Good afternoon.

We’ve just finished another couple of days in the recording studio. It was rather good. It was really rather good, actually. It was just Rose, Scott and me due to Kate being at ATP in Somerset. OMFG JEFF MANGUM updates mean she’s getting extra homework and will have to record all her guitar parts twice, irrespective of quality, as punishment when she gets back. It’s just no the same without the four of us.

Not jealous. 

Anyway. We’ve recorded the basics (and beyond for one of them) for three new songs. I’m very excited. Here comes the science: whilst using the stereo output of my rather tasty (technical term) Hall of Fame reverb pedal (I await my bag of TC Electronics goodies in the post) running into both a Fender Twin Reverb Amplifier, and Selmer amp head and Orange Cab combination, I made an unholy amount of modulated noise and nearly took the paint off the studio wall. This is some of the most fun I have had in ages. I almost felt like a guitarist. However, after finishing the track, Gal (our most excellent engineer) pointed out that I may have done for a second Fender Twin amplifier as it now smelled like it was on fire. My own Twin is about to get a new speaker fitted. I’m pretty sure this is just a coincidence. And the fact that my amp is almost 10 years older than I am.

This would be a good bragging anecdote, right? I mean, if I told it better. And perhaps embellished it by saying that there were actual FLAMES instead of the worrying smell of smouldering plastic wire casing.

I’ll start again.

That was better. I’ll get on to ‘making my telecaster sing’ in a later paragraph.

 

But yes, this new song with the working title Life’s Too Short For Shoegazing (due to the delightful amount of reverb) is sounding rather massive. Now all it needs is some keys and a less flippant title. Rose has attested that she may never stop using her overdrive pedal, such fun did she have. I got to spend some time playing with my delay stomp box to make some deranged feedbacking guitar noises spin around the end of the song. Scott had a great time debating the merits of Hi-hat positioning with Gal. How we all chuckled late into the afternoon.

Another song we’ve started, which I am fairly sure will be “a belter” if all goes to plan, is Who Would Want to be Loved? I am very pleased with this, so far. It is a summery pop ditty that clocks in at just under three minutes. It got stuck in Scott’s head and he had to drink a bottle of rum to try and exorcise it. I do not believe this is the real reason he drank said rum. The cad.

 

 

The last song that we started is one that is yet to be named. The percussive element to it is a loop partly made up Scott muddling around a drum kit with brushes and partly of a quantised (get me) recording of his footsteps as he left the live room in the studio. This is why it is a joy to work with Gal. I will find you and I will get you if you try and get him to work with you before we’ve finished this record. We’ve taken away rough mixes of all the songs to listen to and decide what to do with, and this one has a quite amusing vocal that I thought had been removed…an improvised collection of sentences in the melody followed by a conversation between me and Gal asking if I can do this later, as I’ve no idea what I’m singing. It’s funnier if you hear it. And you’d been there. OK. It’s not that funny. Jeez.

 

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So we’ve now got 8 tracks, in various states of completion, towards our next couple of releases. The aim is to have about 13/14 done by the start of June and then mix everything. We’ll then see what works best as an album. It’s nice to feel that this is an achievable goal now, rather than the terrifying deadline it seemed only a few weeks ago.

You should all come to one of our upcoming shows where we’ll be testing some of these new tunes out.

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Hope you’re all grand.

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davidx

 

PS This: