EL DIARIO DE LOS FROGCIRCUS

Eye In The Sky... preview

2010-11-18T21:37:00.001+01:00

"Ink"

2010-08-17T21:14:00.004+02:00

Yes, we finally have an album title: Ink.
Like the song. Like the stuff into your skin.
Mixing is nearly finished, Gonzalo Ramo s is making the songs sound amazing. We'll be shooting the band photos tomorrow with Maxim Matthew, and soon you'll be able to hold the little fucker in your hands with booklet and all.
On top of that, "Don't Lose Your Head" is featured in the movie Headhunter: The Assesment Weekend (coming Aug 20).
And next week, we'll be visiting Sweden for the first time, charting new territories for the frog'n roll machine.
So much for a low-key year...

Mixing

2010-06-17T19:12:00.004+02:00

Gonzalo Ramos, amazing sound engineer and yet good friend of the band, the man with the gargantuan task of mixing the new album, that is, making sure you can hear all mistakes clear enough on the reacord later, has just sent us this image (click to enlarge). It's a screen capture of the mixing of "Twelve Years" and the living proof that everything's going according to plan in the frogcamp.

Two other songs ("Ink" and "One Another") are also finished, and you can bet your life that it's going to kick major ass when it's ready.

On a side note, you might have noticed that we'll be conquering new territories for the frog cause. This July, the band will play in Sweden for the very first time. Everyone's excited and looking forward to a great trip full of kilometers, rock & roll and Swedish passion for music.

UPDATE: The shows have been postponed, probably until late August, due to some agenda problems. Don't panic, Stockholm, we'll be coming soon to kick some serious ass!

Die Rückehr der Kellerkinder

2010-05-28T16:30:00.003+02:00

Endlich.

Gottseidank.

Wir sind zurück im Licht.

Nach scheinbar endloser Zeit im Studio, wunderschön gelegen im lieblich duftenden, lichtdurchfluteten Keller eines wunderschönen, farbenfroh gestalteten Berliner Industriegebäudes, sind wir zurück in der Welt.

Noch etwas blaß und den letzten Rest Kohlenstaub aushustend betraten wir vier dankbar, aber noch etwas verwirrt das Maschinenhaus der Kulturbrauerei und etwas später den Pfefferberg, um das funzelige Licht der verstaubten Kellerglühbirne gegen das Strahlen der Bühnenscheinwerfer einzutauschen.
Endlich bekamen unsere neuen Songs, unterstützt von ein paar älteren, die Chance dem geneigten Auditorium ins Ohr zu gehen.

Und unser Mut, uns nach so langer Zeit wieder einem Livepublikum zu stellen wurde belohnt.
Speziell der Akustikgig im Maschinenhaus fand viel Anerkennung und hat großen Spaß gemacht.

Wie eigentlich immer wenn wir "unplugged" spielen, vieleicht sollten wir unsere elektrischen Instrumente ins Pfandhaus geben und uns nur noch mit ehrlicher, handgemachter Musik beschäftigen...

Wir sind zurück im Licht.

Gottseidank.

Endlich.

Zwei neue Termine

2010-04-09T22:26:00.003+02:00

Die ersten Termine nach der Pause sind schon da!
Am Freitag, den 23. April im Berliner Maschinenhaus in der Kulturbrauerei, akustisches Konzert im Rahmen der "Tribute To" Konzertreihe.
Zwei Wochen später, am 07. Mai wird im Pfefferberg dann richtig mit Krawall abgerockt.
Karten gibt's für 8 € im Vorverkauf oder 10 € an der Abendkasse.
Seid gespannt auf neue Songs der Zirkusfrösche!

Diario de grabación

2010-03-30T20:16:00.020+02:00

Día 1 (08.Dic)

Aquí vamos otra vez. Por fin estamos de vuelta en el estudio para lo que parece que va a ser nuestro quinto álbum hasta la fecha (provisionalmente llamado Quinto Álbum, que original). El lugar: D&S Tonstudio en Berlín. La fecha: 8 de diciembre de 2009. Las partes involucradas: Daniel Strobel como ingeniero principal, Tobi a la batería y el abajo firmante más o menos observándolo todo y haciéndose cargo de los pequeños detalles tales como que canciones grabar. No produciendo, la verdad, más bien tocando los cojones.

Así que esto es lo que hay, otro proyecto en marcha, espero que no tarde tanto tiempo en salir como suele ser habitaul en esta pequeña banda. Esta vez hemos estado haciendo canciones a bastante velocidad y después de tan solo uno o dos ensayos, las estamos grabando. La mayoría aún no tienen letra, algunas ni siquiera nombre, pero supongo que eso lo hace todo un poco menos estudiado que las anteriores veces. Un poco como los Beatles solían hacer en la época: escribir una canción, ensayarla una vez, grabarla al día siguiente. Con la única y pequeña diferencia, claro está, que a ellos les salían putos clásicos y nosotros nos contentamos cuando nos sale un temilla decente aquí y allá.

En cuanto a la grabación en sí: nos reunimos por la tarde en el estudio de Daniel, un sótano en el distrito de Weissensee. Fuera hace frío, humedad y está absolutamente oscuro, así qeu es todo un placer bajar las escaleras para entrar en un sitio, bueno, frío, húmedo y también oscuro. Hasta que encendemos las máquinas de rocanrol para calentar un poco y encendemos una bombilla por aquí y otra por allá. Ah, esto está mucho mejor.

Esperando a que llegue Tobi (como siempre), me pongo a hacer una lista de las canciones que vamos a grabar, y me acojono cuando veo que me falta una. Me he quedado completamente en blaco. A ver, una, dos, tres… sigo contando y me sigue faltando una y no me acuerdo cual es. O me estoy haciendo viejo o tenemos demasiados temas. Probablemente las dos cosas. Mientras entro en crisis conmigo mismo por no poder acordarme de todas las canciones, nuestro batería llega alegremente, afina los tambores, les da hostias durante algunos minutos, vuelve a afinarlos, los rehostia y a todo pulmón anuncia al mundo: ¡Estoy listo!

Y tío, sí que está listo. A las 23.30 ya tenemos seis pistas de batería completas. Algunas han salido fácilmente, otras han necesitado un par de tomas extra, pero mientras estoy en la sala de control grabando la guitarra y la voz de referencia para nuestro batera y echándome unas risas con Daniel, Tobi consigue ejecutar perfectamente las tomas suficientes como para irnos a casa con la sensación del trabajo bien hecho.

Y hoy, más.

St

Canciones grabadas:
Seattle Girl: batería
Cosmonaut: batería
The Wounds Inside: batería
Don't Lose Your Head: batería
Twelve Years (título provisional): batería
Uno, Otro (título provisional): batería

Día 2 (09.Dic)

Segundo asalto en el combate contra el aburrimiento musical. Anoche nos volvimos a encontrar en el estudio de Daniel para seguir grabando baterías. Todos los micros ya estaban en su sitio, así que tras un cigarrito, unas risas y de hacer el bobo con la Dean Dimebag del infierno de Daniel (más jebi que una saco de tachuelas), Tobi se fue directo a la sala de grabación para torturar un poco a su caja.

La primera en la lista fue la ya tradicional versión. Normalmente solemos grabar una versión en cada álbum (las últimas fueron "Tomorrow Never Knows" en las sesiones del Allergic, y "Toxic" para el Not Completely Clean). Así que pensando sobre ello hace un par de semanas, me acordé de una gran canción del año 82 de Alan Parsons Project llamada “Eye In The Sky”, que me encantaba de chiquillo cada vez que sonaba en la radio. No la había vuelto a oir en un montón de años y me pareció que, con la cantidad adecuada de mala leche la podríamos convertir en un tema frog. Grabé una maqueta rápida en casa y tuve un “yeah” instantáneo de la banda. Así que aquí estamos, haciendo nuestra pequeña versión cañera del tema.

Después de terminar con ella, Tobi decidió probar con “Ink”, un tema más rápido y desagradable. Se hicieron varias tomas (vamos, muchas varias, la verdad), pero Tobi no terminaba de estar contento con ninguna de ellas ni tampoco sabía decir exactamente el porqué. Había algo que no terminaba de estar bien, y después de muchas muchísimas tomas, la pequeña bombilla dentro de su cabeza se iluminó y recordó que no se había traído su doble pedal de bombo. Y que por eso no podía hacer sonar bien el final jebilongo. Buf, uno normalemnte nota ese tipo de cosas en la primera toma, ¿no? A ver, yo me daría cuenta en la primera toma si me faltara una cuerda. Pero bueno, los baterías son una especie totalmente diferente y exótica, quizás por eso los queremos como son y aguantamos ese tipo de cosas… Así que, después de haberme jodido la voz cantando la referencia para “Ink”, tuvimos que dejarlo para la siguiente sesión (espero que recuerde traerse el pedal la próxima vez, jeje).

"Instead" era la siguiente. Un número más lento y más pesado que terminamos antes de que pudiera decir “abejorro”. Decidir el tempo exacto de la canción nos llavó bastante más tiempo que grabarla, todo un proceso de intentarlo hasta encontrar lo que buscábamos (“Creo que debería ir a 95 bpm”, “No, eso es muy lento, hazlo mejor a 100 bpm”, “Hm, eso iba muy rápido, bájalo hasta, no sé, 98 bpm”, “Joder, aún demasiado rápido, a ver que tal a 97”, “Eso ya era otra cosa, vamos a hacerlo así”, etc, etc…). Este tema puede quear bien, vamos a ver si no lo cago más tarde…

Se estaba ya haciendo tarde, así que intentamos hacer una más y nos metimos con “Talking To Nobody”, un tema con un sabor decididamente sesentero que habíamos hecho por primera vez hacía poco en el local. Tobi no tenía ni puta idea de que le estaba hablando cuando le nombré la canción y decía con los ojos muy abiertos “No, esa no la he oido jamás”. Menos mal que me había traido de casa las maquetas y después de algunos segundos ya se acordó. “Ah, sí, claro, venga, vamos a grabarla”. Y eso fue lo que hizo. Salió bastante bien, muy sólida y sin florituras, justo lo que necesitaba la canción. Es cojonudo tener a un batería tan versátil en la banda, aunque nunca se acuerde los nombres de las canciones y siempre me toque tararear las melodías. Pero bueno, hemos hecho un montón de nuevas canciones desde cero en las últimas semanas, es comprensible que se líe. Bueno, supongo. Nunca he sido batería en una banda, sólo un batería frustrado.

La próxima sesión está prevista para el viernes, lo que significa que hoy puedo dejar descansar a mis orejas y quizás degustar un codillo con algunos amigos en el Lemke. Mola.

St

Canciones grabadas:
Eye In The Sky: batería
Ink: batería (incompleta)
Instead: batería
Talking To Nobody: batería

Día 3 (11.Dic)

Y luego fueron tres… Viernes por la tarde y estamos metidos en un agujero haciendo ruido.Tobi me llama para decirme que Daniel y él llegarán un poco tarde, así que cuando llego y aparco en el patio y no veo luces, decido esperarlos en el coche y oir la radio.Y oir la radio. Y mirar los emilios. Y mirar en el Facebook y chatear un poco. Y oir más la radio. Y llamar a Tobi para preguntarle donde coña andan, sin localizarlo. Y comprobar los emilios de nuevo. Y empezar a congelarme. Y a maldecir. Y congelarme un poquito más. Y mandarle un mensaje a Daniel y 30 segundos después verlo emerger del sótano y preguntarme con su mejor acento del sur de Alemania qué coño hago ahí fuera con el frío que hace, que ya están grabando. Dentro de mi cabeza empiezo a preparar el discurso de agradecimiento al Premio al Atontao del Año, que posiblemente me lleve después de esto. Juraría que las luces estaban apagadas y que no había ningún otro coche aparcado. Tengo que hacerme mirar las lentillas, los ojos, y ya que estamos, el cerebro.

En fin, cuando bajo Tobi ya está sudando. Ha hecho un par de tomas de "Ink", pero ninguna es la buena. Está grabando con la guitarra de referencia de la última vez, así que tengo tiempo para hablar con Daniel mientras Tobi está dentro perdiendo calorías y hostiando los tambores.

Grabar las baterías a la vieja usanza es un arte difícil, no se admiten cortes, y si la caga en la última nota significa que hay que repetir desde el princpio. Muy cruel. Así que después de un par de cagadas en la última nota, Tobi rebusca en su interior su reserva de insultos y maldiciones y suelta el insulto más vulgar que pueda haber en alemán (un idioma no muy dado a insultos soeces, la verdad, el español gana por goleada). Algo digo de ver y oir, una auténtica clase de literatura. Pero eso le ayuda a concentrarse y en la siguiente toma, el cabrón la clava. Chapeau, mister. Este tema va a tener bastante pegada cuando esté acabado, tío, recuerda lo que digo.

Va siendo hora de pasar a la última toma planificada, un tema llamado “Vertigo” que ya intentamos durante la grabación del Not Completely Clean pero que abandonamos depués de un par de tomas, ya que no estábamos muy seguros del arreglo que queríamos hacerle. Pero esta vez he hecho mis deberes y la canción está lista y aprobada para ser grabada. Tobi la graba con la referencia de mi maqueta, así que no tengo que violar ninguna guitarra, tan sólo sentarme y observar al tipo tocar como sabe, todo un placer para las orejas (mientras uno no esté demasiado cerca, claro).

A las diez y media estamos acabados (especialmente Tobi) y listos para largarnos a casa. Hace un frío de cojones en Berlín. Me espera mi camita, suave, calentita y seca. Y sin tambores en mi cabeza…

Canciones grabadas:
Ink: batería (terminada)
Vertigo: batería

Día 4 (14.Dic)

¿Puedes sentir el bajo? Yo al menos sí que pude ayer por la tarde. Primer día grabando bajos en el D&S Tonstudio con Timo y Daniel.

Después de llagar tan tarde que casi era la hora de irse a casa (los atascos de Berlín pueden ser muy frustrantes a veces, especialmente cuando la policía desvía a todo el mundo al mismo sitio, muy brillante), no perdimos el tiempo y montamos los potentes altavoces del ampli de bajo en la sala de grabación, para darnos cuenta de que, efectivamente, eran demasiado potentes, las paredes temblaban. Posiblemente cambiamos toda la estática del edificio, quien sabe, quizás mañana ya no esté ahí entero. Un micro aquí, un cabe, saca ese bajo y listo.

El arma de Timo es un MusicMan StingRay con esa quinta cuerda extra que hace que tus intestinos bailen la samba cuando la tocan. “¡¡¡Cañaaaa!!!” iba diciendo Timo con los cuernos al viento, su grito de guerra cuando todos miramos con asco a esa quinta cuerda.

No teníamos mucho tiempo, así que empezamos directamente con “Ink”, que al ser la primera, fue la que más tiempo nos llevó. No es precisamente la más fácil para hacer perfectamente con los dedos fríos, tan sólo hay que preguntarle a Tobi (aunque esta vez Timo se trajo su doble pedal de bombo por si acaso, ejem). Varias tomas y algunas maldiciones más tarde, la primera estaba acabada y la siguiente, “Cosmonaut” ya esperaba ser ejecutada. También tomó su tiempo, especialmente conseguir hacer los acentos junto con la batería de Tobi. Mi deber era molestar a Timo con esos detalles hasta que estuviera perfecto. Lo sé, es un trabajo sucio, pero alguien tiene que hacerlo, ¿no?

“The Wojnds Inside” la hizo en un abrir y cerrar de ojos y antes de irnos a casa también hicimos "Seattle Girl", donde la guitarra de referencia del abajo firmante estaba tan desafinada que tuvimos que dejarla fuera por miedo a que a Timo se le fuera completamente la olla tratando de grabarla con ella en los cascos. Y mañana, más bajo. Espero que el tráfico nos permita llegar antes de que nos tengamos que ir a casa de nuevo.

Canciones grabadas:
Ink: bass
Cosmonaut: bass
The Wounds Inside: bass
Seattle Girl: bass

Día 5 (18.Dic)

Lo primero es lo primero: hace un frío de cojones. De camino al estudio el termómetro marcaba -12ºC. Tenía la guitarra acústica en el maletero y esperaba que saltara por los aires en cualquier momento. Pero consiguió llegar entera a nuestro cuarto del ruido para la sesión del día. Era la última sesión del año e iba a ser relativamente corta, sólo cuatro horas. Y como nuestro bajista no estaba disponible hoy, decidí hacer unas cuantas acústicas aquí y allá para ir teniendo ya algunas cosas hechas antes del parón de navidad.

Después de montar los micros y balancearlos, empezamos con un tema casi completamente acústico, “Twelve Years” (a falta de un título mejor parece que al final es el que vamos a quedarnos). Hicimos un par de tomas, doblamos la mejor, una pequeña parte para el solo y ya está. Bueno, no, no estaba. A Daniel se le ocurrió usar una guitarra española hecha polvo que había por allí para el final de la canción. Tenía una afinación muy alternativa, la guitarrilla. Estaba afinada en intervalos de microtonos tan imposibles de distinguir para el oido humano que, por un momento, pensé que era una escoba con alambres lista para ser destrozada porque no había quien afinara aquello. Pero no, tan sólo necesitaba un poquito de amor y el afinador del iPhone para volver al maravilloso mundo de la afinación 440. Tomó su tiempo enseñarle las maravillas de mantenerse afinada. Tomó la hostia de tiempo, la verdad, más que lo que tardé en grabar esa parte.

Con la primera canción en el cajón, dirigimos nuestras energías a “The Wounds Inside” que pudimos hacer en prácticamente nada de tiempo. Lo mismo con “Vertigo”. “Talking To Nobody” necesitó un poquito más debido a las extrañas referencia de batería que me entraban por los cascos. No me preguntes como, pero la batería y el metrónomo iban y venían todo el rato haciendo cualquier intento de una toma buena imposible. Así que después de un par de martillazos a la mesa (cortesía de Maxwell Silver), todo volvía a estar en orden y pudimos terminar rápidamente. Aún quedaba media hora y la última por este año, “Don’t Lose Your Head” encontró el camino a la cinta (bueno, el disco duro), justo a tiempo de cerrar todo por este día (bueno, por este año).

