Making Hits for Your Heart

After 3 day drive. The Maine had made it to Nashville, TN and would be living there for the next 3 months in the house that belonged to Brendan and Jamison (that Jamison also lived in when she was in Nashville) that also happened to be next to his home studio.

10PM and they had finally arrived to Nashville and to the house. John slowly pulled up to the driveway and stopped the car as everyone got out and started grabbing their things.

“Hey guys.” Jamison greeting them from the front of the driveway in what seemed to be her pajamas and a zip up hoodie.

“Hey Jamison.” They all greeted her, as they were arms full of luggage and equipment following her into the house.

“I’ll give you guys a quick tour and you guys can unpack and head to bed or whatever, I am sure you guys had a long drive here.” She said, as the guys dropped their things on the floor and followed her.

“Sounds great.” Garrett said, letting out a sigh ready to shower and relax.

“So this is the house. It’s 6 bedrooms, 3 ½ bathrooms. On this floor there’s my room and a spare bedroom and bathroom then the rest of the bedrooms are upstairs along with 2 ½ bathrooms. The rooms are all sound proof so if you want to practice at all hours of the night. You can.” She said walking them through the spare bedroom and bathroom on the first floor and pointing up to the second floor, “There’s a basement rec room kind of thing with a pool table and record collection and some random things like board games lying around.” She pointed to the door next to the end of the hall indicating it lead to the basement, “and then there’s the living room with the DVD collection, video games like Super Nintendo, Xbox, and N64, we also cable and stuff. There’s a washer and dryer room next to the kitchen… and linen closest with towels, sheets, blankets, extra pillows, and junk-- both upstairs and down here.” She explained as they ended up in the living room.

“Amazing, thank you.” Jared said looking around the living room that had old records decorated on the walls.

“Thanks.” Garrett said, looking happy to be calling the house his home for the next few months.

“I guess just figure out your bedroom situations and you guys are good to go.” Jamison said, “Let me know if you need anything.” Walking off to what seemed like her room.

The guys went through the entire house and looked through the bedrooms and places to get a feel of the house, it seemed to remind them of the house studio next door which they all had dubbed—“good vibes and homely”. Everyone but John took the rooms on the second floor since the room on the first floor had the best natural lighting that John loved.

John began unpacking his suitcase slowly while getting lost in his own random thoughts before a voice interrupted him.

“You’re my floormate…” Jamison said standing by John’s doorway as he looked up at her from his suitcase.

“That I am… are you disappointed?” He asked jokingly with a small laugh.

“Not at all… if you need anything I am just down the hall.” She chuckled nodding her head towards her room, which was at the end of the hall a few doors next to his.

“Thanks.” He smiled giving her a small nod.

“I’m here for you.” She said with a nod, Goodnight John.”

I’m here for you, he knew to some extent she had said it out of politeness. But she seemed so sincere that it had him taken back. He wondered the deal with her was.

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Today was the first day into pre-production for the 4th studio album. The band had about a month in pre-production before they were to start recording for the album using Brendan’s home studio to track the demos that they had worked on at Monaco family’s cabin.

The guys had walked into the studio with the key Brendan had given them. They took a quick tour around the studio before they ended up in the control room to see Jamison sitting at the soundboard blasting Tom Wait’s “Please Call Me, Baby” through the speakers.

“Hey guys.” Jamison said turning down the speakers, “Brendan asked me to just help you track demos if needed and just be here for anything you need.”

“Awesome.” Garrett said, “You a Tom Waits fan?” he asked always excited about meeting people who had similar music taste such as his.

“I am a fan of so much music it’s kind of ridiculous.” She said with a small laugh, “I made you guys coffee in the kitchen if you guys need it and there’s poptarts, pastries, and bagels and stuff set up there also.” She pointed over to the kitchen.

“You’re amazing.” Garrett yelled, before running to the kitchen causing everyone to laugh but quickly Pat and Kennedy following Garrett into the kitchen.

“Whenever you are ready you guys can set up and do your thing. Just let me know if you need help.” Jamison said to Jared and John who looked around the studio from the control room.

“Thank you Jamison.” Jared said with a smile.

“No problem at all.” She said, before going back to where she was sitting leaving the guys to do whatever they needed to do in peace.

