The Avenue A Session Liner Notes – Flowerland Demo w/Roger Guimond and Steven Christofor
.
It was early 2002 and it had been over five years since the original Flowerland line up had last played together, the last show being Café 9 in New Haven, CT the Spring of 1996. Umbrella, the band I formed after Flowerland, had run its course after two years and I was musically adrift.
.
Just a few months before, with my own eyes, I had seen the huge fireball erupt from the Twin Towers - I was on my way to work at New York Press and it was a bright sunny day. I had just gotten an iced coffee and lit up a Marlboro red on corner of 6th Ave and 27th only to look up at a thick cloud of black smoke pouring out of one of the Twin Towers. A crowd had gathered and everyone around me thought that something had gone wrong in the building…and then, while looking at the black smoke, a huge fireball suddenly erupted from the second tower – it was BIG, even from 27th Street. Everyone jumped back, no one quite sure of what they had just seen. I can’t remember if I heard a loud BOOM or not but after the explosion everyone knew something was wrong. Instantly, there was panic all around me and people were running in every direction. I hurried around the corner to the New York Press office on 7th Ave and 28th. FUCK!
.
It was in this most unlikely time that I met Claude Villani, in the most unlikely of places, South Norwalk, CT. As it turned out, Claude was working with Arma Andon who was a major figure in the music industry. Arma got his start as an assistant to The Beatles and from there worked at Columbia Records and was involved with everyone from Crosby Stills and Nash to Bruce Springstein and Cyndi Lauper. Arma had a management company, Andon Artists, which at the time, among other bands, managed Godsmack and Ra, both who were signed to Universal Records.
.
After meeting Claude and finding out that he was connected to the music business, I played him a few Flowerland songs to which he showed an immediate interest. Out of a coincidental meeting, suddenly there was a direct connection to a major player in the music biz, and apparently, serious interest in the music and the band.
.
But there was no band. The Flowerland trail had long grown cold and in the Winter of 2002 seemed as frozen and forgotten as the ice and snow outside in the dark night. The 20 year old wild motherfuckers who could give a fuck we’re now in their early 30’s - and a little worse for wear.
.
I got in touch with Roger, Jef and Jon shortly after meeting Claude and it was arranged that Jef, who was living in San Francisco, would be flown out and Flowerland would showcase for Arma in NYC. By this time I was a manager at New York Press and living on 24th Street and Park Avenue South in Manhattan on the weekdays and home on the weekends in Norwalk, CT.
.
Jef was due to come out in a few weeks and in the meantime, Jon, Roger and I began rehearsing on Ludlow Street in the basement rehearsal studios just off of Houston. From the first rehearsal the music rolled off our fingers as if we had been playing all along. The spirit was great, the songs were in our souls and we were looking forward to seeing Jef.
.
In the meantime, Claude was pushing us to write new material. In less than two weeks Roger and I would come up with four songs: “Holding The Hand Of A Ghost”, “Soul Of My Time”, “Can We Talk Love?” and “Pretty Little Twisted Song.”
.
I came up with the basic structures of the songs in just a few days and then Roger came over to my place on 24th street where we completed the songs in two rehearsals. At that point I had been writing songs with Roger for 13 years, since I was 19 years old. With just the two of us in a room for the first time in quite a while, we caught a spark that was perhaps the brightest and warmest of all our time writing together. We didn’t know it, but it would be the last writing session we would have.
.
“Holding The Hand Of A Ghost” and “Soul Of My Time” were brand new songs that I wrote late night at the 24th Street apartment and also at my friend Dee’s apartment on 15th Street and Union Square, less than a ten minute walk from where I lived. Dee had a black and white Danelectro which I loved to play; she was aware of what was going on with the band and was very supportive. “Can We Talk Love?” was a Flowerland song that Claude wrote into, adding a commercial twist to the chorus. “Pretty Little Twisted Song” was also an older Flowerland song that I ended up rewriting by accident. For some reason, I was playing the song one day and instead of going into the chorus the way it was written, I played a completely different chord progression and sang different lyrics. This happened out of the blue. To this day I still think it was strange the way it happened, but in less than five minutes I had a new version of an old song and it stuck.
