After a six-month-long recording session in Germany, Temecula progressive-rock group On Being Human is starting from scratch.

The band – which is comprised of guitarist and vocalist Travis Baker, 22, guitarist Greg Johnson, 23, guitarist Brandon Mayo, 24, drummer Johnny Pyburn, 22, and bassist Beau Trembly, 23 – returned to California on May 5 unable to use the recordings they made at Home Studio in Hamburg.

The tracks were rendered useless after the band parted ways with its former producer, Franz Plaza.

The band – and more importantly, the band’s financer, Chris Adams – decided to separate from Plaza after his behavior became suspicious, Baker said.

Band members refrained from citing specific details in interviews this week, but said they were no longer comfortable with Plaza.

"It turned out to be a shady situation," Baker said. "We just wanted to back out of that."

Plaza, who also is a partial owner of the studio with Adams, had a small part in arranging the band’s songs and a big part in recording them, according to band members.

Therefore, Plaza is a part-owner of the recordings. That means if the band were to use the recordings, the band would need Plaza’s permission.

In addition, the band would need to pay him part of any money the band would make from selling those songs.

"We want to detach ourselves from him completely," said Baker.

Despite the setback, the band is still working on their upcoming album.

Last month, they went into studio 82A, a studio in San Diego known for recording bands such as POD and Point of Recognition, to redo the songs and finish the album.

The musicians are now feeling optimistic about their recording.

"I feel great about it. I feel things are going slow, but that’s okay," Pyburn said in an interview last week.

Though the band has no recording to show for their months in Germany, they left with something more valuable, Pyburn said.

"I think we’ve grown in the way we write songs. We all can bring ideas to the table now," he said.

Since they’ve returned, the musicians have slipped into their former jobs and lives with ease.

The deal

On Being Human’s trip to Germany was the result of a chance meeting that took place in 2003. That year, Baker met one of his neighbors, Robert Pearson.

Pearson, a local grade school teacher, offered to let Baker’s band rehearse in his garage after hearing them play.

One day, Pearson’s brother-in-law, Chris Adams, came by the house while the band was rehearsing.

He liked what he heard and told the band he wanted them to come to Adams’ hometown in Germany to record, Baker recalled.

The musicians were flattered but didn’t take the offer seriously, Baker recalled.

Then, on Sept. 6 at 2 a.m., a phone call woke him up. It was Pearson, and he told Baker his brother-in-law officially wanted to make the arrangements to fly the five musicians out to Hamburg.

Despite their initial disbelief, on Oct. 27 the band was on an airliner bound for Germany.

During their stay, the musicians lived in a warehouse out of which Adams runs his business. Adams runs a company called Tronical, which makes the "Robot Guitar," an instrument that tunes itself.

The band ate, slept and rehearsed in a section of the warehouse originally designed as an office but was furnished for the band’s stay.

When they were in Hamburg, the band either rehearsed or recorded every day, Baker recalled. On most days the musicians would pile into a company car and drive across town to Home Studio, where they would spend all day recording.

They spent other days in a room at the Tronical warehouse rehearsing their songs and writing new ones.

The band had hopes to have the album done by April. Now they’re hoping to finish work in September.

For more information on the band, visit www.myspace.com/onbeinghuman or www.onbeinghumanmusic.com.