Saturday, November 21, 2009

Brother, Can You Spare a Grand...

...or maybe even two?

I found out this week that, through a charity auction, Mark Hoppus, of Blink 182 fame, is donating his services and eight hours of time at his studio to produce a band's music track.

As the description reads: "Here is your chance to have Blink 182's Mark Hoppus and Chris Holmes produce a track for your band, in the CA-based studio, Opera Music, that Mark owns with Blink 182 drummer, Travis Barker. This will include 8 hours of studio time."

You can check out the actual auction post HERE.

While I have to admit that I feel kind of odd about benefiting from someone else's tragedy, the idea of going to Los Angeles and recording in a real studio with Mark Hoppus would be a once-in-a-lifetime, dream come true kind of thing.

And the best part about finding out about this opportunity was the way it made the wheels in my brain spin and spin. I thought about the adventure of traveling to LA, either on a plane or in a rented car. The fun it would be to see the studio and not to only meet, but to actually work with Mark on an OilCan Drive song that I wrote. I thought of how the day in the studio might be spent, tracking guitars and bass and drums. I thought about how it would be cool to release an OilCan Drive single that was actually produced by Mark Hoppus, how it would sound, how the packaging on the CD single might look. I thought about how it would be a great way to kick off the whole OilCan Drive project and a great marketing tool to make people notice it.

But, then there's always that nagging negative voice. The one that says you're not a real band. You're too old to do a rock and roll song like this. You're not good enough to go into a studio and play the song you wrote yourself. It's too far to travel. It's too much money to spend.

Most times that voice comes from somewhere in the back of your head. Before those voices in my brain even had a chance to rear their ugly heads (or voices) it came from Monika the moment I told her about the auction. Who needs negative voice in the back of your head squashing your dreams when she lives in the same house and sleeps in the same bed next to you?

Maybe she was just having an off day.

So, what say you, dear blog readers? Opportunity of a lifetime or a stupid pipe dream? Right now I am on the fence but trying to keep the dream positive and the hopes alive. Because if you can't even run a dream like this through your head and have fun with it, then what's the point of trying anything?

And, for your viewing pleasure, here is an old clip from 2003 of Mark debuting some songs from his new album to a bunch of school kids. Enjoy!

3 comments:

Josh Tiffany said...

The answer is quite simple - if you have the resources, follow the dream. I wouldn't sell the computer, miss the mortgage payment, and donate a kidney or anything (or who knows, maybe the impulse is that strong - that's up to you to decide). But if you can do it, go for it. The dream comes not from the object that is created at the end of the experience, it is about the moments that lead up to it - the experience of being able to work on something you love with one of your heroes. Plain and simple.

So I say, start the bidding. The experience sounds worth it.

rob! said...

Give it a shot--most likely you won't want to pony up that much $$, but why not try?

I still kinda regret we didn't fly off to California to go to that Friends taping way back in '95.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely agree with Josh; it's not the final product that counts, it's all the thoughts and dreams that come in the ramping up stages. Of course, being the conservative "tight wad" I am, I'd put a limit on what I'd spend for this.

Dad