by Django G-S
It's a wonder decent bands ever accomplish anything worthwhile in the studio.
The So-So Sailors is a sinking ship. The crew (Dan McCarthy, Wurlitzer; Dan Kemp, drums; Alex McManus, guitar/vocals and Brendan Greene-Walsh, bass/vocals) is a creepy cast of characters who may or may not spend more time looking up nasty YouTube videos than they should.
Despite their character flaws, frontman Chris Machmuller (of Ladyfinger (ne) and Dance Me Pregnant fame) managed to get the crew together to track the bands' much-anticipated debut record at a blistering pace.
"We tracked 12 songs, live, in mid-December," Greene-Walsh says. "We tried to keep the record sounding as close to our live performance as possible, so there wasn't a lot of additional instrumentation added to the songs."
Engineer Ben Brodin hosted the band at ARC for seven 10-12-hour days. A few of the records' finishing touches included McCarthy on a mini celesta, and McManus on a few strange stringed instruments from "somewhere south of us," Greene-Walsh says.
Additional background vocals were recorded at ARC, McCarthy's house, Paparazzi by Appointment and Brodin's house.
The record returned to ARC this month for mixing with Brodin again at the helm.
"We're pretty excited about this record," Greene-Walsh says. "We're still a new band around here, having only played a handful of shows. So it will be nice to get something out."
P.S. Listen to Dance Me Pregnant's "Hugs Kisses." When the hell are they going to finish a record?
