Recording Stories
As debut albums usually are, this project was the result of years of experience and toil in the name of the high art known as Rock. One of Dale Morningstar’s many repeated mantras throughout the sessions was “Ready to make some history?” He would intone this phrase as we were tracking the various parts of our record, as if to imply that by this act we were effectively joining an echelon and a tradition of recorded music that directly inspired us to take up the journey in the first place. We were now the record-makers, and our work would be preserved beyond the reach of time or death.
“Fell Like Bricks” was recorded over four days, March 27-30th, 2009, at the Gas Station Studio on Toronto Island, CA. It was produced and mixed by the legendary Dale Morningstar, a producer and musician that I have long-admired. Many of my favourite Canadian recordings were produced by Dale, including Thrush Hermit’s hugely influential ‘Clayton Park’ and many others. I can remember reading about Dale and his work back when I was a teenager in the north, where I read everything I could about indie-rock, due to the cultural starvation that grips such isolated places. Years later I saw him perform live and briefly met and spoke with him. I left that encounter convinced that he was the man who could make my music sound amazing.
The germ of the idea for this album came from our two previous live-in-the-studio demos, both of which contain songs that would be culled together for our debut. Those experiences showed us the value of working with people you respect and admire, so when we decided to make a proper album for the first time, Dale Morningstar was the first and only name we could think of. At last our goal of making a record with him was shifting into focus. We contacted him via email and sent him a few mp3’s from our demos, and shockingly he wrote us back and complimented us on our ‘blasting’ guitar sound. As a guitar band, it was so incredibly amazing and validating to receive a compliment from a producer/guitarist we admired. I remember printing out his first message to us, which said he liked the sound of the band and that he would love to work with us. I kept it in my pocket as a trophy, a defiant reminder that we were indeed making forward progress as a band. I have had many such totems over the course of our career thus far as a band. I find they can be helpful as you scale the endless mountain known as the entertainment industry.
We booked four days at the end of March. They were to be first sessions of the spring at Dale’s Gas Station studio, which is a place that is as legendary as he is. The studio has thus far survived two incarnations. The first on the waterfront of the mainland was ‘ground-zero’ for a huge amount of classic Canadian indie-rock in the nineties. After the turn of this century, Dale and his then-partner were forced out of there warehouse space due to an unscrupulous corporate landlord who raised their rent. Clearly they were not aware of what tremendous cultural history and currency they were disposing of in their greed. Nonetheless, Dale soon found a new home for his studio, which he now runs solo, on Toronto Island. The studio is part of the island’s arts community, based out of an amazing and funky old building which used to be the island school. The building itself has a communal living space, with a bunch of studios in the old classrooms for artists to live and work. The Gas Station is away from the building slightly, inside an antique school portable and grain shed.
Toronto Island feels very much like a place from a bygone era. In the summer, the place is rotten with tourists and sight-seers and locals trying to escape the thrum of the city. When we first visited, however, in late November of 08, the island was utterly deserted and peaceful. Very few people live on the island year-round, and those who do are the type to value solitude. Freed from commerce and the numbing effects of modern life, the island is a tranquil and beautiful place where it is easy to forget the outside world. Indeed, that was part of the allure for us as a band. We wanted to work somewhere that was aesthetically beautiful and free from distraction, so that we could really dig in on our recording and tune into our creativity. There are no car sounds on the island, no stores, and no banks. Just nature and peace and seclusion. It was more like going camping or taking a retreat than going to a studio.
Meeting Dale the first time that day in November was a real thrill. He sat and talked with us at length, and we discovered with glee that he was into a lot of the same music we were. We bonded particularly over Neil Young and Sonic Youth, and we discussed recording techniques and our vision for the album. He mentioned that we could record to one-inch tape, an option that is pretty rare these days, and he was very supportive of our decisions to record our bed-tracks together and without unnecessary editing. He also displayed an enormous amount of trust for someone we had just met, as he left us alone in his studio for an hour while he dropped a friend off at the ferry docks. We spent the time jamming and fooling around with the wide range of wacky instruments he keeps in the studio. After smoking a joint with him, we said our goodbyes and left buoyed by the experience and excited for our sessions.
The next four months were spent practicing earnestly and gigging in anticipation of the sessions. Through a series of band discussions, we put together a list of songs culled from our repertoire of originals. After two years of playing these songs together, we had a very solid idea of what was most likely to resonate with listeners, so the decision-making process was simple and easy to navigate. We selected 13 songs, lucky 13!
