Pre-production update: last night, your local rock heroes hit the basement for the first of what's sure to be several infuriating sessions playing along with a metronome in preparation for recording. Luckily for 75% of Scamper, the old "ONE and TWO and THREE and FOUR..." female robotic voice machine lost her long and brave battle with non-Hodgkins lymphona, so she won't be darkening our rehearsal space hearth with her smug electronic insistence. Hip hip!

Sadly for the members of the band that are named Mike, this means that there is a new schmancy metronome in town: a headphone version of the tempo that only he can hear. So while Keith, Nate and I have a grand old time, playing along to the drums business as usual, poor Mikey has a deafening "THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP" ringing in his ear drums. It sucks for him, but the frustrated faces he makes while trying to keep time are simply HIGHlarious. We're thinking of making him wear the headphones at shows to add that element of visual comedy that has been missing for our live performances.

Next week, we are shoved through the Tom Polce wringer for two last pre-pro sessions and then on to the studio. As always, you can only get your up-to-date Scamper news here, on the Scampernet. (Shockingly, CNN.com is not reporting the goings-on in Scamper's pre-production sessions.) Have a nice weekend, true believers.