Jordan Mattie | Photography, God, Music, etc.

8,768 days.

2008-08-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

8,768 days - that is how long I have been breathing. I wonder how many of those days I spent worrying about stupid stuff. I'm not sure, but I know it has been too many. Yesterday was my 24th birthday. It feels good. There's something about the age 24 that just seems a little more serious to me. More so than 23... I think it's something about the "4". Just a bit harsher than "3" I guess. It makes me think I'm smarter and more mature than I was 2 days ago. It could be all in my head though.
Right now I'm up in Northern Ontario at Ontario Pioneer Camp with the band. For the second year in a row. It's a great camp. There's so much going on here and everyone is so involved. Especially me, as I sit on the bed in my cabin with a laptop. And yeah I know, I should probably feel guilty because of that last comment but I don't anymore because I'm learning that I actually need time to be alone and do things that I enjoy like listen to music or read, because otherwise I start to lose my marbles. It's nice to know that stuff too - resting, and how important it is instead of always feeling like I can never do as much as I should be. That is something I'm trying to work on right now. Chilling out and not worrying so much. Maybe it'll get better in the 24th year.
The 23rd year has been good though. Not good as in "happy and easy going" all the time, but good as in "painful due to growth". I don't know if there's anything better than to look back and realize how much God has actually taught me, and how far He has brought me (rap). I think I would even say that God has changed and matured me more last year than any other year in my life. That is exciting to think about. It really makes me hope that things will continue this way, and I will always being growing more than the year past. I'm not even sure why I'm writing this... it just came to my mind I guess.
I think I'm going to go and get some food, and maybe read a book for a bit.
Until next time,

-Jordan

I am one with Nature.

2008-08-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

I just had a nice experience with nature. I won't go into detail but it was a intimate.
We're at Rob's house now, down in Cape Breton for the bible camp. It's raining everyday so far, but I really hope it changes so I can take some photos. Camp is great for photos. There are some other photos here - one from a skateboard park and others from a random wedding.
We were in Toronto for the weekend and just flew home on Sunday. There was actually a funny little experience with that situation too. It turns out Air Canada overbooked our flight, which allowed for everyone to make it home on the same flight - minus moi. I started to get a bit nervous when a guy came over and told me I was in his seat, and then a bit more nervous when there were no more empty seats in sight. The stewardess then told me I had to leave the plane. He wasn't mean about it though, it just sounded mean because of his french accent which makes everything sound more angry than it is. I walked off the plane, down the stairs, and into the terminal, where they gave me a ticket for the next flight. The truth is it turned out pretty good. I loved the alone time. For some reason I enjoy when plans get changed if it involves me being along in somewhere completely new. I guess it's kind of challenging, and I think that's good for me. I like the alone time as well, to read or listen to good music (which is Mat Kearney these days). It turns out that my friend Sam Jess was also on the next flight, who was being picked up in Halifax by our other good friend Mikey Fredericks (yes former drummer of the rockband Life Support.) And on the plane, I had the last three seats to myself, complete with a large selection of movies, Coke, and Pringles. So sweet. The stewardess gave me a number to call and complain to. Maybe I'll get a free flight to anywhere in the world, and I'll go to a foreign country and take pictures for a week. We'll see.
Other meaningless facts that I can look back on in years to come:
Life is Good. God is teaching me a lot everyday. I'm starting to really love reading the bible these days. Thank God. I'm getting along with my parents better than ever. I love them. My sister and John are moving back soon too. That'll be so nice. Kind of like when she was in school and they would come visit once in a while. It'll be awesome having them around them again.
I want to write songs but I can never finish anything without thinking that it's crap and just a copy of someone else's song that probably stinks too. I think I'll just start finishing them. Either that or I'll just work on the music and give it to Judith to put lyrics to.
I'm getting a recording interface which I want to use to make two albums: a James Barbour/Jordan Mattie album, and a Judith Zonunpari/Jordan Mattie album. And both of those bands need names. I'm not sure of them yet but they'll be good. The thought of making music with different people, especially as different and equally amazing ad Judith and James is so exciting to me. I hope it happens. Oh, there's one more album - another fiddle album with my grandfather and my dad. Grampy is always asking to make another CD. This one is going to be much better than the last. I think we'll even do a sick photo shoot, the whole nine yards. I want some more good memories while he's still with us.
Anyway, I think we're going back to the camp soon. Steve Fenton is speaking there this week... it's always so amazing to hear him speak. So refreshing. He just talks about how we can't do anything as christians, we need Jesus so badly, just Jesus. Not Jesus plus something else - just Jesus. Very interesting. I have a lot to learn.
God is amazing. More later.
Adios.

-Jordan

Ecuador Exposure Tour

2008-07-20T00:38:00.000-07:00

I'm in Antigonish right now. In the St.FX library actually. It's enjoyable and relaxing to sit at the computer and drink some Tim Horton's. This time last week I was in Ecuador with the band on a Compassion Exposure Trip. It was amazing. Probably not exactly what I expected - which was more of those "see the kids for the first time and break out into tears as they all scream and try to hug you." They did that a bit but it wasn't the most memorable part for me. For me the highlight of the trip would definitely have to be the project we visited on the Wednesday. It was a fairly nice project with a large soccer/basketball court area in the front. As we started doing the tour I met one boy there - his name was "Sasy"... although I'm not completely sure how to say or spell it. He loved my camera. He was so quiet and peaceful too. Some kids just grab for the camera, but he would just gently reach for it after every picture I took so he could get a look. Eventually he caught on to which button made the magic and he took a few of his own pictures. After every one he took, he'd look at it for a second, and look up at me with a big smile.
He continued walking with me into the various rooms they were showing us, even while all of the other kids were outside playing. At one point, we were going to pray for a guy, so I just put the camera around his neck and pointed at our group, motioning for him to snap some pictures. He walked around the room to get a variety of angles... some of the the ceiling, some of us, mostly at strange angles. He was very artistic I think.
Later on when we had more free time we were able to explore a little more in depth, and made our way up to the top of the main building. About 3 or 4 floors up to the roof. It was amazing. We had a wide view of everything, from the mountains and volcanoes a few miles off to the houses a few meters down. One other boy and 5 or 6 girls followed us up too giggling the whole way. This was amazing. Posing for pictures on a rooftop in Ecuador with two little boys trying to figure out which magic button to push on the little black box they were holding. The girls were laughing the whole time. After my shoot was done, Sasy and I went to the other side of the roof to chill while the others kept snapping photos. This was the highlight for me. Leaning out over the edge of the roof with Sasy. We would look out, then look at each other for a second, smile, try to think of something to say... if only I knew more spanish... look back at the scenery, and repeat it a few times. I already asked him his name - one spanish phrase gone. What else? Oh yeah, I'll ask him, "How are you doing?" A bit obvious - yes, but that was all I had left. "Cómo es usted?" I asked. "Bien", he said, and smiled. That means "good". That was it. The perfect memory in Ecuador. Probably the shortest conversation I've ever had but definitely one I will never forget.
As for the rest of the trip, it was also great. Compassion took care of everything so well, we were all left in amazement. We got to stay in beautiful hotels - mainly because it was safe as well as cheap for Compassion, and ate three delicious meals everyday. I don't know if anyone in the band can remember the last time that happened. What, I think it was 2002.
On the last day we all go to meet the kids we were sponsoring - for me it was a child my dad was sponsoring. His name was Steven and he had a lot of energy. His mom and a translator were there also. It was also an amazing day. We got to ride a paddle boat around a little river while we asked questions about each others lives, played frisbee, had a picnic, and then went to an amusement park. One of the best parts of that day was running with Steven. Yeah, just running. He loved. There were little hills that had been paved, so we would just run up and down them until I got out of breath and he laughed at me.
There were so many God moments on this trip. Even away from the projects, meeting the other travelers and getting to chat with them was great. I had an especially great talk with Andy from Compassion one night, and many other conversations with guys like Greg and Trevor. There's so much more to write about like the market, meeting the sponsor kids who were now in university, the musical band of those kids, the dance group, and Hector, but I'm getting tired of sitting here and need to move before my eye balls get fried from staring at the computer screen. Some of the pictures are here on the blog, but there are also many more at www.flickr.com/jordanmattiephoto. So check em' out!
Thank You God for the amazing trip.
Be blessed friends,

-Jordan

So Far the Ferry Feels Fairly Fair.

2008-06-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

I'm on the Ferry to NFLD now. I love it because it kind of forces us to chill out and not run around for 8 hours. It's perfect for getting work done too. And reading. I read the bible for a bit and it felt so amazing. The daily bread. Sitting down alone and reading the bible with no rush, and with a desire to learn, has got to be one of the best feelings I know. Thank God.
It is a bit rocky on here though. I feel alright so far. I heard that if you do something to keep your mind off of it you'll be alright and probably not throw up. I'm going to spend some time editing wedding photos and listening to awesome music. That's the perfect combo for me. So relaxing. Maybe we'll take some pictures and make some movies too. A new podcast is due soon. I think this one is gonna be pretty funny.
For this blog the main things I'd like to make note of is:
1. God is good for letting us do the band and travel to a lot of different places.
2. Music is so soothing and I love how it can bring me to different places when I hear certain songs.
3. Reading God's word is very refreshing and I need to take time everyday.
4. I edited a photo and put Rob's head on a girls body and everyone laughed.

More to come from NFLD (the Rock)
We are going to rock on the rock!
Bye.
-Jordan

Still touring.

2008-06-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

Hi. I'm in Truro now sleeping on the floor again. It's going well. We played here tonight... probably for one of the smallest crowds on the tour. And to be honest I think that we all thought it was going to be weak, and kind of a waste of time. But oh boy - my favorite gig so far. It was so fun. We were rockin'. And tonight I didn't feel guilty about rockin at all. It was great. Chris and I were saying that we just felt really free. It was so good. I hope I can feel free like that more. We prayed about that at the beginning... Chelsea did first, and I think that helped. Chelsea seems to know what to pray for. And she's got the pipes on her. Whoa.

It feels good also to do all of the setting up everyday... feels like we're actually working hard. Maybe I already said that, but it's true. I need to be alone too read and pray more though. It always seems like when we're doing this band stuff it's the hardest time to be alone with God. I guess I have to put more effort into that. It does make the hugest difference.
I hope that God is using us on this tour... using the awesome songs and our music to bring people closer to Him like he has me through other peoples music. I'm so glad that God created music for us to enjoy. Thank You God.

Band Tour Day 1

2008-05-31T14:03:00.001-07:00

I'm in Fredericton, NB now with the band. We've been trying to set up a real stage now for the last few hours. I think it's working too. Oh the lights just went out...back on now. Maybe a fuse blew. I'm not sure. There's a lot of power going on up there. Anyway, it feels good to actually have a nice set up going on, along with playing our own songs off the new album. Very choice. We still have to learn them a bit better though. I know I do, especially with more singing parts. Harmony. I need to learn harmony better.

Life has been good lately. I've worked with dad for the last few weeks, welding. I'm done now, but could be back in the fall. Who knows. It feels good to work though... like really work long hours and make dough. Sometimes I'm afraid that I might be lazy and not be able to take care of a family, but God has been using the welding job to teach me and grow me into a better worker, and a better man. I know that is super cheezy - a better man. But I think that's something He is actually trying to teach me. It's coming together slowly. Life is good.

Piece.

Life is good.

2008-05-09T12:38:00.001-07:00

I love Tim Horton's. And that song 'Sorry Miss Jackson' by Outkast. I heard it on the radio the other day and I'm hooked. They rap so fast and rhythm and clever lyrics... man. Whoa.

I've been working a lot and making some dough. It feels good to earn money and buy things you can enjo

y (without getting too materialistic I know.) I finally got a Canon Rebel XT with a 28mm lens, and a Taylor 312 CE acoustic! Yase. It's so nice to have a guitar to just chill and jam out on. It's so much more inspiring for writing songs too. I think I'm going to start writing tunes. Every time I start writing something I get some kind of idea in my head that it stinks so I don't bother finishing it. I think I should though. Write some and record them even for myself.
I got to photograph a wedding on Saturday. Myself and Judith (BFF) took pictures for Nicole and Curtis' wedding (forget the last name.) They came out good - sooo good. I'm really pumped about these pictures. There's a few up here and some more on www.flickr.com/jordanmattiephoto. Judith helped a lot too. She told people where to go when I didn't know what to do and told me to chill once or twice. As if I needed to chill...pfft. Afterwards we checked out a really nice beach that a friend told us about. There were rocks with huge crashing waves. Amazing.
As of now, I'm going to work for a few more weeks, edit wedding pictures, write some songs, and then head out with the band. Oh and next Wednesday I'm going to see Bob Dylan with mom and dad and maybe someone else if we figure out who to invite. Rob, Chris and I are going to be playing with Eric Angus Whyte a bit too for his CD release tour. That's going to be so fun... very refreshing to be able to play different music with different settings and style once in a while.
God is so good. I'm starting to realize how blessed I am. Sometime I can't even believe it. it just hits me like a brush of wind, or a scent, and all of a sudden I'm overwhelmed with how much God has done and is doing in my life. There's no better feeling than to know that God is growing me and teaching me new things everyday. Thank You God.

The first non-band blog.

