Putting life on pause: Recording a new song at a great studio! TW: some possibly upsetting material
About two years ago, I got an idea for a song. I'm not particularly a songwriter, so I called up someone who is, my longtime friend and collaborator Rick. I asked him, "Why don't we write a song about September 10th, 2001? It was the last "normal" day," I explained. He thought it was a great idea.
I had just seen a documentary where a band had an album set to be released on what turned out to be 9/11. The previous day, 9/10, they went about their business in NYC, doing radio, phone interviews, and TV before culminating in a midnight show at Tower Records on 4th and Broadway...technically 9/11.
I remember a shot from the stage, looking out into the dark night through the entryway doors. "That was it," I sighed, resignedly, looking behind the assembled audience. "Nothing would ever be the same after that." It really impacted me.
The creative process took a while. Rick wanted to write something that wasn't jingoistic or patriotic, just a respectful and real musing about the events of September 11, but looked at through the context of September 10. To my knowledge, nobody has come at it from that angle.
I set about doing research to possibly offer lyrical ideas. Not surprisingly, there wasn't much about 9/10/2001. Oh, but did I see things about 9/11 I hadn't seen before! Pictures taken on the ground. Plane parts. Landing gear. Pictures of dismembered hands, fingers, gore hanging from street signs. Corpses. Did you know that there's closeup footage from the Plaza of the Towers burning? With Billy Joel Musak playing in the background? Neither did I. It was terrifying. I couldn't sleep, I just saw burning buildings when I closed my eyes.
That only strengthened my resolve to do this right. Rick's song turned out to be everything I hoped for. We're recording the basic tracks tomorrow--drums(me), bass, rhythm acoustic guitar(Rick), and keyboards. We'll do vocals, including a choir, next month. And we're doing it at the best studio we have access to. It's been used by, among others, The Lumineers, Harry Styles(his latest album), Post Malone, Norah Jones, Sabrina Carpenter(Espresso), and this guy:
[media=https://youtu.be/AIowDoCtklY?si=BqRbiUE22cpPz3-I]
He's recorded lots of his hits there. Although Shawn's drummer is in the left booth in this video, I'll be in the right one, I prefer the sound in there for this song. On a previous album called "High On Cake", the drums were on the right where the guitar player is standing because I wanted more of the big room sound.
It's hard to contain my excitement. I've gotten nothing but positive feedback from the rough demo Rick made a few weeks ago, and all the people involved are psyched. It's strange to feel such forward motion and enthusiasm on such a serious song, but it's there. Rick and I fully realize the responsibility we have to deliver a respectful track, done in the memory and honor of those we lost on that sad day, and we realize we're walking a tightrope. This is not going to be easy, but we've learned a lot in the decades we've been doing this. Fingers crossed!
I had just seen a documentary where a band had an album set to be released on what turned out to be 9/11. The previous day, 9/10, they went about their business in NYC, doing radio, phone interviews, and TV before culminating in a midnight show at Tower Records on 4th and Broadway...technically 9/11.
I remember a shot from the stage, looking out into the dark night through the entryway doors. "That was it," I sighed, resignedly, looking behind the assembled audience. "Nothing would ever be the same after that." It really impacted me.
The creative process took a while. Rick wanted to write something that wasn't jingoistic or patriotic, just a respectful and real musing about the events of September 11, but looked at through the context of September 10. To my knowledge, nobody has come at it from that angle.
I set about doing research to possibly offer lyrical ideas. Not surprisingly, there wasn't much about 9/10/2001. Oh, but did I see things about 9/11 I hadn't seen before! Pictures taken on the ground. Plane parts. Landing gear. Pictures of dismembered hands, fingers, gore hanging from street signs. Corpses. Did you know that there's closeup footage from the Plaza of the Towers burning? With Billy Joel Musak playing in the background? Neither did I. It was terrifying. I couldn't sleep, I just saw burning buildings when I closed my eyes.
That only strengthened my resolve to do this right. Rick's song turned out to be everything I hoped for. We're recording the basic tracks tomorrow--drums(me), bass, rhythm acoustic guitar(Rick), and keyboards. We'll do vocals, including a choir, next month. And we're doing it at the best studio we have access to. It's been used by, among others, The Lumineers, Harry Styles(his latest album), Post Malone, Norah Jones, Sabrina Carpenter(Espresso), and this guy:
[media=https://youtu.be/AIowDoCtklY?si=BqRbiUE22cpPz3-I]
He's recorded lots of his hits there. Although Shawn's drummer is in the left booth in this video, I'll be in the right one, I prefer the sound in there for this song. On a previous album called "High On Cake", the drums were on the right where the guitar player is standing because I wanted more of the big room sound.
It's hard to contain my excitement. I've gotten nothing but positive feedback from the rough demo Rick made a few weeks ago, and all the people involved are psyched. It's strange to feel such forward motion and enthusiasm on such a serious song, but it's there. Rick and I fully realize the responsibility we have to deliver a respectful track, done in the memory and honor of those we lost on that sad day, and we realize we're walking a tightrope. This is not going to be easy, but we've learned a lot in the decades we've been doing this. Fingers crossed!
