Back in March (though in retrospect it seems like a mystical time, years ago and long past, that only our great, great grandparents know the true tale of) Greg and I decided to engulf on the journey of making an EP in my workshop aka the jam space we use at my house that holds the slight and lingering scent of cat pee.
It was meant to be simple. We would record the songs and release them in the hope that we would attract a drummer. With this in mind, Greg and I agreed early on that we were completely against any sort of auto-tuning, because we wanted potential drummers to really hear us, and not the computer alien versions of us.
Now. Back story. We had been auditioning drummers for quite a while and although at times we saw potential in the men (it was only ever men) who came out, we just couldn’t find “that” person who fit in with us in sound and personality. You would get one or the other, and at times neither at all. For the record, and to be out-rightly sexist for a moment, if a lady drummer had tried out the rarity of her breed would have probably caused me to completely lose my shit and just bear-hug her until she agreed to join us…
Side note story: Drums were the first instrument I decided I HAD to play when I was a child. I loved Sandy West from The Runaways and Patty Schemel of Hole, and the second I saw the child-sized drum set I would later save all my money for months to buy, I knew I had to have it and hit it repeatedly, if only to give my mother’s pots and pans a break from my incessant thrashing. The point of me telling you this is that ever since, I’ve grown a curdling rage towards the lack of female drummers who are readily seen in media and on stage, because there needs to be more bad-ass, hard-hitting women out there! Seeing Zoe Bell pummel and conquer on the silver screen just doesn’t cut it some days. And yes she isn’t even a drummer, my alluding to her is completely out of context…she’s just AMAZING. I don’t even care how transparent her “acting” is, or that in Death Proof this lack was compensated by Bell playing herself. You don’t need to play a character when your real life self can ride the hood of a car in a high speed chase, or be kick-ass enough to be Xena’s stunt double and on top of that be the reason why people believe Uma Thurman could ever cut down scores of Yakuza ninja types unscathed, all by her lonesome. I want to see Zoe Bell’s new movie Raze.
But to steer this boat back to the point. Greg and I had been going insane, and just needed something, anything to happen. We set up a recording space in the workshop, rented gear, borrowed some from a few fantastic guys (I’m looking at you Brian, Jer and Mat) and we began to record whilst eating “guaccus” — a guacamole/hummus hybrid with magically delicious results. Come on up and see me sometime, maybe I’ll make you a bowl 😉 … …But call first. No one likes it when someone just shows up and demands to be fed. I’m not your mother! Did things just get weird? *repress, repress*
We started by recording the drums, then the bass, the guitars and finally the vocals. Greg played all the instruments, except for one acoustic guitar in one song *brushes shoulder off like someone who does that* and I sang all the vocal parts. We each recorded the other and produced, altered and added along the way. But we also encountered technical difficulties from the start.
On top of that (and to take a personal moment to whine a bit), earlier this year I couldn’t seem to help from being ill. I would get better from one virus or infection and a new germ would mosey its way on in. Needless to say this caused some unneeded stress and wear on my voice – some of the vocal parts were actually recorded when I had a throat infection, so that’s not great. Our set backs didn’t just end there however. At one point during recording Greg’s computer – the computer we’d be using for ALL the recording – broke down. And it stayed that way for quite a while.
This caused for some changes. Not only did we decide not to record a song we had originally wanted to include in the EP, we also had to wait until Greg’s computer was functional again in order for him to edit, mix and master what we were able to record.
Now. I just want to take a moment here and give some major props to Greg. I don’t want to get into every dirty detail and mountainous hump we ran into during this process, but Greg is a CHAMP. Not only did he have the technical know-how that basically enabled our entire recording process, but he put the songs together. I mean sure I was there to constantly be a little bird on his shoulder, pecking my revision notes into his ear, but Greg put in so much post-work with these songs, it was amazing. I mean the boy even learnt how to master!! That’s pretty impressive.
But anyhow, long story concluding, we are finally done!!! We can stop rocking back and forth in the corner and share some music! It’s just in the nick of time too, that corner gets chilly. And winter IS coming. I don’t care if that quote is overused, I like it. You’re not my mother either!
Indeed.
EP for all! We hope you enjoy it 🙂
Hunter's Night 