This weekend The Lakers rhythm section went up north with Sonny to work on writing some new tunes. We stayed in a completely secluded little A-frame cabin in Mora, MN. Complete with the most impressive assemblage of perennial plants I’ve ever seen and plenty of free range cats and chickens, this place was like something out of a weird-ass dream (good weird, not bad bad weird!). Armed with liquor, our instruments, a portable recording rig, and a Califone record player for down-time entertainment, we spent the entire weekend completely submerged in the songwriting process. Not only was it a ton of fun, but we also got a lot accomplished. It’s so much easier to write when you leave all the distractions of day to day life behind.
For me I think the highlight of the trip came on Sunday morning. After a long night of enjoying adult beverages a few members of crew were moving a bit slow. I set up the Califone in the den that we had been playing in and started spinning a stack of gospel records I’d brought up with me. There was something about that music that seemed to bring everyone back to life. Before long we were sitting around learning these obscure gospel tunes and playing them together. Eventually we shut off the record player and started crafting our own gospel-influenced songs. It’s funny, everyone knows that gospel is the foundation of soul music, but I think most people that learn soul music today don’t spend much time with gospel. In my humble opinion, they’re missing out on something great. Sitting around a cramped little A-frame room with my friends playing this energizing, revitalizing music was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had playing music. My hope is that we can keep that feeling close and continue to blend it into our sound.
Here are some pictures from our trip….
