The Past pt.2: Drunk in Cumbria

Here is the long-awaited second installment of the Voo studio diary. So now you can FINALLY stop hitting Refresh & find the sleep that you've been desperately craving since the devastating cliffhanger that marked the end of chapter one.

Reading through both of these old blogs has made me think how ridiculous it was drinking as much as we did while we were in the studio to record half of the songs that would we thought would appear on our second album. Not that it was Guns N' Roses-style debauchery or anything like that, all swigging off J.D.& going nuts; it was more steadily drinking red wine while we were supposed to be recording good, in-tune, in-time music & then playing kinda badly.

Of the 6 songs we recorded in Ennerdale, only 2 made it onto 'Songs We Used To Dance To'. Some because they didn't fit anywhere on the record & others because the performance sucked balls.

The songs we really liked but didn't have a place for on the LP were 'Pages' (which is available on the split EP with Hammer No More The Fingers), 'New Buildings' & 'This New Distance' (a new version of an older song).

We recorded another song but you'll never ever know what it was...

These forgotten songs are now finally gonna see the light of day as part of our upcoming Used Vinyl Club EP , more details of which we'll have for you soon. But we're well excited about it & can't wait for these songs to be heard as we're proud of them.

The EP will also feature some brand new music as we're heading into WhiteWood studios with Rob Whiteley to record some new songs & will remain stone-cold sober while doing so. Promise.

Old blogs starts...

NOW!!!


After re-recording the three songs which, to our dismay, we discovered sucked and then listening to the ones which rocked we went to bed happy with what we'd done & slept the sleep of the righteous. The next day when it came to listening to what we'd recorded the previous night, the problem was, although everything was there 'energy-wise' 'tuning-wise' it wasn't. Somehow our ears had failed us all bad-style which can happen after a dasy rockin' out all over the goddamn place and, unfortunately, the bass was out of tune on two of the four songs we had recorded so far.

We had decided, rightly or wrongly, to record the two most difficult songs on the Sunday. I think we thought maybe we'd be all kindsa 'locked-in' by then and could take on the world, y'know, musically speaking. However, the bass over-dubs threw a spanner in the works - y'know, musically speaking - and that meant all of our plans would have to be put on hold while Paul re-recorded his bass parts over again.

The second of the two difficult songs was played by just John & myself. Paul had had a pretty rough day & a combination of overdubs & lotsa booze sent him to bed around 1am. That was probably a mistake while we were in Cumbria - we did drink a lot. I think when it comes to recording part two of Voo two we won't drink as much wine.

With Rob Whiteley recording me & John as a two-piece, we stayed up 'til around 4am finishing off the second of the two most difficult songs. They'd both turned out to be a piece of piss.

As we'd recorded a song bass-less this meant Monday started with yet more bass overdubs for Paul. It didn't take too long yet as but as we'd set Monday aside for guitar overdubs (the parts on the album where I 'shred'  & double up rhythm guitars etc)...

I ended up doing this until 6.30 fucking a.m.

I'm not kidding, at one point I actually forgot how to play guitar. I was playing a guitar solo - shredding - it was 4am or later & at this point I'd played it fifteen times or so as I kept messing it up & it plain went outta my head. I was shutting down.

Don't get me wrong or anything, I fucking love being in the studio & can't wait to get back there. We were dead lucky to be able to record in a studio as lovely as the one we were in up in Cumbria, Ennerdale to be exact. But I was so. Tired. I was on the edge. Rob, god bless him, was as patient as any man could be & he was up 'til 6 fucking 30 am too.

THE END

Not a very exciting end, I'll grant you but an end nevertheless. The recording of the rest of 'Songs We Used To Dance To' was both more productive & more eventful. Coming soon: The Songs We Used To Dance To Sessions: The Dock Road Days! Probably not though.