Don’t take that tone with me

We’ve been busy in the FarisWheel camp, lately! Here’s a quick run down of what we’ve been working on:

FarisWheel Productions - Graphic Design
I just finished a website for national singing sensation “The Cactus Cuties.” If you haven’t heard these girls’ rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, you are seriously missing out! The’ve gotten over 5 million hits on YouTube in 3 months!

I also just completed an album cover for Texas Country veterans, Honeybrowne. Fred Andrews, the band leader, songwriter, and singer, is a great cat to work with.

At the Amusement Park Studio
I’ve created a new track for Bobby Bookout that is a rendition of an old Frank Sinatra tune. I can’t wait to debut it… we’ve twisted and mutated it like only the Amusement Park can do!

I’m finishing up mixing The Archers. They are a screamo band based in Lubbock. I really dig these cats. Check ‘em out!

We’re also finishing vocals for the up-coming This Soul Divided EP. The tracks sound great and I can’t wait to start mixing them!

And, last but not least, we found a few spare moments to mix a tune by Amy and Scott called “I Forgot.” Those of you who know our past, the song is a continuation of the 100 Love Sonnets spirit. Look for a new musical project soon!

Visual Art

I had the pleasure of being included in a gallery exhibit of musicians who are also visual artists at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, TX. I have two sculptures (Bite and Brian No. 3) and four photographs in the exhibit. Ben Mercado, the Chief Engineer at the Amusement Park Studio, also displayed his photography and painting. The show will be up for a month.

I’m down in Austin this week producing for Bobby Bookout.  I’m having a great time making music (even finger picked on a track called One Drunk Kiss), and Bobby’s record is going to be amazing.  But yesterday I realized on an even deeper level how valuable it is to have a great staff around you.

I had a jingle due this week.  We got the music bed put together before I left and my chief engineer, Ben Mercado, was set up to run the voice-over session.  I had a couple of my best vocal talent set up to handle it for me.  They record it.  I approve it.  And I send it to the client.

I’m sure any of you business owners can relate to the next part of this:  the client hated it.  They liked the track, but we did a 30s gangster treatment on the vocals.  I thought it was great.  But the client didn’t.  Not a problem.  Except that I’m 500 miles away. So I call Ben and the talent.  And it gets remade in 3 hours and is back to the client.  And approved.  Hurray!  I am fortunate to have an exceptional group of people around me who truly care.  And it’s my mission to take care of those people.  After all, they take care of me.

PS-  On the design front, FarisWheel is currently building Noblefence.com,  and I’m doing an album cover for Richard Smith.  Oh, and we’re redesigning our woefully outdated fariswheel site.  More later.

For the last nine years I have had the pleasure of teaching at an incredible music school in Levelland, Texas: South Plains College. SPC is world-renowned and is the alma mater of Natalie Maines (The Dixie Chicks), Heath Wright (Ricochet), The Spring Creek Bluegrass Band, Jedd Hughes, Cale Richardson (former guitar for Honey Browne and now with Ryan James), Leann Wommack, A Road Less Travelled, and countless other talented and successful musicians.

I’ve served as the Director of Guitar Studies, Co-Director of the Entertainment Business Program and as the creator/producer/director of AlternaTV (an amazing live rock television show). I’ve also served on the scholarship committee, the video production technology committee, and on the Creative Arts Management Team. I’ve taught Performance and Promotion For the Independent Artist, Survey of the Music Business, Live Music and Talent Management and numerous rock ensembles. I’ve taught hundreds of students, met some incredible players (Johnny Highland, Eric Johnson, Ian Moore, David Brandon, Gary Hoey…) and made some amazing friends.

So it is bittersweet that I announce I won’t be returning to full-time service at South Plains College in the fall. For those of you attending this coming semester, don’t worry. I’ll still be around teaching part-time. But other demands in my life now have to come to the fore.

You see I have a secret. And it’s time to share it with the world. My wife Amy and I have always dreamed of working together creating art and music all day. We started our marriage that way… touring with a band called Rapunzel. We worked with kids and in recovery circles. I did sculpture, painting and teaching on the side. We had a daughter, toured with Curt Dubose, 100 Love Sonnets, Meltdown Morning and The HiFi Collective, and I did album covers. We created and shared everything together.

But over the last few years, life has seemed to get more and more complicated. We began to work together less and less. And with that, we created less music and less art.

So I’m announcing that Amy and I are pursuing our dream. We’re both dedicating ourselves full-time to the creation of great art and music. Our two companies will take a majority of our time (FarisWheel Productions and the Amusement Park Studio), along with playing in a new, as yet unnamed original band. Not to mention raising our amazing daughter and volunteering for Ballet Lubbock. Our plate is full. And all of it is love.

To those of you I’ve had the pleasure of teaching over the years, thank you. You have inspired me more than you know. To those of you that I’ve worked with and for at South Plains, I sincerely appreciate your support, friendship and the opportunity to work at an amazing place.

So if you’re out there and need a website, album cover, poster, business card, album recording, jingles, music production, car washed, etc… Drop me a line. We deliver amazing art and music.

Wish us luck. Here we go off the cliff!

Love, Scott & Amy

A friend of mine has been bugging me for over a year to start a blog about the fields I’m involved in. So here goes. As a primer, I’m a 29-year veteran of the guitar, a regional record producer, and I’ve been painting and creating art since I could walk. I’ve also been the Director of Guitar Studies, Co-Director of the Entertainment Business program and the producer of AlternaTV at South Plains College. I plan to use this space to discuss guitar tone, web design, art, creativity… basically anything that interests me. Over the coming months I’ll discuss the projects I’m involved in and the challenges I’ve faced.

Current Projects:

1. I begin preproduction on a CD for Bobby Bookout next week in Austin.
2. In a few weeks I begin another CD for artist Jenny Ragland.
3. We mix and finish an album for Les Eason (also in July).
4. Amy and I are currently writing and recording for a new original project.
5. Shane Shepherd and I are building websites and components for several realtors and a church based in our home town of Lubbock, Texas.
6. We just went public with 2 sites): johnnyleefanclub.com and westmarkrealtors.com
7. I also plan to spend some time in the mountains of Colorado (my home).

Looks like a busy summer. I’ll keep you posted.

Me on stage opening for King’s X