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| Shotgun Pillowcase
2007 Borderdreams Records
Tracklist: 1. Hearts Songs by Terry lee Hale, Tender Loving hell Music © 2006 except: Glitterati - Chris Eckman; He's Still Drinking & Level 20 - Hale/Eckman; No Distance Left To Run - Albarn/Coxon/James/ Rowntree (Blur). Produced and recorded by Chris Eckman at Studio Zuma, Ljubljana, Slovenia, December 2005. Terry Lee Hale: vocals, acoustic, electric and classcal guitars, dobro, harmonica, shaker, glockenspiel, drums, synth. Sergej Randelovic: percussion (1-8-11)
The Making of Shotgun Pillowcase The Build-Up Celebration What For had been released on Blue Rose records early in 2004. One year later I started thinking about making another. I thought I had enough good material, with some being left over from the previous sessions and then of course the newly written ones. Although I felt confident (at the time- now I'm not at all sure) about those songs, other issues were clouding my choice of options. This excerpt is taken from the current Shotgun Pillowcase press release: "…"After years of making records, both as solo artist and with various bands, by the beginning of 2005 I was pretty much at an emotional and professional standstill in regards my own future with music. Rudderless, I had become a cynical, wise cracking, grasping and wheel-spinning pub-musician going nowhere fast. Where had the wonder and mystery gone? I very much needed to make a change..."
However, making a record for it's own sake made no sense. I fiddled around with a few different ideas. One was to make a "cover" record of songs written FOR me by my favorite Seattle artists or another was perhaps to invest in my own home studio gear and make the recording myself in my newly converted garage studio. For one reason or another though nothing really clicked. (More accurately perhaps it might be said that better sense prevailed). Anyway, this whole process was a long one (as I remember it) and there was a lot of soul searching as well as much input from friends. Suffice it to say that when at last the smoke cleared friend and long time musical collaborator Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts, Chris & Carla, Hoest) had agreed to come aboard as producer and I had committed myself to writing and making what needed to be the best recording of my life.
The Writing Also from the Borderdreams Shotgun Pillowcase press release:"…Chris did agree to be the producer but with some specific conditions: first he sent a list of suggested recordings and invited me to stretch my musical boundaries: Max Richter, ECM Records, Adem, Pan American, Fennez, Eno, Colleen, Gorecki definitely opened new doors. I read Toop's "Ocean of Sound" and Pendergrast's mighty work "The Ambient Century." I withdrew from the world, stopped gigging and constructed a studio space in my garage…" I really did work hard at teaching myself to hear and write music in new ways. By October we had decided on a budget, had set aside a recording period good for both of us (early December) and so on and so forth. Now our attention began to really focus on the songs themselves. Chris's argument for some "brand new" TLH music (which is what I claimed to want as well!) forcefully made itself real here. After hearing the above he asked me to forget them all and start writing new! This is part of an email he sent me dating 10/04/05 (that's October): "… The conceptual work that we started in the spring...the new listening that you did, the reading that you did, is completely lost when you engage with the old material. You need to start fresh, completely free, and even completely awkward. I WELCOME SIMPLE, STRANGE FRAGMENTS!
Allow me (to suggest) the following guidelines:
I have an assignment I need you to do, if we are going to continue this process. I want five "songs" on a CD by Oct. 28th. Remember with the songs you are writing: 3 or 4 chords are enough. The chords do not need to change from verse to chorus. The groove, the heart, the YAWL as Walt Whitman called it, is what is essential. FOCUS, give us a reason to listen and engage…. This was the direction I wanted, needed and ultimately the challenge I accepted. Now it was down to it. 3 weeks to come up with totally new material. All of the other work, the practice, the writing, all of the planning, the trips to the bank and the worry were to be nothing more than foundation and preparation for the most essential element. The songs.
Homework I had spent that whole summer writing and playing music at my desk, usually 4 to 5 hours a day 5 days a week. By the time October arrived I was in good songwriting form. The juices were flowing. Now I sat myself down and took a good hard look at what I had, what I liked and where I wanted to go. I set aside all the oddball stuff and really just focused on what got my blood, heart and mind engaged! Musical ideas that had "centers." Then I went back to work. At the end of October I mailed Chris home-recorded versions of 7 songs that I had collectively named Tatterclad because all of the songs were in various stages of undress. Those songs were: Hearts 3 days later (on the very afternoon that he received the demos) he called me from his cell phone and the first words out of his mouth were, "I love it!!" I would be leaving December 4th for Ljubljana (where Chris lives) to begin the recording and so I had something less than one month to finish the songs. Chris also suggested using 3 songs ("Work Song", "Oliva" and "Evergreen") from the 1st set I had submitted. This would give us a group of 9 strong songs that hung together well. In addition, we made a commitment to do some more writing in the studio itself and so I spent my time in November rewriting, tightening up and just learning to play the songs we would be using. I would still be writing when I left for Lj.
