HOORAY!!! A heyooge event has taken place for the Monkeys this weekend past. We finally made it into Mooncalf Studios in Wiltshire, to record some tracks for an upcoming mini album/EP.
After much time and debate we decided to try to lay down the basics of 3 of our best loved covers, (White Shadows, Feelin' Good and Take Me Out), and an ambitious 4 of our own (original) tracks.
We arranged to meet (at a civilised 11am) our Engineer, Nick at a local garage as the studio is very hard to find. Indeed it was, however fully coffee'd and tea'd up, we accustomed ourselves to the surroundings and settled into the comfy sofa.
The plan was to record drums, keys and bass on all tracks 'live' with guide vocals and guitar. This was an ambitious plan given the 7 songs we hoped to get down and the work required. However, Macca and BasSi did an amazing job of working really, really hard and concentrating even harder to lay fantastic takes down in one day. Considering the songs are so varied and individual, the focus needed to be top notch from them both and incredibly, it was! Even naturally nervy and shaky Bass Boy nailed the rhythm section and was delighted how good his guitar sounded! Come Sat evening the drummer had a headache and Si was falling asleep......!
.......However, we managed to drag them out to the pub for an exquisite meal at the world renowned Landsdowne Arms in Derry Hill. We all decided that staying up late and drinking too much was not going to be the plan (for once) considering the amount of graft and stamina we would need the next day (Sunday). Si and I ignored that though and came back to mine and decided to chat about the world and life in general whilst sipping red and scotchuntil the small hours! Not to worry, we had a late start at 11am and after a high fat brekkie cooked by me (smugness), we felt as good as Badgers.
After some fiddling about, and Nick feeling a bit jaded after a heavier than planned night, we set about the guiter, keys clean ups and vox. Given the amount of work we needed to do, we managed to get all of four songs completed (more or less) and demo mixed. We need to get back to the studio asap to finish off the other 3 songs and mix everything properly. Given that Macca had pretty much finished his hard work on the Sat it left him with idle hands and mind! This was the cue for a new monkey 'twitter' page that you will see at the front of this site, and a lot of hilarity with photo's etc that are both here (Gig Pic's) and maybe on the new album cover somewhere.
Needless to say, we are delighted with the first 'cut' and can't wait to get the rest finished and completed ready for the year's gig getting!
Enormous thanks (so far) to the ever patient and overworked (for two days anyway), Nick at Mooncalf for putting up with us and telling us we sounded good (even when we really didn't!) and to all the extremely patient ladies in the background who allow such ridiculous ambitions free rein and without whom etc etc.The experience is amazing and hopefully you will agree, the result equally so! Keep watching for the final product.
Rock on
ShoutyXXXXX
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