Back in the studio
Hiya, Theory of Tides fans. I’m back in the studio recording and mixing. (I know, it’s been a long wait, but hope you find it was worth waiting for.) And deciding ... should I go forward as Theory of Tides or as Mirana or Mirana Comstock? What do you think? Back in the day when we first started out on the NYC scene, we were originally going to be “Mirana” ... but then Madonna started to break on that same scene and it sounded as if we were imitating her. We weren’t.
My mom made up my name from Mirel, Rada and Naomi ... my mother, aunt and grandmother’s names. Sort of like “A Boy Named Sue,” it made me feisty from a young age. Got to correct kindergarten teachers who called me “Miranda.” Now I get to correct AI and auto-correct. We even had a brief moment as “Mirana and the Piranhas,” with a logo of all 5 band members lined up like fish swallowing each other. But decided the music just wasn’t punk enough to earn that moniker and might disappoint Hilly Crystal and the CBGBs crowd. “Sighs Five” suited us better, subsequently “Secret Service” through a label’s A&R suggestion. Its politics not well received by my family, for sure.
But I digress ... I’m back in the studio ... Ric Poulin’s Bristol Studios in Boston, where I now live ... on a mission. I lost my husband and partner in life/love/music, guitar player and producer Rick Comstock, five years ago. Some of the music we had worked on together, as well as some I wrote since, was salvaged from the recording studio we built in our old seaside house prior to selling it. Tech being what it is, now obsolete systems were deleting tracks as you listened to them. RP to the rescue ... the folder on my desktop is even called “rescued songs” ... and now I’m working with studio senior producer Chris to make some of these tracks happen.
In some cases, there are rough bass tracks that through the miracle of today’s tech can be revised and repeated throughout a tune. In other cases, rough one-take vocals become masters. We even cut a couple of minutes off a song ... in mid-phrase! And then there’s the emotional aspects, of course. As someone pointed out, I’m still sort of in the studio with my late husband. Sometimes that does take me to a sad place. Especially when I hear him talking on a track. But the music keeps him alive ... still communicating with me and with you listeners!
I’ve started getting back out there performing “with him” to tracks he’s on, too. I’ve been featured artist on Sandy Streid’s WATD Twilight Showcase, done Porchfest, Open Studios in Fort Point, and Boston street festivals, with some Cambridge clubs coming up. But more about that in the next blog. In the meantime, come check out some recent live highlights, listen to new tracks, or take in our 80s MTV videos linked on the site. Recording at Electric Lady in the wee hours, opening for Aerosmith’s Joe Perry at the legendary Bottom Line, in rotation on New York’s #1 rock radio ... more first-hand stories about an exciting scene, as well as some new music to come!
Thanks for tuning in, more soon! -Mirana
