The recording of the basic 8 tracks was done in literally a day and a half in early May of 2018. We approached it very much like a ‘live’ record. We did minimal takes, tried to capture a performance in its entirety, have fun, and move on. There was also lots of hanging out between tunes. It was pretty relaxed, even though we only had a couple days. It was the first time that both the Ian’s and I were meeting Vernon. Of course he and Aubrey go way back, both having worked with James Blood Ulmer for many years and having other deep New York connections. We were all getting to know each other in this fantastic studio in the countryside outside Toronto, and playing a few tunes. In fact, I’d never gigged with Ian De Souza, although I’ve been a huge fan of his bass playing for many years. Aubrey and I got together with him for a couple rehearsals before the session and ran some things just to get a feel for what would work, and it was clear from the get-go that things were gelling and we had a sound.
The first tune we recorded was Eleanor Rigby. Take one was a soundcheck of sorts, and as we were running it and getting a headphone mix, it was a challenge not to be intimidated by having Vernon sitting upstairs and listening to what was happening. I’ve been a big fan for a long time. Seeing him play live, the recordings, he’s such a creative force, and one of the greats. It was early afternoon, and he had arrived a couple hours earlier after doing a Living Colour gig in Florida the night before! The thing about Vernon though, he’s such a cool guy, it was all easy and we got right into things.
Nothing we did was worked out ahead of time, even which tunes we were going to do. I didn’t have a clue what I was going to play on solos, and we were sorting out arrangement ideas and grooves as we went along. We were not over rehearsed! For instance, on Eleanor, I had a little intro part that I had come up with, but as soon as we started that take, Ian went into this interesting little arpeggio line that was unexpected, so I just sat on the chord and simplified my part, and I think that set the tone for it. There was a lot of listening going on and things were pretty fresh. Vernon came up with the idea of ending it with a little chord progression from the middle of the tune, which worked out nicely.
Later in the process, when we were mixing all the tunes, there was virtually no editing of takes or solos. We overdubbed some guitar parts and some of the solos but didn’t comp anything from multiple passes. Even the overdubs were done with a minimal of fussing so that it feels pretty spontaneous I think. On Eleanor, I just added a 2nd chord part on the chorus to fill it out, as Ian is playing the melody on the bass.
Back to the studio. We had a couple of tunes done, and while things were comfortable in our nest, we could see all around us that there was a serious storm brewing up with gale force winds bending the trees. The power went down in the whole area, the local town, everywhere. Damn! We were off to a good start but mother nature had other ideas. Fortunately, studio owner and ‘man of many hats’ Dave Chester had a trick up his sleeve in the form of a backup generator, and we were soon up and running with enough juice to power the board and the amps, and we were back at it!
Chalet Studio is in a lovely rural area of Southern Ontario, not far from Toronto, with a gorgeous view from the main room of the rolling wooded hills of the area. Another bonus is that Dave and his wife Sheila Marie run a bed and breakfast there, so we were able to stay over, share a meal, and get some rest. Aubrey’s daughter Echo had cooked up some delicious food that got us through the couple days in fine shape! She also designed the cd layout and took some of the photos we used. The power eventually came back on, and I think Dave also took Vernon to Wal-Mart to get a hoody, as it had got a bit chilly with the storm and everything.
Day 2 – Vernon had arrived with his guitar and a pedal board, and we’d done three tunes but he hadn’t played yet. He was into it, but first, he had to assemble the stuff that he’d pulled out of his LC rig. It was a trip to watch him hooking things up. He’s certainly got a handle on that stuff.
We started with a tune of mine, ‘There’s Three Little Girls at the Window.’ It’s something that I wrote a long time ago, (way before I had 3 girls!) and had kind of forgotten about. I had pulled it out when I was looking for some stuff to play on a gig with Aubrey about a year before, and he mentioned bringing it to the session. It’s a departure from what we’d already done, and the first thing that we played with Vernon. I was on mandolin, and I remember wondering if it was too weird a thing to throw at him right away, but he got right into it and come up with some very cool sounds and an approach that worked perfectly.
