Spirits Without Hats, Bossawampire, My Apologies, Semannetics
The couple of weeks since the entry have been slightly productive and riddled with both fun and frustration. This is where we stand so far:
After finishing "Hands Are Tied," we moved on to "Spirits Without Hats," which is all done except for guitars and bells/whistles. For some reason, the day we did this one, I wasn't on at all and couldn't find the right sounds to come out. In fact, I still can't find a tone badassy enough for the rhythm guitar in the verse. Here's what's left on Spirits:
-Piano on selected parts, such as Em/A changes.
-Keyboard to accent bass on "...best things happen..." part (maybe the same part, maybe something different to counter/compliment it)
-Sea Change-like keyboard part on D/Em/G/Gm and D/Em/F#m/Em
-Guitar solo on last verse - looking for a tone that sounds jangly like the power pop of R.E.M. or The Smiths, most likely to be hard panned like something on Radiohead's Hail To The Thief.
-Rhythm guitar that is badassy enough for all of our tastes
Next was Bossawampire. Ben's intonation has been giving us some problems, but otherwise, this track is sounding about like we want it to. It feels a bit flat, so we are probably going to add lots of cool harmonies, auxilary percusion, and keys. One of the things I haven't decided on (I speak only for myself because I don't think this thought has occured to the others) which instrument/combination of intstruments will play the chords. The more closely that I listen to records, the more I understand that too many guitars would be a ridiculous mistake, so I'm thinking instead of two guitars, we'll have the bassy rhythm guitar (Patrick's Epiphone) picked melodically and laid over piano on the verses with vocals (the first two), and save the jangly lead guitar to be played with piano chords on the solo (third) verse. We still have to decide which instrument will play the solo on that last verse, but I'm thinking a violin would sound best. However, it might sound nice to melt it into some lead guitar (think the solo verse of "Muzzle of Bees" on Wilco's A Ghost Is Born.) The key to this song's creepy mood with be all the harmonies.
We have gotten off to a good start on "My Apologies," mostly because the nature of the song requires little extra effort on our part. We have finished the drums, bass, rhythm guitar(s), and my vocals, but still have Merey's vocals, the solo in the third verse, and the ending. Some major things we must decided are which instruments (other than Merey) will play the rivaling melodies and chords at the end. I am no longer a huge fan of how the end of this song sounds on the EP; it sounds like our goal is to confuse the audience in order to impress them. We must keep it simple. Yesterday I listened to Rubber Soul for the hundredth time and had a revalation, can you tell?
Semannetics now has drums, acoustic rhythm guitar, and scattered keyboards. I'm incredibly excited about this one. It's our gem, I feel.
June 22, 2005
Today we recorded the drum tracks for both Bossawampire and Spirits Without Hats. All that's left of "Hands Are Tied" is re-doing some vocals. On Spirits, I recorded all the acoustic parts and some shaker to go over Patrick's toms. While we messed around with it a bit, I don't think anything on Bossa is worthe keeping other than the drums and certain violin parts. Things are going well.
June 21, 2005
Day 1, Hands Are Tied
(Martin)
We started off at around 12:30 in the afternoon and spent a while discussing what we wanted the drums to sound like. For a while we fancied the idea of some simple country licks on snare with brushes, but decided that to get it on tempo Patrick should play the beat that he was comfortable with and that we would go over it later. In the end, we just kept the beat that you hear at the live show.
Next I did a rhythm guitar track using Patrick's Gibson acoustic from the fiftees using only my hands. Earthy and subtle, it was exactly the sound I imagined for the song. However, the handpicked chords weren't quite sturdy enough to stand alone, so Patrick suggested I do another track with the same guitar but with a pick and together they sounded excellent. Reed's acoustic bass, hands down, has been given the Bitchiest Instrument Award for its tuning inabilities. In other words, he was forced to record with the old fashioned electric. You'll be glad to know, as we are, that it sounds swell anyway.
From the time we finished all the rhythm stuff our time was split between dicking around and recording. We finished the vocals, but we found later that the software - with its numerous glitches - had deleted random vocal parts. For example, Merey is missing from the second chorus and I am no longer in the third chorus. Therefore, it should be obvious that we have a bit to do before the song is done.
The last thing we did was what we like to call accent guitar. There's a part in the chorus where it goes from an alto/baritone two part harmony to a sorprano solo, the latter part of which we thought sounded very empty, so we added a lead guitar that we made up on the spot throughout the chorus and it filled the void. I used Brian's '72 Custom Telecaster for that lead and rhythm accents on the C chords in the chorus and the Em to D bridge part. I've always really liked the way acoustic and electric with a little drive sound together, like on Pixies' "Here Comes Your Man" or every song by The Smiths or the recording of Semannetics we did last year and plan to use it wherever appropriate. We only have a little bit left to do on this song, most of which is adjusting levels, and plan to start on (and probably finish) Bossawampire tomorrow.
(Reed)
Aside from my frustration with my new acoustic bass, this day was highly productive and enjoyable. Most people probably don't realize how in love with country music Reed Indeed is, but hopefully that will change with the debut of this recorded version of "Hands Are Tied." Though today's work sounds a lot like live Reed Indeed, it will eventually be made into the earthy, alt-country hit of the season.