Like a Fly on the Proverbial Wall (Or is it the other way round?) - Number OneBlood of Wecz studio diaries, by Blood Of Wecz
Oooooh fire! How mesmerised do I look at the sight of a lighter?Good evening, and welcome to the first foray into the mind of Blood Of Wecz, or rather Scott RH himself (DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the individual and are not representative of Blood of Wecz as a whole). I think I was supposed to do something like this late at night. You know, those days when you get home from the studio, you've been behind the glass for so long that you feel like some sort of aquarium exhibit, and you've played the same verse so many times you feel like you have advanced tinnitus; well naturally, being the boring old shit that I am (at the grand old age of 28) I don't fancy missing out on my alone time with a cup of tea and a read of something on my Kindle later, so I'm sitting here while people mill around doing shit, pulling faces that make it look like I'm doing some ace recording technical wizardry and occasionally shining a flashlight into this box next to me that has a million cables and about 1,000 switches. Seriously, Gia must know what it does, but I have no clue. Still, I must look like I'm doing something legit, because none of the other three have questioned me yet.
Anyway, as I said before I went and got myself all distracted, welcome along to the Blood of Wecz studio diary thing. Each of the members of Blood of Wecz will be taking turns over the course of the next two months or so to bring you periodic updates of the sort of hilarity and musical mastery (allegedly) is going on in this here NY Studio. Apparently, as frontman, my duties include being the first one to blog and bring you the synopsis of days one and two. It's funny, because the last time we indulged in all this band malarkey, the responsibilities of the frontman were more to try out the cocaine and make sure it won't kill us, and take first pick of the
sluts women who were waiting outside the bus to have a good night. But of course, I easily prefer these new duties (FAO my dear wife), and I am more than ready to step up to the plate and bring you some coverage of how it is going down in the studio space at the current time.
Time to bow to popular conventions (for once), and bring you the story from the very beginning so that we have some semblance of continuation over the next few weeks (in spite of my desire to become some form of rebel once again all these years later). Let me tell ya, a recording day normally begins with waking up to some car or other being far too loud outside waiting to take me to the studio. I went to bed on Sunday night quite smug then that the studio is at the end of my hallway, and I could get up a minute before we were due to start. Unfortunately in the years since I last hit a studio, I appear to have become soft in the mind. Rather than waking up with a desire to shake off a hangover and hit stuff hard while screaming down a mic, I found myself letting out some sort of whimpering noise and burying my face in my wife's shoulder. That she was allowed to stay in bed for another two hours is some sort of cardinal sin. In the very least it must be a sackable offence on some scale.
It just came to my attention that much of this first blog is going to be me saying "Hey....check how it used to be...now I'm old and all this shit has changed dammit...". Hopefully you find that interesting. Time for another one. I remember hitting the studio in Philly in 2005. I was 21 and everything was waaay different. The first thing I would do after rising from my bed would be to go to the kitchen and cut myself some breakfast with a mirror and a razor blade to satisfy my own screaming craving. Here I was in 2012 though, aged 28 and a family man rather than a rocker. The first order of the day then was to make breakfast for my 9 month old daughter from a very different kind of white powder (DISCLAIMER: Powdered milk, just in case someone gets the idea that I'm feeding her speed or cocaine.) I then had to change her and get a shower. By the time I had been awake for an hour I had yet to even think about a studio. By this time in 2005, I had already recorded two songs working by this timetable (Say what you will about cocaine, but it is quite the work ethic booster).
Anyway, I managed to stumble into the studio a while later, a yawning mess of raggedy hair and stubble (there are some things that never change), only to be joined a few minutes later by Mark and Josh and possibly the most welcome cup of coffee that I have ever encountered. I had to reacquaint myself with quite a lot of the equipment we have in this place, because, as Mark kindly point out, it might be the first time I have been in one without some form of brain inhibiting or enhancing substance, be that legal or...otherwise, dancing its way through my mind. Anyway, it turns out I have picked quite a lot of it up in some sort o strangely hidden memory bank, and I know how to use most of it without having to drag the wife out of her bed to come and show me. I have a strategy anyway; if it comes to it that there is some piece of equipment that I dont know how to use, I'll just pretend we don't need it and move on. Adapting the sound of the record is a far more noble art than admitting, as a man, that you don't know how technology works. I'm kidding...
Anyway, day one was a wonderfully successful one. For those who have never recorded as part of a band, let me fill you in. This includes Josh, who we discovered around lunch time had only ever recorded on his own. The first day in any recording process with a full band will almost exclusively revolve around catching up with each other, because invariably the recording process is the first time you'll have seen your band mates since the end of the last touring cycle some months earlier. So in some respects, this was a very normal first day in a band. I just never thought that Mark and I would be trading stories about how he proposed to Layla Raine, and how my kids are doing and how Sophie is starting to walk now. Weird. We also discovered throughout the day that Josh is a very very boring man (I jest my good drummy friend). It is our intention, task and goal to make sure that he meets a woman very very soon, be it during this process or when we come to tour. He seems very hung up on a girl he was dating recently, who happens to be signed to my label...awkward haha.
