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STUDIO REPORTS
Studio Report 6 : 29 August 2005 By Karl Willetts - Vocals OK, well here’s my first ‘getting back into the world of Bolt Thrower’ report. I’ll start off by explaining a bit about the lyric writing process, which in itself was somewhat lengthy! My introduction to the new songs came in the form of some demos Baz recorded at home earlier in the year, I spent a good couple of months listening to these to get them into my head and understand the general flow, timings and structures of the songs. The songs weren’t totally completed, but I could already tell this was going to be some excellent stuff... To be honest, getting back into writing lyrics again proved a little harder than I had imagined, it had been a few years since my last song writing which had been for the Mercenary album back in 1998. And it being our eighth studio album, we’d already used a lot of the good sounding Bolt Thrower song titles, along with a plethora of new bands using titles similar to the ones that we use, so I spent a long time researching on my pc, to make sure that the prospective song titles where somewhat original.
I also found that physically visiting places with military history very inspirational, I visited the Cenotaph in London and checked out Horse Guards parade where the trooping of the colour is performed, I also went to Belgium and saw a lot of war cemeteries and memorials around Flanders. In May I spent the night camping out at a place called Turnaware Point in Cornwall, which was an embarkation point for the US Infantry 5th Corps in the Normandy landings. Visiting these places helped me develop some of the main themes and subject topics to which a few of the lyrics on the new album are based. When the band finally entered the studio back in May the songs on the demos had changed a little (for the better!) and I started to formulate the lyrics to the songs by at first concentrating on the rhythms and timings. Gav provided me with a pile of useful notebooks containing ideas for song titles and subject matter. These provided a wealth of material from which the first sets of lyrics were draughted. While the rhythm tracks were being recorded I met with Gav on a regular basis to work through the lyrics and eventually after much debate and discussion with regard to song titles, the final rough draughts of the songs were complete and ready to record.
At the start of August I spent 4 days demoing the new songs in order to make sure that my placement and timings of the vocals worked. The rest of the band came in at this point to make the odd timing, or lyric change, so after a bit of shuffling around they where finally ready to put down for real, 10 songs in total. I took my time concentrating on both delivery of the individual lines and clear annunciation of the words. It was very rewarding that vocally I was still able to continue where I left off on Mercenary, my throat seemed to remember too, and luckily I didn’t suffer any strains or voice loss! Just hope it holds out for the tour too!!
The recording went relatively problem-free, I had my speaker-kicking moments (sorry Jo), but overall everyone was chuffed with how it all went. And after 10 days they were all completed, and sounding totally killer. We tried to vary the timings quite a lot, so there are different style verses, a selection of choruses and a mix of old and new vocals to match the style of songs. I can’t give any songtitles away yet, but maybe when we’ve finished the mix we might put an clip or two up on the website.
It won’t be long, the mixing has already started...
Studio Report 5 : 29 July 2005 By Martin (Kiddie) Kearns - Drums Ok, well here’s my last studio report before I hand over to Karl. I must admit I’ve missed a few of the days recording so I’ll try to fill you in as much as I can... First of all, strange goings on... We stocked up on all the recording essentials of strings, leads, plectrums, etc... from our regular music store. Then 2 weeks later we go back and it’s surrounded by fire engines and in flames. Then last week I go to settle the bill for my drum spares at the local drum store and there’s a sign on the door ‘Closed due to flooding’!! All we need now is the locusts and we’ve got the whole set... strange indeed! Anyway - back to the recording, well Gav was up next – his sound was eventually found by using a combination of 2 Marshall power amps, 3 cabs and 2 Boss GX 700s. It’s a slightly less scooped sound than Baz’s so when they’re put together it sounds like the fattest guitar ever.
Gav’s recording his first album using his BC Rich Beast, so he worked out pretty fast that it wasn’t the most ideal shape for recording sitting down! It looks cool anyway! Gav’s rhythms go down without any major problems, a few adjustments on harmony parts and altered riffs, but everything is sounding sweet. Gav’s sound has slightly more middle range frequencies, so the picking is more prominent, it sure makes that chugging sound deadly.
Karl came down with re-worked lyrics, so it’s a full house today. Andy’s keeping us all entertained with his version of the vocals, which range from Linkin Park style to Nightwish operatics! Amusing as it is, it does show that the different style vocals could make Bolt Thrower a completely different style band. But saying that, I’m so glad that Karl will be back at the mic again soon...
Once Gav had finished, Jo was up. Her sound also took a few attempts to get right. There was a lot of choice between amps, pedals and even basses, but in the end she decided on 1 Peavey, 1 Marshall guitar amp, 2 cabs, 2 distortion pedals and her BC Rich Ironbird bass. The new Ibanez she bought for the recording sounded cool, and had a nice bottom end but the gain on the BC just blew it away. Jo runs through her tracks relatively easily and when I turn up she is virtually half way through the album. The sound is awesome, and now the Bolt Thrower ‘wall of sound’ is falling into place. It’s a pleasure to hear this album building piece by piece.
Well, that’s the latest, it’s all sounding killer so far - all we need now is the melody guitar parts and solos, and of course some vocals...
