It's been a few weeks since the last posting, so we wanted to let folks know that progress continues in earnest on the new SHOES record (as-yet untitled)!  While final overdubs are being completed on the last 2 songs, the other 13 songs received basic mixdown.  With digital recording (as opposed to tape-based recording) these basic mixes can be returned to, after being reviewed and tweaked, without having to start from scratch.  This makes life alot easier and final mixes can be altered at …

While an official album title has yet to be decided on, we now know the song titles for the 15 songs that look to make up the forthcoming disc!  So, here they are in alphabetical order with the songwriter listed in parenthesis; 

Diminishing Returns (John)
Head vs. Heart (Gary)
Heaven Help Me (Gary)
Hot Mess (collaboration by all 3)
In On You (John)
I Thought You Knew (John)
Maybe Now (Jeff)
Nobody To Blame (Gary)
Only We Remain (Gary)
Sign of Life (Gary)
Say It Like You Mean It (collaboration by all 3)
Out Of Round (Jeff)
The Joke's On You (Jeff)
Where Will It End (Jeff)
Wrong Idea (John)

Cooper House Studio received a couple of visitors over the weekend to preview some rough mixes of the upcoming SHOES album; the author and editor of the upcoming book cronicaling SHOES' 35+ year musical career-Mary Donnelly (author) and Moira McCormick (editor).  A post was made yesterday on the PowerPop BlogSpot webpage, commenting on their brief, initial sampling of the 15 new tunes.  The band is hopeful that the music community at large will receive the new album with the same excitement and enthusiasm as these first witnesses.  You can read their observations here; http://powerpop.blogspot.com/2012/01/just-little-bit-excited.html

There's a CD compilation listed on Power Pop Criminals Blogspot that includes a version of Tomorrow Night by SHOES!  Apparently, this comp was originally compiled in 1994 by Will Birch (drummer for The Records) for  MOJO magazine, but is now downloadable.  It looks to be one of the better collections of this type of stuff. We're in with Tom Petty, Badfinger, Cheap Trick, The Posies, The La's, The Raspberries, Big Star, Dwight Twilley, The Byrds, Phil Seymour, Aimee Mann, …

After taking a seasonal break from the studio and with the holidays behind us, Shoes look forward to getting back to business and finishing up the new record.  We hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday season and we wish you all the best in 2012.  HAPPY SHOE-YEAR!

Johnny Richardson broke away from his gigging and Drum Farm Studio obligations long enough to lay down the drums for what should be the last time on the new Shoes project.  John breezed through the last song, "Wrong Idea" and even had time to relax with Jeff's 1988 Fender American Standard Stratocaster.  John brought with him a new Hi-Tone 30 watt amp for us to try out in the studio and we thought it was FANTASTIC!  The amp's design is based on the classic English amp made by Hiwatt (popularized by Pete Townsend), which has been a Shoes staple amp since 1978.

The month of November was a busy one for the guys with John working on the final arrangement for his latest song, "Wrong Idea" as well as numerous backing vocal overdubs dominating most of the sessions.  John Richardson is scheduled to make one last trip into the studio to lay down the drums for this final song and any additional percussion overdubs.  A night off for John's birthday consisted of drinks and dinner at a local pub.  Mixing should begin shortly after the first of the year.

October has been a fruitful and busy month, as progress continues on the 15 new Shoes songs currently in the works.  Despite having played drums with the band for over 17 years, since the Propeller tour of 1994, John Richardson has never appeared on a Shoes studio album!  Just wait until you hear what he can do in the studio environment with the guys!  Just you wait . . .

As a result of The Gin Blossoms playing a gig in nearby Naperville, IL drummer John Richardson was able to find some free time during the extended Labor Day weekend and pounded away the days in the studio with Shoes. The results yielded 6 brand new Shoes songs! Included in the new tracks were John's "I Thought You Knew", Gary's "Sign of Life", Jeff's "Maybe Now" and the rockin' collaboration, "Hot Mess". Jonathan Pines, from Private Studios in Champaign, IL was …

Despite dramatic weather conditions over the last 6 weeks including, tornadoes, waterspouts, hurricane velocity winds, fallen trees, lightning strikes and torrential rainfalls, work continues on the new album project by Shoes, with overdubs continuing and new songs being brought in.  Braving the power outages and property damage, Gary, John and Jeff weather the storms and forge ahead with the recording.  No hard drives were harmed in the making of this album.        John …