TUESDAY 3rd DECEMBER 2002

Day Eighty-seven for the album + Session for the Fakers
Recording: 'Steffy Tardust' (SI on take 1)
Recording: 'The return of the Black Zonga' (SI on take 1)
Rusty Wagon - 21:00-23:00 - P: Yann. Present: Dude, Yann.

Rapidly doing the rock'n'roll bassline for 'Steffy Tardust', and then moving on to more work on 'Black Zonga', with the re-doing of the guitars. The first solos in the first measures of the song itself (not the prologue ones), some soloing here and there in the bridges, and finally the clean arpeggios in the ending of the song.

SUNDAY 23rd DECEMBER 2001

Recording: 'Wuthering heights'
Recording: 'Your little chair' (demo)
One-eyed Jack - afternoon - P: Dude.

While I was alone at home (something that doesn't happen much these days), I did a strange version of Kate Bush's great hit with two acoustic guitars (one with nylon strings, the other with metal strings), and two vocal parts (one in the correct original octave, falsetto style, and the other voice two octaves lower). Then I was ready to start laying down the demo for 'Your little chair'. I exported the Reason sequencing I did the previous weeks, and I did some vocals, with overdubs here and there, 3 tracks of handclaps, and some guitar (the loud power chords before the chorus, a stupid little solo for the beginnings, and some funk stuff for the choruses). I did not put any bass because I'm gonna ask Stef to do the basswork on that thing.

SUNDAY 22nd OCTOBER 2000

Recording: 'Firewalks ending (demo)' (SI on take 1)
One-eyed Jack - evening - P: Dude.

A note flurry has occurred. I added the snare drum bolero section, just after the 'Vasoline' like bass/guitar unison. Cooool.

FRIDAY 10th DECEMBER 1999

Day Sixty-three for the album
Recording: 'The inner harmony' (SI on take 3)
Rusty Wagon - evening - P: Yann. Present: Dude, Yann.

More bassline with Stef's axe. This time for 'The inner harmony'. A very cool session, quickly done. So we went into listening to some great stuff: 'Echoes' from the Pompei video, 'Into the void' and 'Even deeper', along with some midi files, on the Mackies.

THURSDAY 19th NOVEMBER 1998

Recording: 'I am not the walrus' (SI on take 1)
Butterfly Palace - afternoon - P: Dude.

All the vocal tracks: one lead, plus the choirs. Added a cold reverb and a tiny bit of phaser.

TUESDAY 30th DECEMBER 1997

CD release ZR301297-1958 (Dude)
Engraving: 'Dude remembers #2: from the 11th floor to the subliminal'
Butterfly Palace - 19:58 - P: Dude.

Ta-daa! The second official release from Zonga Records: Dude's personal archives, volume 2. In this 71'41 long opus, we can hear more interesting 'historical' documents, such as the first musical encounter between Dude and Stef, or the very first 'serious' recording session (with a 4-trax machine!) of their band, 'The Sound', as it was called at the time. As for the first volume of this collection, the original tapes have been carefully remastered by Dude and Captain Yann.

SUNDAY 29th DECEMBER 1996

Day Nineteen for the album
Recording: 'All been gone' (SI on take 1)
Recording: 'Hear your heart' (SI on take 2)
Recording: 'Golden seven' (SI on take 3)
Bill's studio - 14:00-19:00 - P: Yann. Present: Dude, Yann, Kevin.

The very first recording session featuring the digital drums Yann had bought on DECEMBER the 3rd, with Kevin playing. When Dude arrived in the middle of the afternoon, Kev and Yann had already recorded the drums for 'All been gone', 'Hear your heart', and all the parts of 'Golden seven', except for the bridge section. So a few time was taken to elaborate together this part, and to record it. Because of the complex nature of this section, Kev had to play it at a slower tempo. All we had to do then was to bring back the tempo to its original value of 150, and there you are. Another cool thing with midi drums is you can reconfigure the drumpads : we put another bass drum sound on one of the tom pad, so that we could obtain a powerful double bass-drum feeling. (Thanks to Kev's dexterity, of course !)

SUNDAY 3rd DECEMBER 1995

Safe & Sound rehearsal 10
Recording: 'The end of Louie Louie'
Recording: 'Foxy lady'
Recording: 'I wanna be your jammer'
Recording: 'From abroad' (take n)'
Recording: 'So damned (Que je t'aime)'
Recording: 'Because because'
Recording: 'The riddle'
The Cave - mid-afternoon - P: Dude. Present: Stef, Dude, Kevin, Goubs, Condorman.

Condorman was our official bass player for some time. We recorded two sessions with him. This one is the first.

SUNDAY 18th DECEMBER 1994

Safe & Sound rehearsal 4
Recording: 'Come together' (jamming take)
Recording: 'Day tripper' (jamming take)
Recording: 'Jabba the Hutt' (takes 6 1/2; 7 1/4; 8 1/8; 9 1/16; and 11+ [the final celebration])
The Classroom - 13:30-17:00 - P: Yann. Present: Dude, Stef, Goubs, Fabz, Seb.

