Sometimes in 1990

Recording: 'You too'
Recording:
Antelio Studio - all night long - P: Yves Kreidl.

The original track as it came out of a one-night stand memorable session. For a long time, this single song was the most advanced recording I've ever made. Yves was in the same class as me, studying video editing, and I knew he was very interested in building his own home-studio. He had already bought a 8-trax Fostex machine and a few other equipments. Once he had set up his gears, I suggested to record something, just to 'try things out'. This opportunity was a major step forward for me, because the only multitrack recording I ever made was on a 4-track with Stef. Now with 8-tracks facilities I could do what I always looked for: put down layers upon layers of instruments and voices. I had just sort of composed a little tune based upon lyrics by Stef, which I modified a lot. When I arrived in the evening to Yves's place (called Antelio Studio because it was mounted in his father's glass factory; Antelio being the name of a certain kind of glass), I started to program his Roland drum machine. I already knew what I wanted, but it took forever to obtain it. The real recording phase started quite late, with the two clean rhythm guitars. I then did the bassline, which was improvised on the fly, just as the lead guitar take wich was, as we believed then, just for the fun and would later be replaced by a better one. (As you MAY hear on the first "Dude Remembers" CD release, this just never happened.) It was time to record the voices, around four o' clock in the morning or something. I did the two backing vocals and the lead singing, writing some additional lyrics just prior to recording them. During all these takes, Yves would add effects and production directly onto the tape, so that when the sun came up in the morning, we could do a rough mix on cassette for the other students to hear. We didn't sleep that night. I never thought it would take that long, and when I arrived home at six o'clock, my girlfriend was quiet upset and worried. Life's full of unexpected events!
Released in 1997 on Dude Remembers - volume 1.

Sometimes in 1990

Recording: 'Naive days'
Recording:
One-eyed Jack's -  P: Dude.

A very special instrumental which recording had been lost for years, and just found back on one of Stef’s old tapes ! I later re-used this tune for the Jorri project (see a future episode).

Sometimes in MARCH 1990

Recording: 'Paranoid'
Recording:
Recording: 'Chapel days re-visited'
Recording:
The Chapel - afternoon - Present: Dude, Hervé F., Frédéric W., Frédéric W. P: Dude.

This rehearsal was recorded way back in the 'Good Ol' Times', when we had a bass player, in our rehearsal room, 'The Chapel', an authentic church which was kindly lent for us. We used to go there every sunday, for approximately one year. I was driving my father's small truck, with all the equipement inside, and we would drive from each other's places with Fred playing the drums in the back without loosing the tempo. What a souvenir! 'CHAPEL DAYS...' is a good representation of the open-ended improvisations we were fond of at this period of time.

TUESDAY 20th FEBRUARY 1990

Recording: '11th floor jam'
Recording:
Stef's bedroom - afternoon - Present: Dude, Stef. P: Dude.

I'd just met Stef at the time, and this is our first recording together. Everything here is improvised. This may sound out-there but to me it has a special flavour because I'd never used samplers and drum machines before, and because it was all experimentation. Note how the acoustic instruments fits perfectly in the stereo field: the electric stuffs went through Stef’s hi-fi and were sent to two speakers, each in front of one mike of the cassette-recorder. The acoustics were played live BEHIND the speakers, so you get the impression of depth and the nice surround effect you can hear.

SUNDAY 4th FEBRUARY 1990

Recording: 'Ace's high'
Recording:
Recording: 'For whom the bell tolls'
Recording:
MJC, Richemont - afternoon - Present: Dude, Hervé F., Frédéric W. P: Dude.

RAINBOW WARRIOR' is the name of my very first band, which was born circa 1987, but was 'put to life' in this rehearsal. What you can hear is an aspect of how we used to sound at the very beggining of our 'professional band career'. Hervé was a very good friend of mine and Fred is actually my cousin. In this recording, he was playing the drums since less than 6 months. This took place in Richemont, at the MJC. After one year and six months of fun the band broke up for several reasons. Here is the list of the songs performed during the recording:

-Aces high by Iron Maiden, written by Steve Harris.
-For whom the bell tolls by Metallica, written by Hetfield, Ulrich and Burton.

Not recorded, but also played during that period are other Maiden tracks such as: Sanctuary, Wasted years, The rime of the ancient mariner, Total eclipse...

Sometimes in FEBRUARY 1990

Recording: 'Keeping it dark'
Recording:
One-eyed Jack's -  P: Dude.

This half-improvisation is based upon a musical motif from the Genesis track ‘Keep it dark’. Hence the title.

Sometimes in FEBRUARY 1990

Recording: 'Jugband blues'
Recording:
Recording: 'White queen (as it began)'
Recording:
Recording: 'Soul brother'
Recording:
Recording: 'Why don't you write me ?'
Recording:
One-eyed Jack's -  P: Dude.

I've always enjoyed singing songs that I loved with nothing but an acoustic guitar. These are just some of those many covers I do all the time. Simple, direct, badly sang and played, but sooooo... pleasant to do. Note that 'WHY DON'T YOU WRITE ME' is actually 'TELL ME YOU LOVE ME' but the lyrics were adapted just because I was feeling angry about a person I was expecting a letter from.

Sometimes in FEBRUARY 1990

Recording: 'Slides on the ice'
Recording:
One-eyed Jack's -  P: Dude.

This is one of the very first songs I've ever written. At the time I was figuring to be George Harrison. The lyrics were written after my first 'broken heart’ affair.

Sometimes in JANUARY 1990

 




 

Recording: 'Penguin ballet'
Recording:
One-eyed Jack's -  P: Dude.

This cute little number is strongly inspired by pieces by Joe Satriani such as ‘Midnight’ or ‘Days at the beach’. It requires a two-handed tapping technique. The great thing with this kind of playing is that you can perform both the backing rhythm and the melody at the same time.(I’m quit certain that Joe himself stole this technique to somebody else, anyway). The picture above is a cute drawing by Elissa, inspired by the song.

Sometimes in JANUARY 1990

Recording: 'The lost melody'
Recording:
One-eyed Jack's -  P: Dude.

As you may guess, this tune once had a melody attached to it, but the final tape seems to have disappeared forever. All I could find was this edit piece featuring rhythm guitar and bass. It is certainly the first recording I’ve ever made featuring bass guitar, that’s why it is included here.

Sometimes in JANUARY 1990

Recording: 'Various guitar works'
Recording:
One-eyed Jack's -  P: Dude.

This section opens with a piece written by Joe Satriani, called 'Midnight', which requires some two-handed tapping techniques, followed by a home-overdubbed intro of 'Paradise city', from Guns' first LP. At this point, I must explain what 'home-overdubbing' is, since a large portion of tracks from these early times are done with the use of this technique:
Home-overdubbing consists of using two small cassette recorders, one playing a previously recorded tape, the other recording both the cassette player and the additional performed live signal. (Tricky, isn't it?).
Then, there is a suite of solos and riffs from various songs I was studying at the time.