This is the very first entry of The blackhat Buzz!

We have had a WILD week recording the final elements of Troy Story Band’s debut EP, Procrastinator. The weekend was busy with a house party with TDP, and furiously powering through my ADHD distractibility to build this blog and work on graphic design projects for Madu and Rhey. Let’s break down this weeks events!

Last Thursday (09/21) we went to the Rockstars of Tomorrow school in Riverside California to record the one and only Troy, of Troy Story Band, on a Nord Stage 3. We aren’t your average studio crew. Being the small operation that we are, we don’t always have the gear an artist wants on their album. Gear is expensive, so we find something local that meets the needs of the artist. The intention for this EP was originally to record these parts on an organ, but due to scheduling conflicts we were unable to access one for this EP. Luckily, Troy was able to get the next best thing. We ran through 5 songs and recorded some killer Nord sounds that really added a lot to the mix. The on 9/24 we did the last of the vocal sessions for the EP at Da Barn in Victorville. In my opinion, the best and worst part of any vocal session is listening back while Matt makes adjustments and listens to bits of takes that sound hilarious when heard out of context. At a previous session, we described one of these moments as “Troy falling down a well” as, for all intents and purposes, that IS what it sounded like. With that session completed, it marked the end of the recording process for Procrastinator, Troy Story Band’s debut EP due out in late 2023. As long as we stay on target with the mixing and mastering. 

Meanwhile, in my art studio in the forest, I got a call for some new work for Madu. With a single coming out on Halloween it was crunch time to get the track submitted for publication. As with every submission, a copy of the cover art is also required for publication. Sometimes artists have an idea or vision for their cover art, but the actual image they provide is not the right size or quality so we have to do some extra work to make them useable. Sometimes the artists want artwork like a painting included into a digitized and edited image for the cover. In this case, the image that was given to us was far too small and pixelated to be used for the cover, but it looked really cool, and we all LOVED the concept and color palette. So I took it and remade it in a slightly different style on Procreate and jazzed up the text a little bit. What came of it will be released with the single, Haunted, on Halloween of this year. Look for that one on spotify soon. We also have some merch in the works for MaDu which should be available in the coming months. I also got word that there will be another cover art piece to do for the next single. I have time lapse videos of all the work I do in Procreate. It can be fun to go back and see what my process looked like. 

With the wrapping of the Troy Story EP it was also time to talk to Troy about the cover art submission as well as any potential merch he wants for the release. We have some good stuff planned and I am excited to get into the process. 

Wrapping up the week there was a house party with the ever energetic Twenty Dollar Prophets. It was a blast as usual and the boys put on a great show. It always a party with the TDP crew. While there were memorable moments for everyone involved, we particularly loved to see Rizz get caught posing on the drums for a photo. We are starting to do more and more shows where Matt and Rhey work separately, so it was fun to get to do a group show again. 

We have a whole lot more coming up next weekend, including the big End of Summer Jam show with B&S Guitar Co. I will be out there selling tie dye while Matt does the live sound reinforcement. We are excited to see everyone out there enjoying the show this weekend. Check out our social media accounts for more info on upcoming shows and events! We will see you out there!

-OctoPi

“O’doyle Rules! Aaand nobody fell down a well this time.”

Matt Vaughan