2008-03-15T21:24:00.001-07:00

I changed the blog layout, and this is the first post. The album recording is complete, and I thought it was time to change the blog from the "album recording" blog to just the plan old "Jordan Mattie life" blog. I'm pretty sure I'll be the only person ever reading it, but at least I have somewhere to record my brilliant thoughts and/or amazingly exciting journeys with Life Support all over the east coast of Canada. For example, right now I'm in a basement of a house in a bed in Fredericton, NB. We're here for a conference called Encounter. Tomorrow I get to go home and spend a few weeks with family, friends, and Riley. I'm looking forward to that so much. I'm starting to get pretty home sick. I think God is using it to my advantage though and helping to not take my friends and family for granted, as I sometimes do.
I'm also listening to Brooke Fraser in my headphones. Wow. I'm so thankful for my music and headphones. It's like a drug for me... to just put on some good music and let the melodies soothe my brain, spirit, being, whatever. Especially Brooke. There's something about her music - every song is amazing. I don't think there's any that I feel like skipping. Right now my favorites are C.S. Lewis Song, Love is Waiting, The Theif, and Shadowfeet. OK, mostly the first three but I added Shadowfeet because I didn't want to sound super sappy since two of them are love songs.
Thank God for music. I'd feel so much more lonely without it. I think it's just another way for God to touch us where we're at... like sitting on a dirty subway, or alone in a city when you're really longing to be with certain friends and family. It can be so comforting. Even certain melodies or rhythms... I don't know how, but certain ones just hit me. It can just feel so good. Like this part in a Brooke song now...
"Speak to me
in the light of the dawn
mercy comes with the morning."
Whoa. That melody with the music gives me a rush.
It's 1:41am now and I have to get up early for church. But oh, one good friend from home on msn! Such a blessing...
More later.

Jordan

Thank You, Walker Texas Ranger

2007-09-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

It's good to not be sitting on a hill this time. We're at the studio now...Rob's tracking guitars for a song that is going to be sick, while I chill and edit some pictures until it's my turn. The last few days have been good. We played twice yesterday (Sunday) at Church Without Limits, and I went to my first Blue jays game on Wednesday. It was pretty cool...almost didn't seem real when you first walk in there. It looks smalled than it does on TV, I guess just because I'm not used to seeing the entire field all at the same time. I was falling alseep a lot at the beginning so we got popcorn and pop which came to around $7, and then got yelled at when Chris and I tried to take a picture of ourselves in front of the field. The Jays lost. But at least the tickets were free and pretty close (thanks to Brandon who works at the studio and at the stadium.)
I can't really remember what else we did since then...it was also Alex's birthday on Wednesday. They got him a little cake and we sang happy birthday. Then we went outside to take pretty good, although it's always awkward to try and think of what to do in the picture. The best ones would come when we would pretend to talk about nothing. I think our favorite shot is from when we were talking and I told Rob I liked the band on his shirt - which was a Switchfoot shirt...coincidence? I think not.
While the other days since then are still coming up blank, I'm pretty sure they filled with recording, riding the subway, going to Chapters - which reminds me that I bought a really good book titled "What's So Amazing About Grace" by Phillip Yancey. I read a few chapters in Chapters (pun) and decided I had to buy it. It's really interesting so far...yes it's all about grace, and no not the prayer before dinner.
Well I'm almost done here but the last thing I have to mention is last night - after eating a lot of amazingly tasty wings, Matt, Rob, Sarah (our new Ontario best friend), and I came back to Marjori's and watched videos on youtube of Conan O'Brien showing clips from the show "Walker, Texas Ranger" starring Chuck Norris. Oh boy...all I can say is that this was a close runner up for the "hardest ever laugh award" to the time we watched the "Give Yourself Hope" video and Rob stepped in my bowl of ice cream. The clips show Conan pulling a lever everytime he wants to see a random clip form the show, all of which are completely rediculous. It's halarious. Go search "conan texas walker lever" on youtube right now, but be careful because you may laugh up a lung. Oh boy.
Two days left I guess...leaving Thursday morning early to go to Quebec before getting home to the Nish and all the students - I cannot wait! See ya soon.

Jordan

Flames, Road Rage, and DNA

2007-09-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

Out on the hill again. Yeah here we are. I'm glad it's nice weather, no rain or anything. Wouldn't be good for the macbook. So we played tonight in Brampton at their Monday Night Life service. It was fun. They have a nice big sanctuary with very loud speakers. It's to play in a place like that once in a while...where you can pretty much feel Chris' bass in your chest. Before we played we had a bunch of wings, and then after we played we got to go out to this place for more free food. Oh yes. I think that's almost my fav part of the gigs - the after playing dinner with a bunch of people. It's always chilled out and you don't ahve to worry about any schedules - just worry about how many wings you're gonna leave on your plate!
During the day - today and yesterday - Rob and I have been down at the studio by around 10am till around dinner time. Rob has been doing all the playing lately, while I take pictures, walk around, eat sandwiches, and practice the moonwalk.

A day passes...

Well it's Tuesday night now and we just played at the same church again. Tonight was the junior teen night though, mostly ages 12-15ish. It was fun again. We played a few rockin tunes in between candy throws and interactive youth group games. They had fire again too. Big fire. This time we knew it was coming though so we made sure we were good and clear of the 10 foot flames. It looked like the roof was going to catch fire at one point, but it didn't, and the night went off without a hitch. Earlier today Rob and I were abck at the studio, doing more guitar tracks. It wasn't the most productive day to be honest. Today was more about finding a good guitar loop for a song. This takes time, as there are many many options for effects to be used on the loop. We eventually found one that we all seemed to like and went with it...but who knows, it could still change by the time the record is out. The loop was Rob's area, so after that I got to play for a bit. We messed with a lead guitar line for the same song. We figrued one out that was sounding nice - I really like it - but due to the way guitar's are tuned, and the "temperance", it was impossible to play the lick and stay in tune for all of the notes. And because of that we can't use it and have to find something else. That's kindof a bummer. There's gotta be something that's just as good or better though...we'll attack that tomorow.
So things are going pretty good...besides the extremely challenging journey that it took for Rob and I to get to the studio this morning. After getting yelled at by the bus driver to hurry up as I got on the bus with my 2 bags ang guitar, and Rob's bag, guitar, and pedal board, the bus driver chose to let out some road rage at another driver as he laid on the horn, and then got out and yelled at him beside his car. In the midst of slamming on the breaks Rob almost lost balance while trying to hold onto his gear, only moments before a lady standing next to me attempted to move down the aisle and accidentally ran her hand into my mouth in the process. Yes it was awkward. Not one of those little tap of the hand bumps...it was more of a slow arm movement that landing directly under my upper lip which then forced my half asleep mouth partially open as a small amount of DNA slipped out I'm sure. Then we got to the subway station where the conductor of the next train told us that it was out of service and we'd have to wait for the next one. We got on the next one, then the street car, then arrived at the studio. So I guess it was mainly the first half of the journey that was hard. It may sound like I'm complaining too, but I'm not. It all worked together to give us a pretty good laugh at the studio. Hope it doesn't happen tomorow though...
I think that's enough for now. It's only 12am now so there's a chance I'll get almost 7 hours of sleep tonight. I guess I'll go then. Keep reading - piece out!
Jordan
p.s. The other day Rob and I did a photoshot for Rolling Stone magazine and they put us on the cover. (It's fake...obviously)

When Animals Attack

2007-09-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

I think I've lost track of the days of the blog. Ok I'm sure I have...but that's not important. What's important is that I now own a copy of Dumb and Dumber on DVD, and that Matt and I are sitting out on a hill by the road where there is a wireless signal. It seems that while at the apartment, this is now the only place for us to find any sign of world wide web activity. I think it's a good thing though. This way we don't spend too much time on the web when we're not recording. Instead we've been filling most of our evenings with cooking meals together, reading, and watching movies. I guess that's a bit more productive right?
The last few days have been dominated with studio time, metal works drum re-recording, subway riding, walking, cooking, sleeping, and a bit of playing. Last night we went to Brampton to play for a youth group at a church there. It was good. They had pyro-technics again (for those of you who were reading from the start - same church). The flames were big and high and they scared me but I just kept my back to them and hoped the back of my shirt didn't catch on fire. It didn't though, and we played for a while, quite loudly, and then I went and grabbed a Coke. There was also Swiss Chalet meals for us downstairs. I started eating mine before we started playing, and it was going well until Chris ran in and said the rest of the guys were waiting on stage. If it wasn't for the wet-nap it could have been disasterous to say the least.
This morning the rest of the band went van shopping while Matt and I slept in - which was amazing and doesn't happen that often when we're in Toronto. We got up in the mid afternoon and watched a show called "When Good Pets Turn Bad". It was pretty captivating. A little scary too. Afterwards I was sitting outside on the step reading a book when I heard a noise on my left. I turned and saw that I was face to face with one of Toronto's notorious "small-cat" sized squirrels. It just stood there staring me in the eye as I replayed one scene from "When Good Pets Turn Bad" that showed a cat attacking a woman in a grocery store. Still frozen I sat there wide-eyed until the squirrel grabbed a pin cone and moved along its merry way. "Yeah keep movin'...", I said under my breath..."Keep movin' real nice like, ya hear..." Now as I sit on the hill, at 12:10am in the morning, I hear a rustle every once in a while over my shoulder...I don't know whether I'll be attacked with pine cones flying at my head or feel a pair of claws on my neck. Well, I'm sure the injuries won't be as bad as that guy who got stepped on by the moose ("When Good Pets Turn Bad").
Signing off,
Jordan Mattie

The Nova Scotia/Home Blog

2007-09-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

The time we spent back in Nova Scotia can be split up into 4 sections. Starting with...
Camp Evangeline: It was great to be back in Nova Scotia. As soon as we got back, we were off to Camp Evangeline in Truro for teen camp week. It was a lot of fun. The speakers were really good this year...they talked about important stuff that we actually need to hear. I'm not sure if I can remember everything we did now, or the fun moments at least...I know that some of us swam a bit and jumped off some rocks, I took lots of pictures, we played music every morning and night, it was very hot, Rob through some stake muffins at me, and we played this game at Late night where you can only speak using questions (we'll put it on the podcast soon). After that week we also played at a RUSH service, also in Truro, and then made our way down to...Cape Breton Bible Camp: This camp is great because the scenery is amazing. It's pretty much up in the mountains of Cape Breton. Kind of the extreme opposite to living in Toronto for the last month. This camp had a pool, a water slide, big fields, and was next to a lake with a speed boat. They used the boat to pull kids on big tubes all around the lake until they hit all the waves and fly off...well they at least did that to Finlay. The speaker at this camp was amazing too...probably one of the best I've heard. His name is Stephen Fenton, from P.E.I. You can hear/read his messages on his website: www.lhm.com. They're awesome. It was really refreshing to hear him speak twice everyday...kind of feels like we were getting spoiled a bit even. I'm not sure of all the cool things that happened there...it's been a while I guess. I did take some nice pics of a rabbit on the first day though.
Home: I had been looking forward to this for a while now and it was sure nice. I finally got to sleep in my bed, play with my dog, mow the lawn, see people in town, and chill out at Tim Horton's. There was also lots of picture taking here...one night Judith and I took pictures around St.FX until about 2am. Another night we recorded music in the big empty echoing chapel on campus till 4:30am. It was wonderful. I also got to hang out with Tito and have a picnic on her kitchen floor where the table used to be, and go see Tree63 play in Halifax. On the 24th of August I got celebrate my 23rd birthday with Tito, Stephen, and my cousins where we shot a pellet guns and caught frogs. The rest of the time can be summed up by saying there was lots of chillin, lawn mowing, and jamming with my cousin Josh at the church. Oh, I also saw the Bourne Ultimatum, twice. It was that good.
Ontario Pioneer Camp: After we played at an event in Halifax called Invasion, we drove to Ontario for another camp called Ontario Pioneer Camp. Oh boy...I'm not sure if I can describe this camp in one blog. And I don't want to offend any other campers from the NS camps, but, wow. This camp takes the cake. I've never seen more effort put into the activities and events of a camp just to help the kids have a great time. The staff here were amazing. At first I can honestly that I wasn't to excited about going to another camp out in the middle of no where for another week this summer, but after being there for a few days, all of that changed. There was always something going on there...beach parties, frisbee golf, kayaking, 8am water skiing and wake-boarding, wind surfing, a continuous story line of skits played out at dinner time in the cafeteria, photography classes, and another greaaaat speaker. Man this guy was on the money. His name was Bret...I forget his last name, but he works with a ministry called Urban ___ based in Toronto. If I had the money I'd take this guy on the road to preach a sermon every morning. Wow.
The present: Anyways, this is getting pretty long, and it's almost midnight, and we haven't slept much lately, and we're getting up early again tomorrow morning to re-record some drums in Metal Works. So yes, as of right now we're back in the big city to continue recording the album. We have another few weeks here before we go home - hopefully for a while this time. I cannot wait. Well I guess I can - I think I'll try to enjoy where I'm at from now on instead of wish I was somewhere else. I will try to put up more blogs about the recording process in the next few weeks to keep people in the loop. As for the Maritime blog - it's safe to say that my time at home was packed full of good times in the maritimes. Talk to you soon.
God bless.
Jordan

Back in the Studio

2007-09-04T09:47:00.001-07:00

Back in the studio! Oh boy...we had a lot of fun at camps over the last few weeks/being home/chillin in the Nish/taking pics/playing with my dog. But yes back in the studio now, back to the dirty steets of Toronto where people ask you for your money but refuse free food. Soon I will put up a blog about our time at home and at the camps along with some pictures. It will talk about waterskiing and wakeboarding at 8 in the morning, failing swim tests, and over size chess matches. As of now we have to find someone who will do the artwork/web design for the new album, and then re-record some pre pro tracks for matt to play along with back at Metalworks.
Until then, stay tuned and have a wonderful day. Bye bye!
Jordan

