discography
The Widow Babies- The Mike Watt E.P. (2008)
The first song I ever heard The Widow Babies play was “Mike Watt Created The Universe With A Bass Solo”. I was recording the group at the request of concert promoter and musical provocateur, Sean Carnage for a music film called Friends In Other Dimensions. Sean knew my musical leanings and said I might be interested in the group as they seemed to cross a wide chasm of my own influences, Yes among them. We were on the second floor of a narrow old house on Sepulveda Blvd that sat atop a battered storefront. The group and I both set up quickly and they ripped through three takes in less than eight minutes. I was sold.
At the time, mid-February 2008, I was in the middle of at least four ongoing music projects and felt compelled to take on a fifth. I told the band that I was available to produce an album and we exchanged numbers. After a few phone calls we set up a recording session at Matt Wignall‘s Tackyland studio in Long Beach just a month later. Drummer Tabor Allen and guitarist Danny Miller told me “Mike Watt Created The Universe With A Bass Solo” was the first part of a six song paean to the myth of the Minutemen bassist. We finished five of the six tracks on March 22nd and went out for pizza at Me-N-Ed’s pizza. It was a quick days work with the band recording their takes with youthful ferocity and vocalist Elise McCutchen recording all of her vocal overdubs as soon as the music was put to tape.
A month later we met at my apartment for mixing and the recording of acoustic epilogue to the album. I continued to work on the mix for the next few weeks until I felt confident that The Widow Babies sounded the way they should: raw, fun, excited, awesome and awestruck.
From the opening drum fill to the closing acoustic guitar The Mike Watt E.P. runs a cool twelve and a half minutes, it’s over before you know what you’ve just heard: a parallel universe where Genesis and Melt Banana combine to make The Lamb Lies Down in San Pedro. In a time and place where attention spans are further on the wain and the listeners of the world are becoming more judicious The Widow Babies cram in Brazilian rhythms and timbales into “Vanity Thy Name Is Lincoln” and meaty double tracked guitars ring out on “Evil Triumphs Over The Awesome Powers Of Kayak” where bassist Neil Marquez continues to reveal his remarkable facility on the instrument. I had a hunch from the beginning that Watt would be proud.
Personnel
Tabor Allen- drums
Danny Miller- guitar
Neal Marquez- bass
Elise McCutchen- vocals
Produced and engineered by Chris Schlarb
ellul- s/t (2007)
When the dust settled we had traveled up and down the California coast four times: twice by car, twice by plane. We recorded in a church on top of a hill in San Francisco and in the darkness of an industrial warehouse in Carson. We collaborated with artists from Argentina, Italy and Spain. We had recorded an album of considerable complexity (with some songs dedicating ten tracks to percussion alone) in five different locations hundreds of miles apart. Then we lost it all.
In September of 2004 musician and vocalist Joel St. Julien sent over a few early demo recordings with the hope of receiving some artistic feedback. After listening I told him to keep in touch with me and let me know when he had an album of material he could send. After moving from Philadelphia to San Francisco, Joel introduced himself shortly before Justice Constantine and I performed at The Hemlock Tavern during our Xn.+ tour with Castanets. Shortly thereafter I received a disc of fleshed out demos in cut up paper packaging with a few notes and song titles written in pen or pencil. By this time the still unnamed group included two Joels: St. Julien and co-vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Joel Brown-Tarman. They asked if I could refer a Bay Area producer to help them realize the potential of their songs. In hopes of visiting San Francisco again and working on a little bit of music, I volunteered. I never did see the city.
In late January of 2006, we recorded for three straight twelve hour days. Working out arrangement ideas, textures, and getting everything recorded. We accomplished a surprising amount of work: all of the album’s ten tracks were present. Some dangerously close to being finished. We resolved to finish vocal tracking and add some legitimate rhythm section heavyweights a few months later in Long Beach.
At the end of April Joel and Joel flew down and we started finishing. After recording all the final vocal tracks in my living room we drove to a nondescript warehouse in Carson where Adam Garcia had his drum kit set up. Adam had the unenviable position of laying drums down after everything else but the combination of natural reverb and Adam’s drum sound was magical. The final day of recording in Long Beach consisted of masterful acoustic and electric bass overdubs from Anthony Shadduck, murky mixes, minor audio glitches and catching a return flight back to San Francisco. Between the 23rd of April and the end of the year the album would be mastered and remastered at least ten times.
