June-July 2014 - Pumpkinland II, Northbrook, IL

Produced by Billy Corgan, Howard Willing & Jeff Schroeder; engineered by Howard Willing

* Anaise!
* Anti-Hero
* Being Beige
* Dorian
* Drum + Fife
* Monuments
* One and All (We Are)
* Run2me
* Tiberius

Continued recording sessions for Monuments to an Elegy.  Corgan and Schroeder track guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals to Tommy Lee's drums recorded in Los Angeles.

Freshly back from the coast, Howard, Jeff, and I began
 the final-final (did I say final?) process of building up these 9
tracks we know so well; now that we have the T Lee drum barrage backing
us up.

And oh how I missed
these daily updates. But I wasn’t about to share (with the same
intimacy) how said Mr. Lee fared under the withering gaze of our
Producer! Let’s just say for the record that not only did he match the
exacting precision demanded by that wearied veteran of the computer age,
 Tommy even brought Howard to tears as he recalled his own (yet distant)
 big-haired past.

But all
joshing aside I want to say that working with a musician as warm,
bright, alive, intuitive, and concussive as T Lee has been a great joy,
and a highlight of my musical life. Lucky am I to consider him a brother
 and a friend.

As far as
today’s studio work, we began assessing the drums takes we have while
negotiating some of the minor editing work necessary to begin piling on
basses, guitars, keys, vocals, and glingerschlinks. By the way that’s
Teuton for dark matter. Also pulled out a phalanx of BC Strats for
variety, and lined up the usual suspects: my Tonight, Tonight 335, the
Mayo Kimberly, and even the Dross SG. Locked and loaded, ready to rock.
Go! Bass tracking starts tomorrow.

Bass tracks completed: ANTI-HERO, BEING BEIGE, RUN TO ME, DORIAN; with
designs on finishing the rest tomorrow. For those interested in gear,
I’ve once again settled on the fantastic Reeves bass amp (probably the
best I’ve ever used, and no I don’t have an endorsement); with mic
techniques borrowed from the legendary Roy Thomas Baker (think 5 414’s
on an Ampeg bass cab). For basses so far it’s the same Gibson
Thunderbird used on OCEANIA, and a couple P-basses that go as far back
as ADORE or ZEITGEIST. Oh, and the same bass used by the Byrds back in
the day (a Guild Spitfire I believe?).

Bass tracks are done. ‘Nuff said.

Tomorrow
 we traipse into guitars, and more guitars. Me left, Shredder right for
those of you who still believe in stereo. Pure Marshall power (and no,
we don’t have an endorsement!). Remember how I once had my own guitar
model? Some day I’ll tell you that story too. Let’s just say there is reality and then there’s \*reality. And I live in \*reality.

Have
 I mentioned the bass tracks are done? Always a pleasing moment. So yeah
 we’re on the assembly line track: bass-bass, guitar-guitar, vocal-vocal
 and then overdub-strings-celestial choirs. At least tomorrow they’ll be
 more specifics. ‘Cause there’s specifics, and then \*specifics!

Guitar time, 2014-style…

Started
 by going through around 8 Strats, a prototype Reverand, and the early
60’s, blue Jaguar I played on the OCEANIA tour. In that we’d narrow down
 the suspects to those ‘most likely,’ and then Shredder did the same
with 4 Les Pauls; all instruments being shot through the same
speaker-mic combo for consistency. But in oscillating through cabinets
Jeff would blow his vintage Marshall for the second time in a month or
so.

This unfortunately set s
 off on a different course, and starting with the same mic-combo Howard
would audition a number of mic-pre’s: Germanium and other old Neve’s,
Datamix, Helios, Telefunken V76 and V72, and even a modded Scully.
Followed by a succession of ancillary mic’s (421 or 414?) to broaden the
 sound without killing the distortion signature.

