|
| Creature Republic : Email Interview with Mike of Creature Republic : April 15, 2006 |
|
1. You’ve recently decided to remain a three piece for now, was it the three of you in the studio? Yes, it was actually. For a while after Sean, our lead guitarist, left the band we didn’t jam unless we were auditioning someone. After a while, the three of us were getting anxious to jam, write and just have fun again. So we decided to start rehearsing again on a regular basis and continue to audition at the same time. We worked on some new stuff, as well as playing our songs but we decided to play them not as if there was a “missing instrument”. So we each started to play one-third stronger and more responsible for the overall sound, which led us to a new sound that blew us away. I think there was one point when after we had finished a jam, we all just looked at each other and just decided right then and there, that we were going to stop the auditions, and remain a trio. 2. How did the songwriting come together on Watch Your Aim? On ‘Watch Your Aim’ it was a bit strang, originally I had started the band with another singer we had jammed a few times (drums + vocals), where we put together a couple of tunes that we used to audition guitar and bass players. Basically we chose 1 guitarist (Sean), and a bassist (Jarrett) that fitted musically the couple of tunes the best and had good chemistry with us. From that point on, all the songs were written by the newly formed band, just by all four of us jamming at rehearsals together. But after a few months, it didn’t work out with the singer, he left, and so the 3 of us started to audition for a new singer. I had the idea of putting together an audition tape, using the songs we had written so far, but without any vocals or lyrics at all. We had decided to have the new singer, whoever it may be, put their own lyrics and vocal melody to the instrumental tracks we gave them (which are the 7 tracks on ‘Watch Your Aim’). After Alicia blew all the competition away, we all went back into the studio to complete the album with Alicia on vocals and also second guitarist. 3. Tell me about the recording process for this release. Where and with who was it recorded? The recording process was done in 3 different studios in Calgary, AB, Canada: Sundae Sound Studios with Dave Alcock and Alan Irving engineering, SilverEdge Studios with Patrick Schultz engineering, and GEErage Studios with Tony Gare engineering, mixing and co-producing the album with me. (Follow up)oeHow was it working with three different studios and engineers on the same release? It was interesting and fun to be able to work in different environments and with different people each time but we won’t be doing that for our next album. In the next one, we’ll be firing off the tracks, live off the floor; just the three of us and an engineer in one studio, then have the final mixing & mastering done at a second different studio. The reason being, that we want to get back that ‘live’ feel that’s missing on most studio recordings over the last few years, everything seems to sound overly produced and too clean and we want to ‘dirty’ it up. 4. What are your promo plans? We’re set to start the recordings of our next album really soon. We’ll be recording it in 3 segments over the next 6 months. After each segment is completed, we’ll be releasing 3 - 4 songs at a time for online distribution such as iTunes, Napster and Cyclone Records, once the entire album is complete, we’ll release it on CD of course. Also, we’re planning a tour out West and down to the States this summer with fellow Cyclone Records band Inner Surge. 5. How did you hook up with Cyclone Records? Patrick Schultz from SilverEdge Studios gave me Brad Trew’s card… I had sent Brad from Cyclone the song ‘Road to Nowhere’, in hopes he would accept it to be a part of Cyclone Records’ Rock Compilation: ‘On the Verge’, and the rest is history. 6. How did you come to be the intro music to The Little Show Podcast? I don’t know! Ha-ha… I guess Scott St. John, the host of The Little Show Podcast liked our sound and he asked us to be a part of a new intro he was putting together for the show, we happily agreed! He has a great show and plays a lot of good Indie music. 7. How important is it to you to be hands on about the non musical aspects of the band? (cd artwork, promo stuff) Oh, it’s very important to me, because all that stuff does reflect the musical aspects as well and it’s all about the music. We like to ask everyone this one: List any 5 songs in your most current (last listened to) playlist. 1. QOTSA - Regular John 2. QOTSA - I Think I Lost My Headache 3. QOTSA - Leg of Lamb 4. QOTSA - Song for the Dead 5. QOTSA - Mexicola |