Then the hard drive containing the masters died. Somehow, neither the group, nor I had a single hard copy of that final, fateful master. We would have to remix the entire record. We reconvened back in Long Beach on January 21st 2007 for three tortuous days of mixing, transferring, mastering, remixing and remastering. Since the original recordings were made I had converted my entire studio to running on my Mac. We would now transfer everything from the portable multi-track recorder and reassemble the album track by track and song by song. We put in three more ten hour days before arriving mixes that sounded noticeably brighter, cleaner and fuller than the “lost master.” The album was being reborn. We even added a few new tricks to make things fun. Finally after one eight hour mastering session (which contained six separate master attempts) the album was finished. In early February I flew back to San Francisco and hand-delivered the final, magnificent master and started work on these very liner notes. Which promptly disappeared from my computer.
Postscript
This first, self-titled album from ellul was, aside from Twilight & Ghost Stories, the most expansive, complex production I had ever undertaken. Instead of a weekend in San Francisco, I worked on this record in some manner for a solid year. Remarkably, I still enjoy listening to it. Every song on this album has a secret; a hidden texture. I actually wept during the recording of certain parts. I am as proud of this album as anything else I’ve been involved with. To Joel St. Julien and Joel Brown-Tarman, thank you for the honor and the privilege, when do we start work on the next one?
Personnel
Joel Brown-Tarman- vocals, acoustic piano, organ, synthesizer, melodica, programming, percussion
Joel St. Julien- vocals, electric & acoustic guitar, electric bass, percussion, programming
Adam Garcia- acoustic drums
Chris Schlarb- electric guitar, electronics, percussion
Anthony Shadduck- electric & acoustic guitar
Produced and engineered by Chris Schlarb
Jazz- A Compilation (2001)
By 2001, I was starting to take Sounds Are Active seriously. We had changed the name (from the awful Mantis Music), started talking with Glen about putting out Soul-Junk and received the first of many logos for the label. I think it may have been Pete Deeble‘s idea: assemble some of the most interesting, non-mainstream bands in Long Beach and release a compilation. Each band would get roughly 15 minutes to shine; and they did.
Jazz- A Compilation was an enormous undertaking. A co-release by Sounds Are Active and Pete Records, we pressed thousands of CD’s and vinyl with full colour sleeves. We organized two album release parties (one in Long Beach, of course, and one at the Knitting Factory in L.A.), and found ourselves the subjects of two features articles in the local weeklies and newspapers, both of which dispatched photographers and writers to our doorsteps.
We were also able to secure some legitimate distribution for the first time and, although it was a struggle, we were really starting to feel like we had done something important. Since 2001, Pete Records has shuttered its doors with Pete going on to become a husband, father and full time teacher. I recently bought all of his back stock and I couldn’t help but throw the 12″ on and take a listen. Still important.
Create (!) is:
Orlando Greenhill- upright bass, voice
Danny Levin- euphonium, trombone
Steve Richardson- drums
Chris Schlarb- electric guitar, electronics
Ian Souter- trumpet
Produced and engineered by Chris Schlarb
Create (!)- Moth Nor Rust (2000)
Recorded over the course of a few months, Moth Nor Rust was the first release by Sounds Are Active (at that time, 1999, called Mantis Music). We pressed and sold almost 200 copies of this album on CD-R’s. I had to burn each individual track because I didn’t have a CD burner on my computer at the time. Eventually the album was mastered, then remastered and is now available for free from the Sounds Are Active website.
I get slightly nostalgic when thinking back on this time. Create (!), from the beginning, was pure fun. Steve Richardson, Orlando Greenhill and I just loved playing music with each other. We never practiced and always let it all hang out on stage. Of course that made for some harrowing live performances but it was always interesting. I can’t think of a better way to become acclimated to taking chances in front of an audience.
Soon Create (!) would change for the first time. We would enter a new phase that included extremely important contributions from Ian Souter (who plays on a few Moth Nor Rust cuts) and Danny Levin. We would then record Patterns.
Personnel
Orlando Greenhill- electric bass, electronics, voice
Richard Greenhill- keyboard
Steve Richardson- drums, sampler, electronics
Chris Schlarb- electric guitar, clarinet, electronics
Ian Souter- trumpet
Produced and Mixed by Create (!)
Engineered by Chris Schlarb