BDx13 - 1-29-2007 at 10:25 AM
From Todd...
"After playing a pretty cool show in Saratoga, NY we decided to bunker down and focus on the next album. Before playing Albany we had about seven
brand new songs written and in varying states of cohesion. I've been recording our rehearsals and have been immersed in the details of this new batch
of songs. My typical routine is to drive to Philly from Upstate NY on Saturday afternoon, rehearse from about 9 until 2 in the morning, and then drive
home listening to Art Bell Coast to Coast while talking to myself. After sleeping a few hours on Sunday morning I'll get up and start sifting through
the 2 or 3 hours of recordings, find the best takes/parts and dump them down onto my computer. Our new song count is now at 8 and the ridiculous
working titles are Big Mama Jama, BTK, Gorguts Intro, Junkyard Jazz, The Nightmare Factory, Viking, Mr Vinny Swans, and a brand new one, called Drug
Holiday, that we've been putting together.
It looks like Drug Holiday may be a Voivod 'Jack Luminous' type song clocking in at about 15 to 20 minutes. The thing draws on our strange mix of
influences; everything from the criminally underrated Penn State, PA band T4 to early Prong (think "The Coliseum" from Primitive Origins) to
Gorguts/Negativa (of course!) and even Pink Floyd. The Rosa rhythm section is really working overtime these days. If you've ever listened to the
drumming of Terry Bozzio on "Black Light Syndrome" or spent time listening to anything by Confessor you'll get some idea of where Harry is at these
days. Fucked up beats and tons of bizarre metal percussion shit for him to hammer away on. And if you missed Harry's trademark tom work from Into the
Wire and Crossbearer get ready because it's back and it's breathtaking. And then there's Vince...with a new Ampeg bass rig he's a fucking monster. He
intuitively knows when to go berserk and when to hold down the bottom end and the new album will be the first time that we backed off some of the
guitars so the basswork could shine.
For every recording we think organically; natural drum sounds, minimal to no kick triggers, and a very raw but clean recording. We like to get all of
the songs down in single continuous takes and with absolutely NO beat detective, autotuned vocals, or any other bullshit that makes most records sound
the same these days. If you want to see what I'm talking about put your index and middle fingers on one your wrist on the side of your thumb and feel
for your pulse. Count how many beats there are in a ten second period. After about 5 seconds do the same thing. I will guarantee you that there will
be a few beat difference between the two. Music should flow and sway like a human heart. Beat correction is used so frequently now that I'm not sure
people even know what a natural drumbeat sounds like anymore. Rant over. When the 3 song Ep finally comes out it will give some idea of where we're
going but I already feel like I may finally be satisfied with one of our releases.
About the Ep... we're just waiting on some classical instruments to be added to a few of the songs and then we'll start the colossal undertaking of
mixing the 50 or so tracks that make up each song. As soon as we have a decent mix I'll put up a small clip but I can already tell you that in it's
completely unmixed state, it's already thicker, meaner, and more layered than anything we've ever done thanks to Oktopus from Dalek and his ridiculous
energy, enthusiasm, and creativity."
Siczine.com - 1-29-2007 at 05:40 PM
I can't wait to hear this shit.
BDx13 - 2-22-2007 at 01:32 PM
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
DVD, New Song, and Gear Update
This weekend we started filming a dvd that will be included with the next album. The majority of it will be a documentary showing the creation of the
new album, from rehearsals to demos to recording at DeadVerse Studio. In typical SW fashion we hope to make it something more than just a generic
'making of' documentary and it should include some cool footage shot in and around the rehearsal studio as well as some footage of Philadelphia and
the crazy Union City, NJ neighborhood that is home to DeadVerse. Ren and I have always felt that the best music gave you a sense of where it was
created and it's impossible to imagine what Starkweather would be without Philly serving as its backdrop. I haven't lived in that city in almost 8
years and it still informs almost every thought and action that I take. All of the filming will be done by our friends Isaac Williams (http://www.myspace.com/themindmovie ) and Troy Coffee (http://www.myspace.com/tlcoffee ), two local filmmakers who have helped us with audio-visual work in the past. You can check out their remarkable
work by following the links.
The guys came over last night and we set the room up for filming, with one camera shooting wide angle from the ceiling behind Harry's kit and the rest
of the footage shot handheld; up close and personal. Last night's footage caught a typical practice. We got through the difficult sections of songs,
stumbled on a very easy 4/4 timed section, argued about who in the band has the worst timing, made fun of each other, complained about the 44 degree
temperature in the hallway, and then called it a night when Harry put both beaters through his kick drum head. We're deep into the not very sexy part
of song writing right now where we have the songs complete and we just go through part by part analyzing what does and doesn't work and endlessly
smoothing out the million transitions per song. I love the rush of coming up with new parts and hearing what Harry, Vince, and Ren do to them but this
part of the process drives me kind of fucking nuts.
We'll probably be filming our upcoming show at The North Star Bar in Philly as well as a show early this summer in Albany. I'm not sure any of this
footage will end up on the dvd but we can probably throw it up on YouTube or something.
