Day V. And then there were riffs

.Thursday, March 31

(Guitars- all tracks.)


Well today we started right in with tracking our rhythm guitars. This is the meat of the album, the big heavy "holy fuck my brain is taking a beating" portion of what we have to offer. Again, a little homemade breakfast of corned-beef hash made by none other than meat extraordinaire Cris Bissell gave us the extra shove we needed to get going.


I should mention, that this time of year, the weather in Wisconsin is just as intense as it is in the dead of winter, in a completely different way. The mornings and afternoons are for us, t-shirt weather (anything really above 50 degrees) and the nights are frigid and mostly below freezing. I love Wisconsin, and I love the winter, but we are all excited for the t-shirt weather to last past 7. Sitting outside with a good book sounds pretty fantastic right now... anyway, on to the task at hand.


Erik starts, as we've always done, laying down the melodic foundation of the music. I can't express to you enough how playing with someone who is far beyond your skill level is both intensely rewarding and insanely nerve racking. Erik is one of, if not the, most precise and tight guitar player I have ever been in the same room with. He plays the riffs with such a fluid movement and level of articulation, it's mind blowing. He fucks up here and there of course, but none of us have ever been even the slightest bit worried about Erik being able to knock everything down like a pissed off, violent guido in Jersey putting Snooki where she belongs... on the fucking floor and away from the cameras. Erik effectively gave the rhythm tracks the beating of their lifetime which they wont soon forget! haha


It must have been about 7 PM by the time Erik had everything wrapped up and it was my turn to step up to the plate and do my best to prove to 2 of my favorite guitar players (Steve and Erik) that I'm not completely worthless! haha. Again, I don't get down on myself, but I feel that being in the presence of this calibur of guitar players, you need to approach what you are tackling with an amount of humbleness and just try to stay calm and push yourself to be the absolute best you can be.


I started, and finished strong, I knocked down 3 and 3/4 of the B tuned songs (oh yeah, I forgot to mention, a good portion of this album is in B tuning, as opposed to C for you guitar nerds out there.) I feel great about my performances on this record. I had A LOT more to do with the writing than I did on Endeavors (the whole band did) and I came into this recording process as practiced as I could be. I think more importantly than the performances (gasp!) we knew what we wanted. We had a sound in mind, and we wanted to capture us as players this time around, not a perfect version of what we are, but us, for real.


If you are a guitar player, you'll no doubt notice on the record, and of course live, that while Erik is insanely tight and precise, I am equal amounts of feeling and quite a bit more loose of a player.  I think this difference in our style (picking style/technique, finger placement etc.) really lends itself to the new music, much more than it was able to on Endeavors. With a little bit more room for the guitar to breath and a whole lot less "holy shit fast FAST FAST!" our styles are able to mesh much more naturally.  This is exactly what I was hoping for, and for the most part, excitedly expecting. To give you an idea of what I mean, listen to "Wavering Radiant" by ISIS or basically anything be Neurosis. You hear 2 distinct guitars, one mostly left, and one mostly right. They are playing the same part, but you can tell, very plainly that it is 2 humans playing the guitar and not some robot tight metronome perfection. Little chugs and differences in chord strums eb and flow through out the riffs, and to me, that's what makes those, and hopefully this record feel real.


At this point the record is starting to come together. Dr. Frankenstein has his monster all laid out on the table, the observatory doors are open, and he is making some final touches before the monster is raised into the night sky for a final burst of energy that will bring the corpse to life.

-T