Day 54-59: On The Home Stretch

2007-07-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm eating Alphegete and drinking Pepsi (sorry Sarah) - that's mostly what I've been doing here for the last few days. That and taking photos around the studio. We've been working on a lot of Rob's guitar parts for the last few days, which means I haven't been playing that much. I did play 2 verses yesterday though. It was pretty easy. Didn't even have to play full chords.
Besides that Tim has been showing me how to use Pro Tools a bit - that's the program that we're recording the album on. It's pretty fun and good experience for when I'm a big time record producer living in Hollywood, producing big stars like Paris Hilton and Lil' Bow Wow. The most that I got to use it was today. Tim needed a little break because he was working overtime last night (he really wanted to read his new Harry Potter book) so I got to push the buttons and say things to Rob like, "That was horrible!...What is this?! 1st grade band class?! Naw, you in a rock'n'roll band now son...So shape up! We've got gold records to make!" That might not have been the exact phrasing, but it was definately something along those lines.
We had Saturday and Sunday off, a nice break for sure. Sunday I went downtown to catch a service at this church called Sanctuary - it's a church off of Young Street that has a good number of street people coming out regularly. It's pretty choice. I first heard about the church in a book I read called "God in the Alley". The book was written by the pastor of the church, Greg (something). The book was really good, and when I heard that it was based on a church here in Toronto I figured I should check it out. I went for the morning service, which doesn't exist - only a night service at 5pm. I went to the Meeting House instead, then chapters for a few hours where I checked out a few radical books, then saw Brandon (the intern here at the Hive), he told me was going over to the Bloor square to do some break dancing with his buddies. He is actually really amazing at it. He has some videos on youtube. Anyways. after hanging out at the square for a bit I walked down to Sanctuary just in time for the service. As I was getting closer I noticed that I was walking behind a middle aged man carrying a case of pop. In my head, for some reason I thought, maybe this guy is the pastor, the guy who wrote the book...as we got closer I noticed he turned into the church. "Is there a service in here?" I asked. "Yeah in a few minutes," he said..."My name's Greg," he held his hand out for a shake. "Are you the pastor?" i replied reaching for his hand, "Yeah I am," he said..."You wrote the book!!" I said with a smile, "Ahh get out of here," he said with a laugh and turned into the sanctuary. (That part was supposed to read like a story because I imagined writing it in my head that way.) When I actually stepped into the Sanctuary it was amazing in itself. It felt totally comfortable and safe. No one judging or watching, even though the make-up of the crowd might have seemed like an easy target. Instead, everyone said hello to one another while a real sense of family brightened the room. It kind of reminded me of our LIFE services back at St.FX. It was great. The service was awesome too...a real blusey worship set (great musicians) and the baptism of two new christian girls. It was amazing to see everyone crowd around them and cheer as they came out of the water. I may have shed a little tear but in fear of looking like a dweeb I set my thoughts on something less moving, like Rob standing in his boxers (since I have been seeing a lot of that lately). I talked with the band members afterwards, who were really nice, and told them that I'd be back the next time we were in Toronto.
Now back to the present...1:03AM Monday night - recording guitars through an old organ speaker for a song called Revolution. We're about to do a few final takes for the night before catching the bus back to Marjori's where we will then pack our stuff, sleep for a few hours, then get up and drive back to God's country...Antigonish! Hallelujah.
Overall the 2nd phase of the recording process was a lot of work, a lot of hours, and a lot of good laughs with Tim. I think the ratio of laughs to tracks being recorded is something like 34:1, if my calculations were right I mean. I may have mixed up the perpendicular modulation theorum of the 2nd verdabray capsul in the time/space continuum.
I hope everyone enjoyed the blogs...I know I slacked off a bit near the end but when you hear all of the sweet guitar sounds on the new album you will then begin to understand how all my time was being spent! I'm loving it so far.
Stay tuned for the blog of the next recording phase...probably in September. Keep rockin' behs!
Blessings,

Jordan

Day 47-53: Got the Mac Back

2007-07-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Brandon - the super nice/smart intern that is working at the Hive for the summer, my computer is now fixed. He didn't actually fix it, but he knew what was wrong with it and sent me to the Genius Team at the Apple Store where they fixed it within a few minutes. I also met a photographer there who was getting his Mac fixed. We talked about photography and he gave me some free tips.
Since last Tuesday - which was the last blog, there has been a lot of recording/playing guitars, jokes, sneezing, and subway riding. A few of the highlighted moments include: Tim throwing a banana peel at me, then at Rob, me accidentally eating cream cheese that expired in April, Tim teaching the basics of using ProTools, watching a Walk to Remember, watching Spanglish, getting to do back up vocals, and Tim emailing clips of Dede's vocal warm up out to different people. We also got to do a part where Rob, Dede and I all gathered around the mic and sang at the same time. It might be very minimal, but it's there.
Oh yes, there is also one other event that is worth noting, for no other reason than because it's hilarious. Our good friend Tyler from back in the Nish found a website that had a little something to say about Life Support. It seems that someone saw our podcasts on youtube.com and didn't exactly find them as funny as we did. It's really not a big deal, nothing worth getting upset over, but you can check it out at this address if you want a good laugh. Also, thanks to people who wrote comments that support Life Support. There's some really good ones...http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/?p=423.
One more site you can check out is the Flickr page I just made. It has most of my favorite photos...mainly ones that I've edited to look all fancy. Some of them are from the blog and some are randoms from home. You might even be in some of them...the site is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10121606@N08. Enjoy!
Rob's tracking some guitars now and I need to go get another dose of the #1 sandwich-in-the-world from King Deli down the street. Stay tuned...
Jordan

Day 46.....and beyond

2007-07-15T20:44:00.001-07:00

It seems that I'm having a little problem with my computer...I downloaded some updates and now it won't start up again. All it's showing is a flashing folder with a question mark in it. I think it just needs a disc that I left at home...might be able to get it working in the next day or two though. That means I haven't been able to post any blogs for the last few days, and might not for the next few. Things are going good though. The days are a bit shorter now, which helps with getting more sleep than we have been lately, and we've mainly been doing guitars all day. I was sick for a few days, but thank God I'm almost 100% better now. Not too much crazy stuff has happened, hmm...we went to a music store and saw the singer from Billy Talent by his car. Rob was so excited he accidentally left his car door open for the entire 15 minutes that we were in store. No one stole anything though so it turned into a good laugh.
Other than that we've just been in the studio all day playing guitar and laughing at Tim. I hope everyone's doing good at home, I can't wait to get back to the Nish...hopefully by next Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm starting to get pretty sick of the city. I guess I'm just not into the whole garbage dump theme they've got going on downtown.
More to come in a few days...talk to you later.
Jordan

Day 45: Let's Get Our Guitars

2007-07-13T22:01:00.000-07:00

Finally we start tracking guitars. Drums and bass are all finished, Matt and Chris did an awesome job, everything sounds amazing. But now the real fun starts...it's pretty much Christmas for Rob and I. We rented a couple of amps, one being a Marshall from 1959 that comes up to my neck, and another by Mesa Boogie - both will knock your socks off. If you're aiming for high quality guitar Rob put a sign on the recording booth that reads "Enter At Your Own Risk". Whenever one of us goes in there to make an adjustment on one of the amps, we suddenly become overwhelmed with fear. If the other, the one sitting in the other room with the guitar, happens to hit a note on that guitar, the one in the booth could possibly die. That's how loud it is. Well maybe not, but if the guitar was strummed pretty hard for about a minute, the person in the booth would definitely have some serious hearing damage. Needless to say, we're very careful when someone's in the booth.
We started with one of the more rocking songs first, probably one of my favorites too. But first we played around with the different tones of the amps, mics, pedals, and guitars. This takes a while, or so I'm learning. I normally don't spend too much time on it personally, but when you're working with Tim and Rob you learn different. It definitely pays off in the end though.
After getting an amp setup, I started on the tune. The parts haven't been totally worked out yet, so we did some experimenting with different chords...which did get a bit frustrating. Probably my most frustrating moment of the recording process thus far. But thank God after taking a little break to chill out and think about the part it all worked out. We eventually reverted back to the original way I first played the part - this was a lot better. It sounds awesome too. I'm really excited for everything else to be recorded on top. It just keeps getting better and better, thank God.
We ended up getting off early tonight too, around 8:30pm I think. Rob and I hit up the Royal Bank - which has an amazingly smooth floor for moonwalking on - and then caught the Subway Home. Tonight we will get more than 5 hours of sleep. This is great news.
Until tomorow,

Jordan

Day 44: Monday Madness

2007-07-12T11:17:00.001-07:00

Today Chris was on deck to finish up the last of his bass tracks. That means 2 songs had to be finished today before he jumped on his flight home the next morning. This morning Matt hoped on a Go Train down to the U.S. border to meet his gal and her parents. That means two things: 1. We will have more time to shower in the morning, and 2. I now have a pillow to sleep on at night. Matt will be greatly missed...for 2 weeks.
We got to the studio around noon today just as Tim was finishing up editing some of the last drum tracks. Chris would plug in his bass once in a while, play the song a few times...discuss it with Tim...play it some more...Tim would change his bass line...Chris would play the new one...Tim does some editing, etc.
Meanwhile Rob and I surf the web, videotape random stuff, and work on our moon walk - which is coming along pretty nicely. Our wonderful friend Judith Zonunpari Khawlhring Thanzauva happened to post a video demonstrating how to moon walk on her facebook page that teaches the move perfectly.Rob and I studied it for a while and then got to work. It was like learning to play the guitar all over again - so exciting when we got it right. A lot of it depends on the floor and the shoes though...we need to get some good moon walking shoes. Stay tuned for the next podcast - we'll make sure there's some M-walking in there.
Eventually supper time came. Chris still had more to do so he stayed behind while Rob and I took a walk down King Street to The Real Jerk - which is actually a restaurant, not a human being. We got these things called Roti's, which is basically spicy chicken mixed with potatoes and wrapped up in a pita type bread. It was 'aight, while the twinkies I bought for dessert were amazing.
The 15 hour day ended around 2 am after Tim finished editing and Chris finished his last song. D Mac gave us a drive home and took Chris to his place, then to the airport the next morning. I think they stayed up all night too, chatting on the balcony. Rob and I on the other hand, hit the hay, without delay, as if to say, the current day, has passed away.

Jordan

Day 36-43: In the Nish Where I Belong

2007-07-12T00:19:00.000-07:00

It was so great to be back in the Nish, especially after being in the big city for so long. It’s nice to walk down the street and smell fresh air. He night I got home I went to the July 1st celebration that they put on at the St.FX football field. We saw some nice fireworks and were entertained by musical guests, Pogey! (in the Chris voice.) My sister and her hubby were down visiting from Dallas Texas so we got to spend some good quality time together. We played frisbee at Beaver Mountain Park – watching mom play Frisbee was amazing – and we had a BBQ at our cousins house that British Dave and Emem came down for. To be completely honest, I never thought I’d see these guys join the Mattie family for a good old Bluegrass Hoedown, but it turned out great. Dave and Emem parted ways with the Mattie family with hugs and offers to come back. Dave even liked one of the bluegrass tunes so much (Blackberry Blossom) that he went home and learned it on guitar. Even though Dave comes from England/Africa/Mexico, I think he’s a true Nova Scotian at heart. After that we went back to our house and had a nice long game of Settlers of Catan where we were joined by Judith and Amanda. Sarah won the game, which means the rest of us, including Dave, lost. Although, Dave claims that he would’ve won if John had told him a little piece of information earlier on. Sorry Dave. At least you can play Blackberry blossom.
Later in the week we went to the Welcome for the Coady students at St.FX. It was pretty cool. I met a guy from Thailand and another guy from Nepal. Everyone at those things are super nice and seems very not-lazy. When it was all over, Dave, Eric and I ran out to my car that, to our great dismay, would not start. Apparently leaving the car lights on drains the battery or something. It was ok though. I just had to run to Tim Horton’s where I was supposed to meet Abena, call her, call dad for advice, and then call Scott Allen who then came to my rescue with a set of booster cables. Thanks Scotty.
Other activities on my trip to the Nish included writing some awesome songs with Judith (that we will be recording soon), going to see Transformers with my younger cousins, and eating some choice BBQ courtesy of David and Tito, once again accompanied by male-model Eric.
I flew back to Toronto on Saturday night. It was a great flight. Probably my best ever. I got to watch a Coldplay concert on a built-in TV, drink pop, and edit some photos. Kind of made me wish it were longer. I thought about just staying on and flying to China but then remembered the whole band/album/recording thing…so I got off of the plane.
Back in Toronto…stay tuned.

Jordan

Day 35: Put The Pedal to the Metal(works)

2007-07-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

We left for Metalworks Studio in Mississauga today at around 10am. I think it was sort of what I expected, but not totally. They had the whole reception desk thing going on, but with a rockstar looking guy instead of a gal, along with gold and platinum records on the walls. There wasn’t many people that I recognized though… mainly Nelly Futardo, NSYNC, Tina Turner, and Christina Aguilera. Basically a bunch of washed up nobodies. Rob got excited about an album by a band called the Northern Pikes.
The control room was pretty cool. There was a soundboard that’s almost as wide as the room and a couch that’s even wider. Rob and Matt were already there with Tim because they went over early to set the drums up along with a drum tech Darryl (who plays in a sweet band named Hewit – www.myspace.com/hewit). They tuned the drums and plugged in Chris and his radical bass. Alex and Dede showed up with some a couple pizza’s, which we devoured in the lounge area before hitting the first tune. It sounded pretty choice from the sound room. It’s also great to just sit on a big comfy couch with a laptop and watch those boys do all the hard work (for today).
Recording the bass and drums basically goes like this: play the tune, while listening to the scratch guitar and vocal tracks, all the way through once. Then play it one more time. Then 6 more times after that. Then we’ll go back and punch in certain drum fills or bass licks that may be a bit more complicated. And if you’re recording with Tim, then chances are he’ll find a wonderful new bass tone after recording 6 songs, and you’ll have to go back and record them all over again. That was Chris’ experience. I didn’t get to see this part but I’m sure he was very happy about it and probably played it even better the second time.
The Metalworks session ended around 8pm. We then came back to the Hive and listened to what was recorded, and see if anything needed to be recorded differently. I think it’s safe to say that Tim was pretty excited about the drum sounds we got. He even said something along the lines of “these are the best drum sounds I’ve ever recorded.” That was very good to hear. After watching Tim listen to the drums for another couple of hours we eventually took off. I got off at the subway station where I caught a subway to D Mac’s place since he would be driving me to the airport in the morning for my flight home. We went for some food, got my bags from Marjori’s, listened to some tunes, and chatted on the balcony for a while until we figured we might as well stay up all night since it was already 5am. I got some good morning pictures before we left for the airport at around 6:30am - then it was off to the Nish!
Hallelujah!

