1:26AM: Made it into the valley about an hour ago. Not bad time. The Patient Mrs. did her undergrad in Waltham, MA, which essentially means I can do the Masspike-to-84-to-91-to-95-to-287-to-287 (the highway so nice you have to drive on it twice) thing with my eyes closed. Helpful in situations such as tonight, when I basically did.

I still have Solace songs stuck in my head after the drive. They were finished with “Disillusioned Prophet” when I left, 9:20PM by my watch, and were talking about starting tomorrow with “The Immortal, the Dead and the Nothing,” since it’s the longer and potentially more complicated of the two songs left to do. As for the rest of the night, there was some talk of drinking, some talk of going up the road to see Doomriders, but mostly I think Tommy wanted some ice cream and Justin wanted to not smell anymore. Both reasonable desires.

So ends my in-studio adventure with Solace. I don’t know how done A.D. will be by the time the two guitarists head back to Jersey tomorrow — it’s an album and anything can happen — but of course I wish them all the best with the rest of the work they put into getting it out, and thank them for letting me come up and observe for a bit. Anyone who’s ever made a record knows it can get tedious even in this technologically advanced age, but as someone perpetually fascinated by even the boring parts of the process, I’m happy to witness it whenever I can, whether I’m in the band or not. Thanks again to them as well as Benny Grotto (whose band, Motherboar, I’m looking forward to checking out) and Mad Oak Studios for their hospitality, and to you for reading. Hope you enjoyed it half as much as I did.

7:54PM: A little dinner (okay, a lot of dinner) later and spirits are up. Work is resumed on “Disillusioned Prophet” and universal opinion in the room — that is, mine, Justin’s, Tommy’s and Benny’s — is that the song is kicking ass. I don’t imagine much if anything will be done when this song is “finished,” but given how much work has gone into the two tracks that were worked on today, if I was required to judge one way or the other, I’d say it’s a win.

Still to be done are the songs “The Immortal, the Dead and the Nothing” and “Six Year Trainwreck,” which will likely be tackled tomorrow, but as far as closing out the work this evening, the decision to walk away for a bit and have a bite to eat was definitely the right one. Everyone feels better and as I hear “Disillusioned Prophet” closer to closer to being done, I can easily imagine it being the opener. The song has great energy and sets a good tone for the rest of the cuts (at least the ones I’ve heard so far; unless they go blackened folk metal on the others, it should fit nicely into its intended spot).

My plan is to split out of here in either an hour or so or when this song is done, whichever comes first. Doomriders are reportedly playing down the street at this or that bar, but hitting the road back to Jersey wins. Real life was bound to come back into it sooner or later.

5:35PM: Work has begun on “Disillusioned Prophet,” and yes, that is as ominous as it sounds. The song is set to be the opener of A.D., and for the last two hours or so, Benny has been going track by track — that’s “track” as in the individual layers of instrumentation and vocals making up the songs, not the songs themselves — making sure all the frequencies and whathaveyous are where they should be. At first, he kicked Justin and Tommy and I out of the room, but I cited freedom of the press and wormed my way back in for what he aptly called, “The Boring Part.”

Everyone’s a little tired, a little hungry, a little on edge. By yesterday at this time I had at least three PBRs in me, but more than that, I think all parties involved were hoping today would go a little faster than it has been. Getting “Down South Dog” (or maybe “The Down South Dog Boogie,” I don’t think a final call has been made as regards the title) to where it was supposed to be proved a monumental task, and since it’s the opener, the same applies in an ongoing tense for “Disillusioned Prophet.” The layers of guitar alone — acoustic coupled with electric, solos, harmonies, etc. — could probably take two days to work out.

But that’s mixing, and if my arsty-fartsy black and white photo of a plastic cup and stack of CDs that were on the counter in the lounge proves anything, it’s that downtime can do strange things to people in a given physical space. Tommy spent much of the time working out his restlessness on the Asteroids machine and he and Justin wrote a honky-tonk song in the live room (sorry no video), so there’s that. I have half a headache and could stand a shower, but that’s heavy metal. Earlier on, we all gathered around Benny’s laptop to watch the over-the-top ridiculousness that is Dream Evil’s video for “The Book of Heavy Metal.” I imagine when and if that book is ever written, afternoons such as these will be left out in favor of giving space to tits, beer and moshing, but this is how shit really happens. Life is not what you see on VH1 or read on self-indulgent music blogs.

2:48PM: We’ve been asked to leave the control room so Benny can concentrate. Reasonable. When putting together the semi-final version of “Down South Dog,” one of the several hundred of Jason’s vocal tracks went missing, so there’s some work to be done there. The thing is, these songs were recorded in at least three separate sessions, over the course of more than three years, so a major challenge for Mr. Grotto has been making it cohesive. You know, like an album. Fortunately he seems up to the task.