About the new epic we've been working on...it's now about 25 minutes long and will probably be it's own Ep. This song, more than almost any other that
we've been working on recently, brings together a shitload of obscure and not so obscure influences on the band. Although I don't believe they ever
played outside of Pennsylvania (and left us without recording a proper album), T4, out of Central PA was one of the mightiest bands we ever shared a
stage with. With an ear toward the dissonant and a REMARKABLE drummer, they made us a better band just for having played with them. It's not
surprising then that the intro and second section of the new song have been named T4 and T4 With Flair. The song then veers into Cult of Luna
territory before going into what I think is Harry's coolest drum work in SW. We stretch out on a part that I think sounds like some sort of Led
Zeppelin Middle Eastern feel thing and Harry channels Bonham at his best and then the song just devolves into ugly section after ugly section, finally
grinding to a stop somewhere around the 25 minute mark. Along the way we touch on the typical SW influences; Gorguts/Negativa, Prong, King Diamond,
Radiohead, Immolation, The Swans, and who the fuck knows what else.
For the next couple of low key shows that we do we have no plans of playing any Pre-Croatoan material and possibly nothing from Croatoan as well. I
know some people get a little bit upset by us not playing older songs but there are really two good reasons for not dwelling on the back catalogue.
The first reason is that we really don't care. We don't feel any need to relive the 'good old days' because, honestly, they weren't all that good. You
will never meet a bunch of guys that have a deeper hatred of nostalgia than us and we haven't spent the last 10 years of the band trying to recapture
the 'glory' of the first 5 as many bands do. The second, and more important reason, is that we can only rehearse one day per week and every time we
relearn the old songs we lose ground on the newer, more relevant (to us) material. If we were able to rehearse 3 or 4 times per week the way we used
to it wouldn't be an issue but we have to make the best of the limited time we have to play every week.
EP Update: We received the rough tracks from Uber Musician Forbes Graham, formerly of Kayo Dot, and they sound absurd. Forbes threw down some trumpet
and low brass on each of the three songs and it works beautifully. Imagine some crazy ass Miles Davis fiend playing with SW! (Forbes Graham: http://www.myspace.com/forbesgraham ) What's amazing about that is that, like Bill Molchanow's lead guitar work http://www.myspace.com/billmolch, we never really discussed what we were after as far as their contributions and it still has the same sense of
dread, oppression, and beauty as the original tracks laid down by Rennie, Vin, Harry, and myself.
Enough about that business. Here are some bands I've been listening to lately that have me pretty inspired: Negativa-Ep, Gaza-I Don't Care Where I Go
When I Die, Engineer-Reproach, Indukti- S.U.S.A.R., The Haunted-The Dead Eye, Rise Against, Harry Chapin, Crowpath-Son of Sulfur, and the Hate Eternal
DVD The Perilous Fight. I defy anyone to find a band more committed, honest, and hardworking than Hate Eternal. The show that they filmed is like a
concussion grenade, which I expected, but the interviews, particularly with Erik Rutan, are really inspiring. These guys are death metal with an early
80's hardcore work ethic. No overdubs, no fancy graphics, just passion and murderous intent.
For The Gear Nerds: This is what we're rocking out through these days... Thanks to my good friends Matt Young and Mikey Snakes I'm playing a Mahogany
ESP Stef Carpenter SC 607-B Baritone 7 string (Scarlett) and a Maple Stef Carpenter SC 607 Standard 7 string (Carol). Both guitars have an EMG 81-7 in
the bridge and in the Maple guitar I removed the tone knob and neck pickup because they were in my way. As far as tunings go we switch between B and A
tuning based on the song. Amp wise I had the good fortune to buy an old 2 Channel Mesa Boogie Rackmount Rectifier loaded with JJ Tubes from the most
honest man in Rock and Roll, Ari from Brooklyn. This amp is an absolute fucking monster and destroys anything I've ever played through. I also have a
pretty beat up Boogie .50 Caliber rackmount that I'll use in the studio and a Peavey 5150 combo that I want to trade for a 5150 head. I'm using one
Boogie Rectifier straight cab at the moment. Vince uses a 5 String Fender P-Bass through an Ampeg V6 head into a Boogie 1x15 Cabinet and every once in
a while an old MXR Distortion pedal that Harry fucking HATES! Harry's kit is an older Tama Rockstar with one extra rack tom and one oversized floor
tom. One thing that has changed in recent years is Harry's move away from traditional cymbals to more percussive and ugly things to beat on. As well
as traditional hi-hats, ride, and crash cymbals he has a ton of Wuhan China cymbals with vastly different tones, a Ribbon Crasher that makes an unholy
racket, a bunch of Factory Metal Percussion gizmos to beat the crap out of, as well as various cylinders, old fashioned school fire alarm bells and
other assorted crap that Rennie and I have amassed for him to assault. These new percussive toys figure heavily into the sound of the new songs. After
a brief attempt at playing Axis pedals he's gone back to his trusty Tama Iron Cobras. Rennie yells through whatever mic is laying closest to him,
typically a Shure SM 57 or 58. We record all of this nonsense using 2 room mics running into a Fostex VF80 digital recorder that gets dumped down onto
my Macbook and then burned for the guys.
So now you know far more about our recent exploits than you ever needed to know. I'll poke my head above ground again when I'm good and manic and have
something to talk about.
Todd.
Siczine.com - 2-22-2007 at 03:07 PM
I nejoy Enginner a lot, especially that album but I would've never thought they would inspire Todd.