The Human Project

Hope all is well friends and fans. Been selling quite a few single downloads so thanks to all my fans for that.

Still no plans to record. I have a new song semi framed out in my mind, but i Just can't get motivated.  I have written 40 songs so, maybe I am burned out?  Hope not.

I have links to all my CD's on the homepage of my site here, so check em out if you want. Human Project music is unique. Most people who listen to my stuff like it.  And come back for more.

My Podcast, Human's Bluesfest continues to do well.  Currently it is ranked #3 in blues rock genre out of 29 shows.

The show I currently have up "Ain't Nothin But A Party," is pretty cool. I pulled out some old stuff...Spencer Davis, Chicago Transit Authority, Sly and the Family Stone, Steppenwolf, Wilson Pickett..you get the drift....Party stuff. Play it loud stuff.

You can go listen or download right here, copy and paste.

http://www.thehumanproject.podomatic.com

You want to follow me on twitter? here ya go.

http://www.twitter.com/humanv

Keep it rockin my friends...thats all for now.

Hello friends, fans.

I have a new music player on my site now..pretty cool I think. Easier to check out the tunes.

Human's Bluesfest has been ranked #3 on podomatic in the bluesrock genre out of 30 for about a week now.

Thanks to you...the fans. :)  If you haven't checked out the bluesfest yet, go to:

http://www.thehumanproject.podomatic.com  and give it a listen.  Hot Blues...smokin rock.

Thanks to listeners in Australia, Spain, Brazil, Italy, UK, Canada and all across the USA.  Rock on.

No new music in the works for the Human Project.  I sketched out some lyics to a new song the other day. Maybe

I will work on it more soon.

Sign the guest book and let me know you dropped by.

Rock on...Loyd. The Human.

My Show on podomatic is ranked # 3 out of 30 podcast. I play hot blues and rock, all from my personal CD Collection.

Click the link and check out #3. 

http://www.podomatic.com/category/Blues

If you are a musician and think you have a track that is compatible with my show...send MP3 link to:

loydv@humanrocks.net

Sign the guestbook, let me know you stopped by.

Keep it rockin

I saw Joe in small venue..in Fresno, CA. Thursday.  April 19, 2012.

Joe Bonamassa rolled into the Sayoran Theater in Fresno last night with a tight kick ass 4 piece band and played before a sold out crowd of 2,000. Band was keyboards..hammond B3 with leslie...bass..killer power drummer and Joe who had 3 big Marshall stacks powering his variety of axes that kept his guitar tech busy all night changing out guitars. He was light on the blues with only a couple of t...racks and lots of heavy rock. Many of his songs broke down into slow tight jams that let Joe show his taste and killer hot licks. He played tracks from Dust Bowl, Black Country and Slo Gin and a smokin cover of ZZ tops Just Got Paid. Mercy. He did a killer acoustic song..by himself on stage...track lasted 10 minutes would have made Lindsay Buckingham's jaw drop..Just killer stuff. Bonamassa is a guitar virtuoso, can play fricking anything and this power group he brought in literally blew the roof off the Theater in Fresno. He left with the crowd standing and wanting more. If you like heavy power music and tasty chops and licks Joe B will not disappoint. He IS the hottest thing going in the guitar world right now.

make sure to check out my podcast..human's bluesfest.

http://www.thehumanproject.podomatic.com

sign my guestbook, let me know you dropped by.

Got lots of hits and nice comments from my last blog post. Appreciate that much.

Here is a link to a very HOT Human Project Track i did with Dana Long in 2008.  It's called My V8 Ford,

its off Human Project II, Humanized. What is interesting about this track is that there are only 2 of us playing on it.  Pretty killer sound huh. I play bass, and rhythm guitars, and Dana plays drums and lead guitars. Oh, I play osme lead on first 2 lead spots. Ford Motor Co. needs this track for a mustang commerical huh? Enjoy and crank it up.  Sign the guestbook. Let me know you have dropped by.

Make sure to check out Human's Bluesfest. http://www.thehumanproject.podomatic.com

Here ya go friends and fans...

http://soundcloud.com/loyd-the-human/my-v8-ford-1

Keep it Rockin

My apologies for being so negligent with my website. Technology has not always been my friend, I am not real good at it. The site has made some changes that make it easier for me to post things about The Human Project. I have updated alot of stuff here, so please go through and check it out. I have made it easy to purchase and check out my CD's on the Home page. They are right there, just click on em.

