a trilogy? Certainly not. Calling them a trilogy barely even makes any sense. But I have a slightly OCD thing about numbers, and 3 full band Lifeguard Nights albums feels good to me. Expect "The Last Summer" to be released in Spring 2011, although I'll probably leak a few tracks before then, as they get finished.
HOWEVER, PART 2....there are still going to be home-recorded Lifeguard Nights albums. I'm almost finished with another one at the moment tentatively titled "Chapter 11." It's fun.
IN CONCLUSION...I know this all seems unnecessarily confusing. To sum it up, Lifeguard Nights and the SJSLCB are going to co-exist peacefully at the same time from now on. Some albums will be SJSLCB, some will be Lifeguard Nights. As for playing live, well, call us whatever you want, just don't call us late for dinner.
Pics from the studio, by John Noll:
Master Engineer/Little Buddy Adam Vacarrelli:
Safe swimming!
Vincent & Lifeguards United