The location of the studio presented a few interesting challenges, the most notable of which was transportation. The island is reachable by city-owned ferry only, and private-use cars and trucks are not allowed on the island by law. Since the last ferry leaves at 11:30 PM, this also meant that we would have to stay on the island overnight in order to make most efficient use of the time. We were actually looking forward to the sleep-over aspect, as it was a huge bonding experience for us and brought us closer as friends. The transportation aspect was less enjoyable, but still fun in the sense that there was a giddy thrill in hauling all our gear over on the ferry. This was facilitated by an armada of shopping carts that I collected from around my neighborhood. We rented moving van to get all of our amps, drums, and guitars down to the ferry docks. The ferry staff was extremely friendly and allowed us to store our gear near the dock until the next boat was departing. We then proceeded to run back and forth across the dock pushing about 6 shopping carts until all our gear was safely onboard the ferry. Adam and Matt nearly missed the ferry, as they had been charged withparking the van and fetching beer. Once we were all aboard and the water moving beneath us, there seemed to be a collective sense of relief. Luckily it was a beautiful day, and we were able to get across easily.
Once unloaded on the island, Dale arrived to pick us up in the arts centre’s solar-powered shuttle bus, one of the few vehicles on the entire island. He remarked with some amusement about the amount of gear we had brought with us. I explained that since this was our debut album, we wanted to make sure that we had everything, just in case. It would have been horrible to be down on the island and realize that your guitar is broken and that you must return to the city to replace it. So, to be safe, we brought along an arsenal of guitars and amps.
Once we arrived at the studio, the business of actually making the album began. Dale welcomed us with open arms and made the studio home for us. Since the studio is also basically his home, we tried to respect his space and keep the place tidy. He told us later that we were the cleanest band he had ever worked with. I think we were all pretty proud of that.
The studio itself is one large room and a control booth, with a smaller isolation booth and the grain shed immediately outside, which can also be used for tracking since it is wired to the control booth. The whole inside of the studio is covered in wood, and adorning the walls are various rock and roll brick-a-brack and vintage Canadiana, like Hockey memorabilia. The place feels very vibey, very lived in. It is the most comfortable and laid-back recording environment we have ever been in. It’s more like a cottage or a rock and roll clubhouse than a studio. However, the sound of that studio is unmatched. Dale knows his gear so intimately, and has so much experience creating music, that the whole studio environment just oozes creativity. It is truly a remarkable place.
The first day was all moving amps and microphones around until we were ready to start recording the ‘bed tracks’. Our bed tracks, meaning basic electric guitars, bass, and drums, were recorded together as a band, playing in the same room. This was something that we had decided early on, and Dale encouraged it, as it helps to improve the all-important vibe. The amps were isolated, and the drums were set up under Dale’s custom-built ‘drum gazebo’, a plexi-glass and wood structure that kept the drums from bleeding into the other tracks, while still allowing us to maintain eye contact with Nick. After miking everything up, we basically jammed out the songs as we normally do in practice. This was also a conscious decision, as it was important to us to preserve the live energy and not belabor the whole process.
“The more you think, the more you stink.” This was the production motto of David Briggs, Neil Young’s favored producer and one of the last true demented geniuses to grace rock music. When we met Mr. Morningstar initially, he recited this phrase out of Neil Young’s bio ‘Shakey’ (one of the best rock bios ever, by the way). Taking that as our inspiration, we honed in on only what was necessary to make our record rock. We plotted out every overdub in advance on a large chart, so that we would have a path to follow as we overdubbed. Beyond that, it simply came down to not piling overdubs onto the songs simply because we could. We focused on what was truly important, mostly the vocals and additional guitar tracks.
The bed tracks for the entire record, all thirteen songs, were recorded that first afternoon, in the space of a few hours. Once we got warmed up and started laying tracks down on the tape, we really locked in together and put some great takes down. We did two or three takes of most songs, but there were a few where we decided to use our first take, since it captured the proper energy and intensity. I say this, not as a boast, but to illustrate that sometimes the first take is the best one. In those situations, you have to go with it. Dale seemed impressed at our speed and efficiency, and then I asked him what most people do their first day. “Not thirteen songs!” he replied with a grin. I gather that most bands these days belabor the process a lot more than we do. Again, I mention this not as hubris, but to illustrate what makes us different and unique amongst the seemingly infinite amount of rock and roll bands that exist at this period in history.
The tracking completed, we spent the evening celebrating and generally having a good time. We sat on the beach, lit a campfire, drank, smoked, and listened to “Dark Side Of The Moon” under a starry sky. The entire time we were on the island, I was entranced by the stars. In the city there is too much light pollution, but once you are island-side the sickly orange glow dissipates and you can actually see that beautiful velvety blackness, all tranquility and peace with the waves of Lake Ontario lapping at the shore. They say the island is built on shifting sand, that one day it will erode completely. All things must pass.
I cannot describe the deep satisfaction that I think we all felt in that moment, at the end of day one. Everything had gone better than expected, the bulk of the record was completed already, and Dale was making us sound amazing. All the pieces and filaments were coalescing, alchemy was underway. I remember lying on the floor of the studio, where we slept while recording, and feeling so happy that I had to fight back tears. I was on a high from the emotional release and excited just to be there, but somehow I managed to get to sleep.
We had brought along food and supplies, and we ended up sleeping there for two out of three nights. We cooked our meals in the Arts Centre, and the artists who reside there were all extremely nice and welcoming. Everyone was interested in what we were doing, and many became sort of our friends in a small way. We heard through Dale, that everyone was impressed with how clean and tidy we were. The Stormalongs: rocking you and keeping your kitchen clean!