Las próximas sesiones serán en la segunda mitad de enero, cuando terminaremos con los bajos antes de comenzar mi parte preferida, las guitarras eléctricas, que precede a mi parte menos preferida, grabar las voces. Pero no nos adelantemos tanto, que quiero tener unas navidades felices y todo eso. Y lo mismo para ustedes, queridos lectores (¿pero acaso hay alguien ahí fuera por cierto?).

Canciones grabadas:
Twelve Years: guitarras acústicas y clásica
The Wounds Inside: guitarras acústicas
Vertigo: guitarras acústicas
Talking To Nobody: guitarras acústicas
Don't Lose Your Head: guitarras acústicas

Día 6 (20.Ene)

Viniendo del calor del sol de Gran Canaria, se hace muy difícil volver al invierno más frío de los últimos años en Berlín. Todo está blanco, hace un frío de mil demonios y toda la ciudad parece un campo de hockey sobre hielo. Tienes que ir mirando donde pisas y caminando como si pisaras huevos. Parece una versión extendida del sketch de los andares estúpidos de Monty Python. Pero en fin, aquí estoy, listo para volver al tajo.

Ayer, Daniel y yo empezamos a grabar pistas de guitarra mientras esperamos que vuelva la semana que viene a terminar con los bajos. La primera parada fue el Cuartel General Frog, donde el abajo firmante se se puso a cargar los ampis, flight cases y todo eso para meterlo en el frogmóvil y frogllevarlo al frogestudio. Sí, mi frogespalda se frogjodió después de eso.

La mayor parte de la sesión nos la pasamos colocando los amplis y los micros, comprabando las distancias, cables, señales y toda esa mierda sin la cual podría vivir perfectamente. Me traje un montón de pedales y la nueva Les Paul R0, que tengo que decirlo, suena como una jodida campana. Toma ya opinión interesada.

Esta vez decidí grabar las guitarras eléctricas en la sala de control en vez de en la sala de grabación, como he hecho siempre. Aunque no se te queda el pelo p’atrás con el ruido como pasaría si estuviera frente a los amplis, la grabación en sí es más sencilla, ya que puedes ir hablando con el técnico directamente e ir viendo todo en el monitor (se acabaron las cintas hace timpo), y no me siento tan aislado como dentro. Por otro lado, si necesitas mover los controles del ampli, alguien tiene que estar siempre entrando y saliendo, escucharlo, volver a cambiar… En fin, voy a intentarlo un poco más y a ver si es más cómodo o no.

Empezamos con las guitarras guarrillas de “Seattle Girl”, las doblamos (como suelo hacer casi siempre con mis partes de guitarra, para darle un sonido más grande, gordo y con mala leche… y bueno, también ayuda a tapar las gambas, jeje), y después algunas partes de guitarras limpias para las partes del medio y el final. Salió bastante bien, pero admito que necesitando más tomas de las que esperaba. Siempre es igual el primer día de grabación hasta que me suelto un poquillo más. Al principio no sé ni tocar, luego sigo sin saber tocar, pero el menos meto ruido. Mientras grabamos, Daniel y yo tenemos que tener en mente que Jorge aún tiene que grabar sus partes más tarde, así que tengo que controlarme para no grabar más y más guitarras, defecto que uno tiene.

Como ya era tarde, intentamos hacer la parte rápida del medio de “The Wounds Inside”, que salió más rápida que la anterior. Pusimos al siempre fiable Classic 50 en modo cabrón, levantamos los cuernos e hicimos froggymetal. Tengo ganas de escuchar la versión terminada, es n tema un poco esquizofrénico, una especie de Jekyll & Hyde musical. Un poco como yo, supongo…

A las tantas y media apagaos las luces, cerramos la puerta y dejamos a la bestia dormir hasta esta tarde, cuando volveremos a nuestra particular Iglesia del Ruido. Hasta entonces, cuidado con el hielo ahí fuera.

Canciones grabadas:
Seattle Girl: guitarras eléctricas
The Wounds Inside: guitarras eléctricas

Día 7 (21.Ene)

Más guitarras hoy. Daniel y yo decidimos tomarlo con más calma y empezamos a preparar los amplis y los micros para sonidos más limpios (sí, amigos, también tenemos de eso). Primero probamos con un Fender Twin Reverb que había en el estudio de otra sesión, y aunque sonaba muy bonito, las válvulas estaban tan cascadas que simplemente era inutilizable para el estudio. Era como tener un pulmón de acero trabajando a toda máquina por detrás. Una pena, podría haber estado bien. Así que al final nos decidimos por el siempre versátil Classic 50 y la caja abierta para encontrar el sonido más limpio posible.

Siguiendo con el tema del péndulo, esta vez vamos a hacer algo diferente de la última. Mientras en el Not Completely Clean usé un auténtico mogollón de amplis y cajas diferentes, esta vez lo vamos a hacer un poco como en el Allergic, o sea, centrarnos más en un sonido base de algún ampli y a base de toquetarlo, hacer que suene algo diferente en cada toma, pero manteniendo el carácter y la “(am)personalidad” (joder, que malo). Sí, tenemos mogollón de pedales, cajas y configuraciones diferenets, pero es bastante relajante más o menos saber de antemano como va a ser el sonido sin tener que pasarte montón de tiempo probando amplis diferentes, con lo que conlleva de colocación de micros, ruteado de cables, toqueteo eterno de botoncitos. Es más un rollo de enchufarte y tocar, pasar más tiempo tocando guitarras que botones. Claro, haremos experimentos, pero intentaremos mantenerlos a un nivel normal. Estamos aquí para grabar algunas canciones. Si quieres experimentar, métete un tripi en casa, ¿no?

Empezar con “Ink” con las manos congeladas no fue precisamente una buena idea, y me llevó demasiadas tomas para hacer los arpegios bien. La verdad es que debería dejar de escribir partes que luego son demasiado coñazo de hacer bien, que pena. Después de lo que pareció una eternidad al fin lo tuvimos y nos centramos en “Eye In The Sky” y en “The Wounds Inside”, que en comparación salieron rapidísimo incluyendo buscar sonido y doblarlas.

“Instead” ya era otra un poco más técnica, pero salió sorprendentemente rápida. Lo mismo con “Vertigo” y sus armónicos. Para acabar la sesión, nos metimos con la más nueva del lote, “One Another” (o como la llama Timo, “Uno, Otro”). Esta la compusimos al instante en el último ensayo antes de entrar en el estudio y aún no tiene ni letra, pero me apuesto que ni Timo ni Tobi se acuerdan un carajo de la canción, jaja. Intentamos crear un muro de sonido a base de capas y capas de guitarras limpias, y me sorprendió ver lo cañera que quedaba sin una gota de distorsión. Tengo muchas ganas de ver como queda esta al final. Posiblemente porque, al contrario que las otras, no tengo ni la más remota idea de cómo quiero que suene. Vamos decidiendo a medida que grabamos. Normalmente entro al estudio con una visión muy clara de lo que quiero para cada canción, cómo quiero que suene, pero no con esta. Es un completo misterio para mí, y por extensión, para todos los demás. Sorpresa, sorpresa.

Y con más pistas acabadas de las que esperaba, decidimos dejarlo por ese día (bueno, más bien noche), ya que era bastante tarde y tenía otras cosas importantes que terminar (como escribir esto, por ejemplo, je). Continuaremos la semana que viene con guitarras guarrrrrrras, que son más divertidas.

Feliz fin de semana, no se congelen los huevos ahí fuera.

Canciones grabadas:
Ink: guitarras eléctricas
Eye In The Sky: guitarras eléctricas
The Wounds Inside: guitarras eléctricas
Instead: guitarras eléctricas
Vertigo: guitarras eléctricas
One Another: guitarras eléctricas

Día 8 (02.Feb)

Saludos, gente de la Tierra. Venimos en son de paz (pero somos unos escandalosos).

Después de encontrar un pequeño hueco en la apretadísima agenda de Timo, nos reunimos ayer en el estudio para continuar grabando bajos (ya saben, ese “¡Broummmm!” que a veces se puede oir en nuestros discos). Llegar no fue ayer nada fácil, Berlín parecía más que nunca Stalingrado, con una tormenta de nieve brutal y sin visibildad alguna. Genial. Deberíamos llamar a este disco “Nieve” o “Siberia” o mejor “Mierda Blanca”… hm, me gusta lo de “Mierda Blanca”, lo apuntaré en la lista de posibles.

Así que un poquillo después, mientras Daniel y yo estábamos probando una Telecaster nueva para usar más tarde, Timo llegó con pinta de Emperador Palpatine de Star Wars, encapuchado y soltando maldiciones sobre el puto temporal y el puto tráfico… nuestro encantador bajista había llegado.

Daniel ya había colocado todo antes, así que fue un inicio rápido, lo cual estuvo bien, ya que había muchos temas por hacer. Empezamos con “Twelve Years” y como siempre, la primera siempre es la más jodida, espcialmente con los dedos fríos. Después de varias tomas (y dacas) nos quedamos satisfechos con el resultado y pudimos pasar a las siguientes, “Don’t Lose Your Head”, “Instead” (donde la sutil diferencia entre mayor y menor supuso alguna discusión sobre el enfoque de las líneas de bajo, ejem) y “Vertigo”, que se terminaron en nada.

“One Another” por poco vuelve loco a Timo, pero es que estan nueva que ninguno nos sabemos la estructura perfectamente, lo que supone que o te sale una toma perfecta o editar puede ser un infierno (“¿Dónde coño estoy? ¿Segunda estrofa? ¿Primera mitad del segundo puente? ¿De dónde venimos? ¿ Adónde vamos? ¿Hay vida ahí fuera?”). Se lo pueden imaginar…

Gracias a dios estamos bendecidos con la presenaic de Daniel para contarnos batallitas de su vida como ingeniero que nos dejó llorando de la risa como hienas histéricas durante muchísimos minutos. Algo en plan colocar los micros al revés, intentar conseguir el sonido de micro perfecto de una sonido no microfoneado… descojonante. Podría escribir un libro. Mientras incluya la palabra “Schminke”, claro…

En fin, que aún nos quedaban dos temas por hacer y poco tiempo, así que nos pusimos las caretas de concentración y fuimos directos a por “Talking To Nobody”, que Timo clavó. Sólo quedaba “Eye In The Sky”, con el momento estelar de Timo, así que tenía que quedar perfecta. Lo que consiguió después de un par de tomas. Y antes de que nos diérmanos cuenta ya eran las nueve y media, hora de guardar cacharros y largarnos a casa. Bueno, antes de llegar a casa aún tuvimos que batallar por las calles de Stalingrado, lo cual no siempre es fácil si está oscuro, helado y encima no puedes ver una mierda porque eres miope. Una combinación ganadora, si señor.

Pero al menos conseguimos acabar todas las partes de bajo y ahora nos podemos concentrar exclusivamente en las guitarras. Está claro, después de un par de días oiremos algo aquí y allá que necesitará ser arreglado, pero son pequeños detalles. Timo hizo un gran trabajo ayer, ahora ya se puede recostar en la silla y descojonarse de mí mientras intento hacer mis partes de guitarra. Que jodío.

Canciones grabadas:

Twelve Years: bajo
Don't Lose Your Head: bajo
Instead: bajo
Vertigo: bajo
One Another: bajo
Talking To Nobody: bajo
Eye In The Sky: bajo

Día 9 (03.Feb)

Con las pistas de bajo ya terminadas del día anterior, era por fin la hora de las guitarras. Gracias a dios. Ya tenía ganas de grabar algunos riffs cañeros a todo volumen.

Llegamos a primera hora de la tarde y empezamos a juguetear con un viejo Laney de 100 w de David (el socio de Daniel en el estudio) enchufado a una caja Crate 4x12”. Un sonido saturado muy bonito sin llegar a ser demasiado sucio. Perfecto para el primer tema del día, “Don’t Lose Your Head”.

Después de colocar el ampli y los micros acabamos en un plis-plás. Timo también estaba por allí, y después de probar con varias intros diferentes, decidimos que mantnerla limpia era lo mjor, al menos hasta que se nos ocurra otra cosa para empezar…

“Ink” era la siguiente en mi lista personal, y siendo una (si no la) favorita del lote, perdí algo más de tiempo del habitual buscando el sonido justo, cañero, en plena cara. Creo que encontré uno que le sienta bien al tema, así que nos pusimos en modo grabación. Curiosamente, para este tema necesitaba sentir el aire moviéndose y el cañonazo directo del ampli, así que cambié la comodidad de la sala de control por la oscuridad y el estruendo de la sala de grabación. Para mí, la mejor manera de grabar es a todo volumen. A tope. Extremadamente alto si es posible. Así que armado con la Les Paul y los cascos grabé un par de tomas. Que puto placer. Lo malo es que cuando vas en modo “saltar los sesos”, no suelo ser tan preciso como debería, y algunos detalles no se oyen bien. Así que después de escuchar algunas tomas grabadas, tuve que aceptar que quizás después de todo toco mucho mejor y necesito menos tomas si estoy en la sala de control. Vale, menos caña, más precisión. Por lo menos tenía mis cascos para ponerlos a nivel ensordecedor sin dejar sordos a los otros dos.

Con “Ink” en el cajón y una sonrisa estúpida en mi cara, nuestra versión ochentera necesitaba algo de amor, así que nos pusimos a grabar algunas guitarras guarras en “Eye In The Sky” (o como la llama Timo “Huevo en el Cielo”). Usé mi ueva Telecaster por primera vez, y debo admitir que empastaba muy bien con el sonido más gordo de la Les Paul. Una combinación encantadora, ciertamente. Tanto nos gustó el resultado que lo intantamos de nuevo en “Vertigo”, con la Tele en el punto de mira durante las estrofas y la Les Paul en los estribillos. Hasta ahí llegamos con el rollo “una guitarra, un ampli”. Hemos vuelto a dar la vuelta a nuestras propias reglas, jaja.

Ahora hay un pequeño descanso hasta la semana que viene, cuando haremos más guitarras y (espero/espero que no, no me puedo decidir), algunas voces. Gracias por seguirnos. FrogTV volverá la semana que viene.

Canciones grabadas:
Don't Lose Your Head: guitarras
Ink: guitarras
Eye In The Sky: guitarras
Vertigo: guitarras

Día 10 (10.Feb)

Buaaaaaah, que bostezo. Daniel y yo estábamos tan cansados ayer que ni siquiera soltamos los típicos chistes sobre el asuqeroso tiempo, más bien sólo murmuramos y asentimos, totalmente faltos de palabras entre otra tormenta de nieve. Empieza a tocarle los cojones a todo el mundo esta nieve y este frío húmedo, ya no hace gracia (la hizo a principios de noviembre durante un minuto y medio, pero ya la novedad de una ciudad totalmente blanca ha perdido la gracia, es simplemente un coñazo).

Así que nos volvemos a encontrar en un sótano lleno de ruido, listos para continuar en nuestra misión divina de grabar nuestras últimas paranoias en forma de canciones. No había comido en todo el día, así que estaba que mordía cualquier cosa, pero lo único que encontré por Weissensee fue en la gasolinera. Imagina la clase de comida basura que podía ser… bueno, lo era, pero al menos me dio suficiente energía como para grabar algunas horas.

Comenzamos con “Instead”, grabando algunas guitarras cañeras con la Les Paul y acabándola con un efecto molón que incluía un E-bow, feedback y el selector de pastilals de la guitarra. Tenía una pinta muy ridícula, Daniel y yo agarrando cada uno diferentes partes de la guitarra, pero quedó bastante bien. Después de acabar con el E-bow y guardarlo en su bolsita (soy un tipo ordenado, ya sabes, guardo las cosas en su sitio después de usarlas, bueno, al menos lo intento), descubrí con asombro que Daniel no puede ni ver un trozo de fieltro ni nada que se le parezca, como una pelota de tenis o la bolsa del E-bow. Así que hice lo que tenía que hacer, restregarle la bolsita por los brazos y la cara. Joder, era como si le apuntaras con una pistola. Bueno, no, con una pistola no hubiera reaccionado con tanto miedo y asco. Alucinante la cantidad de fobias raras que hay por ahí…

Daniel necesitó un café después de eso, y yo lo que necesitaba eran más guitarras cañeras, así que empezamos con “Cosmonaut”, que era hasta la fecha, la única que habíamos dejado sin tocar. Con los dos concentrados en lo nuestro, no llevó nada de tiempo terminar con las rítmicas. Pasamos algo más de tiempo buscando el sonido perfecto para mi parte de solo (que precede al de Jorge, que grabaremos la semana que viene), y estuvimos probando diferentes sonidos y guitarras, pero parece que la Les Paul ha vuelto a ganarle a la Tele. Tiene algo, esa guitarrilla, te lo digo. Una Tele puede cortar en cualquier mezcla, pero la Les Paul sienta como un guante, es difícil de explicar. Y con todo ello acabamos con “Cosmonaut” por ahora.

Hora de cambiar de marchas y hacer un tema más pop, “Talking To Nobody”. Después de un desastroso intento de hacer bien las armonías de la intro (y quedar claro que yo aún tenía que decidir de una puta vez lo que quería tocar y dejar de perder el precioso tiempo de estudio buscándolo), nos concentramos en las pistasrítmicas. La canción tiene un colchón continuo de guitarras acústicas, así que probamos algunos sonidos que le pegaran, pero que no fueran ni muy flojos ni muy cañeros. Lo que no es nada fácil. Al final me decidí por la versión con más caña, a ver que tal queda luego…

Con las rítmicas y un par de licks acabados, era la hora del solo. Es un solo muy sencillo y melódico (bueno, como siempre, no soy precisamente un pirupiru) e intenté alguna combinación curiosa doblando el solo con la Tele y la Les Paul y viendo cual se quedaba y cual se iba. ¿Quién ganó? Tendrán que mirarlo ustedes mismos cuando salga el disco. Ahí va una pista: nosotros tampoco lo sabemos. Le hemos dejado el marrón al ingeniero de mezclas, que me sorprenda.

De alguna maner y sin que lo notáramos, ya se había hecho la hora de irse. Y estaba bien, la verdad. Cuando ya estás un poco cansado de estar concentrado todo el rato es mejor dejarlo y volver al día siguiente con un par de orejas frescas y un par de chistes nuevos en el bolsillo.