If you are not aware of it, I do host a bi-weekly show on Podomatic called Human's Bluesfest.  I play stuff from my personal CD Collection, sometimes blues, sometimes some hard rock. It varies. The link to this show is:

http://www.thehumanproject.podomatic.com

I put my last CD out in the summer of 2011, called "Last Train Out."  I also played live at a CD release party in downtown Fresno.   I have not played live since, or recorded any more new music.  I am currently working on securing a couple of gigs, for May/June, and I want to write a couple of new Tracks, record them, and release them as singles. I have no plans for a new full blown CD at this time.  I appreciate all of you who support me. I finance myself. I market myself. I do battle with the big boys who have way more resources than me to promote their music. So I appreciate my small little army of Human Project fans, who help me.

I will update this blog way more often now, even if i don't have much to say..i will let you know what is going on with..."The Human." Sho will.

The CD Release party for The Human's New CD, Last Train Out was a rousing success.

It was held at Sequoia Brewing in the Tower District of downtown Fresno, CA. Many friends and fans showed up

to support Loyd in celebrating the release of the new CD.  To say the least, the place rocked.  The band opened up with

Ridin This Train.  Bad Momma about brought the house down. And....the band came back with an encore....."Goin South."

This capped off one hell of a party. Thanks to all of you who came down and supported the release of the new CD.

New CD is packaged..and off to CDBaby.

Will be ready soon for purchase. First totally new Human Project CD in 3 years.

I am going into the studio today sunday June 5th to finish up the cd.  Took longer to get all loose ends tied together, and I had to make changes on one song. To do this, I had to have an emergency session friday morning, June 3. This set me back. I worked until 8 friday night..then had to stop because fatique and losing objectiveness.  So, back in today with Rafael, who is generous to come in on Sunday to finish this. I will then get gold master discs and next day air master to disc makers in New Jersey tomorrow. (mOnday) They already have the artwork for cover.

The CD has 7 original songs. I would have liked to put more, but listen....$$$$$$$$.   So 7.  I must say that I am so pleased with all of them, and they sound hot.  Best sounding CD I have done yet. If you like my other CD's, this one will not disappoint.  Good lyrics, great harmonies and killer guitars.  All of the session players that worked with me were outstanding.  None had egos.  I won't work with people like that anymore in my sessions.

The Players on the CD are:

Human:                              Guitars, vocals, percussion.

Dwayne Janzen:                Lead Guitar

John Dees:                         Bass

Chuck Hernandez:              Drums

Dana Long:                        Drums, lead guitar.

Tom Scott:                          B3.

Richie Blue:                        Lead Guitar.

Evo Bluestein:                    Accordion.

Eva Scow:                          Fiddle.

Produced by The Human and Rafael Carmany.

Mixed and mastered by Rafael Carmany. Cobalt Recording, Fresno, CA

All Words and Music by Loyd Vandergriff. 2011.

THIS CD WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON CD BABY IN APPROXIMATELY 3 WEEKS.

All tracks are complete on new Human Project CD.  All that is left is mixing and mastering.  Then, the CD will be sent off for packaging and duplication.  This CD was recorded at Cobalt Studio's in Fresno, CA, Rafael Carmany engineer.  Of the 3 CD's I have, this one is without question the hottest sounding. 7 new original Human Project tunes.

CD Release party July 16th at the Sequoia Brewery in downtown Fresno.  777 E. Olive St.  559-264-5521. 9-12. Place will be packed, better get there early.

My new CD is moving along now. I am still on schedule for a June release.  I have pretty much finished 4 new tracks at Cobalt studio here in Fresno, CA. working with engineer Rafael Carmany.  He is a veteran and a real pro.  This CD will have a great sound.  As some of you know, I started this project with Dana Long in Visalia, CA in August.  Dana is the same person I worked with on Human Project II, Humanized.  Things got off to a fairly good start, then the train jumped the track. I was working on 3 tracks with him, and after much hassle and frustration, I was able to get these tracks yesterday and load them into Rafael's equipment.  A couple of these tracks need more work than I had remembered.  This is what I am doing now.  So, the new CD will have only 7 tracks, I wrote them all as usual.  That said, the tracks are strong.  If you are a Human Project fan, you are gonna like this new CD.  Thanks for your patience and stay tuned for more updates as I get closer to release date.

More of this is in News/Journal Section.

But...I am back on track in Cobalt Studios right here in Fresno. Got 4 tracks laid down, the basics, with John Dees on bass, Dwayne Janzen (original HP guitarist) on lead and Chuck Hernandez on drums. These tracks are solid.  2 New blues tunes and one real soulful rocker.  And a country rocker.  I will go in and do my thing on these tracks to finish them up.  Brought in Tom Scott to put some killer B-3 on two tracks. Bringing in John Keith to lay some sax on the soulful tune.  I still have to get 3 tracks that are almost complete from another studio in Visalia, CA and complete these. Looking for release date of June 1 approx. and potential CD release party with Human Project live.  A rare treat.  Stay tuned.

