We started Music @ Work in September of 1999. Originally, the plan was to spend two weeks on the road, or on the rails, actually, in an old converted Pullman train car, bouncing song ideas around. We had arranged stops in New Orleans and Los Angeles to record the results. A week before we were to have left, we got the call that the generators on the car were down and that it was unlikely they'd be fixed anytime soon. Plan goes poof. After some scrambling, and through the kindness of our dear friend Karen Brady at Kingsway, we were able to extend our stay down in the Crescent City by a few more days. So we set off back to the scene of so many of our past musical adventures. "Of course we're now traveling by plane ..."
Despite the train disappointment, Kingsway was a perfect get-away for us to start the writing process. Away from home, yet in comfortable familiar surroundings, we set to work, along with our engineer Mark Vreeken and tech Billy Rae Koster. All of us had been writing at home, but this was really the first opportunity to hear each others' ideas. We approached the process in a very civilized and organized manner. Setting up in the main hallway of the studio, we sat in a semi-circle and took turns throwing out ideas. As is usually the case we were able to start moving things ahead very quickly. It seems that someone in the group always has something that will compliment someone else's idea, and before you know it, a new song starts to take shape. It's an exciting time. Another riff, rhythm pattern or melodic twist from someone's library of ideas can turn even the ordinary into something special. We've always been really fortunate that way. With five creative people working together on the music and Gord D's seemingly inexhaustible supply of lyrical ideas, it's relatively easy to move things forward. We give each song a fresh start and the attention it deserves, trying to unlock it's potential. When we hit the wall on one, we pick up and start on another.
Kingsway is the perfect setting for a song writing trip like this. There is something magical about the place that has always brought out the best in everyone who has been lucky enough to record there. After the first two days we had the makings of twenty new songs. Some were barely walking. Others were well on their way to being finished. We spent the remainder of the week working on this first batch, recording as we went along. We left New Orleans invigorated, with a plan to reconvene the next month at our own studio, the Bathouse, to continue the process.
It's difficult to say when the writing process ends and the recording process begins with us. Music @ Work was no exception. We've always tried to approach things one song at a time, doing what we can to keep moving forward. As a result, we often find ourselves nearing completion on one tune while tearing another apart. We've always been able to assess pretty quickly whether a tune is going to work or not. You try to bring it along, fixing the stuff that bugs you and trying to get it to it's logical conclusion. Some will never see the light of day, but that won't be for lack of trying on this end. The variety in the day to day process of "serving the song" keeps it fresh for us.
Mixing the Record
- [left to right] Mark Vreeken, Steve Berlin, Steven Drake and Johnny Fay
At the Mix
- Johnny Fay and some of Gord Sinclair