Despite the brutal summer, we keep humming along nicely here. Dave Willingham worked on new records by Stumptone and Raised By Tigers. Matt Pence started on a new True Widow album. Matthew Barnhart continued work on a new Distant Seconds album. Justin Collins did sessions with Daniel Folmer, Old Snack and Psychic Rattlers.

Wow! It’s been a while since our last update. Sorry about that!

Tons and tons of sessions have been going on in the past few months.

• Matt Pence mixed the new Midlake and John Grant albums. He also worked on records for Fishboy, Micah P. Hinson, The Heelers, and the Mag Seven.
• Dave Willingham has been swamped with new projects from Brave Combo, Mike Dillon and Carl Finch, Stumptone, the Angelus, and Les Americains.
• Matthew Barnhart been on the road with The New Pornographers, David Bazan, Midlake, Yann Tiersen, and Fuck Buttons, and starts touring with Superchunk this Fall. In the interim, he’s done great new records with Deep Snapper, White Drugs, The Great Tyrant, Drink to Victory, Dust Congress, Shiny Around The Edges, and more.
• Justin Collins has been working with A.M. Ramblers, Spooky Folk, Daniel Folmer, and Old Snack.

Upcoming stuff: we’re new, fast-as-all-get-out internet service from Verizon. We’re also collecting cool new effects pedals, including a bunch of stuff built by White Drugs guitarist Jeff Helland.

After a blissfully cool start, summer has now finally rolled in, in all its humid majesty. Or something. Anyhow!

People who visited the Lab in July:

• Cocky Americans worked with Matt Pence
• Paul Slavens’ Chameleon Chamber Group worked with Justin Collins
• Shiny Around The Edges, White Drugs, The Angelus, and Tre Orsi worked with Matthew Barnhart
• Honeybutton worked with guest engineer, Mark Elliott (of Leaning House Records)

Also, our very dear friend Pat Ferguson (of Deep Snapper, Birth to Burial, Raised by Tigers, and a million other groups) was deployed to Afghanistan with his Navy Reserves unit. He left a good chunk of his personal instrument and amp collection with us for safe-keeping, including an Ampeg V-4 head, several Gretsch, Fender, and G&L guitars, and a Keeley-modified Ibanez delay pedal. We wish our friend a quick, safe, and speedy return home.

We’ve added a small photo gallery to the web site. Expect more stuff there soon.

May had a lot of great sessions in between the new furniture construction and spring-time plant-potting:

• Glossary and Bridges and Blinking Lights finished up new albums with Matt Pence.
• UNT’s Fred Hamilton and Ed Soph recorded a new album with Dave Willingham. The Band Formerly Known As Transona Five also worked with Dave on some recordings, as did History at our Disposal and Chris Blanton.
• Glen Farris did some tracking with Justin Collins.
• The Me-Thinks, Tre Orsi, White Drugs and Slow Rewind all spent time with Matthew Barnhart on their various projects.

We’ve been doing some cleaning and remodeling here at the studio as of late, in between sessions with Grassfight, The Me-Thinks, Will Johnson, Deep Snapper, and UNT’s Fred Hamilton.

We also added a Top Hat Ambassador 50 guitar head and 2 x 12″ cabinet, and a custom Rosewood Jazzmaster guitar to our equipment list.

Our good friends, Bridges and Blinking Lights, recorded their new album here with Matt Pence a few months ago. Here’s a great video they made of their time at the Lab.

Bridges & Blinking Lights in the Studio from Jake Wilganowski on Vimeo.

We’ve just installed two new bunk beds in the studio apartment, allowing up to four people to sleep in luxurious, hostel-level comfort (minus the drum circles and stoned American backpackers, unless that’s your sort of thing). There’s also a futon in the room, which can be folded out to sleep up to two more people who are comfortable with each other. All this for $25/night, and you don’t even have to rent towels!

It’s a freezing, miserable day here in Denton, so now’s as good a time as any to stay inside and update the web site.

Since our last update, a lot of us have been in and out of the studio, on tour. Matt Pence was out with Centro-matic and South San Gabriel, while Matthew Barnhart spent time with both The New Year and Tre Orsi. David Willingham and Justin Collins got to actually enjoy the Fall in Texas.

In the studio with Matt Pence: Bridges and Blinking Lights, Rob Gomez, Jason Isbell, and The King Bucks.

With David Willingham: Raised by Tigers, US Mail Band (with Dave Palmer producing), among others I’m forgetting (sorry!)

With Matthew Barnhart: Les Americains, Naptime Shake, Tre Orsi, and Sean Kirkpatrick’s new band, Nervous Curtains.

With Justin Collins: RTB2, 100 Damned Guns, Spitfire Tumbleweeds.

Recent happenings at The ‘Lab:

• Two Cow Garage, Robert Gomez, and The King Bucks working with Matt Pence
• You and Me and Tre Orsi recording with Matthew Barnhart. Bubba Kadane of The New Year was also around, co-producing the Tre Orsi sessions.
• Adam Wood recording with Dave Willingham.
• 100 Damned Guns and The Make Believers working with Justin Collins