ONE TON of DUCKS

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One Ton of Ducks comprises five musicians from Camano Island, WA performing tight, crafty, heartfelt, original rock, tinged with jazz, a bit of alt-country, and sweet harmony. This is a band of songwriters, playing 95% original tunes, quackin' about life, love, loss, war, peace, and hope. Grok our rock.

| shows | songs | curricula des canards | photos |
| cd info | t-shirts | history | credits | promosheet |

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Buy the CD here only $10
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The Floaters track "Here By My Side" is included on
Forever Home, a CD featuring ten original songs
donated by Camano Island musicians to benefit the
CASA animal shelter. www.camanoanimalshelter.org


 

Floaters - the CD

SONGLIST
(Floaters 2.0)
Use the ReverbNation player to the left to hear MP3s.

1. Had To Say I Love You - (Ludwick)
   Roger wrote this one for his mom, who got to hear it for the first time in July 2008 at a live show. It was a very cool thing - tears and stuff. We should all be so lucky to be able to do something like this for our loved ones. (Roger - lead vocal, guitar; Mark - slide guitar, vocal; Wende - vocal, percussion; Patrick - bass, percussion; Thomas - drums, percussion)

2. Where Are You - (V. Dodge, M. Dodge)
   My wife Vicki and I wrote the basic ideas on a napkin back in the 80s. It's about dreams and aspirations, finding your place in the universe, and making contact. Vicki has been my inspiration and my motivation in life and in art, and is the biggest single reason that I'm still doing this music thing. (Mark - lead vocal, piano; Wende - vocal, percussion; Roger - guitar, vocal; Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

3. Here By My Side - (Harris, Dodge)
   This is a song that has evolved over three years or so, and it now sounds very different from the original recording on Steve Harris' Northwestern Sky, partly because it's been flipped to a female perspective. Wende does a great job. (Wende - lead vocal; Mark - lead guitar, vocal; Roger - guitar, vocal; Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

4. Another Night - (Ludwick, Dodge)
   Way back before Roger and I (Mark) recorded the GIZA CD, the band was tracking one night and Roger played what I thought were some improvised instrumental changes, which we then recorded. The next day, I excitedly added lyrics to the instrumental, and viola ... the song Strive was born. Turns out, Roger wasn't improvising - it was actually a song he had written (but didn't mention it). Strive made it onto the Giza CD, but we finally recorded the song Roger had written in the first place. The chords may be the same, but that's where the resemblance ends. (Roger - lead vocal, guitar; Mark - whammy wah guitar, vocal; Wende - percussion, vocal, Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

5. Might As Well Anyway - (Dodge)
   All in. Go for broke. Shoot the moon. Take a chance. This is one of those rare songs that started in my head as a melody in early 2008. The lyrics came next, and quickly. The song zipped by other songs that have been waiting to be finished for decades ... (Mark - lead vocal, guitar; Wende - vocal, percussion; Roger - guitar, vocal; Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

6. Darkness Falling - (Harris, Palmby)
   Steve started writing this one right after the invasion of Iraq. I fear that the "darkness" may have become a permanent American condition. FYI, as of November of 2008, my son Max will have spent 27 months of his young life in Iraq with the Army. His wife, Jess, has celebrated three of their four wedding anniversaries with Vicki and I while Max was in-country. The unheralded ravages of war ... (Wende - lead vocal; Mark - piano, vocal; Roger - guitar, vocal; Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

7. How Do You Feel - (Harris, Dodge, Kemper, Donicht)
   Steve wrote this one about that delicate time in a relationship when you're not sure about anything. The band kicked it around for a few months with lackluster results until Patrick and Thomas started playing parts of the song in 7/8 time, which really made it come alive and got it on this record. (Wende - lead vocal; Mark - piano, vocal; Roger - guitar, vocal; Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

8. 59 Hill (Floaters) - (Hilyard, Harris, Dodge)
   Wende wrote this anti-development rant in response to an actual local development. The subsequent events described in the song, however, are pure fantasy. Regardless of your viewpoint, nobody wants to see the forest next door turn into ticky-tacky. (Mark - lead vocal, piano; Wende - vocal, percussion; Roger - guitar, vocal; Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

9. Sing Out - (Ludwick)
   A song about singing protest songs. At some point, you just have to say ... enough. "The only thing necessary for evil to thrive is for good men of conscience to do nothing." - Edmund Burke. (Roger - lead vocal, piano; Wende - vocal; Mark - lead guitar, vocal; Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

10. Here On Island Time - (Harris, Vensas, Dodge)
    After a hard day of SInging Out, sometimes you need to just relax. This is a largely live-in-the-studio version of a song we've been playing for years, and now sounds nothing like the previously-recorded version. (Wende - lead vocal; Mark - lead guitar, vocal; Roger - guitar, vocal; Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

11. Another Man - (Christensen, Dodge)
    Bob Christensen and I performed this song way back in the 70s when we were playing out 6 nights a week. Since it's an original song, we had to slip it in between other songs that people recognized while they were still on the dance floor (our job in those days, was basically to keep 'em on the floor). It's a great song, and is also on Bob's Rear View CD. (Mark - lead vocal, piano; Wende - percussion, vocal, Roger - guitar, vocal; Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