After a semi-successful day tracking demos the guys decided to call it a day as they were clearing out for the day they went back to the house to see Brendan and Jamison in the kitchen with Jamison cooking and Brendan sitting at the kitchen island.

“Hey, you guys done for the day?” Brendan asked, as the guys gathered around the kitchen island.

“Yeah.” Pat said with a nod, letting out an exhausted sigh.

“How’s it going?” Brendan continued to ask wondering what their answers would be as he reading their somewhat tired expressions.

“Alright… not bad or good.” John answered honestly; they were a bit stuck with the whole process this time around.

“You guys have time… go with the flow.” Brendan said reassuringly, “Jae is making you guys dinner.” He smirked, “What are you making again?” He asked Jamison.

“Lemon chicken with vegetables and mashed potatoes.” She answered concentrating on whatever was happening on the stove.

“She cooks real good.” Brendan said almost in a teasing manner towards Jamison.

“I stocked the fridge with beer, Gatorade, water, Vitamin Water, and juice. So grab whatever you want.” Jamison said pointing over to the refrigerator as she rolled her eyes and ignored Brendan’s words.

“You didn’t have to do this. We were going to do a Costco run this week.” Pat said, walking over to the refrigerator and opening it to see a fully stocked refrigerator, something that was a rare sight for him since he stopped living at home.

“I don’t mind at all.” She assured them, “If there’s anything you guys want to eat and stuff let me know I can make it for you. As for groceries we can split and you guys can help yourselves to anything here. This is your home for the next few months.”

“You don’t have to do anything for us—just help us with our album.” Kennedy said, grabbing a beer for himself, Garrett, Jared, and John.

“She finds cooking and baking therapeutic. Fucking weirdo.” Brendan teased.

“Shut up Brendan. I’m going to throw this fucking skillet at you.” Jamison said pointing the spatula she was holding at the hot skillet she was cooking over the stove. The guys laughed completely amused by the banter between Jamison and Brendan since the day they had met the two.

“Nothing but love for you my dear.” Brendan said in a bit of a sarcastic manner.

Jamison rolled her eyes before giving him the finger, “Shut your face and go home to your wife and child.” She pointed to the door.

“You’re right gotta get home to the Missus and the kid.” Brendan said getting up from the kitchen stool, “I will see you guys.” He gave them a mock salute before walking out of the house leaving Jamison and the guys alone in the kitchen.

“Is there anything we can help you with? I feel bad just standing here drinking beer while you slave away.” Garrett asked unsure if he should even move from where he was wondering if he would break anything or cause trouble.

“Uh, grab plates and utensils I guess.” She said pointing the cabin beside her, “I’m about done here.”

Jared opened the cabinet and grabbed plates while Garrett searched the drawers for the utensils

“This looks awesome.” Pat said watching Jamison plate the food.

“Thank you… and your dinner is ready. Eat your vegetables.” Jamison said handing off plates one by one to each of the guys.

The six decided to somewhat awkwardly stand around the kitchen island and eat their dinner.

“This kitchen is pretty awesome… actually this whole house is.” Kennedy said trying to make conversation.

“Brendan and I bought the two houses and land together with some help from friends as well. The deal was Brendan would have control of how the studio would be set up and what would be in it and I was in charge of this house and everything in it. Somehow these two places cohesively went together—a little old and a little new.” Jamison said looking around the kitchen with a smile.

“How did you even get started in all this?” Garrett asked curiously wondering who exactly Jamison was as the other guys were.

“I am from the Bay Area, California, where I met and interned for Squire at 14? I learned everything from him. Somehow suckered him into letting me stay on with him till I was like I was 18 and he introduced me a bunch of friends like Brendan, Neal, and bands in between. I somehow suckered them into letting me into their lives and but Brendan and I, since we met we always were close as people and from a musical standpoint—I wanted to learn analogue a few years back he took me by his wing and then this studio house hybrid came about after spending the last almost 3 years with him he is like the big brother I never wanted but am glad to have.” Jamison answered with a laugh at the latter of her explanation.

“Whoa awesome.” Kennedy said completely impressed by her story.

“Nothing interesting.” Jamison said trying to brush it off as nothing.

“This is so good…” Pat said so focused on the food he was eating and not really paying attention to anything else.

“There’s more incase you guys get hungry.” Jamison pointed over to the stove behind her, “What about you guys? I’ve been a fan since ‘Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop’ and you’ve guys have grown and matured quickly, it’s actually kind of mind-blowing. How did you get to this point I guess is what I am asking...” She chuckled at herself from her own ramble.

