The Nehemiah Band

Live vs. Recordings

I love recording music. I love playing live even more.

When I record drums, it’s never with a full live band. It’s either done instrument by instrument and layered on top of eachother, or with a core set of instruments tracked live. Never the FULL group and sound. But when I play live, everything is there. Out in the open. All at once.

There’s a certain energy that musicians on stage feel when they are on the same page. We feed off of eachother. We become dependant on each other’s parts to make a whole. Different animal.

My drum parts even differ between live and recorded. When I record, I try to focus on being more simple to allow for more space for everyone else to take up. When I play live, I let loose. All the songs TNB plays live is real different than how it was recorded. I love that. I love how fans get a different experience at shows. Unexpected.

Mike has more energy in his vocals, and you can also hear more flaws, which add to the realness of live.

Kevin dances so hard that his guitar strap falls off.

Descry adds new scratch parts and synths.

Gilbert adds more fills and grooves harder.

And I get sloppy.

Tomorrow we’re playing at Young Nak Church along with AMP movement. Listen to our Break of Dawn CD before coming to the show and compare how we play different. A great example is 1thru7.

So come on by, we go on up early, so try to get there by 7 and relax. Experience live music. We definitely need more of it.

-johnCHONG

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