Ok, I’ll sign off for now. Karl will be back in a couple of weeks with an update on how Jo is doing, and news on the vocals, until then... stay heavy!
Studio Report 4 : 28 June 2005 By Martin (Kiddie) Kearns - Drums
OK, I know I’ve finished my recording, but it looks like I’m gonna be doing the next couple of studio diaries before I hand over to Karl...
Once, he’s warmed up, the first couple of songs he runs through pretty easily, although his dodgy back is giving him a few problems. He’s tries a few various recording positions, and eventually adopts the standing stance that gives him the least pain for the rest of the recording! Ah, the joys of being a 30+ musician, haha...
The next song is one of the faster ones, and Jo’s chuffed cos it’s her personal favourite, we all finally decided on a title for it too today, I won’t say now, I’ll let Karl give you an insight into the lyrics and titles later on... Gav’s favourite song is next, this is the epic one on the album, and possibly the title track. Each of us have different faves, so I guess that’s a good sign. The next couple of songs, Baz rolls through relatively easily, just a few ‘wobblers’ (as Andy calls them) on the power chords, but no major problems... The arrival of Baz’s new guitar stirred things up a little today. He started to set it up with an option of recording some of the parts with it, then when Baz went back to his old one to continue recording the song, the guitar seemed to get wind of the fact it was being ‘phased out’ and completely cut out! An hour of panicking, opening it up, checking wiring, pots, electrics, leads, etc.. and eventually resorting to praising the guitar for it’s devoted service, and it decided to work again. Co-incidence or….? Anyway, just in case, Baz decides to use the ‘old faithful’ for the rest of the album...
Back to normality and Baz rolls through the next few songs without any problems, and we eventually get to the last few songs. The last 3 were the ones that were slightly weaker than the rest so we know it’s now or never if we want to change things. We decide to spend the time trying out new riffs, and what is eventually agreed on is all for the better. I reckon some of BT’s best stuff has was written in the studio – look at 'Cenotaph'. We still play that song live and it still sounds killer... Well, that’s about all I can write about the first guitar tracks going down, I guess you have to be here to appreciate what a pleasure it is to hear this album coming together. Maybe we’ll film a bit of studio stuff later on and stick it on the site for you all, we’ll see... Next up is Gav!
Studio Report 3 : 13 June 2005 By Martin (Kiddie) Kearns - Drums Ok, another update for you... Today I put my final drum track down for the album’s ‘bonus track’, it was a real blaster (no, not blast-beat) of a song, so quite a nice one to end my recording on. Whether it makes it onto the album or not we’ll see, but it’s there anyway. Now it’s time for the sad part, where I have to pack away my drums until we start the tour rehearsals. Overall I am (and apparently everyone else is) really chuffed with how my drums went down. I had a few nightmare moments with the record, and have had to push myself but I definitely think this is my best drumming so far, can’t wait till this album is finally finished. Anyway, we’re a good few weeks off that... The next couple of days we spent going through the drum tracks I’d recorded, picking out the best takes for future reference. Not much to say about that, I guess you have to ‘be there’...haha... OK, we’re ready for some guitars!! Baz is up first, doing his rhythm tracks. I heard he took 4 days to find his guitar sound when he recorded ‘...For Victory’, so I hadn’t got a clue when he’d actually start laying some tracks down! Much to my amazement, I turned up to find him actually cleaning his guitar! I’ve been in the band on and off for 10 years, and I think I’ve only seen it happen twice. Anyway, we made sure we took a photo of it as proof!!
The following day, Baz is still on the search for his ultimate guitar sound. There’s cables everywhere, and I think just about every piece of equipment we own is being tried out. I think it’s sounds killer anyway, but apparently there’s still a frequency that needs adjusting. The sound seems to really suit the chugging stuff, but lacks clarity when played fast – or something?! I’m glad I’m a drummer, that’s all I can say!
Right, well a few adjustments later and Baz is a happy man again, I’ve got no idea what set-up he finally decided on, and I don’t wanna ask in case it gets changed again!! A change of strings and it looks like we’re ready for some riffs!! Baz jams along with the first song and to be honest it’s already blowing me away. He puts couple of rhythms down and we call it a day. Time to give our ears a break and come back in the morning to check that we’re all happy with the sound.
Next morning comes, we listen back and yes, we’ll all very happy with the sound. Baz plugs in and we’re ready to roll again, more on that next time...
Studio Report 2 : 31 May 2005 By Martin (Kiddie) Kearns – Drums Re-vitalised after the day off, I’m ready to get cracking on the recording again. I’m really looking forward to hearing these songs with all the guitars, bass and vocals on, at the moment it’s just me and the guide guitar, so I’m having to imagine what it’s all gonna sound like. Anyway, headphones back on... This song has a few faster sections, so it takes a couple of runs through to warm up. Luckily by the third take I’ve got it pretty tight, so we do one more take so I can try out a few more fills. OK, that’s 4 songs down, 6 to go..
