If you’ve been following our blog for any length of time you’re probably aware of my love of The Gun Club. Their combination of punk, blues, rockabilly and old time traditional country music just hit a perfect spot for me. I don’t know that I really have one ‘favorite album of all time’, but The Gun Club’s first album, ‘Fire Of Love’ is among the handful I would pick. I loved the energy and attitude of early punk music and enjoyed the musical experimentation of what became known as ‘post punk’. But to this day I still roll back in to The Gun Club’s albums when I’m looking for inspiration. Their work moved my musical interest in to finding out more about bluegrass and bands that straddle several musical styles like Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. I feel lucky to have seen the band live several times, especially since you could see them up close and personal in small clubs where you could be right up against the stage. The shows were always an intense free for all.
I found a live version we did of ‘Ghost On The Highway’ from their first album as I was searching through our old musical vaults. I’m pretty sure we put up a different version of the song on this blog many years ago. If you look back we also did a Messin’ With The Music version of their song ‘Death Party’. If I had the opportunity I’d probably like to cover the entire ‘Fire Of Love’ album. If you get a chance I’d highly recommend a voyage in to The Gun Club’s catalogue. For now I hope you enjoy our buzz bomb reverb drenched version of ‘Ghost On The Highway’.
Here we are in the month of March. There was the old weather saying “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” (or vice versa). I don’t usually see that around here. My pessimism says ‘in like a dark cloud, out like a dark cloud” or “in like a weasel, out like a crow”. Whatever. The weather really is no longer consistent or predictable. So our answer, as always, is let’s talk about music. I’ve probably said before how we ‘review’ songs. We talk about structure and why the recording and other decisions make the song great. One thing we’ll look at are things like ‘arrangement’ and ‘orchestration’. Arrangement may create differences in transitions or modify the work by adding a bridge. Orchestration is more about what instruments are playing at what time throughout the song. Dynamics. These two concepts are not usually discussed when talking about rock (of any persuasion). You might hear it more in jazz (obviously in classical). But I will try to point it out on the songs we look at if it applies. I remember when I first starting playing in rock bands in high school and college the discussion tended to be ‘who is playing too loud’. “Can’t hear my vocals because of your guitar”…..”could you please back off on smashing your drums as hard as possible?” “Mine goes to 11”. Etc, etc. Then half your time is spent arguing. Hopefully at some point you all start discussing the structure of the song. The songs we look at here have had some great decisions made in their construction. So let’s look at this month’s tunes.
First Up: The Harrisonics – ‘That’s The Thing’
We’re going to start off with a song that’s pretty straight forward. ‘That’s The Thing’ is a great example of how good simplicity can be. You know I like to start with guitar sounds. A single guitar playing nice crisp chords. Just the right tinge of ‘dirt’ on it, but it really occupies and creates the top end EQ of the mix. To balance this the bass guitar is more active. Great little runs working around the key note for the guitar chord. This adds some feeling of change to the straight forward guitar beat. When necessary it locks in to the guitar beat. This makes the change from groove to head bang. To make this happen they make the bass higher in the mix and make sure it has top end. The drums are recorded at a good equal level in the mix, good top end, snappy snare. If you listen to the verses there is some nice little drum hitches, rather than a simple straight snare beat. Because of these small pieces of rhythmic variety when the instruments do lock in, it feels more powerful. Vocals work well in this mix. Rhythmic like the rest of the instruments, but you can clearly hear the lyrics. If you listen in headphones, most of the instruments are mixed right down the middle, not a highly separated stereo mix. Also a relatively ‘dry’ mix – less reverb. I also like the little ‘after the song’ clip at the end. Here’s the important part of knowing your song – for this tune those are perfect choices.
Next Up: Black Nite Crash – ‘Wrong’
So I thought for our second track I’d put in a song that in recording and orchestration is relatively opposite from the first song. Black Nite Crash make a wonderful psychedelia soup in their song ‘Wrong’. First we have multiple guitars involved. With plenty of reverb and pedals you have a flowing canvas to place the rest of the instruments on. The guitars all have a little different color to them. Although all are heavily reverbed, they do have differences that can be picked out, with one guitar concentrating on single note riffs. They also move around in the stereo field which gives you the effect of a wonderfully dizzy motion. I like the wah pedal effect at about :50 seconds. Nice bottom end bass that is mixed at a level to be heard. Like the first song, it does not sit solely on chord roots so it adds some concrete timing to the flowing guitars. The drums are farther back in the mix. I think this is a good choice for this song as you’re looking for a dreamy flow and you don’t want the drum sound too crisp. The vocals are handled in a similar way. Mass clouds of reverb pull it in to the overall field. While they’re not clearly out front, you can pick out most of the lyrics. This is sometimes difficult to do in this type of mix and it is handled well here. In this style of song vocal melody is often more important than lyrics. Nice little drop out break at 2:50. This dynamic change allows everything to rebuild for a strong ending for this tune.
