28th September
Thoughts from a rural studio
I guess we weren’t sure what to expect of the Sick
Room or our time there. We knew that it had witnessed
the gestation of some top quality work from the likes
of Magoo and, notably so far as we were concerned, The
Broken Family Band but you never think of the
surroundings that albums were made in when you listen to them… not until you know you’re going to be working there that is. So, amid plenty of speculation and imaginings the Hoax convoy rolled into deepest
Norfolk.
I’m sure bands who no longer get on with each other on
anything other than a musical level often travel
separately from gig to gig but our three vehicle
convoy (for four actual hoaxsters) was largely a
result of the fact that we play a stupidly large array
of instruments and wanted all of them there with us.
Leaving the lap steel or backup mandolin at home would
have felt like a betrayal or like walking on a wire
over the Niagara Falls without that long stick thing
that the sort of person that chooses to spend his or
her time crossing from the United States to Canada in
this quaintly eccentric manner is generally armed
with. Chris, in the lead vehicle, found himself
turning to an acoustic bass guitar for directions as
the Hoax juggernaut bore down upon the unknown
delights of Kings Lynn or Swaffham.
Owen Turner , producer extraordinaire and owner of the Sick Room had sent a set of meticulously detailed
directions concluding with the words “the Sick Room
lives down here… honest” following an only slightly
ironic description of a manoeuvre requiring a sharp
turn onto what appeared to be a cart track that ninety
percent of tractor drivers might have thought twice
about attempting. As the lead vehicle (trying
desperately to avoid the jarringly un-rock n’roll term
“T-reg, Ford Focus”here ) bumped and ground its way
along the aforementioned goat track it was hard not to
think “there can’t possibly be a recording studio down
here”.
But there was, is. Then came another “there can’t
possibly be a recording studio….” Moment as Owen
introduced us to the Sick Room for the first time…. As
he led us along a narrow path to what for all the
world appeared to be a small potting shed we harboured
thoughts ranging from “oh how quaint, he’s showing us
his shed… setting the scene thoroughly” to the rather
more extreme “cut to the f*cking chase man, we don’t
want to see your lawnmower, show us the f*cking studio
!” But this was it – the Sick Room or Sick Shack as
it should more accurately be dubbed did indeed reside
in a potting shed with TARDIS proportions…. Inside was
not only a control room from which Owen directed
affairs from the comfort of a swivel chair salvaged
from an office somewhere but a room large enough for
whole bands to play “live” (any audience for such
performances would have to be both wafer thin and
extremely friendly though) a “soundproof” drum / vocal
booth and a little green room type affair with a sofa,
kettle, microwave, TV and the requisite range of sick
and dying instruments for band members to chuckle
about and then rack their brains wondering if by any
chance they might be able to be used on any of the
forthcoming tracks…..
This being the breathless, clock-watching world of
shoestring recording there was little time to
familiarise ourselves with the surroundings before we
were actually playing with tape (or the digital
equivalent) rolling. We decided to record the basic
tracks of the first song, Hotel Las Vegas live, trying
to recapture the particular vibe we seem to always get
when we play the song in gigs or rehearsal. It was a
good choice. Owen was keen to get us all playing as
quickly as possible and this was the perfect way to do
it. Anjy sang a live guide vocal along with us and
after only about forty takes and three hours we had
something that Owen opined might pass muster….. he
then made us do it again so he had two versions to
choose from. That was the first time Al called him a
expletive deleted that weekend. On the run-in to the
version we eventually plumped for you can just hear
Chris say “I am NEVER going to play this song again”. |