"Honey" is Sweet!

"Honey" is Sweet!

"Honey" Click to listen!

"Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains." I Tm 6:9-10

Here is the latest song from Mike McBride singing with Mark Lajoie, a product of those awesome recording sessions this year. Mark & Mike sing their heart out together. It's about somebody who needs some sweet salvation....It is quite tremendous! It's not explicit about our Faith, but it definitely implies the value of holiness. (For the first time there is a mild oath in one of our songs when it says, "you don't give a damn", but, with apologies to Rhett Butler, it seemed necessary.)

Here is what Mike had to say in dedicating this to our beloved Mary Gillis, R.I.P.:

This one started coming to me in 2010, not long after Mary Gillis died. Mary was one few people in my life who would actually listen to me blather on the guitar or piano. She always encouraged me to write and loved anything that I did write. She even used Lonely Dancer as her video project in the early 90s. Her spirit is with me often, and very much in the early years of writing Honey. But over more years this morphed into something more aggressive, not at all about Mary. But, I think she would have pushed me to bring it to where it is, and finish and record it. It's not always easy to produce these songs, but it feels so good when we're done. Special thanks to Mark Lajoie and Joshua Michaelfor singing back up. This one is for you Mary. Honey.

Soooooo! Please enjoy it in good health.

Some Video of Living Waters Recording!

Some Video of Living Waters Recording!

This summer's recording has included some Mike & Mark singing together on many songs; The results, I think, were fantastic! Our blend seemed just right, and our back and forth on "Let It Reign" was so much fun. Mike has contributed his keyboard skills to several Mark songs, like "Sing to Jesus" which we played together so much back in the day.

We're not really good on putting what we're doing on the record. I think we're just too busy doing the work, in the zone, shall we say. BUT! I managed to video a few snippets of us doing some more work on "Light of the World" which we could share with you. Ready?

Here is our vocal recording spot; we were doing the melody for "LotW" chorus

Mike was warming up to do the intro to "LotW"

Mike had to fix the tag on Josh's shirt!

Click the line below to see: 

Video of Mike practicing the end of "LotW". 

At the end, Josh is circling his finger, telling Mike to keep going, because he has the section on a loop. Josh can then take or blend the best sections from the looped tracks.

Well! I hoped you enjoyed this small glimpse inside the process. Sausage being made....

Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE! of Living Waters

New Studio Production: "Sing to Jesus"!

New Studio Production:"Sing to Jesus"!

"Sing to Jesus" Studio Production 

CLICK the line above to listen!

Josh at work mixing today, August 14

Behold! Here is another Living Waters production from our efforts this summer at the Loell recording studio: "Sing to Jesus". I am absolutely floored by the results; just LISTEN to this thing, will you? It is amazing!

Mike laying down a track today for Light of the World

Our Singing Spot in the Loell Studio

We must have performed this hundreds of times in our earliest days, and I believe it is our first original full group song. I (Mark) resurrected it with a demo done on GarageBand, & work commenced on it in earnest these past couple of weeks. I did the lead vocal last week, mostly in one take; I guess we should kind of know this one by now, right? Mike said Josh was giving furious thumbs up during the entire take; it sure felt right. By the way, singing with Mike just seemed to give us both tremendous energy to our efforts. (Dave & Denise also sang on "Light of the World" [wait till you hear that!], and Denise is on "When Sunday Comes" as well.)

Mark playing a part for Anna Post Writing today

One amazing thing about this is Greg's work on lead guitar. We had finished vocals and he just showed up in the cellar after work, sat down on a chair and dropped down this thunder on us. We were all just sitting there with our mouth open. That lead at the end? He just sat down and poured it out, one take, like we did in concert so many times. It is Clapton-like and preaches the exultant mood of the song better than words. It was a key missing element from the demo and makes our final product feel more complete. [This reminds me of the time we were recording "Fight For Me" and I was having trouble with my 12-string acoustic part during the bridge for some reason. Well! Greg grabbed my 12-string, jumped up on a folding table, told them to roll tape and just ripped off what you hear now. How does he do it? Amazing.]

You may notice I changed the words that I sing to that rejoicing final section. (Josh had this idea, that I change those words based on the flow of the album.) Some of what I sing here is based on the "overflow" words of our song, "City of Joy", with some alterations. Here is what I sang:

Alleluia!

You are the Place to go

Where joy will overflow

There is a Place for us to go

Our faith will lead us where

Our God will really care

One Cup and Bread to share!

One Cup and Bread to share!
----where Joy will overflow....

At one point, Tony played drums on "Light of the World"; wait for that!

This thematically ties the bow on our "Overflow" album as a whole. Jesus IS the place for us poor sinners to go where joy will overflow, especially in His Person, in the Bread & Cup that unite us as One Body.

