Producer. Engineer. Mixer. Dave's Room
Photo by Michelle Pullman
Punk rock ethics, handling crashes, mailbox money, managers, and getting out of the chair
Here is my interview with Matt Boudreau for Working Class Audio (WCA).
I had a blast chatting with Matt about coming up in Los Angeles as an engineer, and with the world of recording in and out of the studio.
It was my extreme pleasure to oversee the audio recording of Alice in Chains live performance at MoPop for the Founders Award show. Performed and recorded in November, 2020, with Geoff Ott, I quickly mixed these songs for for the December 1st Broadcast.
Congratulations to Sean, Jerry, Mike, William as well as Layne Staley and Mike Starr, who are no longer with us, for receiving this very important award.
If you have not seen the whole show watch here
I am enormously proud of the latest project I engineered and recorded at Dave’s Room. Not only was it a privileged to work with the talented artists from System of a Down, but also it meant a lot to me to be involved with two such meaningful pieces of music. Both tracks, “Protect The Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz” focus on the terrible war being fought between the Armenia and the Armenian Republic of Artsahk and the combined forces of Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Daron, Serj, Shavo, and John decided that the best way to bring attention to the plight of Armenians in Artsahk was to make music. The band has not recorded or released anything in the past 15 years, but they felt that the recent attacks by Azerbaijan and Turkey on the Republic of Artsahk (Nagorno-Karabakh), a disputed territory within the borders of Azerbaijan, needed and deserved any support they could give. I too, believe that Azerbaijan, with the help of Turkey, is attempting to eradicate Armenians in Artsahk and that the international community needs to acknowledge the independence of this region and censure both Azerbaijan and Turkey for their actions. I am proud to have recorded these two important, historic tracks at Dave’s Room.
System of a Down will be donating all royalties earned from these two songs to the Armenian Fund. Their website, https://systemofadown.com/splash/ <%22>, eloquently explains the situation in Artsakh and tells you how you can purchase the music and support individuals with crucial and desperately needed aid as well as basic supplies. Each song is available for a minimum suggested donation of $1, which will be given to the US-based charity organization Armenia Fund, which assists those in need in Artsakh and Armenia with basic survival supplies.
I had a blast mixing Red Fang’s “Stereo Nucleosis” for Adult Swim’s Singles Series. This was the forty third and Final entry for Adults Swims 2019-2020 program. I look forward to hearing what’s next from Red Fang.
As Peter Mann from mxdwn.com says:
“Stereo Nucleosis” opens with hard hitting guitar strings that sound a bit more aggressive than your usual offering from the Portland collective. The drums hit with grit tenacity and complement the equally aggressive guitar strings featured in the track. The production sounds fuller and heavier than Red Fang’s 2019 standalone track “Antidote.”
Here it is friends! Christopher Lee Lewis‘ first solo album since leaving The Kinison.
Christopher’s new musical endeavor LEWIS is now available at Bandcamp, or streaming at Spotify and Apple Music.
Why not make quarantine a stay-cation with this musical journey of 90’s flavored, jangley, grungy, indie pop? I promise a quick injection of fun and optimism.
https://musiclewis.bandcamp.com/album/son-on-the-floor
https://open.spotify.com/album/4BdZizGS6NZh6mSFj0QWAt
https://music.apple.com/us/album/son-on-the-floor/1515934589
Back in my Amen days (somewhere around 1999-2000), I met Chris Lewis. He was incredibly young and had great energy. He was an Amen fan and we met after a show we played in Sauget, Illinois. He handed our singer a demo tape of his band, The Kinison. The visceral, bombastic sound captured on that tape told us the band had real potential.
I remember helping record early Kinison songs at Amen’s rehearsal space. It was a carpeted garage deep in Van Nuys and that’s where Chris and his band worked out their tunes. Their demo “I Hate Black Sabbath” was recorded at Sound City, and it led Chris and The Kinison through a series of showcases and ultimately a record deal.