Next day and I’m feeling pretty confident about this song. It’s a real ‘pounder’ and the structure’s pretty easy to remember, so I’m hoping to get this one nailed pretty early on... Luckily I was right, after one run through I go for a take and it’s done. Everybody’s chuffed, and the pizza arrives just as the last bar was going down, so a pretty successful day all round! Looks like yesterday was too good to be true. Spent the night puking and sweating, get a text from Baz, he’s feeling the same – couldn’t be the sandwiches Jo made the other day in the studio, could it? Surely not, haha... We take a day off to recover... Feeling loads better today. Start the day off re-tuning the kit with Andy. Just needing a little tweak on the toms and snare and we’re ready again... Song 6 – start with the usual warm up, and go for the first take. I think of a couple of things literally 3 seconds before I record them – and subsequently blow the take! Duh. I go back and practise the new bits, we all have a listen back to see what sounds best, and then record the next 2 takes. All ok... Song 7 today, and another of my favourites on the album. It’s a real ‘headbanger’ and I can’t wait to play it live. This is one of the first songs to be written so I had plenty of time to work some stuff out for it. The recording of this goes fine, and Phil (my drum tech) comes in the control room just as I’ve nailed it, glad he picked today to visit, don’t wanna let the side down!
Listening back to the demo of song 8 and we all agree the middle’s not really working, so I take a break so we can bash through some riffs. Jo’s trying out a new bass today too, I reckon it looks a bit weird but apparently the tone should be good for the album, so she seems pretty happy with it. An hour or so passes, with some 30 riffs ranging from real doomy to super chuggy! We all decide on the one to go in the song, I get back on my kit to work out suitable drumbeats and we eventually decide to go for a take. No real problems and the middle is sounding killer, job done. Day off today (German Grand Prix). Back to the grind… ha. Today’s the song I was most nervous about recording. It’s the fastest one on the album and the double bass drum sections are extreme. I soon realise it wasn’t the best choice of song after a day off, and I find that I need to do a lot of warming up to get up to speed. The warm-ups are also tiring me out, so we try to get a couple of takes before I get too knackered. The takes are fine, but not the best so I have a break then get back to it. The fourth take nails it, and thankfully that’s the hardest song out of the way. Last new song to do, this is the one that still needed a bit of work on riff-wise. The middle on this was also causing a problem, so Baz has a bash through some ideas to make it sound less ‘happy’. The final riff we decide on is anything but ‘happy’, I think it’s ended up as one of the more brutal riffs, so the song has definitely benefitted from the fine-tuning. I jam through it with Baz, luckily the drumbeat hasn’t changed too much, so it’s not too bad to work out. The recording goes ok, and that’s the last one finished!!
Now we start the debate on what song to do as a bonus... OK, we’ve decided…. but you’ll have to wait and see...
Studio Report 1 : 24 May 2005 By Martin (Kiddie) Kearns – Drums
The time has finally come – recording the new album! Can’t wait to get on my kit and knock out some new tunes!! It’s a real pleasure recording at Sable Rose – the studio’s killer, but dead relaxed, Andy is a great engineer (and comic genius), so I know the next couple of months are definitely gonna be memorable!! Ok, here goes..
WEEK 1
Next day, Vic (from Dr.um) lends us 3 snares to try out in the studio! The Premier brass was no good, the Ludwig wood had a really nice tone, but was lacking on the attack, so we tried number 3, the Noble and Cooley. It looked cool, matt black shell, rims and fittings, and the attack was immense, ok, we’re rolling again… Start running through some of the new songs to loosen up and relax and I break my favourite China! Well pissed off! Back to the Dr.um.. Day 3 - Cymbals! Vic saves the day yet again, and lends us a few cymbals to try out, amongst them I found my new favourite China, the Istanbul. We run through a couple of tracks and sort out the headphone mix, which I apparently have at an inhumanly loud volume! The mix tears everyone else’s face off, but I’m still struggling to hear what I’m playing! OK, we’re finally ready to record... Take 1, everything seems ok, get a bit rushy, blow a section or two, and it’s over... Take 2, going good, but I tried a couple of new things, didn’t execute them very well and lost the flow. Tea, chat, try some of Gav’s ‘relaxation techniques’ and listen to takes 1 and 2... Take 3, nailed it! Well happy. Everything I wanted to do was there. Song 1 down. I run through song 2...
Right, ready for song 2. Re-soundchecked the kit and it’s all sounding great, so we go for a take straight away. This particular song has a few drastic tempo changes, so with that and me struggling to hear Baz’s guide guitar, it takes a couple of runs through for me to get it to flow. We record 3 takes, and pick the best, another song down.. Rehearse the next song for tomorrow amongst general piss-taking, movie talk, tea, sandwiches, etc…
Early start today. Looking forward to recording this one as it’s one of my faves - loads of tom stuff! Took 3 takes again of this song (seems to be the formula from now on), some straight and some with extra fills, hopefully we’ll use the take with the extra bits in!! Pleased with how it went down. On HVP I thought of better stuff I could’ve recorded after the album was out, so I’m determined not to make that mistake again! Finish early ‘cos everyone wants to watch the FA cup final! Day off today to recharge my batteries (and watch the Monaco Grand Prix)! More to come… 
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