Setting up mics and gear in the high ceilinged living room, I got comfortable with a whisky and chocolate and proceeded to sing and play the chosen songs for the Ep (Which I wrote on the road during the last tour).

Steeve set up a live room mic (Sanken CU 41) and an AKG 414 was used for the live guitar while I sang into a trusty old SM7B vocal mic. We were looking to capture the magic of live performance and dynamic, as opposed to recording everything separately. I ran through each song five times and we chose the best take from there.

We got the four new songs recorded one the first day then thought about what colours we could add the following day. Arriving the following afternoon, Steeve had some bass ideas so we had a nice session sorting all things tasty in the bass department.

I sang harmonies through AKG 414 too and the pre amp was a digi design 003 rack with recording and mixing done in pro tools 9.0 We added some well placed percussion an American Indian drum and played with some trippy guitar sounds to colour in the right spots. All up…I was very happy and so was Steeve and we had some fun

The last stage before pressing was the sound mastering which I had booked before we even began recoding. Ben Feggans of 301 Studios Sydney took the helm here. He used an extraordinary analogue sound desk which came all the way from Abbey road studios London to Australia.

My song ‘Eggman’ was added to the new Ep as an extra track. Ben adjusted its levels and ran it through the Abbey desk for a very chocolate sound. The fun song featured in the classic cartoon Futurama in the ‘Fry am the eggman’ episode. The full song is now on youtube. It was inspired by an eggman painting I did and its an honour to have it featured back in the art world that is cartoon!

Speaking about art, the art work for the new Ep I completed while we were in the mixing stage. It relates visually to the first single, ‘Cards are on the table’ and is like a lino cut print of a blue bird (the blue bird of happiness) which I sketched first in ink. 

 Out of interest, many Native American tribes considered the bluebird very sacred. According to the Cochiti tribe, the firstborn son of the Sun was named Bluebird. The Navajo hold the mountain bird to be a great spirit in animal form and associate it with the rising sun.

The Bluebird Song is sung to remind tribe members to wake at dawn and rise to greet the sun: Bluebird said to me,“Get up, my grandchild. It is dawn,” it said to me.

The single went straight to radio and Triple j ‘roots n All’ program is giving it some well deserved love along with the Australian Community Radio network where it reached number one on the Great Southern Blues charts.

The Line is youth campaign aimed at promoting respectful relationships and reducing the incidence of violence in Australia.

“I am proud to support The Line,” says Eli of his appointment as one of The Line’s musical ambassadors. “Respect is the glue that holds people and society together. When it comes to relationships if you don’t respect yourself or your partner then that’s when things can fall apart.”

‘Speak Lovingly’ is a poignant and powerful song that perfectly captures what Eli is talking about. The song was inspired by a series of telephone calls from a friend who was going through a difficult time in her relationship, with her partner disrespecting her in many ways through verbal abuse behind closed doors.

“A few weeks later, the song spontaneously came to me; it’s a mixed dialogue between her and her ex-partner and a mediating third person who validates her viewpoint. “Being the friend with a lending ear can often help someone sort things out and put the situation into perspective,” says Eli.

Travelling more than 25,000 km and performing 80 shows across every state and territory last year on his 2010 ‘Community Australia Tour, the talented, left-handed guitarist found the song strongly resonated with people of all ages.

“It’s great to contribute positively to our cultural landscape and I’m glad ‘Speak Lovingly’, a song born from real experience, can play a role in this great Australian initiative andpromote the messages of empathy and respectful relationships.”Featured on his debut album, Eli experimented with ‘Speak Lovingly’ in the recording studio, adding foot organ bass, a washing machine and sink and a plastic wall strip to offer a unique, percussive sound under his sprightly guitar playing and smooth vocals.

“I had fun discovering alternative sound textures to present something a little quirky while still being an acoustic guitar song with something to say,” Eli commented.

The song ‘Speak Lovingly’ enjoyed 3 weeks running in the number 1 position on the National Australia community radio charts via AMRAPS  ’AirIt’, resonating strongly with its story and message as Eli took to the road for two months on his  National ‘Speak Lovingly’ tour through Oct/Nov/Dec 2011.

