The North Decade singer Ryan Spilken (standing) and producer Jonathan James hashing out a vocal part before recording.

If you’re a member of The North Decade you had better be willing to sing. Our evening with the band at Dark Egg Studio is dedicated to tracking backing vocals, one of the last tasks left before producer Jonathan James goes into a month’s worth of mixing and mastering on What You’d Give Up Tomorrow You’ll Pay For Today.* All four members of the band–guitarist Brad Cantrell, bassist Jessica Gray, drummer Josh Jenkins and singer Ryan Spilken–arrive to contribute, with Cantrell coming in last later in the evening to try and lay down his parts. There is even a cameo appearance by local spoken-word artist Bill Shultz, who added some brief snippets of poetry to “Sometimes,” the last track on the new album.

After Shultz’s seemingly effortless contribution–he never needed more than four takes on any piece to get a keeper–it’s back to Jenkins and backing vocals, which is rather more work. Jenkins is struggling with one of the transitions in notes, trying over and over again and getting close… but not quite there.
“That’s such an awkward transition,” James says between tries. “What is that, a major seventh [note] to a minor third?”

“You’re welcome,” Spilken, the songwriter, says with a grin.

Between takes Jenkins sucks down bottled water, as does everyone else inside the sweltering Dark Egg. Turns out James was picking up the sound of the air conditioning unit kicking on during recording. The result: No AC except during rest periods. Luckily, Jenkins is no stranger to toughing things out in this process. “[Jenkins] was sick the two days we did drums,” Spilken says. “Just snot coming out, sweating everywhere. And his drums sound amazing. It’s probably my favorite part of the record.”

Drummer Josh Jenkins (far left) and Jonathan James sit in the control room, listening to a playback.

If Spilken is to be believed, What You’d Give Up will be worth these little sacrifices and hurdles when it arrives in the fall. The album’s 11 songs have been evolved from rough demos to full, layered indie-pop morsels. Well, maybe 10 songs. Spilken says one may be left off the final version of the album–ironically, the one most people are likely to know: “Middle Man,” the first song recorded and released using The North Decade’s current lineup. Spilken says the recording process has left the song feeling out of place when put up against the others, which was not the case when the songs were in the demo phase. Spilken says the new version of “Middle Man” (different from the first recording, which the band used to have on its MySpace page) won’t disappear altogether, but it may have to wait for a later release to make it to the public.

Once Jenkins gets a take everyone is happy with, Spilken wants to try an idea. Earlier in recording sessions bassist Jessica Gray would play around between takes by singing in an operatic falsetto. It’s good for a laugh, but Spilken wants to put it into a song and craft it into something else altogether. Gray agrees to get in the vocal booth and give it a shot, but her initial tries are still more comical than on-key. Determined to make it work, Spilken decide to give Gray some, um, coaching from the control room:

It’s still off. Not to worry, though, Spilken says; the plan all along was to use AutoTune, a program that has become a common part of most recording studios’ repertoire, to get the notes in place so the vocal fits with the song, as well as make it sound sort of robotic. “Kanye Jess” he calls it, referring to Kanye West‘s AutoTune-abusing album 808s & Heartbreak. You may have to sing to be in this band, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect.

* A quote from The North Decade singer Ryan Spilken regarding the incredibly long mix time given to Jonathan James, which didn’t fit the story but is too good to let slip away: “When you give someone like him that much time… I mean, did you ever play [the videogame] Final Fantasy VII? Well, do you remember that point where you get to be a real badass? You can, like, summon the gods to kill your enemies. When you can summon the Greek gods to do your bidding… well, that’s what we’re doing with Jonathan. We’re letting him summon the gods.” For the SGF gamers reading this piece who got what he’s talking about, you’re welcome.

–For more about albums coming your way this summer and fall, click and read here and here.

Bassist Donnie Kraft listens with producer Danny Maple to a playback of what he just recorded.

It’s almost 7 p.m. on a Wednesday night at Wired Woods Studio. The bass is finally set up, the paling-around jokes are in full swing and the window of opportunity is closing. For Trent Wilson, founder and braintrust of local instrumental surf-meets-Morricone group The BoogeyMen, it has already been a 15-hour day, and the next isn’t likely to be any shorter. As everyone settles in Wilson quietly strums the guitar hook to Danzig‘s “Mother.” He’s ready to start. “Okay, let’s do this. Let’s do ‘Fantasmo,’” Wilson says. In a moment drummer Mike Rumsey and bassist Donnie Kraft jump into the song’s rhythm while Wilson strums guitar from the living room and Danny Maple, Wired Woods owner and BoogeyMen keyboardist, listens to the mix on headphones as it records. The band is only laying down bass and drum tracks tonight; Wilson’s guitar playing is there only as a guide. They finished four songs this way last week, but this time progress is more slow. It will take nine takes to get the cut they want for “Fantasmo.”

Guitarist Trent Wilson, strumming between takes.

The masks and outfits are off tonight. This isn’t about the stage show or getting into character; this is about getting just the right takes that will make up the group’s debut album. Every member but one is present at the session, and all are perfectionists of sorts. Everyone–Wilson, Rumsey, Kraft, Maple and guitarists Jeff Havens and Chris Kinsley–has been playing in local bands for years, and everyone wants to get things just right. On one playback, Maple talks Rumsey through a tendency he notices in his drumming. “Do you hear how you’re pushing the tempo up?” Maple asks. “It changes the whole dynamics. Do we wanna keep that?”

Wilson looks at a pensive Rumsey. “Do you like it?” he asks.

“Let’s do it again,” Rumsey says, and everyone moves back into place to run through the song again.

