All Photos taken at Rotary Records by Haoming Chang
Topu Plays the Theremin
Randy’s hanging out with a 60 year old guitar.
Steven through the looking glass.
Topu warming up in the mixing studio
Chuck Sokol
Warren over the desk
Steven’s plays octaves in front of a 200 year old pipe organ.
Warren…the rightful owner of Rotary Records.
We arrived back at the “church” to finish our EP at 10pm on Saturday evening. We had the usual catching up to do with Warren and Chuck of Rotary Records and Offensive Tie. We had a listen to some of the rough mixes and smiles overtook our faces inspiring Steve to jump right in and finish his parts. We worked/played till about 1am when Warren and Chuck had to call it quits for the evening. 1am is like early evening for Skidmore, so left with nothing but an empy church and no Johnnie Walker, what else was there to do but play a few rounds of hide and go seek.
We were lucky to have the company of 18 year old intern Haoming Chang as she brought out the kid in us (ok…you got me…we would have played anyway, but she was a great addition to the game and added an extra sense of inspiration). Steven, wise in the way of hide and go seek, requested that we only use one floor. Topu and I were in doubt that there wouldn’t be enough places to hide, but we were schooled in this notion. Whether it was between the box spring and mattress, or under a heaping pile of dirty laundry, we found some very inventive places to hide making for a successful game of hide and go seek. At around 4am, we had to force ourselves to sleep as we had a long day of recording ahead of us.
10:30 roles around and we literally were kicking Topu to wake him up. We drove to the local eatery run by a sweet family. Even though the food was sub par, they put a lot of love into it and it fueled us for the day!
Back to the studio and into music making we went. It was a 1 take kind of day. Everything was feeling really great. The recording session culminated into Topu, Steve and I gathered in a circle singing our oldest new song “sun in the sky” in an old school kind of way. There’s a lush three part harmony throughout the song that we wanted to capture like they would in the Beatles era. So we gathered in the big open reverb room of the Church (I had been waiting for this moment) and nailed the harmonies. It was a very bonding experience. We weren’t sure that we could pull it off, but we were very happy with the results.
Again, a big thanks to Chuck Sokol and Warren Amerman who made for a truly wonderful recording experience; From our wonderful apartment on the bottom floor to the amazing studio that Warren built from the ground up (minus the 200 year old church). It’s always tough to leave a place where you feel so at home. I can’t speak enough good things about Rotary Records. I leave with a tear of happiness.
Now stay tuned for the new EP due out September!
bzzz
SF
Thanks for all who came out to our show last evening. It was beautifull and physical. Lots of moving hips and even out of control dancing. And to put a cherry on top of that, what a special surprise to have Justin Tranter, lead singer of Semi Precious Weapons (the most beautiful man in the world), to do a special cameo to bring in Steve’s Birthday. Do not miss Semi Precious Weapons show on June 6th at rebel. If you haven’t checked out one of their shows yet, you are in for a treat!
We are heading off to West Springfield in less than 4 hours to finish our upcoming EP due out September. We’ll keep you posted and let you know if they let Johnnie Walker into the church this time.
1, 2, 3, 4…the set begins as the light fades into a blur. The drinks are being passed from bar tender to citizen. Beautiful people surround as your enveloped by cello landscapes. Rhythms are undulating your pre-show involvements. You are taken into a blissful dreamlike state as you move with the delicacy of the guitars and float on into many familiar places and scenes. The curtain drops and the fun has just begun.
The excitement endures as we hit the Stage of Arlene’s Grocery on Friday May 23rd at 10pm sharp! After several days in the recording studio we are prepared to put on a fiery show. As we have been working day and night to produce enough new tunes to record our unexpected new EP release, we will have, may I say, 6 fresh tunes to share with you! We are very excited to introduce our 2008 sounds to Arlene’s Grocery. It’s a fine place to play and a fine place to spend a Friday evening. Where else would one rather be than the Lower East Side in New York City on a Friday evening. Ok, maybe Williamsburg, but you know, sometimes you gotta give it a “break”.
We just returned back to New York after an amazing couple days out in West Springfield, MA. We were expecting something great, but this was beyond great. We had not only the luxury of recording in a mansion of a 200 year old church that has been converted to a recording studio, but we were surrounded by some fine amazing musicians, producers, engineers, and friends. I want to thank Warren Amerman and Chuck Sokol for being so great to work with. Thanks to Mike Kreher for making sure everything happened!
The first night we arrived we met Warren and Chuck for the first time. Warren owns Rotary Records, the 200 year old church, and gave us quite a warm welcome. Well, we brought the whiskey, but he is just so kind and very inspiring. Warren tapped me on the shoulder as I was setting up my equipment. He saw that I pulled out my tele, so he decided to grab his which was an original from 1962. Then he pulls out his princeton, also from the 60’s as well as his lime green Gretsh. It just didn’t stop. Loads of insane vintage gear and tons of Church reverb.
We were off rehearsing for our big day under the influence of several glasses of Johnnie Walker’s Red Label and the most echo that Skidmore has ever embraced. We settled at about an hour of a jam and then we ventured to our little apartment on the first floor of the church. As I was drinking water I hear an immense amount of laughter coming from the bedroom. It was Steven rolling around on his bed laughing out of his mind. Don’t ask me.
The sessions went amazing. We got much more done than ever expected. Topu, Steve and I will be heading back out to the Church at the end of the month to finish up. Then the final mixes, then to the mastering plant, off to duplication and voila, our record will be released.
Please stay tuned for more details. Unfortunately our camera had no memory and our video camera had a dirty head. No footage, no pics, but believe us, this was something not to forget.
We are heading back to the studio in less than 4 days! We will be recording several new tunes to release on a fall EP. The recording will take place at Rotary Records in Western Massachusetts. The studio sounds amazing as its a 200 year old church that was converted into a recording studio. We’ll be taking off from the city on Sunday and spending a couple days out there to record the basic trax. We have arranged some brand new songs that we are really excited about recording. Surely we will be playing most of the new tunes at Arlene’s Grocery on May 23rd. We’ll be keeping updates of our sessions, so stay tuned.
bzzzz….
