Bigfoot Chester in the Studio 1/17/16

Bigfoot Chester went to the studio the other day. Currently the line up is Me, Bill, Walter and a random drummer... Any drummer that's cool and can play a Blues groove. This time it was Matt Puryear. A couple of special guest showed up for a couple of the tunes. Gary from Black Eyed Vermilion and Scott Biram (from Scott Biram).

Ever since I started playing with them (20+ years ago) Bigfoot has been on the edge breaking out in to the international superstar market and those guys should be the secret weapon needed to send us over the top!!!! That or some people who actually love Blues music (and/or Scott and Gary) will pick up a couple of good singles. One of those two scenarios seems inevitable.

The session went well. We did it with Kurtis at Million Dollar. Five tunes in five or six hours, not bad. It was another relaxed session where we just knocked shit out. The two tunes with the "hit makers" took a longer than the others. There was a lot arranging and learning goin on even after we made a couple of passes at those tunes.

It would have been nice to practice with the drummer (this time Matt) for more than an hour the week before we went in... Gary made it for about twenty minutes of that rehearsal and Scott showed us how the tune was actually played once he got to the studio. Our shit isn't always the tightest and planning is not our strong suit.

I'm not complaining, all of us knocked it out of the park considering the amount of prep involved (and I'm sure mixing will cover most of the "glitches"). Someday I'd love to go in with a few rehearsals under our collective belts. That record could be amazing!!!

Mixing the Ladies

There have been a couple of good mixing days on the new "Ladies" recording. Everything is at the tweaking stage and we (may) have something out soon.

The recording process is pretty cool. You put down layers and layers until you get some you like then you massage them in to a coherent track. Inevitably in the middle of all that there are some moments where your thinking "umm, we thought that was a good idea?" But after a little finessing you can generally make the pieces fit into something cool. Just like life, working with what you got is all you got. We got something pretty cool with this one.

It's possible that we are riding on the creative edge of music and we may have invented a new style, Jungle Soul! All of those drums (that really come out heavy on the recording) mercilessly beating away with sweet soul rhythms gliding over the top. It's a powerful sound that makes your ass bounce at the same time. That is art to me.

Kurtis is still a lot of fun to work with. There are definitely times when we are fucking around and not getting much done, but that's balanced by knocking shit out fast and right. It's all about knowing what your doing.

More ladies in the studio

BC and I went back to the studio last Saturday. She knocked out all of the keyboard parts and I'm pretty sure, I knocked out all of the guitar.

We got there around eight and BC set up in the control room. She'd never played keys on anything with me, just bass. So there was a fair amount of figuring things out in the early stages, but she quickly got past that and moved on to whipping some keyboard ass!!!

It was my turn so I set up the vibroluxe and got my rig ready. We started with doubling my earlier rhythm parts and then nailing each of the solos before we moved on to the next tune. Usually I would do all the rhythm then all the leads, but I guess I was kinda feeling it when I was playing the rhythm parts so we just went ahead and finished all the guitars on each song before moving on to the next one. 

I did a bunch of the guitar parts on the Tele (it's what I play most of the time with The Ladies) but I did a couple of them with my hollowbody Guild. Kurtis had a mic on the amp and a mic on the room so I stood by the room mic with the Guild, getting the sound out of the amp and right off the wood. It sounds extra thick and glorious.

I did a solo that was four bars of call and response on "First Time, Next Time". The odd numbered solos were slide on the hollowbody and the even ones were straight on the Tele. I nailed that fucker in one take for each part! That really feels good, like I know what I'm doing.

When I took a pass on the solo in "Wonderful" Kurtis really like what I did and he asked me to double it. I told him I had no idea what I'd just played, but I'd be willing to give it another shot. I did and failed miserably. I had no recollection of what I'd played just a minute before! We laughed for a couple then moved on...

This is why you work with someone like Kurtis, his only agenda is to get your music on tape. He doesn't have a specific way it "needs" to get done (although he is great with suggestions). If you say "I have and idea" he says "let's try it." That is the most important thing in a recording engineer. 

I'm headed back this Saturday to do the vocals. At that point we should have a nice little EP.

The Ladies go recording!

I got down to Million Dollar Sound after work on Saturday. All of the Ladies were already there and set up for the session when I showed up. I figured it would take a while to get both drum kits ready for tape, but Kurtis knocked that out in no time and when I got there he was making a beer run. The kind of pro I like!

I set up and we got to it. We knocked out the basics for five tunes and about half of the overdubs in a very casual five hours! We did three gang vocals (including doubling on all of them) I finished the vocals on two songs and we got percussion on two others.

Now all they need is some organ, a few lead and rhythm guitar parts, and vocals on the three I didn't already get. I might do a little solo acoustic instrumental I've worked up but that would be the last of the tracking. Then we'll be ready for mixing.

Boom. Another one in the can!

I have no idea what I'm gonna do with it... I might send it to some folks and see if they will put out an EP (or 45?) We might record six or seven more and make a full album. I'll have a better sense of it when they are all mixed up and pretty. Right now it's emailed mp3's played through computer speakers and it sounds great so it should sound a whole lot nicer when it's finished up and polished.

Recording is a ridiculous amount of fun and I can't wait to go back!

A short recording session

We went in to the studio to knock out a quick track for an upcoming compilation of protest songs. We chose "Kill For Peace" from the Fugs. It's a real simple song with a boneheaded easy chorus that repeats over and over.  We dumbed it down a little more by making the intro and middle section the same. Even idiots like us couldn't screw it up at this point.

Curtis from Million Dollar Sound was the engineer, but we did it in this rehearsal place down south called Space. We got our levels and ran through a pretty good version and went in to the control room and decided it needed a little more of the "Louie Louie" feel. So we dumb it down one more time and it's dead on.

We knock out the "village style" backing vocals and some guitar solos and we are finished with it all in forty five minutes. That's how the pros do it.

Working with Kurtis again got me thinking I need to get the Ladies in at his studio. Soon!

9/23/12

Bigfoot Chester at Million Dollar Sound.

I don't know who came up with the idea, but when I was asked about it I said "Hell YEA!" immediately. This was Bigfoot Chester with Ted Roddy singing and playing Harp. We did two of the Howlin Wolf tunes we've played before at the Wolf birthday party (we did those songs with Ted then) and we hit one that was a harmonica "duel". Two harps and a twelve bar in E, GO!

The first song Walter didn't even play on it. He just let Ted do his thing (so cool). I almost screwed up one of the endings in a big way when Ted was blowing some bad assed harp. I'll admit I'm easily excitable, but that solo on the way out of "You'll Be Mine" was pretty amazing. Walter came in to the tracking room to blow some sax on the second number and, of course, harmonica on the duel at the end. I can't wait to hear it.

This is the fourth or fifth location of Million Dollar Sound I've recorded in. As usual Kurtis has his shit together and his gear dialed in. Things were sounding really good and he is SO easy to work with. He got everything set up and three songs (five takes) with minimal overdubs done in under three hours. Thanks Kurtis!

A very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.