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By Bryan Beller
He made me do it. I wanted nothing to do with this whole project,
but then Yogi produced these pictures of Kathleen Harris (sans makeup) and I
sharing intimate moments together behind a Hooters in Tallahassee. You know, the kinds
of things that could be particularly hurtful to the wife, oral and whatnot…
No, that
wasn’t it. (switch to David Lee Roth “Just A Gigolo” video voice) It
didn’t happen that way at all. It happened just... like... this...
On September
16, 1999, I got an e-mail from the aforementioned Mr. Yogi, who
all-too-politely inquired as to the possibility of me doing some bass tracks
for a CD of original material he was working on. I just so happened to be
sitting on an unused L. A.-to-Seattle roundtrip plane ticket, and he seemed
like a reasonable enough guy (my first of many miscalculations), so sure, I
said, send a tape down to La-La-Land.
It’s not
like I get these inquiries all the time, but it can get touchy if, after being
solicited for a freelance project, you hear the material and it sounds like the
inside of somebody’s ass in 5/4. This was not the case at all. I’m a rock bass
player at heart, and Yogi was bringing The Rock. It’s no secret that Mr. Y is a
big King’s X fan, and the tonalities, textures and song structures betrayed
some of the better angels of that influence and then some. This was going to
work. Six songs, one weekend, slated for early November of ’99. We confirmed.
There was much rejoicing among the peasants.
At that point
in my life I was still fairly unsatisfied with the sound I was getting during
studio sessions. Fortunately, only months before, Steve Vai had me do a couple
of tracks for his album The Ultra-Zone (“Lucky Charms” and “Fever
Dreams” to be precise). His recording method for bass was an eye-opener—three
separate tracks. The first was completely direct through one of those expensive
tube D.I. boxes. The second was through an old Ampeg SVT head and 8x10 cab,
miked for her pleasure (don’t tell SWR; Steve made me do it). The third was a
post-EQ stock preset signal from a Sans-Amp PSA-1. I might have chosen
different sounds, but the technique was a keeper. Direct signal + post EQ clean
signal + dirty signal = Big Bass Sound.
I’ll get into a blow-by-blow
of the individual tracks later, so indulge me (or just scroll down if you’re
the impatient type) while I hit on the general topic of gear for a minute. The
recording method was three tracks quasi-Vai-style, as follows:
Track 1: Direct. I can’t
remember if I went through one of those expensive tube D.I. boxes or not. For shame.
Track 2: SWR Studio 220 head
into a Goliath II 4x10 speaker cab, miked for her pleasure. I also used an SWR
Mr. Tone Controls 9-band semi-parametric EQ in the effects loop of the Studio
220 for maximum tweakability.
Track 3: SWR Interstellar
Overdrive Preamp with varying amounts of drive (depending on the track) into a
Brand X 2x12 cabinet, miked for her extreme discomfort.
It’s worth noting that this
same setup, with some minor alterations, was the one I eventually used on the
new Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins record Dancing. I ended up
being really happy with it.
Every track was played on a
Fender Jazz Deluxe V. Some got the benefit of a T. C. Chorus/Flanger and an Electro-Harmonix BassBalls. All got the
benefit of Mr. Darin DiPietro, the engineer and studio proprietor with talent
to spare and a mouth randy enough to make Tommy Lasorda blush. A fine time was
had by all, even if Yogi, Darin, and I are going to hell as a result.
Thanks are also due to
Yogi’s supercool roommate, the lovely Miss Amanda Wernert, who put me up and
put up with me for the weekend (and doesn’t get nearly enough play on this
website, might I add). And extra thanks are due to Bass Northwest, the finest
damned retail purveyor of bass products in this or any other universe. They
saved our ass with a last-minute gear loan and deserve your business at www.bassnw.com.
So, without further adieu,
here’s my take on the six songs recorded in early November, 1999:
“I Have A Very Bad Feeling
About This”
I actually struggled
mightily with the introduction to this. I didn’t realize how naked and up-front
the bass would end up being, or maybe I would’ve done something a little different.
But it was a nice challenge locking up with
the various bass drum patterns throughout the intro and licks in the main theme
(yes—there are patterns, believe it or not). The chimes over the first main
lick get me off. And quintuplets are always nice for the kids in the family.
It’s a hell of a drum track as well. Dig the lick at 1:35.
“Truth”
This one
was a nice respite for my tired fingers (I can’t remember what I did before
this, but I know it hurt my hands). The chorus of this is one of those riffs
that stuck in my head for days afterwards. It also gave me a really good excuse
to hit a lot of low ‘B’s, which makes any track more enjoyable. Mr. BassBalls
makes a guest appearance at 2:39, where I double the guitar line by jumping
around from register to register. I love how out-of-control the outro guitar
solo gets. Again, looking back I’d rather my sound have been dirtier on this,
but it’s nasty enough, I suppose.
“No More Evil”
Yogi
really let me loose on this one, bless his heart. It wasn’t his original
intention to have me double the synth bass line, but I just couldn’t allow it
to be the only thing playing that line in the lower register. No
self-respecting bass player could. Of course, any self-respect I came in with
had evaporated by the thirtieth punch-in or so, because the line had to be
e-x-a-c-t-l-y p-e-r-f-e-c-t both in attack and timing or else it was gonna be
ClamFlam City. It wore out my fingers something fierce, but it was worth it.
