NEW NEWS -- 03/15/2011

Over six years ago, I began a project that became known as Living Fire. A lot of things happened in those six years. I got married (six years ago in June), and got a job in order to fulfill the work of the ministry and care for my wife. The album progressed slowly, due in part to a guitarist that lives several hundred miles from my home base in Pryor, OK, and due even more so to a bit of laziness on my part. Dad says that I'm a bit like the old tractor that you have to goad and kick start to get going. Once I'm going, the job will get done, but it's often a job to start the thing.

The album progress was slowed even more when I was laid off from my job, about a year ago. This gave us a lot more TIME, but unfortunately also cut majorly into the finances needed to complete the album.

The good news is, though, that we are one MAJOR step closer to completion. One huge hurdle that I had come up against was the drum sound. I didn't want to use pre-programmed, sampled drum tracks for this album. And since Kitt took the time to record all the guitars for the album (which, after some judicious effects in post-production, sound AWESOME...thanks, Kitt!), syncing a boxed drum track to them would be difficult. I wanted the feel of real, acoustic drums, played by a real, living drummer.

The problem is this: while my acoustic kit is a fine basic instrument for practicing and light church use, it sounds horrible when miked into a recording system. Even though I have some fine drum mics from Audix, Sennheiser, Shure, and EV, I still wasn't getting the tone I needed. In addition, I lacked a good drum recording space. The church auditorium is too large and I had no way of acoustically padding the sound.

The answer came to me, I believe, from God. I began looking for an electronic drum kit. This would enable me to play the drum tracks directly into a sound board without the hassles of miking my acoustic kit.

At first the prospects seemed bleak. Super-cheap electronic kits generally look, feel, and most importantly sound super-cheap. Roland makes some of the best electronic kits available. Their lowest price offering is about $500. That was a bit more than I could pay right now. But I wasn't about to give up on something that I believed to be God's answer to my problem.

I kept searching. I'm not afraid to purchase used, nor to buy accessories for a kit if need be. I was recently blessed with a complete kit with Roland electronics, Hart mesh drum heads, and great sound, for under $150.

Next week, I'll be practicing with the recorded tracks, and then recording the new drum tracks. After that, all that remains is to re-record the vocal tracks (all I had previously were scratch tracks to sing and play along with); some mixing, editing, and mastering; and perhaps a couple of light guitar overdubs, and the album will be complete.

Melanie and I are in the process of setting up our house, so the next couple months will be super busy, but I'm still pushing forward on this. I'm shooting for a tentative release of June 21. This will conform to the tradition of releasing new albums on Tuesday, and will put the album in play right at six years overdue. Thank God for His mercy, grace, and HELP when we need it, and for His blessing on us.

OLD LF NEWS - 08/01/08

Well, the long, slow journey to completion continues. Around Mother's Day of this year, Mel and I took a trip up to Stormbringer country, where Kitt and I invaded Harvest Fellowship of Shambaugh, IA, for a day and a half. We tracked all the guitars out (minus a few minor overdubs that will have to be taken care of later)...HF's new facilities are STELLAR for recording...clean sounds.

I'm excited about the direction the album is taking. We decided to re-focus Living Fire as it was ORIGINALLY intended, a pure rock/worship album. The bonus tracks that I wrote for Melanie will be part of a bonus disc that we will offer discount coupons for with LF when it comes out.

And I already have a few tracks beginning to spin up for the NEXT album, as yet untitled...one thing at a time. Living Fire is several YEARS overdue...let's do it right!!

REALLY OLD LF NEWS - 9/13/07

Sigh....where does the time go?

Seriously...Mel and I have been busy with the ministry, a few new tunes, and a new business venture we're working on...and the album has suffered. Sure, I could put out the demos the way they were (and there's one of the demos on my MySpace page)...but it wouldn't sound NEARLY as good as it will once I'm able to get Kitt's guitar tracks recorded.

Our last trip up was now over a year ago. While some recording did get done (and I'll upload one of the finished tracks to MySpace when I can), the effort was hampered when Kitt's amp started randomly blowing fuses. When so much of your sound is tied up in the amplifier (the signature Stormbringer sound is a Les Paul through a Marshall JCM half-stack), lack of an amp becomes a serious problem. Mel's little Marshall 10-watter wasn't going to cut it either. :P

It's amazing the results we got, though. The Stormbringer's lair is an old house with a hallway that provides some nice echo...we triple-tracked the guitars, recording once panned left and right with a Behringer B-2 condenser mic and an Audio-Technica Midnight Blues dynamic, and centered with the direct out from the amp. Some nice effects...we'll let you hear them soon. Thanks so much for your patience and prayers, and God bless!

ANCIENT LF NEWS - 9/1/06

Yes, yes, I know, I know...the album should have been out weeks, months, YEARS ago...I have been lazy, and God has really busted me for it recently. (A side note: If you ever feel like your ministry is going nowhere, answer the question "What am I doing with what I've already been given?")

So...I've recently gone on 12-hour shifts at the plant, thank God. We have a super busy weekend planned for Mel's B-day in October...Kitt and I will try to get all the guitar tracks done in 2 days that weekend. I'm waiting for a couple of pieces of equipment to come in so I can finish the preliminary work, and hopefully we'll have this done soon. Keep us in your prayers. Thank you!

DINOSAUR AGE LF NEWS - 1/5/2006

Happy New Year to all of you and blessings from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Melanie and I have been busy setting up house. Also, as you can imagine, it's kind of complicated working on an album when your guitar player lives several hundred miles away.

I've got the new and improved versions of Devotion and Surrender and Presence, my first two albums, ready for people. The tentative plan is for the music team to FINALLY get back together in February, at which time, one way or another, we WILL get this album done. Living Fire has been sitting on the burner too long, and it's time for it to get done.

ICE AGE NEWS

Still waiting... That's the name of the game. I'll let you know soon.

PRE-ICE AGE NEWS - 6/23/05

Well, the wedding was awesome. Melanie and I are enjoying setting up house and starting our new life together. Kitt and I performed the top-secret "Track 18", better known as "When I Look", for the wedding. It's a love song that I wrote for Mel, but she wasn't allowed to hear it until the wedding.

There are a few potential delays on the horizon...there are ministry and business opportunities and other things that Mel and I need to pursue right now that could delay the release of Living Fire, but I AM still excited about this album, and I don't want to see it come out until it's right.

I'm still hoping to have some clips from our practice sessions, as well as maybe a photo or two of my performance with Kitt from the wedding.

JUST A BIT AFTER THE SO-CALLED BIG BANG NEWS

Rehearsals for the forthcoming Living Fire project are progressing nicely. Singer/songwriter/drummer Josh Marihugh, along with the lovely and talented guitar-slinger Kitt Stormbringer and the lovely and talented amateur sound geek Melanie, have been practicing the basic tracks in preparation for recording.

(Hey, it's my news page; I can describe my guitar player and my fiancee however I want, right?)

Melanie and I are finalizing our wedding plans, so the album's progress has been somewhat slower than anticipated. While LF's original release date was scheduled for June 21, 2005, it now appears that the CD will come out later than that.

While I COULD rush the production of the album through (i.e., Kitt and I could record the basic tracks to tape in rehearsal and then overdub everything else), there's a commitment to quality here. I truly believe that the 18 or so tracks we're working on are some of the best I've ever written, and to do them the disservice of recording them less than properly would simply be wrong.