Day Seven

The recording schedule has been a bit all over the place since everybody is working their normal jobs as well as finding time to be in the studio. That said, seven days into the recording of the album and we're pretty much on track to get it finished by the end of next week, which is our goal.

Whereas yesterday was a twelve hour shift at work, today I was back to doing both work and studio. I had a couple of spare hours before I started work at three pm, so I was aiming to get another couple of songs worth of rhythm guitar tracks down, leaving me with the daytime hours of tomorrow to get finished with the rest. And then I'm done.

I got less than five hours of sleep last night though, so I'm pretty tired. I meet Linus at the studio around one thirty and throw back a couple of cups of strong, black coffee. Nico is also there, and with those guys discussing how they're cutting all the different tracks, and how they're going to transfer them from Linus' computer to Nico's back at his place, before I know it time has crept away and I only have forty five minutes before I have to head off to work.

I only manage to get one song done, and it doesn't come easy. We're going through a song with the working title of Dio, and on hearing it I'm completely thrown by the fact it's twice as fast as the demo version we recorded in The Bunker. I can't get my head around it at first. I wasn't here when Jon and Andy lay down the drum tracks, and now I'm really regretting it, because I would have told them to slow it the fuck down.

Jon had told me yesterday that he'd gotten nine songs recorded, but had given up on Dio at the end and called it a day. Now I understand why. I discuss it with Linus and decide to just try and nail my track and then get Jon to do the same and see how it sounds. It won't be like we intended it when we wrote it on my balcony back in the summer, it will be something else, but maybe it will be great anyway.

It takes a while for me to get both guitar takes done. We're recording the guitars as two tracks each, one main track and then a dubbed track with another amp, thus making that crust punk-guitar wall thing happen. By the time I'm done and have to rush off to work, I feel really unsure about the whole thing. I tell Linus to get Jon to listen to it when he gets to the studio and see what he thinks to it. I don't cross off the track on the song worksheet just yet...

I'm not in the fucking mood for another eleven hours of work tonight. I've sorted someone to take my shift tomorrow though, so after tonight I'm off until Monday. I have to be done with my guitar stuff by then. I work alternating weeks, with one being thirty five hours and the other being forty five. Next week I'm working forty five... so if I'm still laying guitar tracks next week I guess I can forget about sleeping!

I call Jon on the way to work and tell him about what happened with Dio. He says he'll see what he can do with it today, now that he's rested. I'm not at work ten minutes before I get a text message from Jon. “Dio. Done. 10 min.” That's that sorted then... Cocky twat!
It's funny when you start out recording an album. You look through the song worksheet and you kind of automatically draw your eyes to certain songs. Some of which you think will be easy, others that you're not looking forward to so much. And it's usually always the case that there will be at least one big surprise in there, be it good or bad. I thought Dio was going to be one of the easier songs. It wasn't.

Another ten minutes go by and I get another text from Jon. “Lemmy. Done.” Fucking hell, another song done in ten minutes. He's flying. What the fuck? It seems like when I'm there I spend all my time waiting around just to play my fucking guitar. Jon turns up after work, all is good to go and he hits it.

I get text messages from Jon every ten minutes or so, each one wreaking of his self satisfaction, until all the songs are done. The last message I get from him for the night, tells he's going to start laying his solo tracks. And then it all goes quiet.

Work gets busy and I forget about him for a while. Until he turns up at the bar four hours later. I don't even notice him come in. I just look up and there he is, standing at the bar, looking pretty boats. I guess he's been hitting the sauce in the studio. I ask him how he is, he demands a beer and a shot. Well nice to see you too you cunt!

I pour him a round, regretting it as I do, and ask him again how it went. It takes him about thirty seconds to answer. “Oh no, he's at that stage”, I think to myself. I'm too busy at work to engage Jon in a conversation at this slow pace, so I leave him there with his shot and tend to some of my other customers.

I finally get it out of him about twenty minutes later. He tells me that he's done all the solos, except for a couple of songs. Great news you would think, but he doesn't seem to happy about it. He starts moaning about Linus, saying that he left him alone in the studio to track by himself for a while, since he was going for dinner. That in itself isn't a problem, it's just that one of the songs Jon had made a good take of, he'd recorded with one of the two amp heads he's using, set on standby. I don't really understand why Jon is so pissed off about it. He admits that it was his mistake but then blames Linus for not being there to notice it. I mean for fuck sakes, Linus had been there for seven hours straight, the guy is entitled to a fucking dinner break! I tell Jon to be happy for the fact that he got a lot done today and cheer the fuck up.

He sits there grumbling over another couple of beers, just as the other night, they're lower strength, but he doesn't notice.  I realise I have to get him to go home. He's working early tomorrow and then coming to the studio straight after.  I convince him to get the last train home, assuring him he'll thank me tomorrow. I love the guy, but right now I can't be arsed with his drunken nonsense. It's ok when we're drunk together, but right now we're not.

After he's gone I notice he's left me a thirty kronor tip on the bar. At which point I want to chase after the silly sod and give him a hug. I hope he gets home ok.

Just as I'm winding up the  night in the bar, about five minutes before I officially close the till, Eric walks in! I've been waiting to hear if he's going to hook up with us before he leaves for Germany tomorrow. Bad timing, but it's still great to see him! He's been staying with our friend Maria, who sings in Beast, for a couple of days, since the Black Breath tour finished. I'm really glad to see him after what has been a weird night at work. He tells me he's leaving for the airport tomorrow around one pm. We arrange to meet up at eleven, grab some coffee and head to the studio so he can lay down a one and only Eric Wallace guest guitar solo on the album. We have the perfect song for him to play on.

I know this means yet again I'm going to get less than five hours of sleep, but it will be worth it.