December in Ljubljana, Slovenia Cold. That’s the word. It was snowing and raining when I landed and was picked up at the airport by Anda Eckman and it would stay cold for the whole 3 weeks I would be here. I mean cold like below zero every day and it did even snow a couple more times. I would be staying the 3 weeks at a rented apartment hotel just outside the downtown area. A small kitchenette, loft bed, shower, washing -machine, telephone and television clean and neat. All the comforts of home and cheaper than a hotel. I went out and bought some wine, sausages, pasta, coffee, juice ECT. and the few things that I would need to help sustain myself over the next 3 weeks. The apartment was a 15-minute walk from Chris and Anda's flat and 25 minutes to the very heart of Lj. I've been in this city any number of times and like it very much. Zuma Studios Although Chris has a more permanent studio space now, back in December of 2005 Zuma was located in a small basement room at the back of Metro Studios just on the outside of Lj. Chris had all of his gear down there and he and Anda had created a nice cozy space for us to work in. Our days would usually begin around 10H00 or so. Chris would either pick me up at the apartment or, as the sessions progressed and he had production work to do that didn't require my presence, I would walk to the downtown and catch the bus. The studio was located in the basement of one of those Soviet designed and built high-rise concrete apartment complexes that dot the landscape everywhere in Russia and her previously (or not) occupied territories. Luckily for us upstairs from Zuma- in another part of the building- was a very good, inexpensive "Italian" pizzeria (Oliva) where we ate lunch every day. In addition, located nearby were a couple of small taverns where the beer was well priced, everyone was friendly and Chris was a well-known and valued client. All in all Zuma was warm, secure, comfortable and convenient to everything we needed for work and relaxation.
The Sessions The general recording plan was budgeted for 19 days. Specifically this meant 13 days for tracking (my parts + all the session players) and 6 days for Chris to add his "treatments." Mixing and mastering would be extra days. How the sessions ran generally would be that first we'd decide on a rhythm loop which Chris always came prepared for with numerous ideas to choose from. Then we'd record the song on guitar until we both felt we had a good "take." Normally I would do the vocals just after. We kept a list on the wall of what parts each song needed (i.e. vocals, bass, harmonica, whatever…) and as each was completed it would be ceremoniously crossed off. We didn't mess around either.
Unless your recording with an unlimited budget (which we had not) or perhaps in your own studio where time is unlimited then making records with budget constraints (= time) means you gotta keep an eye on the prize. The "prize" defined as the best possible recording before you have to leave! You don't have time to endlessly redo parts. You don't have to time riff away or jam along with the songs "searching" for parts. Yes, there is space and time for creativity and this is vitally important but keeping focused is essential. 13 days is not a long time and the days go fast. We worked and we worked hard every single day. (I did start a session diary as the first notes below indicate. For some reason I discontinued those notes before the end though. Anyway, read on…). Dec. 6. "Glitterati" - This song (written by Chris Eckman) certainly seemed the logical place to start these sessions. For each part that I need to record it usually takes me 3 or 4 tries before I can get settled down, into a groove and "inside." Anything more than 6 or 7 times and we would move on to something else. Not always the case though, especially as we neared the end of the sessions and I HAD to get parts finished no matter how many times it took. Today it took awhile to get going as we ended up having some equipment problems but still a good day with positive vibes. Dec. 7. "No Distance" - this song (written by the English band Blur) was recorded live with just guitar and vocals. Then we moved on to…
"Hearts" - we found a cool rhythm track. I kept getting lost though, not knowing when or where I was supposed to sing as there is only 1 chord in the song! After numerous attempts we ended up getting a very good take while I whispered the lyrics along with the guitar. The idea was to come back the next day and I would just overdub the vocals and that would be it. Trouble was there was no way to erase the whispers as they had bled into the guitar tracks. Chris argued strongly to keep what we had though ("eye on the prize") and so the final result was that I just sang over the whispers and tried to make the whispers part of the song. Put your headphones on and you can easily hear what I'm talking about. Some luck, some magic and some damn good engineering! (BTW-The inspiration for this song came to me after I had just seen Miranda July's wonderful movie "Me and You and Everyone We Know". There were these scenes in which the two protagonists were talking at each other from across a room but only inside their own heads. This is what I tried to emulate in this song. Great movie!). Dec. 8th. One of the things that we wanted to do during these sessions was to create some work right in the studio (in fact we needed a couple more songs to complete the album!). Also to have some fun, be creative, take a break from "routine," ECT. Today we found an interesting loop he had named "Bubblelicious" which we grabbed and made a start with. I think we worked on this a couple hours but didn't have much luck. Every day now we would take some time to pursue this joint songwriting session and eventually this is how we came to create "He's Still Drinking." Next…