That's Mark playing 12-string, Mike on keyboards, Greg on electric and Mike and I doing the gang-clapping and vocals. One step closer to a real, full studio album...SOON!

Now that is something to sing about! Hope you enjoy this. We sure do!

"Sing to Jesus" Studio Production 

CLICK the line above to listen!

Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE!

A Living Waters PREVIEW!

A Living Waters PREVIEW!

 

In our previous article, we said we are working on a possible album this summer, perhaps aiming for a Christmas release. We have created a 'preview' of this album, tentatively named, "Overflow". Please, be advised, this is probably NOT exactly how things are going to end up! BUT, it doesn't hurt to give you all an idea of some of the new songs, reworks of old songs and demos that we are working on. There is a theme that seems to be developing which is summed up in the title, "Overflow". {As of June 26th, I have added Mike's new song, "When Sunday Comes" as part of this playlist!} Stay tuned & listen to this until then:

"Overflow" Preview Playlist

Happy listening!

Peace & Love & JOY!

Mark LaJOIE!

Another LW Song Curated by ReverbNation!

Another Living Waters Song 'Curated' by ReverbNation!

Yes, it's true! This time it's "Do What He Tells You to Do", which has been gaining some traction lately. Here is the message they sent:

Nice work! Your song Do What He Tells You to Do caught our attention and has made its way to the headphones of our Senior Curators. Curation is the first step towards career-changing artist development programs such as label deals, festival slots, and more. Not every song gets heard by Senior Curators, so give yourself a pat on the back!

Do What He Tells You to Do (video)

Do What He Tells You to Do (audio only)

This is the FOURTH Living Waters song to have this honor. The others are "Glory", "Alive Again" and "Stay!". Congratulations to all the members of Living Waters who are responsible for creating and recording these wonderful expressions of our family! To all of our friends, rejoice with us in this gift & our happiness.

Peace & Love & JOY!

Mark LaJOIE!

New Album! "Still Flowing"

New Album! "Still Flowing"

*Now on all major sites!

12/28/2016

Click here to listen to the album on Reverbnation!

Click here to go to Bandcamp to listen or buy!

As of December 28, 2016!

Click here to stream on Spotify!

Click here to buy on Amazon Mp3!

This is a collection of some of our recent work. Josh Loell has been the producer on most of these, doing a real pro job especially on Mike's songs. A few I had worked up only on Garageband with some help from Josh, so the quality is somewhat uneven, but I think these are all worth hearing. One special treat is a full-band live version of "Home is Where the Heart Is"; that is special! 

There is a theme: this is not shying away from 'negative' feelings and situations, but discovering that that is precisely where Our Merciful Lord is found. There is the struggle with alcoholism in "Booze Blues Cruise", the desperation and loss of "Take Me", dealing with death & loneliness, the need to be saved from oneself, the realization we are all sinners, the realization I need to be a Good Samaritan, and so on. Bono had recently said he wished Christian rock bands today could 'get real'. I really think this does that.

The picture was taken at the Falls of Song in New Hampshire and is oh so appropriate, n'est-ce pas?

The title is not only a reference to the fact that we've been continuing to make & play music. It is a deep realization that the grace flowing from his pierced Heart is continuing to flow uniting our faith family in the midst of all our troubles, & that nothing can ever stop it. It is Living Waters, man!

Please, listen, come to this Water...it is still FLOWing for you....

Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE!

Josh Goes Deep!

Josh Goes DEEP!

Josh with his sister, Theresa, who helped with his concert

Greg & Anne's son, Josh, just put on his Senior Composition Recital at Westfield State. Many of us in the band were privileged to hear and see it, including his sister, who flew in from Steubie U., Dave & Kath et al, Tony & Denise & Sam, Chuck & Joyce, Mike McBride & daughters & Stephen & I, not to mention all the family & friends; the fact so many of us came shows how we feel about Josh. As for the concert, he showed amazingly impressive aptitude at several widely differing skills, composing, arranging, conducting, playing. But I think what was most impressive is that so much of it exhibited such deep spiritual meaning: it was DEEP, man. As he himself said, this is music that does what music is supposed to: INSPIRE!

But I was most impressed by his choral pieces, which he arranged & conducted to exquisite perfection, especially "The Calling". Here is a picture of the concert frontispiece and the lyrics to the three pieces. DEEP words, man, more than matched by the profundity of the perfect vocal arrangements & the performance his conducting elicited:

Just read those words, and you'll get the idea. God has blessed this man. The productions he has done with Mike and myself in the group have been genius. We can't wait to see what else he will create. The whole Living Waters family is thanking God and trusting for a very bright future, enlightening many!

Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE!