It takes a village to get ready for Foreigner

After making the difficult decision to end my previous partnership and return to Harbor Studios, we were left with the exciting (and slightly daunting) challenge of rewiring the entire studio and setting up a whole new workflow. Thankfully, I was surrounded by an incredible community of friends who stepped in to help.

Peter Katis lent me his Studer 962 console along with other various gear. Rob Allen provided multiple drum kits. William McCarthy shared his guitar amps. Tomislav Zovich outfitted me with cymbals and stands. Justin Wands lent me his Moog Voyager. Tom Efinger contributed his AMEK dual compressor/limiter. And Peter Tavoulareas—who deserves some kind of sainthood—spent countless hours re-soldering nearly every patch point in the studio (thousands, maybe?).

And then there’s my amazing wife, Diana Halluska, who somehow managed to find the perfect rugs and furniture, all while providing emotional support and putting in extra hours caring for our son as I worked late into the night. It was truly a labor of love and a community effort.

All of this generosity, hard work, and time was anchored by a serious deadline: Foreigner was coming on January 12 to record a 25-person choir singing “I Want to Know What Love Is” in Spanish. This surreal and incredible project came to me through the insanely talented—and equally generous—Dave Eggar. Dave has been working with Foreigner for a while now, and after his first session here, he completely fell in love with the studio. We hit it off immediately, and he’s been back many times since.

The Foreigner choir session went even better than I could have imagined. The vibe in the studio was warm, inspired and deep. The fire was roaring all day, my son was running around helping out, Diana was here, Peter was here—everyone was in the best of spirits. After nearly a month of high-pressure stress getting everything ready, I honestly couldn’t have been more proud.

- Eric