St

Canciones grabadas:
Instead: guitarras
Cosmonaut: guitarras
Talking To Nobody: guitarras

Día 11 (12.Feb)

Último día grabando mis partes de guitarra. Estaba previsto que fuera una sesión corta, así que sin perder mucho tiempo, nos sumergimos en la intro de “Talking To Nobody”, la que no me salía la última vez. Decidimos probar algunos pedales diferentes, big muffs, overdrives, marshalls… pero ninguno nos daba lo que andábamos buscando, así que después de rascarnos un poco la cabeza, cambié la guitarra y saqué la ES-335 nueva y la enchufé directa al ampli. Y ahí estaba, justo lo que andaba buscando. A veces el camino sencillo es el más rápido. Y la 335 es una guitarra cojonuda, hay que decirlo. Puede ser suave y delicada o gritar como una loca histérica hasta el culo de coca, y todo lo demás, también. Encantadora.

Ya que estábamos en ello, decidí regrabar la pista de guitarra guarra con la 335, tan sólo para molestar más tarde al de las mezclas con aún más pistas (cada toma de guitarra añade entre 4 y 5 pistas más al proyecto, jeje), pero más que nada para empastar diferentes guitarras tocando lo mismo. Los resultados molan bastante, suena muy amplio. Una especie de muro de sonido maomeno.

Con “Talking” acabada por lo pronto, hicimos las pistas de guitarra limpia que me faltaban en “Don’t Lose Your Head”, con lo que oficialmente concluí mis partes de guitarra. Pero como aún nos quedaba un poquillo de tiempo, nos pusimos a escuchar algunos temas para comprobar que efectivamente el abajo firmante ya no tenía que hacer nada más. Y por supuesto, después de un par de escuchas, decidimos que “One Another” necesitaba un sonido un poquito más gordo y le metimos algunas tomas con la 335 a toda hostia metida por un overdrive ya para terminar de pasarnos.

Y al final acabé sacando la Telecaster para doblar algunas partes de acústica en “Twelve Years”. Sonaban muy, muy bien juntas así que hicimos el mismo truco de nuevo en el solo, esta vez con la 335 doblando la acústica con un sonido más oscurito.

Y casi sin notarlo, habíamos acabado con las guitarras. Por supuesto, fijo que cuando Jorge termine sus partes la semana que viene tendré que rehacer algunos detalles aquí y allá, pero lo más grande está hecho. ¡Yuhu! Espero que las voces vayan tan rápido como las guitarras, no me alegro precisamente de empezar con ellas. Grabar voces es un auténtico coñazo, pero supongo que es un mal necesario, ¿no? Y encima aún tengo que escribir las letras para tres canciones… joder.

Feliz fin de semana.

Canciones grabadas:

Talking To Nobody: guitarras
Don't Lose Your Head: guitarras
One Another: guitarras
Twelve Years: guitarras

Día 12 (16.Feb)

Jorge llegó a Berlín ayer para empezar a grabar hoy sus guitarras. Tras las presentaciones formales a Daniel, el estudio, las sillas y los demás organismos vivientes en el estudio, nos zambullimos de cabeza en “Don’t Lose Your Head”. Jorge grabó algunas partes limpias y guarras. Lo más gracioso es que, grabando con una guitarra casi idéntica a la mía (una Les Paul Standard en su caso) y los controles del ampli en exactamente la misma posición, sonaba completamente diferente a mis partes. Ahí se ve, el tono está en los dedos y no hay dos tipos que puedan sonar exactamente igual. Es una de esas cosas que se discuten mucho en los foros de internet, pero sólo después de verlo con tus propias orejas y oirlo con tus propios ojos, te das cuenta de lo cierto que es. Por supuesto, eso es algo que no admitirá jamás ningún fabricante de guitarras, amplis o efectos. Incluso si te pillas la guitarra de Slash y el ampli de Slash nunca vas a sonar como el pavo, pero habrás soltado algo de calderilla en el camino… (además, todos sabemos que es la chistera lo que le da el tono).

Al poco de haber empezado a grabar limpias en “The Wounds Inside” apareció Timo por la puerta acompañados de sus más cercanos fans para saludar y oir lo que habíamos hecho la semana anterior. Asentía, así que no debía de estar tan mal. Grabar esta tomó algo más de tiempo, sobre todo por unos armónicos que se empeñaban en no salir en el sitio correcto y por un wah que crujía. Así que lo cambiamos por otro, se grabó y marcó como buena, y a correr.

“Seattle Girl” era la siguiente en la lista y casi no llevó tiempo. Jorge se había preparado bien sus partes. Bueno, excepto las que no se había preparado, pero eran minoría. Mayormente era culpa mía por cambiar los acentos aquí y allá y haber olvidado decírselo con anterioridad, pero nada grave que no pudiera arreglarse allí mismo.

Y como siempre, sin darnos cuenta, Timo se había ido y poco después apareció Tobi, también a ver si habíamos hecho nuestros deberes. También pareció gustarle, siempre una buena señal. Estábamos grabando “Ink”, y a riesgo de repetirme, ese tema en un puto cañón. Me apuesto tu vida a que no eres capaz de mantener la cabeza quieta cuando la oigas, en serio. Incluso en un ambiente más controlado, tranquilo y casi clínico de un estudio, ese tema siempre pone en marcha los pies y las cabezas de todos los que estamos. Y eso después de la millonésima escucha. Es algo especial, ese temilla.

Jorge había terminado y había hecho más temas de los que esperábamos, siendo el primer día y tal, así que antes de irnos hizo un intento de su megasolo en “Instead”, que casi calavó un par de veces, pero siempre casi. Vamos, yo mataría por poder hacerme un solo así, pero todos sabíamos que lo puede hacer mejor, así que lo dejamos para la próxima sesión dentro de un par de días. Ah, esto empieza a tomar forma…

Canciones grabadas:
Don't Lose Your Head: guitarras
The Wounds Inside: guitarras
Seattle Girl: guitarras
Ink: guitarras
Instead: guitarras

Día 13 (20.Feb)

Sesión cortita de sábado por la tarde, sólo tres horas. Así que aquí va una entrada en el diario igualmente corta. Jorge prácticamente acabó con sus partes rítmicas para “Cosmonaut” e “Instead” en un abrir y cerrar de ojos, y ya puestos también se hizo un solo memorable para la primera, mientras el solo de “Istead” aún espera para ser comido, masticado y potado en conta.

También probamos con algunos efectos curiosos para la intro de “Cosmonaut”, que incluía a Jorge y a mí tocando la misma guitarra a la vez. Gracias a dios cada uno nos podemos permitir nuestras propias guitarras, si no a veces puede estar un poco colapsado el mástil.

Sin haberme preparado mentalmente para ello, me encontré cantando la primera canción “Instead”. Jorge necesita mis voces para hacer el solo acorde, así que fue mi turno para hacer mi trabajo y que no se cortara el flow. Ni siquiera tenía las letras conmigo, así que tuve que rebuscar en el móvil para encontrar una nota con una versión inicial de las letras que tenía guardada. No es precisamente la mejor manera de cantar cuando tienes que apretar los ojillos para leer unas letras ridículamente enanas en una pantalla minúscula, menudo espectáculo…

El reloj seguía marcando los segundos y nos quedaban unos 40 minutos antes de irnos, así que fue una grabación de voces en plan atropello y fuga, principal y armonías. No estoy muy seguro de si tendré que volver a hacerlas, me pilló totlamente con la guardia bajada, pero le daremos una escucha la próxima semana. Al menos nuestro guitar hero puede oir ahora la melodía que va y hacerse su solo fulminante. Creo que les gustará, a mí al menos me gusta.

Canciones grabadas:
Cosmonaut: guitarras
Instead: guitarras, voces

Día 14 (26.Feb)

Otra sesión corta de viernes por la tarde para acabar con los solos de Jorge antes de volverse a España el sábado por la mañana. Esta vez se lo había preparado todo bien, así que fue más bien cuestión de buscar el sonido correcto y pasar las tomas por varios amplis hasta encontrar uno que quedara perfecto.

Estamos sumando un mogollón de pistas, casi más que en todo el disco anterior junto. “Cosmonaut” ya va por 70 y aún faltan las voces. A Gonzalo el de las mezclas le va a dar la risa. A veces te pierdes con tantos bloques de colores en los monitores, y empiezo a olvidarme de lo que ya está grabado y lo que aún falta. Menos mal que siempre llevo conmigo un trozo de papel para ir apuntando lo que vamos haciendo, si no esto se podría llamar “Las Sesiones del Caos” (hm, bonito título para el disco, me lo apuntaré también).

Después de terminar (por ahora) con las guitarras, aún había tiempo para hacer algunas voces, esta vez con menos prisas y más en serio. “Ink” fue la elegida, no la más fácil de cantar/berrear, pero creo que quedó bastante bien. Cansado de estar de pie todo el rato grabando voces y durante las escuchas, decidí probar a cantar sentado. No es lo que se dice académicamente correcto, pero me viene bien. Estoy más cómodo cantando sentado que de pie, y así he grabado siempre las maquetas en casa, y como además siempre me parece que quedan mejor que las del disco…

Por supuesto, esta vez también me olvidé de traerme las letras, así que de vuelta al rollo topo, intentando leer letras enanas en la pantalla del móvil mientras estrujaba los ojos tan fuerte que parecía un chino estreñido.

En fin, a apartir de ahora serán sesiones de voces, a ver si consigo hacer al menos dos temas cada vez y acabar este puto disco de una vez, quiero que salga lo antes posible, espero que ustedes también.

Salud,

Canciones grabadas:
Instead: guitarras
Cosmonaut: guitarras
Eye In The Sky: guitarras
Ink: voces

Día 15 (12.Mar)

Viernes por la tarde, a grabar más voces e ir terminando más temas. Directamente nada más llegar (y mientras comía algo no muy sano de la gasolinera de nuevo), me senté n mi silla en la pecera, me puse los cascos y empecé sin demora con “Vertigo”. Entre tomas, un bocadito de “aquello” y algo de agua, y así hasta que estaba todo cantado en su sitio y las armonías listas.

Espués de hacer las voces, intentamos terminar otras cosillas pensientes, como efectos, percusiones y ese tipo de cosas que no se suelen oir claramente pero que le pueden dar un toque intereasante a la canción. Había una maraca para una estrofa y un efecto sonoro para los estribillos, pero desgraciadamente, el teclado midi estaba un poco testarudo y prefería colgar el sistema cada vez que lo enchufábamos. Así que después de una par de “joder” y “mecagoensuputamadre” y cosas por el estilo, dejamos el truño para otra ocasión mejor y nos concentraos en un pequeñi lick de guitarra que faltaba de la última vez. Siempre hay cosillas así que olvidas mientras grabas las guitarras y que luego slatan en tu cabeza a las 3 de la mañana y piensas, “coño, se me olvidó grabar aquello la semana pasada” y cosas así. Ahí entra el trozo de papel donde apunto esos flashes, una especie de lista de la compra muy práctica, vamos. Así que saqué la Telecaster y toqué sólo ocho compases en los estribillos, nada más, nada menos, pero igualmente importante. Timo también tiene que grabar una cosillas muy chulas para el tema, va a ser otro “festival de las 90 pistas”…

Con “Vertigo” acabada excepto por las partes con teclado, nos concentramos en “Talking To Nobody”, que fue más fácil de hacer. Tras algunas discusiones con Daniel sobre el uso del acento británico o americano en algunas partes (que puede significar la diferencia entre sonar como un camionero de Tennessee o un afectado lord de las Islas), acabamos con ella también. Intenté unas percusiones en los estribillos, pero una pandereta no iba nada bien, así que lo dejamos para otra ocasión, quizás Tobi pueda traer algunas cosas locas de la tienda, ejem…

Aunque ya estábamos listos para irnos me dije, “atomalpolculo” e intenté una más antes de irme a casa. “Al menos lo intento, si sale mal, lo dejo, pero al menos déjame intentarlo, a ver que tal se porta la garganta”. Elegimos “Twelve Years” al azar, lo que fue una suerte, ya que es la única en el disco que no lleva armonías vocales, sólo la principal y ya está. Sí, amiguitos, a veces también consigo hacer las cosas sencillas. Como era un tema cortito y relativamente fácil de cantar, en menos de media hora habíamos etrminado. Con lo que, con tres temas completados en tres horas y media, apagamos la luz, cerramos la puerta y nos fuimos a casa.

Canciones grabadas:
Vertigo: voces, percusión, licks de guitarra
Talking To Nobody: voces, percusión
Twelve Years: voces

Día 16 (17.Mar)

Más voces y cosas así. Por primera vez desde que hemos empezado, hoy he visto por primera vez el suelo del aparcamiento delante del estudio. Hasta ahora ha estado cubierto de nieve y de hielo. Parece que la primavera ha venido para quedarse. ¡Ya era hora, joder!

Timo ya estaba abajo cuando llegué, con su contrabajo (“La Abuela”) esperando a ser grabada para “Vertigo”. Es la primera vez que intentamos meter una cosa así de grande en un disco (a ver si cabe), y Daniel hizo un gran trabajo captando el sonidazo que tiene. Suena enorme, como debe ser. La idea nos vino hace algunos años, cuando hicimos un concierto en el Hard Rock Café de Berlín, con Tobi aporreando un cajón y Timo abofeteando el contrabajo. Creo que fue la primera vez que hicimos “Vertigo” en directo y sonó realmente guay con los aullidos largos con el arco. Así que cuando estábamos buscando sonidos raros para meter, Timo se acordó de la ballena y aquí está, tenemos a Moby Dick grabado, amigos.

Conseguí hacer rapidito las voces de “One Another”, esa canción taaan nueva. Pero todo el tiempo que ahorré con esa lo despilfarré con “Cosmonaut”,que es, por ahora, la Canción Oficialmente Jodida de Cantar de este disco. A ver, la melodía es sencilla y no hay grandes saltos ni nada así, pero no sé si era mi garganta o qué, pero no daba ni una. Cada vez odio más lo de grabar voces. Toda la diversión de hacer pistas de guitarra se disipa cuando me toca cantar. ¿Algún buen cantante por ahí que quiera el puesto? Yo encantado… En fin, que conseguimos acabar con el puto “Cosmonaut”, pero creo que tendré que rehacer algunas cosillas la próxima vez.

Para cuando ya estábamos terminando (o más bien la canción terminando con nosotros), nuestro siempre risueño batería y nuevo fan del hip-hop apareció con algo de percusión para un par de temas y algunas hierbas para hacer té y, ejem, relajar la atmósfera, además de un vídeo del nuevo comisario de energía de la UE Günter Oettinger luchando contra el inglés. Que despelote… En fin, que Tobi pudo grabar alguna maraca y pandereta en “Twelve Years” (que, por ahora, suena realmente bonita) y luego más cosas de hacer ruido en “Talking To Nobody”. Su brazo derecho ya estaba casi a punto de sufrir un tirón cuando acabó, pero un batería tan bueno y además soltero no nos decepcionó y consiguió sacudir cosas hasta el final. Casi.

Canciones grabadas:
One Another: voces
Vertigo: contrabajo
Cosmonaut: voces
Twelve Years: percusión
Talking To Nobody: percusión

Día 17 (19.Mar)

Maldición, casi me olvido de escribir esta entrada. Tengo un millón de cosas en el melón ahora mismo. Como por ejemplo, como coño vamos a llamar este disco, pero eso es otra historia y debe ser contada en otra ocasión.

En fin, sesión cortita de viernes por la mañana en el D&S Tonstudio con Daniel aún toqueteando botones y eso. Daniel insistió en empezar a las 10, todo lo demás iba en contra de la Convención de Ginebra, decía. Para mí eso era bastante tarde, con los enanos levantándote a las 6.30 o 7 me sobraba un rato enorme ahí, pero bueno, todo sea por el bien general.

Así que a las diez y cinco ya estábamos cantando la primera del día, “The Wounds Inside”. Salió bastante bien, sin mucho de lo que quejarme. Esta es bastante cómoda de cantar (no como “Cosmonaut” o el “Eye In The Sky”, más sobre esa más abajo). La voz principal y las armonías ya estaban listas antes de las 11 y nos tomamos un descanso para probar algunas percusiones locas, aunque no estoy del todo seguro que funcionen. Como siempre, lo dejaremos para la mezcla (viejo chiste de músicos).

“Don’t Lose Your Head” era la siguiente en la lista y pasó como una exhalación, ya se había terminado casi antes de que empezara a cogerle el gusto. Como no hay armonías tampco en esta (uau, novedad), nos pudimos meter con nuestra versión, “Eye In The Sky”. Como he dicho, también una Canción Ofialmente Jodida de Cantar, llena de notas graves y modulaciones raras, y encima, una letra bastante cabrona de cantar, con demasiadas palabras en cada verso. Debería haber pensado en ello antes de elegirla, ahora me como el marrón con este trabalenguas y trabalaringe.

Necesité casi hora y media para que estuviera decentemente bien, y después de eso ya sólo quería irme. Estaba bastante aliviado de haberme quitado esa de encima. Pero hoy por la tarde tendré posiblemente la última sesión de voces (sólo falta “Seattle Girl”) y podremos escuchar todas las demás a ver si hay que arreglar algo. Bueno, no si hay que, sino el qué hay que arreglar. ¿Ya he dicho que odio grabar voces? ¿Todavía no hay ninguna tía buenorra o tipo realmente feo que quiera el puesto? El sueldo es miserable y viajas mucho, piénsatelo…

Más sobre la sesión de hoy la semana que viene, creo que me estoy volviendo vago con el diario, y encima se nos han quejado de que no está en español. Así que tendré que raducirlo uno de estos días a la lengua de Cervantes para mantener a mi gente contenta. Y no, antes de que alguien lo diga, paso de hacerlo también en alemán. Menudo marrón. Eso se lo dejo a Timo, jeje.

Canciones grabadas:
The Wounds Inside: voces, percusión
Don't Lose Your Head: voces
Eye In The Sky: voces

Día 18, último (26.Mar)

Por fin. Ya era hora, joder. Las sesiones para este álbum se acabaron. Terminadas. Finiquitadas. El viernes pasado fui donde Daniel para hacer las últimas voces para “Seattle Girl” y doblar un par de efectillos en esa y en “Vertigo”. Y ya está, ni más ni menos. Después de 18 sesiones el invierno se ha ido, la primavera está luchando por un hueco y esta pequeña banda ha grabado once preciosas cancioncillas para su disfrute.

