Geek-in-Chief
Posts: 606
 
Location: Noo Yawk | I'm surprised no one has come out and reported on this yet, so I guess I'm just the guy to do it...
Last night, roughly 35 SMFs (along with video crew, record company guys, radio people from 98.5 The Bone and WBAB, TS Crew, and MAM and Jay Jay) gathered at a Long Island recording studio to add that special SMF attitude to the upcoming TS Christmas album.
I was going to post a list of all the Slamboarders who were there, but I opted not to because I know I'd forget someone! So those of you who were there can post on this thread and tell your side of the story...
After hanging in the parking lot for a while while the recordings were readied and the video equipment was set up, SMFs caught up with what we've all been doing this Summer, who saw which shows, who was going to which upcoming shows, and general rock'n'roll gab. MAM and Jay Jay mingled with the crowd, greeting the SMFs and thanking us for showing up for the session.
Once everything was set up and ready to go, MAM gave us final instructions on what we were going to be doing. We trooped into the smallish live room to get to laying down some vocals...
My swiss-cheese brain is, as usual, failing on the complete list of songs that we did backups for, but I do remember that the first one was 'Deck The Halls,' which the band did in an arrangement quite like Thin Lizzy's 'The Boys Are Back In Town.' (MAM was explaining to someone on one of the breaks that each song on the album tried to capture the feel of a particular band or song - there are definitely traces of Lizzy, The Stones and Black Sabbath ['Hava Nagila,' anyone?] in the grooves of this album).
We sang backups for 'Let It Snow,' 'Oh, Come All Ye Faithful' and a hilarious re-written version of 'The 12 Days Of Christmas' (SMF's feel free to fill in the blanks here, I know I forgot something). In between songs we herded out to the parking lot where we actually saw a few meteors sail through the LI twilight.
After we got three or four songs done, a local pizza joint delivered 10 pizzas, and we all chowed down and mingled. The video crew wandered about, taking footage of the crowd in and out of the studio, which was decorated with a very cool quilt made out of vintage TS t-shirts.
Another highlight of the night was MAM and Jay Jay using Limes' TS dolls as motivational props to keep everyone loose while doing vocals. Jay Jay and Mark were in fine form throughout (Jay Jay said he was using his best material in years - on a non-paying audience!), and it was the usual give-and-take between MAM, Jay Jay, the chorus and Denny behind the board in the control room.
The dolls were on display throughout the session, and lots of people had fun posing with them (I think SMF Cyndi got a shot of me with them all in my lap at the end of the night), and Limes will be proud to know that everyone there was in awe of the craftsmanship that went into them.
Overall, everyone had a great time, and it was a nice touch that the band brought in us SMFs to do the vocals for the album. MAM explained that he originally had a list of friends and industry people to do the backups, but he and Jay Jay decided that we SMFs were the ones who could really bring the excitement to the session - and we did.
While the tracks we heard weren't fully mixed (in fact, Dee's voacls hadn't even been added to the '12 Days Of Christmas' track and we ended up singing along with AJ and Eddie), but what I heard defintely had the distinctive MAM production and the songs have been switched up to a metal style with pretty good success.
MAM said at the end of the night that the album is on schedule for a mid-October release, and Jay Jay said earlier that it was a sure thing that at least 30 copies would be sold. Like I said, the typical TS humor was in evidence every minute.
Well, that's my take. I'm hoping that everyone else who was there will weigh in and fill in details that I may have missed.
Oh - and I got permission to take photos of the session, which are here. I put up 10 to start, but I'll go through the rest of them and add some more later on.
- D |