Things pretty much crashed and burned with studio effort. Not quiet 3 songs complete.....going into studio in Fresno to start 3-4 new tracks......and will try and salvage the ones in Visalia.   Hope for final product by...May. HA.

Back in studio after all most 2 weeks. Dwayne came back to put more lead guitar tracks down, and this time things were hot and clicking. Layed down track to "River Rock."  Hot.  This song is getting a good feel to it.  Just one of those good time tunes you can't help but like.   Then "Right Wing Billy." Yes this song is critical of the extreme right..not the right..but yeah the extreme right. If that is you sorry...listen to the lyrics.  Now.....listen..Dwayne's guitar work on this is off the charts.....Played an old vintage telecaster and ran through vintage tube EMI pre-amp. Mercy.   Song will have you dancin..and rockin.  Excited about this.  We still have to go back to "Juke Joint Showdown."  I am going back Thursday......to finish up my guitar parts on River Rock and Right Wing Billy.  Things are moving..but I have learned that when things start to look up..its time to look out.  :)

Back in studio......Thursday nite...most frustrating session yet.   I did get my rhythm track down on Juke Joint Showdown.  We are having trouble working in Dwayne's guitar work.  He is a killer player, but his style just had trouble with this tune.  Dana is going to take a shot at laying some short rhythm stabs down to get come character and balance to what i am doing. Hell..we are still on the first song.  I won't write anymore until more significant progress is made on these three tunes.  The studio IS NOT fun and games..but stressful and pretty much a pain...not to mention. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Loyd

Tuesday 8/24.....Dwayne Janzen came into studio and we worked on Juke Joint Showdown.

Got Dwayne's guitar dialed in and Dana ran him through a EMI pre-amp...vintage...tubes.......can you say Abbey Road?   Hot tone.  He layed a rhythm track and put some lead in.  This song rocks and has lots of short breaks....proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be.   This is all we got done for this session. As you can see...very slow and tedious work.  I am going back to studio.....Thursday August 26th again.....put my permanent rhythm tracks down. I have to get my Fender Twin Reverb fired up...and Dana will get me hooked up with some hot pedal to get me that hot crunchy sound I want.  Thanks for reading.

Back to studio Thursday night, 8/19/2010.  Was going to get drums tracks put down.  But first had to get better scatch (not permanent) vocals down so song would be easier for Dana to follow on drums...and Dwayne on lead guitar later.   Got this done..and added scratch acoustic guitar on 2 of the songs to beef it up some and make it easier to follow. We then did some editing of the tracks.....beginning and ending...increased or decreased........made it tighter.....Friday night i went back...and we got the drum tracks down.  They are HOT.  Dana has new vintage EMI tube compressor he is running drums through. Snare, toms and kick are FAT sounding.   Songs are taking shape now.   Things are ready for Dwayne to come on Tuesday evening to do his thing.  Dwayne played on my Real Stuff CD....2006..check that out...he is a killer player with great tone.   Will update again next week.

I went back into studio last night to start laying down some new tracks. I am once again working with Dana Long who I worked with on my Human Project II, Humanized CD.  I focused on 3 tunes....River rock, Right Wing Billy, and Juke Joint Showdown.   Circumstances were not ideal in the studio to start with, so i worked with a click track and layed down a scratch rhythm track to each tune.   I brought John Dees in to lay bass lines to the songs.  This was not the ideal way to get the bass tracks done, but John did a great job staying with the click and getting some of that Dee's personality into his bass lines...while at the same time..not losing what I like for my Human Project tunes.   John does a great job with my songs. It is difficult to do this with no drums....not many could do it. So, I now have a scatch rhythm guitar track and solid bass track on 3 of my new songs.   Next, I will add scratch (not permanent) vocals to all the tracks and then have Dana Long put the drum tracks in.   The songs then will start to take on some personality and life.  Dana is a killer drummer.  After this, I will bring in Dwayne Janzen to put the lead guitar parts in, as well as some of his tight rhythm chops as well.  Then songs will be framed and I will have to evaluate where I am in terms of money..etc..and see if I want to do a couple more songs...starting with scratch rhythm...etc...all over again.   So...this is where I am right now.......just getting started......its a long process, and I am not in any hurry this time.

Thanks for stopping by and reading.  

Human.

http://www.thehumanproject.podomatic.com

The Human was nominated and admitted into the blues hall of fame on March 10th, 2010.

Check it out!!!

go to blueshalloffame.org...click on local blues artists...Fresno, CA

Go to links on this site, then click..then click on Human Project on i tunes and get ya some!

Leave a comment there too.  You rock!

I have just finished up 4 new songs in the studio and I am going to include them on my new Best of The Human Project to be released in January of 2010.   The cd will also have 12 of my hand-picked favorites for your listening pleasure.....16 songs...77 minutes of music.  Yeah. Are you ready for that?