Ahora es cuando empieza la diversión. Vamos a mandar todas las pistas en bruto a Almería, donde nuestro buen amigo y a pesar de ello, gran ingeniero de sonido Gonzalo Ramos va a mezclarlas y pulirlas hasta darle su forma final. Espero que este álbum no tarde tanto como suele ser habitual en esta banda, pero supongo que para final de verano ya estará listo para vender. Bueno, eso si encontramos un título decente. Por raro que parezca, aún no hemos encontrado el nombre perfecto para el bebé. Se aceptan propuestas.

Ha sido un placer tomar notas de la grabación y compartirlas. Será un placer aún mayor si les gusta el disco. Y si lo compran, ya sería la hostia. Hasta entonces, buenas noches y buena suerte.

Stone

Canciones grabadas:
Seattle Girl : voces, percusión
Vertigo: efectos

Studio diary: day 18 (last)

2010-03-29T14:52:00.002+02:00

At last. Finally. About fucking time. This sessions for this album are over. Done. Finished. Last Friday I went to Daniel's to do the last vocals for "Seattle Girl" and then overdub a few crazy effects on it and "Vertigo". And that was it, no more, no less. After 18 sessions the winter has gone, springtime is fighting its way and this little band has recorded eleven lovely tunes for your pleasure.

Now the fun part begins. We'll be shipping the raw tracks to Almería, Spain, where our good friend and yet great engineer Gonzalo Ramos is going to mix and polish them to their final shape. I hope this album won't take as long as they usually need in this band, but I guess somewhere around the end of summer we might have it ready to ship. Well, that if we find a decent title for it. Yes, silly as it may seem, we haven't found the right name for the baby. Proposals are welcome.

It's been a pleasure taking down notes of the recording and sharing them with you. It will be a an even greater pleasure if you like the record. Until then, good night and good luck.

Stone

Songs recorded (Mar 26):

Seattle Girl: vocals, percussion

Vertigo: effects

Studio diary: day 17

2010-03-26T09:22:00.002+01:00

Damn, almost forgot to write this entry. My head is filled with a zillion things right now. Like for example, how the fuck we're gonna call this album, but that's another story and will be told on another occasion.

Anyway, short Friday morning session at D&S Studio with Daniel still tweaking knobs and that. Daniel insisted on starting at 10, anything else was officially against the Geneva Convention, so he said. For me that was a rather late start, with small kids waking you up at 6.30 o 7 there was a gap in between, but I accepted anyway. And so we found ourselves singing the first song of the day at five past 10, "The Wounds Inside". Went pretty good, not too much to bitch about, this one is rather confortable to sing (unlike "Cosmonaut" or "Eye In The Sky", more on that one later). Main vocals and harmonies were finished before 11 and we took a break to try some crazy percussion shit on it, but I'm still not too sure about it. As usual, we'll leave that to the mixing stage (old musician's joke).

"Don't Lose Your Head" was next on the list, and also went by like a hurricane, finished before I could really start enjoying it. As there are no harmonies on it (wow, novelty) we could dive straight into our cover, "Eye In The Sky". As I said, officially a bitch to sing, full of low tones and funny modulations, and, more importantly, silly lyrics to sing, with too many words on a line. I should have thought about that before choosing it, fuck it, now I'm lumped with a throat- and tongue-breaker.

It took me almost one and a half hours to get it decently right, by which time it was already time to go. I was rather relieved to have finished that one. But this afternoon I have what will probably be the last vocals session (just "Seattle Girl" is missing) and we can take a listen to all the other ones and decide if anything has to be fixed. Well, not if, but what has to be fixed. Did I say already that I hate recording vocals? Still no good-looking girl or fucking ugly dude around that want the job? The pay is miserable and you travel a lot, think about it...

More about today's session later in the, erm, week I guess. I'm getting lazy with this diary, and on top of it, we've received many a complaint on why it's not in Spanish. So I'll have to translate it one of these day's into Cervantes' mother tongue in order to keep my people happy. And no, before someone else frowns, I'm not going to do a German version as well, sorry. I'll leave that to Timo, hehe.

Songs recorded (Mar 19):

The Wounds Inside: vocals, percussion

Don't Lose Your Head: vocals

Eye In The Sky: vocals

Studio diary: day 16

2010-03-18T13:51:00.002+01:00

More work done on vocals and shit. For the first time since we started recording this album, I've been able to see the floor of the parking lot of the studio. Until now, it was covered in snow. Looks like springtime is here to stay. About fucking time, I must say!

Timo was there already when I arrived, with his double-bass (the Oma) waiting to be recorded for "Vertigo". It's the first time we try to put such a huge shit on a record, and Daniel made a great job of getting the sound right. It booms and sounds huge, as it should. The idea came a few years ago, when we played an acoustic show at the Berlin Hard Rock Café, with Tobi banging some cajón and Timo slapping his double-bass. I think it was the very first time we even played "Vertigo" live, and it sounded really cool with the long bass howl played with the arch. So when looking for strange sounds to add, Timo remembered the whale and there you go, we have Moby Dick on tape, friends.

I managed to get a pretty quick finished vocals version of "One Another", the oh-so-brand-new song. But all the time I saved with that one I completely wasted on "Cosmonaut", which is, as for now, the official "Bitch To Sing" song on the album. I mean, the lines are pretty easy and no big jumps in the melody or whatever, but I don't know if it was my throat or what, but I couldn't get it right to save my life. Every day I loathe recording vocals more and more. All the fun of doing guitar tracks dissipates when having to do vocals. Any good singers out there who want the job? I'd be more than happy to... Anyway, we managed to finish the bloody "Cosmonaut", but I guess I'll have to redo some bits next time.

By the time we were finishing (or rather the songs was finishing us), our happy-go-lucky and newly hip-hop fan drummer Tobi arrived with some percussion shit for a few songs and some herbal spices to make some tea and lighten up the atmosphere, helped by a video of the new EU Commisioner of Energy Günter Oettinger fighting with the English language. What a laugh, dude... Tobi recorded some shaker and tambourione on "Twelve Years" (which, at this point, already sounds very nice) and then some more shaking things on "Talking To Nobody". His right arm was almost stiff by the end of it, but such a great drummer and single as he is he didn't let us down and got it perfectly. Nearly.

Songs recorded (Mar 17)

One Another: vocals

Vertigo: double-bass

Cosmonaut: vocals

Twelve Years: percussion

Talking To Nobody: percussion

Studio diary: day 15

2010-03-15T15:15:00.002+01:00

Friday afternoon session to get more vocals done and more songs completed. Directly after arriving (and while eating some not-so-healthy food from the gas station next door), I sat on my recording chair in the fishbowl, put on the headphones and started right away with "Vertigo". Between takes, a mouthful of whatever I was eating and drinking a little bit of water, and off again until every word was sung correctly and the vocal harmonies were ready as well.

After the vocals were done, we tried to finish the other bits still pending, like sound effects, percussion and those kind of things you might not hear clearly on the records but which can give the song some interesting edges. There was a shaker for one verse and there is some sound effect for the choruses, but unfortunately, the MIDI keyboard was feeling kind of moody and decided to freeze the system every time we plugged it in. So after a few "fucks" and "motherfucks" and the likes, we just left the shit for a better occasion and concentrated on a small guitar lick that was missing from last time. There are always such bits that you forget to remember while tracking guitars that later pop in your brain at 3 in the morning and you just go "Shit, there is still a guitar part I did not record last week" or something like that. I keep a small piece of paper where I write down all those bits that I remember later, a sort of "To do" list that comes quite handy. And thus I took out the Telecaster and played just eight bars in the choruses, no more, no less, but as important all the same. Timo has to record a very cool part for the song as well, it's gonna be another "90-track festival song"...

With "Vertigo" finished save for the keyboard bit, we concentrated on "Talking To Nobody", which was easier to get done. After some discussions with Daniel on the use of British or American accents in certain parts (which can make a phrase sound like a Tennessee truck driver or an affected Lord from the isles) we were done with it, too. I also tried some percussion on the choruses, but a shaker sounded just not right, so once again more stuff left for the next time, maybe Tobi can bring in some crazy percussion shit from the shop, ahem...

Although we were ready to wrap it up i said "fuck it" and tried one last song before going home. "At least try, if it sounds bad, we'll leave it, but let me try at least, let's see how my throat does". And ramdomly picked "Twelve Years", which was OK, as it is possibilby the only song on the record with no vocal harmonies at all, just a main vocal and that's it. Yes, folks, sometimes I can manage to keep it simple too. Being a short song and a rather easy one to sing, we were done in less than half an hour, and so, with three songs completed in three and a half hours we shut the light, closed the doors and went home.

Songs recorded (Mar 12)

Vertigo: vocals, percussion, guitar licks

Talking To Nobody: vocals, percussion

Twelve Years: Vocals

Studio diary: day 14

2010-03-02T11:14:00.002+01:00

Short Friday afternoon session to finish Jorge's solos before he returned to Spain on Saturday morning. He had prepared everything well this time, so it was mainly a matter of finding the right amp sound and reamping the tracks accordingly until it was marked as perfect.

We are slowly getting an awful lot of tracks, almost more than the last record alltogether. "Cosmonaut" has already over 70 and the vocals are yet to come. It's gonna be a lot of fun for Gonzalo, the mixer, I tell you. Sometimes you can get lost amidst so many colorful blocks of sound on the monitors, and I'm beginning to forget what has been already recorded and what is still missing. Thanks god I always have a piece of paper and a pen to write down exactly what we've been doing, otherwise this could be called "The Chaos Sessions" (hmm, nice title for the album, I'll write it down on the list, too).

After finishing with all the guitar parts (by now) of the record, we still had time to do some vocals, this time less rushed and more seriously than last time. "Ink" was the chose one, not exactly an easy tune to sing/scream, but I think we got it really fine. Tired of standing all the time while doing vocals and getting tired during the playbacks, I decided I'd try recording them sitting. Not what you'd call academically correct, but it suits me just fine. I feel more confortable singing while sitting than standing, and that's how I've always recorded my vocals for the demos at home, which I feel always sound better than on record later.

Of course, this time I forgot the lyrics sheet once again, so it was "mole time" again, with my trying to read very small letters on a phone screen while pressing my eyes so hard to read that I probably looked like a Chinese with constipation...

Anyway, now it will be vocals time for the next session, let's see if I can manage to finish at least two full songs each time and get this bloody record finished once and for all, I want it to be out there as soon as possible, as I hope you want too.

Cheers,

Songs recorded (Feb 26)

Instead: guitar

Cosmonaut: guitar

Eye In The Sky: guitar

Ink: vocals

Studio diary: day 13

2010-02-24T14:11:00.002+01:00

A very short Saturday afternoon session, just three hours. So here's an accordingly short diary entry. Jorge basically finished his rhythm guitar parts for "Cosmonaut" and "Instead" in the blink of an eye, and he also played a memorable solo for the first one, the solo for "Instead" still waiting to be eaten, chewed and puked on tape.

We also tried a few curious sound effects for the intro of "Cosmonaut", involving Jorge and myself playing on the same guitar. Well, thanks god we can afford a guitar each, otherwise it can get quite busy on the fretboard at times.

Without really having mentally prepared myself for it, I found myself singing the first song, "Instead". Jorge needs my vocals to play the solo accordingly, so it was my turn to deliver the goods in order to keep the flow. I didn't even have my lyrics sheet at hand, so I had to fumble through my mobile phone to find an early draft of the lyrics I had saved there once. Not exactly the best way to sing when you have to squeeze your eyes to read stupid tiny-written words on a tiny screen. I'm not exactly the kind of guy known for remembering his own lyrics, so it was a funny sight indeed…

The clock was ticking and we had just about 40 minutes left before leaving, so it was a hit & run vocals recording,

main and harmonies. I'm not too sure if I will have to redo them again, I was completely off-guard and cold, but we'll have to listen back next week. At least our guitar hero can now hear how the melody goes and record his mind-blowing solo. I think you will love it, I do.

Songs recorded (Feb 20)

Cosmonaut: guitars

Instead: guitars, vocals

Studio diary: day 12

2010-02-17T21:47:00.004+01:00

Jorge arrived in Berlin the day before to start tracking his guitar parts today. After the formal introductions to Daniel, the studio, the chairs and all the living organisms in the studio, we went head-first into recording mode, starting with "Don't Lose Your Head". Jorge did some clean and dirty rhythm parts. The funy thing is that, recording with almost the same guitar as me (a Les Paul) and exactly the same amp settings, it sounds completely different to my tracks. That goes to show, tone is in the fingers, and no two persons can ever sound exactly the same. It's one of those things you discuss a lot in internet guitar forums, but only after seeing it first-hand do you really notice how true that is. Of course, that's something no guitar, amp or effect manufacturer will ever admit. Even if you buy Slash's signature guitar and Slash's signature amp you will never sound like the guy, but you might have lost a few coins on the way...

Anyway, shortly after starting tracking clean guitars on "The Wounds Inside", Timo popped in with his closest fanclub members to say hi and listen to what we had donde the week before. He nodded his in approval, so it couldn't have been that bad. Recording the songs took a wee more time than the one before, mainly some harmonics simply didn't want to come out the correct way and the wah pedal cracked, but after switching it the parts were ready to be marked as "good" and saved in the hard disk.

"Seattle Girl" was next on the to-do list and it almost took no time at all. Jorge had prepared his parts well. Well, except the ones he hadn't prepared well, but those were really the minority. Mainly it was my fault for changing accents here and there and forgetting to tell him beforehand, but nothing that could not be fixed on the spot.

And before really noticing it, Timo was off again and a little later, Tobi arrived as well, also to see if we had done our homework. He seemed to like it to, always a good sign. We were recording "Ink", and I must repeat it, that song is fucking killer. I bet your life that you won't be able to keep your head still when you hear it, believe me. Even in the more controlled, relaxed and mostly clinical environment of a recording session, that songs always makes everyone's feet tap and everyone's head nod. And all that after listening to it for the five hundred billionth time. It's a little special thing, that tune.

Jorge was finished for the day and he had done more songs than we expected, being the first day and that, so just before wrapping up and going home he had a try at his mega solo on "Instead", which he almost nailed a few times, but always almost. I mean, I would kill to play a solo like that, but still we all knew he could do it better, and so we left it there for the next session in a few days' time. Ah, this is slowly getting shape...

Songs recorded (Feb 16)

Don't Lose Your Head: guitar

The Wounds Inside: guitar

Seattle Girl: guitar

Ink: guitar

Instead: guitar

Studio diary: day 11

2010-02-13T20:29:00.005+01:00

Last day recording my guitar parts. It was meant to be a short session, so without further ado, we immersed ourselves into "Talking To Nobody's" intro, the one that didn't work out last time. We decided to try a few different pedals for it, Big Muffs, Overdrives, Marshalls, but none of them really gave us what I was looking for, so after some puzzlement and head-scratching, we changed the guitar, brought out the new ES-335 and plugged it directly into the amp. And there it was, exactly what we had in mind. Sometimes the easiest path is the best one. And the 335 is a fucking great guitar, that has to be said too. She can be gentle and smooth or scream like a hysteric bitch on coke, and everything in between. Lovely.

While we were at it, I decided to re-track the dirty rhythm guitar with the 335, just to annoy the mixer later with more tracks (one guitar take more adds 4 to 5 tracks to the project), but mainly to blend different sounding guitars playing the same. The results are quite cool and broad-sounding. A wall of sound, more or less.

With "Talking" finished for now, we did the missing clean guitars and solo on "Don't Lose Your Head", which officially concluded my guitar parts. But as we still had a little time left, we listened to a few songs just to check that no more guitar work had to be done by yours truly. And of course, after a few playbacks, we decided that "One Another" needed an little bit of beefing up and did a few takes on it with the 335 at full blast through an overdrive pedal just for the sake of it.

And then finally took out the Telecaster to double some acoustic guitar parts on "Twelve Years". They blended very nicely together, so we tried the same trick again on the solo part, this time again with the 335 doubling an acoustic guitar on a darker tone.

And almost without realizing it, we were done with my guitar parts. Of course, sure as hell that after Jorge does his bits next week I'll have to redo a few details here and there, but the bulk of it is finished. Whopee! I hope the vocals go as swiftly as the guitars, I am really not looking forward to recording them. Vocals are a pain in the ass, but I guess it's a necessary evil, don't you think? And to top it all, I still have to write lyrics for 3 of the songs... fuck.

Have a nice weekend.

St

Songs recorded (Feb 12) Talking To Nobody: guitars
Don't Lose Your Head: guitars
One Another: guitars
Twelve Years: guitar

Studio diary: day 10

2010-02-11T22:48:00.004+01:00

Yawn! Daniel and I were so tired today that we didn't even crack the usual joke on the shitty weather, we merely grumbled and nodded, completely lost for words amidst yet another full-scale blizzard. It's starting to get on everyone's nerves this snow and the damp cold, it's not funny anymore (it was at the beginning of November for about one and a half minutes, but now the novelty of a white city has worn off, it's simply annoying).

And so we found ourselves back in the cellarful of noise, ready to continue with our god-given mission of putting to tape our latest paranoias in the shape of songs. Not having had a bite for the whole day, I was starving, but the only place I could find something in Weissensee was at the gas station. Imagine what kind of junk shitty food it can be... well, it was, but at least it kept me with enough energy to record for a few hours.

We started with "Instead", tracking some crunchy guitars with the Les Paul, and finishing it with a cool effect involving an E-Bow, feedback and the pickup switch on the guitar. It looked rather ridiculous, with Daniel and me with our hands on different parts of the guitar, but it worked out pretty well. After finishing with the E-Bow and packing it again in it's bag (I'm a tidy guy, I pack up everything after I use it, at least I try), I discovered with amazement that Daniel cannot even see a piece of cloth or anything made of felt, like a tennis ball or my E-Bow bag. So it was of course mandatory to try and rub the bag on his arms and face. Boy, it was as if I was pointing him with a gun. Well, not really, he probably might not have reacted with such fear and loathing to a gun. It's funny what an amazing number of different phobias are out there...

