Thursday, July 28, 2011

Saxy Part

I definitely hear my wonky, yet signature, horn sound in one of my favorite bands from one of my favorite songwriters: Tim Kerr's Total Direct Sound Action Committee.

Record: The Party Platform...Our Schedule is Change!
Song: The Hard Sell (Mercy Mercy)

Listen for free on Last.fm:

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

DD Dagger Live at Skinnys Ballroom with the La Pistolle Dancers and band

Hi guys!

This is a clip from my last live show at Skinny's Ballroom. We shared a bill with Intimate Stranger and Stereo is a Lie. Film by Mark Zell, with special thanks to Jerry Milton and Rabbit Fist.

This song Night Owl is one of my favorites to perform off my last record "Femmie Auteur". Thanks for looking! I've got new ones in the works and I hope they will be very entertaining.
YaY:: Countdown 10 days to the studio.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Playing with Fire bare bones rough cut demo

Hey guys. Thanks for looking. Super rough cut demo process vid here. No fancy singing or guitar playing. Just the bare bones of this song to present to the musicians for recording purposes. This I'm using my blog as a process notebook I wanted to show how I learn these songs. I'm not a trained guitar player but I need it as a composition instrument however frustrating that is. I am a studied Saxophone player and I just haven't put the same kind of energy into playing the guitar. Either that, or it's a more challenging instrument for me.

Either way, I've chosen not to record the guitar parts on this record- or not the main ones, anyway; so that a more intricate and professional sound can be achieved. I think it's the right choice for this record. I'll lay down sax and probably some keys; but the bass, drums and guitar tracks will be laid down by experienced players.

I've chosen master jazz player Chad Tracy to play on this jazzy number with Phil Arapaju on upright bass.

I hope this will create a terrific mood for me to sing/play sax over.

Thanks for looking! stay posted I'm going to be adding more vids and posts if time permits.
Next week I'm volunteering to be a band coach for Girls Rock Camp. A bunch of my female player friends have already done this for many years: Miss Jackson, Melissa Bryan, and Carrie Clark to name a few.

Thanks for looking!!




Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Gold Bust almost Finished

Becca L Miller's Gold Bust made of Leather and Lace. YUM! It's going to have 1 more coat of Shellac. What do you think? I'm not sure what I'm going to wear on the bottom yet...

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Making of Radixxx with DD Dagger, Becca L Miller, and the La Pistolle Dancers

Becca Fitting
Progress! Becca is making the costumes:: we're stepping into so much fun. I'm attaching some pics and some video to document our process together.






This Bust is a Must
The bust. It's made of leather, it's gold, with buckles and will be nice and shellac-ed for a cast-iron look. We've taken a few ideas from Beyonce; thank you B. You're costumes are killer. I'm going to solder some funky eyewear too with chains and stuff. It's so Dagger!!


Dancer Costumes
This is La Pistolle in her gold lame dress with the spiney back piece Becca's making. It's base is plastic ferns on wire; but we're going to add a spine and spray paint it so it's all tricked out. The Radixxx theme is organic; very much my thing if you've seen my artwork. Radix is Latin for Root; and I'm taking that literally and figuratively. From the front you won't see a thing; then when they turn around it will be a scene.





La Pistolle, testing the movement of the piece:

Talking about the possibilities:

Sunday, July 3, 2011

OK Y'all gearing up for the recording and CD release.






**images posted are for inspiration ONLY for the La Pistolle dancer costumes.

Painting a day is OVER! With some money saved I've got my downpayment for the recording process, thanks everybody for your support.

I've switched gears and have started writing new tunes for the upcoming release, Radixxx. On board is local engineer Mike Vasquez at Sweatbox Studio. I also play in his band and have recorded with him numerous times over the years. We're tight, shit's tight, and it's all going down. I'm excited to announce (drumrollllllll) that amazing jazz guitarist Chad Tracy is going to lay down some licks as well as Phil Arapahu on upright bass for the first three songs. I'm not sure who's on drums but my first pick's Kory Cook for this ensemble. Look those guys up they've played in a million awesome bands but they all have one thing in common: they're versed in Jazz and that's really important to me at this time. It's got to swing HARD!

However, after these first 3 recordings I'm going to switch the team up and get all the angles: indie pop, electronica, rock and jazz are said angles.

What makes this process interesting to me is that there are several layers to it:

1. I had to raise some money to get into the studio
2. I have an amazing opportunity to work with a master costume technician (we traded I make websites see my work here: http://www.lipstingmedia.com) These costumes are for the CD release party. (last release I didn't do a thang! But it has sold modestly listen here: ) We've come up with a theme and Becca's getting her designs together and I'll be documenting that. Thanks Becca!
3. I'm studying up on set design: I'm going to paint a back drop so we'll have some original art to look at among the dancers and musicians.

What's confusing is how I'm going to pay for it all! Pressing CDs, Recording, buying costume materials::: I'm overwhelmed.

I do have faith, however, that things will get done if even on a shoestring. That's what being an artist is all about. Working it out creatively.

I want to post pictures and document this process as I go through it. Right now we're working on the costume designs. Normally, this would NOT come first but Becca L Miller is moving to LA in a month. She's just finished her masters at UT (only one of 3 in her class!) so we're full speed ahead.

I've also been writing new tunes after not writing much in the last 2 years besides a couple of numbers. However, 3 -6 songs are already written and either they didn't make it onto the last record or I forgot they existed. I'm recording those demos for the musicians and dancers to learn.

This is it! I'm doing it and it only took deciding to do so. My last record was released in June of '09. I've listened to it today and in my humble opinion it has stood my own test of time. Besides some technical issues that I have with it, I think the songs still stand as original and fresh///If I might say so myself.

If you're out there reading this please check back. I'm going to post band related items more on this blog so I myself can recall how the hell I do what I do.

Thank you!

dd dagger

**images posted are for inspiration ONLY for the La Pistolle dancer costumes.