Lots of recording the past two weekends. I think Greg and I have combined to do nine songs' worth of electric guitar, four songs on bass and four lead vocals. A few patterns are emerging, as far as I can tell, that lead me to believe this album will have some different flavors than "Boomstick."

For one, the material is more varied. For our first album, I was very conscious of staying the course of the mission. An identity statement for the band. I wanted it clear that this was a Britrock-flavored band. Guitars, drums and Beatle/Who/Oasis/Stone Roses-informed songwriting. And I think that's what we ended up with. I mean, I don't think we sound like those bands or anything, but I think you get the vibe of what Skelter's all about. This time around, I loosened up a bit more as a writer. There's still the Britrock thing, but some of the songs are more from a Zeppelin-y and maybe even Sabbath-y frame of mind (you can thank Herr Ross for the latter). And we go a few other places. Still melodic, I think. But definitely harder. This sounds more like the heavy Skelter you hear in the bowels of Continental.

Speaking of sound, we've had a few upgrades in the past year. Just in terms of recording knowledge and some borrowed hardware (thanks to Kristie Lee Crystal!), the drums sound a LOT better this time around. You get a much better sense of Nachie's kill-'em-all approach to the kit. I've switched guitar gear almost completely for this album. Guitar people will know the difference, but for the laypersons out there, I'll explain the difference in sound from "Boomstick's" Stratocaster sound to the new album's Les Paul sound. Two words: thicker and heavier. Like primordial ooze. I keep waiting for a trilobite to emerge from the speaker. And co-engineer Barbara Ross contributed mightily when some super-cool co-worker (Greg, you wanna help me with this fine Skelter citizen's name, so he can get his proper due?) loaned the studio the most amazing homemade amp ever, you know, made at home. This thing in combination with the Les Paul sounds a whole lot like a Stuka attack. Warm, low-endy and explosive.

We do pull back at points and try to give this album the variety that I think worked so well on the 'Stick. There's a nice little Westernish thing called "This is a Ghost Town," which you may have heard us play live in the past month. There's a thing you haven't heard us play, which I'm rather unexpectedly finding to be the problem child, called "The Idiot." It's a poppier than usual thing. We're trying to massage it into shape as we speak. Hopefully, that'll work. And there are a few other things that I think will give the album variety and (he said sniffily) nuance. But by and large, I think you're going to find this to be a heavier album than "Boomstick." For those who sweat it out with us in the darkest dens of the cit-ayy, this is for you.

We are still a ways off, by the way, on finishing up. We've got only one recording block scheduled for September, as each of the Skelts has a little mini-vacation planned before locking and rocking a big tah-do called The Last American Rock Show on the 23rd of September and hitting the Frog in early October. But we're on course. I don't think we're that far out from finishing this baby. Releasing it is another thing. We're shopping around to a few labels at the moment. Hopefully, we'll have some news on that front in the next month or two.

Cheers,
Michael

In the studio last year and for the first part of this new album, Nachie had it best, without maybe realizing it. You probably all now that the drum seat can also be called a throne. Well, the throne at the studio is the mac daddy of thrones. It's very cushiony, hydraulic and super fuzzy velvety soft. The whole thing is super solid, you could probably set ten Nachie's on it and it wouldn't fall over.

Often the guitarist and bassist and singist stand up while performing, even when recording, because it seems to feel right. Then about 12 hours later when you're still going and you're like, "... takes still good... but can't stand.... upright...." you sit down and spend 6 more hours playing. Well, until recently, we were sitting on folding metal chairs. You know those ones Kurt Angle might wollop a local home-town wanna-be hero straight over the head with? And that's not so bad to sit on for 2 hours. But after like 6 or 8 hours, you don't know when your butt stops and the metal chair starts.

Not anymore, Nachie! We have soft, cushiony chairs just like you now!

