Blues Rocker Lance Lopez's new album "Handmade Music," is expected to be released later this Fall on MIG Music.The sessions took place in late June at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. Lance worked with famed producer Jim Gaines (Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble, George Thorogood and the Destroyers), engineer Pete Matthews (ZZ Top, Evanesence) and assistant engineer Adam Hill (The White Stripes, Raconteurs) on the recordings.
Lance spoke at length about the recording process of "Handmade Music": "Working with Jim Gaines again and also working at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee again has been amazing! Ardent is a very special place where ZZ TOP recorded about 5 records and Jimmy Page mixed Led Zeppelin 3. As a matter of fact we recorded in the same room ZZ Top recorded "Sharp Dressed Man", "Cheap Sunglasses" and most of their biggest hits. George Thorogood also recorded "Bad to the Bone" in there!
Putting that together with legendary producer/engineer Jim Gaines and other great engineers like Pete Matthews and Adam Hill, it's a magical combination!! There is such a vibe there and Memphis has its own vibe as well. We finished the last album "Salvation From Sundown" at Ardent and I knew when it came time to do the follow up, which will be called "Handmade Music" we had to do it all at Ardent.
"Handmade Music" has more of a good old rockin' vibe and we had a lot of fun cutting the tracks. It's also some of the best guitar tones I've ever recorded! The band sounds amazing on the new record as well, Bass player Chris Gipson played some amazing bass lines and sings background vocals on a couple of cuts as well. Drummer Jimmy Dereta played with amazing power and force, the engineers at Ardent were saying they haven't gotten drum sounds there that good in a long time! We have been playing a lot of the material the last 6 months but after getting in the studio with Jim, who took and shaped and molded the songs even more, they are almost like completely new songs. We will be playing a majority of the material live now so if people come to a show they will be able to hear a lot of it firsthand!"
Catch Lance On Tour In 2011
7/8: Athens, TX @ Lakeview Lodge
7/9: Dallas, TX @ The Bone
7/10: Terrell, TX @ East Texas Choppers
7/20: New York, NY @ Terra Blues
7/22: Middletown, NY @ Brian's Backyard BBQ
7/23: New York, NY @ Lucille's Grill @ BB Kings
7/24: New York, NY @ Lucille's Grill @ BB Kings
7/29: Stanhope, NJ @ Stanhope House
7/30: Long Island, NY @ NOFO Rock & Folk Festival
8/17: Midland, TX @ Shack in the Back
8/19: Lubbock, TX @ Da Spoon/Texas Café and Bar
8/20: Vernon, TX @ The Cotton Boll
8/27: Arcadia, CA @ Arcadia Blues Club
8/28: Exeter, CA @ Orange Blossom Junction
8/29: Modesto, CA @ Fat Cat Music House
9/11: Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Rock Club