notes--re: 4/24/09

We got down to work by 11ish, me running a half-hour late per usual, arriving at the studio with everyone else up on the deck, cooling their heels and smoking, looking down at me. Cut 4 more, in this order:

One I Love
Don’t Take It All
(song w/working title:”Bus to Shreveport/Don’t Tell”)
Trying to Get to Memphis

This gives us a total of 12 tracks, counting the four keepers from the September session. There are still some songs left, which will be recorded in a more stripped-down format at Wow and Flutter.
.
“One I Love” is a co-write with Gwil Owen, and is the closest the Ramones ever got to sounding like KG, ha ha. Lot of fun going primal on this one. I gotta admit--this song was a dark-horse going in, but the track’s so good, it’s almost certain to make the record.

Went to lunch at The Woodlands--vegetarian Indian food. Excellent--and as Ron is fond of saying, it was “fluffy, not stuffy”.

“Don’t Take It All” is a slower, darker piece, and it took a couple of hours to get it. I’d never settled on the music for the solo section, but for obvious reasons, had to come up with something. Which took a little time. But the track turned out great, with Ron playing some cool fretless bass.

“Bus to Shreveport”: my favorite track of the day. It’s unfinished, but we cut it that way on purpose. It’s a narrative about the time I rode the greyhound to Shreveport, from Monroe, at the age of 12, to go see ZZ Top at Hirsch Coliseum, with an uncle who was 18, 19 at the time, and his kinda impulsive friend Hank. A big adventure, that’s all I’ll say right now. The song and the way we recorded it seem to capture the seedy S’port rock n’roll vibe; it rocks like _____(insert your personal favorite expletive) and doesn’t hide any of the fun we had cutting it. Good thing.

“Trying to Get to Memphis” is an oddball; I finished it last year and have only played it live a few times, solo. A guy knocked on our door one night, asking for gas money to get to Memphis, because his wife’s mother was gravely ill. But it's more about the way situations like this make you feel--how it’s impossible to know if the story’s true, and what to do about it. The vibe of the track is like nothing else I’ve ever done.

Dinner was a 2nd night in a row of Five Guys . . . not a very healthy option, but after a full day of recording, those bags of greasy treats looked mighty fine. (There will be a big salad tonight). Loaded out, and got a CD burned of the rough mixes, and got home at 12:45. Took a Benadryl and slid off to la-la land.

Listened to the roughs this morning in the car, coming back from taking the kids to play at a friend’s house up in Greenbrier. It’s exciting to hear so much new stuff at once, but you’re constantly reminded of the “rough” nature of the tracks. Some of my vocals are good, some not so much, but either way, at this point are really only there to guide the band through the arrangement of the song. Guitars, too--inevitably what you thought was the perfect tone or part for the track will end up sounding not so perfect after some studying. So now it’s back to Joe’s studio, Wow and Flutter, to add additional parts, re-do existing ones, and cut more songs. A big thanks to the band, who worked tirelessly and absolutely killed: Joe McMahan, Ron Eoff, Paul Griffith, and Scott Martin. And to Mr. McMahan again, who somehow manages to function brilliantly as producer while simultaneously playing his ass off; and to Adam Bednarik, (alter ego: Porcelain Man), for doing a great job at the console. Will keep you posted; I think we’ve got a good one here.