Prior to his first visit, Houston Chronicle and 29-95.com writer Andrew Dansby asked me to participate in a question and answer session. Dansby planned to do a regular q&a with a local artist focused on a one song that artist loved. Since Dansby and I (as well as the rest of the band) share an affinity for Tom Petty and the show was coming up (at the time), I chose “Walls (Circus)” and the story finally hit the paper and the web today.

29-95: I’m intrigued as to why you picked this one. It’s a favorite of mine, but the album was kind of the beginning of a sort of sales attrition for Petty.
Balke: I didn’t hear it originally on the album. I was at this event, a CD swap where everybody puts a CD in a box and pulls one out. And I got one labeled “My Favorite Tom Petty Songs.” It struck me immediately because it has those quintessential Petty elements. And it also felt like one of those where he was wearing his influences on his sleeves. The song structure, five chords, sounds very 1950s. The chord progressions are like Earth Angel or something. It still has the Byrds influence with the 12-string guitar. And it’s Beatles-ish where it starts with the straight piano and ends with that breakdown. I liked the combination of those things together.

You can read the whole thing on 29.95.com or check it out in the 29-95 insert in Thurday’s paper.

Tonight, George, Chris and I got together at Chris’ house to listen to music and make a sonic plan for the recording of our new album. This doesn’t mean copying the sounds of others. It just means that you listen for sounds and general ideas that help you to shape the sound of your own record.  It is common practice for artists, engineers and producers.

Like usual, Chris went for classics and I went for more modern recordings. This is perfect for us because we both end up in the same place while coming from different angles and it introduces both of us to music the other may or may not have heard before. Also, like usual, we had some common songs on our lists.

Because Chris and I produce everything, we tend to take the lead with stuff like this, but George is quick to throw his $0.02 or $0.10 into the mix.  By the end, we were all on the same page.

Tonight, the consensus was we liked a pretty wide range of modern and classic stuff and we have a good starting point. The Raconteurs, Wilco, Tom Petty, Drive-By Truckers, Radiohead, Lucinda Williams, Kings of Leon, Guster and The Hold Steady were all on the list. There were of other artists too, but those seemed to be the general favorites.

They all have their own character and, sonically, they are very different. But they each have elements that are attractive to us musically and seem to appeal to our collective personality.

We also put together a list of musicians we’d like to call about playing on the record as well as a list of instruments and accessories we wouldn’t mind borrowing or renting when the time comes. We start putting the first pieces together next week and we’ll work slowly for a month or so before getting into the meat of the process.

We have no real timelines, but my guess is you’ll see a new record from orange is in by the end of the summer.  We’re really excited to get started.