.
Once we had the basic structures of the songs, we went to Claude’s place in South Norwalk and played him what we had come up with so far. He had a few suggestions, but overall he liked the songs and said we should record them.
.
We recorded the songs at Shoe Box Studios on Avenue A just off of 14th Street, the home recording studio of Joe Bendik, a co-worker at New York Press. Joe was one of the original musicians in the singer songwriter scene around the East Village, including Lach’s Anti-Hootenanny at The Sidewalk Cafe on A and 7th.The session probably started around 8:30pm and was finished within an hour. Once we got there, Joe’s good vibe set the stage for an easy recording. He set us up and quickly got the levels together, which even today I think are perfect. In about half an hour we tracked the four songs live, just vocal and 12 string acoustic, recording each song in one take.
.
When I say the songs were “written” what I mean is, they were ready to show to Jef and Jon. If Jef had been in New York there would not have been an acoustic demo, we would have worked on the songs as a band like we had always done. The main focus at that time was to get a set together to showcase for Arma. The new songs we expected to work on with Jef and Jon after the showcase. “The Avenue A Session” is a glimpse of where the band could have gone, but not the way the songs would ultimately have sounded. They were not fully Flowerland songs until the whole band played them.
.
The lyrics to “Holding The Hand Of A Ghost” (the title and first verse were written by Jon) were not complete at the time of recording, so over the bridge, Roger improvised around the melody. The title “Can We Talk Love?” was from the old version of the song which had the line “How can we talk love and just mean hate?” – it was a working title and would have been changed. In the years since, “Holding The Hand Of A Ghost” has been rewritten and is now “Burning The Soul Of A Ghost” and “Soul Of My Time” has also been rewritten with different lyrics and a bridge.
.
I sent a CD copy of the demo to Jef in California and gave one to Jon as well. I also gave a copy to Dee whose guitar I used for much of the writing. At the apartment on 24th Street, a drummer from Los Angeles, Michael Barsimanto, was visiting family and staying at the apartment, he was friends with the owner, Bob Rosen, who I was renting a room from. I had just gotten a call from Jef to say that he was digging the demo which put me in a good mood and I went to put on the CD. I blasted the volume and went out on the small balcony off the kitchen, cracked a beer and lit up a cigarette as the music flowed outside onto 24th Street. After my cigarette, I walked in to find Michael drumming along to the songs on a small practice pad and it sounded great. He was into the songs and coming from another musician that meant a lot. Bob Rosen was also musician and a music teacher at a private school nearby. There was a baby grand in the living room and I would listen to him play sometimes. He was home when I had the second rehearsal with Roger and was checking out the songs; he liked the music and he was supportive of the cause.
.
---------
.
Roger and I left Joe’s place in a good mood, we were pleased with the recording. We had connected and the songs had come to life with a great vocal performance by Roger. I had just signed up a new bar in SoHo to advertise in The New York Press, so we hopped in a cab and left to grab a beer. When we got to the bar, the owner was at the door, he brought us in and treated us well. The bar was crowded and dark with dim-glowing yellow and orange lights. We sipped our beer, lit up a cigarette and took it all in. It was quite amazing to us, all of the sudden to be back in play as Flowerland with a showcase just around the corner. Jef was on his way, the rehearsals were going well with Jon, we had some new songs and also the spark of the spirit - the future seemed promising.
.
As it would turn out, the ride we were on would be short lived and soon the demo would be forgotten about. For over a decade those songs would lie in the shadows, never looked at, never played and only ever heard by a handful of people.
.
For Flowerland, as with any band that writes its own songs, it was always the intention that the songs would outlive the band, and like children, go into the world and make their own impact and find their own adventures. “The Avenue A Session” is a few songs now cast from the nest, joining the other songs already sent out and awaiting more songs to come.