Jordan

Day 34: Last Day of Pre Pro (say "pre pro" 10 times really fast)

2007-06-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

We got to sleep in this morning. Well everyone except Rob and Matt. They had to go to the music store early in the morning with Tim to rent drums for Metal Works (Saturday). The rest of us showed up to the Hive at around 1pm to find Matt behind a nice set of Taye's, which were last used to by the drummer of Black Sabbath. That seems a little ironic - first they were used for devil music, now they're being used for Jesus music! Just joking...I don't really know the drummer of Black Sabbath so I can't really say anything about him or his drummin'. One thing I can say though, is that Rob flat out dropped the floor tom on the pavement as he was carrying it out to the car! And then he left Matt in the dark as to why it was so hard to tune. (laugh) It got worked out though; they got er' tuned up and sounding good.
The next ten hours were spent finishing all of the demos/scratch tracks. We did a few tunes, went for supper, got locked out for a bit, got back in, and rocked till about 2 or 3am. It felt like we accomplished something, getting all of the scratch tracks done...like we're entering a new phase, or as Rob would say, "takin' it to the next level!" This means off to Metal Works tomorow, giving Matt and Chris about 4 hours to sleep before recording all day. Dem behs is tuff I tells ya. Matt and Rob went to Tim's tonight so that they could help load gear in the morning, while the rest of us went back to Marjori's to sleep for an extra our or two.
This concludes the end of the pre pro journey. Just the real thing from here on in...loud amps with 5 mics, various guitars to choose from, Tim screaming at Rob and hitting him with the rubber finger when he messes up, and many layers of thick heavy guitars. It'll be so much fun.But before that comes Metal Works...tomorow, for Matt and Chris...Good luck behs!
Jordan

Day 33: Wendy's Good Subway Bad

2007-06-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up on time, at D Mac’s place (who is a wonderful host) and made my way down to the subway after grabbing some breakfast at Tim Horton’s, the best coffee place in the world. The subway took me to King Street, where I took the stairs up to the street to catch the streetcar. King Street…it looked like the same stop we got on the day before…so I got on. It wasn’t too crowded; Jon Foreman was singing in my ears…I was on my way. It was all wonderful until the scenery began looking a bit unfamiliar. “I don’t remember seeing that theatre there yesterday,” I thought to myself…”unless they just built it…last night.” After about 10 minutes of unfamiliar surroundings, I figured that I should probably switch streetcars. After that the scenery started coming back, which felt good…very good.
Once there, we hung out for a bit while Tim was editing some drum tracks…then more demoing and scratch tracks…then supper – at Wendy’s! Ahh wonderful Wendys. It’s so great. This one was extra big and even had a built on Tim Horton’s. I think this is where they’ll for lunch after church, in heaven.
In the evening we focused our brains on finishing another tune – the one that I was writing some lyrics for on the subway. We changed it a bit since then, and it’s starting to sound really good. We worked on getting a solid chorus melody for a while…it was getting a bit tense to be honest, especially since we were running low on time. In the end Tim came up with something that fits it really well so we rolled with it. From that point it felt like it took a turn for the better. The bridge that we desperately needed came next, with a little less effort than the chorus, and it’s awesome. I think this may be my favorite moment on the album thus far. Hopefully you’ll see what I mean when you hear it. Woo ooh ooh woo ooh ooh…
We finished at around 1:30am tonight. It was another long one but it felt great to get that new tune completely musically. Drive home, eat, sleep…
Goodnight,
Jordan

Day 31-32: Burgers and Balcony Blog

2007-06-30T01:12:00.000-07:00

Tuesday and Wednesday...These two days were pretty similar. They were both a bit shorter – we only went untill about 5 or 6pm leaving us with a bit of time to chill each night. The days consisted of getting to the studio around 9:30am where we demo-ed/laid down scratch tracks for the remainder of the tunes. There’s still a bit of writing that has to be finished here and there…a chorus, a verse, or some arrangement ideas, but for the most part we’re pretty close to the finish of pre production.
Tuesday night was pretty chilled out. We hung out at the house as usual, catching up on some sleep and some reading. Wednesday night I went over to D Mac’s place for a little slumber party. It was choice. We even got to go to Wendy’s and eat their beautiful burgers. D Mac lives in an apartment on the 18th floor with a balcony. I get a little freaked out when I look over the railing, but I always feel like I need to. I’m not sure if that’s means there’s something wrong with my head but I just have to do it even though I hate it. Kind of like if there’s a cactus plant on the windowsill, you just have to touch it to see what the prick feels like. Or maybe its like touching a bench with a “wet paint” sign on it. Anyways, regardless of my weak knees I was able to snap a few choice pictures from the 18th floor view. We hung out on the balcony for a bit, had some cookies and milk, and talked about growing up, music, God, and girls. It was good. Then I went to sleep on a very comfortable futon. This is the end of the night, while the very exciting story about what happens next will be found in the next blog – so read on! Goodnight,
Jordan

Day 30: The Buzz at The Hive

2007-06-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

Monday - the first day at The Hive, the real studio. It's nice to have more than one room to hang out in, with other people around, and windows. The Hive is a cool spot. There's about 3 other guys that each have their own room all within the one main big studio. One guy named Allister Johnson works on hip hop beats and remixes, all this sick drum loop stuff. He has a wall full of records that he takes sampes from and mixes them into newer songs, making them sound choooice. He also has turntables and a couple old school keyboards that make wacky noises when you mess with all the knobs. He's really cool too. He took time to show us the remix he was working on for Jully Black and I took some pics of his studio for him. Check out his stuff at: www.myspace.com/alisterjohnson.
Craig Douglas was in again today, that always makes things a bit more fun. We got a few ideas going for this one newer tune we've been working on but it's still not done...coming along nicely though, I think it'll be a rocker. We also got to go to that amazing cafe where the asian husband and wife make the best sandwiches in the world. It's so wonderful.
After lunch we mainly worked on demos and scratch tracks (what Matt and Chris will play along with when they record at Metal Works this weekend) for a few of the newer songs, which were sounding nice over the speakers for the first time. This means playing the song together a bunch of times, recording Matt on the drums, editing the drums a bit, recording Rob, Chris and I on guitars, and then recording Dede and Al for the vocals. We got through about 3 tunes today and left the studio at around 1am. That equals 15 hours in the studio today...which didn't really seem that long, especially after sitting in that room at the church day after day. Like I said it makes it a lot more fun when you get to actually record the songs and listen back to them sounding better and better.
We got home at around 1 30am tonight, leaving us enough time to eat cereal, check email, and go to bed. It was a long one today but it definately feels like we're getting somewhere now. The tunes are coming along nicely, and it's getting closer to the serious recording sessions - very exciting but lots of work coming up. Stay tuned and say a prayer for us if you think of it. Thanks...goodnight!
Jordan

Day 29: Lazy Sunday Secrets

2007-06-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

Today Rob and I woke up good and early so we could make it to the Meeting House on time. The last two times we went we were about an hour late and ended up missing the majority of each service. This time we left the house at around 8am and made it downtown with a half an hour to spare. The service was pretty good for the parts that we were able to stay awake. They were talking about a book that’s selling a lot right now, called “The Secret”. It’s supposed to be this self-help/will power/positive energy kind of book about getting what we want out of life. It was really interesting. The pastor pointed out some of the main ideas from the book and what scripture says about them – basically how it’s foolishness. For example, one of the teachings said: “Think about what it is you want right now, focus on it, and then open this book randomly, and that page will give you the answer to what you’re looking for.” Just to be sure that it was all a lie, Rob tried it out later when we were getting groceries at Shopper’s Drug Mart. Rob held the book, thought about what he wanted, (food), and then opened the book, which said to just “expect what you want to come to you, and it will.” He expected to get food, and then we went and bought groceries…Does that count?
After church we checked out some cool bookstores on Young Street. We didn’t see anything worth buying though so we caught the subway home while occasionally falling in and out of sleep mode. We made it though, far enough to flop down on the air mattresses and pass out until about 8pm that night. Just another productive nap before going back to the studio on Monday.
So to sum up Sunday in two main points: sleep is great, and don’t read “The Secret.”
Oh and I didn't have any pictures from today so I grabbed two random ones off of the computer. Enjoy!
Goodnight,
Jordan

Day 28: Chillin' With Katz

2007-06-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

Sleeping in. Yessssss. Saturday’s are wonderful because it’s the only day of the week we can sleep in past 7:30am. We took advantage of this today and got up around 2pm. Chris and Matt went to a Blue Jay’s game with our friend Steph from Brampton, and then to the movies to see ‘Evan Almighty.’ Meanwhile Rob and I stayed at home and drifted back and forth between the Internet, reading, and napping. I realize this may come off as a bit lazy to some people, but it was actually well deserved. The sleep scale has been sitting pretty low this week, so we felt the need to get in as much as we could (as you will also see on tomorrow’s blog). We didn’t lie around all day though. No no no, we actually went to a CD release party for an awesome singer songwriter by the name of Peter Katz – which was the most recent album that Tim produced. (www.myspace.com/peterkatz) The show was held at a place called the Rivoli in downtown Toronto. There wasn’t a huge turn out, mostly friends and family I think, but Peter still put on a great show. The lighting and the smoke set a nice atmospheric tone, which would’ve been perfect for taking photos – if I took my camera! Argh. I’ll never leave it home during a concert again.
Once the show was over I realized that I needed some change for the subway, so Rob and I went looking for a Royal Bank that we would not find. I thought the subway ran later than it actually did, so this put us in a bit of a hurry. We ended up getting there just in time once again, catching the very last subway/bus home.
I don’t know if anything really exciting happened today…Chris got a pretty heavy farmer’s tan at the ball game, and he also caught a home run on his videophone…Dede went to baby-sit Tim’s kids, and apparently Tim’s 3-year old son Sam fell madly in love with Dede…and Alex went for a wild bike ride with his sisters where he met some interesting characters...Other than that, nothing too crazy happened today. Just the good old Ontario ordinary. Until next time…
Jordan

Day 27: No More Knox

2007-06-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

This was the last day for pre production in Knox church. It feels good too, kind of like we’re moving forward a bit. It’ll be nice to get out of that room too and be in The Hive where there’s more than one room to chill in. Nevertheless, the people at Knox have been extremely generous in letting us practice there everyday for free. So to all the people at the church - thank you very much!
When we got there this morning we played Tim the new lyrics for the song that we were working on the night before. We couldn’t really tell if he liked it or not…I think it’ll grow on him. I hope so because we all really like it. We also worked a bit more on this tune Dede wrote, kind of a lovey girl song but its choice. We defiantly need a few of those.
Lunchtime came and I had to go to the bank to do some band business. Tim drove Rob, Chris and I down to the area where the bank was, only to find that I wasn’t allowed to withdraw the money we needed. Looks like I need to call the Nish and get something faxed up. Probably some big important FBI document or something…whatever.
We went for food after that, a Japanese place that had a picture of Christopher Walker on the wall standing next to the owner. The picture said “Christopher Walker @ 1:10pm.” Maybe it’s just us, but it seemed a little random to have the time on the picture, and not even the date. “…This picture was taken at 1:10pm. We don’t know what day or year, but it was 1:10pm!” The food took a bit longer than we expected, so we got back to the church a bit late. Like an hour and a half late. We were still able to get a bit more work done on some of the tunes before calling it quits and saying goodbye to Knox Church for now.
The original plan for the evening was to all go to this place called The Korean Grill House a bit later after D Mac was finished at a football game. Chris and I planned on going home before this to get a little R and R. We knew there was a concert of the Fray going on at the Molson Amphitheatre, but figured that at 8:30pm we were too late and it wouldn’t be worth the money…until we were on the subway on our way home and decided that we should go anyway, without tickets, or even knowing if there were any available. After asking some girls on the bus for directions, following them, and a somewhat awkward moment as they stopped to go to the ladies room, we eventually found our destination and were able to buy some tickets for a decent price. We walked in and the Fray started about 2 minutes later. It was perfect. They have lots of good music…Mostly lovey kind of piano songs that you’d enjoy listening to with that special girl. In this case – it was just Chris and I. And that was fine, just not the same. There was one moment though during their hit single, ‘Look After You’ when we put our arms around each other and shared a moment. It was nice, I guess.
In the end the concert was awesome, and we still made it to the Korean Grill House and got to cook pieces of raw meat on your own individual burner. It’s a genius idea. After that, we realized there was only enough room in the car for 5 people, leaving Rob, Chris, Matt and I to fend for ourselves with 5 minutes before the last subway left. Don’t worry though. We made it home. Home safe. Home safe and sound. Home safe and sound and ready for bed. Goodnight.
Jordan

