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Pills' Log...the Recording (Shark Sandwich)
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January 16, 2003 -- We begin recording tomorrow, but this record started a long time ago. When Joe joined the band last summer, we had some of the songs completed, with a few more in the works. Since then we've been refining those and writing even more songs, while playing gigs to make them tight. We were first scheduled to be in the studio in late October, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we've had to postpone several times. But at last!! They have to record us this time, our gear is already there!!! Today at lunch I went over to Guitar Crapper to pick up extra strings and picks. Sammy took the amps and guitars from the rehearsal room to The Cookie Jar (2 & 1/2 blocks through the T.L. on a dolly no less!!!) (Thanks Jeff!), and Joe cabbed it over later with his kit. Then tonight, (right around dinner time again. hmmm.) Erik Dyba showed up and we tied up a few loose ends in the details for the sessions. Then The Man, Sam Adato (of Sam Adato's Drum Shop, 238 9th St., SF 415/863-3786) agreed to show up early tomorrow to help out by tuning up Joe's drums. They're gonna sound great!!!!! Thanks Sam!! January 18, 2003 -- So the day started about 10:00 a.m. when Joe & Samm met up and hauled Joe's drum set over to Sam Adato's Drum Shop, where Adato pulled some kind of Harry Potter moves and made the drums sound CHERRY! Hear for yourself when the record comes out. So we started set-up at about 11:30 a.m. and took a lunch break at 12:30. So far, so good! Back to work at 1:30 with the rest of set-up and getting sounds. It was great to have extra hands like Michael for the set-up and Matthew B & Jamie later on (thanks guys!). Tracking begins at approximately 5:00 p.m. We warmed up on a few numbers and hit our stride a few tracks later, when we rolled straight through about 7 tunes. We stopped for dinner some time later, but we're not sure what time, since we tried not to watch the clock. Dinner put us out, and it took a little while to get back into it, but once we did, we were cranking again, and made it through another 5 songs or so before ARRGGGHHHH - WE'RE TOO LOUD FOR SPEARHEAD. Yeah, Spearhead is working downstairs in Studio A, recording vocals and for some reason he didn't want Joe's kick drum in his back-ups. I guess what we had to offer wasn't quite the sound he was going for. So, we took another hour or so as a break (and listened to a couple of tracks from Dyba's band, very cool and experimental). So now it's after 2:00 a.m. and we have two songs to go. So, moving a little more slowly now (14 hours after we started), we knock out these last two and listen to it, but somehow Joe wasn't quite satsified. With ANY OF IT!!!! So, to appease Joe, in classic Pills form, we crank through the whole set of 15 songs, without stopping, fingers bleeding, spit flying, and the band grinning!! It was AWESOME!!! (NOTE: We found out later that the moon was full at exactly 2:48 a.m., right when we started up the set!!!!) At the moment, we can't quite remember exactly what happened next, as all we remember is waking up this morning (thanks for the wake up call Mom). So now, it's back to the Cookie Jar. Check out a few pics from yesterday here. Stay tuned for overdubs, vocals & much much more!!!! (NOTE: It turned out that Joe ended up sleeping at the studio. We all left together, but Joe got home and realized he was locked out of his apartment, so he headed back up to Hyde st. and slept on a couch, and then went to work in the morning.)
January 21, 2003 -- First we should make note that we haven't updated the log in the past few days because we we've been busy recovering. The second day of the sessions started at Noon on Saturday. Joe had to work so it was up to the rest of us, but the songs have been very insistent in their own creation, we've just been guiding them along. We listened to everything again, deciding which takes would be the "keepers." So we started off with fixing up the bass lines, and midway through that Cory (bassist in Dyba's band) dropped by. In his bag he just happened to have this amazing real tube bass distortion pedal, and offered it up to the record. (It was a Budda) We had been working on A.M. Song, and it wasn't really speaking to us, but I plugged in to the pedal, and the song just came to life. It was great, listen for it on the record. Around 4:00, Joe showed up, beat-ass tired, but with a bit of a glow about him. We played a few of the tracks for him, and he said "let's try one more again, I think I can do better." So we agreed to play Burn again, our slow song. Joe jumps behind his kit and 20 minutes later we have not only Burn, but also Face Sux and Ditch as "keepers." Joe is a real stickler, and that's a good thing!! By the time we were finished, Joe was O.U.T., so he stumbled out toward home, not be heard from again on this day. Dinner time called for sandwiches, so we headed out. Emerging from The Cookie Jar, we realized that the war protest at Civic Center had taken over the streets. (MAKE RECORDS, NOT WAR!!!!! that's what we chanted all the way to Quiznos). We we got back to working, Samm was up on the mic, cold bustin, rhymin and crimin, knocking out two or three right in a row, first takes. Nothing like loosening up with a little help from Mr. J. Beam. In fact, Samm wasn't the only one loosening up at the Cookie Jar that night. But I digress. In order to rest our voices, Samm and I took turns working on our vocals the rest of the night. Before we knew it, it was 3:00 a.m. again, and we were spent. Time to hit the showers... January 23, 2003 -- We sent a stereo mix of Fly me to the Moon down to Ben Rod & Eric J. of Bigger Than God, to add background vocals and a guitar lead. They tracked the session at Pepper Studios (which is Eric's studio), and are sending the tapes back, hopefully in time for mix down.