This rehearsal is important for many reasons. It is the first reunion of Safe and Sound since the departure of Yannbass and Nicki and the events of summer '94. Then, it is also the first appearance of Fabz on drums; poor lad. Another " premiere " on this afternoon: it has been decided to record absolutely every rehearsal, every single piece of music or conversation around music, in order to create a sort of "Conceptual Continuity" (not to say a "Virtual Merchandising Possibility" ... that means bootlegs, you idiot... ), and also to make us regret (or laugh) when we'll be 60 years old. Here's a guide of what happened: Goubs only arrived at 15:00. It seems that the day before a party was held at Eric's, and that he held it more than the others. So only Stef, Dude and Fab were there first. Yann was obviously present all the time, and Seb came later after Goubs. We tried to cover " The ocean " from Led Zeppelin, because it was what we had decided to do for the first encounter with Fab. We played it two or three times but it hasn't been recorded, unfortunately. Then we went into several covers and jams, including " Come together " and " Day tripper ", but Fab wasn't very keen on jamming, so, (thanks to him, indeed), we started working on a song Stef and I wrote together. (That only succeeded three times!!! This is the third attempt). Several takes were recorded, under the very clever working tittle of "Jabba the Hutt ". (The numbers of the takes aren't the real numbers, of course. What a scoop!). The first one is called number 6 ½ (!!!), and lasted 6'30''. It featured some improvised vocals, and a very good solo by Stef. The next one is a wrong start, called 7 ¼ , leading to take 8 1/8, which is 7'24'' long. But the structure was still to be fixed. Then came Goubs and things started to accelerate. Another take, called 9 1/16 and lasting 6'58'', allowed Goubs to be introduced to the song, and then a very long time was taken to elaborate a correct structure for the piece. (No solos, arpeggios in the chorus, etc...). A lot of mumbling and silly playing can be heard on the tape. (including infamous jokes!) At the end of the session, the band went into what was called take 11+, the final celebration. It has been established that every session should end with a jam, deserved or not. This incredible take lasted 14'42''! At the end of it, Stef and Dude led some crazy deviations on tunes like Vasoline; Boys keep swinging; etc... . The boys couldn't even resist to play a song from the " Nicki period ", "Desperate people", although it was decided not to play such music for the moment. (The event can be heard on the tape, followed by a funny " collective imitation " of Nicki's voice) This take, and the previous one, was also simultaneously recorded on the 8-track machine, in case of an eventual " historical take ". (Maybe next time). This recording has been released in 1999 in Safe & Sound Rehearsal 4.

WEDNESDAY 19th OCTOBER 1993

Recording: 'Etherian mode music'
Recording: 'The inner harmony #2'
Red Studio - P: Dude.

This is probably the only recording that happened in the small Red studio. The first track is an instrumental with a strange tuning: EADGBbB. I like this one a lot. Then I tried to give a new direction to 'The inner harmony', by reformatting it into lydian chords. I didn't use this arrangement for the final track, so this version remains a curiosity.

Sometimes in 1992

Recording: 'A new rainbow'
One-eyed Jack - afternoon - P: Dude. Present: Dude, Hervé F.

A pseudo reformation of Rainbow Warrior, with the original partner Hervé F. Two harmonized interlocked guitars playing a melody against a strong heavy background. A nice come-back.

Sometimes in 1991

Recording: 'Jammin' on a Friday night'
White Towel Studio - P: Yves Kreidl, Dude.
Recording: 'Slides on the ice (new version)'
White Towel Studio - P: Dude.
Recording: 'Heavy jam with Fred'
White Towel Studio - P: Dude. Present: Dude, Fred.
Recording: 'Son and daughter'
Recording:
Stef's bedroom - P: Dude. Present: Dude, Yann.
Recording: 'Things we said today'
White Towel Studio - P: Dude. Present: Dude, Val.

Yves Kreidl, (the guy behind the first 'You too' recording), suggested one day to lend me some gear, in order to do some stuff. He came home one day of 1991 (I recall it was a Friday evening), with a big console and a synth, and some stuff. We fooled around a lot, and the result is 'Jammin' on a Friday night', a stupidity in which Yves is doing the drum programming and the live mix, and I'm doing some synth, some white noises, and I'm also injecting some random radio stations in the process. 'Heavy jam with Fred' is a session where Fred, my cousin, is playing a drumpad (Roland Dr505), and I'm playing loud guitar. We gave titles to our music: 'First visit', 'Strong push', 'Judgement day/Kashmir', and we did 'Erotic nightmare' and 'Foxy lady'. 'Things we said today' is played by Dude on guitar and Val on keyboards. It is interrupted right in the beggining by the arrival of Fred, the drummer from Rainbow Warrior.

All those recordings, along with the new version of 'Slides on the ice' are lost forever ! (Quite an horrible news, isn't it?)
However, 'Son and daughter' which features Stef and I having fun with a guitar and a set of maracas is still available. It and has been included in 1999 in the fourth volume of the "Dude Remembers" series. Same for 'Things we said today', which has been released in 2002 on "Dude Remembers #7".

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.