Day 23 - 26: Long, Long Days

2007-06-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

I must admit that I have slacked the last few days...or week. The reason for this is in the title - Long, long days! Oh boy. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were definatly more than we were prepared for, in terms of getting enough sleep. It's all a blur to me now, but from what I remember, we would get up at 7, shower, catch the bus, practice and write songs from 9:30am till 9:30 at night, with the exception of an hour lunch break. I think this may have been one of the hardest times, for me anyways. I guess after a while of being in that same room, playing songs over and over and over while only making slight changes, starts to drive you a bit crazy...all while trying to not offend anyone with your constructive criticism. But as I've said before, I know really shouldn't be complaining about it since it is still the best job I could ever imagine. We have a nice roof and clothes and showers and food (even if its bagel sandwiches everyday) and not to mention great weather. So I'll thank God for that. So I guess in relation to the blog writing, this daily routine put us back home at around 10:30pm each night, with just enough time to get some supper, do some chatting, reading, and fall asleep.
Thursday was a bit better though. Even from the beginning, something seemed brighter about today. And when we got there it all made sense - Craig Douglas was back with us today! Yase beh. This is always great. Craig brings the perfect balance to the song writer's circle. He's always excited about working with other people's ideas and he always has something halarious to say. We got off to a good start with one of the newer tunes that was still lacking lyrics for the verse. Chris, Tim, and I went to another room to work on a different tune (and didn't make a lot of progress) but came back to find the others with a complete verse for their tune. It was really good too...feels good to make some progress. This goes to show that what Tim says is usually true: Sometimes you just have too many cooks in the kitchen. Writing always seems to work better when we split up.
We finished up a bit earlier today too...probably around 6:30pm. It was nice to get home and actually have a few hours before hitting the hay. There was a song in my head on the subway - lyrics that would go with some music we were working on at the church - and when I got home I worked on that for a while so that we'd have a new idea to show Tim the next day. I think it came together nicely too...hopefully it'll be on the album!
After that D Mac came over and we went out for some chillin time. He had a skateboard in his trunk too. I haven't skateboarded for a while, but we messed around with it in parking lot and actually got a nice photo of a little grass ollie. Cutos to D Mac on the fabulous photography. We drove around a bit more after that, and then headed home since it was nearing 2am on the dashboard. Then I went to sleep. End of Thursday.
I realize this blog doesn't have as much comedy in it, so in return I'll leave you with a couple of quotes from Dede that took place over the span of the last 4 days. Enjoy.
Jordan

"I slept with my jacket on last night." -Deanna Leil
"My head feels too heavy for my neck today." -Deanna Leil with a pool triangle around her neck while tied to her jacket to hold her head up.

Day 22: Celeb Sunday

2007-06-20T21:29:00.001-07:00

Today is Sunday. Rob, Matt and I woke up early to go to a church called "The Meeting House" located in downtown Toronto. We at least thought we were early, but after buying tickets and waiting for a bus that doesn't run on Sundays, and then looking for a subway worker who wasn't working, we realized that we had to just buy a new set of tokens. We ended up getting there an hour late, like last time, but it was still good and we're going to try and make it on time next Sunday. After church we walked pretty much across the street for something that was going on downtown known as the "Much Music Video Awards." Yep, right out on the street. Since we were there in the afternoon we even got to the see a couple of sound checks. Mainly - Fergi! Yeah I know...Fergi...to be honest I wasn't a fan before. But now? Wow. I was impressed. And the dancers? Maaaan it was choice. Sometimes people think that these pop stars aren't really that talented. Well Fergi - not the case. She was awesome. We even got to hear her and the band jamming/freestyling a bit - very impressive. We even got some pretty choice pics. She was really close too. Rob thought she was going to come over and talk to him and he started getting nervous because he didn't know what to say. Well in the end she didn't come over, but if she did I know Rob would have said something really smooth like "Hi Fergi. I'm Robbie. I play guitar-ie". (No it woud've been even smoother than that.) We also got to see Billy Talent, Maroon 5, Alexisonfirethe Used, and Hilary Duff. Pretty amazing I know. We stuck around all afternoon until the Red Carpet was rolled out. After lots of screaming girls and shoving over getting closer to the railing, the celebs started showing up. I recognized a few...Sam Roberts, Avril Lavigne, Tara Reid, Sum 41...not many else though. It was a bit crazy too...just seeing how everyone reacts to these people who - if you stop and think about it - aren't that much different from the average guy on the street. It gets a bit sickening after watching it for a while...you start wondering why you're even there in the first place. (Besides to see Rihanna - who ended up not even showing.) I think in the end it was kind of good because it just reminds got to remind me of how rediculous all that stuff was, and how I should be seeing other people as celebs instead...like family and close friends and people who actually give their lives to more important things for God's kingdom. So I guess the whole experience was good in that way.
We stayed for a bit of the show, but decided on leaving since we'd been standing all day in the sun and our faces were all as red as...well, Chris' hair I guess. Our buddy Paul - who has lots of energy and who always feels great to be around - came over too. Chris was at his place during the day and apparently had some greaaat burgers that we missed out on. Paul's halarious, so there were lots of late night laughs...then sleep...then getting up in 5 hours to work on songs all day...which you'll hear about tomorow. So stay tuned!
Goodnight,
Jordan

Day 21: Lazy Saturday

2007-06-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday...the first day off, and oh it was nice. Chris and Rob went to Tim's to help him with some work on his deck, Al and Dede went out to see some friends, and Matt met up with his older cousin for some chill time and what he described as the biggest/best burger in Ontario. I got to sleep in today and do some good reading. Rob has a book by Rob Bell that's called "Sex God." Yes I know this sounds a bit weird, especially for a christian book but it's actually really great. It's not just about sex, it's mainly about relationships in general - why we feel and act the way we do, and how God sees us and wants us to treat eachother in our relationships. I wanted to read the whole book in one day just to be able to say that I read a full book in one day, but I didn't finish it. I might have gotten about 3/4 of the way through it but that's it. I think I'll finish it tonight (Sunday). I think one of the best things about the book is how much Rob Bell actually uses real stories about real people whom he knows, to explain his points. For me, that's more powerful than anything else when it comes to teaching me something. Real life examples of what goes down. I guess that's why testimonies are the most powerful witness. And I geuss that's a good thing because every person who comes to know God in a real way is guaranteed to have a testimony, while not everyone who comes to know God is guaranteed to ever know the bible through and through, or have a good argument up their sleeve about why evolution isn't true, or be a people person who can easily sit down and teach someone the 4 spiritual laws. I guess God had all of his bases covered when he laid down the requirements on how to become a Christian that He can use in witnessing to others.
Anyways, after sitting under a tree in the park and reading - which is awesome - Matt was walking by and stopped over. We chatted for a bit and watched some guys play basketball at a nearby court. One of the guys seemed to be mouthing off to another guy about something, cursing and swearing and stuff. Then the other guy punched him in the face. Pretty hard. I'm not sure why exactly, but this was our que to leave. We walked up the street for a ways, got some pizza and twinkies and came home. It was a great night for a walk too...ahhh perfect temperature.
We didn't do too much after that. Just chilled out at home, surfed the web and continued reading until Rob and Chris got in. I think that's pretty much it for today...kind of nice to have a relaxing day once in a while and read a good book. Reading is great isn't it...especially if you're reading this blog! Goodnight!
Jordan

Day 20: Riding Subways and Elevators

2007-06-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

Ahhh Friday. It has only been 3 days in pre production but it will be great to have the weekend off. We got there on time again, a bit before Tim showed up and had a chance to work on a new idea...a slower, lighter song we were playing with Dede. It actually sounds really nice, and it would be good to have a bit more diversity on the album...we'll see what happens I guess. Meanwile, Al was gone to get our gear which arrived the night before with Puralator. This was choice. To have Rob's amp, our foot pedals and cords - great. I think Rob was so pleased for his gear to arrive that he wore the bubble wrap like a hat. I don't know why but this is what he did so I took a picture. We finished setting up our own gear and showed Tim some of the new ideas before running over the stuff we did the day before. The rest of the day was spent working mainly on the music of the songs. We only have one week left for pre production time and it seems to make more sense to have the music all worked out first since lyrical work can continue right up until the recording of vocals.
Lunch break. Bagel sandwiches. I jumped over Tim. Rob practiced his "rock kicks". Back to work.
We got to leave a bit earlier today, around 5 30pm I think. Since it was Friday we figured we should take advantage of being in the city and take in a little leisure time. So we headed downtown, enjoying the beautiful weather, stopping in some shops along the way, Al met up with his sisters and had to go for dinner while Matt, Chris, Rob and I looked for a supper spot ourselves. We decided on the meal court in the Eaton's Center where we thoroughly enjoyed some amazin' asian. We were a bit pooped after eating and decided to take a run to D Mac's place for some hanging out. We hopped the subway to Eglington and were on our way to his appartment when Rob an I spotted an Indigo Bookstore that we had to visit, so Chris and Matt went ahead to D Mac's Place. "We know where it is", I reassured them, "We'll be there in a bit." After an hour of looking at radical books, Rob and I started towards the apartment. I led us down a wrong street, but then we found it. The only problem was that we didn't know which apartment # was his. I knew it was somewhere in the teens...and the call-up machine didn't seem to reaching his place...but I did know where his apartment was ont he floor - to the right and at the end. So we did what anyone would do. We went to the last apartment on the right of floors 12-23 and listened outside the door for the voices of our friends. It was so brilliant. Unfortunately we didn't hear what we were looking for. Just some guy talking on a the phone about his job, a couple TV shows, one of which sounded like the Road Runner, and silence. Mostly silence. But even though Rob and I felt lost in the city with no direction we were building our bond a little stronger with every floor that we rode the elevator to.
After losing hope of seeing D Mac we decided to just take the subway back to where we were staying. So we did. There was great deep conversation with the occassional picture being snapped. When we did arrive back at the apartment we came to realize something else - we were locked out and Dede was the only one home, sleeping. We tried throwing a sock with some change in it at her window, but it didn't work. It was fine though. Just another opportunity for more great pictures. 45 minutes later D Mac showed up with the guys in his car explaining that they looked around for us but we were no where to be found. They also told us about a interesting evening they shared with a couple new friends they made...but I wasn't there so I can't write about it. I can just write about riding elevators with Rob and being locked out at 1 30 in the morning. So I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for us!
Stay tuned...goodnight.
Jordan

Day 19: Interpersonal Relationships and American Metal

2007-06-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Today was long. Yes, a long, long day. We actually got there on time today, around 9 30am, and started jamming out some tunes. We have a new idea for the chorus of the 6/8 song that I think might work, and worked more on the tune that Tim resurrected from the list of originals. We did this for about 9 hours, only leaving the room once. I guess I always thought this whole writing songs thing would be a bit easier, but it's actually quite demanding of brainpower. I'd say pretty close to the level of brain power that it took Einstein to figure out that E=MC2 thingy...whatever it means. With songwriting, you're in a room for hours on end, constantly trying to come up with new, fresh, creative, not used before ways of saying repeated themes, and musical rhythms and melodies that are...well, relatively new. You can't get too "new" or "creative" or they'll start thinking you've gone a little wacko and you'll end up with only a small group of hippies liking your tunes. All this must happen as you constantly throw out your ideas, listen to 6 other people's ideas, and then find a way to say what you honestly think about them without offending anyone. It's basically a lesson in interpersonal relationships for 8 hours a day, everyday. Don't get me wrong though, it's really great. I think I'm really learning a lot. Rob and I always joke about how after being in this band and learning to get along with five other people, it will be a breeze when we get married and only have to get along with one!
Back to pre production...Ok there was one highlight of the day that I must mention. The American Metal pedal. We've heard stories about this guitar foot pedal from Rob for years. He always explained how when they were growing up, Tim had this foot pedal that created such a thick sounding distortion, that when he turned it on, everything would go into slow motion, and all of the other instruments would somehow fall out of the sound waves until the only sound that could be heard was a wave of "FFFSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH..." We always had a good laugh about it, but figured that Rob was probably over exaggerating just a bit. Well guess what - he wasn't. Oddly enough Tim actually found the pedal and brought it in today for a little show and tell. He plugged it in, made some slight adjustments, and played the song that Rob always talked about. And as the moment for the push of the pedal grew closer, you knew something amazing was about to happen...the clean channel was on, the power chords were chunking away, and then dat dat dat DAT DAT - FFSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! The pedal was stomped and Rob's words became all too real! The distortion was so thick that it drowned out ever ounce of laughter coming from all angles of the room. Fortunately you could still see everyone barreling over with laughter while simultaneously trying to catch their breath - all in slow motion of course. That's the power of the American Metal pedal.
We jumped on the subway and made it home around 9pm. There were no funny girls on the subway, just one that looked like our good friend Judith. I was thinking about pretending she was Judith and striking up a conversation with her, but decided against it in the end. It probably would've gone something like this though:
Jordan: "Hey Judith, how's things in the Nish going?"
Subway girl: "Excuse me? What in the world is a Nish?"
Jordan: "That's great Judith...are you still working at Boston Pizza?"
Subway girl: "You are freakin me out man! Leave me alone or I'll use my pepper spray!"
Jordan: "Yeah the album is going good, lots of work though. Did you ever hear of an american metal pedal?"
Subway girl: "This'll teach you! SSSSSSSSSSSSS...!"
I think it's better that I kept my mouth shut. It's getting way too late now, so goodnight and stay tuned.
Jordan