Finally: Melt Citizen – ‘Drunk On The Blood’
The first thing that caught my ear in this song was the decision made in the intro of the song. It’s starts with a lone guitar riff. The feel of this riff led me to believe I was going to hear a song leaning to the ‘metal’ end of the spectrum. It’s a sonically interesting riff as the guitar sound is muted rather than being real crisp top end. It’s also mixed straight down the center. Then we get a bit of feedback in the left channel and the main guitars kick in. These guitars widen the stereo field by being placed harder to the left and right. If you listen in the verse you can also hear some nice note stretching whammy work. After the first verse the single guitar returns but this time drums are added to bring in the second verse. It’s a good way to keep building the song structure. The guitars and vocal really carry the tune. The drums are kept in the background and the bass adds some deep end without having a real distinct presence. The second verse is followed by the chorus before the single guitar riff reoccurs. This time the riff is accompanied by guitar feedback. It’s these types of seemingly simple choices that keep a song interesting. In a compact arrangement like this that bit of variety makes a big difference. They add another verse and chorus before closing out on the riff – with another different sound in the background. Great job keeping the song short and sharp. Also like the ‘video on a budget’ look. We’ve been putting together little clips of somewhat random video for future songs (we just did some strobe flash stuff too!) Shows that we all can put our videos out on our own and just have some fun.
Retro: Monster Magnet – ‘Crop Circle’
Sometimes the joy in loud, hard rock music is in the simplicity of the riff. A great example of this is the band Monster Magnet. The song ‘Crop Circle’ was released on their album ‘Powertrip’ in 1998. It starts with a wonderful slow build. You have a background tune that builds in volume. You don’t really hear the first chords of the proper song until you’re a minute in. The chords start out clean with a nice snare drum build. Then you kick in the distortion. It’s a really simple, straight forward three chord riff. You’re on these chords until the 2:00 minute mark where you get to the chorus. Next you have the guitar moving slowly up the neck with a drum roll then – bam! in to the guitar solo. You could view this progression as ‘cliche’. But sometimes things become ‘cliche’ because they work! You have three build ups with a great payoff in one song. Sonically for this style of song the recording sound is perfect. Nice separation, crisp sound all the way around. Enough top end and bottom end. Awesome guitar distortion. After the guitar solo they rebuild the sound with another three chord riff and ride it out until the end. Every once in a while I love being pounded over the head with a sonic hammer. And as a guitar player, it’s so much fun to jam along with. Since the chording is simple you can go all over the place with your own playing. This is where you crank the volume up and bang your head.
We had our friends Steaming Mulch back in the studio to record a new single. This is always fun as I never quite know what they’re going to do before they get here. Sometimes the songs are created on the fly. Sometimes there’s live drum track clips, sound bites from movies and general anarchy. Other times they come in with a relatively finished idea and expand on it which is how this song was put together. No matter what we’re working on, a good time is had by all. And as always I have no idea where the song title comes from. I’m betting on random word scramble, but for the band it’s a well kept secret. They also asked us to put a video together. Since you’ll never see the band in a video (as per their request they like to remain anonymous) we get to use clips from our travel adventures and other sources and adjust them as we wish. Hope you all enjoy the new track. You can find this as well as many of our other songs on the ChurchHouse Productions YouTube channel. You’ll find the link on the site’s home page.
Steaming Mulch plays ‘Winter Incubate Mr. Under Ache’:
As I was searching through files and demos of older songs for the ‘From The Vault’ series, I came across this version we did of Social Distortion’s ‘Dear Lover’. This song was from their fifth album ‘White Light, White Heat, White Trash’ which was released in 1996. Social Distortion has been around for quite a while, starting as a punk rock band in 1978 and going through some changes in style over the years. I’ve read that they are working on a new album that may come out this year. It would be their first album of new music since 2011. We’re certainly hoping that they keep going. Long gone are the days when you were considered ‘too old’ to continue playing once you got out of your 30’s.
This was another song that was recorded mostly live as a three piece band. There are some overdubs added. We wanted to document a lot of the originals and some of the covers we were working on since the one thing most bands have in common is the impermanence of their line ups. The good thing about having your own studio to work in is that you can make some pretty decent ‘quick’ recordings of material whenever you want to. For a recording like this we would usually set up in the large room and place the guitar amps in a different room to allow some separation. You also have to be conscious of the direction the vocal mic is pointing so you don’t get too much drum bleed through. As compared to playing on stage the best bet is to have the singer facing the drums and use a mic that won’t pick up any sounds from the back and side. Sometimes we’d have the vocals in another separate room as you’re hearing the playback on headphones anyway. You’d also want to dampen the drum heads a bit by using gel or tape on them to cut down on the ring.