And
 if that wasn’t enough we tried other tricks of the trade (different
style guitar cables, or trying the other back output of my amp).
Followed by the testing of vintage-boost pedals, including a
Dallas-Arbiter like the one used by Jimmy Page and Tony Iommi (back in
the day!).
Tomorrow starts tracking in earnest, ANTI-HERO up first.Ah, finally, today, I felt like I was making a record
as opposed to preparing to make a record. This is to take nothing away
from T Lee, who’s admirably set us up. It’s just that The Shredder and I
 get to sink teeth now into overdub oblivion. So what’s that mean?
Here’s an example: began with the ’63 blue Jag for the verses, and using
 a simple line driver into a 70’s Marshall combo laced a lo-fi, high-fi
signal that made ever Howard proud. Which begat a super sonic sound (BC
gtr into same line driver into me Super Tremolo head/thank you Uli!) for
 mega-choruses. For novices, a line driver is essentially a 35db signal
boost with a kind of filter on it that juices an old amp; the good part
being an animated sound, the bad part that you are often stuck riding a
wild pony. So in 3 to 4 hours of experimentation I dialed, dialed,
dialed in what was my lone rhythm track. Which then put Jeff in the same
 position of testing amps, cabinets, microphone positions, and even the
best speakers (of 4) to use. And in that he’d get it sorted with Howard
looking more panic stricken. Quote: “You guys are insane.”

Jeff: “Hey, any day that my amp doesn’t blow up is a good day.”

Oh cheesus louises, where do I begin? Try 3 blown amplifiers and one near casualty.

Day
 began with “let’s try TIBERIUS,” and moments later there went my
Marshall; the speaker cable actually fusing to the input jack by
melting; a first.

“Let’s try
 my Laney,” I told Howard. “Sounds alright,” he said, prompting The
Shredder to mention, “Well, Iommi used to use the line driver.” And
while the amp lasted it did sound good. Until that puff of smoke. Poof!

So
 that sent young Ryan off to the amp repair people, who were kind enough
 to work towards a quick turnaround. “Ok,” I said to Howard, “let’s try
DRUM.” And in recalling the sound from the demo (Selmer 50, Strat),
oops, there goes that amp too. Or so I thought. 3 hours later, we had
located some issues (shorting speaker cable), but not all.

Back came the Laney from the shop. And it did sound good until it blew up AGAIN.

DRUM got done, thankfully. As did RUN TO ME (with a double of the TONIGHT, TONIGHT 335).

For starters, nothing blew up today.

My
 day, abbreviated, as it was, stayed focused on the 10,000 permutations
of how one might play DORIAN. 80’s? 60’s? 2022? How about never?

And
 after much hemming and hawing with Herr Producer (and our 10,001th
convo about ‘what kind of album is this?’) I settled on one guitar, one
amp, one speaker, three microphones. The guitar: a Kimberly, or as it’s
better known around here, the 1979/MAYONAISE/PISSANT axe. Got
essentially a full take and left it at that.

Rest
 of session was Shredder working on space-age BEING BEIGE elements (he’d
 report scant progress), and ANTI-HERO streetwalk-riff (‘killer tones
bro’). More tomorrow, getting better all the time…

You know the old adage, ‘maybe it’s not someone else’s
 fault, but yours?’ Neither do I. But let me say that this
amp-blowed-up-again problem of mine is starting to freak me out. My
tally today? Try two.

First
one went like this: turn on amp, play 5 seconds, POOF! Second one went
like this: turn on amp, play for 10 seconds, amp makes funny noise,
drops to half power, then? You guessed it.

So
 what did we get done today? Shredder Shredding ONE AND ALL (just before
 a visit from indie stalwart-superstars Ringo Deathstarr). And a whole
lot of noising around MONUMENTS, which will now just have one lean mean
guitar. I would have finished tonight but I went deaf from the fuzz (Vox
 Tone Bender II: and no, we don’t have an endorsement).

A glorious day; at least for the first 90 minutes in
session. The above pictured pedal caressing a Sound City amp, it’s
treble negated to zero. MONUMENTS it’s beneficent.

What
 did I just say? Translation: I got MONUMENTS done quickly (a single
take, thank you) by 1:30. Fast forward 6 hours, you’d see me, BC,
sitting on a bench, chin on hand. Why? ‘Cause my amp blowed up a-gain
(3rd time!)

