Well, the last few weeks of the album were a bit strange for me.  I wanted to be in the studio but, what I want and what I have to do are two very different things.

Basically, muggins ‘ere, had to stay home and make t-shirts so we could pay for the album.  Sucked major donkey dick to have to be home, alone, while exciting things were going on without me.

To comfort myself, I worked until 4am every morning, then collapsed into a sort of crap, sleepless coma until I got up again around 10am to start over.  Wasn’t the greatest plan, and I did run myself down a fair bit, and succumbed to a crappy cold, courtesy of some twat in the post office who hadn’t learnt to use a hanky when they sneezed.

So, when the time came for me to do my backing vocals.. well, lets just say both me and my voice had been in much better states!

Vile Gilez drove me in to Dover – part of his penance for stealing Z’s ice cream.  It wasn’t until we were on the motorway doing 70mph he told me his brakes were well and truly fucked.  Yay for drummers.  So, I noted where the handbrake was located (close to my right hand thankfully) and kept a very close eye on the speedometer and the road – Gilez not being the most observant of people the majority of the time.  Luckily, Gilez was very careful and kept his speed much lower than his usual (70 on the motorway, honest guv!) possibly due to his recent experience in which he enraged Z by snarfing his ice cream.  He probably thought Z would be even angrier if he accidentally killed his missus in a RTC, which of course, he would.

Probably.

Anyway, arrived at the studio and had a joyful reunion, and some coffee. CT’s GOOD on the coffee!  So, then it was time for me to do my backing vox.  I did my best, but I was still in the grip of my rotten cold, and as we had a very strict timetable to stick to, I couldn’t just come back in next week when I was over it, I just had to do the best I could and hope for the best.

We had fun doing hand claps to “Dragged”, who’da thunk that hand claps can be so tasking??

Did other bits (Z has already covered them in his blog) then Z started doing backing to his main vox to “Very Very Good At Being Bad”.  He built harmony upon harmony, and it sounded magical. Everyone was very impressed.

Then, we all said cheerio, and drove home for the weekend.

Not in Gilez’s car.

The next week, I had a call from Z (he was at the studio, I was slaving away on the printer) to let me know that my backing vocals for “Suicide Kid” were unusable.  I was pretty gutted, as I’d always loved how that song started, me and Z singing together.  Apparently, it was very clear on the vocals that I had a cold, and my voice just sounded really weak and bunged up next to Z’s.  CT wasn’t able to do anything about it, the only option was to not use my vocals in that song.  I was worried that I’d ruined the song, but Z assured me that it was fine without and that nothing had been compromised.

Still made me feel bad until I heard it, and yes, it does sound great, and even if you had heard it with me singing, the record doesn’t miss it.

Fast-forward a few weeks, and the album is mixed.  It truly sounds incredible, I am really proud and pleased with what we’ve made here.

I’m not going to go on about it, but what excites me most, is that we’ll be able to play this album live from start to finish, as it appears on record.

Thanks to Dunlop and EMG for supplying me with the pedals and pick-ups needed to ensure I can do this, also, thanks for sending me stuff when I was bored home alone, fitting pick-ups and blasting the neighbours with all-new pedals was a great way to while away the hours when I wasn’t printing!