The rest… "Cable Ballad Blues" - The original idea of this song I had carried for years and luckily had revisited last summer. The chorus "I've got a chrome plated hide-away gun, I've got my high-top shoes..." is the only part that survived through to this new recording though. The lyrics, melody and guitar parts are all brand new. "Work Song" - this song had been from the first batch of submitted work. Nothing-fancy here- just plug in and go. That's Al Deloner on the electric guitar. He listened one time, sat down with Chris's electric guitar, fussed around a little bit to get the right sound and then just played it like you hear on the record. That's me playing the harmonica plugged through the same guitar amplifier set at high distortion (or was it a plug-in effect?). "Oliva" - this was recorded in my little home studio in Paris where I was using a digital work station that Chris had loaned me for that summer of 2005. During the year I had also started playing a lot of nylon string classical guitar and this little song is one of the pieces that I came up with. It was actually considered a companion piece to "Lausanne" (for the intro) but that particular song didn't make the cut for these sessions. "Evergreen" - here is a song that I had never really performed live much. I had done the demo version with this highly syncopated foot-stomp "drum" part that we did try to recreate for these Shotgun sessions. We spent hours building this rhythm track on Pro-Tools. That's me on "drums" pounding away on an empty guitar case with a gloved right hand and a drum brush grasped in the left! I still don't remember why I was wearing the glove. Wish I had the photo!
"Level 20" - Based on the demo I had originally made of this song it was not considered a contender for the album although we both liked the lyrics. (The original version was more of a rocker). One evening as Chris and I were listening to various loops, this one -created by Chris- popped up and I just started singing the lyrics along with it and the whole song just fell together rather easily. We let the cool loop carry the tune, I just added the vocals and laid in the Dobro slide, and voila- we had another song. "Big Sigh" - I was having a lot of trouble getting the vocals done correctly with this number, as it needed to be relaxed and kinda sexy to fit the rhythm track. We eventually ended up turning off all the studio lights except one candle and I laid down flat on my back on the studio floor. Chris directed a microphone at my face and this is the version you hear. Whatever it takes. At the end, just as we were getting ready to leave the studio for the last time we were listening to this song and I kept hearing this shaker part (that wasn’t there) for the chorus. Chris, as always ready to "up" any song ("eye on the prize") quickly set up a microphone and we did indeed lay down a shaker part that did help elevate that section. "Streets Of Stone" - Found the loops and laid down basic Dobro tracks. Another long song that I had lots of trouble playing from beginning to end. Hurrah for Protools and Chris's skill with cut and paste! This song I would have the most difficulty singing and in fact there came a time when we were close to having to drop this from the project because I just couldn't sing it "correctly". It was at the 11th hour when I finally nailed the last line and we were able to cross this off my needed parts on the "to do" list. "Every Little Thing" - the one song that was recorded (and mixed) but ended up not being included in the final cut. It's just me on guitar, harmonica and vocals and with a pedal steel added from a mailed in part by Jon Hyde back in Seattle. It was decided that the song didn’t quite "work" with the rest of the material. Sometimes you really don't know until you hear everything finished and all lined up together just what you've got. I trusted Chris on this call although I must say that I went down swinging in regards this songs exclusion. He was right about it though and it was the correct decision. Still a fine song but just not for Shotgun Pillowcase. As you will (I hope) understand after you've heard Shotgun Pillowcase , there are 2 main reasons why this is such a great record. One reason is the participation of Chris Eckman and the other is the quality of the musicians who contributed parts. The Producer From beginning to end Chris Eckman's name has come up in every phase of this project and this is no accident. I was recently reading an article in a favorite magazine of mine (TapeOp- Jan. #57) about producer Sally Brower. She was talking about her ideas of what a good producer is and does and I paraphrase (means "borrow") the following words-thanks Sally and TapeOp! - because I think they perfectly describe the job that Chris did for me.
