Way back when, dc was nice enough to post a running studio log penned by the Newsboys themselves. This log, written as they recorded LLD, gave us fans an insider's look at the recording process as well as a "day in the life of" the Newsboys. Thanks go out to dc, Peter, and Jeff for this fun collection of verbage!
Hey There!! Welcome to our new Journal - Peter writing this time, and now that we're updating our webpage full time, Im sure our web people will make sure we write more frequently :) ... Anyway, here is the first entry..... December 09, 1999 Hello! Just sitting at home writing songs, trying to stay out of he cold. This i must admit is not my favorite time of the year [saying that between sniffle and sneeze!] We just got back from San Diego [nice and sunny -my new favorite place], we all rented a 27 foot power boat and sped out to sea off the coast of California. After a short while the waves picked up quite a bit and began to crash over the bow getting us very wet which left me with quite a problem -- i only had one set of clothes [my luggage got lost on the way to San Diego that morning] So i had to play the concert still mostly wet-[hence now the flu] So anyway hope this letter finds you well-- everyone says hi love peter i must often be glad that past prayers of my own were not granted - Cs Lewis
MERRY CHRISTMAS! December 22, 1999 --- hope this note finds you well,and i pray that this year more than ever before we understand how much Love God our Creator has for us to send his one and only son Jesus ,to be born [as we celebrate] to live [and identify with us] and then to die [sacrificed for our sins] and rise again conquering death -and now speaks to the father in our defense [1 John2] to him be all the Glory. Well i am down in Dallas Texas for Christmas , i love it down here and i am enjoying valuable time with family and friends [i'm not from Texas just adopted!] All the lads wish you a merry Christmas - Duncan is in Nashville, Phil is in Kansas, Jody is flying between Indiana and Arizona and Jeff is with family in Detroit Anyway once angain my typing "finger" is growing numb talk to you soon love peter Mathew 1:21
Hi! hope you're all OK.. Well i'm sitting in a recording studio in Nashville TN working on our new record which should be finished in about a month! It's been a great time for us as friends and as a band to get together once again and make what we feel is our best CD [or album for all the veterans] yet. Tonight we are getting ready to do some vocals ,so it will be lovely to see some of the songs come to their completion! ALL THE REST OF THE LADS SAY ''HELLO'' , everybody is ''scatterd'' and ''smotherd'' as we say down here in the south, Phil will be joining me shortly, Jeff is working on some string arrangements[doing a mighty fine work i must say] Jody has just left here from doing guitars and i'm sure Duncan is walking his dog''JACK AURTHER PHILLIPS.'' heaps of love to all that find this!! hope to see you soon love peter ps-- he doesn't love us because of who we are he loves us because of who he is
Hi again well since i wrote last we have been singing our little hearts out in the studio [anytime between 4pm and 4am] Right now i have that feeling of a fistful of sand in the eyeballs [if you know what i mean]-- anyway enough of that ---- it's been going really well, 3 songs ready to be mixed and singing on the 4th today , hope you are all OK , i'm not sure where all the rest of the lads are but Phil's here and he say's hello!! lot's of love peter - james 1:27
hello again Well i'm still in the studio , mixing song no 4 , things are going quite well Tonight i'll do some more singing and by tuesday we will have 5 songs finished. hope you're all ok!! --OH by the way in case you did'nt know some of my friends and i started a record label called--[INPOP][all the world needs is another one right???] The first band we have signed is from Australia, their name is BEANBAG and i havn't taken their CD out of my stereo yet!!! [in other words it's really, REALLY GOOD] they are one of the best bands to come on the scene in a few years [even though they talk a little funny] Anyway enough of that-- everyone says hi!! >peter ps there's nothing we can do to make God love us more there's nothing we can do to make him love us less pps- oh, you can hear a little BEANBAG at www.beanbagonline.com
