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Update #3: Motorcycle sessions song roundup.
Hey folks,
I hope you are all having a pleasant time during this season of holidays.
I was given a few packs of guitar strings and a few more packs of my favorite guitar picks as gifts from my mother. I also received some serious "Red Baron" style goggles for my trip to retrieve my Triumph and ride it home sometime in 2012.
I hope you have all received a postcard from me by now. Please let me know if you haven't.
I am now face with the task of collecting all the recordings from the engineers and studios I visited this Summer/Fall. I have half of them and have begun preliminary mixing. It's fun to revisit these songs and it will be fun and challenging to learn them live with the Get Real Gang starting next week after the New Year celebrations.
I'll keep everyone up to date and send out some photos from the trip soon.
Have a safe and happy New Year!
Juston
Update #2: Happy Thanksgiving and Thank you!
Thank you all so very much. As usual, I was in over my head with this project. With your investment, I will be able to finish my cross country motorcycle trip and recording experiment by the end of 2011. Your pledges will also help me go to the right studio with the right mix of people to mix and master all of the tracks recorded from the road trip and finish this album in the best way possible.
I will keep everyone posted and send out some gifts before the holidays. Copies of the album will be sent by March and the documentary will take a bit longer to finish and edit, but as soon as it is you all will be some of the first ones to see it.
14 songs, about 20 states, and 4 months later, I need to get to Tucson Arizona now to track one of the last sessions before making the rest of the way to reach the Atlantic.
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart~ Juston Stens
Update #1: Big Adventure Update
Hey folks!
Juston Stens here. (Former drummer of Dr.Dog, current member of Generationals, Juston Stens & the Get Real Gang )
The Idea: I started out with the intention of a long and wild road trip documenting my musical collaborations with and celebrating a great group of musicians. I know that there is so much going on in the music world right now and I am happy to share a little bit of m world. I feel that the end result will be a very fun and special album.
The Adventures: So far I have been to a 40th birthday party, attended family dinners, 3 Mile Island at night, clay pigeon shooting, BBQ's, swimmin' pools & holes, traded my triumph for a Dad's Harley for an afternoon, Cajun festival, Halloween in New Orleans, a wedding in Iowa, Texas BBQ's, more swimmin' holes. I've had to pull over and fix my 40 year old bike on the side of the road too many times to count. I have ridden 5 hours across Tennessee in relentless rain, cruised down the Mississippi, run out of gas and a blown out headlight at night in the desert. I have pushed my bike for miles and I have been saved by guardian angels over and over again.
Challenge &Discovery: This trip has been one of the most wonderful and educational experiences of my musical life. Every stop has been too short but it has been so great to see old friends and to have had the chance to sit down and talk about life and music; to play and sing together and watch a song come to life is a whole other experience. I have collaborated with some of the coolest people/musicians around. I have seen some pretty rad studios and had the chance to use some incredible gear.
Knowing what I was throwing myself into, and sometimes out of my comfort zone, this trip has shown me new ways to collaborate ( in a variety of different scenarios ). These sessions have pushed me to challenge my own range of thoughts, inspiration, creativity and musical capabilities. I will travel through this project and out the other side as a better songwriter and musician.
The Film: Having your every move followed and filmed can seem a little strange, and at times it is. After seeing Drew's footage ( Drew Stubbs/ documentourian ) of the changing landscapes as I drive North to South and then East to West, and all the while as the seasons changing from Summer to Fall to Winter, I am extremely excited to see what the final film will be like and have total confidence in Drew that it will be great.
We are almost finished. A few more sessions to go in Tucson, Santa Barbara and Oakland California and then the next fun part! Sitting down and looking and listening to what we have created and captured over the past 4 months. Drew and I will part ways. I will be mixing the album and he will be editing of the documentary.
The KICKER !!! This is where your help is needed. I would like to head down to Nashville, Tennessee to rent studio time and work with an engineer/producer to help me put the finishing touches on these songs and tie the whole thing together. I will use donations from the Kickstarter fund to help with these costs of studio time, mixing, mastering, manufacturing and distribution of the first run of CD's and albums.
I thank you all from the bottom of my Rock & Roll Heart & Soul.
~ Juston Stens
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Rebecca Marie Miller on November 21, 2011
Still can't believe I didn't get a motorcycle ride. Why I oughta!!
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This project successfully raised its funding goal on November 25, 2011.