I also found a pretty snazzy looking fedora round the back of a drum kit in here on the first day (You can see said hat in the pics above and below. I have no clue to whom it belonged before, or how it got in here, but I feel it goes well with my studio attire, so in spite of what Messrs Talley and Meyer think, it will be pretty much plastered to my head for the duration of this process. I genuinely wish I could tell you that there was some sort of magic happening on day one..but that was it. Like I said, this is how it tends to work with bands. We take the piss out of each other, we talk about what has been going on over the last few months, and we maybe touch on how the recording will work (in this case we didn't do that.) Still, I left the studio yesterday feeling good about working with these guys, which is half the battle. However, while in the past, I would definitely have headed the pub after a day like yesterday, I ended up going home and cooking dinner for my family. Mental.
So here I sit on day two, and I am happy to report that it was actually a hell of a lot easier to get out of bed this morning than tit was yesterday. That might have been due to the fact that Gia was snoring like some sort of tractor engine though, so I had to get up hahaha. Anyway, Sophie was crying this morning when I got up, so I brought her into the studio with me early. I decided to get here an hour before the guys anyway to make sure that I was much readier for getting down to some proper recording. I configured my sound desk, since Gi uses some odd pop settings on it, and Sophie pressed buttons that I'm pretty sure do nothing. Or at least I hope that's the case. She also pushed one of my favourite guitars over. The sound that came out of me when I saw it hit the floor was like the dark end of hell. Thankfully it was okay, and I was a little glad that her mum came to get her when Uncle Mark and Josh arrived to start working. Interestingly, I have already discovered that I really need to hire someone who can bring me a Starbucks Coffee every morning. This is bliss, and our Tassimo does not do the humble coffee bean justice at all. I wish I knew how Starbucks do it, and as I type this, I've actually just considered asking Gia if I can hire my own Barista to work in the house (can we?).
Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent here. Day two has been great, really good. I never knew I could slip back into full band mode so easy. This morning was all about jamming and trying to work out what sort of sound we are going to be going for this time around. Like I already said a million times, the desire to be a death metal band has diminished so far that it's just not even worth looking into anymore. So that took up a lot of the morning as we sat there with our respective instruments and played some parts that we think might sound good as Blood of Wecz. Given that we don't have a bassis this time around, I've decided I'll record bass and rhythm guitar, so I had to buy a Ibanez Soundgear bass guitar. It was fun playing that. It was a bit like when you're 5 and you put on your mum's high heels. It feels wrong, but it's fun because it's different.
Mark is here with a brand new ebony Les Paul guitar. The custom pick ups, double "Talley" EMGs are making me jealous as fuck. I need to get myself a new signature before we tour. Interestingly though, he brought in a Digita looping pedal, which understandably is something we have never used before given that we were playing metal. It is insanely fun though. I played around with it for like an hour, both through my guitar and my keyboard, and then both at the same time. I definitely think we will be doing a lot of looping and layering using these. I ordered a few for the studio already haha. Also, as I type this, I just accidentally played one of Gia's pop projects in here by leaning on the desk. Very good stuff. She makes me feel ashamed to call myself a producer haha. Damn you woman.
Anyway, I'm happy to report that after a morning of jamming and looping (does anyone else think that sounds curiously sexual?), we decided on a loose style and some riffs that we are going to work around. It's quite exciting actually. We will get to writing something more concrete tomorrow I reckon. I also just realised that I'm going to have to work on my vocals a lot more over the next few weeks, since I can't scream in these new songs. Hahaha. Thankfully I am an ace singer as well so it doesn't matter really ;)
This afternoon, we were paid a visit from JC Truman; a dude who has worked with Mark and I so many times on records that he was almost a part of this band. I called him in to talk through some of the sound stuff since we will be recording a very different style this time. We talked about using effects and keyboards, which we have never done before, and then we just chilled for a while and talked about the old days. I may have also enjoyed a cig. I was going to deny it, but the above pic is quite damning evidence. If Gia reads this, it was just one cigarette with an old friend, and I promise it is the only one ever babe. I think we got a lot worthwhile done today with JC. He gave me some good ideas and made me laugh like it was 2004. It was really great to have both his personality and his expertise in here, and I think we may bring him back in later in the process to add his signature style to the post-production.
However, as I write this, Meyer and Talley are taking all the equipment down and wrapping cables around stuff, so I suppose I should help before I go see my girls.
This has been the first two days update from Blood Of Wecz in the studio. I sincerely hope you have enjoyed reading about it as much as I have enjoyed being here. It was also far less of a chore to write a blog than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed having the chance to get my thoughts out there. And I love to talk...as you all know ;) It's been productive as hell these last two days, and it makes me excited about what we are gonna release at the end of it all. Hopefully you guys are looking forward to it too :)
Scott x
Yes...even my hat is cooler than you ;) 