Day two was all about vocals. I did all my vocals for the album in one uninterrupted session, lasting about 2.5-3 hours over that afternoon. I didn’t feel right about recording my vocals with socks and shoes on, so I was barefoot. As I sang these songs that I have worked on for ages, I looked out through the windows onto a beautiful spring day and the hypnotic waves of Lake Ontario. I have never had such an easy time singing. It felt like a magical moment, where I was completely in control and at the height of my powers. It was such a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere in which to record, just Dale and us and the songs. He was super-encouraging, and helped me work through the trickier spots by just being patient and supportive. All in all, I put down about 28-30 vocal takes that afternoon.
For ‘Snow Eyes’, I mentioned to Dale that I wanted a distorted vocal sound, so he had me sing through this Silvertone tape recorder from the 1940’s with an equally old square condenser microphone. The distortion was just the right amount and tone, and it helped to add a great, aggressive sound to that song. The vocal for ‘Snow Eyes’ that ended up on the album is the first and only take. I walked into the booth saying, basically, that I thought I could do better, and all the guys stopped me. So that’s it: one take, no warm-up. Its my “Twist and Shout” moment.
Otherwise, all of the vocals on the album were done through this amazing-sounding Neumann condenser mic, which Dale also used for Matt and Adam’s vocals. This microphone takes in all the sounds you want, and leaves out everything else. It captures the realness and the presence of the voice, and real human vocals are something we value highly as a band. All but one of the songs on the album feature double-tracked vocals, and many feature backups from Matt and Adam, which is a first on a Stormalongs recording. The vocals were the main element that we had identified as wanting to improve, so extra attention was paid to the backups in particular.
Day three was overdub day. We added some additional electric and acoustic guitars, extra bass tracks in a few places, and Nick added some extremely effective and flavorful percussion overdubs, just to add some spice to the stew. All of these overdubs were planned on the aforementioned chart on which we documented the progress of the recording. At this stage we also nixed a few ideas that we had earlier, with the feeling that it was important to keep the overdubs as tasteful as possible. In a studio environment with lots of cool instruments and gear lying around, it is really easy to lose yourself and your songs in the giddy thrill of adding cool sounds to something you composed in a very simple fashion. Rather than just adding overdubs indiscriminately, we focused on subtle sonic touches and things that helped to deepen the mood and atmosphere. Add only what is needed to make the song sound complete and full. The result is, we feel, something a little more organic than what is currently the norm in recording. The fact that we also recorded to tape also helped give the album a warm, bass-rich sound with a great deal of presence and immediacy.
Adam and I added extra guitars during overdubbing, including a few bowed electric guitar tracks, which is a sound I have always loved and used. This was our first opportunity to use them on a Stormalongs recording, though. Nick added shaker and double-tambourine, and a really cool broken cymbal overdub on ‘Kierkegaard’. Matt added some distorted bass to ‘Clowns’ and a few others, just to make the bass sound even more intense. Also for the first time we used acoustic guitars, which we laid down in the evening on day three, which was a wonderfully relaxing way to wrap up the tracking-proper.
Dale began mixing pretty much right away, getting three songs competed that evening before we wrapped day three. That left the daunting task of mixing the remaining ten songs the next day, but we had total faith that Dale would make us sound awesome and powerful. Morning on day four came with excitement and a little melancholy, as we neared the end of our project and our amazing journey. This was by far the most relaxed day for us, as we were essentially there to support Dale through the mixing process and approve of what we heard. I told Dale wholeheartedly that we trusted him 100% to do the mix, and I meant it. What you hire and pay these guys for is their professional ear, and the whole reason we went to him in the first place was to get his input. So we pretty much let him do his thing with the mix, while we alternated between playing cards and table hockey. The table hockey was a bit addictive, and Dale loves challenging anyone who will take him on. I must warn you, though: the man is a lethal table hockey player. I challenged him at one point while he was taking a break from the mix, and he completely destroyed me and won the game in under 3 minutes.
Every mix he did was fantastic. I remember being completely stunned almost that we sounded so good. It was everything I had ever wanted as a musician and songwriter. It was exactly the way I had envisioned the songs when I composed them, and I feel now that I understand better what it means to have a vision and see it executed. I will always be grateful to Mr. Morningstar for that, and I have told him so. I kept telling him that he was a genius, and with his typical wit he would respond with “I know”.
The day ended with us, the band, sitting stunned listened to Dale’s magnum opus, his masterpiece, the final mix of “Elucidate”. Matt commented that he felt like it was our “Day In The Life’, but as we all listened to the song, words escaped the beauty and power that emanated from the music. It is simply majestic. Immediately after we had finished that mix, we hauled all of our gear back to the ferry dock frantically, just in time to catch the last boat.
Recording an album is like driving across the country together. It’s a learning experience and a bonding experience, and the most fun you can possibly have creating something.