For more information about ‘The Line’ go to        http://www.theline.gov.au/

Hi there! How are things going in your world? A big hello to all and to the people that have joined the wolfemail since we left Australia in March this year.

I’ll keep it short as possible and fill you in on some further exciting news.

This wolfemail finds us back in a sunny Toronto, Canada, with a return tour. It was snowing here when we first arrived back in March!

When last I wrote, we were in  the ever vibrant LA with shows and I posted that video of some Venice Beach trekking. Since leaving US, the music has led us on another cultural journey through France and Germany.

With three weeks of shows in Paris, we stayed close to the ‘Place de la Nation’, living with two beautiful locals who showed us some amazing local treasures. Needless to say, my croissant rate peaked at seven per day and I was addicted to salmon baguettes from a local boulangerie. Plenty of energy to play and party between

The shows went great and and we met so many open and friendly people. Playing petanque (pit-onk) by the canals was another fun experience,  with hundreds of Parisians sitting along the water’s edge drinking wine with fromage, breads and cold meats in the lazy afternoon sun.

Packing the guitars we then drove from Paris across to the lush, green forests of Germany. I soon had the pleasure of joining an amazing US/Dutch artist touring Germany in support of her platinum-selling album. The tour took us in a big figure eight, starting near Heidelberg then to Munich, Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin, playing in some amazing 500-seater venues. 

Dom and I had also met two loverly German guys in Montreal who loved my new album and organised another three shows in and around Leipzig. We stayed there with an amazing family who took us in and showed us around. The great vibes in Germany were also great to experience! Later we had return shows in beautiful, bustling Berlin. In all we spent a month in Germany.

Since arriving in Europe, our minds were expanding with new languages. I downloaded language applications for French and German as we knew that English wasn’t spoke much, and each day was like being in school. With the need to communicate in some way, I soon picked up on the cultural song and rhythm. For two months we didn’t hear or speak much English except between ourselves!!

Arriving back in Canada, we began another return tour up to a now sunny and green Quebec. Another vibrant place in the world! We head to Montreal this weekend for a music festival, then it’s back to Toronto for a show at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern. 

We then return to LA for another run of shows and to promote a song I wrote titled ‘Eggman’. The song will be screening on the cartoon epic, Futurama on 11 August in the US! You can see a quick video and check out the details at www.facebook.com/eliwolfe and join us there by clicking the LIKE button if you haven’t already. Aaaahhh… for the love of music and art.

Eggman is also now up on iTunes Australia and iTunes US.

If you want to read more about how the song came about, check on facebook/eliwolfe or see below.

We’re now also piecing a new tour back in Australia and will keep you posted.

Feel free to drop us a line back, it’s always great hearing your news too. Chat soon, and have a great week ahead!

Eli Wolfe

www.eliwolfe.com – the website has been updated if you want to take a look

www.facebook.com/eliwolfe – join us here with the ‘like’ button

www.youtube.com/eliwolfe – for tour blogs and more

About Eggman:

The song Eggman first came to me as a painting. I awoke one day with my head was so full of information and thought that I felt it was going to explode! With a canvas on the floor, I promptly splashed down a blue base, which serves as the ether, and suspended in it a white cracking egg with a limping skeletal body.

Now relieved and pondering upon the ‘Eggman’, I relaxed while playing the guitar. A guitar riff formed, which is the angular rhythm of Eggman’s quirky stride. The words that followed the music were ladened with images and symbols that delve into the human psyche and an inner-desire for an expansion of consciousness. There was no inspired or creative relation to The Beatles song ‘I am the Walrus’, it was simply a subliminal image that birthed from how I was feeling at the time. Putting it all together with image and music, the final upbeat song moves along with a fun and delirious momentum. Enjoy!

As Drum Media quoted : ‘Summer is all about taking life easy, and Eli Wolfe’s self-titled debut album provides the anthems’.

