LDB: Let’s make an album

So the A&R rep from R.E.X. Records was on board to allow Dude A and his brother, Dude B, to produce a full-length LP. In order to convince the higher-ups at the label that we were an act worth investing in, Mr. A&R had to have something, anything to present to them. This was before social media and gaging audience by “likes” and “follows.” Shit, this was before MySpace.

A demo would have been ideal. But all we had was cassette tapes recorded in an empty school classroom. The empty school was, at the time, the home of the church we attended. Imagine a cassette recorder pointed in the direction of 2 guitars, amps on 12, and a drum machine piped through an amp. In a reverb box in the form of a concrete and tile classroom. Not very compelling.

Mr. A&R was basing his trust in this project on the work Dudes A and B had published prior with their band. He knew the quality he could expect. So he trusted us and asked that we at least give him the titles of the 10 tracks that would appear on the album. He assured us the titles could change, but that he just wanted something concrete to sell to the decision-makers.

So one day, Dudes A and B and I sat in the tiny living room of the apartment my then wife and I were renting from her grandparents, who lived next door. We came up with concepts we would want to convey through the music, and subsequently 10 titles. Out of our asses.

• Yellow & Black Attack

• Ripple

• Better Ways

• Fighting Gravity

• Lemonade

• Radiant Abyss

• Supersaturated

• Martin’s Dream

• The Weather

• Sprout

This is the track list of the final product. There was another title submitted, which I can’t recall. But upon release of the album months later, nine of the titles we spit out that day made the final cut.

From the time we submitted the list to Mr. A&R ‘til the time of our first scheduled studio time, we had a few months. That meant I had little time to come up with lyrics and melodies for an album, which I had never done to that point. And now that I think of it, I have never done since.

By day 1 in the studio, I had lyrics and melodies for 6 or 7 tracks, and the rest would come in flight. But I managed to write the lyrics through this inverted method of title (plus concept) first. And I must say, the lyrics were one of the standout qualities of the finished product.

Interestingly, we had titles, most lyrics and melodies on day 1 in the studio… but no singer.

Yet.