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A big batch of local albums have reached the release point, or soon will. In order to cover some ground, we sent a questionnaire out to several of the groups with new material on the way, or available today. We thank Tim Rakel of May Day Orchestra, the collective membership of Mother Meat, Jon Ryan of Necessities, and Nick Stergos of Pirate Signal for the feedback on each of their projects. Links to each of the band’s music is available at the tail end of this rangy Q & A.
For starters, let’s get right to the basics of the new release. Name? Amount of tracks? Recorded where and by whom? How long a process from songs written to songs released?
May Day Orchestra: Wake, 12 tracks (nine songs, two instrumentals and one introductory piece). This was recorded by Kevin Buckley in both Brentwood and the City of Saint Louis. Some of these songs have been around quite a while. The last full-length album was released in 2010, and I started work on a new project back then. We released versions of two of these songs on a 45 in 2013. The rest of the material came together more recently in collaboration with the current line-up of the band.
Mother Meat: Our new album is titled Gondwana after the prehistoric supercontinent of the same name. It's a double album with 32 tracks recorded by Kevin Koehler (of iLLPHONICS and Obviously Offbeat) at our home studio, and his home studio. The songs range from one to eight years old, but the process and conception of the album began in 2013.
Necessities: The EP is called “Be Kind Simulacra,” and consists of five tracks. The music was recorded at Native Sound by William Godfred and David Beeman, with vocals and mixing done at Bird Cloud Recording by Ryan Wasoba. We started writing the songs in mid-2016, and are finally releasing the EP on December 15th, 2017. The record is being released by local label FishBulb Records.
Pirate Signal: "Abolition.” Six tracks. Recorded by Jon Heisserer at Asthmatic Recordings and Jason McEntire at Sawhorse Studio. Mixed/Mastered by Jason McEntire.
Talk a little bit about the personnel for this release. Perhaps it’s band-only. Or band with an active, participating producer. Or band, plus talented friends adding specific bits of brilliance. What’s the formula for who played on what?
May Day Orchestra: The May Day Orchestra was founded by Tim Rakel, songwriter, singer and guitar player. Since late 2009, Mary DeLeonardis has played drums in the group. On this release, Jake DeLeonardis plays bass, and Charlie Tabing plays lead guitar. Jake and Charlie have played together for many years in a Carbondale band called Jackhead. Jake and Mary have also played together in local rock band Tenement Ruth. Special guests on this album include Matt Pace of The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra, and JJ Hamon of Demon Lover, both of which have been members of The May Day Orchestra in some capacity since the band's formation.
Mother Meat: The personnel was just us three (Parker, Jackson, and Andrew) and Kevin, who had little to no creative input at all, but worked tirelessly to bring our vision to life. He is very talented at what he does and no other engineer that we know could have made this happen. Together we played over 30 instruments including banjo, vibraphone, standup bass, cuica, sitar, steel drum, piano, and many more. There were only three electric instruments used; guitar, 5-string bass, and an electric kalimba.
Necessities: The material and arrangements were written collaboratively by all three members of Necessities (Chris Phillips, Vocals/Lyrics, Synth, Guitar; Stephen Baier, Guitar, Vocals; Jon Ryan, Drums), the exception being all of the vocals, which were written entirely by Chris.
Pirate Signal: Here’re our full names by the way: Josh Halbower, Lead Vocals/Guitar; Brett Arnold, Guitar; Austin Earnst, Drums; Nick Stergos, Bass. I think we started recording in summer of 2016... so... way, way, way too long for some songs, not as bad for others. "Problem Solver," for instance, was written a couple years ago, shortly after our last release. In the time it's taken us to record this, we've got enough material for another record we plan to start recording in January. Turn around should be much quicker this time, thank god.
To what degree does studio experimentation factor into this one, as opposed to a “tape rolling, kill it on the first cut,” approach? Perhaps here, you can also discuss any interesting happy accidents or unexpected breakthroughs that occurred during the recording process.