“I think we all just went back to old music our parents grew up on and really listened to it and really appreciated the musicianship to it. Touring with bands like Augustana really just kind of made us want to grow up with their musicianship and a bit away from the Warped Tour crowd… if that makes sense.” Jared began, “Like we’re not shutting ourselves out from it, that’s the scene where we came from and proud of it. But we didn’t want to make the same album we’re not forever 17… we wanted to open ourselves to all kinds of possibilities.” He explained before taking a bite of his dinner.

Jamison nodded her head and smiled seeming to understand the answer.

“What about you? Why did you want to learn analog?” Garrett asked.

“Honestly, I only do analog photography. I own a digital camera but I only use it for video related projects… but there is something about film photography is fascinating to me. So I guess naturally I gravitated to recording by tape, it’s imperfect but it’s real. I love both ways of recording for different reasons but that’s how I got into it initially.” She answered.

After a few more random conversation topics from music to the usual process of how the guys made an album. They finished dinner and the guys were ready to unwind.

“I got the dishes.” Jamison said, grabbing all their plates and putting it in the sink.

“You cooked dinner the least we can do is do the dishes.” Pat insisted.

“No, I insist. Seriously, go relax. You guys can get the dishes next time, I promise.” She chuckled as she turned on the faucet.

“Thank you again.” Kennedy said, before walking out the kitchen with the rest of the guys.

“No problem.” She said with a smile, as she began washing the dishes.

“Dude, she’s too nice.” Jared said shaking his head as they all headed to the living room.

“You don’t think she’ll like kill us in our sleep or something from like pent up resentment against us for not helping around the house?” Garrett joked with a chuckle causing the others to laugh.

“I think we’re okay…” Pat said with a laugh jumping onto the couch. “Let’s watch a movie.”

“Zombie movie!” Garrett yelled as everyone rolled their eyes at him.

John silently got up from the couch and went to his room and laid in bed with his journal filled with lyrics he had been writing for the current album—some finished, some in pieces ready to be mended into a song, some just random thoughts he had scribbled down.

To be honest, the last few months since John had been off tour he had been in some kind of funk. Usually when he was home, he would hang out with his friends and family, re-energize and get inspired from the things that he experienced on the road, or from things he read, saw, and heard… but this time around everything seemed so scattered—from his thoughts to his songs.

Even when going to Monaco family’s cabin, the whole sit down writing process was different. He wondered what the other members thought of him at this point and wondering if they were keeping quiet not to bruise John’s ego or maybe it was all in John’s head.

One of the songs that did come out finished was “Happy” and as John was reading over the lyrics he had written, he wondered to himself what mindset he was in now compared to Pioneer.

I'm half crazy, all just cracked up
When will what I have ever be good enough?
I'm sad, funny it seems lately this ain't a fairytale
And I don't think I'll ever be happy.

Was he going through the infamous mid-twenties breakdown that everyone was always worried about? He wasn’t sure about his emotions and state of mind lately and it was keeping him up and freaking him out.

The next day, the guys and Jamison were in the studio as they were tracking another demo while Jamison was just overseeing their process and watching them work.

After they had finished tracking “Happy” it was about mid-afternoon and besides the early breakfast filled with just some bagels and coffee, the guys were starving. Luckily, as they decided to take a break Brendan walked into the studio with pizza boxes in hand.

“I come with food.” Brendan announced motioning everyone to go to the kitchen.

“Starving.” Pat said quickly following Brendan into the kitchen.

Everyone gathered into the kitchen and began attacking the pizzas that were in front of them.

“How is tracking demos going?” Brendan asked taking a bite of his pizza.

“We got 2 songs down…” Jared answered.

“Let’s hear them.” Brendan said surprisingly everyone but Jamison with his statement.

“I’ll go get my laptop.” John said putting down his pizza and running into the recording room to retrieve his laptop.

He quickly came back and began playing “Happy” for Brendan, who listened to the song twice and was absorbed in it totally feeling the song and loving it.

“I love it… let’s record after lunch.” Brendan simply said, before going back to his pizza throwing off all the guys.

“What? But we—“ John stammered, this wasn’t how they went about things. It was all more uniformed and thought out.

