This all started when Sam West asked to meet for a beer to chat one sunny California summer day in 2016. After catching up with life, Sam asked if I would like to produce the new Stavesacre album. Sam and I played together in Scaterd Few and in Human Rights with HR from Bad Brains, so I know he can beat a drum. Without hearing any demos I agreed to work with Stavesacre. The next few months (in between engineering gigs) I helped them arrange and shape their demos. Half a year later we started tracking drums and guitars (lots of guitars) with Ryan Dennee and Jeff Bellew, and then finally tracked bass in one weekend after Dirk Lemmenes flew out from Atlanta, Georgia.
In January 2017, Mark Salomon materialized from the east coast where he had been working hard on lyrics and melody. He sang for nine straight days. Two with his vocal coach Jason Martin at his Bull Shed studio, then seven days with me at my space, Underbrow production. Stavesacre knocked this one out of the park. While wrapping up Fireball Ministry’s Remember the Story and Ironaut’s Sick Stupid Lies, AND gearing up for Alice in Chain’s recording session in Seattle, we mixed at fever pace. I am extremely proud of to have produced this Stavesacre record, and I hope we can do it again.
Review excerpt by Loyd Harp Indie Vision Music:
From the first notes of “The Dead Rejoice” you can tell its Stavesacre, as the Bellew/Dennee twin guitar attack is immediately recognizable. This opening track (not counting the sound collage, “Intro”) speaks of spiritual death and reawakening and brings hints of the joy the title implies.
“Sleepy Head” reminds me of Friction’s “At the Moment” in that melodic, quasi-ballad-that-rocks sort of way. “On Being Human” is a straight forward rocker that grab’s the attention of any listener in danger of drifting off track. Interestingly, penultimate track “Moonstone” intro could almost pass for a lost SF59 track, and while it shifts when the song kicks in, there is a remarkable similarity (influence?) of later period Starflyer stuff (post-2005 or so). “Breathe Me” is incredibly emotional and atmospheric (Sia Cover) performed in a way I haven’t heard them do before, which drives the point made above the band’s maturity during their lengthy silence.