A Weekend to Remember

So I am going to save my anti-Phelps post for a few more days as he continues to rack up the bad interviews as well as the golds...

Instead, I figure I may post about a fun weekend of music making. Good buds Albie, Jon M., Phil D, Cheston, and DLP all met up at Nick's house with an array of spintos to help score the work in progress that is Albert and Jon's Beast Pageant.

We had met up earlier in the summer to record a few songs for the movie that focused on Jon's songs featuring acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukuleles and foot stomps. It was a great weekend back in June. I was excited we were going to go at it again.

This past weekend we tried something a bit different though. The acoustic guitars were replaced by synthesizers and the acoustic guitar became an electric guitar played with a violin bow, recorded through an amplified megaphone taped to a didgeridoo. The vibe was a bit different, but it was still super cool.

Albert said the film has two distinct parts, one part is soundtracked by the synthesizers, one by the acoustic instruments.

A highlight of the session for me was when Albert and Jon were discussing how the music we were recording was giving them ideas for new scenes or shots or bits to the movie. It was a giant organic tree growing in front of us. The creative process of the Beast Pageant intertwines all bits that will eventually create the various sensations of the movie. It is a beautiful thing. At first, the script writing inspired the music, now the music is inspiring new aspects of the script.

I know most films do not have the luxury of evolving their artwork as they move forward. They are restricted by budgets and timetables, but the Beast Pageant's organic style is a fairly intriguing way of making a film. Albert and Jon are working diligently on a project that they expect to take years to complete. The project is slowly coming to life as they develop film and listen to songs and it should be fun to see, as the project grows, how it becomes its own beast.