Day 18: Hard Day at the office

2007-06-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

Rob is the official band waker-uper. This morning Chris, Matt, and I were awakened by Rob telling us to get up because it was 8:30am. It turned out good though because it was actually 7:30am, since Rob forgot to set his watch back. This was cool because it felt like we got to go back to sleep for an hour after thinking we had to get up. Maybe Rob should do that every morning...
We left for the studio around 10 and planned to be there for 10:30. We got there at 12:45. I guess missing the bus and not finding the entrance to the sybway right away put a little damper on the whole scehdule issue. It was ok though...we were there and ready to rock. Since our egar is being shipped up we don't have amps right now, so I took my acoustic. It turned out Tim found us amps to use, and today was the first time I got to rock an acoustic through a Peavy amp with distortion. And boy was she crunchy - rock 'n' roll behs! After beginning to set up we also realized that none of us hd patch cords to plug anything in...another minor set back until Rob and Chris threw down some dough at the music store across the street. Now we were set - the process begins.
We worked on a few new ideas today. One tune that was originally thrown in the garbage was pulled back out by Tim after taking another listen. We're working with it now...keeping most of the verse and writing a new chorus idea. I think it's a smart choice to pull this one back out. it's starting to sound good.
We jammed, talked, jammed, talked, made fun of Rob, jammed, talked, etc. (It was mostly Tim making fun of Rob because they grew up together.) By the time we decided to break for lunch it was actually supper. But that's the beauty of peanut butter sandwiches - lunch, supper, breakfast, late night snack, it makes no difference.
Tim had to split shortly after while we stayed and worked on the tunes some more. We did this for a bit, till around 7pm, and then took off since we were in the same room for 8 hours straight. Plus Chris was starting to hear strange voices and Matt mumbled something about seeing faces in the drums...weird man.
On the subway ride home this girl kept leaning into the rail that we were both holding onto and squeezing my hand in the middle. I guess she didn't notice because she was too into her conversation with her friend about Johnny and Susan and how she found out about Amber and then Steve got real mad and broke her cell phone and then the police showed up and said they were gonna call her parents and (I'm not really sure what they were talking about) then Susan pucked Johnny right in the mouth becuse of the whole Amber thing but it didn't matter because she's like so totally over him now anyways. So when I got the chance I pulled my hand out of there. Then she did the same thing to Dede. It was funny though so neither of us got mad and hit her although Dede wanted to until I reminded her about the whole "representing Jesus" idea. (I'm joking Dede would never hit anyone except me.) That's pretty much it for tonight...we got home and cooked some supper, watched some TV, and now it's time to sleep. I wonder if Rob set his watch back yet...? Goodnight.
Jordan

Day 17: Back to the T Dot in 2 Hours

2007-06-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

Hi. This isn't really the 17th day in a row for the blog...we were just home for a week to play at the martime women's conference and relax a little. It was nice to be home. I love being in the Nish, mainly because of the great people, and just the small town itself. It's so great. I hung out with my friends Tito, Dave, Judith, and newer friend Eric, who looks like a male model. One night we went to a beach and took some radical pictures of cool things to do with fire and slow shutter speed on a camera (as you can see in the picture.) The band also played in Cape Breton at another large prayer meeting, and a Monday night Tehillah. Both were awesome and fun.
But now we are back, yes, back in Toronto. And the coolest part about it is how we got here. For the first time ever, instead of the regular 18 hour cramped in a backseat of a car drive, Life Support flew on an airplane! Yes a real plane. Oh boy it was fun. We're moving up in the world, I'm telling you. That means we got here in 2 hours, or 120 minutes, or 7200 seconds. We had to ship the bigger gear like amps and pedal boards but were able to take the guitars with us. And since Rob has the nicest guitar out of all of us, he taped some cardboard and bubble wrap on top of his case for extra protection. I'm not sure what this did with regards to it's protection, but if nothing else it could be looked at as a bold new fashion statement for guitarists and fashion designers around the globe. While in the airport we also got to meet another maritime musician by the name "Old Man Ludaker", or something like that. He plays the banjo and sings. We saw him perform at the ECMA's in February and he was really good. Our flight was also good. There was a bit of turbulance at the end, but I hardly noticed it amid Chris' excitement over how small all of the big buildings looked from up in the air. And he was right, they did look a lot smaller from the airplane. I tried to explain to him that it has to do with the diameter of the perpendicular protractor in correlation to the hypothermal tension being placed on the wingspan of the airliner's polygrandular motion...but he didn't get it. I don't know why I even waste my time. After that we landed smooth, grabbed out bags while I got to take some photos, and then met D Mac who was paitently awaiting our arrival outside in his car. It was great to see him again even though we were only apart for a week. Al's dad showed up too and we all drove to our new home for the next 6 weeks - the basement apartment of a really nice older lady named Marjori...somewhere in North York. It's another sweet setup I must admit. So once again, I doubted that it was going to work out well, and once again God took care of us perfectly. It's a great spot, we have our own kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, we're right next to a park that will be excellent for frisbee, and even closer to downtown than before. The weather is also amazing. It's so warm here. It's 12:00am and Rob and I just got back from walking around in t-shirts and talking about God, guitar, and girls. Paradise. Another bunch of reasons to see how good we've got it and not complain about stupid things. Tomorow will be the first day back to pre production with Tim. We have 4 songs done - six more to go. There's going to be a lot of work, and a lot of rock. Stay tuned...Goodnight.
Jordan

Day 16: A Real Studio

2007-06-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today was like the fieldtrip of our pre production experience so far. Up to this point, we have successfully (99%) completed 4 of 10 songs. Tim thought it'd be a good idea to go into The Hive (Tim's studio where we'll record everything besides drums and bass) and lay down the tracks of what we have done so far. This sounded radical. Real recording in a real studio. Our first taste.
We got there around 10am, took a little while to set up, got the drums sounding sick, then got to some tunes. We rocked, we danced, we took pictures - it was wonderful. There was even one point where Rob got so excited he started jumping around and shaking his toosh. I think he called it dancing. (There may even be a short clip of it in the new LS podcast due to be online this June 10th!)
At lunch some of us walked down the street to this little cafe called...something that I forget but I'll find out when we go back. This place is run by an indian husband and wife who make the best sandwiches EVER. I've eaten there twice so far, and both times I ahd the best chicken sandwich I've ever had. Wow. I think this whole recording experience is going to be worth it just for the sandwiches we will eat down the street (rhyme). There'll be pictures coming for sure.
We spent the rest of the day, until around 8 30pm, laying down the rest of the demos. There was even one song that was missing lyrics for a bridge, until Dede received some divine inspiration and laid down the bridge right there. That tune, which I don't know the name of yet, is going to good...going to be good my friend. Everytime Tim would mix what we just recorded we would all crowd into the 106 degree room to take in the moment. It was pretty memorable.
We got home around 9pm - a few hours before we would leave for NB. This gave us enough time to eat some food, chat on the computers, pack our bags, shower, watch Finlay sleep for 29 minutes, pack the truck and leave for NB. This was a happy time for me personally. No offense to those who love Ontario - but I don't. The drive was fun too. Al and Dede had to return the rental by a certain hour, which led them to drive to NB in around 12 hours. The rest of us had fun stopping at some Tim's and Big Stops along the way amongst deeply spiritual discussions about God and girls - both equally mysterious. In the end, we made it safely to the hotel and into our clean, warm, beautifully made hotel beds complete with chocolates and air conditioning. Thank God, we are back in His country, finally!
Goodnight ya'll,
Jordan

Day 15: Tim-less, Tea, Tuesday in Toronto

2007-06-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

Today was a Tim-less day. Yes Tim was sick, and not in the cool way. We worked on the new 6/8 tune by ourselves for a while...jammed on some music, threw around some ideas for the lyrical directions, although we're still not completely sure on where the tune is gonna go...somewhere awesome though, it'll just take some more time. There was another gig tonight. This time at a place called Toronto City Church. It wasn't far from where we were, so we booted it over there around 5pm and
got set up. Well we set up slowly. In the end it took about 2 hours, but this was good because it gave me time to have a much needed nap and slide down some handrails. Finlay and Sam worked hard on the sound right up until the doors opened. There was a nice little turnout, lots of hip teens and young adults. And after all of the work done with the sound setup, things actually turned out really well. Sam said it sounded great, and if Sam said it then you can bet your botton dollar on it, sonny. As I said, there were some cool kids there. I got to talk to this one guy after it was over - Rodrigo Navarro from Mexico City. It was so cool. He was asking about the band, told me how he just became a christian a few months ago, how he's praying for his family and his friends at school. It was pretty encouraging. I guess when I look at my situation, I'm always around christian friends, christian family, all thatstuff, but to see such a new christian who doesn't have all of that help, and to see how he wants it so bad, no routine stuff, he just wants to live for God...kind of a reminder of how real this is. Probably ended up being more encouraging for me than for him. Anyways, if you think of it, pray for Rodrigo. He seems like a real amazing dude, like God could use him to do something huge and change the world. Plus he has a cool accent from Mexico.
After the gig we went to a place that specializes in tea drinks. I wasn't sure how exciting this would be, but then D Mac showed up and made it all worthwhile. We then parted ways...it was a sad goodbye, but not all hope was lost because we would be together again in only 2 weeks. D Mac if you're reading - Life Support looooooves yooooou. Bye bye now.
Blessings,
Jordan

Day 14: In Ear Extravaganza

2007-05-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

Monday. Today we had a special guest helping out in pre production - the man Drew Brown himself. Drew came in for the day to work on some lyrics and see how the whole process was going for us. And it was nice having him there. He always has something funny to say to lighten the mood, and he looks like a rockstar. He worked with Dede on a song while Tim stayed with some of us to work on some new music. We ended up jamming on some music for a tune with a 6/8 feel, which is a bit different than any of the other songs so far. It should be pretty radical. We had lunch, made some beautiful bagel sandwiches, and Alex jumped off a wall and over some grass. It was impressive. We had to cut pre pro short today in order to make it to Brampton for the night's gig - Monday Night Life, a young adult service led by Pastor John Strutt.
We got to the church on time and had a while to set up before we had to play. Thue church was really nice. Big balcony, nice stage, nice gear, it was fun. We even had in-ear monitors to use. That's something we never tried before, but really like it. You have these ear plug/headphones in your ears that make it sound like you're listening to a recording of the band on a CD, when really you're playing everything live. It's pretty choice. I kind of felt like Switchfoot for a night. Maybe someday when Life Support is raking in the big bucks from European tours and packed out stadium concerts we'll have enough money to buy our own. But for now it was only the one night, which went really well. It felt like we played better since we could hear each other clearer, and everyone there was really cool to meet. I didn't get to take many pictures though since my battery died after 2 shots. We went out to eat afterwards at a place that had 1/2 price wings. These were good. Rob got a sweet order of nachos that came with a large pepper on top. We tried to get Chris to eat it so we could video tape it, but he wouldn't. Rob said he'd even give him 20$ if he did, but he still wouldn't. I think it's ok that he didn't though, because one time Rob bet me 20$ that I couldn't guess a very random detail he was thinking about, but I did, which was awesome (Me and Rob "reid" each others minds) and he still didn't give me 20$. I'll leave you with that lesson - if Rob says he'll bet you something for 20$, in the end he'll never pay. He'll play you a song on his guitar if you ask him too.
Goodnight,
Jordan

Day 13: Prayer and Fasting (minus the fasting)

2007-05-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

The biggest prayer meeting in history was held today. It was called the Global Day of Prayer and people were praying all over the world for every issue they could think of that is in need of prayer. Since we’re in Ontario we took part in the meeting that was held at the Ricoh Center located just outside of Toronto. We got up around 7am in order to make it there for 10:30 sound check. There was a nice setup there…we had our own room, pre-service food, lots of stage FX, and a huge crowd of people. The coolest part was that we got to meet an amazing dance team called Divine Force Company. Wow - they are sick. I was so impressed with their stuff. They had an awesome break dancing/hip-hop routine that they performed to a rap song, and they nailed it. So much energy. But the best part was that we got to hang out before the meeting started and see them doing some freestyle backstage. I got some nice pictures and even learned a few “sweet moves.” One was the thing where you kind of shuffle your feet around with your hands on the ground, and then spin around in a full 360, over and over again. I guess I can’t really do it all that great BUT I can do a mean Harlem Shuffle (thanks Tito).
The show got on the road with some prayer and music and dancing, which ran for a couple of hours before the youth section of the night started. When it did, it was Divine Force Company who started it off nicely. So sweet. We got to play a few songs, some people prayed, more songs, more praying, and one more at the end. It was pretty fun playing on a big stage, besides being set up so far back. Al and Dede about 20 feet in front of Rob, Chris, Matt and I, which looked a bit funny. It was alright though, except for the fact that when Rob and I do our blazing guitar solos, we weren’t able to walk up to the edge of the stage and slap the hands of our screaming fans and throw guitar picks out to them so they could take them home and frame them. Other than that it was great. (That’s a joke. Actually one time we threw a guitar pick out to the crowd and someone threw it back.)
Afterwards, we went out to eat at this amazing restaurant called “Richtree” which probably has one of the best business ideas ever – you get a card and walk around to all the different food stations where the food is being cooked and grab whatever you want with just a swipe of the card. You pay the end of course, but it was so fast and so amazingly tasty. The night ended with a trip to a friend’s house…a huge house where 4 families all live together. It’s crazy, but its so cool. It was so nice and they’re all very musical. They had a bon fire going out behind the barn on the edge of a field. It was so nice – it felt just like home…and so good to get out of the city for a bit. By the end of it my clothes all smelled like smoke and they still do, but that’s ok because we haven’t done laundry in a while so they fit right in with the rest. Home soon please, home soon.
Blessings,
Jordan

