Low/Europe/Area 2 (Part Two)

Here's another installment into the 'Low'/'Heathen' mini-saga. At this moment I've managed to combine leisure pursuits (cycling in excellent late summer weather) while continuing the summary of this experience. So, I begin from a bench on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, inspired by the view of the (altered) downtown NYC skyline, armed with pistachios from the Arab grocery on Atlantic Avenue ....

Pulling 'Heathen' together

Once the process for assembling 'Low' began to gel, I realized that this was a great way to work - getting a multitrack master and studying it, then assigning parts, making CDs, and getting sounds to Tony Widoff. Finally, we'd bring it all together in rehearsal - which, after all this preparation, tended to be the easiest part of the process.

Given all that, I decided to do the same thing with 'Heathen,' so I went to the source - Tony Visconti at the Looking Glass Studios, coincidentally - and asked him for the multitrack masters of the album. In less than an hour I was out the door with the entire album on a disk drive, biking through the East Village to my studio, dodging potholes with twenty or so gigabytes of David Bowie master material in my backpack.

It's kind of scary, actually. In the past, if you wanted the multitrack masters to an entire album you'd need a station wagon to lug all the reels of tape. It really looked - and weighed - like a body of work. It was ... TANGIBLE. It'd take hours to make a backup, perhaps an entire day of studio time to make a safety copy ... and even then, it'd be subject to degradation (if it were analog). Now, in less time than it takes for the album to play, I can have my own, perfect, digital multitrack copy, and carry it around effortlessly.

(If I were a person of lesser quality, my first stop would be EBay ... ).

On the flipside, this means it's also easier to LOSE an entire album - due loss, theft, or accidental erasure. Eeek.

This potential nightmare scenario reminds me of an incident when I was an assistant engineer in the late '80's. An unnamed producer asked Arthur Baker if he could borrow his Roland 808 drum machine. This was the actual 808 responsible for 'Planet Rock,' so it was already steeped in legend by that time. This particular producer and Arthur were pals, so Arthur said OK. An assistant of this producer came by the studio, picked up the 808 ..... and then promptly left it behind in a cab. That was it ... no more 808.

Imagine doing just the same thing, but with an entire album ..... hmmm. I can feel the panic set in.

(I wonder whatever happened to that assistant....)

Gigabytes, gigabytes ...... and more gigabytes

I get the album home and load it up. The first thing I notice is how different the session files are arranged compared to my own Logic files. I can't make heads or tails of anything for the first few minutes. With Logic, you can tailor nearly everything to your own preferences, the result being that if you attempt to work on someone else's session, it's akin to opening up the wrong suitcase or underwear drawer (typical first reaction: 'gee, what's this shit'?) .

Once I got oriented with Tony's Logic logic, I went about doing the same thing I did for 'Low' - listening through to everything, then assigning parts to the musicians in the band depending on each persons' particular technique, style, and musical sensibility and/or twistedness. I made each musician their own mix of each song - with their part on one side and a rough mix of the remaining tracks on the other - so they could hear their own part isolated, yet hear it in context if they chose to listen in mono.

By this point, my personal candle as getting burned at several ends. This was a time consuming process - I was making CDs when I got up, then going to rehearsal, then making CDs when I got home ... not to mention other tweaks for the band. This went on for a few weeks, and as one would imagine I was pretty toasted by the end of it. I'd considered farming out part of this work to Tony Widoff or Hector Castillo - my usual assistant at the Looking Glass - but there were too many decisions to be made, which I'd have to be there for anyway ... so, I kept the coffee on, and stayed glued to the screen.

' .... why are you making this band a copy band? Why not do jazz interpretations of the 'Low' tracks?'

In answer to one question I've heard .... doing it this way wasn't in order for the musicians to copy the parts and sounds verbatim. The idea of making these CDs for the musicians was for them to get really inside the parts and the sounds ..... and then to add his/her personal spin to it. Earl Slick, for example, is miles away from Ricky Gardener in sound, technique, even history and influences I'd imagine. He's not out to become Ricky Gardener for an evening - he's just taking Ricky's bits and making them his.

Certainly, there were times when this approach is the way to go - such as the synth sounds in 'Breaking Glass' or 'Speed of Life.' These sounds, and the parts to a certain extent, are the calling card of these particular tracks .... so, it's imperative that they're fairly identical.

As far as jazz interpretations, well ...... that is not my decision. Nor would I go there if it were.

Who Does What

As usual, things got interesting. Gail played keyboard bass on 'Better Future,' tambourine on 'Heathen,' and acoustic guitar on 'Slip Away.' Gerry played keys on 'Stay.' The three of us guitarists would alternate on acoustic guitar, depending on who was needed on electric. I played keys on a lot of 'Low' and some of the 'Heathen' tracks, plus bass on 'Ashes' and 'Absolute Beginners' (which became a duet between Gail and David) and my fab Music Man fretless on 'Slip Away.' Mr. B. also participated in musical chairs - harmonica on 'A New Career,' bari sax on 'Subterraneans,' keys on 'Speed of Life' (among other 'Low' instrumentals), and the tiny but potent Stylophone on 'Slip Away.' Lastly .... Sterling Campbell came out from behind his kit to play the (also) tiny but potent Oxygen 8 keyboard on a couple of the 'Low' instrumentals.