When the as-yet-unnamed album arrives (it’s tentatively scheduled for an October release) it will have as many as 20 finished songs on it, including “Fantasmo” and “Hang ‘Em High,” the second song finished during the night’s session. By the time “Hang ‘Em High” is finished, though, Wilson and Havens are long gone, leaving around 8:20 p.m. in order to be up before dawn for work the next day. Wilson says the band is blocking out some Sundays in the near future to help speed up the recording process; Wednesday nights are just too taxing.

Guitarist Jeff Havens (standing) watches as Trent Wilson plays through "Fantasmo."

If it’s hard for Wilson, it must be twice as hard this night for Havens, who attends for support more than for work. He won’t be picking up an instrument at all tonight. “It’s pretty boring,” Havens says of watching the others play. “I’d rather be playing, but I don’t wanna mess anything up.”

“Oh, you’ll get your chance,” Maple chimes in, smiling at Havens.

Wilson, in particular, can expect to settle in for a long haul laying down lead guitar parts in the weeks ahead, but at least he has the loose-but-professional Maple as the yang to his focused, businesslike yin. Take, for example, his work with Rumsey and Kraft, bobbing his head, whistling, playing air drums (until Rumsey mistakes it for a sign to pause and the band has to start the track over) and air keyboarding along the way:

It’s not all focus by either band or producer, though. “Do note that Danny spent as much time checking his Facebook status as he did the mix this time,” Kraft jokes to your dutiful reporter after one take. “Well that’s because Donnie f***ed it up from the get-go,” Maple quips back. Banter is kept brief, though; Wilson runs a tight ship and likes to move quickly into the next try. There is only so much time left to produce, and this band and this record are his baby.

“Are we rollin?” Wilson asks before diving into another take. Yes. Yes, we are.

* You can learn more about The BoogeyMen’s upcoming album, as well as many other SGF artists, in our Summer/Fall Album Preview.

Local post-grunge (*slash) alternative rockers, Golden Giant plan to hit Dark Egg Studio this weekend to record their upcoming album. They currently have 14 songs they’re planning to record with engineer Nathan Wall. This may be one of the first Springfield rock bands in some time to not only actively gig as a band with no vocals but to move forward with recording.

Look for Golden Giant live as they open for Protomen at the High Life Saturday, July 31 as well as September 3 at the Outland Ballroom for Q102′s September Homegrown show.

The self-told and self-made documentary of how hometown favorites, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin recorded their upcoming album, Let It Sway. Video footage shot by the band, Brook Linder, Chris Beckman, and Chris Knauer. Edited by Phillip Dickey and Brook Linder.

Featuring the following songs from Let It Sway:

• Back in the Saddle
• Let It Sway (demo)
• In Pairs
• All Hail Dracula
• Banned (By the Man)
• Phantomwise

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltson’s upcoming album, Let It Sway is due out August 17 on Polyvinyl Records.

Lou Whitney (left) and Yankton Sothern (right) at The Studio

Two decades into his career as a musician, HeartPunch‘s Yankton Sothern is learning to sing to the ladies. Going through vocals line by line during a long day of recording at The Studio on South Avenue, Studio owner and engineer Lou Whitney is coaching Sothern carefully but deliberately. “Let go of the gravel (in your voice) and get the tone going.” “Stand and sing straight across the side of the mic. I’ll get less lip-smacking (on record) that way.” First-take recordings are rare, but as each line of vocals comes together for the currently untitled song (working title in the studio: “The Song With the Bridge”) the picture of a wounded man, angry at times and smooth and vulnerable at others, begins to emerge. “Now you’re actin’!,” Whitney declares after a couple more takes. 

It’s slow going, but Whitney loves it. “The easiest job in the world is buffing the warts off a good song,” he says. Sometimes that means being the buffer yourself:

After years spent playing guitar in seminal ’90s Springfield group Fullers Earth and, more recently, drumming for Americana rock group Bottlefish, Sothern harnessed the heartbreak of a past relationship to write a collection of songs and step in front of the microphone. It was a bold move, especially considering he had never done either of those two things before. Sothern recruited an all-star cast of friends Whitney (The Skeletons, The Morells, The Rugs) on bass, Steve Newman (The Domino Kings, The Honkytonk Renovators, The Cropdusters) on guitar and Ritchie Allen (Fullers Earth, BringYourGreenHat) on drums for what was supposed to be a one-time-only show. The fan reaction spurred Sothern on to do another show, and after that he decided he should put HeartPunch’s songs on record.

No better time than now, since Sothern is in much the same position of heartbreak as he was months back when he first wrote the songs, even if now it’s over a different woman. Some new material even came out of it, meaning a wider selection of songs to choose from to get the final 10 he wants for the record. Sothern says the album is tentatively titled Rock ‘n’ Roll Therapy For a Broken Heart, an idea he got while watching Cracker perform at The Pageant in St. Louis last week. Sothern says the goal is to have the album finished and available by mid-February, and he has taken a full day off from day work to get as much vocal tracking done as he can. He will have three songs finished by the time he leaves the studio, after almost 12 hours of painstaking work:

Sothern and Jeff Thompson of Bottlefish go over song lyrics while working out Thompson's guest vocal.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Therapy For a Broken Heart promises a few surprises HeartPunch hasn’t brought onstage, including bits of organ (that was the next step on “The Song With the Bridge” after vocals) and backing vocals from Newman and from Bottlefish’s Jeff Thompson, who came by The Studio in the evening to write and record a brief lyric on “I’m Not Ready.” The process of working with friends and trusted collaborators on these songs has been cathartic for Sothern, and if the finished songs we heard are any indication, it will make for an impressive, accomplished rock ‘n’ roll record when complete, too.