We just completed the cover shot photo session for the new record. It was a blast. For any of that session to make sense I need to tell you that we're changing the title of the record to "Working Until I Die"
Why is Royal Monaco on the trash heap (for now)? We spent a great deal of time talking about the concept for the album design. Royal Monaco is a car, in fact the first car I learned to drive, but I liked the title because it could be anything. When we started working on exactly what the cover should be it was difficult to nail it down.
We talked about shooting a car, but i did that on the 2004 record, Road Side Service. Not interested in a cover that comes to close to that one. So, that pretty much ruled out a car image.
We also began to look at the songs that made the record and how they might be related. Royal Monaco was conceived as a title before I had even written some of the songs that will make up the playlist. When I looked at the 13 tracks that will make up the record I started to see a through-line.
I saw a smart article the other day that examined which 10 year span in the history of the country has been the worst. The civil war years were, if I remember, the worst. WWII, The Depression, are all up there...and the last ten years - from Sept 2001 to Sept 2011 are in the top five. Not to bring the room down, but it just seems that whatever safety net we ever had...rising home prices, a pension...those things are gone. Perhaps never to return and so like I say in the song, "I'll be working until I die."
So, when I look at the song list I see titles like, Little Less Fun, I Ain't That Kind of Cowboy, Coming For You, and the mentioned, Working Until I Die I saw aggressive subjects....fighting, insisting, mourning....working hard and refusing to give up. I still couldn't quite nail it down.
One night over many beers Tony Horkins said, I've got it. This about is about working until you die and it should be called, Working Until I Die. Damn he was right.
So WUID it is. That fed right into our cover photo, which we shot in the most bland and soulless corporate office we could find. Here are some behind the scene's snapshots. I felt so fortunate to have British mega talent photog John Chappel on the job. His work is amazing and although I haven't seen the final images I'm confident it's going to be great.
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WHAT'S NEXT?
We're deep in the post-production stage of this record. The songs are being mixed in Boston. We're getting email tracks every day - making notes and rushing around to listen in different sound environments. Some people say to me, "Who cares if it sounds good? Everybody just dumbs it down to MP3's and listens with ear buds. It doesn't need to sound good!" I just can't do that. I still have my fingers crossed that someday we'll be back to the high fidelity world, and I want the record to sound as good as it can. Even if most people won't notice. I'LL NOTICE!
So there's mixing, mastering (more on that when it happens) album art design, and manufacturing. I'm projecting a January 15 completion date...keep your fingers crossed.
I just had the extreme good fortune today to attend an intimate acoustic "show" with Dave playing solo in someone’s home. As I drove away on my scooter, I started thinking about the lessons I had just absorbed from this master songwriter and performer.
If age ever mattered, It doesn’t now
There is this notion out there that an artist’s best work is done in his younger years, and by the time he’s past 50, certainly, he’s done as a creative force. The press loves to take a legendary artist and then compare a new song they’ve heard twice to a song they’ve been living with for 30 years. This happens daily. But to my ears, Dave’s powers of melody, story and songcraft are increasing. And the signs of age, only add to the personae and gravitas of his work. He doesn’t need to dye his beard or wear a wig or pretend to be 25.
Respect the New Material
Dave will play an old song, but he plays the new stuff and he stands up next to it and says, “This is as good as anything I’ve ever done.” He doesn’t beg you to sit through the new material as payment to hear an old favorite. He treats his new material with love and dignity.
Give The Audience Some Help…
Dave talks about his songs. He sometimes gives you a sentence, and sometimes a whole story. But whichever way he goes, he gives you just enough to be in the world of the song. You’re hungry for every word. You’ve been completely primed for the experience.
…But Don’t Kiss Their Ass
Dave exhibits great dignity even in a humble surrounding playing for 25 people. He doesn’t glad hand and kiss ass. He’s there on business, and he means business. He stands apart, warming up and getting ready. He’s not taking himself too seriously, but he takes the work seriously.
We've rapped up our time at Kingsize Soundlabs. Let me give you a rundown of what happened.
5 days of all day long studio work is a little disorienting, but at the end of the day the majority of the 11 tracks we recorded went down between 2pm Monday and 4pm Tuesday. The band played and played and played. I have to hand it to Tony Horkins, Josh Fleeger, and Larry Marciano. I was not sure if these guys could record live as a unit. It's pressure-filled and you've got to have you A game working. They all kicked ass.
After 4pm tuesday we started thinking about fixing the little mistakes we made but keeping the basic tracks. So, for instance, 98% of Josh's bass track would be fine. Josh would either punch in and fix his mistake or Producer Paul would find a note somewhere in the song that was the same as the flub and cut and paste the fix in. This is an amazing and terrible tool. Luckily, we didn't have to do too much computer magic to get things where they should be.
Then Larry and I began playing around with different guitars to create some interesting tones on top of what we already had. The details of all this may bore some readers, but I brought two amps into the session. A 1965 Fender Deluxe reissue and a 1964 Fender VibroVerb reissue. The idea behind re-issued amps is that a company will pull the old original schematic for a very popular amplifier and make a new version. It let's you get your hands on the old fashioned sound without paying thousands and thousands of dollars. It's also important if you're a traveling band because things had a tendency to get stolen. Losing an original 1965 deluxe on the road would put me in the frame of mind to slash my wrists. So, this is a good option.
