Not that we are sick of being constantly asked how the CD is coming along, or when will the new CD be released, but... This page will keep you informed of every step we take in completing the project. We will keep the chart below updated, and when the Mix column is filled, expect a CD release party to be headed your way.

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Follow along with the progress of our new CD
  Title Bass J. Guit F. Guit Perc Keys FX  Mix  Time
 Annabelle Lee  done  done  done     whales  done  4:09
 Apache '99  done  done  done  done    echoplex  done  5:15
 Consuela's Revenge  done  done  done      Horns!    
 Cutlass Supreme  done  done  done        done  2:58
 Devil's Slide  done  done  done        done  3:09
 Jonny Foo: Ninja Chiropractor  done  done  done        done  3:47
 Moon Over Marin  done  done  done     swells  done  3:20
 The Saracen Gift  done  done  done        done  5:07
 Rt. 666  done  done  done  done    feedback done 3:45
 South of the Border  done  done  done  done   Horns!  done  3:01

 

Last Studio Date: Wednesday, April 28xxxxNext Studio Date: Tuesday, May24

Last Sudio Log Page Update: Thursday, April 29

 

Studio Log

Thursday July 29 - Pollo records "Devil's Slide" and Herb Alpert's "South of the Border" at a studio called Conscious Sound in San Rafael. This is a small, funky studio with good mics. There are Star Trek posters all over the walls, and all kind of new age ephemera. Our goal for these recordings is to maintain our live feeling, and to this end, we record with all the amps and drums in the same room. This will limit our ability to overdub or fix any blown parts, but that is part of the live feeling. By having all the equipment in the same room, we are able to record without headphones. This adds tremendously to our ability to interact musically.

Wednesday July 29 - first mix for "Devil's Slide" and "South of the Border" these are slated for compilation CDs and have to get done quickly.
Sunday August 9 - Pollo lays down tracks for four songs: "Annabelle Lee", "Jonny Foo: Ninja Chiropractor", Edvard Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King", and the Dead Kennedys' "Moon Over Marin". Tracking goes really well... Annabelle Lee is cut completely live, and will require no guitar overdubs. Again we track with all the equipment in the same room, and use no headphones.
Sunday November 22 - Pollo lays down tracks for four songs, "Consuela's Revenge", "Apache", "Cutlass Supreme" and "Rt. 666". We had planned on recording "Carol of the Bells" as well but there was a scheduling mistake, so we had to get out of the studio earlier than we thought. We again record with the amps in the same room, but for some reason (the guitarists are playing too loud?) there is too much bleed between the guitars, preventing any kind of overdubbing on the guitar parts. Crisis? We have to leave the studio early, so we don't even get a rough mix to fixate on. (Actual photo of a Rt. 666 road sign submitted by Jaxon Two Moons).
Sunday December 6 - First a listening session to see if the tapes from the last session are usable, or if the guitars have bled into the drum and room mikes preventing any overdubbing. We determine that the bleed factor is ok, and the drum and bass performances are fine. But since there is so much bleed between the guitars, all of the guitar parts will have to be redone. Jono overdubs his guitars for the songs from the Nov 22 session. Jono also adds an accoustic guitar to "Consuelo's Revenge" and fuzz guitar to "Cutlass Supreme" and "Rt. 666".
Wednesday December 23 - Back at Wellhausen Studio in San Francisco and again working with Gary Mankin, who produced six tracks on "The Ocean Is Not For Cowards". All we did today was a re-mix of "South of the Border," as the earlier mix was deemed unacceptable.
Thursday January 21 - I won't go into the boring details of our technical problems, only to say that I almost had a heart attack with our tape transfer problems. Tonight we overdubbed the guitars of "Cutlass Supreme" trying to reproduce the testosterone levels of a 15 year old male who has just stolen Mom's car for a night of joy-riding. Still, some more technical problems as not one, but two Echoplex's malfunction.
Wednesday January 27 - Mel Waldorf from Los Meltones was kind enough to loan me his Showman Amp and Jazzmaster so I could lay down a truly authentic surf tone for "Annabelle Lee." Wow was that fun. Thanks Mel. Also finished tonight was "Rt. 666" with massive layers of feed back juxstaposed with twangy rockabilly guitar tones. The road to hell has been paved...
Thursday January 28 - Guitars galore for Moon Over Marin, Jonny Foo and a critical listen to "Hall of the Mountain King". "Cutlass Supreme" got a funky wah-wah part in the second verse.
Tuesday, February 2 - A short day today as we just worked on Apache '99 . Lots of atmospheric volume swells, gratuitous echoplex feed back and vibraslap. We play Apache much slower than any other version of the song, and dare I say it, much more psychedelic. If you notice in the graph above that the guitars for "Consuela's Revenge" have to be redone, this is not because of a recording problem, but because the song's choruses have been re-written.
Tuesday, February 9 - I fufilled one of my all time dreams today, by plugging in two tank reverbs and an echoplex in a chain (with a volume pedal, echoplex and wah-wah pedal too!) to create some otherworldly ocean waves as a sound effect in Moon Over Marin. Annabelle Lee got some "whale calls". We mixed "Moon Over Marin".
Monday March 1 - Jeff came in to replace the bass parts on "Rt. 666" and "South of the Border". Chris did percussion on the same two songs, adding congas and shakers to "Rt. 666" and shakers to "SOTB." Also, the three of us replaced the vocal "horn" parts on "SOTB" with an "in-tune" version. We also had some fun adding body and mouth percussion to the song. Even though "South of the Border" has already been mixed and released on the SURFIN' SENORITA compilation, we want to spice it up a bit with some trumpet and other latin flavors for our release.
Thursday March 4 - First a remix of "Moon Over Marin" to make the reverb-waves louder, then mixing for "Rt. 666" and "Devil's Slide".
Tuesday, March 9 - Another mix of "Devil's Slide" with more effects and flanging, as we tried to give parts of the song an other-worldly feeling. Then we mixed the epic "Annabelle Lee". I am sure that Edgar Allen Poe would be satisfied.
Monday, March 22 - Overdub session tonight for "Consuela's Revenge" with Jeff bringing in his new standup double bass. Jono also recorded parts for the song, first with his electric guitar, and then with an accoustic.
Tuesday, March 23 - Ferenc's turn to overdub the melody parts on "Consuela's Revenge". "Consuela's Revenge" is about a woman who finally catches her cheating husband in flagrante delicto after years of suspecting, yet denying his wicked behavior. When we were arranging this song, we never talked about the changes in musical terms, but always about what the characters were doing, and what their motivations were and how the music could reflect that. This is as close to an opera as we will ever get.
Thursday, March 25 - Tonight we mixed "Cutlass Supreme". With this mix we were truly trying to capture the feeling of being 17 and blasting the 8-Track stereo in your mom's car. This song has to sound good on a mix tape stuck in-between Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper" and "Highway Star" by Deep Purple. Looking forward to our next session which should feature JAB from the band HERB, who is coming in to do horn parts on "Consuela's Revenge."
Friday, April 9 - Today started with some quick guitar overdubs on "Apache '99" (a soprano chorus) and "Jonny Foo: Ninja Chiroparcter (guitar solo), then we mixed "Apache '99". I am really happy with our version of this standard. Slow, ominous, sad, quiet with layers of echoplex atmosphere.

