Making a Record: Gimme Some Rivum Guitar

When you start making a record and you’re doing so without a drummer, the songwriting process can be different, especially if you are a rock band. After writing a huge batch of new material in the last six months, we knew we were going to have to arrange these on our own with little or no rehearsal.

We finished up the first batch of drums last week and decided our first instrument after that should be rhythm (rivum for you slangsters) guitar. We made a conscious decision on this record to stay away from too much acoustic guitar as it tends to be a little sonically messy. We wanted a tighter, more focused sound.

As an experiment, we decided that I should play one batch of electric rhythm guitars. Not only would it be a different approach in tone and in style from Chris, but it would be simple enough that George could easily reproduce it live on electric – something he’s been working on.

So, Chris and I sat down tonight to get started. We both felt his Fender Strat was the guitar to use since he’ll be using his Les Paul and his Gibson 355 for most of the record. The Strat is a nice contrast.

We also really wanted a very raw, barely distorted and kinda nasty sound for me. Think Neil Young or Tom Petty or Jeff Tweedy – something that would fit but also make sense for a front person. We got some really great, bright and biting sounds running the Strat through Chris’ Mesa Boogie tube distortion and his Fulltone Full Drive, alternating between the two. As usual, we ran through his 100 watt Boogie combo amp with a Sennheiser mic in front.

We managed to knock off five songs and they really sounded great. Adding rhythm guitars really helped to bring the songs into focus as ROCK songs, not just skeleton outlines of acoustic guitar, bass and drums.

It also re-emphasized just how great the drums are going to sound with the rest of the band. They are SO different from what we’ve done in the past, but the fit in SO well with what we are doing now and the whole thing just makes sense.

I’ve got a couple more to go in this batch before we’ll move on to other stuff and get ready for another batch of drums, but the results this time were really promising.

Recording the demo…

Guero’s, Austin (SXSW) – March 21, 2009

A few months ago we were panicked because we had only three, maybe four new songs to record. Well, all that’s changed. About a month ago, we hopped on the the writing train and we haven’t yet pulled into station. We now have 19 songs to choose from, all of which, have very catchy hooks. I know every band says that, but we actually mean it.

It was Chris’ idea to build these songs from the ground up. In other words, record demos and build parts around them. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been in the studio laying down drum tracks. What I actually mean is that Jeff was programming drums and Chris and I were giving him our two cents worth. The process was long, but in the end it will be worth it because we will be able to give the tracks to a drummer (Steve Salazar is no longer in the band. Another story for another day) who will be able to play what we want, or at least close to what we want.

Last night, Jeff and I finished recording the acoustic guitar and vocal parts for ten songs and were happy with the results. Finishing this step will give me a chance to perfect the vocals before I record them and Chris a chance to work out guitar parts. It will also give us all the opportunity to “hear” other instruments and vocal parts that will work. I like this process alot. It gives you alot of room to be creative and find things in songs that you wouldn’t find any other way.

Normally, we book a CD release party before we are done with the disc to give ourselves a deadline. What has happened in the past is that we procrastinate and then have to rush at the end. We don’t want to do that this time around. The pace with which we having been working has been great and we made a pact not to rush things with this record. We feel this is the time to make “the” record, and we are going to take the time necessary to do it. The way things are looking, we should probably have something ready to release in the spring of 2010.

Stay tuned. It’s going to be a fun ride. Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook
Twitter