May 1991 Lichen in the Studio
During this month of May in 1991, the 10 year old Lichen band went into the studio to record their newest original music. We were not as lucky or as financially set as some other rockers that could spend weeks or months doing their recording. The Beatles had Apple that they could do recording anytime, as well as The Band and sometimes Dylan with Big Pink and I'm sure many others. We needed to do it in a weekend.
As can be seen in this photo, it is a long and tiring process....very boring at times....a lot of waiting. It can be very tense also, striving for perfection, missing that mark and having to repeat and repeat and repeat again.
We did this studio recording, our 2nd venture, at Soundlab Studios in Milford, NH with owner and friend Arnie Ashford doing the mixing. Our first studio recordings were done at North Country Sounds in Auburn, NH owned and operated by Tom Bartlett and was issued on CASSETTE! Eeeee boy!
The cover of the CD is the entrance to O'Donnell's in Bedford, NH (or the Lamplighter, La Cantina, O'Donnell's and lastly Slammers, as the name changed.....we stayed). It seemed so appropriate as we played there every week for almost 20 years and so many more people knew us from there. There are a few photos of the band on the CD including the pondering of the pine cone in one and everyone playing horns in the background of another.
The original songs include 2 written by Charlie Windhausen: Don't Fade Away and Seize The Day; 2 co-written by Steve Cook and John Zevos: Time To Breakaway and Double Bind; 1 written by John Zevos called Sounds; 4 written by Diane Zevos: The Fury, The Same Ole "G" Blues, Uncertain Journey and There Are Times; and 1 written by John and Diane Zevos called It's Getting Crazy.
John and Steve Cook are long-time friends and have collaborated many, many times over the years and their songs are something special. They get together and play and magic happens, and John has the incredible knack of inventing a catchy lick making the songs unforgettable.
John's song Sounds is everything a music lover is all about: how music and sounds make you feel, how it brings back memories, changes your mood, makes time go by, etc., etc., etc. It is pure happiness to make you dance all around!
John plays acoustic and electric guitars and also the mandolin on a few songs. John's incredible soloing is all over the CD, but check out the heart-felt, intensity of the beautiful, crescendo"ing" solo in Double Bind. It gives me goosebumps.
Charlie's songs invite the listener to live life the best you can and Seize The Day is truly a beautiful ballad driving home the positive vibes. On the video page there is a live version of Seize The Day.
Obviously I know the most about my own songs. The first one I ever wrote was The Same Ole "G" Blues that flowed from my heart to John and the new life he turned me on to with music. I wanted it to be a song like Blowing In The Wind (please.....I don't compare myself to Dylan) spanning life's experiences and meaning so much.
The Fury was written to express the intense feelings we can have for something and to embrace them, despite the crazy world seeming to crush creativity.
Uncertain Journey was written during the sleep deprived endless nights of new baby/parenthood and the delight in getting a few moments to drift off to sleep leaving the background noise of the world behind and dreaming. The thing is.....will the dream be a good one or a nightmare?
John calls There Are Times that "happy" song, sarcastically, because it is very intense and has strong wording about negative human actions, but ends with positive feelings. In the recording, during the solo, John recreates the crazy dueling guitars that he and Bob Craig initiated when Bob played with Lichen for a time. Of course in this recording both parts are John overdubbed.
Bill doesn't write any songs, that we know of, but he and his professionalism and talent on the drums creates the total sound our songs are looking for. In the song It's Getting Crazy look for Bill's tasteful fills in the middle that transition into the "crazy" part of the song. In There Are Times, Bill's drumming shows the distinct differences in the suspenseful verses and the upbeat choruses and he also added the congas to the mix.
Around the time of making our CD, I was scouring landscapes looking for an old, large, craggy, wide tree to hide our name in. I finally found this tree in South Boston by the water. It was perfect! This image is on the actual CD and behind it when the CD is taken out to play.
This CD was dedicated to our friend Cathy Small
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If you would like to hear a few snippets or purchase the CD here is the link to CD Baby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/lichen