We do not always have a female lead singer.We do not always even have any vocals.It depends on the song and the project.Live we like to have a female lead vocalist with us to come out and shake things up.It is a special treat.We have already set the show up with just the boys and it is all going fine and then we bring out the Proncess. too.This of course changes our whole dynamic and approach and it is a good gig for her.Michelle Rene became quite a blessing to us.We knew what we had there.She only came on for her features and then she was gone.She did not sit there and shake a tambourine and do back up vocals when she was not featured.She would just wait in the wings with her Mom and Dad.We had the handle down strong as an all male band in every way.Yet we had much more depth and when Michelle would come out and light up the whole stage,and she was just a kid,only 17 years old.We finally were getting ready to do our first national tour in the USA.She was of course going to come with us.Our female "Black Beatle."Our single (oo)(oo) was rocking the charts way out west and she was set to do "Stagelight lover" as Dewy Ellis's replacement,Dewy wanted to just be a songwriter,she did not want to go on tour.We were a very dangerous indie combination.The major labels got the plug pulled on our airplay overnight.Every station dropped us in one week.We put so much time and effort into it.We got paid by a local club ( Dave's Aqua Lounge) just to rehearse our concert set twice a night.We were all ready to hit the road,to do the same show night after night but it was not to be as that.We were far to dangerous and we would not do rap nor hip hop.We played rock And roll,all funked up.We were set to visit 43 cities on our first USA swing,not big concerts,just good AAA local clubs but when our airplay dropped our gigs got cancalled.And we could not do a thing about it.Yes we could have still played in the deep south but Chip and Marvin were very tired of that.Me too.We would work our asses off for 300 bucks a night.They expected for us now to go out for $1000 a night.We would never see that day and they walked on me.I don't blame them,we had been through so much for so many years.They wabted to have lives "normal" for mucicians,go out and tour and then come home to record.Nice and easy.Every force of everything cam upon us so we had to stop,That in itself so bad ad it ended with Chip and Marvin gatting into a fist fight on stage.It is not that the south is so awful to me...I am from pennsylvania,being stuck to play in Florida is not the worst thing that could happen to you.They ought to check out my provincial and stuffy hometown.No way are you going to make ends meet there as a musician.Maybe for a time when you are young yes but not as an adult.You have to have an identity with some kind of day job.Perhaps that has changed now since there are no longer any jobs in my hometown.People with masters degrees are frying burgers at Macdonalds,to collect unemployment is a way of life more stable than to be a full time working musician.I guess kind of anywhere you are you hate it.You think it is going to be better someplace else.That is the restlessness of youth.My city is still a good place to live.The only reason I stayed here was because of the recording studios.And that really is my life,I am a recording artist and scientist.I sing jingles for a local radio station.There was once a time in my life when I thought playing in a bar was really taking me places,it is better when you work a nice clean club.I hate working in the dumps but I will still take the money,that is the same everywhere.Some of these joints are just such boring ratholes.Some are really cool places.I have been doing it steady since I was 14 years old.Some joints you just don't want to go to but you have got to pay the rent,every month.The studio was my salvation from that.I could still do some challenging things and not just spend my life doing the same old cover shit night after night.I know that there are studios all over yet you have got to be able to produce work that is industry standard.That ain't going to happen in a cheap studio.In digital recording you have got to pre-amp the guitars or you will never have a suitable signal.And to do it right you need an avalon pre-amp on board.In the analog days that was not so,and no cheapshit pre amp is gonna do it for you.In digital recording you can't set up the correct "headroom" for guitars without the pre-amp.The signal sent to the smpte will be weak and you cannot effectively add any gain to a weak signal.I ought to be charging you to tell you that.That is one of the things that is the difference between a major label recording and your home studio.Not to mention the SSL console.What is a VOS,how does it work and what does it do?Well if you insist on not buying my music and you wont help me out a bit why shouldn't I just let you figure it out at your own expense?Well if you write me and ask I would help you.You may have an ass-kicking band onstage yet when you go into the studio it just does not sound that good.The approach is so different.Especially in digital where you must have a producer that knows shortcuts.You may cut a great demo even but that is all it is,a demo,it is not an industry standard master recording.The pro's know that right away.2 seconds in.