Monday, December 20, 2010

"Life" is Here!!

After ten months of studio work, GraceFlock's third CD is finally available for sale. Check our website for details. The title of the CD was inspired by how many songs related to various stages of life. In fact, the word "life" is sung nine times in the CD. We also flexed some alternative instumentation in this CD. Bassoon, clarinet, steel drums, autoharp, a horn section, church choir and more. We've even thown in a Christmas song for good measure ("Gloria in the Highest"). Enjoy, good fans of GraceFlock and order copies to share with your friends. Remember, this is an outreach and evagelism tool, not just a CD to enjoy yourself!!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Studio Status

Just needed to update our fans on our CD progress. 14 songs are planned and I've finished with most of the foundation instruments. Now getting into vocals and will add flair instruments later. Just finished a session with Kathy's vocal, piccolo and even bassoon (yes, bassoon!!!) in one afternoon. Pretty well wore her out. Keep wathing this post and I'll keep you up to date on our progress.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

One more time!

Just when you thought the GraceFlock 2010 Summer Tour was over, we added one more concert. GraceFlock is heading down the road to Newnan, GA, for a concert that we had originally scheduled in Summer 2009. We will play at 7:00 pm, Sunday, July 18th at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Newnan. See you there!
Gary

Monday, June 28, 2010

Summer Tour 2010 Concludes

Sorry I couldn't post while on the road - I was having technical issues. Here's what I can think of tonight after driving 12.5 hours today...

It was short, but it was chock full of memories for the band and (hopefully) for the audiences with whom we celebrated. In Ringtown, PA we were part of the 200th anniversary celebration of St. John's Lutheran. The next day (Sunday June 27), we traveled to Lutherville, MD to celebrate Vicar Paul at St. Paul's Lutheran who was completing his internship to return to seminary. Both concerts were joyful celebrations of the love of Christ.

The Ringtown concert, it must be noted, was also an emotional experience for the congregation, the community, as well as GraceFlock. Just a few days before our arrival, the community learned of the tragic death of 19-year old John Anczarski, a member of the congregation, who was biking across country with three other friends to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer research. John was struck by a car in New Mexico and died a couple days later. The community is in deep grief over the loss of this beloved young man and we did our best to honor his memory, life and mission with our concert. For more info about this tragic event, click here.

Lutherville was an interesting experience in that almost no one knew us. At the end of the concert though, we visited and shared stories with many of the audience. One gentleman said he and his family were only going to stay for five minuted but ended up staying for the duration because they loved the music. Another gentleman was visibly moved by the songs (and said so, too) and pledged to come to Peachtree City to worship with us some day. Quite a testimonial from people who didn't know us from Adam!

Kudos and thanks to Kevin Kahley for being our roadie and merch table guy on this trip! More importantly, praise God for keeping us safe on our journeys and allowing us to share His love with others. What a great thing we have going!!

Watch a video of GraceFlock (and a little fan) in action!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Brandon on Bass

Hey, just wanted everyone to know that Brandon's bass work in the studio for our third CD has been exceptional. There is that added tension when Dad is the producer, but he's putting his nose to the grindstone and churning out some really clean, artistic tracks. Dad is proud!! Nice work, Brandon!!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Drums are Done!

Well, it took a while with all the other things in life going on, but I've got the drum tracks mostly cleaned up. Now on to some bass (ready, Brandon?) and a few guitars. This is fun, but it takes so loooooonnnnnnggg!!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Back in the Studio


Ms. Karla spurred me to get back into the blog. It has been a while. Actually, I've taken a bit of a GraceFlock breather while our congregation went through some tough times. The strain took its toll on my motivation and creative inspiration, but one can't fend off the Holy Spirit forever. :-) As of about two weeks ago, GraceFlock is back in the studio!!

We've got 14 songs planned, but we'll see how many make it to final. Gary and I have laid down the "scratch tracks" (man, am I glad only a few people ever hear those - yeesh!!). Mark Summers has been in the studio and put down some outstanding drum tracks. Some of his fills are Phil Collins-esque!! I've even got Preston playing drums on "Sinking Sand" which he did with us on tour last summer. Had to do that to match Brandon's guest appearance on the first CD (trombone on "Serve On"). Gotta encourage the future, ya know!

Speaking of tour, we're planning on a quick trip to Pennsylvania in late June. I'll keep you all posted as we get closer.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Surprise!

So, I don't know if any of you remember me... I used to play violin for GraceFlock. :-P
I was just looking through the blog, and decided that I should post something. I'm in a writing mood.

Currently, it is spring break for Luther College, and the Luther College Symphony Orchestra is on tour! Hence, why I'm looking at GraceFlock's tour blog. We spent today in Denver, Colorado, just hanging out and enjoying the nice weather. We are playing 8 concerts in Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas this week, and we'll be back in Decorah on Saturday night.

This tour reminds me so much of last summer with GraceFlock. I'm trying to apply everything I learned from that tour to this tour as well. Lessons about being flexible, staying happy even though times are tough, enjoying the long rides, and getting to know the people you are with are so relevant here! There are over 100 of us on tour, I think, and even with spending 5 hours a week in rehearsal, I haven't gotten to know any of them really well. This tour has been so good for that, and it gives me hope that I will get to know them as well as I got to know everyone on the GF tour last summer.

Even though I'm doing ten million things at school (and loving it), I miss GraceFlock. Coming back and playing during breaks isn't the same anymore, but I still miss just doing my thing every Sunday morning and enjoying the music with those in the band. I don't get to do that kind of stuff here. I have played at church services occasionally, but it's a different kind of playing. It has expectations and pressure, and back at COS, I felt that whatever I did didn't matter - it was just the message that I was trying to get across that mattered. And now that I'm away from COS, I can see that what I did was really important, and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of GraceFlock.

Anyway, I hope everyone in GraceFlock and at COS is doing well - I miss you, and can't wait to see you all Easter weekend! I'm not bringing my violin home, though, so don't get too excited. I'm looking forward to being in the congregation this time around. :-)

Blessings and Peace from lovely Colorado, and I'll see you soon.

Love,
Karla