“Ghost Record Infestissumam: While putting the finishing touches on Alice in Chains’ ‘The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here’ record at Henson Studios, an exciting opportunity surfaced. Nick Raskulinecz brought demos from a band, then known as Ghost (B.C.), and their direction captivated me instantly. Months later, as Nick finalized the deal, I jetted off to Nashville to set the gears in motion at Blackbird Studios.
Blackbird Studio’s A custom-modded Neve 8078 became our playground. We dived deep, meeting a tight schedule head-on, laying down main tracks swiftly within a couple of weeks. Working with the band in teams—Tobias, Martin, Simon, and Axel—for the first few days. Then, Tobias left back to his family in Sweden after all the arrangements were debated and confirmed. After drums were completed (we tracked for cymbal separation, which can be complicated, but Axel was impeccable at keeping his timing together and made this seem like a breeze), it was time for Martin and Simon to jump into action while Axel went back to Sweden. Nick and I dialed in their Orange amps with some vintage flavors like the Hiwatt Lead 30 and Marshall 2550 into an array of cabinets and mic flavors for standout guitar tones.
After completing the guitar recording, Morrow, a quietly spoken individual with innate talent, joined us to deliver the iconic organ and keyboards. Fine-tuning the tone bars on the Hammond B3 for each song became a tremendously tedious task, with Simon assisting in achieving the desired timbre. Morrow’s performances showcased amazing touch and feel, yet the real time-consuming aspect lay in meticulously dialing in the sounds.
After the organ and Keyboards were done, Richard, the bass player, finally flew in to “lay down the groove,” easily handled in a couple of days. At that point, my job was done while Nick worked on vocals for the remainder of the booking; I headed home to Los Angeles.
Yet, an unexpected hurdle arose. Despite attempts in Nashville, securing singers for the highly Satanic Latin lyrics proved challenging. Enter David Campbell, summoned once more to arrange a stunning choir score. We gathered a 28-piece choir at Bridge Recorders (now Silent Zoo Studios) in Glendale, California. With their Neve VR, I had a decca tree set up with three M50s, and one U87 for about every three singers, the scene was surreal—Skyping with Nick in Nashville while he connected with Tobias in Sweden.
The process was a blast, a whirlwind of creativity within constraints. That record remains a personal favorite. Now, witnessing the band’s phenomenal journey, it’s evident they’ve soared far beyond our wildest expectations.
All photos by Paul Fig
Awesome read, as I am a huge Ghost fan! Thank you for sharing!
Question: What’s the story (if you know it) behind the “Cat of Nine Tails” song title? Was it just a working title for “Idolatrine”? Was it an entirely new song?
Thanks on advance!
This sounds familiar, maybe Nick Raskulinecz would know, definitely Tobias. Sorry I could not be be more helpful. This was an amazing record to work on.