Not only were these were the first recording sessions in which i didn't have a creative hand, they were also the first sessions for which i wasn't present (discounting several live and practice demos recorded for internal use). That said, i don't have the full story on the entire process, but i can tell as much as i know.
From what i remember, these were recorded in 2 or maybe 3 separate sessions over the last quarter of 2003. I don't remember the exact date, but on one of my trips up from boston for a show, i arrived at Castle Newburgh to find the drumkit miked up and several tracks laid down. In lieu of practice that night, we basically went over the spur of the moment recording (as it was explained to me - although it was a bit weird not really knowing everything that was going on with the band for the first time, it was very cool to actually get some new recordings!). What bugs me the most is that i have no clue which show this was for, and as a result cannot remember the start date for these demos! I know that some mixes started floating around at the end of October 2003, and all of the initial instrumentation was complete on the first 4 tracks (
Confessions...,
Tourniquets...,
The Atlantic Ocean..., and new song
The Hunger Artist). By the time of the 1913 video shoot (middle of november), i'd heard
1913 (obviously) and the full band recording of
Still Photography (about which i was quite excited, as it suggested that we'd be pulling the retired song back into play). I believe that i might have recorded my keyboard parts for those initial tracks during that weekend of video shooting.
December saw the recording of the 2 Impossibles covers that ended up on the demo. These were a surprise to me, as i didn't even know they were being recorded. Apparently the band had been contacted about contributing some tracks to a tribute CD for The Impossibles based on an earlier recording of
Disintegration is the Best Album Ever that we recorded during the
Threnody sessions. It was the opinion of the maine boys (which which i concur!) that since the lineup had changed, and since we were now able to make better recordings, that we should submit the best songs we could for the project. Hence: re-worked full band versions of
Stopping Sound and
Oxygen. Although i was left out of most of this process (and ironically BECAUSE i was), i think these were probably the best tracks we'd recorded, as Jon originally didn't think i was going to play on the songs, and used the extra channels on the recorder to get expand the core instrumentation. The band was basically done their parts by mid December, and we found a way to make it work with some keyboard tracks. I tracked my parts one afternoon around Christmas break. The compilation CD didn't seem to get very far into the planning stages before it fell apart, and these tracks were thus left wandering aimlessly in the desert, much like Sean Higgins in his day-to-day existence. I didn't really like the idea of putting 2 cover songs onto a 6-song demo, but they were being sold/distributed before i even found out about it. Also, they probably WERE the best sounding recordings we had at this time, so it was natural to want them to be heard. This was before Myspace really came into vogue.
An early mix of
1913 had to be hurriedly finished in time to fit into the music video, so the version on the video is quite different than the version that ended up on the demo. Aside from a different mixdown and master, several of the parts were removed or changed. As the CD demos were beginning circulation (at some shows that i had to skip), the mixes had most of the keyboards stripped out or mixed sparingly. 1913 was the most affected, as Jon's old guitar part was removed and replaced with a guitar part that played a part similar to the original keyboard part for the verses.
Some of the vocals for the older tracks on the demo (
TNT,
Confessions...) had been recorded, and came out much better on this version. It's possible that some additional instrumentation was tacked onto these mixes also; unless some of the parts were just clarified in the final mix -- i wasn't kept informed of any of the processes or decisions being made around this time, so i can't really say for sure. Needless to say, the versions that ended up on the CD were a bit more polished than the original mixes.
All in all, it was great to finally get some music out there again. Unfortunately for me, this demo will always be a reminder of bitter times in the band, as i was a little shocked when i learned that i'd been cut out of the loop in the decision to start assembling/distributing the demo. To this point in the band, i'd done or overseen most of the work that sort of defined our style or image (website, artwork, etc), and i felt that the end demo was a little lacking, as it had no proper artwork and i still question the use of the two cover songs on the first demo of the new Softer lineup -- without proper artwork or liner notes, people could easily mistake the covers to be Softer originals (as was the case when playing them live without proper preface). Additionally, i really had no input on the final mixes or masters, leaving me to like it or lump it. I think the most glaring disappointment i have was that i only learned of the demo's distribution by a fellow promoter-friend of mine who picked one up at one of the shows i missed, and told me he was disappointed that the keys had been taken out of the CD (which i didn't even know had been released at this point). This was one of the many factors that ultimately led to me quitting the band shortly after.
Despite my regrets, i do think this was a crucial step for the band, as it was the first music on CD we'd released since the V2 demo a half-dozen band members ago. Unless we wanted these recordings to end up like every other we'd done since (shelved indefinitely do to roster, stylistic, or song-catalogue changes), it would have to have been released around the time it did anyway.
close journal ↑
-- a few tracks that were recorded in the initial sessions (
Still Photography and
The Atlantic Ocean...) sort of faded into oblivion. They were mostly finished tracks, although i'm unsure if i ever got to record keyboard/synth parts for them, as they were second-stringers to the new material that was definitely going onto the demo.
-- this recording of
The Atlantic Ocean (third version) added some new parts not seen in the original demo or the track from the
Threnody sessions, inluding some of Jon's signature guitar noodlety, and a new vocal line ("Lovely eyes indicate the loveliest of souls") sung during the bridge. If you've heard this mix, or maybe only if you've read what i just revealed, you might recognize this little line from the artwork wayyyyy back on
The Paths That Lead You Home, where it was placed in the traycard next to our model (who had, and still has, lovely eyes). If you are a learned fellow, you might even recognize this as a modified line from Kerouac's
On The Road: "lovely eyes surely do prophesy and indicate the loveliest of souls".
-- a full band version of
It Always Snows (which reared it's cheerful head into some of the latter-day Softer shows) was started during one of these recording sessions. Due to the lack of a nice piano sound (i think i was still using a cheap Casio or Yamaha as my piano sound at this point), the attempt was ultimately scrapped. It's unfortunate, as the full band version sounded really nice and never was sonically documented :(
close notes ↑