Greetings from the studio, where Brandt and I find ourselves once again slaving away over the songs that someday you might own. I can't promise when, but I can promise it will be better than the Hold Steady. As I type, Brandt is doing his damndest to make sure a guitar part sounds awesome when played backwards. So far it does...
Because of my recent Uncle Duty and Hold Steady Ranting, I have been delinquent in updating you on my musical adventures. I have been spending many a day and night at Brandt's continuing to drive the seriously snowballing momentum that is the Hypefactor album. For the last few weeks we have consumed ourselves with this album. Yes, we have been working on it for many years, but honestly, with a new studio, new gear and some new tricks up our sleeves comes the the mutual desire to bring this album to a new and exciting level. That has led to some songs being scrapped (mostly cause Ash lost one) or completely overhauled all in the name of quality.
But that quality doesn't happen easily and nor does it come without help. In recent weeks, we have seen the Ass Cobras (minus the drummer, on whom we are waiting for the right moment to bring in) venture down to Marcy Avenue to bring the necessary talent and advice to take HF to a whole new level. Last week, Charles brought his fine self in to lay down the important low end on a newer song, the mostly electronic DON'T DREAM, JUST SCHEDULE, which will be the album's centerpiece, and he re-did his bass on the album's opener, THE MORNING AFTER THE LIFE BEFORE. You can just hear the quality rise with each note this guy plucked on the bass. Grooves to move your ass. You gotta love it.
Meanwhile, Ash has been here twice in 3 weeks to help us crack the album's newest song, the tech-rocker, Azumi (yes, named after the movie for the moment because I had just met the film's director the day I started working on it), which saw the three of us jamming parts of it out on guitars one session and then, last night, tackling the electronics in new ways that most won't expect from us. We're also making the effort to write in keys we never have before, in weird ways and the results are exciting (not that know what half of what I'm doing). Anyhow, the first session with Ash revolved around trying to do some electronics, which weren't working, so we switched to guitars and nailed the chorus and bridge. Further work saw B get the verses up to speed while I fiddled nonstop with the arrangement, which I would trade back and forth with B via IM (we now supposedly have our own server to save us tons of time!)
The second session with Ash took place last night and began with a nice round of beers and burgers at the awesome Dumont. There we discussed mostly Depeche Mode, which led to the three of us sitting in B's living room watching the DVD Docu that accompanies the reissue of everyone's favourite album SONGS OF FAITH AND DEVOTION. We hoped it would give us some inspiration and sure enough it did as Ash went house on the electronics in Azumi and took it to a new place, much to our delight. Now, as I type, a day later, the fruits of Ash's labour begin to blossom as B and I take turns in front of the computer trying out new arrangements and sound design. Your hero has even jotted down a few vocal melodies. Who knows, but I think this tune is a fucking winner. Dear Peter Saintface, please understand this is why I missed your show last night. You too, Murray. SORRY.
Each moment brings us a little bit closer to the end. It's very enjoyable time to be in Hypefactor. Someone tell Robin to get ready for my call. xoxo
F
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