Alas, that’s only half the
story. I overdubbed another track (three tracks?) of pure distorted hate that
served as the melody and counter-melody in the chorus, complete with overdriven
harmonics (with unison chime overdubs courtesy of Yogi) and all sorts of bad
stuff. I can’t even remember how we did that thing at 2:55, but it’s one of my
favorite parts of the whole album. Add in the “Nite School” drum track and the
demented short-delay guitar solo and, well, it’s worthy of vanquishing evil.
Not that I wasn’t glad when I was done with it.
“Throw Me A Bone”
If there
was one song where I really wished I was Doug Pinnick and was banging away with
a pick at a 12-string bass, this was it. I did my best to impersonate the
nickel-hitting-string sound, that’s for sure. The second half of the verse at
1:25, with the ominous bass/guitar unison line, is a thing to behold. I hope it
was good for Yogi too, and with that oh-so-perfect Ty Tabor rhythm guitar
sound, I’m sure it was. But I’ll tell you, the maturity and restraint shown in
the guitar solo is one of the things that really attracted me to this work in
the first place. It could have been done wrong in so many ways, and instead it
has just the right tone, just the right amount of space, and just the right
notes (Freelance employment suck-up alert).
“What Have We Here?”
Behold my
favorite song of the whole record. I just get off on dark, eerie tonalities
that suddenly open up into majesty. I don’t know if that’s the Nine Inch Nails
fan in me, or my progressive rock inner child, but whatever it was truly got to
me on this track. I cranked up the distortion for this one, and I even used a
pick to hammer out the chunk-chunks in the pre-choruses. The massive
payoff for me is the chorus (3:04 and 4:27). The first time around, we stopped
the tape after the pre-chorus so I could lose the pick and play with my
fingers. But the second time, after the last chunk-chunk, I was so into
the track that I threw the pick halfway across the room, went right into the
chorus, and didn’t stop playing until the track was over. So I got the whole
ascending outro in one pass, something I’m particularly proud of (Freelance
employment self-promotion alert).
“The Imperial March”
This
wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Listen closely to the chugga-chugga
riffs—they keep changing both rhythmically and note-wise. I don’t really play
with a pick either—at least not for anything remotely complicated—so I was
Flying Fingers Boy. My favorite part of this is the very end, where the guitars
ascend in half-steps and seemingly fall off a cliff on the very last hit.
***
You’d think that Yogi would
have had enough of me by that point, but no—he e-mailed me again on March 27,
2000 for another indecent proposal. Three more songs, one more trip, one last
chance for him to regret me saying yes. I did my best, but I think he was happy
with the end result anyway. Damn.
For the technical record,
these three tracks were recorded in early June, 2000, pretty much the same way
(with three separate tracks) as the previous six tunes. Like you care.
“Strange Ways”
A fairly straightforward tune. I tried really hard to fuck it up, but I just couldn’t. The
back-and-forth between the straight feel and the swing feel was a little
unnerving at first, but eventually I got used to it. I barely used any
distortion on this song. I really like the acoustic guitar on this, as well as
the string melody/solo in the second half of the tune. This would be the
perfect time for an editorial comment from Yogi. Yogi? [Yogi chimes in: This
track has a fine example of how little improvs by great players make the
composer, me, look cool. I’m pretty sure all or most of the demo versions I
gave Bryan had no vocals on them, and there weren’t any vocals recorded on the
studio versions before the bass sessions. As a result, BB had no idea what I
was going to be singing on top of his tracks. In the second verse at 1:17, he tossed
off a cute little lick that matches up as a nice harmony to the line “I find
inside.” Nice, huh? Well, it wasn’t MY idea! The vocal line as written didn't really
jibe with Bryan's improv, so I made the "command decision" to change my part to fit his.
I copped all kinds of neat stuff BB did in just this same
manner, all over the record. Back to you, Bryan!]
“Firefly”
I’m usually pretty hard on
myself, but even I like what I did on the intro. Lest I get too full of myself,
it should be noted that I originally learned the main chorus lick wrong in
three different ways. The form on this is a total and complete bitch, because
what sounds like the chorus form-wise is really the pre-chorus, and the
pre-chorus lick sounds suspiciously like the lick in the actual chorus.
Fortunately I used some chorus on the solo section just to make everything as
confusing as humanly fucking possible. Yogi knows just how to clear things up,
with some angelic harmonics straight out of “The Burning Down.” Dig those
offbeat china hits courtesy of uber-drummer Chris Gorczyca on the last
chorus. Now that’s bringing The Rock to your town.
“My Love For Lois Is Real”
I didn’t
know Yogi could do a Steve Vai solo! OK, that’s not what it is, but it’s very
Vai-inflected, and unlike most who are even remotely capable of copping that
stuff, he knows when to turn it on and when to lock it in the attic with Ross
Perot. You may find this hard to believe, but sometimes it’s easier to record a
song like this—with difficult lick after difficult lick—as opposed to something
simpler, because you’re more focused and the road map is very clear. I still
had a little bit of fun in the bridge with the mini-disco octaves, but mainly
this is Yogi’s show, both for the guitars and those cascading vocals in the
chorus. This went relatively quickly—certainly less time than it took to do
“Firefly.”
***
And that’s it! March 13 appears to be the Day of Reckoning, so anyone who’s
interested in what the hell I’m talking about should take a chance, live on the
wild side for a minute, and check this CD out. Major thanks to Yogi for taking
the first step and cold-e-mailing me to see if I’d be interested. I’m certainly
proud to have been a part of it. Best of all is the contract we both signed in
blood, which allowed me to recover the original negatives of those candid shots
of Katherine Harris and I smearing chocolate all over each other and… well, you
don’t want to know.
Bryan Beller
2/13/01
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