The deluxe was too noisy, so we used the big 'un, the vibroverb to cut my guitar parts with my Gretsch 6120 guitar. Once we had that tone down we went back with my beloved 1976 Les Paul and THE studio amp, an actual late 60's Fender Princeton. It's a small amp, but it just sounds perfect.
Then Larry came in and did some additional parts, mixing tones and parts. We've got some video of Larry sitting with Paul and working on guitar parts.
Then I cut some mandolin, some B3, (very basic B3), and a little Farfeeza organ, which you may never hear in the final product. Just experimenting. Along the way tony jumped in when someone had to have a smoke break and cut tambourine, shaker, and other percussion.
Because a man can only sing so much in a day, I tried to cut vocals a little each day. But of course, we're doing all this in 5 days and that doesn't leave as much luxury for 11 songs as you might like. By Thursday night I had knocked out most everything. Friday morning, I was patching up a few parts and leaned in too close to the mic, causing it to distort. When it comes to guitars distortion is a good thing, and a slight distortion on a vocal is also pretty charming. If you listen to the old Otis Redding records he drives that microphone so hard. It distorts at every turn, and man, he sounds great. I've never done it before, but Paul liked what he heard and so...I basically RE-SANG in the entire album on Friday. One right after the next...Bam, Bam, Bam. I was a mess when it was over.
In fact I had to go be on a radio show...hosted by my friend Shark. 103.1 is the station and I've got some photos here from that as well. WHAT A DAY! I even met Donald Duck at the radio station!
So, by the time we got to the end of the evening on Friday we had 11 tunes, lacking only some overdubs. It was hard work and an amazing experience. I'll keep you in the loop as we continue forward with ROYAL MONACO!
[caption id="attachment_1288" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Paul manning the board..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1289" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The team after a week of hard work..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1290" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The man in the booth..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1293" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fleeger lays down his massive and imposing licks on the ugliest ovation bass..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1294" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dont ask..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1295" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="I bump into Donald Duck at the radio station..."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1297" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="The Indie 103.1 studio and DJ Shark..."][/caption]
KINGSIZE SOUND
Glassell Park, CA
So, here we are at 5pm on the 2nd day of our work together. All 6 of us...band, producer, and engineer packed into a smallish studio. We've cut some of all the tunes we want to record. It's been a new and interesting process for us. I was talking during lunch today how in the 14 years that I've been recording professional records in studios not one time have I ever tracked the entire band playing at the same time. That may come as a shock to many of you, but it's just not the typical way bands work anymore. Scheduling can be hard. Getting 4 guys in a room together is a challenge. You need a studio that can accommodate four or five players in such a way that isolates their instruments. These kinds of studios are typically more expensive. In fact, many of the places I've worked would not even allow for the tracking of a full drum set. These tiny studios are perfectly good for recording vocals, guitars, etc...but you're usually in there all by yourself.
The recordings are built one instrument at a time, like a brick wall. The bass player never sees the drummer. The lead guitars never sees the singer. It's an odd way to do things, if you think about it, but economics and convenience win out time and time again.
This is a different animal. All four guys are playing together. I'm singing, although the vocals are just for a reference. We'll re-do them when the band isn't playing.
AND as if that's not all enough, we're doing this without a click track. A click track is a metronome that the drummer listens to while he plays. It keeps him strictly on tempo and makes it easy to overdub at a later time. We're going bareback. No click. Au Natural. It makes us subject to the whims of drummer Tony Horkins. If he speeds up, we speed up. So far, it's been fine, but you never really notice that stuff until you start to record things over it. Then the changes in tempo that happen during a tune hit you in the face.
Typically, we're arriving at 10am and playing together until 6 or 7pm. Sending out for lunch. Fixing odds and ends when when need a break. It's focused work, with a dash of pressure...and exactly where we want to be.
So, here's some photos, a little video documenting the last couple of days. We're working on the following tunes...
Along For the Ride, She Don't Have a Clue, Try Me, Everyone Loves Me When I Am Drunk, Coming For You, Scene of The Crime, The Honky Tonk Special, Sweet Little Girl, I Fall For It Every Time, Working Until I Die, and Trouble Knows
Hi everyone,
We're announcing the pre-sell for the new Grant Langston record, ROYAL MONACO. We're asking everyone to pre-buy a copy of the new record to help fund the recording. We're trying to raise $8,000 between now and June 29th. We NEED your help. Please click the widget below to contribute...and THANKS!
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I've been thinking about Country music these days. I just did an interview with Tex Troester of The Groovy Rednecks and he voiced what I've heard over and over, (and said over and over) that modern Nashville Country music isn't really country music. It has been lingering in my mind and so I had an experience hot on the heels of that interview that really turned me around and gave me some insight.
I was in a diner and there was no one else eating but me. They had a TV on turned to some channel that plays country music videos, and the waitress was clearly a fan. After watching her mouth the words to a few songs I finally said to her, "Can I ask you a question? That sounds like rock music to me. What makes it country music to you?" and see said:
"It isn't the music that matters anymore, it's what they're singing about."