May Day Orchestra: The first day of recording, the four-piece core band set up live in a big room in Brentwood and played through 10 songs. We kept the drums and bass from this session. Later, most of the vocals and guitars were recorded over "scratch" versions for better sound quality during the mixing process. The two instrumental bits, the intro and an interlude near the end, fall more into the studio experiment category.
Mother Meat: Well, we knew exactly how we wanted to do this album. Every song was recorded live in trios. Some songs feature up to three trios layered on top of each other, with some trios cutting in and out, but every time, we recorded the entire song. For example "Feel the Pastry" had four trios:
1. Bottle Drum, Fujara, Xylophone
2. Lettuce Shaker, Banjo, Ukulele
3. Hyde Drum Kit, nylon string guitar, Stand-up bass
4. Drums, 12 string guitar, 5-string bass
The trios cut in and out, but we still learned the entire song on each instrument and played it live all the way through, even with no intention to use the whole thing. This gave it the natural flow we desired. Most all of the songs were made with this technique. The 3 "Gondwana Jungle" songs were all recorded live, and start and stop abruptly. We planned the order of each segment, and to record them, we would listen to the segment before the one we were playing and come in instantly after the preceding one. Some songs on the second disc are variations of songs from the first disc played in a different trio of instruments with either different vocal lines or just entirely different structures, but all still recorded live.
Necessities: The material had been written for some time, so the goal became to not overthink it, and record as quickly as possible over three days. Since we all work day jobs, we would arrive at Native Sound around 5 p.m. (right as Pokey was leaving from recording Manic Revelations) and work until midnight or 1 a.m. With such a tight deadline, we decided to track 90 percent of the music live, but we were lucky to capture some “unintended” moments that stayed on the record (like perfectly timed effect pedal feedback from Stephen on “The Gear Wars”). Our first recording session was actually the day after the presidential election, and Native Sound is located above The Whiskey Ring, so the whole environment became cathartic as we all sat with the anxiety and doom after the election. We finished the record at Bird Cloud Recording out in Edwardsville, Illinois with Ryan Wasoba. Ryan Wasoba is like, a really cool guy.
Pirate Signal: Band only, but definitely contains more than we could pull off live with just the four of us. Josh did the lead vocals and guitar. Brett did most of the lead guitar, all the solos but also lots of layers and cool atmospheric stuff, including the bow stuff on "Abolition." Austin did the drums. and also did the keys and helped a ton with background vocals and harmonies. And I, Nick, just did the bass. We didn't really have anyone "producing" for us... but Jon did do a great job kinda kicking our asses and making us really nail everything solidly. Jason also made a few really subtle but awesome decisions when he was mixing that we were big fans of. I'd highly recommend working with either guy.
In terms of each band’s trajectory, describe where this music’s at in your own, personal, collective history. In effect, brand new getting first material out? Longer-standing band with other releases out there in world? Somewhere in-between? If an album that follows others in your group’s life, how do it sound-and-feel in comparison to previous works?
May Day Orchestra: Wake is the third full-length album by The May Day Orchestra. This new record is more of a rock album than the previous two, the first of the three being the most acoustic, folk-based one.
Mother Meat: This is our third publicly available release. We have been a band since September of 2012, so the release in Novemeber is right around our 5-year anniversary. This album is nothing like our first two. Our first album was made when we were teenagers and it reflects our state of mind and childlike sense of humor and outlook. Our second album is garbage and reflects only inside jokes we had amongst ourselves. It's good for a laugh, but holds little substance or message. This album deals with themes of morality, gluttony, chastity, nature, reconciliation, and marsupials. Lots of marsupials. It still has our brand of "sweet and sour" music, with genres we call prehistoric groove, possum funk, and amphibious two-step. This album is a mystical adventure through the ancient land of Gondwana, full of extant marsupials, aboriginal monsters of legend, flying pastries, tangy tundras, and so much more.
