Chris here, Now that the self titled album has ben released on vinyl by
Mooster Records this may be a little late. This isn’t a long winded
story about the recording or a song by song evaluation, just a
(hopefully) short list of a few things that stick out in my mind. I
could only tell the parts of the story I know anyway.
1. This was
the first recording I had been involved in where it was a pretty big
amount of someone else’s money being spent on a recording so I was very
invested. The night before we left for Sonic Iguana I stayed up way too
late disassembling the drums I was taking so I could insulate all metal
to metal parts inside the lug casings. This was just blind dedication
of youth and extreme overkill.
2. I took four snare drums to use
on the album. When we were setting up the drum sounds before recording
Jeff Hansell had me try all four and he decided on one drum he thought
sounded the best. He never came out and said it, but it was obvious he
intended to use that one snare for the entire album (which I’m sure was
based on our budget). I was young, bound and determined so…
unbeknownst to Jeff, I switched each snare based on the song. He found
out much later and it was a big laugh. He thought I’d just been hitting
the same drum differently.
3. Somewhere after the drums were
done but long before the mixing I went out for a jog. Back then I ran
nothing like I do now, distance or speed, but I have ran on and off much
of my life. I took off and paid absolutely no attention to where I was
going and after a while I realized I didn’t know where I was.
Lafayette isn’t a big place and I found my way back, but it’s just plain
weird to be on foot and lost in a strange land. Has nothing to do with
the recording.
4. This being the first trip to a “real”
recording studio was also a learning experience. I had two zildjian
crash cymbals set up: 18″ rock crash and 19″ crash/ride. Near the end
of Barbara I’m riding on the edge of the crash/ride while hitting the
18″ crash over and over. If you listen you can tell the 18″ doesn’t
explode fast enough. On every recording after this I replaced the 18″
with a 17″ and added a 16″Z that I always thought of as an “overflow”
crash.
5. About halfway or better through the drum tracks we went
out for dinner to an Italian restaurant. I overloaded on pasta and
breadsticks. I felt horrible and announced if I wasn’t feeling better
by the time we got back to the studio I would make myself throw up. I
got to feeling better and it didn’t come to that, but I would have
definitely suffered for my art without hesitation.
6. The one
percussion overdub that stands out is the jaw harp on My Brain Is Full.
After the first little pass everyone in the control room was laughing.
I think it was the biggest laugh I saw out of Jeff the entire time we
were there. I started thinking it was too goofy but everyone said it
was great. When I hear that song now I think of the 2011 reunion show.
it was the second song and it seemed surreal. I think I may have been
in shock.