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This Week in the Studio: 10.02.13
Written by Jimmy
Beat Boxing and a Def Leppard one armed drummer. A typical week…
Only at Abubilla Music. We had almost a full house – the gang sans Martyn who continues to signal every day his horribly misplaced priorities. Votes were taken and we’ll give him one more week. And then’s it’s ‘Stu Time.’ Enough complaining; check out this week’s highlights:
1. The Def Leppard Drummer. You all know the story of Rick Allen. Well, our young Mike, arrives second to Studio (after Andy) so the two of them could create the ‘perfect’ Mike Park drum kit. Well, young Mikes shows up with this little foo foo ‘bandage’ on his wrist claiming he could only work with one arm. And somehow both Lou and Mike tried to convince us that the little foo foo wrist bandage ‘kept his wrist warm.’ Please. He ended up actually pounding on some bongos most of the day, so not a total crisis (nor was it Apache!), as we cranked out an ‘inspired’ version of Sat out. One arm and all. And foo foo bandage (which when the wrist ‘recovers’ he promised to hand off to Lewie, who is getting all chilled in the park).
2. Beat Boxing Violen Player: Then, as if a one armed drummer and bitch slappin’ cello player werent’ enough to liven up our little lives in walks Mikey the Beat Boxer. Discovered by Ed and Imogen at a talent show (doing beat box to Superstition – this isn’t him). Well, in walks Mikey (Mike – E, not Micky), a fantastic and fun BeatBoxer, who also plays the Violin. Andy instantly looks at Sophie and Mikey and says, ‘I’ve got an idea for Sat Out the 15th!’ Oh goodness.
3. Oh, oops, It’s All About the Music. Right, this is called ‘This Week in the Studio’, not funny people that show up for pizza. Got it. Here are the musical highlights:
- The ‘trio’ recording a live version of Immovable Thing, sitting around in a circle – Ed on guitar, Sophie on Cecily (she’s explain in one of her blogs) and Louise on vocals, hiding behind the Shield. We wanted a single live take, so Andy ran about the studio placing all the acoustic tiles that Rob brought last week. We looked like we were in a busted up li-lo shop after an earthquake. The Trio had the giggles for most of the takes, due to multiple references to the ‘The Joke That Can’t Be Named.’ But finally nailed it. All very purdy.
- We then switched to beat boxing, adding 8 bars to Invading London, which is another incubating little song, going thru multiple vocalists (and fighting hard to sound like a Hannah Montana disney song, despite our attempts to ‘ruff it up.’). Mikey (Mike-E) was fantastic to watch as he layered more and more beatbox over the 8 bar break and guitar solo. Watch this space. Thank goodness, we avoided an Ed’s Water Trick, when he starting going off on ‘flying clicks.’ Ask him.
- This led to Andy deciding to revist Sat Out the 15th, a song bumped from the 2009 CD, because we never nailed it — too long, too ponderous, but has some great moments we’ve been trying to save. So we did a very fast funky version a couple weeks ago but Andy led us into a more spacey direction, with beatbox, bongos and cello driving the beat (with Rob dancing on the bass again). Ed seized his chance and started laying down a pink floyd guitar track and off we went to the dark side of the moon….. The Thriller in Manilla meats Us and Them. Again, watch this space, but we’re having fun with this one.
Then it was a mad dash to mix Immovable Thing. What I failed to mention was we spent the whole day without the internet (THANKS BT) forcing Lou to leave and work from home) and the USB broke on the computer, forcing us to drive Pro Tools without a Mouse. Really, really unpleasant. Finally, the one armed drummer is now the pizza orderer. So Jimmy can’t use a mouse on Pro Tools, and finds himself with no further role in Pizza Ordering. That might Stu me at some point — but at least I have a very respectable attendance report.
Laters and Happy Valentine’s Day. As you kiss and cuddle, remember – it’s all about the music. And please help us to Bitch Slap our blog.
Jimmy