If you have been watching the grid above, you noticed that "Hall of the Mountain King" was dropped a few weeks ago, and replaced by "Untitled" which has now been named "The Saracen Gift". We recorded this track in August of 1997, and felt is was vastly superior to "Hall".

Monday April 12 - No big deal tonight, just a mix of "Jonny Foo: Ninja Chiropractor."

Here is the true story of the song... A friend of ours, who has to remain nameless due to a legal settlement, was at San Francisico International Airport waiting for a flight to Hong Kong, where he was consulting on a 6 million dollar networking contract. His plane was delayed several hours, and he passed the time in the airport bar, drinking. Well, the flight ended up being delayed more than 8 hours, and he got pretty sauced. When the boarding call came, he demanded an upgrade, but somehow got reclassified as baggage and was stuffed into one of those plastic trays that airlines usually use for garment bags. When he arrived in Hong Kong, he couldn't remember anything about the flight, and couldn't explain the claim check stapled to his jacket. Needless to say, after spending 18 hours in a coat bag tray, he was walking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and his hangover left him as groggy as a punch drunk fighter. Unshaved, dishevled and in great pain, he ambled aimlessly about the streets of Hong Kong. As he wandered down an abandoned alley sometime after midnight, he became aware of movement in the shadows around him. At first he was sure that it was stray cats, or street people rolling over in their sleep. Suddenly and without sound, a man dropped from the fire escape above him, gripped him around his neck and shoved another arm stiffly into his lower spine. In broken English, the black clad warrior said that he noticed slipage in the disc between the number 3 and 4 lower lumbars. Our friend, fearing for his life, broke into a cold sweat and almost wet his pants. Again, without warning and with extreme prejudice, our friend felt his spine pulled, stretched and straightened. Each individual vertabra from his coccyx all the way up to his neck cracked like a ratchet. A euphoria came over our friend, like a deep spiritual awakening, with visons of health and prosperity for all his family, and generations of progeny. As he stood erect and finally opened his eyes after the seemingly hours long astral dream, he turned to thank the mysterious doctor for his work. But alas, as the smell of breakfast rice cooking in the street merchants woks pervaded his senses, he stood alone, watching the dawn sun rise at the end of the alley way, somewhere in Hong Kong. Reaching his hand into his pocket for a breathmint, he found a card, one side printed with a row of unitelligible Chinese characters, the other side carried a simple introduction: "Jonny Foo: Ninja Chiropractor."

Wednesday, April 28- A fun night tonight as Jab from the band HERB came in and laid down trumpet and trombone parts for "Consuela's Revenge" and "South of the Border." Sadly this our our last studio date until the end of next month, but I guarantee that the CD will be completely mixed by the end of our next two studio sessions. Whoopee!

 

 

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