Day 12: Rachel's Rescue and Bad Pirates

2007-05-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

The site we awoke to this morning was an interesting one. You see, Rob loves his guitar. He loves it dearly. He even refers to it by name - Rachel McAdams. And on this morning in particular, to our surprise, Rachel had been left outside all night like a stray cat. I’ve seen Rob come pretty close to tears before, but not like this. Needless to say Rachel’s rescue went down without a bump or scratch, with an emotional reunion between Rob and Rachel. One could even compare it to the reunion we read about in Luke 15 between the prodigal son and his father. The celebration was a similar one as well. We feasted on fattened Oreos and drank from fountains of blueberry burst Fruitopia. It was a joyous moment to say the least.
After the celebrating subsided, Rob and Chris continued with their plans to go to Tim’s for the day to do some yard work, Dede and Al had already left for another vocal lesson, while Matt, Finlay and I were left to catch up on some sleep/email writing. It was nice to have a day to relax with no music making in the mix. After a bit of chilin, our good buddy D Mac, whom everyone should know by now, stopped over for some hangtime. It is always great to be with D Mac whether you’re doing something really fun or just scrubbing toilets. The four of us decided to hit up a nice music store called Long and McQuade, check out the Scarbrough Mall, and get some tasty chicken and rice from a place called Teriyaki. There was a group of guys with sooped up civics outside, so D Mac cut in the line of the posse and gave his Honda Accord a little rev. I think this kind of threw off their flow, and they had to start their exit all over again. From that point we weren’t too sure about where to go or what to do next. Of course, British Dave is in town, so we figured we ought to take advantage of his presence as much as possible. A decision was finally reached – we would meet Dave at the subway and go to a movie. It was a great plan. What better thing to do on a Saturday night than go to a movie with four great friends? Well after checking about three other theaters, we eventually found one that was showing “Pirates of the Caribbean 3” that hadn’t been sold out and hadn’t started yet. We’re there. But here’s the thing see – the movie was actually pretty horrible. Oh boy. I couldn’t follow the story, didn’t know who was against who, what the reason was that they were against each other, and why this one guy had a squid growing out of his face. The funny thing is that on our way in, a couple actually told us that Pirates was horrible, and that we shouldn’t see it. Next time I will listen. But there’s always a bright side right? I guess in this case it would have to be the fact that I got to hang out with three radical dudes (Matt went off with his girlfriend), and at least we got to experience the stupid movie together! When you actually break down, “it’s really all about the company you share, not the what or the where.” – quote by Jordan Mattie. That's some deep stuff.
God bless,
Jordan

Day 11: Good Food, Good Fire

2007-05-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

Loud music, talk, loud music, talk, loud music, etc. Today we worked more on the new tune, and it’s coming together rather nicely I must say. Al and Dede worked with Craig to come up with some revelation lyrics and a radical melody. Sounds pretty powerful. A great song is made when the music and the lyrics sound as if they were created specifically for each other – almost like a man and wife. And if we as musicians write the music and lyrics to make the perfect song, then I guess we could say that God is the musician who writes the song of love. I don’t really know what means but it sounds pretty deep so I’m going to leave it. Moving on…we left pre production today a bit early because we had to get to Brampton for a youth group gig at a church there. There was a bit of struggle getting there in the traffic/lack of directions, but we made it just in time to scarf down some wonderful take out from Swiss Chalet. And might I say, those Swiss really know how to make good chalet. We got set up shortly after in a pretty cool youth room complete with a stage, lights, and pyrotechnics. That’s where I met Jon. Jon is cool. He smiles a lot and always mixes it with the slow nod as if something destructive is about to happen. He’s a bit bigger than me, and could probably throw me around, but we bonded pretty quickly over 1.5L bottles of water and free popcorn.
Eventually the show got on the road as we started off with the song “Always” and two large flames being shot into the air right after the kick in. I’m sure it was supposed to be on time with the kick in, but I think this way it worked as more of a shocker since no one probably expected flames to shoot into the air after the kick in. It’s brilliant. Maybe the shocker was just the fact that there were pyrotechnics in the church at all. I guess you could say that church is really "on fire" for God.
The night went pretty well. We had a few sound problems though. One of which involved Finlay tripping over the main power supply and unplugging it from the wall. It worked out ok in the end. Al even got a guy to come up out of the crowd and do some rap with him. I don’t know if some of it was freestyle or not, but either way he did a great job.
After loading all the gear into the vehicles we had a small session of “church wall climbing” and then headed home with a minor stop at Pizza Pizza. And might I say, that Mr. Pizza really knows how to make good pizza.
Blessings,
Jordan

-Quote of the Day: "You Ontarionians and your stupid 4 lane highways!!" - Rob Reid (while yelling and shaking fist out the window)

Day 10: Randomness is Good

2007-05-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

There was some good music created today. As I said about yesterday, there has been a bit of frustration lately for me, but things started to work today with the writing process. We worked out a whole new section for a song that was a bit lacking before. And let me tell you what - it's rocking. That was an exciting moment, getting that section of the song worked out, and playing it over and over until we all nail it into the next section. Wow...feels amazing.
We finished pre production today around 5 30pm, and then headed down town. Dede and Al were off to a lesson with a vocal coach, while Chris and I were hung around until 10pm to see our new friend's band. We met Trevor the Sunday before at the Meeting House Church downtown where he invited us out to his CD release party. As we walked and waiting for 10pm, we saw David, a.k.a. British Dive, walking the opposite way on the other side of the street. I guess I just never thought i'd be walking down a street in Toronto and randomly find Dave walking on the other side. It was a pleasant surprise as our posse grew a bit larger (and cooler) with our new addition. The next random thing happened about 60 seconds later as we came across Cameron Brioux (from St.FX) standing at the end of the same street with his $8000 camera. I have never met Cameron before, having only saw his amazing photography on his website, and hearing about him through Mikey Remix. We stopped and made some introductions, chatted a bit about his future plans...he looked a bit freaked out since we've never met before and I just started talking to him on the street...sooo we moved on. We then stumbled upon a family of entertainers near the place where the water shoots out of the concrete. There was a father on drums, and 4 kids aging from around 10-13, set up complete with a sound system and Jackson 5 backing tracks. They were pretty good. I think they were making some money too. This was nother nice opportunity for some good pics. Eventually, 10pm came and we were off to see the band, who turned out to be pretty entertaining as well - the frontman was dominating. They had a whole stage performance planned out - very impressive. The random moment from this part of the night came when 3 girls sitting a few tables over from our posse seemed to be looking at my shirt a lot - it's the XCF design that looks like it says Coca Cola but it actually says Jesus Christ. After a bit of discussion, one of the girls walks over and says, "What does your shirt say? We're trying to figure out what your shirt says." She leaned in and read, "Jesus Christ....eternally refreshing..." There was a bible verse under it too about us thirsting no more, she might of saw that but I'm not sure. She then said, "Oh, cool!" and went back to tell her friends. We all thought that was pretty radical. Later on, as I was taking some pictures of the band, a guy who runs a website for Toronto indy bands came up to ask about putting the photos on his website and we ended up inviting him to the Richo center where we're playing on Sunday for the Global Day of Prayer. Don't know if he's going to come out, or if any of those girls now know Jesus, but to me it was all really amazing. Felt like some seeds were planted I guess.
Moving on, Dave, Chris and I walked back to catch the subway since it was getting close to 1am and the subway/buses would stop running soon. We arrived at the subway station, ran downstairs, and waited for the next train. (I think this is the next random moment...either random or stupid). The train shows up, Chris says bye to dave and gets on, I'm saying bye to Dave and how we'll meet up tomorow at some point, when I turn around to walk toward the train and see...I see Chris standing on the train as the doors slide shut with that little airy "ffssshhhh" noise. At this point there's nothing we could do except wave. Wave goodbye. Our minds told us to make some kind of signal about meeting up at the next station, or some other genuis plan - but in the end it really felt like we just had to let it happen. Just wave goodbye to my subway/bus/city guide. That's when the fear set in. The fear of not knowing where to go, and being alone in the subway station in Toronto at 1 30 in the morning. Was it this it for Jordan? No more making movies, taking pictures, playing music, no more blogs?!?!!
Ok, it really isn't as dramatic as I'm trying to make it sound. I got on the next train, got off a few stations later only to be found by Chris, after he went back to find me with no luck. We ran into each others arms. There was laughing, there was crying, there was no more fear of dying.
Now we're getting to the last random moment of the night, and that's good because this is getting pretty long. After getting off the subway running to the spot where we get on the bus, we realized that we might have missed the last run of the night. 5 minutes go by...and then...a bus! Yes we were saved once again. We noticed one other passenger who was coming down the stairs to step aboard, and turned back to the bus, only to watch in horror as the destination sign changed to "out of service." We asked the other guy where he was going. It was a bit farther than Al's house, but the same general direction, so we started walking. This is the last random part of the night, meeting James Stephen. James is a 4th year phys. ed student at Brock. He's staying in the area for the summer to work and party. We talked the whole way home, which turned out to be about an hour long walk. It was great though. We talked about a lot of stuff. We told him about where we went to school, about our faith that very real, about the band, what green rooms with food trays were like, or at least what we imagined them to be like, and lots of talk about our favorite bands. It was all really great. James seemed to really enjoy it too. He kept saying how when he went out yesterday afternoon he never thought he'd be where he was now. He thought it was all very random. We finally made it to Al's house, where Chris gave him a Life Support CD and we said our goodbyes, but not before inviting him to the see us play at the Richo center on sunday. The night of randomness finally ended 4 hours before we had to get up for more pre pro. I'm not sure what else to say about it though...except that it's cool how God works all the details out to make any average day an amazing one. So thanks God again. Wow this is really long.
Peace out.
Jordan

Day 9: Big Pictures and Feathered Friends

2007-05-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

Another day in pre production paradise. Well that’s the way I should be looking at it. I guess today was the first day that things started to get a bit tiring/frustrating for me. It can get that way when you’re in that same room, playing the same songs over and over and over, trying to think of some new lyric. It actually does being to feel like work, which is weird, because I never ever thought I’d get tired of writing/jamming songs in a band. And the more I thought about it, I realized that sooner or later I will get tired of everything…or at least every material thing. Not that I’m sick of rocking, but I do realize that it is only fulfilling to a small extent, and that I will eventually get tired of it. The other thing I realized is how good I/we really do have it. It’s just a little insane whenever I think about. The way that God gives us everything we need – a place to sleep, clean clothes, food pretty much whenever I want, a sick band to play in, the best friends ever, great family, being able to travel and meet people, and the chance to actually be recording a CD in a professional setting. It’s just crazy. I guess whenever we’re in that room all day and starting to go a little crazy, it really turns everything around to just remember all that good stuff God has handed out to me. Looking at the big picture. That’s what I’m trying to do more. It’s crazy how much it actually does change things like a bad attitude or negative outlook on a situation. I guess all it really is, is following what the bible says about being thankful. The more I actually obey that book instead of just reading, the better things get. Radical.
Anyway, starting to get a little too serious and nerdy again. So I’ll leave it there. After pre production we walked around downtown for a bit where I was able to get some sick pics. It was so fun. I got some nice shots of some birds – one looks like he’s dancing – and even got a shot of this kid ollieing a set of stairs on his skateboard. He asked me to email it to him, and this led to my first publication as a photographer – a photo on the front page of his grade 9 science project. Eat your heart out National Geographic. We got home a little later and relaxed with the American Idol finale – congrats Jordan (great name by the way). So from the big picture point of view, it was another amazing day, thank God. Peace out.
Jordan

Day 8: Not Enough Sleep Makes Us Delirious

2007-05-23T22:11:00.000-07:00

Rob was right - if you stay up very late on your laptop, you will be tired the next day. Thanks Rob. But who knew? Chris and I just wanted to write some blogs and watch videos that show people singing songs about facebook. I don't see any harm there? I did today though. Tuesday was a long day in pre production. Thank God for couches, and for the fact that we're rehearsing in a room that holds four of them. Can I hear an amen! Ok so we got through pre production...Craig Douglas came in again and helped with some more lyrics. It was a nice change today because we split up into two groups, each working on the lyrics of a different song. This was wonderful because as Tim sometimes says, it's not always good to have too many cooks in the kitchen. Wise words. By the end of the day we made some pretty good progress on both songs with a few melodic and lyrical changes for the better. Amen!
Ok we are now getting to the good part of Tuesday...not that it wasn't good already, because it was yet another beautiful day outside, but there's an even better part that's coming up soon. You see it just so happens that Life Support is in Toronto the same week that Delirious is playing in Toronto! How radical is that beh? And we even got tickets for half price. Wow. As soon as we finished pre production for the day we booked it over to Queens Cathedral Church (I think that's what it's called) where we ended up getting great seats. To be honest I think we were all a bit suprised at the low attendence. It can be a bit of a downer in a way, but at the same time it was nice to be able to move around, and get close to the stage, or just sit back and still be able to see everything. I enjoyed it thoroughly. And as a bonus, it was an awesome photographic experience. It's so fun to take loads of pics, messing with the lighting, the focusing, angles...oh boy, I loved it. I was pretty impressed with the Delirious' performance as well - oh and before I forget, to make the night perfect, one of the opening acts included our friend/singer/songwriter/wing demolisher Drew Brown. Man Drew rocked...so yes as I was saying, Delirious did a great job. As we were talking about after, it seemed as though they were a perfect example of a christian band who can balance playing worship music, yet still putting on a great show and rockin' it. It could clearly appeal to both christians and a person who has naver been in church before. Great job mates!
That pretty much topped off the night since we had to sleep shortly after getting home and checking facebook, writing a blog, eating some grub, laughing at things Rob says, slapping Dede in the back of the head, and reading the bible. Stay tuned and God bless.
Jordan

- Quote of the day: "Using the phrase 'Ancient of Days' is so 1990's." - Alexander Stephen III in response to a suggestion by Tim.

