renewed!

So yesterday my guitar player for this album I've been trying to make, went into the studio for the first time. Unfortunately the scheduled time that worked best was during the day time and I had to be at my day job, but I did get Jered to sit in on the session & I got to sneak away from work for an hour or so to listen & give my wee input.

They were working on my song "Clearer Day" which is a song about picking yourself up when you're feeling completely low, brushing yourself off & telling yourself you're going to be alright, and praying for a better time, a "clearer day" to come. As far as guitar goes I'll fully admit I don't really hear specific ideas for this song. I know Jered, Brent and Randor would have more direction to give Peter (the lovely & amazing guitar player that has agreed to help us out on this record). Peter had some really fantastic ideas, and contributed so many beautiful sounds that really take this song to a whole new level. After months of no work being done on my album, I am fully renewed and excited to see how these songs that have basic structure right now, will develop and grow.

Since I have never recorded any full band songs before I'm so curious for how the concept of the full album will come together. What genre will it be? What will people hear as my influences? How will people feel when they're listening to my songs? It's funny when you're in the studio & you hear this little song you wrote, just you, sitting at your ancient pre-WWII Homer piano, coming alive and becoming WAY bigger than you had ever conceptualized. What a beautiful thing. What a thrilling & slightly scary thing. I have hoped & prayed for this album for so long... can people who are not involved in creating music, but involved in listening to it, ever competely comprehend what an emotional process making an album can be??? My heart longs for this record. To sing the final vocals & harmonies.. to hear it mixed & mastered, to see in a pretty little package. Maybe it's just me, maybe because I've been waiting to make this record for so bloody long, I've become slightly obsessed. But I feel like I'm not only getting to better know myself & my music through this process, but beginning to understand the common bond I will have with other people who have recorded their material and put it out there for people to grasp onto.

Like I said, I am fully renewed by hope, by excitement and by love for this album that is slowly making it's way.

I had a vision...

verse
I had a vision of you
Letting go of the brokenness
Letting go of the bitterness

And I had a vision of you
Giving into forgiveness
Giving into the truth

chorus
So open up your spirit
You don't need to be so afraid of it
So open up your soul
There's so much to let go
There's so much you don't know

verse two
I had a vision of you
Falling to your knees
Crying out for me

And I had a vision of you
Admitting defeat
Finally admitting you believe

chorus
So open up your spirit
You don't need to be so afraid of it
So open up your soul
There's so much to let go
There's so much you don't know

bridge
When I finally begin to see
The light there in your eyes
I'll know I waited faithfully
All this time

chorus
So open up your spirit
You don't need to be so afraid of it
So open up your soul
There's so much you don't know
There's so much to let go

outro
I had a vision of you
Letting go of the bitterness
Letting go of the brokenness

And I had a vision of you
Giving into forgiveness
Giving into the truth

inspired

These days I have been feeling a plethora (love that word) of overwhelming emotions. I've never really been one to over analyze and compare myself to others, but I have to admit I have been catching myself comparing what I am doing with my life, my music and such to what other people are doing and what they're accomplishing. Why am I doing that? STOP IT. There, hopefully I listen.

As far as the record goes, Jered was in the studio a week ago and put down some amazing drum tracks. It completely renewed my excitement and hope for this project. I have a new timeline in mind for when I want the album done (since my last timeline was completely a joke, and laughed itself all the way into May) but I don't really want to put it out there until closer to, so I don't get my hopes up and then not make it. I have been taking in a LOT of live music lately, and it warms my heart. I have been hosting some live music nights at Axis Cafe, and with the Prairie Belles Podcast that Daneel and I have been doing on a weekly basis, I hear about SO MANY fantastic artists playing I can't stay away. Last week I saw Meaghan Smith (a lovely girl from Halifax, Nova Scotia) at the Haven Social Club, and again I was at the Haven last night for Manuela Wuthrich's cd release show.
There were two opening acts, one of which was a girl from Toronto called Jadea Kelly. She has such a beautiful unique voice. She inspired me.

I'm going to try and take the overwhelming emotions and thoughts and dreams I've been dealing with and write about them. I haven't been nearly as diligent about writing as I should be these days. I can't wait to get back down to business.

On another note, I have a show with the lovely Erica Viegas (http://www.ericaviegas.com/) on June 5th @ Axis Cafe. I'm going to sing me a Meaghan Smith cover since I loved her show so much!