Daniel needed a coffee after that, a I needed some more heavy guitars, so we started with "Cosmonaut", which until now, was the only one left untouched. Being both in a silent mood and focused on the duty, it took no time at all to finish all the rhythm tracks. We spent some more time looking for the right sound for my solo (which precedes Jorge's, to be recorded next week), and we tried different sounds and guitars, but it looks like the Les Paul has won again over the Tele. She's got something, that little guitar, I tell you. A Tele can cut through any mix, but the Les Paul fits like a glove, it's hard to explain. And so we were ready with "Cosmonaut" for now.

Time to change gears and go for a more pop tune, "Talking To Nobody". After a desastrous try at getting the intro harmonies right (and deciding that I still had to fucking decide once and for all what I want to play and stop wasting precious studio time on it) we focused on the rhythm tracks. The song has a steady cushion of acoustic guitars, so we tried a few sounds that could suit them without being too bland or too heavy. Which is not always easy. I finally decided to do it the harder way, let's see how it all turns out at the end...

With the rhythm guitars and a few licks here and there finished, it was solo time. It's a really simple melodic solo (well, as usual, I'm not exactly a shredder) and tried a funny combination of double-tracked solos, with the Tele and the Les Paul again fighting to be number one. Who won? You'll probably have to check it for yourselves when the album comes out. Here's a clue: we still don't know either. I'll leave it to the mixer, let him surprise me.

Somehow without noticing it, it was already time to go, and we were both glad it was so. We were starting to get too tired to be focused on what you're doing, so it's better to leave it and come back again the next day with a fresh pair of ears and a few new jokes in the pocket.

St

Songs recorded (Feb 10)
Instead: guitars
Cosmonaut: guitars
Talking To Nobody: guitars

Studio diary: day 9

2010-02-04T21:16:00.007+01:00

With the bass tracks finished the day before, it was again guitar-time. Thanks god. I was anxious to play some crunchy riffs at full volume!

We arrived early on in the afternoon and started playing around with an old Laney 100-watt head from David, Daniel's partner in the studio, plugged into a 4x12" Crate box. Very nice overdriven sounds without sounding too dirty. Perfect for the day's first song, "Don't Lose Your Head".

After setting the amp and the mics it took no time at all to get the parts done. Timo was there too and we tried several different intros, but decided that keeping it clean would be the best, at least until we think about something else to start with...

"Ink" was next on my personal list, and being one of (if not the) favourite songs on the bunch, I spent some time getting just the right sound for it, a dirty, in-yer-face, heavy kind of sound. I think I found one that suited the song well, so we went into recording mode. Funnily, for this song I needed to feel the air moving and the blast coming out of the amps, so I left the coziness of the controol room for the dark, loud and definitely more RnR recording room. With me, the best way to record stuff like that is loud, very loud. Extremely loud if possible. So, armed with the Les Paul and the headphones I did a few takes, which I fucking loved. A great, great feeling. Unfortunately, when in "blow-your-brains-out mode", you tend not to be as precise in your playing as you should, and some details tend to be overheard. So after listening to the playbacks, I had to concede and accept that maybe I play much better and might need less takes when in the control room. OK, less power, but more precision. At least I had my headphones to turn up the shit to deafening levels without actually making the other guys deaf in the process.

With "Ink" in the can (in the hard disks rather) and a huge silly grin on my face, our 80's cover needed some love, too, and so we tracked some angry guitars on "Eye In The Sky" (or as Timo calls it, "Ei Im Himmel"). We used my brand new Telecaster for the first time, and must admit that it blended really well with the thick sound of the Les Paul. A lovely combination, indeed. So much did we like the result that we tried it again in "Vertigo", with the Tele on the spotlight during the verses and the Les Paul in the choruses. So much for the "one guitar, one amp" approach. We reverted our own rules once again, haha.

Now a little break until next week, where we'll be doing more guitars, and (hopefully/hopefully not, I can't decide) some vocals. Thanks for watching. FrogTV will be back next week.

Songs recorded (Feb 3):

Don't Lose Your Head: guitars

Ink: guitars

Eye In The Sky: guitars

Vertigo: guitars

Studio diary: day 8

2010-02-03T09:20:00.003+01:00

Greetings, people of the Earth! We come in peace (but are quite loud).

Having found a tiny gap in Timo's overbooked agenda, we gathered yesterday in the studio to continue tracking bass lines (you know, that mighty "Broummm!" you can sometimes hear on our records). Getting there was not easy at all, Berlin looked yesterday more like Stalingrad than ever, with a heavy snow blizzard and almost no visibility at all. Grrrreat! I think we should call this album "Snow", "Siberia" or rather "White Shit" or something like that... hmm, I sorta like "White Shit", I'll write it down on my list of possible titles.

And so a little later, while Daniel and I were testing a new Telecaster to use later on, Timo arrived looking like Star Wars' Emperor Palpatine, black robes, hooded and mumbling somthing about shit weather and fucking traffic... our lovely bass player was finally there!

Daniel had set up everything beforehand, so it was a quick start, which was good, there were lot of songs to do. We started off with "Twelve Years" and as usual, the first one of the session is always the trickiest one, especially if your fingers are cold. After a few takes (and gives) we were all satisfied with the result and could move on to the next ones, "Don't Lose Your Head", "Instead" (where the subtle difference between a minor and major chord led to some discussions on the right way to approach the bass lines) and "Vertigo", all of them done pretty quickly otherwise.

"One Another" almost drove Timo crazy, because it's so new we all still don't know the song structure that well, which means that it's either a complete perfect take or punching in can become a drag ("Where the fuck am I? Second verse? First half of the second bridge? Where do we come from? Where a re we going? Is there life out there?") You can imagine...

Thanks god we are blessed to have Daniel around to tell us stories about his life as an engineer, which I can tell you, made us laugh like hysterical hyenas for minutes and minutes. Something along the lines of setting up mics the wrong way, trying to get the perfect mic sound out of an unmic'ed source... hilarious. He could write a book. Maybe he should. As long as the word "Schminke" is in, of course...

Anyway, we still had two songs to go and little time, so we put on our focused faces and went straight into "Talking To Nobody", which Timo really nailed. Left was only "Eye In The Sky", with Timo's spotlight moment, so we had to really get that one nicely on tape. Which, after a few tries we did. And before we'd noticed it, it was half past nine, and time to wrap up and go home. Well, before getting home we still had to battle our way through Stalingrad's streets, which is not always easy when it's dark, icy and on top of that you can't see shit because you're short-sighted. A truly amazing combination, indeed.

But we managed to finish all the bass parts and now we can focus exclusively on more guitar work. Of course, after a few days we'll hear out a thing here and there that might need fixing, but that's just detail work. Timo did a great job yesterday, now he can sit back and laugh at me while I try to get my guitar parts right. Damm.

St

Songs recorded (Feb 2):
Twelve Years: bass
Don't Lose Your Head: bass
Instead: bass
Vertigo: bass
One Another: bass
Talking To Nobody: bass
Eye In The Sky: bass

Studio diary: day 7

2010-01-22T17:38:00.006+01:00

More guitar work today. Daniel & I decided to take it a little bit mellower and started setting up the amps and mics for cleaner guitar sounds (yes, folks, we have that, too!) We first tried a Fender Twin Reverb that was left in the studio from a previous session, and although it sounded beautiful, its tubes were so fucked up that it was plain unusable for recording. It was like having an iron lung working full throttle behind the guitar sound. A pity, could have been fun to use. And so we stuck to our trustworthy and versatile Classic 50 and its open back to pick up the chimey sound at its best.

Continuing with the pendulum theme throughout the sessions, we're doing something different from last time around. While for Not Completely Clean I used a bloody lot of different amps and boxes, this time we're doing like we did on Allergic, that is, sticking more to a certain amp sound but tweaking it differently for each take so that, although it actually sounds different every time, you can still recognize its "(am)personality" (sorry for the bad pun). Yes, we do have different pedals, speakers and configurations, but I must admit that it is somewhat relaxing to know how your sound will be without spending a lot of time trying different amps, with its share of mic-placing, cable-laying, eternal knob-tweaking, etc. It's more a plug'n play situation, spend more time playing and less time fumbling around. We'll certainly be doing some experiments, of course, but we'll try to keep them at a normal level. We're here to put to tape (hard disk) a few songs, if you want to experiment, go and try LSD at home.

Starting with "Ink" as my hands were still pretty numb from the cold wasn't exactly a good idea, and it took me too many takes to get the arpeggiated bits right. I should really stop writing parts that are too complicated for me to get right... what a shame. After what seemed forever we had it and turned the attention to "Eye In The Sky" and "The Wounds Inside", which were tweaked, recorded and double-tracked in the blink of an eye in comparison.

"Instead" was again a little more technical, but was finished surprisingly fast. Same with "Vertigo" and its chimey harmonics. To finish the session, we dove into the newest song of the pack, "One Another" (or as Timo calls it, "Uno, Otro"). That one was written on the spot at the last band rehearsal before going into the studio, and it still has no lyrics at all, and I bet my ass that Timo & Tobi cannot remember shit about the song, haha! We tried to build a wall of sound by layering several guitar tracks played very clean, and I must say I was amazed by how heavy it sounded without a bit of distortion on it. I'm especially looking forward to the finished version of this one. Probably because, unlike all the others, I don't have the faintest idea of what I want it to be like. We're deciding as we go along. Normally I come into the studio with a very clear vision of what I want for each song, how I'd like it to sound like, but not with this one. It's still a complete mystery to me, and by extension, to everyone else. Surprise, surprise.

And with more tracks finished than I'd expected, we decided to call it a day (night, rather), as it was already late and I had other very important things to get done (like writing this, for example, haha). We'll continue next week with dirrrrty guitars, which are more fun to do.

Happy weekend, don't freeze your balls out there.

St

Songs recorded (Jan 21):

Ink: electric guitars

Eye In The Sky: electric guitars

The Wounds Inside: electric guitars

Instead: electric guitars

Vertigo: electric guitars

One Another: electric guitars

Studio diary: day 6

2010-01-21T13:27:00.007+01:00

Coming back from the warmth of the sun in Gran Canaria, it is very hard to return to Berlin 's coldest winter in years. Everything is white, it's freezing and the whole city is an ice hockey field. You have to be watching your step all the time and treading slowly. It looks like an expanded version of Monty Python's silly walks.Anyway, here I am again, and ready to return to work.

Yesterday Daniel and I started tracking electric guitars while we wait for Timo to come round next week or so to finish basses. First stop was the froggy HQ, where yours truly was lumped with heavy amps, flight cases and such to be loaded into the froggy mobile and froggy taken to the froggy studio. Yes, my froggy back was froggy fucked after that.

Most of the session time was spent setting up the amps and the microphones, checking distances, cables, signals and all that crap I could easily live without. I brought a lot of pedals and my new R0 Les Paul, which I must say, sounds like a fucking bell. Biased opinion, there you go.

This time around, I chose to record in the control room instead of the recording room, as I have always done. Although you don't get your hair combed back with noise as you'd have recording right in front of the amps, it makes tracking much easier, as you can speak to the tech directly and watch everything on the monitor (no more tape machines these days) and don't feel so isolated. On the other hand, if you need to teweak the amp's settings, someone has always to go in and try and listen back, and tweak again... I'll just try a little more to see if it's more confortable or not.

We started with the crunchy rhythm guitars for "Seattle Girl", we double-tracked them (as I do with mostly all my guitar parts, makes a bigger, fatter, meaner sound... and well, it also helps disguise the mistakes, haha!), and then did some clean parts for the middle and final sections. Came out pretty well, but I must admit it took me more takes than expected. It's always like that with me on the first day of recording, until I loosen up a bit. At first I can't play at all, later I still can't play but make a lot of noise. While recording, Daniel & I have to keep in mind that Jorge is going to record some overdubs later, so I have to restrain myself from tracking endless parts, something I tend to do.

As it was quite late already, we took a try at the faster middle part in "The Wounds Inside", which took less than its predecessor. The always reliable Classic 50 was put in evil mode, the horns were raised and froggymetal was made. I'm looking forward to the finished song, it's quite a schizophrenic tune, a sort of musical Jekyll & Hyde. A bit like me, I guess...

Around half past late we turned out the lights, closed the door and let the beast sleep until this afternoon, when we'll return to our personal Church of Noise . Until then, take care with the ice out there.

Stone

Songs recorded (Jan 20):

Seattle Girl: electric guitars

The Wounds Inside: electric guitars

3 conciertos 3 en 26 horas

2010-01-20T11:15:00.021+01:00

Los días 8 y 9 de enero de 2010, una nueva y eventual formación de Frogcircus infligió tres conciertos en La s Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Habiendo dado ya un par de años conciertos acústicos en fechas navideñas en La Guarida (en la playa de Las Canteras), decidimos este año redescubrir la electricidad y, de la mano de Eulalio, que nos consiguió en tiempo récord estos bolos y alguno más que hubimos de rechazar, nos pusimos a ello.

Empecemos por el principio. No, no voy a hablar del Big Bang, no tan por el principio. Allá voy: Después de dos ensayos con Miguelo y Andrés, antes de que llegara Stone, llegó Stone y ensayamos otro par de veces antes de lanzarnos al escenario.

Miguelo, viejo miembro y aún así, amigo de Frogcircus, es un consumado baterista. Ha tocado muchas veces y en varios países (bueno, en tres) con la banda.

Andrés, en cambio, es un consumado bajista. Multiinstrumentista, más bien. Él es el nuevo en la banda, pero como ya lleva tiempo tocando con Miguelo (en Los Coquillos), hay una gran complicidad musical entre los dos. Y siempre facilita las cosas que el batería y el bajista se conozcan y hayan tocado juntos frecuentemente (y aún así... se aprecien) porque, para que vamos a engañarnos, suelen ser mentes muy elementales y a veces tardan en entrar en sincronía. Pero no es el caso ¿Eh? Estos dos pedazos de músicos son cualquier cosa menos los típicos baterista (Andrés) y bajista (Miguelo).

Aclarado este punto, seguiré con la exposición de los hechos, sin aportar ni obviar nada. Lo juro. Bueno, mejor no.

Esos pocos ensayos fueron suficientes (más nos valía) para hacernos sentir seguros de nuestras posibilidades de conseguir emborracharnos cobrando. ¡Tres veces!

Llegamos pues a la primera de las tres citas; El Pub Rockola. Que sencillo es todo cuando el responsable del local es como Oliver Flick, el responsable del local. Todo facilidades y buen rollo. Altamente recomendable.

Probamos sonido satisfactoriamente y decidimos esperar hasta la hora del concierto y tocar.

El bolo estuvo muy bien, sobre todo para ser el primero. La gente estuvo de nuestra parte y entre cervezas, chupitos y chupetones, terminamos para satisfacción del público. No, con la satisfacción del público.

Bebimos, nos congratulamos, nos juramos amor eterno y nos largamos en bastante buen estado, que al día siguiente teníamos doblete. En La Guarida, a las 17.35.46, y en el Nasdaq, más o menos a las doce y pico de la noche.

La Guarida es ya un habitual bolo frogcirquero, como saben los que nos aguantan. Allí también todo son facilidades. Además, tocar a principios de enero, en la playa, al aire libre y con una temperatura ideal, no en vano Las Palmas de Gran Canaria goza del mejor clima del mundo, solo puede definirse de una manera: ¡Impostisable! ¡La Guarida forever! ¡Gracias, amigos!

Reuniose allí un heterogéneo grupo de habituales y de paseantes, además de los simpatizantes. Fue una fiesta. En palabras de uno de los que no se pierden ninguno de los bolos del lugar (no quiero decir quién): "Es el mejog conciegtó que he visto en La Guaguidá".

Ya se notaba la progresión respecto al día anterior. La siguiente y última actuación prometía, sí...

Así que tuvimos que retirarnos, eso sí, gloriosamente y por nuestros propios medios, para la prueba de sonido del Nasdaq. Fuimos gratamente sorprendidos por el despliegue de simpatía, cordialidad y equipo técnico y humano con que nos encontramos. Las fotos no se oyen, pero en ellas se aprecia que se toman su trabajo muy en serio. Parece que el sitio es enorme y en realidad es un club de tamaño medio, pero los focos consiguen ese efecto.

Allí, ya con buenos monitores, buena microfonía, buena iluminación y un suministro constante y directo al escenario de cerveza, jaegermeister de ese que bebe Stone y todo lo que pudiéramos pedir, culminamos y después terminamos la fiesta para alegría y después... lo contrario de la alegría de los presentes. Sonidazo, jolgorio general y... esa sensación de fin de "gira" que tienes cuando todo ha salido bien y sabes que no sabes cuando volverá a pasar algo así. Que pena, es el destino que se burla de mi (Que Pena. Palmera).

Me recordaron estos días a la meteórica progresión de los primeros bolos de Frogcircus en Berlín. También fueron tres y también casi seguidos. La formación era casi la misma que estos días. Solo cambiaba el bajista, que aquellos tiempos era nuestro querido Miguel, bajista, bastión y humorista a partes iguales al que echamos... de menos y al que recordamos con... con la parte del cerebro que se dedica a recordar las... cosas. Y... sí, amigos, también con la parte del corazón que se dedica a esas... cosas. Hermano ¿Do estás?.

No nos pongamos sentimentales, que no va a colar, y sigamos. No puedo cerrar esta crónica sin hacer referencia al excelente trabajo coral llevado a cabo por Miguelo y Andrés (incluso yo hice algún coro). Es algo realmente importante en una banda con canciones tan... que les vienen bien los coros, jeje.

Ahora sí que puedo cerrar la crónica, pero no antes de decir que... sin la lluvia de lencería a que nos tienen habituadas nuestras amigas y aún así simpatizantes de Frogcircus en Berlín, no es lo mismo. Un abrazo enorme para ellas. Bueno, vale, también echamos de menos los gayumbos térmicos extra-large con que nos obsequió Juancho aquella única y memorable vez en que se decidió a hacer la colada. Que recuerdos. Sniff.

Y nada más. Bueno, sí. He de dar las gracias a todos y cada uno de los que hicieron posibles estos inolvidables días de vino y rosas. No, de rocanrol y otros tópicos. Sin olvidar a los hados del destino que permitieron reunirse, seguramente no por última vez, a esta nueva y alternativa versión isleña de Frogcircus.