Miraculously, I fell back to sleep on the floor of the live room this morning. Breakfast was at around 10:30AM at a cafe up the street. Kind of a hippie place, local art on the walls and all that, but not too crowded and not too pretentious — and a killer breakfast burrito goes a long way. Some gorgeous collegiate-types directed us a couple blocks down to In Your Ear Records, where Tommy picked up his fair share of vinyl and then some. I grabbed some CDs that I’ll likely detail at another time.

If there’s anything I’ve noticed in listening to these tracks, it’s the growth. The last five years have not left Solace the same as they were. Even since their last EP, 2007’s The Black Black, the change is audible in the songs. There are rampant harmonies in the vocals and guitars — of course guitars are a central focus since I’m here with the two guitarists — but as much as we’ve been throwing around dick jokes and one-liners about anal beads, there’s no question the process is incredibly important to these dudes.

It’s worth noting these aren’t to be the final final mixes of the A.D. record. Although the tracks are complete in terms of the recording, there’s more to putting it all together. Jason, for example, still has to okay the vocal mixes, and there will probably be another round of tweaks for the instruments as well. But it’s working out and as odd as it is to think of the words “Solace” and “mature” in the same sentence, musically at least there’s a sense that the long time they’ve taken to make this record happen hasn’t been for nothing.

John Arzgarth was here and gone, but it was good to see him however briefly. A sample of his then-infant son is set to open “Down South Dog.” Plans are to head to a dive bar for drinks later, but that probably depends on how much is left to do with these songs. Time’s always a factor. It’s after 3PM now and we’re back in the control room, but there’s still a ways to go. It wouldn’t be doom if it didn’t take a long time.

DAY TWO, 8:23AM: It’s early yet and so far I am the only one awake. I’ve been up for about an hour now and I can hear periodic snoring from the lounge where Justin is sleeping. My campsite was/is in the live room, next to a large translucent blue floor tom. The floor wasn’t all that comfortable, but the acoustics of my night farts were fantastic. I used a sleeping bag I brought along as a mattress pad and covered myself with a blanket provided by the studio. I’d be willing to bet that at one point or another it was inside a bass drum.

Last night’s jam session, of which a clip was posted, went on in progressively drunker fashion until at around 12:30AM it petered into lampooning Gilligan’s Island characters with raunchy Tenacious D-style verses in A minor. The specifics are fuzzy, but I recall something about Ginger sucking leopard cock, if that helps paint the picture. Shortly, Star Trek: The Next Generation came on, and a discussion was had about whether William Riker was “a pussy.” Riker proved his mettle throughout the show, but at the end of the episode, Picard was still captured by the Borg, so I suppose there are arguments to be made on both sides.

The plan for the day as I understand it is breakfast whenever Tommy and Justin wake up, then work on mixing four more tracks when Benny gets here. I’m not sure whether or not they’ll be staying over again and I don’t think they are either. There’s still some Guinness left from last night, so anything’s possible. The snow has stopped and the sun is out now. Could go either way, probably.

This just happened where I am. I hope where you are it also kicks ass.

Tommy and Justin are working out an acoustic part to a song not yet written. So far as I know, it doesn’t have a name.

10:37PM: Howls of laughter are coming from the lounge where dinner was just a bit ago. There’s a documentary on about Black comedians. We ordered the meal from some Italian place down the road on the recommendation from Benny or one of the other Mad Oak dudes. It came delivered by an old man, who I immediately felt bad about having made drive in the snow. Food was alright. You don’t come to Massachusetts for the pasta — or, rather, if you do, you’re an asshole.

Mixing ended at around 8:30PM. The aforementioned Benny (last name Grotto) is in charge of the board, though I think it’s pretty clear to all involved this is Tommy’s ship. His ear has been driving what of the session I’ve been here to witness, and almost universally to its betterment. That’s not a slight against Benny at all, he seems incredibly capable at his job. I mean in terms of emotional investment.

And why shouldn’t Southard be emotionally invested in making A.D. the best album he can? It’s been five years in the works. Hardly seems reasonable to throw out some undercooked garbage now, even if the anticipation for it is at an all-time high because it seems now more than ever that it’s actually coming out. The songs I’ve heard this evening — “From Below,” “The Skull of the Head of a Man,” “Down South Dog” and “Borrowed Immunity” — all sound finished or at least well on their way. It’s a bummer new drummer Keith Ackerman didn’t join the band in time to make it onto this album, but I guess with all the time Kenny Lund put in, he earned his place.

It’s beers for the rest of the night, and tv and shit-shooting. The snow is still coming down but I don’t think there were plans to head out anywhere anyway. There’s apparently a Mad Oak mouse somewhere around, but I haven’t seen it yet. The night is young. Johnny Arzgarth from StonerRock.com was supposed to make an appearance tonight, but the weather kept him home. When and if he comes tomorrow I’ll have to make sure I mention it took me four hours to get here. Ha.