Sort of a random scatter brained blog, but there it is folks. Happy May Long. xo

productivity...

Like I mentioned in my last blog, I haven't been writing as much as usual these days. Well, in the last week that has really started to change! Thank heavens! This weekend I went down to Calgary for a night to cowrite with Ashley Rae (country singer/songwriter) and Joni Delaurier (singer/songwriter - winner of a SOCAN songwriter of the year award in fact!!).

Ashley & I wrote two songs together Friday night & Ashley, Joni & I wrote one song together Saturday afternoon. Two weekends ago I got together with my lovely friend Erica Viegas (Edmonton singer/songwriter) and wrote a song with her! So that's four songs in less than 2 weeks, and my heart feels freer than it has in a while.

One of the songs Ashley & I wrote...

Head Above Water
*I got the idea for this song while having a bath and floating with my head barely above the water, just enough so I could breathe.

verse
I'm finding it too hard to breathe
The day to day is overwhelming me
I keep wandering in too deep
And now I'm out of reach

chorus
The tide keeps pulling me in and I'm
Treading water again
My life keeps pushing me under
I'm just trying to keep my head above water
I'm just trying to keep my head above water

verse
I'm caught in your undertow
You won't let me, let you go
I'm drowning in what we used to be
Your waves are always breaking me

chorus
The tide keeps pulling me in and I'm
Treading water again
Your love keeps pushing me under
I'm just trying to keep my head above water
I'm just trying to keep my head above water

bridge
and the sweetest relief
will be the sand beneath my feet

chorus
The tide keeps pulling me in and I'm
Treading water again
My life keeps pushing me under
I'm just trying to keep my head above water
I'm just trying to keep my head above water
 
Copyright 2010 Ashley Rae & Lisa Nicole Grace.

waiting room

So it has been a pretty dry spell for writing for me these last few months. Bits & pieces, here & there but no real full song ideas... it's been rough because I tend to express emotions I didn't even know I was experiencing through the songs I write. So I've been feeling pretty stuck. This song is not only a breath of fresh air for that, but also a description of the way I've been feeling in regards to writing and life in general.

waiting room


these days
they all feel the same
I'm bored out of my brain
and I need a change (oh, oh, oh)

but that change it never seems to come
so I'm holding on
I'm just holding on

chorus
my life is like a waiting room
i'm hoping somebody is coming soon
i'll never really know until they do,
til they do
so right now my life is like a waiting room

i think i'm ready to begin again
to start something
a little different (oh)

what that is i'm really not so sure
but i want more
i want so much more

chorus

my life is like a waiting room

i'm hoping somebody is coming soon

i'll never really know until they do,

til they do

so right now my life is like a waiting room

Copyright 2010 Lisa Evangelos.

slow but sweet

So it's been a while since I blogged on here about the progress of my record. Well that's mostly because things have come to a bit of a hault. As I mentioned before we're in the process of recording the drum tracks, which means my little turtle of a husband is in charge of the pace of the recording these days. Godbless him, he prefers a lot of prep time and practise time, because he likes to be able to play his best (I'm NOT complaining obviously - we all want our musicians to play their very best). So that's where we are at the moment. He's been in the studio twice, and recorded 4 drum tracks of the 9 he's playing on. They sound fantastic and I'm really excited to see what else he has in store. He's in Vancouver at the moment playing with Shane Yellowbird at the Winter Olympics. His usually hectic gig schedule has been on a bit of a hiatus lately so he has been playing some more local shows with singer/songwriters from around town.

In January we both backed up a good friend of mine - Chanda Cooper - Jered on drums, and myself on back up vocals. We had a blast. Next up are a few gigs with Jesse Peters of Paramedic, and then a few shows with Erica Viegas. All this new material is another reason for the slow but sweet progress on my record, Jered is busy learning other folks tunes.
I've calmed down a bit from my initial intensity on the progress of this record, but in the back of mind I'm still dying to get moving. Hopefully Jered will finish the drum tracks sometime in March and then we'll be able to move forward. I'm looking forward to it!

prairie belles podcast

Hey blogger friends! I just wanted to let you all know that my friend Daneel and I have started our very own podcast called the Prairie Belles Podcast. Please check it out at http://prairiebellespodcast.blogspot.com/

Cheers!