The last days of PermaPress Recording were a blur. Well, it was more than the last few days. It was more like years. I found myself perpetually juggling seven or eight different albums, all in various states of creation, at the same time. Mixing these three, tracking these two, mastering one, tracking and mixing one at the same time, and in preproduction with one too. While that was going on, people were coming in for one off days here and there to make demos, the occasional rapper or hip hop producer would rent the studio (I think just to take pictures with the mixing board), and I was sometimes running off to Northern California to work with Jerry Joseph at TRI. With escalating cost of living in Portland, and running a business that barely makes the margins anyway, staying this busy was the best way to keep getting by. The upside, I worked a lot. That's alright. I love to create music. The downside, sometimes I was probably so burnt out, I didn't enjoy a record that I was working on like I really should have.
Back in June, my good pals from Calgary, Canada - The Mandates - began announcing that they had a new record coming out a little later in the year called Dead In The Face. The cover, pictured above, is awesome! I was totally jealous. I had worked on a lot of records with this band over the years. I love them! It was their love of The Exploding Hearts that brought us together.
I first worked with their guitar player, Brady, in the band The Fun Funs. No joking with that name. Lots of fun if you can find that record. They came to Portland and we kicked out a record in two or three days. Not much later, Brady brought me his new band, The Mandates. I mixed their self-titled debut and then a single or two before they drove the van from Calgary to Portland, OR, to record their second album, In The Back Of Your Heart. Now that was a memorable time.
We had so much fun recording that LP. We worked hard and played hard. Around then, the dive bars in Portland hadn't quite disappeared and we hit them every night after the sessions. I think Wickens (The Mandate's other guitar) even stayed around for a few extra nights. Was that around Halloween? 2013? We made a tough little rock record. It was the reflection of us; a midnight gang of gutter club musicians. It rained a lot. It was a perfect session. And you can listen to it!
So you can understand my jealousy when I found out about this brand new album coming out called Dead In The Face... with the killer album cover. I found out it was streaming on Exclaim! and I caved. I had to listen. I think I was just doing it because I wanted to make sure that the albums I had done with them sounded better. I hit play, first song starts shredding my little radio's speakers with ripping guitar. This sounds really good. God damn...
Then it starts to sink in. I know this song. I look at the title; Baby, I'm an Outsider. Yeah, I mixed this one once. Did they redo it? I begin to read down the song list. Ramalama June, On the Run, Louder Than Before, In My Bed, and Hello T'Jane I've mixed all of these songs before. But this isn't either of the first two albums. When did I do this?
I began reading the article on Exclaim! Yep, tracked by Craig Fahner and mixed by Pat Kearns. It said it right there. I laughed pretty hard at myself. But I don't want to make a habit of this kind of thing happening. I mean the forgetfulness, not the laughing. Being able to laugh at yourself is a good thing.
It's a goal of mine to get The Mandates down here to the desert. I hear that Canadians like to come here. Not much sun up there in the winter, I bet.
Stay tuned for more on Craig Fahner. That guy is something special.
Listen to and buy Dead In The Face.
https://mandates.bandcamp.com/album/dead-in-the-face-5
Back in June, my good pals from Calgary, Canada - The Mandates - began announcing that they had a new record coming out a little later in the year called Dead In The Face. The cover, pictured above, is awesome! I was totally jealous. I had worked on a lot of records with this band over the years. I love them! It was their love of The Exploding Hearts that brought us together.
I first worked with their guitar player, Brady, in the band The Fun Funs. No joking with that name. Lots of fun if you can find that record. They came to Portland and we kicked out a record in two or three days. Not much later, Brady brought me his new band, The Mandates. I mixed their self-titled debut and then a single or two before they drove the van from Calgary to Portland, OR, to record their second album, In The Back Of Your Heart. Now that was a memorable time.
We had so much fun recording that LP. We worked hard and played hard. Around then, the dive bars in Portland hadn't quite disappeared and we hit them every night after the sessions. I think Wickens (The Mandate's other guitar) even stayed around for a few extra nights. Was that around Halloween? 2013? We made a tough little rock record. It was the reflection of us; a midnight gang of gutter club musicians. It rained a lot. It was a perfect session. And you can listen to it!
So you can understand my jealousy when I found out about this brand new album coming out called Dead In The Face... with the killer album cover. I found out it was streaming on Exclaim! and I caved. I had to listen. I think I was just doing it because I wanted to make sure that the albums I had done with them sounded better. I hit play, first song starts shredding my little radio's speakers with ripping guitar. This sounds really good. God damn...
Then it starts to sink in. I know this song. I look at the title; Baby, I'm an Outsider. Yeah, I mixed this one once. Did they redo it? I begin to read down the song list. Ramalama June, On the Run, Louder Than Before, In My Bed, and Hello T'Jane I've mixed all of these songs before. But this isn't either of the first two albums. When did I do this?
I began reading the article on Exclaim! Yep, tracked by Craig Fahner and mixed by Pat Kearns. It said it right there. I laughed pretty hard at myself. But I don't want to make a habit of this kind of thing happening. I mean the forgetfulness, not the laughing. Being able to laugh at yourself is a good thing.
It's a goal of mine to get The Mandates down here to the desert. I hear that Canadians like to come here. Not much sun up there in the winter, I bet.
Stay tuned for more on Craig Fahner. That guy is something special.
Listen to and buy Dead In The Face.
https://mandates.bandcamp.com/album/dead-in-the-face-5
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