hi hope this letter finds you well. today we're finishing up on the 5th song titled ''break'' [finally]. This will be our last few days in this studio[downtown Nashville] on the 1st we move to another place in Franklin TN to finish the rest of the record. Everybody says 'hello' tommorrow morning we fly to New York for a concert, it will be nice to get out and see some of you all !! Anyway got to go - lots of love peter ps- ps 112
Hello again!! hope your all OK it's been a very strange week for us. a good friend of the band [Greg Jampol] passed away [today was his funeral] So the last few days have been a time of sadness followed by celebration of an extrordinary life - a beautiful man - he will be missed by us dearly. We are still in the studio just finishing up the vocals on the 6th track -it's been going really well [for those offering prayer's thankyou]. tommorrow we play in st louis mo, so once again it will be wonderful to see some of you all again - OH, and hi to everyone in New York [great time last weekend].... Got to go [my typing ''finger'' is growing numb!] lots of love to you all peter Greg Jampol -- 1961-1999 ['till we meet again] PS-- [ i should point out that some of you will know Greg from our ''DOWN UNDER THE BIG TOP '' movie , he was the big guy posting the weight loss posters]
sup everybody.. its jeff doing the 'ol studio log this week.. hope you all are doing well out there.. we haven't been doing as many shows as usual, and we miss all of you.. we've been cooped up in the studio as usual.. almost all of the music tracks have been recorded, and now we're doing vocals, and considering that i can't sing, i have been off the hook for awhile.. pete, phil, and jody have been spending some late nights in the studio getting it just right.. last night, we met with all of the sales reps from around the country who put the records into your local store, and we played them some of the songs, and they were stoked to hear what we've been doing... tommorow morning we're going to orlando to play at universal studios for a gig called "rock the universe".. its alot of fun, two shows in one night.. i'm sure we'll see some of you there.. pete had a birthday last week, and we all got together for a party on wednesday night.. it was a surprise party, and pete was actually surprised!!!.. we had alot of fun, and it was a nice break from the busy routine we always seem to have.. pete's wife surprised him.. you see, pete's bought a new house that he hasn't moved into yet, its still getting fixed up, and we had the girl who is painting it, call and say that she was locked out of the house, so when pete came to unlock the door...BAM!!! we were all there ready to party.. it was funny. i was the dj, and we all enjoyed listening to some of our favorite old records.. well, thats it for this week, hope you are all well.. talk to you soon... jeff
Hi Again hope you're all OK , we're still in the studio [only 10 days or so left] --Jeff just walked in and ''says hi''... last night [late] we finished vocals on the 8th track, today we are hoping to mix it before we get on the bus to go to Washington DC to play a concert / crusade with Steve Jamison [hope to see some of you there!] love you all .... peter eph 1:4
hey campers... its jeff again this week with the ever-so-lovely studio log.. its been a good week, and as i am writing this, the lads are in the studio right now singing their hearts out on the last song to go on the new record.. this week we worked on two tunes called "fall on you", and "fly". this past weekend we were in dc, and greensboro, north carolina. we were there the day after the hurricane went through, but we didn't see any damage, we couldn't even tell that there had been one... we've been fortunate with the weather this summer, not one rained out gig.. tommorow morning we have a 6am flight out to los angeles to play at magic mountain... we are going out to dinner with motocross champion greg albertyn.. i'm so excited about it, i don't know if i'll be able to sleep.. he's a fan of the band, and now that the season is over, we finally get to hang out with him...yeeeehaw... well, thats all for now.. i'm going to try and get some z's.... till next time... keep it real... Jeff
