On Friday, Nick and I broke ground on our new EP, recording drum takes for 6 songs at “Atomic Garden” Studios in East Palo Alto. Jack, the producer, did a great job, giving us 14 different microphones on the drums. The rest of the album’s going to be put together in my new home studio - I recently bought a nice condenser microphone (a Rode NT1-a). Noise-damping foam and a Samson microphone preamp are in the mail. Nick and I will be comping drums (fixing any slip-ups) this week, Matt will probably record bass this weekend, and then I’ll spend a week or two doing guitar takes for a few hours a day. In December, Lilly will record keyboard and vocal parts, and then we’ll be adding fine touches like percussion and saw parts. I’ll be doing the mixing in January, hopefully giving us a finished EP within the next 3 months.

Email it to heyyoungbeliever@gmail.com

Then we’ll mail you some stickers.  Easy.

Coming soon…posters.

It was a night of wonderful sounds and visual delights!  Farewell Typewriter played an engaging set, we did our thing and endured heckling from Lilly’s kickboxing friends, Juanita and the Rabbit gave a world premier of a new tune and played another I hadn’t heard yet about living in a van and being married, and Gravy Trainwreck finished off the night with some fancy guitarwork and a cover of “Don’t Stop Believing.”  Pictures to follow soon - Nick’s got ‘em and he’s been busy moving.

Here’s what we’re up to in the next month.

1. Playing a show on November 8th at Kimo’s in SF.  We’re playing with Juanita and the Rabbit, Gravy Trainwreck, and Farewell Typewriter.  A truly dynamite show with bands we respect and love.  And we’ll be selling our new posters!
2. Wrapping up a few new songs.
3. Nick and Matt looking for work.
4. Taking band photos.  You know, for our snazzy press kit.
5. Taking some live video.  We’ll be filming at both Kimo’s and our next show at The Red Devil Lounge.
6. Hire someone to help with promoting
7. Nick’s housewarming party
8. Start recording our new EP.  We’ll be recording 4 newer songs and 2 slower classics from our days as “The Landing.”  Coupled with the 8 songs already up for free download, that’s a lot of Hey Young Believer!

Busy times, busy times!~

So we didn’t make it into the finals for the October Noise Pop contest on ourstage.  We were ranked 26 our of 180 or so, and only the top 20 move on to the finals.  We’re going to submit our press kit to the NoisePop organizers and maybe get in that way.  Plus I think there’s another contest next month, and we’ll surely win that one!

Thanks very much to everyone who voted, or even those who didn’t vote but occasionally read our website.  You are truly the fabric of America.

If we win, we get to play at the Noise Pop Festival in SF in February with the likes of the White Stripes, Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, Bright Eyes, The Donnas, Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco) and Silversun Pickups. Voting ends soon! Help us. Help us to finally be happy.