Here goes:
Baboon Strength: Cool name, huh?
We recorded Baboon Strength at Trout Studio in Brooklyn. They have an old school set-up where everything happens in the same room, instruments , mixing desk, tape machine, everything.
We recorded to 16 track two inch tape before putting it in the digital realm (for those of you who are interested).
Erik brought his 1970s Yamaha combo organ, Casiotone and Echoplex. His sonic aesthetic and abilities as an improviser are impeccable. Go Erik!
Tony played Trout's big ass bass drum, snare and toms. He also happens to be, in my opinion, the best pure pocket drummer I've ever heard. Science. In terms of groove and time it's his world, we live in it, act accordingly. Erik and i both concur that he gets the game ball for this record.
I brought some decent songs and tried not to overplay. It's a never- ending process.
Dave McNair did a hell of a job mixing and mastering the disc. Check out the fat drum sound on 'Difford-Tillbrook.
-Athens: This tune is really supposed to be a kind of set opener or closer, a "theme" so to speak. We call it Athens because the high- pitched one note melody is our version of said city's (the Greece, not Georgia) horde of excruciatingly grating motor scooters.
-Astronaut Love Triangle: you know the news story.
-Welcome To Frankfurt: What can I say, europeans like this because it has a four-on-the-floor bass drum pattern.
-Difford-Tilbrook: We call this one "The Squeeze Tune"...it has that vibe.
-Karen Carpenter: I think she was a great singer and wrote this with her in mind.
-Baboon Strength: Did you know that" strength" is the longest word in the english language with only one vowel?
-Fine Corinthian Leather: A four-chord jam.
-Porter-Hayes: This ended up with a quasi-Stax kind of sound so I named it after their two top writers.
-AbadabA: I was reading "Billy Bathgate" by EL Doctorow and decided to name this one after Dutch Schultz' number crunching assistant.
Signing off,
CH