Recording Week 2 (Bass)

Obviously Thanksgiving is the most deceptive of American holidays but I'll be darn'ed if I don't enjoy myself back at my mom's warm house cooking, drinking, eating, and watching movies all day. There is still the lingering feeling that we could be celebrating something better and honest.
And so there is Hanksgiving, where we give thanks to one of the greatest actors whose mug has ever graced the silver screen, Tom Hanks. This tradition started several years ago by friends of mine and we've been carrying the torch ever since. After a grueling week and a half of tracking drums we felt well deserved to relax, laugh, and get fat.

Feeling rejuvenated and anxious to move this recording along and comforted that we still had enough Dogfish Head 90 Minute to last us at least a few more days we entered the studio bright and early to attack the bass tracks. With plenty of heads and cabs to choose and not really being any good at reaching any sort of decision we set them all up at once to let them duel it out in the battle of the bass amps. At the end of the battle the winners were 2 mics on the Ampeg SVT through the Acoustic 405 2x15 for the punk rock high end as well as the doomy low end and a close mic'd Acoustic 450 head through a Peavey 2x15 to pick up the slack with it's punchy low-mids. We also learned to re-cone a speaker at this time. There's nothing like brand new strings on a freshly set-up bass to make you feel like your holding god's dick in your hands. And so we began knocking out tracks, backing up a few times for missed notes or fucked up rhythms. There's alway things that pop out of a song once you record it for the first time that you've never noticed while writing and practicing it. Moving at an increasingly fast pace the golden brew poured freely in and out of our pint glasses. By 1AM we had finished all the main tracks and the last couple were done in single takes, including a scorching Elvis Costello cover. That night we celebrated the virtual half way point.


The next morning or afternoon we found the studio and put bass on all the "B takes" of the songs just so we had options of which to use later on and then that was that. Bass done. Our beaming accomplishment was transient though as we all knew that the next peak we had to climb would be the most treacherous.

How to Write a Song with Peter & Craig

Recording Week 1 (Drums)

After a summer of writing, months of practicing, years of procrastinating and weeks of aggressive facial hair growth Algernon Cadwallader is finally back in the studio working on our 2nd full length album. I will be documenting this process here. This will be the first Algernon Cadwallader recording done from start to finish in our warehouse studio. More info on the studio and it's engineers can be found at headroomphiladelphia.blogspot.com. The studio is very comfortable and familiar to us which should ensure relaxed sessions and plenty of time to experiment (with drugs) but there is a looming fear of our sense of timing entering a black hole and the record taking way too long to record. We've set a mastering date we aim to keep it. Just about everything will be tracked to a 24 channel 2" tape machine and then dumped into the computer to mix and touch up.

First things first, the drums. We begin with brand new heads on everything, WD-40'ing and cleaning all the lugs along the way. The kit is a 60's Slingerland that Tank bought and restored. He then called every drummer he knew in the city asking to borrow their snare drums so we have options. Meanwhile Joe took his Guitar Center credit card to get us a nice pair of overhead microphones. Conveniently Guitar Center has an awesome return policy that allowed us 11 days with our new toys before we could return them without paying a dime. We have our first deadline. 11 days to track drums. With 13 or 14 songs to record we are confident this will be an ample amount of time. Drums are up and mic'ed and sounding great as ever. We got the fattest snare sound of all time. Like Fat Albert's stomach after doing crunches for a week straight and beat with a small child's arm. We track a song and agree that it doesn't exactly fit the style of the new jams. This decision turned into 3 long grueling full days of of hunting the perfect snare sound. Admittedly we panicked. We tried snare after snare with every combination of microphones we could think of. Hours and days passed and we weren't getting any closer. Our roommates who are an earshot away were giving us dirty looks and wouldn't give us any of their cookies. We took 1 step forward and 2 steps back until we finally made it all the way back to square one. Tank's Rogers snare with the almighty Shure SM-57 aimed for the center.


At this point Tank is sick as a dog and also under pressure to study for 2 nursing exams. We drink to relieve the stress which brightens our moods but hinders our productivity. Tracking is slow but we're happy with the results. It's the 5th or 6th day of recording, we've finally got things underway and we run out of tape. We get our tapes used from the infamous "The Studio" a few blocks away but they aren't picking up our phone calls. We lose another day and a half because we are tapeless. Eventually we get in touch and take a field trip over there. It's a comically amazing studio. Joe was drooling over their outboard gear that we've only seen replicas of in programs like Logic and ProTools. There is a 30 foot long hallway covered in platinum records that were cut there by some of our favorite artists like R Kelly and Boys II Men. The people there are super nice and it chronically reeks of weed smoke. Montez is on and off of the phone arranging a midnight session for Sean Kingston and Justin Beiber who are in town for the night. We buy 3 more tapes and get back to the warehouse. We finish all the songs for the record in the next day and a half as well as a couple other jams and a cover since we have everything set up. We wake up around noon the following afternoon and give everything a listen with fresh ears. It sounds good but brutal honestly prevails. Joe has sonic issues. I think tempos are off. Tank vents about school and taking his dogs out. We have about 5 hours left to return the overhead mics before we get charged for them. In less than high spirits we proceed to re-record just about every song. We fill up the last of the tapes with worthwhile takes, Joe returns the microphones in time, we sleep well and hard. Until next time...

