At the very least, practice makes us realize how really really ridiculously far from perfect we are.

But tonight, Jagged Spiral had arguably the most productive and rewarding practice session we’ve had to date.

Last week, Josh tried to sneak an I-Book into the studio, (like we wouldn’t notice or something) anyway, he had this great idea to lock in the tempo of each song, and use the I Book as a really expensive metronome, and he would play to a click track.

I can’t tell you how awesome an idea this was.

It’s awesome because now I trust the drummer. Before, there were times when Josh and Colin weren’t ‘locked’ in time, and I wouldn’t know who to follow. Colin admitted the same thing happens to him; Josh and I get out of sync, so who is right? Well, we decided that the drummer is always right, even if he’s wrong. That solves some problems, but there are also times when Josh has an entire six pack of Red Bull before he comes over, and we manage to play a 45 minute set in 25 minutes, and Col and I can barely keep up.

These problems are a thing of the past. Will we be able to do this when we play live? SHOULD we do this when we play live? Dunno, but it has made practice much easier.

Tonight’s practice seemed like our first Real band practice. We brushed up on material for a couple hours and jammed our first cover song (Sisters Of Mercy’s “Temple of Love”).

Then, we worked out a set list (! !! !!!), and played it all the way through, with very little time between the songs. It lasted about 38 minutes. Several of the songs are simply rough structures with no lyrics, so there is still lots of work to be done. There are several songs that are unfinished, several songs from Days From Evil that we simply can’t play yet, and several cover songs that we would like to learn, but just having a list of songs that we can play nonstop for 38 minutes is pretty awesome. After the practice I was burned out, my voice was nearly shot, but I was SO jazzed. And my hands didn’t hurt at all.

The practice is starting to pay off. We are by no means “tight” and for a three piece, we need to be as tight as possible, but I think we are at a really good starting point. It wasn’t long ago that we couldn’t play a single song that wasn’t an audio disaster, and it wasn’t long before *that* that we hadn’t even played together at all. We have quickly learned the disadvantages of being a “studio band” a mistake we won’t make again.

Baby steps, man. Baby steps. Which reminds me that I’m not supposed to mention that Colin had to move a baby stroller out of the way to fit his gear in the Jeep. A fairly non-metallic moment, but like I said, I’m not supposed to mention that.