jake has his mouth shut: act i

studio: days one and two

well, we just pulled up at fisher studios, instruments in hand, ready to make fucking history!

it's been a little bit since i wrote here, so to catch y'all up: we've been practicing the entire roster of songs, the WHOLE 17. today's day one, and our plans for the next 5 months is to lay down all the songs. 1 a day is fine, more than that will be sweet.

here comes stanley with his guitar on his back, his pedal board in his left hand, and his amp in his right.

"what the fuck's up?" he asks, putting his amp down to give me a high five.

"good. i'm really nervous though." i say to him as i return the high five.

"ah, don't be. you'll be all good, we'll do fucking good." he said, and went off to put his gear in the recording room.

as the clock struck 12:30 pm, we all got into the studio.

we got into the room with producer allen wrisley, who produced bands like informaland and you guessed it - the levitations.

"hello boys, i'm guessing you lot are project nevermind." he said with a thick irish accent.

"yup, thats us." i said to allen. he shook my hand.

"you four are going to be absolute stars, i tell ya. with jake's songwritin' and your band chemistry - you lot will be HUGE." he said to us and so we started recording.

the process was ultimately quite boring, and it got to a point where i said: "can we possibly just play this as if we were doing it live?"

to which allen replied: "alright then. let's see it!" and so we laid down "short fuse" as if we were doing it live.

after we were done, allen was seemingly clapping?

"well done, boys. youve got the tone of the WHOLE album done right here," he told us and continued: "with the way this is going - we could have an album done in 2 months!"

and so we did multiple more takes until we landed on the perfect one - take number 7.

we listened to it back and immediately stanley said: "that's the take. mix THAT one."

"that's the fuckin' spirit. alright boys, you all are free for today." allen said, and we all returned to our homes.

i immediately called mei when i got there. "babe, we just laid down the first track!"

"really?! thats awesome! i'm so proud of you, lovie!" she replied to me.

"thanks! i'm super tired, so i will talk to you tomorrow possibly." i said and blew her a kiss through the phone.

"alright, i love you! stay safe, okay?" she told me and returned the kiss.

"i love you too. goodnight!" i said and hung up.

the morning after, i woke up and immediately went to the building and allen was weirdly already there.

"hey there, champ! ya ready for another track?" he asked, and i replied: "yeah, i suppose. i mean, we laid down a track yesterday. but is it okay if we try laying down a solo acoustic track today?"

"sure, sure! i suppose you're talking 'bout erm... what's it called... 'direct message'?"

"yup, that's the one." i chuckled and went into the recording room.

i forgot my damn acoustic in my room. fuck...

"is there any guitar i can use? i forgot my acoustic at home." i asked.

"should be. check in the stands." allen replied.

"found one- holy shit..."

the guitar i picked up was a martin d18e. the same guitar kurt cobain used on nirvana's unplugged...

"found a treasure didn't ya? i tell ya, that guitar was used by nearly every artist that recorded here. even kevin rhoades of-"

"the levitations!? what record?" i asked excitingly.

"i think on 'the 72 hour long special' it had a lot of play. i wasn't the main producer on it so i wasn't there for much of the sessions." he replied.

after about two more minutes of stalling we started laying down 'direct message'. it wasn't easy, playing a song you wrote as a child in your hardest moments, and then playing it as an almost 18-year-old who got a record deal.

"stanley..? you okay dude?" i asked.

stanley, luke and marcus were all crying, and so was i.

the song made us emotional. damn..

after that debacle we started laying down my favorite track - floor boy, pt. 2.

it's the most distortion heavy track, just what my jaguar needed.

we did a few more takes before - we landed on the perfect take.

"yes, YES, THAT ONE ALLEN!" i shouted.

we all became excited, and decided to call off for the day, as it was already 8 pm and summer vacation will be ending in 2 months - we wanna hang out.

"so... anyone down for some pizza?" marcus asked.

and so we went to eat pizza.

we were talking for a long time, just hanging out that i totally forgot the time was damn near midnight and soon i'd have no buses home.

"oh shit... i've gotta go, guys. i'll see y'all tomorrow though, okay?" i said.

"see ya, man. good shit today." stanley said.

as i sprinted to my bus and just barely got on - i started to wonder.

'how'd my life get here? i don't think i've done anything to deserve this.'

but eh, too late for an existential crisis.

goodnight.