12. Keeping Me Awake - (Harris, Dodge)
    This track has an awesome groove, captured live in the studio. Another song from last year's Island Time CD, but you'd hardly recognize it. It showcases the mad skills of Thomas, our hyperactive drummer, and some risky keyboard work. (Mark - lead vocal, piano; Wende - lead vocal, percussion; Roger - guitar, vocal; Patrick - bass; Thomas - drums)

CREDITS

• Recorded and Mixed by Mark Dodge

• Final Mastering by Patrick Donicht

• Drum mic setup by Thomas Kemper

• Studio acoustics by The Audio Vortex

• Graphic design by Mark Dodge

• B&W Photography by Nelson Haukap

• Color Photography by Mark Dodge

• Floating Trailer image courtesy of "the Internets"

Recording Notes: Captured in weekly sessions from May through September 2008 at Quacky Studios, Camano Island, WA. Songs were mostly tracked live in the studio, or with instruments only (no vocals) to eliminate microphone bleed. The bass/drums/keys/guitar/percussion tracks were almost entirely performed live. Most vocal tracks and some lead guitar were overdubbed. Recording was done on a Quad-core PC-based DAW with RMC interfaces, running Samplitude Professional. Five microphones were used to capture drums, everything else was direct-injected (except, obviously, vocals - the tracheal interface is on order). There was no usage of MIDI, sequencing, or quantizing. All the grooves are live. After recording and mixing was complete, Patrick took my imperfect, overworked final mix and managed to do a great job mastering it.

I have to admit that I am likely to allow a certain amount of "wabi-sabi." I never iron out all the imperfections. In fact, I sometimes like them and often exaggerate them. For example, the song Might As Well Anyway was recorded live in the studio, vocals and all. New vocal tracks were overdubbed, but the old vocals are still there in the background, a ghostly sound bleeding through drum mics, and is quite noticeable at times. But I liked it, so it stayed. Recording perfectionists (like Patrick and Thomas) must be horrified.

BAND HISTORY
Click here for our Curricula Des Canards - a way-too-detailed ramblin' resume

The name "One Ton of Ducks" actually began as a toll-free number (1-866 = 1 Ton), then became a "greatest hits" CD with selections from 4 Big Quack recordings (now out of print), and now it's a flesh-and blood band. In keeping with the spirit of a toll-free number, we often play for dirt cheap, and in the spirit of a "greatest hits" CD, we still play good songs from other Big Quack recordings.

For nearly a decade now, this band has been slowly evolving within the bubbling crucible of creativity that is Quacky Studios:

• Roger and Mark started performing and recording together in 1999, and released the critically-acclaimed CD Time Heals in 2002.

• Mark began performing and recording with Steve Harris in 2004. Meanwhile, after Wende came to the studio with the South End String Band, she was quickly recruited for the first Steve Harris CD, Northwestern Sky, which was released in 2005. 

• Wende, Mark and Steve began playing regular monthly shows as Steve Harris & Friends (SH&F) while the Northwestern Sky sessions were still ongoing. Thomas Kemper joined the fun with SH&F in 2006, playing congas and percussion (he now sports a full kit).

• SH&F released the Here on Island Time CD in early 2007, which was expertly mixed by Patrick Donicht, Thomas' longtime pal, musical collaborator, and rhythm section partner. Patrick began performing with the band in March of 2007.

• Steve Harris had to leave the band just a few months after the release of Here on Island Time, so Roger, whose path had diverged for a while, began performing and recording with the band (now known as One Ton of Ducks, aka OTOD) in the summer of 2007. 

• OTOD now plays many songs from the Giza CD, songs from both Steve Harris CDs, and one from Bob Christensen's CD ... threads snaking back through a decade at Quacky Studios. 

• OTOD released their first CD, Floaters, in late 2008.

• OTOD is hatching new original songs all the time, marching ever forward toward the next dot on the bullet list.

email us: ducks at bigquackrecords.com
 

There was a previous CD by the same name (now out of print)

It was a "sampler" containing 12 great songs from other CDs in the Big Quack Records nest, including songs from Rear View, Northwestern Sky, Jazz from the Camano Shore and Time Heals, some of which One Ton of Ducks (the band) plays.

OTOD Heavy-Duty 3-Button Henley:

Size/Style

L - Short Sleeve $17.50 XL - Short Sleeve $17.50 L - Long Sleeve $20.00 XL - Long Sleeve $20.00

OTOD T-Shirt:

Size

S $10.00 M $10.00 L $10.00 XL $10.00

OTOD Women's T-Shirt:

Size

S $10.00 M $10.00 L $10.00 XL $10.00

click image for a closer look

            Front                           Back

Here are more pictures of the band wearing these shirts.

Yes, we have band t-shirts. But being "older, more experienced" band members, who have suffered countless cheap t-shirts, we also have shirts that will provide years of service, if you are so inclined. (I have two of these shirts - just different printing - that I have been wearing steadily for over 10 years, and look like they might go another 10.) These are heavy-duty 3-button Henleys; beefy Navy blue pre-shrunk cotton shirts that will last. The OTOD band logo is tastefully emblazoned over the left breast, and the nifty "sunshine rain" logo looms large on the back. L or XL, long sleeve ($20) or short sleeve ($17.50). T-shirts are $10, regular or Women's. $2.50 shipping. Or skip the shipping and come to a show.