PANDORA

https://youtu.be/uSoYc3bMT5Y

https://youtu.be/FlsQGJja1X0

08/12/2023

Part #2 of the Story of a fabulous journey and reconnecting with musician bandmates

As Dave and I talked over many days, the stories of a one-time event in Tiki studios began to emerge. We both remembered Diane who entered into our lives for just 5 days to record one of our most favorite songs.

The details of these five days and recording session were a bit grey in both of our minds. But what was very vivid in both of our memories was a young girl who stepped into our lives and up to answer a call for a singer. You see, we had written 2 songs and wanted to record them, as once again, we felt that we had a “possible” record deal on our hands. Our original singer was not available. Our original singer did, however,  have a sorority sister whom she recommended to us.

After the music had been set, rehearsed and pre- recorded, Dave set out to write the words…in one day!  It was all happening so very quickly. We had to have the words completed and rehearsed within 48 hours, at which point, we would head to the professional studio.

The next day, Dave calls Diane and makes plans to meet her with the lyrics and a rough cassette tape of the music. His instructions were simply, “you can sing in any style that you want or make it your own”. Well, we learned later that Diane had no intentions of sounding like anyone other than herself. She sat in her room and developed a beautiful melody and style all her own. It was now Friday and the studio was booked for Saturday. We set rehearsal for Friday at 12 noon. My first time meeting Diane was at practice. I took one look at her and said, she’s too young! Thinking she can’t do this heavy metal song!! My back to the wall I cranked it up to 10 and counted out the start of the song. Diane took one deep breath opened her mouth and belted out the first few bars and removed all doubt. After hearing Diane’s version for the first time with the music we were all blown away! She could belt it out with the force of Pat Benetar, but in a style all her own. Rehearsal went until 2am…for just one song.  Saturday arrived and yet another great surprise presented itself to us. My long time guitarist and friend, Jamey Brull, showed up to lend a hand with recording at the board. He knew my style well from all of our years with Speed Limit. So, there we were:  Chuck Idol (on guitar), Dave Wilson (on Drums), Brian Carter (on bass) and Diane Pontolillo (vocals) all in our early 20’s, well except Diane, she was only 19. Now, Diane had never even been in a studio, and yet, she was confident in what can be an incredibly intimidating and daunting pressure filled experience that requires performing well, as the clock is ticking $$. With Jamey at the board, accompanied by one of Fred’s engineers, I felt confident that we were in good hands. The rehearsals paid off and within just a few takes we had a great sounding, heavy hitting,  powerful original song. And we knew it!!! Diane would later tell us that her father used to play the cassette for everyone he saw, as he was so proud of her work and sound. So much so, he wouldn’t give her the cassette back! As so many stories go, we pitched the music for some time and then the passage of life took over with each of us going our own ways. But none of us ever forgot how good the song was. Great memories.

This story to be continued like how this name “Trim the Sails” or the name of the band came to be.

After 44 years I present “Trim The Sails” by the Private Invitation” band.

https://youtu.be/uSoYc3bMT5Y

https://open.spotify.com/album/3kNt6kvFegwpo8mBfV5wIo?si=m46tpz0KRdGbqqcNmf9Jfw

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QI45xpj6tdCg7wWywF7b0

08/12/2023

Part #3 of the Story of a fabulous journey and reconnecting with musician bandmates

So there we were, all pulling up to Tiki studios in our 1970 cars with our 1970 blue jeans, long hair and Frye boots fully looking the part of rock stars “to be”.

The night before had been a long hard practice session. We had to be tight and on the mark. We were young and without lots of money. We were funding a recording session on our own and every hour was going to cost us big time. We needed to do it all in one session.

This was also a very big day for Phil Beaudoin, our engineer of many years. He was about to record one of his own songs at a real studio, not in a basement or on a Fostex 4 track portable recorder, which is what he was used to using. Tiki Studios on Long Island was the real deal, a top notch world class studio.

Just walking into this studio with its’ massive 8 inch tapes, floor to ceiling rack mounted equipment and a 24 foot long Neve recording console can intimidate anyone to the point of making your knees buckle.

We rolled in Marshall stacks and Dave had to have his drums, not the studio drums, so set up time was also on the clock. But it’s important to musicians to play on what they know. Even Fred, the owner of Tiki studio, was astonished at the effort we made to have our own equipment over the studio equipment. Within 45 minutes we were ready to go.

Dave looks at Phil and says “are ya ready”?  Phil nodded affirmatively, knowing full well if he answered anything other than “Yes”, he would be in big trouble.

Dave looks at Diane and says, “are you ready”. A spry , perky, confidant, vivacious, “nothing scares me” 19 year old Diane says,  “Yep!!”.

With Phil on Guitar, Dave on Drums, and Diane set for harmony vocals, they set out to record “Bloodline”. Phil tuned down the guitar to drop D, counted out the start, and they were off and running.

Now, there is one small detail you must know about this song. If you remember from parts one and two of the stories of these songs, I said we only knew Diane for a few days. In this case, Diane had only heard this song the night before with Phil playing it on an acoustic guitar. She was hearing and singing it for the first time in full rock and roll stereo in a sound booth with headphones. Diane was focused, confident and nailed it in one take!!

We could all see through the recording booth glass that Phil was very proud. After writing this song many years prior about life’s struggles, it had finally all come together. Within a short time, the song was finished and mastered.

As before, we left the studio very proud of ourselves and at what we had accomplished. But once again, life took over.  Diane moved to Puerto Rico shortly after the recording of this song and we all lost track of each other. Our very young, wild selves had parted ways to explore the world.

Life has a funny way of coming full circle. After we all reconnected a few months ago, we blew the dust off the tapes of this song and despite it being recorded on analog, we remixed and remastered it. Diane, being a perfectionist,  tweaked parts of the vocals before the final release. When the song was recorded, both she and Phil were singing into the same mic, making their voices joined at the hip. Their difference in height made it problematic to hear themselves and tweaking it all these years later was nearly impossible.

We know these songs are not perfect, after all, as I said before, this song was recorded in one take with virtually no practice and we had very limited time in the studio due to money constraints. But, we all thought it was a great song and was more than worthy to get its’ wings!

Maybe someday, we can all get together and capture it in all its glory.

I present to you, after 44 years, the song written by Phil Beaudoin called, “Bloodline”.