Necessities: This is Necessities’ debut EP, but each member of the band has recorded and released multiple full-length albums with various other projects over the past decade or so. Stylistically, Necessities is a fairly equal blend of Jon, Chris and Stephen’s previous bands while incorporating new influences and moving in a new direction for each member (e.g. Stephen now loves Fugazi).
Pirate Signal: The bones of the songs were basically set in stone before we went in, but there was some experimenting. Brett definitely layered some more guitars into things but would've honestly probably preferred to have more time to play around with it. A lot of the background vocals and keys and stuff were all figured out in studio. There are a couple parts that Josh literally did on his iPhone and sent them to Jon. Like the little glockenspiel part and some of those crazy screams in the background at the end of "I Grieve." If we didn't point that out to people, I don't think they'd ever suspect it. Similar but so much better its not even close. The last EP just sounded so sterile and generic in terms of tones and overall feel... We still like those songs, but it just sounds kind of bland by comparison. We're a much more energetic band than that. This one has so much more depth to it... the guitar arrangements are SO MUCH cooler. Way less power chord-oriented, way more melodic and inventive. And the tones are a thousand times better.
Brett has a really good ear in terms of amps and effects. I'm a guitar player too, but I didn't play any on this EP, so I don't feel bad bragging about them and geeking out about some of the crazy solos and stuff he wrote. The rhythm section was solid on the last EP, but the drums just sound so much more alive on this one. The old stuff was pretty straightforward alternative rock... this one is kind of all over the place. I'd say its all a big step up in terms of creativity and technicality. Each song has a very distinct, different groove... from heavy stuff to stuff that's downright dance-y, I'd say its all much weirder, for the better. More unique for sure. The keyboards and string arrangements that Austin came up with add a ton, too. Josh's lead vocal performance stands out so much more... again, not that the last one was terrible or anything, but he really lets loose on this one. And he and Austin went all out on the background vocals. All four of us can sing, so we would get mixes back and then spend the next practice trying to learn the parts that they came up with in the studio so we can nail it live. We've also had friends sitting in on keys at our shows lately. Jason did a fantastic job mixing it. We were so surprised how he was able to fit all of that into the mix and still capture the raw energy that we were going for.
For some of you, upcoming shows are right around the corner. What are your next shows?
May Day Orchestra: The May Day Orchestra, along with Keokuk and Raw Earth, play Saturday, December 30 at the Schlafly Tap Room. This is the official CD release show.
Mother Meat: Our next big one is an in-store performance at Vintage Vinyl on January 12.
Necessities: Our next show is our cassette release on January 20 at Foam. We’ll be joined by our hero band, Thor Axe, and one more local band TBA.
Pirate Signal: We just played Delmar Hall with our friends in the Monolithic, and we played this past Saturday for a Puerto Rico benefit show at CBGB's on South Grand, but after that we're trying to hold off on shows in St. Louis until our release show in March. We'll be on the road a bunch between now and then, currently booking a tour for this spring to go down to SXSW and then do the release show when we come home. Still finalizing all the dates, though. There might be an STL show at some point in there... we love playing, so we have a hard time saying no sometimes. But nothing booked as of now.
Most importantly, where can people find your new music? Whether that be an online streaming service or the local mom/pop record store, what’re the best ways to hear this music?
May Day Orchestra: To hear the new stuff online, free, visit: themaydayorchestra.bandcamp.com. The CD or a download can be purchased there. Copies are also available at Vintage Vinyl and Euclid Records in Saint Louis.
Mother Meat: All our music is available for free download on bandcamp. We always have our music free; it’s a gift from us, not a cheeseburger or a pair of shoes.
Necessities: People can find our music at our Bandcamp page (www.necessities.bandcamp.com), or on Spotify, iTunes, and other digital music services.
Pirate Signal: The EP will be released March 2, and will be available everywhere on line (iTunes, Spotify, Bandcamp, Amazon, etc...). Physical copies will be available for free at the release show. Piratesignalmusic.com will have at least one free song and some previews of the rest of it on there, plus links to find absolutely anything else you could possibly want from us as soon as its available, as well as other news and announcements leading up to the release.