When even T Lee tells you to turn down then you know you got issues.

So
 like a good scout boy I tried to match blowed-up amp sound with the
Marshall Plexi, and came darn close. But I must admit I was defeated by
the sound that just can’t be reigned in. So I await a 3rd (or is it a
4th) repair.

This left Herr
Howard saying, ‘fellas, what are we gonna do now?” Shredder: “My overdub
 on ANTI-HERO?” Howard, “Sure!” (think high voice).

In documenting what has been one of the strangest
weeks of my studio life, I’ve run out of descriptors for the barrage of
crackles, snaps, fizzes, and poof-poofs we’ve faced in attempting the
most basic of recording functions. So in session we've stared down more
of the same, although thankfully nothing blew up! But here’s a list of
the wounded for one day: 2 matched mics that were found to be not
functioning, an old board with a mysterious hum (later fixed), lightning
 strikes coming through my pickups, inexplicable amp hums, and a
computer that decided to open up a channel despite it being closed; each
 issue killing valuable recording time.

So
 in a weeks time we’ve probably only ‘worked’ for half of it with great
productivity, which is frustrating knowing all basic guitars would be
done by now. But they’re not. Perhaps there is a divine reason for this,
 and in that I’ll go with the adage that ‘God’s will is your will.’

Anyway,
 finished acoustic (60’s J-200) and electric (BC  Strat into 2nd
Marshall plexi; a softer tone ironically) for BEING BEIGE, and then my
side of TIBERIUS: my vintage Laney amp run though a variac to steam
forward at what the man said was its preferred US power.

Only ANAISE is left. How typical.

Rather than just update on the days particulars (cut
the vocal for ANTI-HERO and Jeff added some guitar work; meaning work on
 the song is essentially finished outside of a few background vocals). I
 thought I’d get a bit into my lyrical process. And in offering this I’m
 going to say upfront that I’m not going to share the actual lyrics, for
 reasons that should be clear; so expect a somewhat esoteric
dissertation.

Let’s say (for
 the sake of argument) that one had two choices: serious or ironic
lyrics. Now let’s say that one didn’t like either choice. Why? Because
with all the songs ever written laying about, what’s left to be said?
Perhaps this is a cynical assertion, but that close to the way I feel.
And in that I believe in penning lyrics that can exist on differing
levels for different types of listeners.

To
 paint the picture more clearly, ANTI-HERO, on its surface, seems like
an irony waiting to happy (think baby-baby ooh lyrics), but underneath
that are dystopic ironies closer to the song’s message. Personally I
think it’s both clever, cute, and sarcastic as fuck, and that would be
the point; because the world is going mad while we discuss what
celebrity a did to celebrity b at fake award show x last night. Point
being that the violence of the culture is covered with a thin gloss of
shiny-shiny; so why shouldn’t my song be the same.

Having
 the title ANTI-HERO before I’d ever written a line presented a
challenge, simply because I’d assume that any song with that name would
have a tougher message. Not a baby-ooh-wow-wow one. But isn’t it often
that our relationships remind us of war (i.e. all’s fair in…), so as
above so below, and so as in love so it goes, etc.

Anyway,
 ANTI-HERO is about a cause, in this case the cause of reaching the one
you love while the structures around you crumble: be it school,
government, culture, or who you thought you were living in that city you
 once thought you knew. Displacement, really, of energies you assumed
would be there when you did say ‘baby I love-love-love you, you’re the
one for me, there’s no one else like you girl, ooh, wow wow.”

And
 that I say proves what I’ve been saying all along: that SP is a piss
take on a piss take on a piss take. What is real and what isn’t doesn’t
matter. It’s all the same; real as important as false, death as valuable
 as rebirth, with only love as the ONE unassailable force (that’s a
given.)

Coming in today the plan was that I have a practice
sing through MONUMENTS, and then we’d move on to finishing the remaining
 musical components (synth/bridge guitars, etc). But after a single take
 Jeff and Howard agreed that I should try to cut the vocal then and
there. Three hours later or so I’d succeeded (or so they thought), and I
 plopped myself down to watch the World Cup.