(edited insert --- GR (always i forget to sign!))

hi there. so this past weekend was the greg and michael show, and i have nothing to say about that because i wasn't there. but i hear it went very very well.

i'm here to talk about a couple of weeks ago, during the first recording sessions for the New Album, when i learned about the magic of the metronome. okay, so i've been playing the drums for a long time now, but the last time i actually sat down a learned something from someone who had Knowledge to impart on me was back when there were still video game arcades in times square. like, the kind you didn't get raped in. stupid times square.

anyway, so back in MK I era new york, i learned how to play with a metronome. back in 2005 era studio goldfoot, i relearned how to play with one.

turn a song on. now count along with that song, in your standard one-two-three-four kinda way (don't play jazz). (or some funk). now, imagine that the sweet, soft, human counting sound in your head is replaced with a "beep-boop-boop-boop-beep-boop-boop" sound. for all six of you musicians out there, i know this is nothing groundbreaking or new, but i don't get out much, and this was a big deal to me. some bands're all used to playing with giant headphones on, or stylish little bono-sized ear phones, whispering timing and stock quotes and enemies lists into their ears while playing, and they don't miss a beat. me? for me, playing with the BeepMachine makes things easier in the long run, 'cause, well, everything's on time. it was even easier in the short run, 'cause it didn't take too long to get used to playing with. it was only a problem in the evenings afterwards, when i would close my eyes, and instead of dreams filled with tasty treats, traveling fantasies, nc-17 delights, or the occasional drowning tear-fest, i would hear nothing but "beep-boop-boop-boop".

"beep-boop-boop-boop".

fuck.

so anyway, i'm done with the primary drum recording (yay for me), as one of other boys has mentioned here in the past. and soon i'll go in and shake things and rattle stuff and roll something or other. but until then, all i have is the glow of my gigantor monitor, a laundry list of various ideas for costumes i could wear this halloween, and the promise of more beeps to come.

-nachie

>>FREE STUFF OPPORTUNITY!<<

Hey, Skelter People. MW here.

By now, you're probably wondering what the hell the "C.F. Starker" at the top of this page means. Well, one of the more enjoyable things you get to do when you make an album is give your Frankensteinian creation a name. We generally post a clipboard in the studio when recording begins and then scribble down, over the course of recording, any random thoughts we might have. Most are puerile at best. Infantile (and probably unrepeatable) at worst. C.F. Starker is definitely one of those. To understand it, though, you need to watch the unsurpassably perfect movie "Super Troopers." I know, I know. Seems like a brain-dead, low-budge comedy. But trust me, it's one of the funniest movies of the past 5 years - at least! Anyway, watch it and see if you can figure out how we got the name. Actually, let's do this. The first person to trace C.F.'s etymology and spell it out to us will receive an official Skelter t-shirt. So there. Free stuff for the cleverest Skelter Person.

By the way, we're not naming the album "C.F. Starker," but it is a fun working title.

In other recording developments, this album may end up having a few more tracks than we'd originally planned. The band self-imposed a 10 song rule for the first album (well, minus the "Mysterious Track 11"). That number feels like a full album, without being bloated. And I think that worked for "Boomstick." 44-plus minutes and ten songs. Definitely worth the 10 bucks, if you don't me sayin'. But when we started recording this one, we found that our running time for Album 2's 10 songs was going to be significantly shorter than that of "Boomstick." Plus, I thought (and I think maybe Nachie thought the same thing) maybe this album didn't have some of the quieter moments that Album 1 had. Maybe "quiet" isn't the right word. But you know, acoustic-y stuff. This record's shaping up to be a heavier album. But I think it could use a little variety. Anyway, at practice Monday, we experimented with a few things...a couple of instrumentals and a new song by Greg...that, I think, might help round this baby out. I don't think we'll know 'til we record 'em whether they fit with the other music. But I'm thinking at least one or two might make the cut. Greg's new song is great. I think it's the best thing he's written. Certainly, the best thing he's shown me. Kinda Neil Youngish...which is cool by me. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Hope y'alls can make it out to the Continental tomorrow night. We'll be playing about half of the new album, plus a couple of surprises. Should be fun. More recording this weekend. We'll keep you posted.