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THANK YOU! I know who you are, and I am sending gratitude from my heart to yours. Every little bit helps and I am SO incredibly GRATEFUL for your help! Thank you so much! I will be sending cosmic hugs, hi fives and smiles.
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Twice as nice! Thank you for this pledge that will ensure that Drew and I stay awake and alert with the coffee we will drink. Caffeinated vibes will resonate!
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Thank you thank you. !!! That, my friend, is a tank full of fuel in the old Triumph. As a gesture of gratitude, I will send you a thank you postcard from the road.
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Thank you thank you thank you. I will send you GOOD VIBES, a postcard from the road and a photographic print taken during my journey.
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Thank you thank you 50 times. I will send you all of the above gifts and an advance copy of the finished album.
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Ok, now we're talking! Thank you 100 times over! For this generous pledge you will receive all of the above items + advanced limited copy of documentary featuring artwork from collaborative artists.
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THANK YOU SO MUCH! For this donation amount, you will receive all of the above and be personally thanked in the liner notes of my upcoming album as well as the documentary. I will also extend my gratitude by offering passes for you and a guest to any concert of mine you are able to attend.
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Thank you a ton and then some!!! For this pledge you will receive all of the items above and become the proud owner of my Epiphone SG electric guitar. ( see pictures on my Facebook page in the album "music " ) I will also extend my gratitude by offering guest passes for you and a guest to any concert of mine you are ever interested in attending.
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Above and beyond! Thank you for this generous pledge and please enjoy your new Airline H44 DLX ( copper ) electric guitar. This is the guitar that is accompanying me on my journey and used heavily in the tracking of the album. http://www.eastwoodguitars.com/
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Hello earth. My name is Juston Stens. I was born in Virginia on Ringo Starr's birthday. I was raised in New Jersey listening to Philadelphia radio stations. When I was about 7 years old I taught myself to play guitar by listening to my parents albums and cassettes from the 60's and 70's. It wasn't until years later that I learned how to tune it!-_-_-_- In 1985 i saw "Back To the Future" and knew it was time to go electric. I saved $75 and my father took me to the South St. pawn shop in to buy my first electric guitar.-_-_-_- As a teenager I founded and led a New Jersey punk rock band "ODDNORMAL" playing guitar and "singing".-_-_-_- I once saved Brooke Shields from drowning. I spent the reward money to hire VanHalen to play at my birthday party.-_-_-_- In my early twenties I joined a band (Traffic Jam) with a friend named Bradford Trojan, taking the role of drummer and honing my percussive abilities. Later I switched back to guitar/frontman and formed "It's Turbo Time !" -_-_-_- In 2004 I created a recording project known as "VanCleef" which explored slower and more dramatic sounds, most of which were instrumental and inspired by Sergio Leone's "Spaghetti Westerns" and the Ennio Morricone scores that accompanied these beautiful films. -_-_-_- Between 2004-2010, I was drummer for a Philadelphia based rock n' roll act known as "Dr.Dog". -_-_-_- While a member of Dr.Dog, I have written and performed on every album of theirs to date, toured US, Europe, and Australia and shared the stage with such artists as The Black Keys, The Strokes, The Raconteurs, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, M. Ward, Delta Spirit, Cold War Kids, Fleet Foxes, performed at festivals Bonnaroo, Coachella, Lollapalooza and appeared on late night television shows of David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, and Craig Fergusson.-_-_-_- Since parting ways with Dr.Dog, I traveled to Tucson,AZ and Black Mt.,NC to record my first collection of songs, playing all instruments, which were released Summer 2010 on an EP( Park the Van records ) and a limited 7"( People In A Position To Know ). In May 2010 I began playing live with a solid live band known as " The Get Real Gang". We have had the pleasure of performing for Daytrotter.com and sharing the stage with Brass Bed, David Vandervelde, Pomegranates, Arms, Powder Kegs, Spinto Band, Birdie Busch, the Extraordinaires, The Looks of It, Giant Cloud, Generationals ( with whom I am currently a touring member ). I am on the road right now recording another collection of songs in a new way.-_-_-_-My name is Juston Stens. I am now 34 years old and I have gray hairs. Some say they make me look distinguished. Others do not. Red is grey and yellow, white. But we decide which is right, and which is an illusion!
Wow!
quite a studio you have. Sorry not to see you over the holidays. Blessings in the new year Juston...love, mary and charles