Ryan Smith on the bass, ladies and gentlemen.

This dude.

Our bass player, Ryan Smith is a big part of our sound, and our ideas, and band morale and stuff.  He's coming back down to Raleigh very soon, and have no fear ladies and gentlemen, he will be back well in time for our CD Release at the Pour House on March 1. If you'd like to tweet or text him and gently wish him a safe and hasty return back down to Raleigh, that would be sweet.  Tweet him at @RGKush, or reply back to this email and I'll give you a number you can reach him at.

Check him out fulfilling his destiny and recording bass stuff in the studio: http://youtu.be/JgbZk92Jzy0

He was done playing bass like 7 days into our 28 day stay, so he basically sat around commenting on things, poking things, laughing at things, and generally being good old Smiley Ryan Smith.  I thought he was going to lose it for a while there...check him out struggling through something called the Moron Test in "Ryan is Not a Moron" at: http://youtu.be/Zgqb_w-9s1Q

And you gotta see Shane's impression of him, and you gotta hear his response to Shane's request to shred the bass guitar: http://youtu.be/KRjH5k_mkAQ

Next week we'll switch gears a little bit and show you what we found in our excursions in New York City...you're gonna love this Apple Store store we found!

Until Next Time,
Brandon and the Windsor Oaks Band

PS:
We're playing in Wilmington, NC tomorrow night, Thursday the 31st....so if you know anyone in or around that area, would you let them know? Here's a facebook event you can share: www.facebook.com/events/469231773140695/

PPS:
And join us on friday at 1;15pm for Break time 1X15.

HOLY VIDEOS BATMAN! Have you seen these yet?

Greetings, Happy Monday....yeah, Monday....Brandon here, from the Windsor Oaks Band.

So I pretty much documented almost every step of make the TAKE A CHANCE record.  Through the holidays and stuff, I sat around on the couch a lot and, while it looked like I was "texting," I was actually editing all of the videos from the studio, among others.  So I finally got a good chunk of them uploaded, and have made a dent in putting clever descriptions and things.  I made a lot of them live already at my YouTube channel @ youtube.com/brandonscottmcleanTV.  And over the next 6 weeks leading up to our March 1st Album Release, we will send you some videos that should show you a little bit about why we are so very excited about this next album.

First, we do drums...so check out Alex laying down some beats: http://youtu.be/4LWmiMXKzaM

You can meet our producer, Steven Haigler here: http://youtu.be/raHLnNuYn90

We lived and worked in their studio, VuDu Studios, in Port Jefferson, NY for 4 weeks.  In the next few days we'll send you some clips of Ryan Smith playing the bass and how we kept him busy in between him playing his dirty bass lines. You're gonna laugh your butt off.

Peace and Love,
Brandon and the Windsor Oaks Band

Dick Hodgin at Osceola Studios in Raleigh, NC

I want to take a minute and introduce you to Dick Hodgin, a dude we worked with on 2 songs for my last solo project, "I Won't Fall Down" and "I'm Alive" - the two lead-off tracks for the album.

The ncscene.com has a really cool interview with Dick, and it starts off with calling him "Raleigh’s most well known recording engineers & producers in the scene."  

Dick Hodgin from Osceola Studios has been in the music business for 30 years as a producer and manager. He relocated to the triangle in 1982 from South Carolina and has been a part of the NC music scene in someway since then. Dick has a reputation for sharp, HONEST, no punches pulled advice and counsel which has earned him “Dream Assassin” nickname.  Over the years, he’s worked as a manager, producer, engineer, booking agent, publicist, promoter, tour manager, sound man, travel agent, baby sitter, transmission repairman, radio promoter....the list goes on.

Dick’s portfolio of artists that he has worked with include:  Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hootie and The Blowfish, Corrosion Of Conformity, Confessor, Clay Aiken and many, many more....and now, Brandon Scott McLean.

here's me and Shane with Dick in the studio

It's kinda cool having the guy who produced Hootie and the Blowfish's Cracked Rear View demos work on some of my stuff.  It was truly an amazing experience. If you're in the Raleigh area and trying to record some music, hit up Osceola Studios.  It's definitely some of the best work in the whole state of NC.  

If we could have afforded it, we would have had him do more than just the 2 tracks...but I had enough difficulty raising the loot as it was, so I hope to work with him more in depth some time in the future.  

If you like randomly amusing tweets, follow Dick on Twitter: @dickhodgin.

Eff Yeah!*
Cut it in half, and then double it*.
because nobody but you cares anyway*,
Brandon 

* just a few of Dick Hodgin's silly studio catch phrases