Lightning Bolt - BAM!
Wow. I think I get it.
So, the fact that the music has none of the musical traits of country music is barely even noticeable to modern country music fans. No fiddles? Who cares? A music that is VERY reminiscent of 80's rock....doesn't matter. Because the thing that attracts them to it is a celebration of a political philosophy, a lifestyle, habits and preferences. And when you listen to this music that's exactly what it does. In fact, Supermodel bassist Josh Fleeger and I often make up modern country songs when we're traveling. They all go something like this:
"I like my baseball cap. I like to drink cold beer. I watching football games, no lazy city-boy here."
It's just about imagining what you think a rural guy likes to do and then parroting it back. If you think I'm making this up, here is a snippet from a song performed by Jason Aldean and written by Big and Rich and Vicky McGehee called, "Hicktown"
"Little Jimmy Jackson is jackin' up his Bronco.
He's gonna lay a little rubber later on at the truck pull.
An' all the girls are getting' pretty... they're sprayin' on the White Rain.
Yeah, they're gonna get a rowdy tonight down at the football game."
and so the people who hear this scream, "WOOOOOOOOO! That's what we do!"
So, this how it is these days...and another part of this is making a big deal out of being from the country, and making a deal negative deal out of people from the city.
from the same song:
"We hear folks in the city party in Martini Bars,
An' they like to show off in their fancy foreign cars.
Out here in the boondocks we buy beer at Amoco,
An' crank our Kraco speakers with that country radio."
"their fancy foreign cars"? Where do the people live that Jason is singing about? Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords are the best selling cars in America...all over America. What's going on here?
It strikes me as good old fashioned Red State/Blue State trash talking. Only I can't imagine a pop or rock song with "Blue State" lyrics like,
"We hear folks in the country party in rundown bars,
An' they like to show off in their broken-down domestic cars.
but here in the city we buy scotch at Whole Foods,
An' crank our iPods with those citified blues."
Pretty silly, I know. So, the country songs love to rave on about "Out here in the country..." and "Them fancy city girls..." and the other side has nothing to say.
__________
One of the reasons I prefer the old country is that generally it's about people and their stories. It's about "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "Big City Turn Me Loose and Set Me Free". Hank Williams didn't sing about America kicking another country's ass with fighter planes. He sang about his broken heart.
Country music's strongest suit has always been the human element that is common in all of us. It's universal. It isn't us and them. It was often about the rural life, but not in a way that tore down the other side. At least that's what I thought....and then I remembered Hank Williams Jr, who I have always loved.
Hank Junior....with his "Country Boy Can Survive" and "Dixie on My Mind" which has the classic line referring to the North, "If this is the promise land, I've had all I can stand. Wish I was down in Houston town tonight." This is late 1970's music and Hank was all about us versus them. He even has a song complaining about a gallon of gas costing $1.10. Not everything Hank does ages so well.
THEN I remembered Merle Haggard, my precious Merle. What the hell was "Okie from Muskogee" except an anti anti-Vietnam song. "You don't love it, leave it.!" Now, I went to see Merle recently and he mostly apologized for that tune. Saying that it doesn't reflect his viewpoint, but maybe's that's even worse. He was just pandering to get a hit. Say it ain't so Merle. However, it's clear that the business of Us versus Them songwriting isn't a new trick. And I suppose pandering to an audience with "I like to drink cold beer" isn't a new trick either.
____________
So...there it is. One of the tiny twigs of country music - the lifestyle celebration - has become a major branch. They've dropped much of the musical language of country music, but they've kept the crowing about tractors, beer and the rural life. Is that okay? Sure, it's fine I suppose, but i feel like it misses one of the best aspects of this great genre -- songs that are so personal and real that we all feel them deep inside. It's something that country music does better than anything else.
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WHAT'S NEXT?
We're deep in the post-production stage of this record. The songs are being mixed in Boston. We're getting email tracks every day - making notes and rushing around to listen in different sound environments. Some people say to me, "Who cares if it sounds good? Everybody just dumbs it down to MP3's and listens with ear buds. It doesn't need to sound good!" I just can't do that. I still have my fingers crossed that someday we'll be back to the high fidelity world, and I want the record to sound as good as it can. Even if most people won't notice. I'LL NOTICE!
So there's mixing, mastering (more on that when it happens) album art design, and manufacturing. I'm projecting a January 15 completion date...keep your fingers crossed. 
-----
WHAT'S NEXT?
We're deep in the post-production stage of this record. The songs are being mixed in Boston. We're getting email tracks every day - making notes and rushing around to listen in different sound environments. Some people say to me, "Who cares if it sounds good? Everybody just dumbs it down to MP3's and listens with ear buds. It doesn't need to sound good!" I just can't do that. I still have my fingers crossed that someday we'll be back to the high fidelity world, and I want the record to sound as good as it can. Even if most people won't notice. I'LL NOTICE!
So there's mixing, mastering (more on that when it happens) album art design, and manufacturing. I'm projecting a January 15 completion date...keep your fingers crossed. 
