If you’re a regular reader of Pencil Storm, a fan or Watershed, Sponge, Jeremy Porter/JP & The Tucos, or Joe’s book Hitless Wonder, you’ve heard us gush about a little, slightly dilapidated, but extra-special recording studio that sits on a harness-racing horse farm in rural Michigan called The Loft. The Loft is owned and run by Tim and Andy Patalan who have become more than engineers and producers over the years, they’ve become friends.

On November 8th, The Loft took extensive damage from a fire. No one was hurt and the farm kitties are all accounted for and safe, but the building and a lot of the gear was damaged or destroyed. There is a benefit concert at the American Legion in Saline to help fund the repairs and rebirth of The Loft, and a GoFundMe has been set up.

Colin and Jeremy both have more hours in that building than they can count, and were crushed when they heard the news. Here’s some thoughts from each about why The Loft is such a special place. Please donate what you can to the GoFundMe and let’s get back to making some rock and roll at The Loft!

 DONATE TO THE GOFUNDME HERE!

COLIN:

Dig this. The very same night Watershed was playing our final show on the Blow It Up Before It Breaks tour in Myrtle Beach, SC, a fire ravaged the studio where that record was recorded. What are the odds of that happening?

In fact, 15 of the 18 songs we played that night in Dirty Myrtle were recorded at The Loft studios in Saline, MI and produced by Tim Patalan. 

It is not hyperbole to say that meeting Tim and working at that magical space was the biggest break of our career. It wasn’t our major label record deal, headlining  a 10,000 seat venue or even touring with the Insane Clown Posse. (Ha!) Cutting Romantic Noise (the first song we worked on) was a game- changer for us. Our musical ceiling was suddenly much higher than we had ever imagined.

Also, when we recorded The More It Hurts and The Fifth of July at The Loft, we didn’t just work there, we lived there too. I slept on the sofa in the tracking room. I spent many mornings staring out at the horses grazing while sipping my coffee trying to make sense of the music I was hearing in my head.  

Anyway, Tim and his brother Andy are trying to raise funds to rebuild this essential Midwestern studio. On Friday December 20th Sponge and Taproot (who both work at The Loft) are doing a benefit show to raise money for the cause. 

The Loft has been very good to Watershed so we need to return the favor. Please consider chipping in a little $ if you can. Thanks. - Colin (and Watershed).

JEREMY:

When The Tucos were looking for a studio to record our first full-length we called The Loft first because I loved the way The Fags record sounded. Andy answered the phone, we met, saw the studio, and it was on. It’s been our home ever since. We worked with Tim and Andy on that record, and over the next three albums, a couple singles, and solo album, gradually working mostly with Tim, who along with Andy, I consider a good friend.

It's hard to explain what makes The Loft so special. There’s bats in the walls, squirrels in the hallway, racoons in the roof, plugs and lights that don’t turn on (and sometimes don’t turn off), piles of gear and tape in dusty closets, and endless twisted cables that go who-knows-where. But when the boots hit the ground and the “tape” rolls, something magic happens. Tim throws a little bit of this thing on there and some of that thing and nudges that back-beat on the middle-eight just a hair to the left and all of a sudden things sound better than you even imagined they could. 

One of my favorite memories was recording that first record with Andy and tracking a solo for “You Owe Me a Heart.” It was going ok, but it wasn’t going great. After about 40 minutes, “It’s not good enough.” Andy said. “It needs to be better, the song deserves better. You need to go home and work on it.” It stung for a minute, but I knew he was right, it wasn’t good enough. We nailed it the next week. I learned that ok isn’t good enough, and for the first time in my musical career I was actually enjoying the recording process, and for the first time, things were sounding the way I hoped they would. 

Let’s all chip in and get The Loft back in business. We have work to do!

 DONATE TO THE GOFUNDME HERE!