To the commenter who said “How about an exclusive track premiere?” I don’t think we’re there yet, but when the time comes I’ll try to make it happen.

6:00PM: Got here about an hour and a half ago and found Solace guitarists Tommy Southard and Justin Daniels playing Asteroid in the lounge of Mad Oak Studios, which, if you’d think about it, is pretty much what you’d expect. The Mad Oak crew was hard at work mixing a song called “From Below.” Of course, my opinion is going to be biased, because I’m here — like the press embedded with the military that tries to be impartial; good fucking luck — but when we sat down to listen to it, it was pretty god damn huge.

It took me about four hours solid to get here with the snow and traffic. 95 was shitty, 91 was shittier, 84 was fine, the Masspike was, well, full of people from Massachusetts, so you have to watch your ass anyway. One way or another, I was relieved when I found this place.

The current project in the control room — from whence I’m reporting live — is a track called “The Skull of the Head of a Man.” I’ve only heard the instruments so far, no vocals, but if unimonikered-singer Jason were to come on with some NYHC growls, it wouldn’t be inappropriate. Tommy has been sitting with Justin talking about the hardcore scene and how it’s changed and, frankly, how it sucks, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to make pictures go from my camera to my computer. Damn complicated technology.

If the evening so far is any indication, it’s looking like the night’s going to be filled with a lot of PBRs and a lot of guitar tracks. Fine by me. More later.

A quick shower (and maybe some packing) from now and I’ll be on the road heading north to the famed Mad Oak Studios in Allston, Massachusetts, to join Jersey doomers Solace as they mix their upcoming Small Stone Records debut, A.D. I’m not sure yet what format the actual in-studio feature is going to take — mostly I think it depends on how much drinking is done at any given time — but I’ll be checking in one way or another with updates, so stay tuned.

Today just so happens to be the birthday of The Patient Mrs., so although it would be completely character-appropriate to press my luck in terms of time spent in my pajamas in front of the computer, given the occasion, I think I’ll just try and play it like a normal human being for the afternoon. I don’t even know if she reads this site anymore (the novelty having long since worn off and her regard for it changing from vague interest to “that thing my husband does every day that he calls work but doesn’t make any money”), but if so: happy birthday, dear.

For the rest of you, enjoy some Frydee Black Pyramid. Anyone in the NYC area planning to head to their show tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 13) at Ace of Clubs, I will most certainly be there from early on, picking my liver and dooming out. Hope to see you.

Also, stick around for next week, when I’ll be doing an exclusive in-studio report from Massachusetts with Solace as they finalize the mix for their long awaited album, A.D. Expect slurred typing and extremely biased prose. Killer.

My first question for Cortez guitarist Scotty Fuse when I saw the below press release was, “Does the album have a title yet?” Nope, it doesn’t. But we do get some song titles, and anything involving stoner rock and monoliths is okay by me. Here’s the update from the band:

Massachusetts stoner/doom metallers Cortez have entered New Alliance Audio (Scissorfight, Cave In, Keelhaul, Trap Them, The Red Chord) in Cambridge, Massachusetts to begin recording material for its second album with engineer Ethan Dussault. Song titles set to appear on the CD include “Monolith,” “Northlander,” and “Beyond the Mountain.” This will be the first recording to feature vocalist Matt Harrington.

Cortez’s latest album, Thunder in a Forgotten Town, was released in 2006 via Buzzville Records.

Below is a live video from September 2009 of Cortez performing “Monolith” at the Stoner Hands of Doom Festival in Frederick, Maryland.

Boston-based guitarist Darryl Shepard was kind enough to email in the latest projects he’s working on following the breakup of instrumental Small Stone Records outfit Hackman, whose second and apparently final (though one never knows in music) album, Enterprises, was an underrated gem in 2008. Here’s what he’s got going:

First up is Blackwolfgoat (do I know how ridiculous that sounds? Yes, I do.), which is just myself on electric guitar, creating and layering loops. I’ve played one show so far opening for Cortez and plan on doing some more shows and hopefully some recording. Closest comparisons I can think of for Blackwolfgoat would be Earth or Darsombra.

Also, I’m going to be doing a project with Charlie Harrold from 5ive (drums) called Fighter Captured. This is going to be guitar and drums and 100 percent improvisational. We have two days booked at New Alliance Studios in Boston at the end of February for recording. We’ve discussed what we’re going to shoot for but there will be no rehearsals at all before recording, so needless to say we’re very curious as to what this will sound like. There may be a show or two later, we’ll see.