He helped with everything from song selection, lyrics writing, song arrangements, budget, outside players, pre and postproduction work as well as being critic, parent, editor, psychologist, taskmaster and friend. What ever it took to realize our vision - organizational and/or musical - Chris deftly and skillfully presented for consideration. In addition I never once felt like these were not MY sessions or that the control was ever out of my own hands. Now all of that is about as precise a definition of what a good producer is as you are ever going to hear. In this case of course Chris also played music and those contributions are stellar. Perfectly and well-played complimentary arrangements sitting right in the pocket-understated and yet never clichéd. Oh yeah - he had a hand (ear) in the mastering sessions as well! The Musicians The other players were also, each and every one, exceptional musicians. Al DeLoner had flown down from Germany for a day of sessions and that was fun. In addition, Chris and I drove to Zagreb (2 hours) to get the guitar sounds of Dilibor Pavicic and Andrej Jakus's horn parts. The other guys (Sergej Randelovic – percussion, Žiga Golob - contra bass, Jani Hace - Hofner bass, Boštjan Gombac - musical saw, clarinet, Tomi Popit - Fender Precision Bass) are from Slovenia and came in to Zuma toward the end and usually within a couple of tries had lain in perfect parts. That those players elevated this album is without question. And they are all nice people too! Anda Eckman sang her part (Glitterati) and Chris added all of his contributions of strings, synth and keyboard sounds after I left, which was on 22 December. The Mix Perhaps on every album the mix and mixing engineer are just as important as performance. (Perhaps an exceptional performance can't be hidden or ruined in a mix but I doubt. I doubt if there is ever an album you love that doesn't have a great mix! It's simple.). So of course early on we had discussed whom we wanted to do this job. The list was actually a very short one and always at the top was Tucker Martine's name. Both Chris and I have worked with Tucker a number times in the past and both of us felt confident that if anyone could understand what we were reaching for musically (and sonically!) then it would be him. Tucker is a fine musician in his own right and possesses real musical instinct and technical skill. We figured that his contributions would be more then 'just' transparent but we wanted and even encouraged this element. The problem was that he is an extremely busy man with many projects cooking and it didn't really seem like, without us just having to wait for months and months, which was impossibility, he would be able to find any time for us. We all persevered though and Tucker said he really wanted to do this and he was able to clear his desk for one week and one week only which would be in late February. If we could get the songs to him before this window arrived then it all might work. It was very, very close though. Even though the CD wasn't completed Chris and Anda Eckman had left for a long-planned vacation to Mali just after Christmas and would be gone one month. So, in order to make that deadline with Tucker, the day Chris returned from Africa he went directly back into the studio to finish all of his parts and do all of the post-production things that needed doing. All of this he was able to do AND get the master tapes (actually a hard-drive) mailed (by express delivery) to Seattle by the agreed upon hour. Tucker did mix the album (5 days) and did surely deliver the goods! Chris and Janez Križaj mastered those mixes back in Ljubljana at Metro (again via our much traveled hard-drive) and it was done.
And So I received my first copy of the mixed and mastered Shotgun Pillowcase towards the end of March almost 4 months after we had begun the recordings. Although it had been a long wait, after I'd heard the CD I was satisfied and happy with all. Chris's parts AND Tuckers mixes exceeded all of my expectations. I would then spend the next 4 months relentlessly shopping the CD to mostly European indie record companies. Feedback from the few CD's I'd sent out to friends was overwhelmingly positive but not one label seemed to be interested in releasing the thing. I think I sent out about 40 or so press kits. By October of 2006 I despaired of ever finding a label and had even begun to gather information and prepare myself to release the record on my own "Glorytone Records" (which needed to be created of course although I had the name protected!). At the 11 th hour though the new label Borderdreams attached to an established Spanish distribution company (Dock) expressed interest and, after my trip down to Madrid for meetings, indeed agreed to release Shotgun Pillowcase worldwide. The project now was almost competed. Almost… Postscript I am writing these notes from Paris and it is the middle of February 2007 almost one year since I received that first mixed and mastered copy. Just a few days ago Shotgun Pillowcase represented by Borderdreams in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, America and Canada officially released the record. There is more work to do of course but it's all good. I am perhaps at last coming to terms with the learning of what patience is about. We'll see. We made a hell of a record though and that's the truth. I'm hopeful, not only for my own self but also for each of those others who contributed so much and believed, that the world will also take notice.
Terry Lee Hale February 25, 2007 Paris, France. All the pictures in this page were taken at Zuma Studios during the recording sessions, except otherwise stated.
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