Jeff had asked me to explain what happened at this practice, since Pete had called in sick and Jeremy said that either Jeff or I could record instruments, but not both at once. I believe that this is because the powerful bass lines in combination with the raunchy rhythm chords would overload the digital recorder, but Jeremy insists that it is because we'd need to mic the bass amp, and if I record an acoustic guitar in the same room the tracks will bleed onto each other. I like that we can make things bleed with our music.

So, I called Jeff and told him in no uncertain terms that I was going to be the one to record, unless of course he really wanted to or if he showed up, or whatever. Jeremy set to work plugging things into the recorder, twisting knobs, frantically pushing buttons, spinning the wheel-thingy, and looking worried as he heard the output of these actions in his headphones. This is normal, and soon everything was plugged in and ready for me to record acoustic.

Let me pause at this point to say that I really like the way the acoustic guitar tracks sound. We've got it miked as well as plugged in through the board off a pickup, so the bass tones are deep and the midranges are warm. Plus you can hear the sound of the pick hitting the strings, which is why I started playing guitar in the first place. I was surprised to discover that a lot of people are inspired by other artists, or by some inner need to express themselves, and not by the incidental sounds their instruments make.

The funny part about recording my tracks is that I know you won't really hear much of them when all is said and done, so it's less important how they sound and much more important that we get it done quickly so we can move on to other things*. We ploughed through all of the acoustic songs that Pete had laid down drum tracks for (except the one that was obviously flawed, which means that we meant to record it over but never got around to it) and listened to 'Martyrs and Devils' to make sure it all worked.

Jeff and I had recorded the vocal tracks for 'Martyrs' last week, and Jeremy's part is the solo, so this song sounds reasonably complete as it is. It was quite an experience to listen to the harmonies sounding in tune, the bass and guitar weaving the tune over Pete's impeccable beats. We can sound pretty good when we try, and once Jeremy finishes up his parts we'll have a real good sounding album there. I can't wait.

--Richard

* Other things, in this case, meaning a return to the simple carefree days of early KrakaTHOOM where we'd play for a half-hour and then go upstairs and play Goldeneye on the Nintendo until people started calling, wondering where we were. Even though Jeremy destroyed my will to live and left my rotting bullet-riddled carcass to dissolve on the floor of the caverns surrounded by paintball-mode splotches of color, it made me remember why we're in a band--not the practice, the creative outlet, the adrenaline rush of the stage, nor the endless hours of recording, but rather knowing that at the end of it all, Jeremy will still be unapologetically better at Goldeneye than the rest of us, and if we want to keep our self-respect we'd better do something other than playing video games, like playing some music.