Happy New Year, kiddos! Today, I am releasing two tracks from the archives, that few have heard before.
Some of you have heard my album “Ancient Baby”, which came out in 2019. It was a long and winding road, getting to that final draft. Some of the songs on the album were recorded four times in four different studios! What you’re hearing here are the first versions of “Rock & Roll’s Callin'” and “Possibilities”, recorded in 2014 by the late, great Alex Laipenieks.
Alex was a brilliant analog purist, whose studio (Owl Sight Recorders, in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood) was a veritable time machine. Between oil paintings of Elvis and his collection of ancient furniture, there was a trove of analog recording equipment. A neglected old computer sat in the corner, only used when necessary to produce a digital “drop” of one of his mixes.
I worked with Alex for 12 sessions total, making my first renderings of the 13 songs that would become Ancient Baby. Alas, Alex and I fought like cats and dogs. Our visions were strong, and our personalities divergent. At one point, we fell out of touch, with Alex refusing to hand over the 2″ reels containing my tracks, so that I could bring them to another studio for completion. After a year or so, Alex reached out and said, “Come by and have a glass of wine. You can do whatever you want to do with these reels brother.” We mended our friendship, and I carried the reels from Alex’s Owl Sight Studio in Oakland out to Ethan Turner’s Owl Mountain Studio, in Inverness, Ca.
Ethan is both a friend and a mentor to me and we produced our own versions of all 13 songs on the album. However, we did decide to work with two of the tracks that Alex recorded at Owl Site, adding things where we saw fit and creating new mixes of “Wild Horses” and “Back to the Start”. If you are new to my music, then this story whole story is probably a bit much. Just know that these tracks were a vital step in the creation of the Ancient Baby album.
In early 2021, Alex passed away, after a 3 year-long battle with neuroendocrine cancer. He was a loving father, a totally unique recording engineer, and he made a mark on the Bay Area’s music scene. In addition to his work as a recording engineer, Alex was the original drummer of a great band called the Mr.T. Experience, and he interfaced with a great many musicians here in the Bay Area through his work as a live sound engineer at San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill nightclub.
Lastly, I’d like to mention the album art, drawn in 2014 by Cameron Forsley. As a Google search will reveal, Cameron’s illustrations have proliferated the San Francisco literary, music, comic book and tattoo scenes. He’s a hard-working, original, humane and sometimes controversial artist who I admire greatly. This art was originally intended to be the front cover of the Ancient Baby album, and up to this point, has never been released to the public.
Thanks so much for reading and listening. Happy New Year, once again. May we look back with gratitude and go forward with purpose.
Chris
Peck 
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