Update from the Studio

Day 17.

Everyday has been an adventure in the studio working on our 2nd and 3rd full length albums for A Life of Science at Mind's Eye Digital Studios in Glendale, AZ with Larry Elyea. Despite a few technical issues, its been mostly smooth sailing.

At this point, the majority of the songs are tracked. Now comes the heavy mixing that comes with the territory when you have dozens of tracks of synths, pads, sfx and electronic drum kits on each song like we do. Six tracks have been mixed so far and we've been very pleased with the results.


Scott Passamonte - Guitar

We run our pre production pretty tight before we get into the studio and record our demos pretty precisely, so we weren't expecting to do much "writing" in our sessions. However, there's been a lot of developments, especially on the vocal arrangements. We definitely haven't been shy about layering on tracks of harmonies, echoes, ooohhs and aaaahhhs.


James Keenan - Vocals / Bass / Programming

We've also been having fun experimenting with the mixes and all the effects/glitching/filters and other marvels made available through modern recording technology. We are doing our best to craft a fun and interesting listen that goes to territories we haven't been before. Needless to say, we are having FUN.

Our 2nd album is tentatively titled "Vita Nova." The latin translation is "A New Life." A lot is different this time around for A Life of Science. We've said goodbye to some dear bandmates and welcomed some fresh blood (including beastly drummer Ben Anderson (from Digital Summer)). Our writing process has been very different as well. The new songs were born on the computer and structured and refined before they were ever played by instruments. Everything about the process has felt new. We feel like a new band. Hence "A New Life" for A Life of Science. In addition, the underlying themes of the new storyline for our second album are about starting a new life.


Ben Anderson - Drums

Not quite ready to start dropping information about our 3rd album just yet (even though it's very near completion.) It probably won't be released for some time. But we are very excited about it, as it marks an even further progression for the band.

To stay up to date, follow our studio webisodes weekly at http://www.alos.us.

Cheers to a future bright as snow.

<3

A New Year / A New Life

With a new year comes new possibilities.

2010 was a year of building. Building songs. Building funds. Building strength.

2011 is the year of harvesting.

A Life of Science began in 2006, with a couple of friends casually writing some songs together in a rehearsal space in Phoenix, AZ. We didn't know what we were doing. We didn't know where we were going. We just knew that whatever was happening had to happen.

By 2007, our songs had taken shape and our sound was found... A schizophrenic blend of electronic rock. Slowly but surely, the songs began to tell a story, the likes of which had not been fully formulated, but which grew momentum and substance every day.

By 2008, the story had been articulated into a treatment. A full, cohesive story of a man's journey towards a fiery apocalypse. Our 10 songs were arranged to tell this story through music, lyrics and art. We recorded these as our debut album, The Apneist.

In 2009, we released the album. We accompanied the release with a comic book that explained the story's origins. We toured. We played comicons. We spread the word. We were met with a positive response.

In Fall 2009, we returned from tour a little bit different. Everything up until that point had been a planned sequence of events. We didn't know what came after.

In January 2010, it was time to move forward... Pretty much start over. We dove back in. This time, with purpose. I knew how difficult it was to let songs develop into a story, so I wrote out the new story treatment before I wrote a single lyric... A continuation of the story of The Apneist. As I wrote, I tried to envision it as a full scale major motion picture, and a high budget one at that. Once the treatment was done, I divided it into 10 segments of content and started pairing the demos we were working on with each segment based on style / feel and how those sounds would translate to each part of the story.

By May 2010, the demos were finished in their primitive state. We decided to sit on them for a bit while we figured out our situation. Meanwhile, we spent our evenings editing The Apneist novel, written by our dear friend and talented novelist, Josh Isaac.

Then, out of nowhere, we got antsy and started writing again. I had ideas for the third story treatment as well, so I began that process. By the time it was done, I found that we had the proper songs to tell that story as well. I broke up the treatment and started writing lyrics the exact same way. This time around, I had it down to a science, so the new demos were done in no time.

By the time December 2010 came around, we had recorded demos for 20 new songs... Two albums worth. At this point, it seemed silly to just record one record, so we booked up a full month in the studio in February 2011 (at the same studio, Mind's Eye Digital with Larry Elyea [Jimmy Eat World / Eyes Set to Kill]).

The last several weeks have been spent tweaking the demos to our liking. In 3 weeks, we will hit the studio. We are fortunate enough to have the insanely talented Ben Anderson (Digital Summer / Comfort for Change) recording drums on the album, a new addition since the last recordings.

In addition to having the second and third albums recorded, we will also have a new comic book and novel ready for release, as well as brand new video content. Once we have figured out a release schedule, we will begin putting all this new media out. To say that we are excited is a drastic understatement. We feel as though this massive undertaking of a project is finally starting to flesh out, and we are amped up to see what the future holds.

More updates to come from the studio :)