Evening All,

Rusty here. It was while I was sitting in the studio the other day that I decided to let you all into a few secrets of how a Lucky Soul song comes together in all its glory and lushness.

From where I sit in my corner by the door, I have Art, our new ‘king of funk’, to the right of me, then Doll in her little booth (usually frantically ‘twittering’ away during verses). Next is Andrew on the Gretsch Nashville who is always sporting a well cut Fred Perry or, more recently, a Neil Young style checked shirt. Over in the opposite corner is the wall of amps known as Ivors Evil Lair, (turned up to 11 of course) which contains a host of very nice vintage Fenders and then closest to me on the left is Mr Atkins, pounding out an immovable beat on the drums. Of course, there are also the all important, even essential tea and coffee making facilities and our selection of mugs which includes alot of Mr T and Flight of the Conchords. With each rehearsal stretching to the 6 hour mark, coffee IS the only way forward.

So, prior to rehearsing, Andrew would’ve usually sent out a rough demo to us via the magic of the internet and will then present us with chord sheets upon arrival to the session. Recently, these have been a fetching yellow and provide a rough chord structure for what we’re going to play. After that, we’ll set a tempo and jam through the song, feeling our way tentatively around the more jazzier chords that Andrew has invented, listening for the magic groove to present itself. After that, its a case of playing it through until we’re happy, working on the good stuff and kicking out the bad. There is always a spark of genius in all of Andrews songs, whether thats an uplifting chorus or a killer hook or a lyrical climax and we always try to play on the strength of that magic moment. Usually Mr Atkin and myself will pay particular attention to where the groove locks in between the bass and the kick drum like the crunch of a good biscuit..Ivor will come through with a guitar line that zings in your mouth like a Sherbet Dib-Dab, where-as Andrew will play the sparsest line but the one that holds everything together, like nougat sticking in your teeth . Art will sprinkle some sweet piano over the top like 100′s and 1000′s on your favourite dessert and Doll will be the icing sugar on the top, delicate and oh so enticing..

After this, we’ll record a scratch version on Ivors iPhone which will later be mp3′d out (oh how I bet you’d love to get your hands on these) so we can listen back and make suggestions. Often, you can’t hear exactly what’s right or wrong in an arrangement until you step away so this is a great exercise. We’ll then re-group at the studio where Andrew will change the key, tempo, structure and lyrics of the song until he’s completely happy, and thats how we arrive at the version that then gets demo’d in full on our pro-tools system. Now this may all seem over the top but its just that we at Lucky Soul Ltd want you to know that we care so much about the new record that we made a test one first just to see if it was good enough. Attention to detail is crucial and we need you all to rest assured that there isn’t a single note, drum fill, harmony, lyric or string-line on this new record that hasn’t be agonised over.

We’re back into the final rehearsal tomorrow before the big studio again to record the final 11 songs for you so it’s Oh so near to completion. We hope you’ve been able to catch a taster of Whoa Billy and you like it as much as we do and hope to see you at Blow Up on the 6th June..

Till then, roll the tape and on we go..

2 Comments

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2 Comments to Building steam with a grain of sand..

1. by Vincent

   On May 3, 2009 at 9:47 pm

   Woah Billy! is excellent

2. by Ali

   On May 6, 2009 at 8:45 pm

   I think you’ll find the correct verb is to tweet, and besides, it’s all lies. No more sunken chewy cupcakes for you. Hrrumph!