Fest 9 Feelin' Fine

Photo: Chris Teti
The Fest is kind of like the bus from Speed. Once it's started there is no stopping or getting off until the end of the ride. It's always seems like it's on the verge of exploding and killing everyone in Gainesville. That's why we get there bright and early on the first day to soak up the November sun in the Fest pool at Holiday Inn. We all want to have a healthy smile and a little color on our face when we go out. Fest 9, our third Fest, was no exception. At the pool we were reunited with our buddies 1994! and Big Kids who left from Philly two weeks prior as well as a bunch of other awesome bands and people from around the globe we'd not seen for much longer. Around dusk we split up and wandered off to see some shows. We hopped on a warehouse show that started about 2 am and at 5 in the morning scrambled to the last unsanitary motel in town with a vacancy. Check out was at 11 so our rest was merely a necessity. We headed to Common Grounds where our real fest show was and where we would drink for free today. I liked seeing bands at the venue in previous years but I was not as stoked to be playing there. The stage is pretty big and there's less of the DIY vibe than at the Kickstand where we had played the last 2 years. Fortunately Annabel played before us, borrowed all of our stuff, and sounded amazing so I felt better about the lack lustre sound on stage. At the end of the night Joe was elated to hear he had drunk more band beer than anyone else at the show. We started our Sunday at the holy Reggae Shack with a delicious meal for 11. Joe went back to the pool and got wasted on cheap craft beers for 8 hours. Needless to say he was difficult to find when we finally were ready to make the drive back to Philadelphia after the last of the shows had ended. Some other sick band I was able to catch this year were the Max Levine Ensemble, Chinese Telephones, the Underground Railroad to Candyland, and the Catalyst. 18 hours later we pulled into the driveway and walked inside only to find a tapped keg and a group of friends gathering for our roommate Greg's birthday. The party never fucking stops.

The holiday season is here once again when satan makes his way down your chimney shoot at night to leave you choclate and other treats and only asks for your worthless soul in return. Hazzah! Overcome by the holiday spirit fellow heathen, Greg Labold, and I created a soundtrack for your most desirable nightmares. It is horrific fun for all ages. Play it on your porch for trick-or-treaters or in your diy haunted house to scare the jeans off your hip to death friends. Hand screened and assembled packaging available for a limited time only. Get your copy today before they are OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP! Only $4 postage paid via paypal to burntfoot@gmail.com or concealed cash to 1310 North 5th Street 2B Philadelphia, PA 19122. Don't be a scaredy cat!

The Fest Cometh!

Right on time! Hope you will be joining us in Gainesville for Fest 9. There is a slew of great bands playing. Not to mention this is also in general just the funnest weekend of the year. Check Thefestfl.com for the list. Seriously, don't miss this shit. You will regret it for the rest of your short life. We'll be playing a couple shows on the way down the coast as well with some friends in DC and ATL. Sadly, we couldn't find the time to do more and we are hustling home afterwards to begin recording a new full length which will be finished come the new year. Then we will be back to playing shows on the regular. Keep an eye out for dates, especially if you're on the west coast!

Virginia Is For Lovers & So Is Ohio

All you need is love... and Algernon Cadwallader. Pouncing at the opportunity to expand our maturing highbrow resume we accepeted our friends' surprising invitation to provide the live music for their wedding. With utmost respect we spent weeks whittling our raw energy into classy pop instrumentals for the event. We hand picked a few of our favorite love songs to cover and learned the Peanuts theme song which was to be the bride's music. With our best t-shirts on we headed to Virginia to create the soundtrack to the joining of Cory & Courtney Bise. These two sure know how to party and we are happy and thankful we were there to celebrate with them. We also couldn't help but throw up a few mics during our wedding band rehearsals to document these re-workings of our songs and some of them turned out alright. We had our friend Francis Quinlan of Hop Along come over to sing on one of them and it will be on a cassette compilation put together by the Long Island kids at Lifeonanisland.org sometime this summer.

We were also privileged enough to be invited to play this year's Berea Fest along with the likes of Delay, The Sidekicks, Good Luck, Tin Armor, Pink Houses, New Creases, and tons of other really amazing bands. Berea Fest was started 5 years ago by the Eilbeck brothers from Delay and friends to celebrate the vibrant scene going on in Berea, OH, a suburb of Cleveland. They no doubt inspired and captured the hearts of everyone who grew up in the scene there with them and when they made the move to Columbus unsurprisingly just about everyone followed. While the excitement continues in Columbus they still return to Berea each year to pay homage to the place where it all began. I shouldn't expect anything less from these guys but I was still overwhelmed at the amount of positivity at this fest. Everyone here was friends even if you'd just met. There were plenty of volunteers helping the fest run smoothly. Free food not only for the bands but for everyone at the show. Wholly a very fun, inspiring, and encouraging get together. Thanks to Ryan, Austin, and Pat!

Last night Tank made a special appearance on stage with one of our favorite bands from Texas. With Fergus & Geronimo already booked to play Philadelphia, and Chris and Daniel visiting for the weekend, it only made sense that we would force Teenage Cool Kids to play a short set as well. Sadly, Bradley couldn't make it but Tank stood up the plate and channeled his energy to give the kids what they want.

This weekend we are looking forward to being in Richmond for the 8th annual Best Friends Day. From what I've heard over the years it's about the closest you can get to being at Camp Nowhere... for punks. We are playing the Saturday afternoon show at Hadad's Palisades Waterpark with Off With Their Heads and Negative Approach. The rest of the weekend we'll be seeing Field Day, Propagandhi, Andrew WK and enjoying the company of best friends. Cool!