Cheers,
MW...which I already said

Greg here. That's in case I forget to sign my initials (gr). as I learn to do this blog thing, I hit that little inoccuous button on the upper right, next blog, while reading the latest skelter blog. I saw a cool blog. And i wondered if it would happen again and it didn't. I get the impression it's a randomizer. So to share with you my first foray outside of the safety of skelter in the blogosphere, pretend you hit next blog and instead, go here:

http://jawswasalady.blogspot.com

GR

Skelter People,

Big weekend in Skeltertown. I think, last time around, we did our initial recording of drums over the course of two weekends, and then spent a couple of MONTHS, off and on, repairing them. Much of that stemmed from, basically, learning how to use all of our (then) new studio equipment. I'm sure Greg will speak to that, at some point, since Studio Goldfoot is his baby. But suffice to say, there are a million things one can learn about just which microphone to use on which drums or cymbals and the vast difference in sound caused by the tiniest turn of the mic. We did end up with an o.k. drum sound on Boomstick, but most of that was due to Greg's MacGyverie. It was all very time-consuming.

The other thing we did this weekend, that we DIDN'T do when we recorded Boomstick, is use a click track. What's a click track, you say? Basically, it's a metronome that runs through the headphones while you play. Now, Nachie's about as rock-solid as a drummer can be. And I mean that. The dude is a freak. He plays (and looks, for that matter) like the Muppets' Animal, and has the inner clock of Lawrence Welk. ("And a one and a two...") But you'd be amazed at how far off things you THINK are dead-on can be...until you try to record over them. Things we'd certified as perfect were exposed as imperfect months down the road and, thus, a lot of the drums had to be re-recorded or, at least, Pro-Tooled later on.

But now, man, all the drums are, pretty much, finished for the new album. And we did 'em in one weekend! They already (pre-FX) sound a thousand times better recordingwise, because we know a lot more a lot more ABOUT recording. And the takes are amazing. I told Nachie that he's going to be the star of this album...until we bury him in the mix. (It's MY spotlight, you bastard!!)

That was our weekend. Friday night, we set up from 7 'til about 11 and recorded 'til 2 or so. Saturday's recording session lasted from noon until 2:30 Sunday morning. A little fresh-eared listening early Sunday afternoon. And two magazines and four issues of FABLES later, we've got our rhythm tracks.

Now, I need coffee...desperately.

--Michael

Oh, hey...and a quick shout-out to Kristie Lee Crystal, who loaned us some kick-ass cymbals for the sessions. A definite improvement over the poor things Nachie batters week-in and week-out. Thanks, Kristie Lee!

Welcome to the Skelter Album 2 recording blog.

Chances are, if you're here, it's because you visited the band's website (http://www.skeltermusic.com) and, thus, already know a thing or two about the Skelts. But just in case you were surfing the web and ended up on this page by accident, here's a brief primer on NYC's rawkingest band:

Skelter was formed somewhere in the nebulous period of late 2002-early 2003. At the time, we were a trio of comic-book-industry day-jobbers who liked the rock and the roll and decided to start playing music together. My name's Michael. I'm the guitarist and, usually, the lead singer. I was born in Ohio and my cat is missing her lower left quadrant of teeth. Greg is the bassist. He's from Texas and plays with particle accelerators. Nachie is the drummer. He's from right here in the Big Apple and will try to claim ownership of any whiskey bottle within his reach with a black Sharpie. We put out our first album at the end of 2004. It's called "Boomstick" and you can hear it here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/skelter.

On August 5, 2005 (this Friday!), we'll begin recording our second album. And we thought it might be cool for our peeps to gain a little insight into the process of recording a Skelter album. So, we've put up this blog to share our thoughts and such as we travel down this little musical trail. I have no idea what form this thing will take...which makes it rather interesting for me. I'm curious to see what goes on in the twisted minds of my cohorts. I'm curious to see what they're willing to share with you folks that they don't necessarily share in the confines of Studio Goldfoot. I'm curious to see whether the blog gets super-technical, with all sorts of equipment specs, or if it features late-night sleep-deprived ramblings about the Kennedy assassination and Twinkies. I'm guessing it'll be a little of both.

Hell, I'm curious to see what shape the album takes. We've picked out what we think is a chunk of good songs, but how they all end up on tape (well, computer) is a great big unknown. That's the fun of recording: creating and, yeah, destroying.

So, here it is. The Skelter Album 2 recording blog. Check back often...

...And beware the Skelts!

--Michael Wright