All this musical Ring-Around-the-Rosey got pretty hard to keep track of, so I had to create an Excel chart entitled, appropriately, 'Who Does What.' This was essential not only for my own sanity, but also for our sound people - Pablo Wheeler and Pete Keppler (front of house) and Mike Prowda (monitors), so they'd know what was going on and what part they could expect to come out of what person/instrument on what song.

While working up both albums, we were also working in some of the hits from the set. This was usually really simple as the core of the band knew them pretty cold. It was usually a matter of working in Gerry and Cat, which was far easier than I anticipated.

I can't stress enough how much of an anchor Catherine Russell has become in this band. She's playing a lot of the basic synth parts, freeing up Mike for solos and what he does best (mad piano wizardry). She's the bedrock of most of the 'Low' synth work - a lot of 'Warszawa' comes out of her, for example. It's identical to what I do in the guitar department - I play a lot of the basic riffs and utility parts, which free up Slick and Gerry to do things like double leads (essential for the 'Low' tracks, also killer on 'Cactus' and 'Heathen'), add more atmosphere, and cover more electric parts if I play acoustic.

Cat's voice is a whole other matter ... she's got amazing pipes. Gail is responsible for her being with us, as we needed somebody she could blend with, and she recommended Cat. She also plays percussion when we need it.

We began taping rehearsals and running the show in sequence in preparation for our first show at Roseland, which would take place June 11, the day of 'Heathen's release. We also rehearsed a few edits of songs for television (such as a compact version of 'Fame') as there were a handful of New York area promotional gigs to hit before leaving for Meltdown, our first stop in Europe.

Gear

Over the four weeks or so of rehearsal, we needed to get all of our gear together. Earl Slick arranged for he and myself to be endorsed by ESP, so a barrage of guitars came and went from our rehearsal space until we decided on the ones we wanted. In the end Slick settled on a black Tele and Strat, as did I, though a couple of other guitars kept creeping into the set (for Slick, a red Epiphone 335; for myself, a Fender Strat). Also present was the mini-Strat that we used to record 'Afraid,' Slicks' black Peavey Tele, and a couple of Takamine acoustics. Gerry had his usual Spookyghost suspects - two Gibson SG's, a Firebird, a 335, and a Paul Reed Smith acoustic electric. For amplifiers, once again Slick went with Ampeg; I chose Matchless; Gerry endorses Mesa Boogie. Line 6 helped out with pedals. I must point out the ever present and capable help of our guitar tech, Tom Calcaterra, who rebuilt my pedalboard from scratch, and tirelessly swapped out pickups for the both of us. In fact, all of the backline are stellar.

Tacoma Guitars is also outfitting us with little goodies. More on them later.

Gameboy & Clams

This band is nuts ... but we get along great.

It's true. Everyone involved is sort of quietly bonkers. Nothing extreme ... but nobody is going to be working at Citibank any time soon, either. Most musicians are at least a bit wacky, which I'm sure is no secret to the world at large. After all, this gig requires you to open yourself up in a public forum on a regular basis ... the hours are insane ... the constant travel disorienting ... and, the freelance nature of it usually kicks any semblance of a normal routine out the window.

I can tell that my return to performing this past couple of years has encouraged a few of my long dormant quirks to rise to the surface

Or, perhaps I'm just getting older and don't care anymore.

Slick still calls me 'Gameboy.' He began calling me this during the 'Toy' record as I'd be sitting in front of the computer editing a lot of the time ... and it stuck. To this day, if I'm within a half a mile of a computer I can be sure I'll hear the Brooklyn-tinged bellow of 'hey, Gameboy.'

It's also become a verb, as in 'hey Marky, can you Gameboy that piece in'?

(Slick has names for most of the others as well. I'll get to those.)

There is a thing for clams. The constant search for seafood - shellfish, in particular - is a constant drain on the attentive powers of this unit. Slick and Garson were steeped in these briny wonders growing up in Brooklyn, and so they are the usual instigators/ringleaders of these enterprises ..... though they've managed to hook in nearly everyone else along the way. Certain towns are Meccas, such as Seattle; others are viewed as mere stops/annoyances on the way to Mecca (sorry, Denver ... nice bookstore, though). Many a mutual meal have been consumed in oyster bars and the like, along with plenty of band bonding.

Having said all that ... there are the usual tensions that one would expect where there are musicians involved, especially in a situation like ours where there is a considerable degree of free rein allowed so people can do what they do. Given the number of musicians onstage, there is always the potential of a train wreck due to overplaying, despite the fact that we have overlapping and complimentary musical sensibilities. Space is sacred in music - what you don't play is as important as what you do. At least in my opinion. Others may see it slightly or radically different ..... and, given different opinions under the same roof, things can get tricky at times.

Being the bandleader I have the task of being the musical gatekeeper as it were, pointing out where there should be space, and making sure people lay out when appropriate. This is an essential part of the process, as well as my job, but I must admit it wasn't easy at first..... but, I'm learning. It's a simple thing to do in the studio - in fact, it's a fairly standard strategy to let certain people play what they want, thank them profusely, then slice 'em and dice 'em once they're out the door. This is how a lot of records get made, and everyone - the musicians, the producer, and the record company - knows this. Needless to say, this doesn't work in a live situation - it'd be complete mayhem. So .... day after day, I need to listen to what people are doing, and tweak.

Next.... we gig!