Solo puedo decir... ¡Arriscombel!

Gracias Stone, Miguelo, Andrés, Eulalio, Ángel (por los documentos gráficos que algún día ayudarán a constatar la evolución de mi calvicie), a todos los responsables y personal de las salas, a todos los que fueron a vernos, a los que no fueron (me refiero a las fuerzas del orden, por no ir, a los demás que no fueron, no) y a... a... en fin.

Continuará.

Jorge.

Studio diary: day 5

2009-12-19T21:29:00.002+01:00

First things first: today it's fucking freezing. On the way to the studio, the thermometer marked -12ºC. I had the acoustic guitar in the trunk of the car, and was expecting it to break at any given moment. But it made it to our noise room for today's session. It was the last booked session of the year and it was going to be a relatively short one, just four hours. And as our bass player wasn't available today, I decided to do a few acoustic guitars here and there just to get a few extra things done before the Christmas break.

After setting up the mics and balancing them, we started with the almost full-acoustic number, "Twelve Years" (for lack of a better title it looks like we're sticking to it), did a few takes, double-tracked the best one, a little solo part and that was it. Well, not really, Daniel came up with the idea of using an old, dusty and battered Spanish guitar he has there for the outro lick. It had a very alternative tuning, that guitar. In fact, it was tuned in microtone steps so impossible for the human ear to distinguish that, for a moment, I almost thought that was just a piece of crap completely bonkers and ready to smash. But no, it was just waiting for a loving hand an iPhone tuner app to return to the wonderful world of the standard 440 tuning. It took some time to show her the marvels of staying in pitch. It took a lot of fucking time, more than actually recording the part.

With the first one in the can, we directed our energies to "The Wounds Inside", which was done in nearly no time at all. Same with "Vertigo". "Talking To Nobody" took a little bit longer due to the strange drums reference I was listening all the time. Don't ask me how, but drums and click were coming and going all the time making recording nearly impossible. So after a few hits on the recorder with a hammer (courtesy of Maxwell Silver) everything was again spot-on, and recording could be finished pretty quickly. Stll half an hour left and the last one for this year, "Don't Lose Your Head" found its way onto tape (well, hard disk) just in time to wrap it up and call it a day (a year, rather).

Next sessions will be in the second half of January, where we'll be finishing the basses before entering my favourite part, the electric guitars, which precedes my least favourite part, recording the vocals. But let's not think that far right now, I want to have a happy Chrimble. And to you all as well, dear readers (is there anybody out there by the way?)

Songs recorded (Dec 18):

Twelve Years: acoustic & classical guitars

The Wounds Inside: acoustic guitars

Vertigo: acoustic guitars

Talking To Nobody: acoustic guitars

Don't Lose Your Head: acoustic guitars

Studio diary: day 4

2009-12-15T11:11:00.002+01:00

Can you feel the bass? I certainly could yesterday evening. First day tracking bass at D&S Tonstudio with Timo and Daniel.

After arriving so very late it was almost time to go home (Berlin traffic jams can get quite frustrating sometimes, especially when the police detour everyone to the very same place, very bright), we lost no time and set up the mighty bass speakers in the recording room only to notice that, well, they were too mighty, the walls were shaking. We probably changed the whole static of the building, who knows, maybe tomorrow there will be no building anymore. A mic here, another mic there, a cable, bring out that bass, and ready to go.

Timo's weapon of choice was his MusicMan StingRay with that extra fifth string that makes your bowels dance samba when plucked.. "Krawall!" said Timo with horns in the air, his trademark shout when everyone looks in disgust to that string.

We didn't have so much time left, so off we went with "Ink", which, being the first one, was the one that took longer to get right. It's not exactly easy to nail it with cold hands, just ask Tobi (although this time, Timo brought his double-kick drum pedal just in case, ahem.) Several takes and a few curses later, the first one was finished, and the next, "Cosmonaut" was already waiting to be executed. That took its fair share of time too, especially trying to get the accents right with Tobi's drums. My duty was to annoy Timo with those little details until it was perfect. I know, it's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it, right?

"The Wounds Inside" was done in the blink of an eye, and before we finally went home we also tracked "Seattle Girl", where yours truly's reference guitar track was so out of tune, we had to leave it out for fear of completely making Timo go bananas trying to record to it. And tomorrow, more bass. Let's hope the traffic allows us to arrive before actually having to go home again...

Songs recorded (14.Dec):

Ink: bass

Cosmonaut: bass

The Wounds Inside: bass

Seattle Girl: bass

Studio diary: day 3

2009-12-12T15:30:00.001+01:00

And then they were three... Friday evening and we're down in a hole making noise. Tobi calls me to say he and Daniel will be arriving a little later, so when I park in the yard and see no lights whatsoever, I wait for them in the car and listen to some radio. And listen to some radio. And check my mails. And take a look around Facebook and chat a while. And listen to more radio. And call Tobi to ask where the fuck he is, but to no avail. And check my mails again. And start freezing. And curse. And freeze a little more. And then I text Daniel and 30 seconds later he emerges from the basement, and with his best south German accent asks me what the fuck I'm doing out there, they're already recording. Inside my head, I prepare the acceptance speech for the Idiot Of The Year Award, which I'm possibly going to receive after that. I swear the lights were off and there wasn't any other car parked there. I should check my contact lenses, my eyes and while I'm at it, my brain, too.

Anyway, when I get down there Tobi's already sweating. He's done a few takes of "Ink", but none's a keeper. He's recording to the reference guitar I did last time, so I'm free to talk with Daniel while Tobi's inside the booth losing some calories banging the drums.

Recording drums the old way is a fine and difficult art, no editing allowed, and if he fucks it up on the very last note, that means it has to be done again from the top. Very cruel. So after a few fuckups in the very last note, Tobi digs deep down into his curse reserve and lets out the most incredibly vulgar sounding German curses you can imagine. Really funny to watch and listen to, a true literature class. But that really helps him focus and on the next take, he bloody nails it. Chapeau, mister. This is going to be a powerful song when it's finished, man, mark my words.

Then it's time to move on to the last planned drum recording by now. A song called "Vertigo", which we already tried during the Not Completely Clean sessions but abandoned after a few takes, not being really sure about the arrangement we had. But this time I've done my homework and the song is ready and approved to be recorded. Tobi drums to a home demo, so no guitar raping on my my side, just sit and watch the guy play as he can do, a total pleasure for the ears (as long as you're not too close.)

By half past ten we're finished (especially Tobi) and ready to go home. It's fucking freezing in Berlin. My bed is waiting, comfy, warm and dry. And no drums on my head...

Songs recorded:

Ink: drums (finished)

Vertigo: drums

Studio diary: day 2

2009-12-10T12:25:00.004+01:00

Second round in the fight against musical boredom. Last night we met again at Daniel's studio to continue tracking drums. All mics were already set up, so after a ciggie, a laugh and fooling around with Daniel's Dean Dimebag guitar from hell (heavier than a bag of nails), Tobi went straight to the booth to torture his snare drum.

First on the agenda was the traditional cover. Normally, we record a cover song for each album, (last ones were "Tomorrow Never Knows" while the Allergic sessions, and "Toxic" for Not Completely Clean.) So after thinking about it a few weeks ago, I remembered a great great tune from 1982 by the Alan Parsons Project called "Eye In The Sky", which I used to love as a kid everytime it came on the radio. I hadn't heard the song for ages, and it seemed that, with the right amount of tweaking it could turn into a cool frogsong. I made a fast demo at home and it was an instant "yeah" by the band. So here we are, doing our own little heavier version of it.

After finishing that one, Tobi decided to try his luck with "Ink", which is a rather fast and ugly kind of tune. Several takes were done (I mean, very several), but Tobi wasn't satisfied with them but still couldn't say exactly why. Something was just not right, and after several several retakes, the little bulb inside his head lit up and he remembered he hadn't brought along his double kickdrum pedal. And that was why he couldn't get the heavy ending right. Phew, you kinda notice such things right on from the first take, don't you? I mean, I would notice if a string was missing on the first take. But well, drummers are a completely different and exotic species, maybe that's why love them and put up with those things... And so, after I had fucked up my voice while singing and playing for Tobi's reference on "Ink", we had to leave it until the next sessions (I hope he remembers to bring the kick next time, hehe.)

"Instead" was next. A slower but heavier number which was finished before you could say "bumblebee". Deciding on the right song speed took us more time than actually recording it, trial and error procedure ("I think it should be 95 bpm", "No that's too slow, make it a 100 bpm", "huh, I think that was a little too fast, turn it down to, say, 98 bpm", "damm, still too fast, let's try 97 bpm", "oh, that was cool, just perfect, let's do it"... and so on.) This could turn out as a very nice song, let's see if I don't fuck it up later...

It was getting late, so we just tried to finish one more, and set our eyes on "Talking To Nobody", a tune with a decidedly 60s flavour to it that we had recently done for the very first time at the HQ. Tobi didn't have a clue what the fuck I was talking about when I named the song. "Never heard that one", he said with wide open eyes. Good that I had brought the home demos with me and a few seconds into it he remebered again, "Oh, yeah, of course, let's do it". And so he did. Came out pretty good, very solid, straightforward drumming, just as the song needed. It's great to have such a versatile drummer in the band, even if he can never remember the song names and it's always up to me to start humming the melodies. But well, we've done a lot of very new songs from scratch in the last weeks, so it's understandable to mix up everything. I guess. I was never a drummer in a band, just a frustrated one.

Next session's scheduled for Friday, which means today I can rest my ears and maybe enjoy a haxe with some friends at Lemke's. Cool.

Songs recorded:

Eye In The Sky: drums

Ink: drums (unfinished)

Instead: drums

Talking To Nobody: drums

Studio diary: day 1

2009-12-09T16:33:00.002+01:00

Here we go again. We're finally back in the studio for what it looks will be our fifth record to date (temptatively called Album Five, how original). The place: D&S Tonstudio in Berlin. The date: December 8, 2009. The involved parties: Daniel Strobel as the main engineer, Tobi on the drums and yours truly sort of watching it all and taking care of tiny details such as which songs are we recording. Not really producing, just annoying people.

So this is it, another project under way, let's hope this time it won't take too long to come out as is usual with this little band of ours. Only this time we've been making up songs real quick and after one or two rehearsals, we're putting them to tape. Most don't have lyrics yet, some not even a name, but I guess that makes it all a little less studied than previous times, more like The Beatles used to do back then, write a song, rehearse once, record the next day. Only they made fucking classic songs in the process, we're still happy to get a decent tune here and there.

As for the recording itself: we gather in the evening at Daniel's studio, a basement in the Berlin district of Weissensee. Outside it's cold, damp and completely dark, so it's great to go downstairs where it's, well, cold, damp and dark too. Until we turn on the rock'n roll machines to warm up and light a bulb here and there. Ah, much better now.

Waiting for Tobi to arrive (as usual) I make a list of the songs we'll be recording, and I panic when I notice there's one missing. I've gone completely blank. One, two, three... I keep counting the song titles and still cannot remember the one missing. It's either I'm getting too old or we have too many songs. Probably both. While I'm in the middle of a crisis with myself for failing to remember all the songs, our drummer happily arrives, tunes his drumkit, bangs the shit out of it for a few minutes, retunes it again, rebangs, re-retunes and loudly announces to the world "I'm ready".

And boy, is he. By 23.30 we have six full drum tracks in the can. Some of them are done quite easily, some take a few more takes, but while I'm in the control room tracking reference guitar and vocals for our drummer and having a laugh with Daniel, Tobi manages to execute enough perfect takes for all of us to go home with the feling of having done a good day's work.

And today, more to come.

Songs recorded (Dec 8):

Seattle Girl: drums

Cosmonaut: drums

The Wounds Inside: drums

Don't Lose Your Head: drums

Twelve Years (working title): drums

Uno, Otro (working title): drums

Bye, Les Paul - Hello, Les Paul

2009-08-13T22:58:00.004+02:00

Today, at the proud age of 94, Mr. Lester William Polsfuss, known as Les Paul, has died.

The guy has had more influence on rock'n roll than anyone can imagine. He invented the multi-track recordings among other things, but for me, he's the father of the best electric guitar to ever set foot on this earth. And for that alone he deserves to be mentioned among other luminaries as Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Alva Edison or the inventor of the Chupa-Chups.

Lester, wherever you are, thank you.

On the other hand, coinciding with the day that the true Les Paul has said goodbye to us, one of its daughters has arrived and made this fellow here a happy man. It's a Gibson Custom Shop V.O.S. 1960 reissue, and as I have no better names left for her, I've baptised her Paulina II. I mean, if Michael Jackson can call his two sons with the same name, why can't I? I know, I have a serious problem, but what the hell, life's short, so enjoy the good things in it before the reaper arrives and asks for the bill.

Oh, and by the way, some band news too. We've been rehearsing a brand new song this week which, if everything goes according to plan, might see the light of the day (or the dark of the night, what a silly phrase) in the upcoming EP/album/we-haven't-decided-yet. Right now we have seven fully finished songs, which is too long for an EP but not so long for an LP. Maybe in the time until we enter the studio in autumm we might have a few more, you never know with us, and neither do we! I guess that makes it the more interesting.

Take care, and remember to play your guitar loud today in honour of Les.

St

Restless

2009-07-24T23:11:00.005+02:00

As you might have noticed, there has not been a lot to report lately. It's been a few months already of this self-imposed musical exile/hiatus/pause whatever you wanna call it, and I think the time's right again to refocus on all things froggy.

I've been writing a few new songs lately, and added to those new ones we already have been playing live, it looks like there's enough material to think about getting into the studio again after last year's Not Completely Clean. A funny restlessness is building up inside of me and this itch can only be scratched away with a new set of sessions to put the songs down on tape and release them soon. It will take forever as usual (I guess those things just become a sort of running joke in the band), but rest assured you'll be hearing from us more regularly from now on.

BERLIN Maschinenhaus Kulturbrauerei, Whirpool Bandfestival

2009-02-15T10:46:00.004+01:00

Meine Fresse, das wurde aber auch mal wieder Zeit!!!

Nach fast zwei Monaten ohne richtigen Rock'n Roll kam der Gig im Maschinenhaus wie gerufen. Es war das erste mal das wir dort oben gespielt haben, im Kesselhaus unten hatten wir ja schon ein paar mal die Ehre.
Das schöne bei solchen kleinen Festivals ist das wir keine Amps oder Trommeln durch die Nacht schleppen müssen. Wir kommen einfach an. Nur die Gitarre in der Hand. Wie coooooool.....

Der Kühlschrank im Backstage war propper gefüllt. Die Butterbrötchen waren frisch und lecker (vorausgesetzt man mag Butter überhaupt ;o)
Da wir bereits als drittes spielen durften hatten wir leider nur kurz Zeit für ein kleines Pläuschchen mit unseren Proberaumteilhabern von den fantastischen "LAOS". Übrigens sehr schön das wir sie endlich mal live und in Farbe sehen und vor allem hören durften. Eine großartige Band!
Und holterdipolter standen wir auch schon auf der Bühne. Ein bißchen Krach in D moll, dann Einsatz Stone, Einsatz Jorge, dann Tobi und ich. Und was dann folgte waren dreißig Minuten pure Energie.
Stone entging nur knapp einem Mordanschlag durch unseren Trobel-Tom, das nächste mal sollte er den Trommelstock vieleicht anspitzen bevor er ihn Stone in den Rücken wirft.

Leider durften wir nur eine halbe Stunde spielen, aber der Kühlschrank wurde ja auch danach immer wieder nachgefüllt, und die Butterbrötchen waren immer noch lecker (vorausgesetzt man mag Butter überhaupt ;o)

Man, ich liebe es einfach mit dieser kleinen Band zu spielen! Laut, kraftvoll, dreckig und schwitzend. Genau so wie es sein sollte.

Frog'n Roll!!!

JWD & Titty Twister

2009-01-22T13:34:00.018+01:00

I'm a little write-lazy today, so I'll just write down flashes of the gigs we played at the JWD on December 12 and 13, the last gigs of the year...

JWD, Spandau, 12.Dec.08:

- Another end-of-the-year traditional gig at one of our favourite clubs (and still the tidiest one!). Tina & the sound guy (sorry, always forget his name) are friendly and nice to us as usual.

- First time Jorge plays the JWD and is amazed, he loves it, especially the hairdryer.

- I bring down my brand-new, just-received Gibson ES-335 (Juana), and it sounds fan-fucking-tastic into the Peavey Classic 50! The overall sound onstage is unbeatable as usual, and there's no need for me to use earplugs, it's not too loud and I can hear my voice perfectly over the monitors. The Sound Guy Without Name clearly knows the place like the palm of his hand.

- There is a... girl?... "dancing" (rather stumbling) almost naked all the time on high-heeled white leather boots. Sounds coo, but it is definitely not. Worth a sight. Rumour goes that there is still a little blood left in her alcohol...

- Timo breaks his bass strap at the beginning of the second set, therefore Tobi, Jorge and I must start improvising on A and G (boring!), and it sounds surprinsingly well. He takes ages to change into a new strap and then his wireless sounds fucked up. Same procedure as every year, really. At the end of the gig we add that priceless piece of memorabilia to the outstanding collection hanging backstage, where a signed Frogcircus snare head is already proudly shown (ehem).

- Tobi feels the urgent need to play with a towel on his head for the second part of the gig, and looks a bit like a mixture of Matt Sorum and a Hindu guru with a ciggie in his mouth. A shocking view, for goodnes' sake!

- Jorge is totally ashamed of Timo and myself for using our beer tickets to have coffee. But of course, he was still sleeping at the time when we both had to wake up this morning...

- The JWD still announces us with an old website address, frogcircus.net, which has not been in use since... 5 years now? It's like a running joke, at least they don't use old band photos with our ex-drummer looking silly on it, which is a step forward.

- The gig itself is very cool, we're having tons of fun onstage and still we sound surprinsingly tight. I guess the good sound has a lot to do with it, it's much easier than when you have to make your way through a long setlist fighting with bad monitors, electrocuting mics, terrible guitar sound and overall unprofessionality. That's why it's always great to come back here, really. Everything runs smoothly. If all the clubs were like this one...