The solo on this tune is the only one that I fussed with. I recorded one as part of the performance in the studio and it sounded fine. It was a very simple approach, but it felt like something else might be needed. So later I recorded another solo at Aubrey’s home studio. It was better maybe. I still wasn’t convinced, so I recorded another one when we were mixing at Ian Bodzazi’s studio! It was also fine, but… I don’t know. So at the next mixing session, I played a solo without the track! Just in the air. I had Aubrey sort of conduct me just for fun, and I tried to follow him, as he was holding his phone with one hand videoing it. Sometimes you just have to try things! We just plopped it into the appropriate space on the track, wiggled it around a bit, and there you have it. It may not be perfect, but it’s got a vibe and sounds like more of a departure, which I think works with the atmosphere that the guys are creating. I’m playing a lovely handmade mandolin by Allan Beardsell. You can also hear a couple of my kids giggling at the end of the track.
On ‘Can You Be a Different Guy’ Vernon came up with this sort of rocked up reggae comping thing by jamming on the groove with Aubrey, and then he recorded the solo very organically as part of the performance. I think it was the second take we did. The first take was the rehearsal. He even brought in those cool pads in the middle of his solo live, triggered by who knows how? I still don’t know how he did it! Some volume swells in the middle section were added as an overdub, and later at Aubrey’s studio we added the mandolin, and the goofy little fuzz guitar parts in the last chorus found their way in at Ian B.’s when we were mixing. We had a blast recording this with Vernon but forgot to turn on the video cameras in the studio. Ian and I were just jumping around being a bit silly, as it just felt so good to play the tune all together like that.
Another studio moment for me was recording the solos for How Much Longer? We had recorded the track as a trio earlier in the day, but had left the solos off this one. At the end of the day, Aubrey asked Vernon to record the second solo at the end of the tune. Vernon went down and did the solo in one take. Ian Bodzazi and I were sitting in the control room just looking at each other, and laughing. It was so good, and it sounded just like Vernon Reid! So here’s the thing, before the sessions, I had said to Aubrey that I had just one request. ‘Just don’t make me take a solo after Vernon, ok?‘ So what happened next? It’s Aubrey’s tune, so he gets to call the shots on this one. “Hey man can you lay down the earlier solo now?” No pressure or anything, but all I was thinking was, just don’t embarrass yourself. So I did a pass and played the lines off the top, the 2nd melody part and the first solo. I didn’t think that my solo had a great ending to it, and wanted to redo it. I think I probably wanted to redo most of my stuff. But Vernon thought it was ok. In the end, I think the whole thing has nice energy and that my approach is a good foil for his. Later at Aub’s, I added a few of the odd little bubbly sounds off the top and doubled the heavy rock line that happens under the solos, and it was done.
The three shorter ‘vignettes’ were recorded mostly at Aubrey’s a month or so after the studio sessions. He laid down the drums first on his own, so on these 3 pieces, we’re not playing all together as we did the 8 studio tunes. It was fun having a bit different approach. I layered some guitar and mando parts and played with some sounds and loops. I had a little idea for the tune that became ‘Here Comes the Right.’ It was the first thing we did that afternoon, and I had brought this old Burns electric 12 string that’s a pretty funky looking thing. I ‘prepared’ the guitar with paper clips, chopsticks, a capo, and so on, and started playing this odd little thing, which sounded pretty flakey probably. I remember Aubrey just looking at me and we both started laughing. Anyways, it’s in there.
For that piece, Ian D. had found an interview with Ayn Rand from maybe 1959, and taken a clip and added some wacky sounds to it. It fit the track perfectly! We thought it was badass, but wound up not being able to use it due to licensing issues. Instead, Aubrey and I come up with some text, and Aubrey did a great job of reciting it. Actually, his vocal on this kind of scares me!
It’s been such a dream to do this project with these guys! If we don’t lose too much money on it (the artists credo) maybe we’ll be able to do another one some day! As they say, streaming might give you exposure, but you can die of exposure!
I hope you enjoy the music, and thanks for your support!
