Hot Tub Sessions Vol. I

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Last week, Brass Queens released our newest album, Hot Tub Sessions Vol. I, a collection of all-original music. We recorded it over two sessions at Atlantic Records with engineer Joseph Pomarico with mixing by Ian Kagey at Renaissance Recording.

Stream the record below or wherever you get your music. If you like what you hear, please consider buying the album, available on CD and vinyl here (it takes 230 streams for an artist to make $1 on Spotify).

Here are some pics and a video from the Atlantic Sessions:

arriving at atlantc

the dw house kit

me with the greatest to ever do it, mr. john bonham

Layoff!

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Due to union regulations, the entire Grinch orchestra minus the Music Director and Associate Music Director had a two-week layoff at the end of November. The rest of the company traveled to DC for two weeks at the National Theater where they picked up local musicians, including Danny Villanueva, my friend and mentor from my University of Maryland days, who took over the drum book.

I didn’t mind at all as it meant I could travel to California to spend Thanksgiving with my wife and her family. I had a nice time in the warmer weather, but I did need to practice a lot as I am starting to sub on the new Broadway show, Six (more on that when the time comes). Special thanks to my in-laws, Alex & Alicia, for letting me set up shop in Alex’s studio so I could practice on a rental kit. Here I am with some of Alex’s record collection. There’s some good stuff in there!

After a week out west, I got back to New York and had just enough time to fit in a recording session at Power Station before hopping back on Grinch tour. It was a mini Lightning Thief reunion with Wiley Deweese (keys and MD), Yuka Tadano (bass), and Kevin Wunderlich (guitar). We recorded a new anthology for The Michael Friedman Collection with a group of fantastic singers. Here I am set up in “the Motown Room.”

Of course my favorite part of the project was that my lifelong friend Ian Kagey, Director of Operations at Power Station, was behind the board. We’ve been working together for over 20 years!

Now I am in Atlanta and about to open the last week of Grinch at the Fabulous Fox. Stay tuned for a little Grinch write-up once I’m back from tour next week.

We are definitely back

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I just wrapped what was certainly my busiest week of playing since the pandemic began. If my calculations are correct, I logged 4 gigs in a week which doesn’t sound that crazy until you factor in the 19 hours of rehearsal (actual number!) that these shows required.

On Monday, I had a morning rehearsal for Prospect Theater’s Tuesday night REIGNITE concert. Before the concert, we had a 5-hour tech rehearsal where we worked out the staging for 15 different songs, each featuring a different vocalist or vocal ensemble. It was my first time playing at Symphony Space in at least ten years! I thought the drums looked great on the stage!

On Monday and Thursday, I had rehearsals for the Selena project I’m in. We played a Dia de los Muertos party on Saturday night at what is normally a restaurant in Ditmas Park. It turned out to be a great place for a concert. We sold the place out! I didn’t take any pictures except for this blurry one with percussionist Neil Ochoa. That dude can play.

Before the Selena gig, I played a super fun Halloween gig with Brass Queens at the Zo Loft in Rockefeller Center. I thought one of the coolest parts was that I got to venture down to the loading dock that services all of RocCen to load in my drums and park my car while I was at the event. It blew my mind that I entered the loading dock at 50th street and drove a block and a half underground to get to 1 RocCen. There’s a whole world down there! Brass Queens repurposed their custom Stella McCartney jumpsuits made for the Met Gala into “Brasstronaut” suits. I LOVED IT!

The final show of the week was Drew Gasparini’s show last night at “Broadway’s Living Room,” 54 Below. This has become the cabaret spot in NYC. The energy in that room is always electric and Drew really brought down the house. I last played with Drew in the Bahamas in February 2020 for a presentation of his coming-to-Broadway show, the Karate Kid.

The craziest part of the week, perhaps, was the rehearsal for Drew’s show, which was at Euphoria Studios, the place I was rehearing on 3/12/2020 when it became suddenly clear that the world was shutting down. On my way in I passed the Sweetgreen we ate lunch at that day and the matcha shop that we stopped at for a quick pick-me-up. Coincidentally, the bass player on Drew’s gig, Justin Goldner, was the MD for that rehearsal in March. It was all very surreal.

Again, I only took one photo last night and it was with Erica Rotstein, Drew’s manager and one of the producers from Hundred Days, who happens to be married to my lifelong friend Ian Kagey. It was great to get to catch up over a drink at the end of a very long week!

I think that’s it! Thanks for following along. Now it’s time to pack for Grinch tour which kicks off on Saturday!