Titty Twister, Berlin, 13.Dec.08:

- A gig that came in at the very last moment. Tobi has already another gig booked somewhere else, but he moves his life a little bit here and there and he is there for the show. He arrives, plays and leaves. What a pro, the guy.

- It's an acoustic show where we are supposed to play 20 minutes, but do half an hour. We're Frogcircus, screw'em! We write the setlist just 3 mibnutes before starting. There are other bands billed, but I can only manage to watch a wannabe Tokio Hotel with a string section and a manager type trying more to look important than to take care of his band. The band is actually not bad, but it's not my kind of stuff. Maybe I'm getting older...

- The whole thing is the premiere party of a new film by our good friend and graphic guru Maxim Matthew, Urban Scumbags Vs Countryside Zombies, where Yours Truly has done a little bit of music for. Yes, the title says it all, another romantic comedy with Meg Ryan and Billy Cristal. Maxim himself is running around like a zombie trying to get everything in order, which is not easy, as no one really knows who's responsible for what. I know I'm responsible for going up onstage and scream my balls off, the rest is a mystery.

- Following a new tradition lately, I break a string on my acoustic Gibson. Fuckfuckfuck! So much for the unbreakable Elixir strings. This time the A-string, which leaves me literally like if I had my dick hanging out in a shopwindow during the Xmas shopping. I'm completely lost without that bloody string, but I try to make the best out of it by the fine arts of Machshau. Later, I think no one even noticed. Good dog.

- After we're done playing (and Tobi is off to do another gig) we take a stroll through the wonderful Christmas maket at the Kulturbrauerei and enjoy some food and drinks with our frogette girls, who show us that a real girl can have more grilled steaks than any of us. Never mess with a hungry woman, dude.

Two new videos online

2009-01-18T23:37:00.000+01:00

The videoclips to Sometimes and Off The Tide are available in the video section of the website. Both recorded at the Soja studio way back in 2005 for the Ludgers Fall movie soundtrack. Enjoy!

Date change: Whirpool show a week earlier

2009-01-16T23:38:00.000+01:00

The Whirpool show at the Maschinenhaus in Berlin (originally scheduled for Feb 21) has been moved forward exactly one week. The new date is Feb 14, Valentine's Day, so remember to get your lady some flowers or expect to sleep in the couch, buddy.

Frogcircus featured on screen... again

2008-12-31T23:38:00.000+01:00

Another year comes to an end, another short movie that features Frogcircus on its soundtrack. We're very proud to be part of the short film Migas de Pan (Bread crumbles), which features What's The Voltage William and If You Only from the new album Not Completely Clean.The short film is produced by the Spanish Red Cross' Youth department (Cruz Roja Juventud) and can be watched on www.cruzroja.tv. Just click on the right side of the screen on the Migas de Pan banner and watch out for the froggy tunes blasting. Thanks a lot to Ylia Aguilar and Cristina Ferrero from the Spanish Red Cross for counting with us for this one.

On the more festive side, we wish you a Happy New Year 2009, let's hope it's as good for everyone as this one has been for us, really.

The Mallorca Weekend

2008-12-03T14:08:00.022+01:00

Hey, how'ya doin'? We're back from our little weekend of mayhem in Mallorca, Spain, home of the sobrassada, the ensaïmada, the empanada and a lot of other yummy things that end in -ada. I'll try to sum up the weekend in as few words as possible, but given my natural talent for verbal diarrhea I can already see myself failing miserably. But here's my try at it anyway:

Friday, Nov 21:

03.00: Wake-up call. Oh, no, fucking hell, it's much too early and much too cold to stand up. Outside it's fucking snowing (a lot!), and I've gone to bed just three hours ago, after getting my shit in a much-too-small suitcase and with the ears still ringing after last night's rehearsal. I couldn't find my eyes to put my contact lenses even if I tried hard. The fuckers just won't open, so I decide to step out to the outside world as a bespectacled-wannabe-rocker. Great. Our plane leaves at 06.00 from TXL, so there's no other choice. Which kind of idiot could book flights at such an intempestive time? Oh, hold, I did it, bugger.

04.10: Jorge arrives and then we leave to pick up Tobi at home, where he has a special encounter with a neighbour who was doing something at the door his girlfriend would not be so happy to know about. The masculine code of discretion prevents any of us of telling more...

05.00: We meet Timo at the terminal and after not checking our precious instruments (the guitars, I mean) we crawl to the nearest bar and I order what's probably the tiniest coffee I've ever seen with the driest croissant ever. Two world records in just one tray. Well, three if you count the record price paid.

06.00: We board the plane and everyone bar me directly falls asleep. I envy people who can sleep in a plane, I'd love to shake them so they are as bloody awake and tired as me, but I'm a good boy and don't. So I produce the book I've brought this time, which is Fight Club, by Chuck Palahmiuk. Which by the way starts with the narrator describing horrible plane crashes and the like. Grrrreat stuff to be reading while your ass is hanging somewhere over France in a flying sausage.

08.40: We land at Palma de Mallorca and we find Bernat and his girlfriend Ana waiting for us outside. Bernat is the guitarist in Alterego, the band we're playing both gigs and the one who started all this crazy idea of this little band going to Mallorca to play there. Great guy and great guitar player. He's taken the day off at the office to drive us around the island and show us around a bit.
09.30: Crammed into a car with all our guitars and shit we drive to Palma to have breakfast and take a look around the city. After a while we find a way cool bar in the old side of town serving the best bocadillos ever, which, hungry musicians as we are, is the best that can happen at the time. It's sunny here, blue skies and all, and though we're in November, we've got quite mild temperature during the day. Coming from the cold we're so grateful to the weather gods...

11.00: We take a stroll through the center and I'm amazed about how clean and tidy everything here is, coming from Berlin and its dog shit all around it's a nice change. You can even look up to the nice modernistic buildings and not just to the pavement so as not to treat on a dog mine. Walking through the narrow streets we find a lot of cool shops with sausages hanging like, well, sausages, and Tobi takes the chance to buy some parfume to mascarade his bodily odours after drumming and tries to invite a nice shopkeeper to the gig tonight. Too bad he has no fucking idea where we are playing. Flirt cancelled, abort mission, meec!!

12.30: Still taking a stroll, all of us start noticing the lack of sleep and decide to sit somewhere and have a cold beer. Or two, or more multiples of one. Just below the cathedral we find a nice terrace to relax and order those beers, while our friends in Berlin text us about how fucking heavy it's snowing right now there. Ah, it's such a great feeling knowing someone else is freezing their ass off while we're sitting here in a T-shirt enjoying the warmth of the sun and doing nothing...

14.00: We meet with Ana again to lunch at probably the best Italian restaurant in town (it can't get any better, really), decorated with famous mafiosi names and the like. The pasta is superb and the waitress sexy. What more can you need? Timo is so tired he's falling asleep over his whateveroni, fucking funny espcially when he's woken by a waiter asking for dessert. A priceless face, I must say.

15.30: We all go back in the car and drive to Manacor, where we're are staying at Bernat's house. It's a 45 m inute drive that some of us (no names) use to take a look at the inner side of their eyelids. Too bad there's a camera around...

16.20: We arrive at Bernat's place only to discover it's a fucking amazing piece of house which overlooks the sea. The lucky bastard. A positive contrast to last time's pad in Uelzen... Tobi falls in love with one of the cats this time. Asked about how he felt about it, the cat decided not to comment. The tiredness finally takes over us and we take a nap until the evening... God, this bed feels sooo good, mmm...

20.00: After waking up and taking a shower, I remember I still have to change the strings on the Les Paul. Bollocks! I hate to do it, but safety comes first... Tobi doesn't have to change any strings so he uses the time to convince the cat that theirs can be a very stable relationship. The cat still thinks otherwise.

20.45: We drive over to Alterego's rehearsal place and finally meet the other band members, Luis, Llorenç and Manolo. All of them are funny as hell, but Manolo (the singer) definitely wins the contest by far. I'm telling Tobi & Timo all the time it's such a pity they cannot understand him, they would be rolling on the floor laughing as Jorge and myself are.

21.15: We drive back to Palma and load in the gear into the club. Festus Place it's called. They have rock gigs on the weekends until 2 in the morning, and then disco with Nigerian music. That's what I call maximizing resources. It's a club in Cala Major, one of the more touristic sides of Palma, and Timo swears he was staying here 10 years ago (yes, yes, I remember this, I was here!) but as he says this almost once every 5 minutes we don't take him very seriously. I mean, we normally don't either, but that's another story.

23.40: Between loading in, setting up all the shit and briefly soundchecking it's almost showtime. We have exactly 20 minutes to go and we still haven't had dinner, for fuck's sake, we're hungry musicians, don't mess with us! The only available option is a döner kebap restaurant right on the other side of the street. I can't fucking believe it. We fly all the way from Berlin to Spain and end up eating a fu-cking dö-ner ke-bap. Though, it was quite tasty and hot as hell. The best for screwing up your voice before a show.

00.00: Showtime! Alterego take the (tiny) stage and rocks the shit out of us for 40 minutes. Llorenç the bass player is playing outside the stage most of the time, he reminds me of Flea, always jumping here and there and making funny faces. Then later we go onstage and treat the Palma audience to a mixture of loud rock and louder roll. And they seem to like it, although the Nigerian owner is looking rather unamused by the whole loud rock stuff. His face clearly says he prefers the sounds of Bob Marley to ours... can't blame him, really.

02.00: After we're finished (and huddle all in the even tinier backstage) it's time for a few beers. Well, at least the ones that Manolo has left... which can be clearly noticed when it's time to load in all the gear again and we all start horsing around, taking silly pictures and goofingly laughing. Manolo even takes the chance to promote our latest record in the worst possible way, hehe.

03.30: After 24 hours awake, the tiredness finally catches us on the way back home and some of us (especially T__o) use the 45 minute car ride to rehearse some new snoring techniques, which is only interrupted by a police control we all pass with flying colours, ehem. And then it's off to never never land...

Saturday, Nov 22:

12.00: I wake up friggin' late, and while trying to control my hair, Tobi tells me he's already been down to the beach. Tourists... Bernat has brought some delicious breakfast that we all devour while chilling out in the terrace and enjoying the sun. We hear it's still snowing in Berlin, which makes us feel even better.

14.00: We all drive down to Manacor and meet Llorenç at Ca'n March, a restaurant that serves probably the best paella I've ever had, and I've had quite a few, believe me. Superb local red wine and tasty food. And plenty of it, and I mean plenty. A fucking lot of food we cannot stop eating even though we're so full by now that it almost reaches the puking point. But simply amazing. After that the only thing a sound person would do is go to bed again and take a long siesta. And that's exactly what we do. You are not really able to do something else at the moment...

19.00: Waking up again. Twice the same day, funny feeling. We're off to Artà tonight, a small village in the middle of the island where we're playing. We arrive there and are amazed at the veue, an old train station refurbished as a pub with a stage at one end and an impressive wall of CDs behind the bar. During soundcheck, we take the chance to play darts and do all the typical stuff you do at a pub, with disastrous results...

22.00: The ritual before the show: find food! Sometimes I feel like a caveman tracking down a mammooth on theses gig days. You finish checking and the you have this slot of time to find a place to eat, rush the food into your stomach and be back in the venue on time. We find a bar in the town serving tasty typical Majorcan tapas (and with a full-blast TV with football, ah, it's great to be back home in Spain) and a waitress just as tasty as the food itself. Tobi, normally a guy unimpressed by women (ehem), falls in love just once again. As he does about 2-3 times a day, even with cats if no woman is around.

23.30: Showtime again! After a really powerful permormance from Alterego (Bernat decided to bring out his Les Paul too, not wanting to be the only non-Les Paul player in the two bands), the bar is set quite high. We do our best, we feel more at ease tonight, less tired probably, which makes it a better show than the night before, energetic as hell. And most important, we're having a lot of fun onstage.

01.30: Around half past late after the gig, and fueled by large amounts of beer, the Alterego guys and us celebrate the end of the tour (!) by taking part at an impromptu photo session backstage where nipples and bums start flashing out as a legacy to the future generations... Loading in of the gear becomes a Chaplin movie, with little musicians falling down and standing up again and bumping into each other and all that. Still, we arrive safely back home. Don't ask me how, I can't remember clearly.

Sunday, Nov 23:

10.00: We wake up, pack all our shit and say goodbye to Bernat and Anna, who have been really nice to us, letting us stay at their home, eat their food, use their beds and rape their cat. We're very grateful for all they've done to make us feel at home. Gracias.

12.00: Bollocks, we have to take a plane back home...

Phrase of the weekend: ¡De puta madre!

The FrogCircus at the FrogFish

2008-10-25T00:58:00.004+02:00

Right on, it's 0:58 of a Friday night (technically Saturday morning if we get picky) and I'm bound to bed in a minute or two, but first things first, our silly little diary is here again. I promise I'll continue writing tomorrow, I'm dozing over the keyboard and probably nonsense is the only thing that will come out of it right now (as if you hadn't noticed by now!). Good night...

[Saturday morning, back to life again]
Here I am, freshly awaken and with my eyes still not completely open. Yesterday's gig was one of the funniest, most relaxed and laid-back I've done with these guys. Being an almost private gig, invitation-only, film studio inauguration night, there was really no pressure at all. And we took it to our advantage.

We had prepared a set with more old stuff than usual (Blue Ice, Growing Older, Weekend Lover...) that we've been rehearsing lately, and it paid off well. We bloody nailed it, I'd never believe it after all that time.

Tobi was supposed to bring in a cajón, but instead appeared with the kind of mini drums you normally give your 5 year-old nephew for Christmas. It looked so incredibly silly that it was an instant factor of coolness for the whole band. There we were, acoustic guitars in the hand, an electric bass and a toy drumkit that sounded ridiculously cool. And off we went.

Our little bunch of froggy-friends managed to get invitations and appeared with the mandatory new Frogcircus t-shirts (wear them proud!) and used the occasion to fill their bellies with the free drinks (tasty cocktails by the way) and the free food (tasty schnitzels, tasty mousse-au-chocolat, tasty everything really!). Nothin better than to give your stomach a good treat when listening to the best thing for your ears, huh?

We were playing two short sets, the first one went down pretty well, and even managed to survive "My Hero", the Foos cover we hadn't really rehearsed. But the second set was simply smoking. When we came to the last verse of "Titanium" the energy between us four was amazing. We might have blown up a lightbulb or two in the process, if you ask me...

The FrogFish guys put a huge screen of ugly faces as our backdrop, and were also taping the whole thing, so don't be surprised if you find some footage of the evening while youtubing around... I sure will.

Thanks for wasting your time reading this little piece of mental diarrhea.

Yours truly,

Stone

Phrase of the day: "Shit, where's my beer?" (Jorge, panicking 30 seconds before starting the gig)

Uelzen café komma 04.10.2008

2008-10-23T11:04:00.007+02:00

Einen wunderschönen wünsche ich euch, ich heiße Sunny und bin eine zu Papparazzozwecken verwendete Freundin von Frogcircus. Zur willkommenen Abwechslung wollte ich jetzt auch mal meinen Senf zum Besten geben...

Tja, Uelzen sagt nicht gleich jedem was. Verständlich, es ist mit Abstand das abgelegenste Örtchen. Weit ab jeder Autobahn.
Und wenn hungrige Rockstars, nach einer durchzechten Nacht, nächsten Tag zum Frühstück möchten suchen sie ne ganze lange Zeit. Aber Dank spanisch sprechenden Navi ist die Heimfahrt trotzallem gesichert, also nix problemo...

Aber um zum Wesentlichen zu kommen, der Gig an sich, sowie Location und Besucher waren echt der Hamma. In jeglicher Hinsicht.
Trommeltobi hat es gerade noch geschafft den Gig zu retten, da er in seinem Super- Flitzer die Lachgaseinspritzung gefunden hat. Er ist so busy und an keinem Ort länger als nötig -> was für ein Glück für ihn, zu Hause schlafen ist immer noch am Schönsten....
Und der Rest, auch Stone, Horsti, Timo und Sunny genannt, fuhren gemeinsam mit der Harmonie im Einklang ins Café Komma.

Wir wurden nett und freundlich mit Kaffee und Tee begrüßt.
Nach und nach, als alle benötigten Gerätschaften zum Spielen organisiert waren, haben die Männer alles aufgebaut (das übliche Leid aller unterdrückten Rockstars ;) )
Nun ja, darauf folgte ein Soundcheck der ebenfalls aufs Nötigste beschränkt wurde.
Da die Fahrt sehr lang war von Berlin nach Uelzen, waren wir natürlich mal wieder hungrig. Also war Knut (Chef des Ganzen) so nett und organisierte was zum Futtern.
Nach der leckeren Stärkung, traf so ca nach ner Stunde (oder 2...) Tobi ein und es konnte losgelegt werden.

Frogcircus war am Start. Eine ganze Reihe an Songs wurden gespielt und einige der anwesenden Gäste kannten sie gut. Und die, welche Frogcircus erst kennenlernten, waren auch angetan. Zumindest wurde die neue Platte Not Completely Clean gut an den Mann / an die Frau gebracht.
Schön war auch, dass Hans wieder da war und begeistert schien...
Als der Gig vorbei war haben wir uns noch gut mit den Besuchern unterhalten. Desweiteren schauten wir uns um was das Uelzener Nachtleben noch so zu bieten hatte.
Und das hatte eine ganze Menge zu bieten...

Die Nacht war kurz, sehr kurz und sehr anstrengend...
Aber ich muss sagen, bzw. schreiben, Uelzen ist immer wieder eine lange Fahrt wert. Die Leute sind echt super nett, und es macht einfach Spaß dabei zu sein!

So long, es grüßt euch ganz lieb

die Sunny

UELZEN 04.Oct.08 Café komma

2008-10-20T12:52:00.002+02:00

After a long run from Berlin we got to Uelzen. I didn't believe it until then, but it's true: Uelzen is like 90km away from the closest highway. Yes, in Germany.

If you like fairy tales you'll feel good in Uelzen. A beautiful village where every house looks like a chocolate shop.

Café Komma is a little club that has all you need to have fun. Yes: All.

