We just finished up basic rhythm tracks on 14 songs at two of San Francisco's coolest analog studios, Tiny Telephone and Hyde Street. (You can hear a few samples of our recording by clicking on the Fonts in Caps below) Tiny Telephone has hosted some great Indie bands including, Death Cab for Cutie, Two Gallants, The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice. Hyde Street is home to Creedence, Satriani, Green Day, Dead Kennedy's and Tupac.
I recorded basics with engineers Justin Phelps (Amanda Palmer, Dead Kennedy’s, Satriani) and Jaime Durr (Josh Fix, Prince Paul, The Dead). Justin likes Scotch and wears all black, aka, Johnny Cash style when he records the last day of the session. A true class act with golden ears. Turned me on to the most amazing Vietnamese sandwich place in the Tenderloin. Jaime is the loop master and has been instrumental in helping me create the sonic ambience of the record.
The band is an incredible group of musicians. Mark Abbot (Box Set) plays drums, along with Paulo Baldi (Cake) and Scott Amendola ( Nels Cline Singers). Mike Sugar plays electric, fretless and upright bass. Jeff Michaels (Luce) plays piano and rhodes on a couple of tunes. Wil Blades throws down some funky Hammond B-3. Sam Bass (Loopstation), plays cello, accompanied by Wieslaw Pogorzelski, (Stratos) on violin. The Stovall Sisters, (Ike and Tine Turner, Norman Greenbaum) sing backup vocals on a couple and I handle the rest, playing electric and acoustic guitars, rhodes, vocals, noise, samples, arranging and producing.
Holed up in the studio has been a great experience and has allowed the band to take it's time defining their new sound. This project covers a lot of sonic ground, melding pop, rock, gypsy, classical, alt-country, gospel, funkabilly, electrospheric, psychedelic urban blues, folk and crap (country rap). I've been putting my ears on the Brits lately, especially Radiohead, The Editors, Arctic Monkeys, Muse and The Klaxons. All of whom inspired the ORCHESTRAL flavor of this tune.
We recorded lots of noise loops at our rehearsal studio that ended up as sonic ear CANDY for the record. (This intro is mallets on a bass guitar) If you can't beat em, join em. The big hook choruses and loud guitars of the 80's are back. I grew up listening to all the greats, Jimi, Clapton, Winter, Zep, Floyd, Buddy, Etc., which influenced the sonic guitar STEW of this tune. Wind it down with a little CELLO, guitar and piano number like this and the incredibly soulful backup vocals of the STOVALL SISTERS (former Ikettes) and I think you will find this project worth wrapping your ears around when it is completed. Stay tuned....
In my other life, I started an amp company called BUDDA AMPLIFICATION with Jeff Bober, that you may have heard of. We are celebrating our 11th year in business with the support of many great artists, producers, engineers and friends of Budda. I am proud to play our amps and effects and find that they add the sonic texture that allows me to create my unique sound. I invite you to give them a try.
