A Partial Beginning

Today was, in all accounts, the first proper day of recording – a fact I find both invigorating and terrifying as fuck. We started out pretty easy, with laying down some vocals for one of the calmer tunes, a song called »Odessa« that is the former title-track of the album. It's a sort of bland word, but I guess what draws me to it, is this very serene and isolated quality it resonates. But after deciding to name the album »Odessa«, I googled it and soon learned that:

A. it is the name of »Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen« or »Organization of Former SS Members«

B. the title of a Bee Gees album.

You do the math. Nuff said.

Once vocals were in the bag, we moved on to guitars and I finally got to try out my latest eBay find – a black Gibson ES-335 dating back to -91. It sounded exactly as perfect as I had anticipated – after a little tweaking and intonation magic – courtesy of Rolf.


It's feels kinda strange being back in the studio and having done all the writing beforehand. Usually what happens is, I write some song at home on my guitar, and then book studio time and just go with the flow. We toy our way through each song, adding instruments as we see fit, and never having the faintest idea as to where the hell we might end up – for better and for worse. But this time around I did most of the writing and "pre-producing" during my eight month stay in Berlin. So every guitar lick, all the drum parts, bass lines, vocals and backgrounds have already written, demoed and tabbed. This is a new and pretty fucking kool way to go about things, 'cos it enables me to move seamlessly between songs, recording guitar or vocals or whatever – without having to wait until every little piece is in place – 'cos they already are. Now we just have to re-record everything – due to insufficient sound quality – and hopefully leave some space for play time and improv. I feel very optimistic regarding the outcome of things – but as someone said – »The proof will be in the pudding«. True indeed.

So after a fruitful day in the studio, I came home, had an argument with the Mrs, that eventually turned into a full on and stupid fight, ending with her leaving and me making a tomato sauce to die for (I'll post the recipe here some day) and opening a bottle of Tommasi Amarone. It's hard being married some days, and even harder having a little puppy that requires constant and undisputed attention. Well well, somedays I'm amazing and some days I'm a fucking asshole. Some days I'm a little bit of both – but then again, who isn't? Without the downs, the ups wouldn't even register.

But let's not end on a sad note … let's end with a quote from my man, Groucho Marx: »Time wounds all heels«.