ENTOMBED: Studio and composition Updates

12.05.05 Monday

We said we’d start early this week but when you stay up all night it don’t make sense. I meet up with Nico at the Threeman office a little after 1 am and pick up LG at Slussen (subway stop in Stockholm) and head out to the studio. We play LG some of the things we been working on that he has not heard and make him a CD. We try some LG vocal on one of the songs that I’ve put down a guide for.

When Pete arrives we work on one of Nico’s song ideas. it’s a little Slayeresque and we like it but decide the near Hell Awaits clone riff I contributed is a bit much and needs to go or be changed somewhat. But the rough song idea is good.

LG, Nico and I stay and play guitar after Pete leave and put some riffs and ideas on the hard drive.


12.07.05 Wednesday

I was supposed to meet up with Nico, who slept over from yesterday, in the studio at 12 noon. Got there at 1.40 pm. Blamed traffic. No lie. Not completely anyway cause Pete was stuck in it too and got there even later than I. While waiting Nico plays me the intro he’s recorded to the song we worked on yesterday, sounds great. Then I have another go at this weird little song with the hollow body guitar I brought today. Nico is not satisfied with the playing and neither am I. Hopefully I’ll nail it tomorrow. Daniel calls from the office and say I have an interview with BBC,UK, tomorrow at 11 am at a museum in town. They wanted a place with atmosphere and picked this place with a big ship wreck in it - fine with me. We break for lunch and while we eat Pete arrives. Like I predicted he has not picked up the new skin for the second tom, that we talked about yesterday - so we can start tracking drums for real. Nico has a go at him.

We work on one of the song ideas from last Monday (the dead, the dying and the dying to be dead) instead. First time we try it with drums and it takes on a little Morbid Angel flavor. Pete leaves and me and Nico put some guitar and bass down and do some editing to have something to listen to. It’s really sloppy and still needs work but I like the parts, might add up to something.

At 8.30 pm I leave the studio with a CD of the two songs we worked on. Nico stays to enjoy the studio’s sauna. Wise ‘cause it’s rainy and cold outside.


12.08.05

Nico and Pete are waiting for me when I get to Soundland Studio, I’ve done an interview with BBC radio’s Rock Show in town.

Pete has changed the tom skin and we go to work on the first song for today. We are gonna see if we can top some of the earlier takes on a few songs. The snare sounds better than usual that annoying ring we’ve been discussing is gone. Great. Half way through the song the skin cracks. Typical. Peter get’s a new skin on there and we get start again. We try multiple takes on 3 songs but at the end of the day I think we only got one of them better than their original take which is often the case. Oh well, we tried. We’re all tired and the three of us pile into my car and race back into town.

12.09.05 Friday

I get to the studio a little before 2 pm. Pete and Nico are already there and I hand over the new hard drive and keypad (Nico poured a cup of the in keypad he had and it stopped working). I pick up the V and warm up while Nico is setting up the new drive and formatting it, which takes longer than we thought. Pete is ready and anxious to start hitting some drums. Finally we have a green light and start playing. Things go a lot better today and we do a couple of takes one of the songs from yesterday and it feels like we are getting somewhere. Next Pete wants to have another go at a song (working title: Carnage) that me and Nico feel is already “in the can” but why not… I go listen to the demo a couple of times, it’s an old school fast nihilist type thing, and we play the song four or five times. It sounds good but I don’t know that it’s better than what we already have.

Nico and I try out a few different guitar amp and cabinets after Pete leaves but I’m really tired after a rather long week decide to call it a day a little after 7 pm. Short day today but it is Friday. Nico stays to listen to the days work and see what we got.


12.12.05 Monday

Another Monday starts off week four. I pick two Marshall speaker cabinets from our practice room and head out to the studio at 1 pm. Nico is already out there. When Pete gets there a little later we start listening to the demo of the track we decide to have a go at today, so far it’s called AMOK. We run through it a couple of times but Pete is really tired and don’t like what he hears when we listen back. We decide he should take tomorrow off and just recharge his batteries. There’s lots of other things to do so that’s ok but we start to feel the pressure of the upcoming crucifixion celebration and we want to have done as much as possible of the drums by then.

I leave the studio at 8 pm. Nico stays.


12.13.05 Tuesday

Only Nico and I at the studio today. We go over the arrangements for the songs we haven’t recorded yet. Try a few edits here and there to see what works and what doesn’t.

We need to get drums done. We count to six days before the holiday break and we want all drums and some guitars done by then!

Next we try out amp heads with different speaker cabs and can’t find anything that we like. We move the cabs around and box them in and move them to the concrete room behind the drums to see what that sounds like. Nothing feels good and we plug straight into the computer and play around with the Amplitube plug in. Then we listen to some old albums to get some reference. Want a sound better than any other album we done but nothing too complicated. I would be most happy if straight into one of the 800 Marshalls would do the trick.

Brought my Gibson Melody Maker today, mostly play it acoustic on the couch at home but it’s got a real nice tone and I want to use it for something, but we quickly find out that it’s not the mail rhythm guitar. Think I’ll bring an old SG tomorrow and see if it can compete with the Les Paul and the V (that Nico hates - naturally I play it as much as I can) for some rhythm tracks.

At 8.10 pm we leave the studio and race back into town.

12.14.05 Wednesday

I get to the studio at three. Nico and Pete have been working on some drums tracks for a while and seem ready to hit the next song. We pick one with the working title Ministry. It’s not really industrial sounding but there something there that reminded me of Ministry. Awesome band!

Though it’s the riffs are pretty simple the drums prove to be more complicated to get right. We end up doing a bunch of takes but I think we’ll need to have another go at this one in a few days.


12.15.05 Thursday

I pick LG up at his house at 10 am and we head out to the studio. We got SVT (Swedish national TV) coming out to do a studio report at 10.30 am.

A crew of 5 shows up and we don’t really know what to expect, it’s a new music show – Rundgång (Feedback) - that will start airing next year The two guys hosting are big fans and do a good job. We even end up doing a song with the on camera as they really wanna jam with us. Night of The Vampire (originally by Roky Erikson) seem like a good choice and the guys are great, TV history is made! At one they have what they need and seem really happy. Johnny the studio owner give us a smashed up guitar and one of his t-shirts to sign and give away to some lucky winner on the show.

I get a call from home. The dog, which we took to the vet this morning, is really sick and needs to be taken to a hospital an hour and a half away right now. I have to leave even before Pete gets there. Nico waits for him and they redo some stuff from yesterday.



12.16.05 Friday

I get to the studio a little after one and find Nico finishing his breakfast.

We listen to the drums recorded yesterday and it sounds really good so when Pete gets in around three we start working on a song with a lot of Slayer flying around, the verse mainly, mixed with something else I can’t really put my finger on but I like it. We work on it and work on it and work on it and in the end we feel that we have it and Pete is set free. Nico and I start sifting through takes and do some editing. Can’t wait to hear it with real guitar and bass to not mention vocals, LG really liked the song and I know he’ll rule on it!

At nine we pack our guitars and head home. We got shows this weekend, Holland and Belgium, and are looking forward to a little change of scenery.


12.21.05 Wednesday

Last day before crucifixion celebration. We work on more drum tracks.



01.02.06 Monday

First day after the holiday. Me and Nico pic up where we left off and start editing drums to see if we need Pete to come in and do more takes of anything or if we have enough. We manage to get two songs done and start on the third before we call it a day. This will be the last week out at the Soundland Studio. We don’t need to be out there when we start doing guitars and bass plus the change on environment is gonna be nice. Nico, who has spent pretty much every day during our little break doing the new Krux album at the same studio, is really looking forward to the change.