We got there at the right time and everything was ready. Well, Tobi was at the other side of Germany so he got to the bar, let's say just before the show, so we had to check the sound without him. Not a lot to check, really. We just got sure everything was ok and that was it.

Then we had some food, some drink, and waited for our moment. I have to say Tobi is a real gentleman: he arrived when we were waiting for him. Not sooner. Not later.

Not a lot of people for the gig. But they all wanted to have fun and we tried to satisfy them. Well, don't take that last sentence too seriously.

The sound was good and nothing failed, if we don't count the things that failed. We played that new song that I had never played before (Seattle Girl) and... it was right (Hahaha).

So we ended the show and did what we use to do in that situations: to drink until we can't say "parallelepiped". It was easy: they didn't let us pay for anything. And not happy with that they systematically gifted us with the strangest and most varied shots. Drinks whose names I can't remember. And beer. And a neverending stream of cuba libres. Stone and I tried to escape from this going to the closest bar around and drinking a pair of beers like the locals. It was impossible. We didn't look like them. So we went back to the Café Komma and, as some of them wanted to refine their Spanish, gave some advices here and there. I just hope they won't use what they learned there to get a job... Unless that job is in a "Spanish for drunk people academy". The line between "A smart Spanish accent" and "drunk's verbiage" can be very thin, you know.

And... suddenly I noticed that all the other band members had gone to sleep. Well, Tobi, not happy with the 600km he had driven 'till there, went back to Berlin right after the show. Well, right after three or four beers after the show. Just to rehydrate his tired drummer body. Timo and Sunny had gone to bed long ago and Stone just disappeared. Fortunately everybody (but me) knew where we had to sleep so, after they told me, I said goodbye in my best German to all the nice people we met there and drifted to the house in the most traditional sailor way. I knocked the door once and again... and again... and again and when I started thinking I'd have to go back to the bar in the cold night (well, it was like 30 meters away from the house), Timo heard me and managed to drive himself to the door and opened it for me (Timo, I'll never forget it).

We woke up in the morning covered with dog hair. I'm a little upset with that... poor dogs... Where did they sleep? It was a cold night. I hope they survived.

We tried to have breakfast but it wasn't easy. We found a bowling club and asked for something from the strange menue. We all asked for the same thing that resulted to be a tortilla of like 9 eggs (for each one), after that, we drove to Berlin, downloaded the gear and, somehow, I woke up the next morning in my room (well, in Diana's room. Thank you, Diana. One day I hope I'll be able to do something for you and show you how thankful I am).

I don't want to say goodbye without thanking each and everyone in the Café Komma for being so nice with us, and each and everyone who came and helped us to have a real funny night in Uelzen.

And... that's all folks. Don't forget not to forget to forget this: Life is to short to spend it reading my rock star experiences. Go, join a band and you will also have something to tell to people who aren't really interested in it. As Elbert Garmundel(*) said: If you don't take the risk, don't expect to fail.

* Dr. Prof. Elbert Garmundel is, officially, the most famous unknown person alive, and unofficially, our guru and inspiration in all the fields of alternative reality.

Unity and all that...

2008-10-03T23:39:00.000+02:00

It's Reunification Day here in Germany, and to celebrate it, we have just added two new t-shirt designs to our little shop of horrors. Both with the new logo, and just for silly € 15,00. To order, just mail us at info(at)frogcircus(dot)com stating the size (XS, S, M, L, XL), the colour and the motive of choice (faces/logo).

Froggy B-sides and besides: Stormy Girl (2006)

2008-09-29T13:07:00.007+02:00

And here goes another one from the vault. In September 2005, shortly after releasing Allergic, we had a call from a guy who directed movies asking if we'd like to do a few numbers for his latest film, tentatively called Ludgers Fall. Hard-working lads as we are, we wrote a song almost on the spot, loosely based on the story. The song later evolved to "Off The Tide".

And ater we'd finished writing it, a week later we entered the studio to record it and another one, "Sometimes", which I had in the shelf and had never used before, not really sure if it would work for the band. But for a film it's a different story, you can throw in all kinds of tunes, they'll somehow always fit in somewhere.

Anyway, we went again in March 2006 to Soja Music's Skyline studio in Fürstenwalde, which was being built at the moment, I believe we were the very first band to record there anyway (I think the last one too, but don't quote me on that). Toying with the idea of releasing the two songs on a EP, we needed two more songs to make it complete, one of them was a cover on Britney Spears' "Toxic" and then decided to do a run through one of Timo's numbers, "Stormy Girl", which he had written for his newly born daughter. We hadn't rehearsed the song all that well, really, but gave it a try even though I'm still not so sure about the chorus melody...

Tobi did his drum parts on a Monday, and a few days later, Timo and me went in to finish it. Music Man Sting Ray into his Marshall amp, and Paulina into the new Peavey Classic 30, clean and overdrive channels, no other amp used. And then a little wah festival for the, ehem, "solo" (if you can call it that), and fast vocals and a scream that wasn't supposed to be on the finished mix, but there it is anyway. Patrick Lyhs did the knob-tweaking in the studio and the mix was done by Michael Ehninger, a good friend of Tobi and film score writer.

We never went back to the song again (we played it just twice live, I believe), instead kept on writing new material. Timo, too, and not long after he came up with "Peaches" and "Time", so we settled for those two and left "Stormy" unused.

And there you go, another piece of froggy history.

Froggy B-sides and besides: Tomorrow Never Knows (2003)

2008-09-18T18:31:00.013+02:00

Broswing through my computer files the other day I found a few interesting songs we recorded at some time or another which have never been used/surfaced/are too silly to release. It's quite a few, so what better time to start dusting them off than right now, huh?
Here's the first of them, Tomorrow Never Knows, a Beatles cover from the Revolver album and one of my favourite songs of them.

Way back in May 2003, after we had finished tracking the drums and bass parts for Allergic at Jürgen Block's TB Sound Studio, and being still rather early in the afternoon, I asked Tyronne (our drummer back then), to play a double-bass straight groove for a couple of minutes, and I would tell him when to stop.
'What is it we're playing then?' he kept asking.
'Just track it, get that double-bass going like a true metalhead, dude' I kept telling him.
I had only told Jürgen I'd love to record a cover of Tomorrow Never Knows, frogstyle, Timo didn't know it neither, but as it is in the same key all through the song, he'd get it quicker than usual.
And so for the next three minutes, Ringotyronne beat the shit out of his drumkit without a clue of it all. And finished it was.
'Hey, Stone, what song was that, pretty heavy, man!'
'Just wait and see, hehe'

A few days later, Timo and I got back to the studio one afternoon to finish the song. He tracked his bass in the blink of an eye, and then it was time for guitar mayhem. I had just bought my first Les Paul (Paulina) and used it here for the very first time. After rather straight-metal rhythm guitar and its obvious oberdub, Timo got hold of a Guild SG-style guitar lying around and I went down to the floor to tweak all possible pedals at once in order to get that very freaky "solo" in the middle. It's just Timo playing the chords and me fucking around with the effects. Meanwhile, Jürgen was having the time of his life (give the man some gadgets and he'll be pleased for a loooong while).

And the result... well, you can hear it. I bet Lennon would love its freakiness for sure. This one's for you, mate.

Hello?

2008-09-08T23:46:00.000+02:00

Long time, no see/read. Well, we've been getting some well-deserved vacation time and keeping a low profile. But here we are again.
As you might have seen, our latest record Not Completely Clean is out on BlackRock Records, and at the moment you can pick it up at Amazon or at our gigs. We're currently rehearsing again with our newest band member/oldest band memeber Jorge, who seems to be liking it here in Berlin, and whose guitar you might have already heard at one or two gigs lately.
Oh, and by the way, this Wednesday we're playing the Oxident bar in Berlin, an intimate acoustic show for free for our closest friends, to make up for the last-minute cancellation of last time due to some asshole neighbour. Take care!

Eyes Wide Open

2008-08-22T16:49:00.001+02:00

by Jorge

Esta es la crónica oficial sobre nuestro segundo bolo con Beth Hart. Ocurrió en Berlín. En la sala Frannz. el 10 de junio de 2008. En plena Eurocopa.

Después de ver el España-Rusia en un típico entorno veraniego alemán, esto es, al aire libre y con un montón de gente bebiendo cerveza de muy buen rollo, fuimos a nuestra prueba de sonido. Había sido muy agradable encontrarnos al llegar a un par de chavales que serían nuestros "brazos" y se centraron en la tarea de cargar con nuestro cada vez mas grande y pesado equipo. Un detallazo por parte de la organización.

Allí nos reencontramos con la tropa que acompaña a Beth en la gira y a la propia banda de ésta. Fueron todos tan simpáticos y cordiales que llegué a pensar que realmente les habíamos caído bien. Algo mas tarde llegó Beth con su pareja-manager. También fueron muy simpáticos y no nos dejaron irnos del camerino. En esos detalles se nota que llevan toda la vida en esto y que no tienen esos problemas de ego que tienen algunas "estrellitas".

La prueba fue, como suele ocurrir últimamente, rápida y eficiente, así que tuvimos tiempo de desconcentrarnos un poco ante unas cervezas antes de tocar.

Primero tocó un alemán al que al menos yo no conocía pero que por lo visto ha tenido momentos de éxito. Cantaba y tocaba la guitarra acompañado de un chico que también tocaba y muy bien, la guitarra. La verdad es que no vi mucho de su actuación, concentrado como estaba en desconcentrarme para lo nuestro.

Y llegó nuestra hora. Para ser estricto y crítico, he de decir que lo hicimos muy bien. Eso comentaron los que conocen al grupo. Hemos pillado definitivamente "el punto" y no lo vamos a dejar escapar. Salió todo bien (bueno, casi todo, no quiero mirar a nadie). Nuestras amigas lucían sus nuevas camisas de la banda, cosa que psicológicamente anima mucho y nos obsequiaron con una agradable lluvia de lencería, esta vez sólo femenina (al decir "sólo femenina" no quiero insinuar que echáramos de menos la masculina ¿eh?), que nos hizo sentir como toreros dando la vuelta al ruedo después de una buena tarde. Bueno, tal vez Timo y Tobi no estén muy puestos en lo de Los Toros.

Terminada nuestra actuación, recogimos la lencería, el equipo y dejamos libre el escenario para la actuación de Beth y sus chicos. Volvieron a hacerlo muy bien, con sonidazo y mucho empuje.

Finalmente y tras meter el equipo en el coche nos dispusimos a volver a nuestros respectivos habitáculos y... no, no debo contar lo que ocurrió por el camino.

¡Hasta pronto amigos!

¡¡¡¡Oé, oé, oé, oéeeeeeeee!!!!

2008-06-30T12:27:00.004+02:00

¡Campeones de Europa, coño!
Endlich gewinnen wie etwas, gar nicht schlecht. Tut mir leid für meine beiden deutschen Mitstreiter... Nö, nicht wirklich :o)
Alles Liebe,
El Niño

WTF?

2008-06-29T23:47:00.000+02:00

Well, the fun WAS had in Gran Canaria, though not at the acoustic gig. The venue had to cease doing gigs altogether temporarily until some technical stuff was sorted out, so we'll have to leave it for the next time we're in the beautiful island. Don't worry, though. Next two gigs will be acoustic, too (Beesenstedt and Berlin).

You might have seen our newest album cover, but if you haven't, well, here it is:

Nice, huh? Those blokes seem familiar, but cannot place them right now...
The album will be for sale on the first week of July, so keep your ears open!

78.840 hours...

2008-06-16T23:25:00.004+02:00

...or what's the same, 9 years. On this exact day in 1999, way back in Las Palmas, I opened a brown box to reveal a fucking lot of copies of the very first record I had ever done, Acid Jokes. Nine years later, also on a June 16, but on 2008, I have just opened another brown box containing what is our fourth record to date, Not Completely Clean. I cannot really describe how great that feeling is, receiving your newest piece of music all packed in carton, and sealed with plastic. It's just a great feeling, for lack of a better word. And with it comes also the same question each time: "How the fuck are we going to sell all these?".

I don't really know, and I must admit I don't really care at all neither. Right now I'm simply satisfied of the work done, of the mission accomplished and of yet another piece of music brought out there for those who want to listen, wether it's twelve, twelve hundred or twelve thousand people, I don't care. Tonight, I'm simply proud of this little band.

What the fuck!? This massive, amazing, incredible little band.

You guys were sooo amazing...

2008-05-25T22:36:00.036+02:00

Back home. Finally. I'm completely finished. It's Sunday evening and I'm ready to hit the bed. It's been a Saturday night full of rock and roll decandency for this little band.

It started with a a call from Magdeburg: "Hey, guys, do you want to open for Beth Hart, the American singer?" "Er... well, I guess so." One of those dates announced just a few days prior to the gig, which meant hastily looking up our agendas and replanning a whole weekend. And for Jorge, getting yet another last-minute plane ticket to Berlin.

And so we found ourselves Friday evening rehearsing a 30-minute set and Saturday stepping into the tourbus with the iPod loaded with cool shit for the way. Quen's A Night At The Opera and some 60's pop compilation made the time go faster (not for Timo, who preferred to hang on to his headphones and listen to Velvet Revolver's Libertad).

After a while we arrived in Magdeburg and went straight to the venue, a really cool... er... how could I name it... factory hall? Killing time waiting for Beth's band to finish soundcheck we get to know their cool Dutch entourage and the venue's very own giant Currywurst, a monster sausage not seen alive since the early jurassic age or something. And of course, time for the first beers.

Soundcheck was OK, as usual. You cannot really be too touchy about it anyway, as no matter what you do, it will sound different during the show (of course, it always sounds way better when there's people in there, the musicians among you might know what I mean).

After soundcheck and before the show we had some time to kill (yes, again), so we decided to check our backstage and raid the beer and food reserves laying there. Thanks god, they had put the photocopy machine there, exactly how we had written it down at the raider (!), but no trace of a sofa, dammit. We'll have to write that down next time.

Show was... well, short, just 8 songs, and when you were getting really warm and starting to have fun, that was it, thank you, good night. Fuck! I didn't hear shit over the monitors, but judging from the reaction of the audience (quite large, by the way), they had a good time, and seemed to like us more and more after each song. Either that or they were getting drunker and drunker. God knows. We sold quite a few CDs afterwards, so it couldn't have been that bad, could it?

Sweating, swearing, and in desperate need for a beer we found ourselves again backstage thinking "That was it?" It was, so we now could enjoy ourselves, have a beer here and there, watching Beth perform, have a beer and... oh, you know what I mean.

Beth's band was really cool, great musicians to listen to. And Beth herself was a hurricane onstage, I must say, very positively surprised, even bought her DVD. She should have made a cover of 'Peaches', I was thinking all the time, the song suits her voice range so well...

After their show and quite some more beers, we were hanging backstage with the band. Very funny guys. Tom Lilly, the bass player, had amazing stories to tell, like when Chad Smith, newly arrived in L.A. called him to ask if he should take the drum position with the Chili Peppers. "Are they any good? 'Cause I'm not so sure, man". Great storyteller.

When we all where almost passing out Beth came out from the shower and finally could take some pictures with her and all that stuff for the vault (the mighty Frog Arschiv, as we call it). I remember mumbling something to her about the show, and Jorge trying to get a sentence finished (one that anyone but himself could understand, I mean), but it wasn't so easy. Put two Spaniards near a fridge full of beer and you'll know what I mean. She liked us, by the way, we were "sooo amaaazing, even though I couldn't be here during your show, but I was told so" (?) I still cannot physically understand how, but I guess that's an American West Coast way of saying "Hi, guys". Nevertheless, we were bloody amazing at that moment. At least in our drunken minds.

After loading everything in, it was time to finally go to the hotel... to have some more drinks! The bar had to close a little later than expected, with those four elements ordering beer after beer (Ramazzotti for the drummer, please) and taking very silly pictures and having hysterics all the time.

It could have been a great night's sleep if it wasn't for J___e, who has newly acquired the habit of snoring to the point where you cannot hear your own iPod at full blast, not to mention your own thoughts.

But, what the hell, we are Drogagrbus, er... Erogaisaur, ... I mean... Frogcircus, and this is what we do!! And if we want to be Europe's loudest snoring band, we fucking will!

Quote of the day:
Todd (Beth's drummer): "Hey, where's the stage? Shit, I'm supposed to be already there, but I'm lost."
Stone: "Hello, Cleveland!!"

Getting ready for take-off

2008-05-15T23:47:00.000+02:00

Just a quick note to let you know that our fourth record, finally to be titled Not Completely Clean is getting its final sleeve art touches and will be out before you've had time to notice. It will be a little different from the previously announced one tentatively called Frogcircus which you could listen some time ago right here.Stay tuned, more good news coming soon!

And, oh yes, by the way, another Spanish gig secured, again in Gran Canaria, again acoustic, again a fucking lot of fun to be had for sure!

EL DIARIO DE LOS FROGCIRCUS

Eye In The Sky... preview

"Ink"

Mixing

Die Rückehr der Kellerkinder

Zwei neue Termine

Diario de grabación

Studio diary: day 18 (last)

Studio diary: day 17

Studio diary: day 16

Studio diary: day 15

Studio diary: day 14

Studio diary: day 13

Studio diary: day 12

Studio diary: day 11

Studio diary: day 10

Studio diary: day 9

Studio diary: day 8

Studio diary: day 7

Studio diary: day 6

﻿3 conciertos 3 en 26 horas

Studio diary: day 5

Studio diary: day 4

Studio diary: day 3

Studio diary: day 2

Studio diary: day 1

Bye, Les Paul - Hello, Les Paul

Restless

BERLIN Maschinenhaus Kulturbrauerei, Whirpool Bandfestival

JWD & Titty Twister

Two new videos online

Date change: Whirpool show a week earlier

Frogcircus featured on screen... again

The Mallorca Weekend

The FrogCircus at the FrogFish

Uelzen café komma 04.10.2008

UELZEN 04.Oct.08 Café komma

Unity and all that...

Froggy B-sides and besides: Stormy Girl (2006)

Froggy B-sides and besides: Tomorrow Never Knows (2003)

Hello?

Eyes Wide Open

¡¡¡¡Oé, oé, oé, oéeeeeeeee!!!!

WTF?

78.840 hours...

You guys were sooo amazing...

Getting ready for take-off

3 conciertos 3 en 26 horas