“We can figure out the little details here and there. But let’s practice and record this song… today.” Brendan said nonchalantly.

“Alright.” They guys collectively agreed, they didn’t know the process of recording to tape. They just decided to just follow Brendan into this with eyes somewhat closed.

“I’m feeling it!” Brendan yelled happily throwing his fist in the air as he began playing “Happy” again causing Jamison to laugh and shake her head.

After lunch, everyone got together and hashed over the details, tweaked, and practiced what would be the final version of “Happy” and after about an hour of what seemed to be just setting up to record, it was time to actually record the song.

“Jae, can you just double check that everything is set up?” Brendan asked, as he was about to put on his headphones and monitor the tape machine.

“I got it.” Jamison said, as she quickly ran into the room where the band (minus John) was making sure everything was plugged and then went into the vocal room where John was sitting on his stool waiting to record. He saw Jamison get on her hands and knees crawling below him to make sure everything was plugged in and ready to go. This was an unusual sight for him to see in the studio—much less a girl literally crawling every inch to make sure things were ready.

“Hi.” John said with a small chuckle looking down at Jamison who was right below him on her knees making sure his microphone was dialed in correctly.

“Hello.” Jamison said, looking up at him before doing a final check to make sure all the wires were plugged in. She crawled all the way to the door of the vocal recording room then ran into the control room, “We’re ready.” She told Brendan before putting on her headphones.

“Alright let’s do this.” Brendan said, as putting up 3 fingers and counting down “3. 2. 1.” He mouthed to the guys signaling them to begin.

John took a deep internal breath before he began singing the words he had thought of.

I don't think I am capable of
This teenage televised taping of love.
But here is my guide on how to be alone:
Just act like a freak and
Sleep with everyone you've ever known.

I'm half crazy, all just cracked up
When will what I have ever be good enough?
I'm sad, funny it seems lately this ain't a fairytale
And I don't think I'll ever be happy.

And I'd like to think romance is real
Open my chest, a heart you could steal
But here is my guide on how to stay alone,
Just drink 'til you're gone and pass out on the floor.

I'm half crazy, all just cracked up
When will what I have ever be good enough?
I'm sad, funny it seems lately this ain't a fairytale
And I don't think I'll ever be happy.
Happy.

I'm half crazy, all just cracked up
When will what I have ever be good enough?
I'm sad, funny it seems lately this ain't a fairytale
And no I am not smiling
'Cause I don't think I'll ever be

“That was great but let’s try that a few more times… see which one makes the cut.” Brendan said through the control room.

After a few more takes John and the guys walked out of the recording booth and watched Jamison and Brendan listen to the track intent.

“I think we got it. We can have John do another take of “ooh-woo-ooh” separately and layer it a few times on top of one another and maybe distort it a bit…” Jamison said, taking off her headphones after fixedly listening to the track again.

“Good idea. Let’s try that…” Brendan said taking another drag from his cigarette before running into the equipment room to get the right microphone for John to do the extra vocals for.

After adding and working on the additional vocals for the track. Everyone sat down in the control room and listened to the song carefully. This would be a track to the new album.

“What do you think?” Brendan asked, looking around the room at their reactions.

“I like it a lot.” Jared said, nodding his head.

“This is crazy that we have an entire song done…” Pat said completely stunned he had heard what would basically be one of the tracks to the album.

“This is just the beginning…” Brendan chuckled, as he lit up a cigarette.

“Brendan, go home to your wife and kid. I’ll breakdown and finish up here.” Jamison said, turning her chair from the soundboard looking over at Brendan.

“You’re the best.” Brendan said looking at his cell phone to realize the time, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

The guys said their goodbyes to Brendan before quickly checking through the recording rooms to see if their equipment were turned off and unplugged.

“You guys should get going home, you had a long day.” Jamison said, as she stood up from her chair. “There’s a bunch of stuff you guys can eat back at the house if you guys get hungry.”

“Do you want any help?” John asked, watching Jamison slowly unplug and put away things.

“Nah, I’m good. This is my job. I shouldn’t be too long, you guys go ahead.” She said with a small smile.

Before walking out the door he heard a familiar song on blast throughout the house—“Like We Did” began playing. John smiled to himself before closing the door behind it and calling it a day.

He knew the process of making this album would be unlike any of the others.

And for some reason it seemed so daunting to him.