Six Parts Seven & Goodmorning Valentine Kissing Distance

Inter. Six Parts Seven had returned to Ohio after touring out to Washington State, to recordCasually Smashed to Pieces. There was down time between the recording and the actual release of that album inJanuary 2007, and we were rehearsing, playing local shows, and collaborating, with most of usinvolved in other projects to keep the momentum going (Mike w/ Talons, Al w/ Beaten Awake), but the one we all came together over was recording an album with Joey Beltram, the songwriterbehind Goodmorning Valentine, a local band we shared players with, a band we deeply admired. The music on Kissing Distance came together over two weekend days. There were a lot ofpeople around; 6P7 and GMV players coming and going from the Saint Ledger House. There werehandles of whiskey, there was weed, stacks of Marlboro Reds for the ones still dragging butts. Weall went 'dancing' at Thursday's, in Akron, Ohio, on Saturday night. Not sure how we were produc-tive the following day. Chalk that one up to relative youth. Over those two days, songs were cutwithout any prior rehearsal time. None of us remember how the idea came up. In hindsight, it seemsinevitable. The first song on the album, "Mediation in D, " had been written a couple of years before, and was the decided spark that set the fire blazing: for both bands, this song was the starting point, an invitation to take things further, to expand, combining players from both bands, our 'toolbox'had increased in size from a single hammer to a toolbox. Everything came easily at this point. "Drunk from the Bottle, " is the first of the one-take/one mic songs: an SM58 used for bothvocal and guitar, making it impossible to over-think anything: You got the version, or you did not, that simple. "Instrumental #2, " is the last full/core band recording by Six Parts Seven. The first piece inour catalog written/arranged by Tim Gerak. This song would have been developed on ourfollow-up to Casually Smashed to Pieces. Alas, an album never came to be. The ache in this is real. It's there in the bass guitar, tuned high and open, played with a slide, and utilizing one of JamieStillman's pre- Earthquaker Devices fuzz pedals. "Lonely Daughter, " is another one-take/one-mic song, notable for the lead-guitar, playedby James Matthew Haas, who overdubbed his part, months later, standing alone on the deck atJoey's folks place, playing to the moonlight, making magic