Allston, MA, rockers Black Thai, who came on the radar a little bit ago, have finished recording three new songs at the fabled New Alliance Audio studio. I emailed guitarist Scott Fuse (also of Cortez) and asked him to give the lowdown on the process and how it all came out. Here’s what he had to say:

Monday, November 30th

We all met at New Alliance Audio in Cambridge, MA at 10AM. After loading all of the gear into the freight elevator we moved it into the studio and began setting up. Once the drums were set up engineer extraordinaire Ethan Dussault (Caspian, Tides, We’re all Gonna Die) began mic-ing the drum kit to get sounds. Once we got the drums sounding sufficiently thunderous we spent some time working on guitar and bass sounds.

We decided to record the song “Saturation Point” first. We did three takes and listened to the playback. The first take had a much better feel and that’s the one we went with. We worked on “Sinking Ships” next which ended up being a bit of a tough one to capture due to a few drum issues, including a broken snare. We ended up getting a great take after all of the effort, so it worked out in the end. The last song to be recorded was “333″ and this went fairly smoothly, with only a few takes necessary.

Tuesday, December 1st

Jim (vocals, guitar) and I (guitar) came in on Tuesday to record some more guitars. We added some extra rhythm guitars to “Sinking Ships” and “333.” Guitar solos were also recorded. On “Sinking Ships” I used a really cool sounding Bass Synthesizer pedal which gave the solo an awesome effect.

Wednesday, December 23rd

Jim and I returned to New Alliance to lay down the vocals. We decided to have Jim add a guitar solo to “Sinking Ships” which came out awesome, especially following the angular-sounding lead that I did with the Bass Synth. His solo sounds like a swarm of angry wasps. So good. The vocal recording went smoothly, Jim banged out “Saturation Point” and “333″ saving “Sinking Ships” for last as it is a screamer and we knew he would probably have no voice left by the time it was done.

We still need to do final mixes in the near future. These three songs in conjunction with “The Ladder” and “Satan’s Toolshed” which we recorded earlier this year will probably end up on an EP release down the road.

-Scott

Sometimes these things just fall into your lap. My first encounter with Allston, MA’s Black Thai came via the news that they’re recording a new three-song demo at the famed New Alliance East Studios. After seeing they were from Allston, I figured a safe bet was that at least one member of Cortez current or former was involved with Black Thai, and wouldn’t you know, guitarist Scotty Fuse is right in there along with We’re all Gonna Die vocalist/guitarist Jim Healy.

The four-piece is rounded out by bassist Cory Cocomazzi and drummer Kyle Rasmussen, and they play riff-led Southern rock/metal that’s more or less unpretentious stoner with a heavier edge. Judging by the two tracks on their MySpace (presented in fancypants widget form below), Black Thai are starting at a pretty good point when it comes to developing their sound. “Satan’s Toolshed,” at a hefty 7:42, doesn’t get boring or lose its edge, which is an accomplishment for a new band even if one made up of experienced players.

If River City Revival-era Alabama Thunderpussy had been from Massachusetts, they might sound something like Black Thai. Healy’s vocals could probably come down a notch in their next mixing session (I’m a fan of low-mixed vocals in general and will allow this affects my judgment of such things), but if “Satan’s Toolshed” and “The Ladder” are anything to go by, these dudes are well worth keeping on the radar for when that next demo shows up.

Eat widget:

Since the third offering from Boston heavy psych aggressors Ichabod was intended for release last year, one can only imagine they didn�t know it would wind up coming out the same month as a John Cusack movie of the same name. I looked back in the archives, and such a phenomenon is a first. No one was nearly as timely with a record called Better off Dead.

2012 follows four years behind 2005�s Reaching Empyrean, and the growth in the band is palpable. There�s still the roots of sludge aggression, but the band have progressed to the point of incorporating more clean vocals and more complex structures. Listening to �Giving up the Ghost,� the verse riff is undeniably stoner, and the later bridge is straight out of Sabbath�s �Iron Man� — though put to good use — but Ichabod encase these influences in a multifaceted context that�s bound to surprise more than a few listeners expecting something simple and straightforward.

The album was recorded at Mad Oak Studios by Devin Charette, and the production is crisp and sharp despite some issues with Phil MacKay�s snare drum, which sounds flat compared to what�s around it. Greg Dellaria�s bass is lively and present in the mix, adding much-appreciated thickness to the songs. Dave Iverson�s guitar, rarely appearing in a single layer, is rich and the root of many of 2012�s successes — not to take anything away from Ken MacKay�s vocals, which in their clean incarnation vary between a Facelift-era Layne Staley and a From Bliss to Devastation-style Tim Williams and when screamed come on with an intonation and cadence reminiscent of Devin Townsend�s work in Strapping Young Lad. MacKay�s ability to adjust his approach to the music is a tremendous asset to the band, as a track like their cover Pink Floyd�s �Nile Song� simply would have been impossible to pull off otherwise.

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