Seattle Studio Diary. Post Three

I'm excited. We just recorded the most amazing version of 'Sally'. It had been a hard day up until a couple of hours ago so having anything good laid down by the end of it was a bit of a surprise. Till late we had put all our efforts into trying to rework a live version of 'Leftovers' which just didn't come. We left it in the end to turn our attention to another old tune, and this one we absolutely nailed. You'll have to hear it, but next to some of the more interestingly processed tracks on the album it will sound wonderfully organic and beautiful. We're progressing really well in the studio come to think of it, lots of songs are getting there and 'Leftovers' is our only sore thumb. If we keep going at this rate it should be a really excellent first session. Incidentally, while I'm talking music stuff I should mention, in case anyone is reading this, that our first headline tour has just been announced and details will be up very soon on the myspace page.

Today was our first day back in the studio after two days off. We used the weekend to get out of the cabin in which we live, work and play too much Xbox, and go and see the city. It was a weird couple of days. On the first, as well as meeting up with my ex girlfriend who has just moved to the west coast, a transvestite tried it on with Joe at about 2 in the morning and got really very annoyed when our cellist told him, "I'm obviously not gay", then a taxi driver shouted "don't ask me that fucking question" at me when I asked him if the girls on the street corners were prostitutes, and finally the only place that we could buy alcohol from late in the evening was a strip bar. Or rather, we thought that the only place we could buy alcohol from late in the evening was a strip bar. On entering 'The Lusty Lady' we realised it didn't serve beer at all and was in fact frequented solely by little men pleasuring themselves in small cubicles. We were forced to pay five dollars so that Joe could chat to a girl fully-clothed for five minutes. This way we were not beaten up for being there without pleasuring ourselves in small cubicles.

On my second day in Seattle I met a man who self publishes his own crappy novels, but impressively so. He even buys huge cow hides so as to be able to hand make the book covers himself too. His latest work is about Lucifer being reborn on earth but with one vital weakness....you guessed it, a human heart. 'Fuck me, a human heart', you say, 'won't he fall in love with God who is coincidentally born on the earth at the same time as he but in the form of a beautiful woman?' Well yes, reader, yes he will. As intrigued by the story as I imagine you are, I bought one of his books. No that's not fair, it wasn't only because I was intrigued by the story, but also because I was intrigued by how incredibly proud he was of the preface he had written to his story, which he asked me to read over and over again.

In the evening of our second day off we ended up seeing a Bat For Lashes show for free because they kindly put us on the guestlist. Their stuff is a bit too drama school for me, but its not offensive and it was really cool to see some live music in Seattle. I hope we get to play here one day too. Before we finally got to our resting place for the evening (the floor of our studio engineer Matt's place), however, a final weird kick in the tail of the weekend occurred. The taxi driver driving us home, more friendly than the one we had had the previous evening, turned out to know someone who worked at Loughborough University in the physics department, and in all probability will know my dad. I guess you just can't escape the stench of that Borough of Love (/Lough...)....