January 28, 2003 -- We finished all the tracking in one session on Sunday. We got into the studio early (rock 'n roll time) around 10:00 a.m., and started by setting up the guitar rig and warming up the vintage tubes in the Top Hat and the KM54. Then we listened to everything and decided which songs needed additional overdubs. I re-did a few background vocals, Samm re-did a few of his lead vocals and added the backups to A.M. Song (one of our newest songs) and then Joe showed up. We had him add a few cymbals swells that we had thought up while listening to the rough mixes.
Lunchtime. We headed over to El Castillito for some burritos, tacos and other delicious stuff. Superbowl Schmuperbowl.
Back to the studio to start in on the guitars. Erik & Samm got some very mean sounds, with a variety of pedal and amp combinations. Samm was possessed. We just kept working and working and then all of the sudden we realized that it was midnight, and the tracking was done. Next stop: Studio A at Hyde Street for mix-down.
February 4, 2003 -- Back into the studio on Thursday and Friday 1/30 & 1/31 for mix-down. This time we were in Studio A; a bit of a change, not as homey as The Cookie Jar, but with a bad-ass Neve console. Samm and Erik got started early and were joined intermittently by Joe, Steve & Dave Armstrong, Cory (from Erik's band), me (Candy), and many others I'm sure. It was great to go over the tracks and really listen to them. Erik's doing a great job, and he's into it, so it makes it that much cooler. We stayed until about 1:00 a.m. on Thursday, with the idea that we could come into the session fresh on Friday. And Friday was fresh!!!!! By the time I showed up after work, they had already done a lot of work, with great results. It's been really interesting to watch the tracks become more and more refined. It's also been really cool to watch our songs go from nothing more than a few chords on an acoustic guitar to these absolutely blistering, massive rockers. YEAH!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!! Sorry about that, I just got a little over-excited for a moment. We only had access to Studio A for Thursday and Friday, so it was down to the wire -- and we were there until 5:45 a.m.!!!! We didn't quite finish, so we'll have to find some time to get back in and finish up the last few tracks, but I think it will be good to get a little break from the project for a few days, and come back to it with fresh ears.
March 17, 2003 - Mixing has been going well. Steve Armstrong and Samm had a great session last week. They bounced the tracks we had chosen for mixing from the Adat masters to 2" analog tape, and now they're mixing that through the Neve, and, of course, all the cool gear in Studio A, onto 1/2 inch tape. We expect to have the mixing finished in the next few weeks and then we'll take a few days to listen to all the mixes and pick the finals. It's taking a little longer than we expected, but it's just got to be the best it can be, so we'll keep on working until it's done.
Check back later this weekend for the continuing saga...
Day Three. Noon again, we could get used to this. Even though we'd been working long hours, exerting a lot of mental and physical energy, we were still so excited to be working on the record, and felt like we could work forever. We started out by listening to the tracks from the days before. The sounds Erik is getting are better even than we had hoped for, and we've had a lot of fun working with him. It was just Erik, Samm and me that day, so there was a little less traffic through the studio. We got to work on the vocals again, finishing up mine first. Samm got up and worked on a few back-ups, and also re-recorded the vocals for Hell, since we had decided to go with a different take (of course). We were thinking we might get to the guitars that night, but we worked all the way up 'til 1:00 a.m. and decided we'd be better off starting fresh another day. So, we are set to be in the studio again on Sunday, 1/26 to finish the guitars and anything else that needs to be done. Then we plan to mix in Studio A at the end of the month. Check here for some pics from Saturday and Sunday.
When we left the studio on Saturday morning about 5:45, we were walking up Larkin and something in the sky caught my eye -- I looked up and saw what looked kind of like an airplane, but it was glowing purple and moving VERY fast. I said "HEY! What's that?!?!" and as it flew out of view, we ran across the street and watched it for a few more seconds. The vapor trail was intermittent; it looked like a sky-writer writing morse code. Samm thought it was an airplane (he is color blind and couldn't see that it was purple), I thought it was some kind of military jet or something. Since it was already morning time, we decided to get some breakfast before we went home. When we got home, the news about the Space Shuttle Columbia breaking up was just starting to come on. It took a little while before we realized that we had actually seen the Shuttle, moments before (or perhaps as) it began to over-heat!!!! NASA
reported that the shuttle flew over San Francisco at approximately 5:52 a.m. PST, and that the first sensors went out at 5:53 a.m. PST. I feel lucky to have seen the Shuttle; I feel like it is significant that we saw it, but I don't know how or why. But I'll tell you that the color of the light in the sky was beautiful; spectacular. I believe that although it is sad that the astronauts died, I cannot imagine a better way to die than while actively engaged in one's passion, and these astronauts were PASSIONATE about space exploration.