Chris and The Kinison were on their way, and they toured relentlessly in the early 2000s.
Many years later, we reconnected when The Kinison wanted to record a couple of tunes with me at Dave’s Room. This became the EP “Oh, the Guilt”
A few years later, Chris started to write on his own. He tracked 5 songs with a talented friend of ours, Manny Nieto, at his Suplex Studio in Los Angeles. Not long after that, Manny decided to move his studio to Hawaii and I mixed an EP from those 5 songs; it’s called, eponymously, “LEWIS”.
Chris was excited to have these tunes realized, and given our history and how comfortable we are working together, he asked if I would record his album. Over several weeks Chris sent me dozens of songs for “LEWIS”. His new music has a more singer-songwriter feel; jangly and grungy, but at the same time poetic and personal. Chris is both relentless and prolific and while I was listening to the first group, he sent more and more songs. We decided on a recording date and he was still sending me music! Each tune was better than the last and out of the final group came “Tobi”, and “I’m Nervous Too” – two tracks that I knew had to be on the record.
We worked hard and fast tracking live with Sam West on drums, and Frank Figueroa and Brian Duke on bass. After 4 days of tracking and overdubs Chris had his first album recorded, “Son on the Floor”.
Mixing was fun – I kept the raw, honest performances and made sure Chris’ writing and intent really shone through. I am extremely proud of Chris and his new record. I am sure there will be more to come from LEWIS.
As Jedd Beaudoin from Pop Matters says: “the infectious single “Bathe Clean”, three minutes and six seconds that spotlight Lewis’ particular blend of humor, incisive observation and ability to create an unlikely but undeniable hook. Think of a sweeter Guided By Voices or songs where power-punk clichés are muted for the sake of the song and that’s some of what Lewis gets up to on” — PopMatters
Please enjoy The 4 singles leading up to LEWIS full length release August 21 “Son On The Floor” on Sona Baby Records with these lyric videos.
Son On The Floor will be available on LP and download on August 21st, 2020 via Sona Baby Records. Pre-orders are available HERE.
“I’m Nervous Too”
“Tobi”
“Bathe Clean”
“What You GIve”
Just before the pandemic lock down, Ryan Dennee (Stavesacre) called to discuss a new project he was involved in. He wanted to know if I could help The Lost Chorus produce a series of singles. Well, after a day of tracking and overdubs, we ended up confined to our homes. Bu here is the first single: “Soft Lies” was tracked at Dave’s Room. I engineered the drums and guitars. When I received the bass tracks and vocals I also dove in and did the mix. I will leave you with this lyric video “Soft Lies” by The Lost Chorus. Enjoy.
Here it is folks: “Book of Lies ” from Cemetery’s new album “The Last Day On Earth”. From the beginning to the epic end, I had an amazing time mixing this album. “The Last Day On Earth” is the band’s first release since 1993, when the band signed a record deal with West Virginia Records and recorded their debut album, “Enter The Gate”.
At the beginning of 2019, Greg Fidelman assembled a crew to tackle capturing and documenting the energy that this monster of a band puts out. Tracking more songs than needed to make sure we had the best of the best, we worked 6-day weeks for months. as the clocked ticked closer and closer to the band’s tour schedule. With a lot of hard work we came screeching across the finish line! I am proud to have worked alongside Producer Greg Fidelman, engineers Sara Killion, Greg Gordon, and Dan Monti, the always on it Bo Bodman, and Chaz Sexton at East West.
Slipknot- We Are Not Your Kind to be released August 9, 2019
Produced by Greg Fidelman, Mixed by (Evil) Joe Barresi
Late in 2018 I had the chance to record Matt Sorum on drums, Geezer Butler on bass, Steve Stevens on guitar and Franky Perez on vocals. We tracked live at Henson to catch these amazing performances, then overdubbed vocals for the perfect take.
What an amazing few days it was sitting in the room with all this talent!