This sentiment ringing true as Eli, being on his mammoth 80 show and 8 month ‘Community Australia’ tour, would definitely have absorbed the colorful Australian landscape on route!

Co-produced alongside 2009 ARIA-nominated producer Tim Powles,
the album is based on Eli’s impressive timbered vocal melodies and captivating acoustic sound. As a creative challenge, traditional drums, bass and electric guitars were deliberately not used in the recording process.
“Instead we had fun discovering contextual sounds and playing with textures and rhythm from a washing machine, a marching drum and cement rendered walls, to cello and double bass” he said.

Below is a fun video of some of the session – enjoy

Below are some technical details about tSpacejunk Production House:

Spacejunk III is now an airconditioned three room set-up comprising a daylit control room, a conventional “live/dead” studio room, an ambient drum room (suits acoustic instruments and vocals) and further improvised spaces including isolated amp/ speaker cabinet, and “live” wooden upstairs space with vintage upright piano.

The heart of the recording system is an Apogee Symphony 64 card with audio via Apogee AD16X and DA16X, Lavry Blue AD and DA, and Audient Sumo AD. It utilises both Logic Pro and Protools software (003 or CoreAudio), with clock distribution courtesy of an Antelope Isochrone DA, and running on Apple MacPro and MacBook Pro computers, there is a Quad UAD DSP Card for extra plugin power. Audio is patchable to both a TOFT ATB16 in-line analogue 8 buss console (52 inputs avail) and an Audient Sumo Class A Bus mixer, with an eclectic collection of hardware devices both classic vintage, retro, modern, and rare, to further colour the sound at will.

Monitoring- GENELEC 1037B large-fill monitors, KRK V8 midfield and YAMAHA ms50 nearfields.

website: http://www.spacejunk.biz/

I’m Dom. I’m with Eli Wolfe. He’s an incredibly inspiring artist and musician, and just over a week ago together we set off on another huge adventure, and seeing where the music and song takes us as we travel to other parts of world.

Packing up was easy, we’d done that many times before, most notably on Eli’s mammoth ‘Community Australia Tour’ last year. Over 25,000 kilometres around Australia playing 80 (three sets plus) shows in only eight months. Leaving my comfy job for good was more challenging. It was a position I had been in for nearly five years…a role I had grown into over time with many good friends made along the way.

But before we know it, I’d eaten my last bowl of my mum’s legendary spaghetti bolognaise, and we’d boarded the plane to Western Australia.

This beautiful state has really become our second home. We’ve spent a lot of time in different states but we often begin the tours in WA, so coming back was in many ways like coming home…only much hotter.

When we arrived at Perth airport at 8.30 at night, it must have been at least a stifling 36 degrees. For the next ten days, there was not a day under 30 degrees, and no night dropped below 20. What this means is that lying in bed, one ensures that no limbs touch any other, and quilts are peeled back simply to expose a slightly cooler mattress to sprawl upon.

With shows already notched up in the renowned Perth Blues Club, Indi Bar in Scarborough, Norfolk Basement and Fremantle Markets, Eli has impressed many new fans with his compelling performances. On stage, he makes me very proud, but more importantly I believe he has a gift that he has an obligation to share.

Fremantle, to the south of Perth, is a culturally thriving city. Never before in my life have I seen so many quality musicians heralding their songs out the doors and windows of so many hotels and pubs, nor young men walking the streets with guitars strapped over their shoulders. It is an example of what it takes to be a truly vibrant and diverse space of people, music, arts and business.

And the beaches over west, they take my breath away every time. The water’s delightfully warm, it shimmers a clear blue and schools of small fish dart around you as you submerse yourself into the bliss. Paradise.

Now, we’ve made our way down south to Margaret River, one of the country’s premier surf and wine growing regions. The paint job on the third tour van (Ew Mach III) was completed yesterday by Eli. This was following his stellar show on the Settlers Tavern balcony, which turned out to be a particularly special ‘chillaxed’ Sunday afternoon. I sit in Settlers now, sipping a cider, as I tell you where my journey begins.