Electrostatic Rhythm Pigs cover Social Distortion’s ‘Dear Lover’:
There are many sources I try to go through to find music I’m going to use for the monthly Grapevine. As I’ve stated before, I’m trying to highlight lesser known bands, although I don’t ignore a song I really like just because it’s popular. Recently I watched a few videos that were discussing songs that were on top 10 lists from sources like Billboard and streaming services like Spotify. And I realized I don’t have any reference point to the music that is currently considered ‘popular’. I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the artists and music they referenced. I guess that’s logical since I don’t listen to radio or belong to any streaming service. I find music by searching for it after reading reviews, either in print or online. When I bring up a song, the algorithm for Google, YouTube or wherever will then bring up similar songs to the one I’m listening to. This continues to lead me to lesser known artists and songs. Truthfully, I didn’t hear much in the ‘popular’ music that interested me. This isn’t a comment on the ‘quality’ of the music that is popular. The music a person likes is based on their own subjective taste. I think my point for the month is that I’m glad that there’s a way I can find new music I like by putting a little effort in to my searching. I’d encourage everyone that wants to hear music that’s a little more ‘under the radar’ (‘Under The Radar’, by the way, is one of the sources I often search). So if you hear a song you like in the Grapevine, go pull it up on YouTube or Google or whatever search engine you use. You might come across a lot of music you like that you otherwise would never have been exposed to.
First Up: Ten Million Lights – ‘Comatose’
I have quite an affection for songs that are built to wash over you and rely on creating atmosphere. This band accomplishes this using both parts of song creation: the way the song is written and the way it is recorded. I would think you could put ‘Comatose’ in to the ‘shoegaze’ category. The guitar sound is created by piling on effects so you hear them more as a wash of sound than individually strummed chords. Ten Million Lights uses two guitars to double up and enhance this effect. The guitars are in essence the canvas that the rest of the song is painted on. I like the way the bass is mixed in to the song (the recording part of creating the song). It gives the song a lot of bottom end which really expands the sound field. The bass also plays a lot of chords as well as single notes, increasing it’s presence in the mix. The drums are mixed in to continue to enhance the atmosphere. They are crisp enough to be heard clearly in the mix, yet their level in the mix adds to the overall wash. The drums are active enough to drive the song without being over played to the point of being a distraction. The vocals are mixed more as an instrument than an up front presence. Again, this is used to make the vocals more a part of the overall wash. What you lose in not clearly hearing the lyrics is made up by enhancing the atmospherics. The recording and mix in a song like this is so important. If there was more instrumental separation, it would be a totally different song.
Next Up: Honeychain – ‘Pocket Full Of Good Luck’
So we’re moving from atmospheric wash to buzz saw crunch. From a recording perspective you have to have a different mindset to capture the feel of the song correctly. You have distortion on the guitar, but you have to keep the sound crisp rather than droning. Some of this is in the recording and some of it is in how you play the guitar. When you want the drone, you’ll let the chords ring as you play them. If you want to keep it crisp, one method is to ‘dead string’ the chords with either your right or left hand. You want to keep them from ringing. The bass and drum parts are also very straight forward. They work together to keep the bottom end of the song moving forward while the guitar sound sits on top. The vocals are clean and placed on top of the mix. One break in the song comes in at 1:34. It drops down to just the guitar for a few measures before the drums and bass come slamming back in. There’s a second break that runs from 1:50 to 2:08 where drums and bass play in half time compared to the rest of the song and the guitar sits on single strums. From there it’s a ten second reprise of the main riff to the end. The guitar sound especially reminded me a lot of the band X. Short, sweet, two minutes of fun.
Finally: Kestrels – ‘Grey And Blue’
So for our last song we’re going to travel the road that runs in between the first two selections. There’s a bit of shoegaze wash in the music, but also some crisper parts and the vocals are fairly clear and placed much higher in the mix. There are parts where the guitars drop out almost completely. The space is filled by rolls on the snare drum. This lets you pick up the vocal melody a lot easier. I like the feeling that the vocal melody adds to the song. Having a great vocal melody is an art that is not always taken in to consideration. It can take a song that otherwise would not be a stand out and turn it in to something really special. I think melody composition is an under valued part of writing a song, especially in a lot of rock music. The dynamic change ups in this song also add to the feel. A nice guitar solo is added compliments of J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr fame. I’ve always said that sometimes I’ll put a song in because I really like the video interpretation. Being a dog lover, I had to add this video for the month. I especially like when all the dogs get named at the end. Yup, I’m a sap for a pup video.
Retro: The Replacements – ‘Answering Machine’
For our retro entry I’m putting in a song that I’ve always had an emotional connection to. ‘Answering Machine’ is from The Replacements amazing 1984 album ‘Let It Be’ (the fun idea that you’d actually use the same title as a classic Beatles album). If you haven’t listened to this album, you really need to. Chock full of amazing songs, one of the best albums of the 1980’s. The song is built on an heartfelt, ragged sounding guitar and vocal and not much else other than some FX. That’s all that’s needed to push the soul crushing feel put across by the lyrics. I wore this album and song out in 1984. I had moved out of state by myself and was living in a small town where I didn’t know anybody and had no real close friends. I was being ghosted by the person I was seeing back home. I lost my job. So I was leaving messages on her answering machine (remember – 1984) with no reply. I think at one point I left this whole song on the answering machine (the kind of stuff you do in your early 20s). When we talk about the power of music, this song is a prime example. That someone else could write a song that encapsulates all the emotions you’re feeling. A song that will forever bring back that time and feeling.
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