The
 rest of the session (once I’d re-animated) was Jeff and I trying to
fill what we call the ‘Bowie Bridge’ with dueling guitars (fail), and
then adding one of my favorite synths of all-time: The Gleeman
Pentaphonic (success). Legend has it they only produced a few (depending
 on who you ask), and considering it’s beautifully idiosyncratic tones I
 can kind of understand why it’s such a rare specimen.

But
 wait! We weren’t done. To play the counter melody I’d tinkle the fake
ivories on a Freeman String Symphonizer (another rarity), and then we’d
double that with a Polymoog. Holy Gary Numan! We got ourselves a rocker.

What’s left should be done by tomorrow. DRUM next.

What did we get done today? Fleshed out ‘Bowie Bridge’
 with a stack of Voyetra patches, a phased pair of Shredder chords, and
some well placed Mini-Moog melodies. And going in a few more steps I
pulled the rip chords to see what the section might need another day.
Which means that MONUMENTS is essentially done (save for the mantra of
BV’s/select lead drops, etc).

DRUM
 + FIFE, right? But who’s playing the battlefield fife? Past
conversations centered on perhaps getting someone who can actually play
the instrument, but given the reality of life in modernity I said a
tuned sample will. Thus began a race between Herr Producer and I on
dueling computers for who might actually locate a sampled fife (harder
than you might think!).

So all was well in flutelandia until we discovered the downloaded samples were corrupted and crackling. “Let’s move on…”

Shredder’s
 parts were next: ala slashing Tele and bubbling, tremulous swing; much
of time in picking right amp/setting, and so on.

Pretty simple session: warmed up my voice for a half
hour and cut into DRUM AND FIFE; which is essentially finished now.
Three down, six to go.

“What’s
 the song about BC?” you might ask if you ran into me at the grocery
story. “It’s about what’s coming down the pike for those who have it
coming,” I’d tell you cryptically, pretending as such with mendacity
that I was only there to make my own salad and nothing more. Let’s say
you saddled up close and said with a whisper, “Did Howard ever get the
sample issue fixed with the fife and all.” “Nope,” I’d shake, “was too
busy comping my pony-boy vocals.”

TIBERIUS
 is next on the dock, and we’ll probably start with the Mini-Moog per
the demo to play what is the song’s signature 6/8 line. But knowing my
producer he’ll probably try to swindle me into singing. Seems he has a
cat to get home to.

Pictured above are two notable secret weapons, and
though you may not recognize them on sight you’d know the damage they do
 if you’ve listened to SP circa 1993-2000. Put together they make what
I’d call a ‘supersonic sound,’ and we went looking for that texture
today to blast up the middle of TIBERIUS.

TIBERIUS
 as a work, minus vocal, is there now, having been fitted with a
Steiner-Parker Synthacon over the top of the geetars; my detuning
driving us nuts; for what is ‘in tune’ when the whole worlds out of---?

Oh,
 and ghosted in some keys behind the middle-8 march after using the
secret weapons, which Jeff and Howard insisted be powered by the ‘ol Bat
 Strat. ‘Twas a good day! We figure to be finished with all tracking in 3 weeks.

Return to Monuments to an Elegy/Day For Night

1. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Shacka-Lacka Boom-Boom", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 9, 2014
2. ↑ Billy Corgan, "In The Big Country", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 11, 2014
3. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Archangel Michael and The Full Force 5", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 14, 2014
4. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Blow-Up", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 15, 2014
5. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Heroes and Zeroes", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 16, 2014
6. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Energy, Endurance, Focus, Power", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 18, 2014
7. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Appetite For Construction", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 19, 2014
8. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Yep, It Blowed Up real Good", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 20, 2014
9. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Tone Benders", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 20, 2014
10. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Felinus", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 22, 2014
11. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Odes to the Alien", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 23, 2014
12. ↑ Billy Corgan, "The Gleeman Pentaphonic", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 24, 2014
13. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Rising Edge", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 25, 2014
14. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Drummers Drumming Drummerly", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 26, 2014
15. ↑ Billy Corgan, "Secret Weapons", Smashing Pumpkins Nexus, June 28, 2014