An email came through the PR wire about an event at SXSW in Austin called Full Metal Texas. Pretty tough sounding, right? You’d almost expect Vinnie Paul to show up or something. Then I looked at the lineup.

Now, believe me, I’m hardly one to go in for the whole, “You dang kids don’t even know what metal is these days blah blah blah thing.” Not because I think it’s untrue, I just don’t care. But wouldn’t you think with something called Full Metal Texas the bands should at least be from the state in the name of the event? Doesn’t that just make more sense?

Aside from not being a fan of bands like Darkest Hour or Iwrestledabearonce, the whole thing just doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s nice to see Naam on a bill with some bigger acts, but Naam is from Brooklyn and Texas has an extremely fertile metal underground. Why not give some of those bands a chance to shine?

Let’s say we took Howl (Rhode Island), Amarna Reign (Indianapolis), Your Demise (UK), Lions Lions (Boston) and Iwrestledabearonce (Shreveport, Louisiana) off the bill. Here are six bands from Texas who could provide suitable replacement:

1. Solitude Aeturnus (Arlington)
2. Las Cruces (San Antonio)
3. Kin of Ettins (Dallas)
4. The Roller (Austin)
5. Elliott’s Keep (Dallas)
6. Orthodox Fuzz (Fort Worth)

There. You’ve got some bigger bands, a local hipster act who will bring out the cool kids, and plenty of underground fare that deserves to be noticed. And that’s not even getting into the super-stoner stuff like Wo Fat, Superheavygoatass or Blood of the Sun. I guess it’s a good thing there’s the Dallas Doom Daze fest to make sure this stuff gets out there, since no one else seems to want to. Anyone who winds up at Full Metal Texas, I hope you have a great time, but for me, it gets a big “meh.”

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.