Out of the comfort zone, time flew and how many bleedin takes?? Great experience though.
On Saturday last week we went into Redbridge Studios in Breghtmet, Bolton to record 3 of our favourite tracks from our Classic Punk set. No spikey hair, no studs, no tartan, no bondage trousers...just 3 chaps dressed-down with our instruments and a cup of tea. This was my first experience in a proper studio (Phil & Mike have done this before) with a 'real' recording booth, professional recording equipment and what I can only describe as one of the most knowledgable, helpful & passionate guys I've ever met...Neil the producer. A top guy who has worked with some of the best musicians in the business (I particularly liked the photo of him with Chad Smith (RHCP) who, upon closer inspection, looks a dead ringer for Will Ferrel).
The whole aim of these recordings isn't to prove anything, merely an extention of the hobby we love and if anything a personal keepsake, although they will feature on our new website when I can find the time to finish that off. I must say I 100% agree with a statement LGIT Gary made the other day - along the lines of recorded material can 'lose your edge' - The Sugar Bullets are a live band through & through and in my opinion, no matter how liitle or over produced these tracks will sound in the end, they will never match the raw energy & attitude of a live performance. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really really excited at hearing the final outcome.
We recorded live, no backing track and no click track, although naturally vocals and additional guitar tracks were recorded seperately - I don't know any different so can't go into detail on this one. The first song we did, 'Sound of the Suburbs' by one hit wonders The Members took bloody ages and I lost count how many takes we did...we've been playing this song live for 3 years but for some reason one of us would fuck up at some point...admittedly mostly me lol. After a while once we were comfortable with the alien environment, we proceeded with confidence recording The Damned classic 'New Rose' and then the ultimate Classic Punk anthem 'Anarchy in the Uk' by The Sex Pistols, both taking less 'takes' than previous but nethertheless enough not to want to hear the feckin songs for a while (well until Friday's gig at least).
I cannot reccomend Neil and his co-worker Gareth enough, offering advice from start to finish. We're hopefully going back for the final mix-down on Thursday evening and then I'll post a link to the tracks on here for those who wish to have a listen.
It was a great experience indeed (we're still alive anyway) and I hope we can do it again maybe later in the year...for now here's a few snaps...
Dean