hey everybody.. its jeff with this week's studio log.. we may need to change the name of this feature becuase as of last week we are not in the studio anymore!!! we have officially finished the record as of last week.. it feels good to be finished after a long summer of recording.. we can't wait for all of you to hear it... over the past few days we've been finalizing the artwork, cover, etc.. adding the finishing touches.. i found out today we are going to be shooting a video for the first single in november out in san fransisco.. i'll keep you informed.. as of tommorow morning, i'm going on vacation for a week.. and going to a friend's wedding.. it will be good to get a week of down time.. some of the other lads are heading out to baja, mexico to do a motorbike excursion across the desert... some of you might be wondering why you didn't hear from me last week.. i had my plumbing break down in my house and was without water for 3 days... not good, especially when you have guests in town for the weekend.. but happy to report all systems are back to normal, and i've finally had a shower.... it was like a y2k simulation at my house.. well, hope you all are well.. i'm going to bed... till next time.. Jeff
Hi! sorry it's been so long since i've written to you , been moving house [computer included] in between post record interviews and preparing for part of the ''lovelibertydisco'' video shoot [nov 1,2,3 in san francisco] So, excuses aside i hope this letter finds you well!! In the next couple of weeks we will be traveling to places around the USA to have ''lovelibertydisco'' release ''PARTIES'," the details are on now the website..... it will be nice to get out and see some of you all !! Everyone says ''hi'' -- love peter james 1:27
Quite a while ago Phil had an e-mail newsletter that you could sign up for. I don't know what happened with it. All I know is that the only thing I got was this auto-response e-mail when I first signed up...
Hi, This is Phil Joel. Thanks for being interested in what I am up to lately! Having my own album out now is sort of scary, even a website with my own name! Strange... But, this is a very personal album, and I would like the website to be a very personal experience for you all.
A kid we call DC will be building this site over the next couple of weeks, so you will hear from either him or me as things "go live".
I will definately be very "hands on" in this whole experiment though, so you can
also expect to receive crazy little emails from me while I'm on tour with the newsboys, and Heather and I will both be reading your emails, so don't be afraid
to send them to us at: strangelynormal@philjoel.com.
Talk To You Soon! God Bless!
Phil
The rumors were flying about the Joels expecting a baby. On May 4, 2000, Phil came on the Newsboys message boards to let officially know the Big News...
phil joel [nb]
5/04/2000
10:18:12
Subject: the answer to the baby question (poster's i.p. address recorded)
Message:
hey guys-
dc told me that some of you were wondering if heather and i are "expecting". so, i thought i'd pop in and put an end to the speculation. i haven't come on earlier to let you guys know for a couple of reasons:
1. it's usually not that great of an idea to announce a baby until the mom is further along in her pregnancy...a lot can happen, ya know?
2. i was only just able to get ahold of the last of my family in friends in new zealand to let them know. i would have felt really bad if they had stumbled across the "big news" on the internet without hearing it from me first.
so, if i've seemed a bit "quiet" about it to some of you guys, those are the reasons why. anyway, the "yes, we're having a baby" is now official! we are really excited and feel really blessed!! thanks for your interest -
you guys are great!!! please keep heather and the baby in your prayers!
phil
A bit after the LLD tour wrapped up, Jeff took a moment to write a very nice letter to all of us fans. dc was then kind enough to post it for us...
QUICK THANK YOU LETTER WRITTEN BY JEFF FRANKENSTEIN TO THOSE WHO CAME
ALONG TO THE AIRDOME 2000 TOUR.
greetings everybody..
just wanted to send a quick note of thanks to everyone for coming out to
the tour.. its all a blur looking back now, but it was great to see everybody..
things are good back in nashville.. we are all gearing up for the summer
festival season.. its been a good couple weeks break for all of the lads.. i
went to detroit (hometown) for a few days, but mostly i've been staying at
home,
working on remodeling an old house i bought last november, and working
on a few tv commercials, and playing keyboards for an album that pete's
producing.. never a dull moment..
i came home from the tour to find my bathroom flooded by a pipe that
broke while we were away.. then while working on my yard, i caught a
ravenous case of poison ivy that had me cramped indoors for a couple
weeks.. other than that, things have been cool..
hope you all are well and enjoying your summer...
look forward to seeing you soon..
peace and love
jeff