As promised, we thought it would be good to keep you up to date on behind the scenes of the recording for our debut full band album.  Now I know some of you were hoping for exclusive documentary footage of this truly creative process, but despite being extremely keen, Richard Attenborough unfortunately had other commitments.

So, you’re going to have to be happy with seeing photos of our days work.  We’re recording with the legendary Matt Alison in Dreamspace Studios – which is half studio, half abandoned bar and restaurant.  Fortunately for Dreamspace Studios, we haven’t quite figured out how to use the deep fryer yet.

(To start browsing the pictures now, click here!)

On Friday we spent the majority of our time setting up the drums and doing line checks, and then in the tail end of the day, managed to track live drums, bass, keys and guitar for Shopping Anthem, My Pirate Friends and Me, Good Old Days and Fly Away Today (Proudly South African).  We’re tracking as much as possible live to give the album a natural feel.  Or at least that’s what we’ll say in our acceptance speech at the SAMAs.  Only our bank knows the real reason we’ve chosen to do it this way. 

We finished off Friday by going to watch Iron Man 2 at the V&A Waterfront, but we can’t show you pictures of that, because for some reason (I think it has to do with piracy or something), you’re not allowed to take pictures when you’re in the cinema.

On Saturday we started the day with a band breakfast at Arnolds, and then went in to studio and set off the alarm because we weren't actually told how to switch it off properly.  This meant the first fifteen minutes in studio consisted of everyone trying to remain as still as possible in order to try not set off the alarm again, whilst we desperately tried to get the code right.  (I was stuck in the middle of the stairs, but from what I could hear, the rest of the band were in the upstairs lounge, and Richard was moving around in a dog-like fashion, because apparently dogs can’t set off alarms.)

Eventually after figuring out how Chinese produced alarm systems work, we continued from where we left off the day before, and tracked Fight, No Springs Attached, Bruce Willis Is Dead!, Waltz Disney, Anna Paquin and a song with an incredibly long title.

Sunday was a day set aside for comping, and for recording violin and sax.  If you’re not familiar with comping... when we record, we track at least four takes of the whole song, and then out of those four takes, we select the parts of those takes which we thought were the best, then ‘compose’ one good track out of them.  If you’re not familiar with violin and sax... the one is like a small guitar made out of a cat, and the other one is made out of car exhaust pipes.

Special thanks needs to go to Karyn from K, Ray and the Bird for playing the violin on our album, and to Jon from Captain Stu for providing the sax.  They both did a great job and we feel extremely privileged to have been able to work with them.

Monday was the day I drunk more water than is in your average dam, because Monday was vocals day for me, so I needed my throat to be on top form.  I also needed the bathroom a lot.

Dyl tracked his guitar parts whilst I sang, and we did the wise thing and left My Pirate Friends and Me as the last song to track, because as the saying goes, “Once you go pirate, you’ll never go back.”  Needless to say, by the end of the day my voice sounded like I was doing my ‘Helen Keller with a nasty cold’ impression.

Tuesday morning was spent comping my vocals from the day before, and then the rest of the day was spent recording Dyl’s vocals and harmonies.  And Dyl did a great job, despite the fact that he was having a generally bad day caused by misleading shopping specials, parking problems, tyres and traffic.  Matt actually went as far as to say that he was cursed.  I on the other hand had quite a good day – although I somehow managed to put my one sock on upside down.  No, not inside out.  Upside down.  It was quite an amazing feat.

I should probably mention that Tuesday was the day that Matt Alison went crazy earlier than usual.  Normally he hits 4pm and starts losing his mind – this tends to manifests itself in him singing alternate lyrics to all our songs, whilst dancing around in a peculiar fashion.  On Tuesday however, he got the crazies at a bright an early time of 11am.  Go Matt!

Wednesday was the last full day in studio – put aside for recording cello with our talented friend Gaby, and for Rich and Tim S’s backing vocals.  Special thanks to Gaby for helping us arrange the strings, and for being keen to get involved in the whole project.

There are still some little things here and there that need to be recorded, but the majority of all the songs are there.  The tracks are then ‘comped’, edited, and then mixed and mastered.  And if you’re wondering when you’ll finally be able to get hold of the album, the 19th June is our preliminary launch date!

But enough making you read text – you do need visual stimulus.  Click here to browse through our photos from the studio.  Hope you enjoy!