Day 7: Antigonish Comes to Toronto

2007-05-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

When I awoke today, I could've sworn i was back home in Antigonish. Here's the thing, see, I really love the Nish and normally have a great longing for it whenever we go away with the band. Ok, well, to be a bit more specific I guess the reason I miss the Nish would have to be the people there - the whole XCF crew. Those guys are so sweeet! So sweet! Anyway, the amazing thing about this morning was that a large portion of that group was actually here! In Toronto! In Al's house! It was a little odd to be honest. Ray, and Eric were here cleaning the pool...D Mac and Rena Murray showed up a bit later...British Dave, Stacey, and Finlay were here from the night before...I didn't know what to do with myself. I wasn't sure whether I should go play frisbee at Columbus Field or get a slice at the Wheel? It was all very surreal, but very wonderful at the same time. A real blessing to say the least.
After we sat around on the laptops for a while, we realized there was work to be done. Not just any work though - yard work. And everyone was signed up. It didn't seem to exillerating at first, but after stepping outside it couldn't have been a better day for the job. God has really been good to us on this whole weather subject for the last week or so. The work was actually pretty fun. We had Chris, Matt and Rob on rotation with Finlay and myself for backyard weed pulling duty, Dede and Stacy on front yard weed pulling duty, Ray and Eric on the pool, and Alex, Sam, and Dave on stump pulling duty. Amazingly, I think we accomplished a few days worth of yard work in a few hours. I think Alex and Dave even got a tan. Looks good boys.
Later that night we all went to the monday night Tehillah service held at Canada Christian College. It was nice...definatly a smaller crowd than I seen there in the past, but still a really nice vibe to it. Seemed pretty free with the worship and all that. I guess in those settings I've gotten used to being on the stage with not much more than chords, rhythms, and song transitions in my head, so in the crowd being at Tehillah was a nice change. Also nice because of the small crowd. I don't know why, it was just nice I guess. We also got to see our awesome friend Paul Lisanti. This guy knows everything about Mac computers and most musical instruments. He has lots of energy too. Good energy. Energy that is enjoyable to be around. Paul rocks.
The night ended with a visit to the home of Life Support's favorite gal - Wendy's. Ohh Wendy. You make goood burgers. It was the perfect ending to another awesome day. Thanks for the choice day God.
Stay tuned for more and be blessed!
Jordan

- Quote of the day: "This place has a real Antigonish vibe to it today..." Rob Reid.

Day 6: Church, Wings and Loights

2007-05-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

gif by Nuff

Saturday night gave us about four hours of sleep. Our good friends Stacey Hayward, Finlay "the soundman" Hunter, and Dave a.k.a. "British Diive" Nuff showed up all the way from the Nish for a little vacation, as well as an upcoming Delirious concert this Tuesday night. Chris, Dave, Finlay and myself got up around 7 30am to try and make it to Craig Douglas' downtown church, 'The Meeting House' which we guessed started at 10 30am. We got the bus, caught the subway, and headed down Queen St. Long story short, we were 45 minutes late and caught about 20 minutes of the service. Needless to say it was a pretty cool/different vibe as the Meeting House is a series of satallite churches throughout Ontario. This particular location was held in an old Paramount Theatre where the sermon was projected on the huge screen all the way from Oakville. We stuck around for a bit and talked to Craig before heading out on the town. After a bit of exploring and failed attempts at catching a pigeon, we were still unable to contact the rest of the crew who had planned to catch an afternoon service at another church called 'Church Without Limits.' This church is sick. It's full of young people of every different culture, who are all very intense and full of God's love, and who really know how to turn any church chorus into a hip hop groove. Thankfully we ended up getting a hold of the rest of the behs and made it home in time to all go to CWL together. Regardless of Rob's front tire almost falling off, we made it in time for some sick worship grooves and some good teaching from the word. Great time even though the lack of sleep was periodically doing me in for a head bob or two. After this came the last stop of the night - All Star Wings with singer/songwriter/male model/and all around nice chap: Drew Brown! (www.myspace.com/drewbrownmusic). Man this guy is so great. Full of encouragement and teddy bear hugs. And to top it off - there was wings. You can ask anyone in the band who has the best wings in the world, and I can bet you everyone will answer "All Star Wings." Try it. If I'm wrong Dede will give you $20. As is the normal ritual, we ended up eating the wings at the Tim Horton's next door. I don't know how it always seems to work out that was but it just does ok. It just does I say! Anyway, the wings were great, the conversation was great, and the BBQ flavour was so hott that I could see the sweat dripping off Chris' nose from 2 tables away. All in all it was a good time. Drew shared with us some of his knowledge of the music industry, which I think we all really appreciated. After more laughs and some tear filled goodbyes, we were on our way home where we will now do our best to find sleeping arrangments for a posse that grew from four, to fourteen in a matter of days. But not before Dave, Finlay, and I got dropped of to grab a few slick snapshots of the nice city lights, and some acrobatics by Finlay's. No one was hurt. Oh how good it is to have fun by great friends. Thank God for another great day and Goodnight.
Jordan

-Quote of the day: "Hey guys, I'm here for you...whatever you need...just don't ask me for any money." - Drew Brown

Day 5: Toilets and Wendy's

2007-05-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

This morning I awoke to Dede singing a badly out of tune song about pancakes while jumping on my air matress. I believe that smetimes God gives us extra strength to love certain people, and this was one of those times. Needless to say the pancakes weren't half bad, and provided us with enough strength to walk back downstairs to our laptops and air matresses. Yes it's Saturday, our first day off from pre production, and another beautiful day outside. It's very easy on a day like this to want to just sit around all day and do nothing more than surf the web and eat candy. So what did we do - surf the web and eat candy. Ok ok not all day. Rob was the key motivator today and decided to go for a jog around the block, so I figured I'd join him. We must have went around this one block like two, maybe even three times. It felt real good beh. We even switched blocks once and Rob found the house that he's going to build when Life Support hits it big and starts pulling in the big bucks. At this rate I think predict that Rob will have his house built by the year 2076. We even took a picture so he could start drawing up house plans. Me and Chris also found a new bond through a new activity called "bathroom cleaning." It was really fun. We scrubbed toilets and sinks and bathtubs. The end product is perfection. Just ask Rob. He's been in there for over an hour now!
We also went for a walk down to the store and I got to do a bit of a photo shoot which was very fun. I think i got a few good pics out of it, some of which are probably on here...Enjoy!
The rest of the day could have been pretty boring. Dede and Al were at a vocal lesson, and we had a little music theory lesson of our own so Chris would know what Tim means when he says, "Play a 6 - 4 - 5 chord progression in F# with goose eggs!" And it may have not gotten any better than that - if it wasn't for our friend D Mac. There's an awesome dude. D Mac is our friend from Antigonish who now lives in Toronto and works on videos for TSN. D Mac smiles a lot, he never says anything negative, and will become your best friend in a matter of minutes. He doesn't seem to get bothered by a whole lot. I wish I was a little more like D Mac in that way. That guy don't care about nothing. Just important stuff. That's radical. D Mac rocks. He even had a hooded sweatershirt with a skeleton on it that glows in the dark and covers right over his head when zipped up. Anyway, we ended up going to Wendy's with D Mac and talking about The Trews and women who may be drinking too much coffee. It was good. You always feel great after being around D Mac.
I think that's the end. No rocking today but it was still awesome hanging with the behs and watching Rob knock his head off the low basement ceiling. Until next time, be blessed behs!
Jordan

-Quote of the day: "Clean the bathroom? What's that?" - Chris Lively

Day 4: Chinese Rock

2007-05-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

Another great day, what can I say. It really feels good to be getting up earlier than I have been and taking advantage of the full day. Feels a little less lazy than the usual 1pm in the afternoon - rolling out of bed deal. A bit more productive I guess. Anyways, we got to the rehearsal space again and had a chance to work on the tunes a bit before Tim showed up. This way we had a bit more to bring to the table - the table of Tim, one could say.
Once Tim got there we worked on more music than we did lyrics. This was pretty fun. We’ve been playing this one part in a song a certain way, the way that I thought was best for that specific part, when Tim throws out an idea to change up the drum part. At first I really didn’t think it’d work at all. Boy was I wrong. The new way sounds so sick. It feels like we’re rockin’ 5 times harder now! And it just proves that no matter how right I think I am on a certain idea, there’s always a chance that there’s a better one if we just give it a try. This whole production thing is just one big lesson in humility. You always have to be open to criticism from others, whether they’re telling you that your idea isn’t as brilliant as you think it is, or that maybe it could be just be a little bit different. You really have to leave your ego at the door, or just throw it out all together, before stepping into a songwriting atmosphere that involves six other people. As I’ve said before, this whole thing is an amazing learning experience both musically and spiritually.
Ok I have to be honest, that whole last part got a bit too serious/cheesy so I’ll be a bit more random now before I close it up. After working on the songs we all went out for Chinese food at nice little place called “Excellent Chinese Cuisine.” If anyone missed the whole part on the sign about the food being ‘excellent’, Dede was sure to remind us as she held up some imaginary quotation marks and said, “The food here sure is “excellent!” Where she comes up with this stuff I don’t know. Brilliant. And that was about it. Tim left because apparently he was going to hand out “tracts,” and we drove home to a quartet of air mattresses awaiting sweet our embrace! What a cheesy line that was. Sounds more like something Dede would say. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!
Blessings.
Jordan

Day 3: First day in our new home

2007-05-18T20:58:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day in pre production. We showed up to Knox church around 9 30 in the morning to meet Tim and our new 9-5 home for most of the next month and a half. After passing the gym on the left we headed downstairs, passed a bowling alley on the right, and walked into some kind of youth/foosball/pool/couch room that just so happens to fit perfectly into our pre production plans. We couldn’t have asked for a better room (except for the fact that it is a little lacking in the wireless internet department). God really worked that one beautifully.
Shortly after setting up our gear and plugging in the 1957 sound system, singer/songwriter/worship pastor Craig Douglas showed up to give us a little musical guidance. After introductions and sharing what we each have on our ipods these days, we rocked through one of the songs a couple of times. This was fun. I like to rock. Tim said he thought the music was pretty good, and that we should work on the lyrics for a bit. I feel like this taught us quite a bit about song writing. Tim and Craig talked about seeing the direction of a song, moving forward with a clear theme, and using word play to add a little sizzle and spice. This could be a long and tedious process, but at the same time it was pretty cool because it felt like we were really putting work into the music for a change. Sometimes we’d just sit there and play through the chorus of the song about 30 times on the acoustic guitar while everyone tries to think of a new melodic/lyrical idea that could work. Sounds a bit monotonous I know, but when I think about it, I couldn’t dream up a better job in the world. It’s ridiculous really. It totally makes me think about how much we really are blessed, as well as how much I really have no reason to complain about anything at all. God has basically given me everything I have ever wanted or dreamed of. It’s a little nuts. There’s nothing I would want to ask for that I don’t already have. It’s a little nuts. We’ve got it so good; thank You God.

Quote of the day: “Take the familiar and use it in unfamiliar ways to make the familiar new again. – Tim Abraham”

Day 2: More Meeting

2007-05-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

We headed over to the studio around 10:30AM so Tim could show us where it would all go down. And might I say, it's pretty radical. There's 3 seperate studios and one office in this one little section of the building, with a kitchen in the middle. Tim showed us the wide variety of instruments that were there from an old B3 Organ, to a Gibson J 45 acoustic guitar, to a Lesley organ cabinet that we're going to play electric guitars through. It was beautiful. Tim's studio has a nice comfy couch and lava lamps, which I hear will all work together to create the perfect atmosphere for producing phenomenal muzak. It's quite exciting really. We headed over to Tim's house around noon to meet with pastor/singer/songwriter Glenn...something. I forget his last name, but he's pretty cool. We got some pizza and talked more about the vision for the album. Glenn asked about who our music was intended for - music as encouragment for people inside the church, or music from the viewpoint of christians in the world, which talks about common life issues that both christians and non christians can relate to. I found all of this really interesting, and very refreshing in some ways. Glenn talked about bring glory to God in more ways than just singing songs that say Jesus or God a lot in them. He talked about worship as our lifestyle, and how God loves to see us enjoying the gifts that he has given us, whether its family, friends, food, music or sports, God actually cares if we're happy. I think that through a few different conversations and experiences the idea somehow got into my head that any song or event or book or movie that didn't speak directly about God wasn't really worth our time, and that God may be OK with some of these things, but He would much rather us only take part in things that will verbally acknowledge Him everytime without fail. I'm not so sure though. I know that some people think that is the way it ought to be, and maybe it does for them, but I feel like I may be learning that God can be glorified through many ways that I never thought He could be before. I may be crazy, but I'm starting to believe that God enjoys watching me and the behs laugh until rob and I start choking from lack of oxygen, or when I play fetch with my dog Riley, or even when I create some music that has no singing, or maybe He even likes the music I wrote for my friends birthdays? I'm not sure. I think I'm going a little crazy from all this bad city air getting into my head. Regardless to say, today was a good day and I thoroughly enjoyed sitting down with Glenn and Tim and talking about living a life that glorifies God. After that we went home, ate fajitas, talked to wonderful people on msn, and slept for a few hours before getting up for our first day of music making. So staaaaaaaaaaaay tuned behs!
God bless,
Jordan

Day 1: Driving

2007-05-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

Today we drove from Antigonish to Toronto. It didn't seem as long since we've done the drive a few times in the last year or so. I drove for a bit but was starting to fall asleep.
I figured that killing half of the band in a car accident would put a real damper on the recording process as a whole, so I gave the wheel back to Chris. We eventually arrived in Toronto, where it felt as if we were driving into summer. It was beautiful. The temperature must have been somewhere in the 30's. We then returned the rental car and headed over to our producers place for a BBQ/meeting. That was good too. We talked some ideas for the album, the direction where we thought the songs were headed, working on lyrics more, that sortof thing. Tim says hes not interested in making an album that's anything less than great. It might take a bit of slave driving but in the end it'll be worth it. I like the sound of that. It's going to be an amazig learning experience in tons of ways. I am very,very excited. That's all for now behs. Piece out.

Quote of the day: "I feel really happy to be here with you guys...It's lonely being home alone...Ugghh Nooo! That sounded too weird! Ugghh..." - Rob Reid.