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Billy Ruben and the Elevated Enzymes

A little while back an old friend of mine from high school, David Martin,asked if he could refer someone from Arkansas to me for help with his “studio and music stuff”.  I’m always game to hear music and meet new people, so I agreed to talk. Well, it turned out that what this guy really wanted was help with music he had already recorded – he needed someone to listen, critique, and mix. I asked him to send me what he had so that I could listen and get back to him. Well, after clearing my ears of a few back-to-back projects, I finally had a chance to dive into his repertoire. I’ll admit, I had some “Arkansas” preconceptions that might have made me a little skeptical about what I would be hearing, but the more I listened to the rough mixes Billy Ruben and the Elevated Enzymes sent, the more intrigued and enthused I became. By the time I had listened through a few times, I was pretty fired up by the well-crafted, high-energy, garage-rock-psychedelic amalgam Billy and crew had come up with. These tracks remind me of early Richard Hell, Stooges, Scene Creamers, and The Cramps… and I had to ask, “tell me what I can do to help!”  The reply was that the band was looking for a mix engineer –and given the groovy stuff I was hearing, I was ready to get in there and shake/sharpen/some stuff up (or I jumped right in, I signed right on). First I needed to chisel down the list  of eleven songs to four and create an interesting cross section of what Billy Rubens and the Elevated Enzymes are. To me these were the first of the bunch to introduce the world to.

I’m going to share “EP 1” with you. It’s a boisterous journey through 4 songs with Billy Ruben and the Elevated Enzymes. These four tunes will take you through the landscape of their imagination and remind you of how much fun music can be.

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AFI “Bodies”The band’s highly anticipated 11th studio album Released June 11, 2021

Finally! After months of teasing us with just a couple of tracks at a time, AFI has released Bodies, their newest effort since the Missing Man EP. 

This super talented quartet has created a high energy, diverse collection of songs. Together with Adam, Jade and Hunter I worked to get some awesome drums recorded for this album at my studio, Dave’s Room.

The band returned to the studio In May 2021 and tracked live for a special Daniel P. Carter BBC Radio 1 Session.

As Elana Chris says for Alternative Press:

“Make no mistake: Bodies brings with it serious divergences from the AFI we last heard in 2018. But divergence is precisely where they thrive. The record, though far-reaching, is hardly a haphazard attempt to reclaim the spirit of the ’80s. Rather, it’s a carefully curated exhibition of the band’s diverse inclinations. Now 11 albums into their tenure, they refuse to stagnate. Where their creative process leads, they follow with utmost enthusiasm and commitment, favoring self-loyalty over arbitrary confines of genre. The new era is beckoning—will you hear it?”

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After 15 Years System of a Down Release Two New Tracks

System Of A Down
(Image credit: Armen Keleshian)

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.

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LEWIS Debut, First Album since The Kinison

Chris Lewis

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

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LEWIS (ex-The Kinison vocalist) shares uplifting singles from new album produced by Paul Fig

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”

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Slipknot – We Are Not Your Kind

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

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Deadland Ritual

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!

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Alice in Chains ramp it up with new video

I had the pleasure of mixing Alice in Chains August 21st acoustic set live at the Space Needle for SiriusXM. Then mixed their live performance at the Crocodile Cafe on August 24th, the day their new album “Rainier Fog” was released. 

Now here they are again with new single Never Fade and video to go along with it.  Produced by Nick Raskulinecz, Engineered by(myself) Paul Fig, Mixed by Evil Joe Barresi.

As Taylor Fields from iHeart Radio says:

Alice In Chains is continuing their story from their “The One You Know” music video, with their official “Never Fade” visual.

The cinematic “Never Fade” music video picks up right where the storyline in “The One You Know” left off with the same two characters as we learn more about who (or rather what) they really are. And the visual ends open ended, which means that the story is likely to continue in the band’s next music video.

Alice In Chains’ William DuVall explains of the Adam Mason directed visual, “The ‘Never Fade’ video is a continuation of the ‘The One You Know.’ The full story will gradually be revealed. For now, check out what we love to do best – play live, and tell a story with our music.”

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“All Out Life” Slipknot

I am so excited to have engineered this recording with Slipknot. We have history from back in 1998-99 when I was playing guitar in Amen touring the U.S. with Machine Head and Coal Chamber. Then life put me at a crossroads.  I gave up touring and being a recording artist to sit at the runner desk at Sound City, where I started my life over on the other side of the glass, so to speak. Since 2001 Slipknot hasn’t stopped. They’ve overcome so many tragedies and obstacles and shown true resilience in the face of the universe trying to slow them down. Now here we are together in the studio with Greg Fidelman at the helm as producer, corralling all their energy into this crushing recording. I am so excited for everyone in Slipknot for this release. Enjoy!

Produced by Greg Fidelman, Engineered by Paul Fig and Mixed by Joe Barresi (All, Sound City guys)

As Tom Connick from NME says:

     ‘AllOut Life’, the Iowa nine-piece’s surprise new single, was released yesterday amidst countless claims from the band that their new album would be “‘Iowa’ levels of heavy” – a call-back to their genre-defining 2001 second LP. You’d be forgiven for rolling your eyes at those claims. The band are a full 18 years older than when they recorded ‘Iowa’– they’re now fathers and husbands, and have full bank accounts and back problems. Such things don’t typically lend themselves to the kind of nihilistic rage that ‘Iowa’ thrived upon (back problems aside).
      It takes just seconds of ‘All Out Life’ to burn away those doubts. An explosion of twisted riffs and the clattering, marching drums that defined their early years, it’s as searing and immediate as a shot of acid to the veins. The pace is unrelenting, even that oh-so-Slipknot percussive middle-eight surging forward. It’s the return to bruising form that they promised, and then some, with Corey Taylor’s rottweiler vocals perfectly summing up the sentiment: “Old does not mean dead,” he bellows, “New does not mean best.”
Read more at https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/slipknot-new-song-all-out-life-review-2395781#sP5xWF6riT6ZfzPJ.99

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Alice in Chains to Release “Rainier Fog” August 24, 2018

I have been working with Alice in Chains since I engineered “Black Gives Way to Blue” with Nick Raskulinecz as producer in 2008. We went on to work with the band on “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here” in 2011-12.

It was a long journey with AIC to get demos together for the new album especially when they were doing much of the writing between tours and travel. Its a privilege, and a hell of a lot of fun, to work with Nick, Jerry, Sean, William and Mike again to create this epic new album.  The band wanted to go back to their roots and draw on some of the organic energy that they used to tap when they were part of the Seattle grunge scene.  So we recorded this new album in Seattle at Studio X. From there, they went to Nashville to Nick Raskulinecz’s studio to wrap up overdubs and vocals. Then we were in Joe Barresi’s space (JHOC) in Pasadena, where he mixed every song. I’m really proud and excited of what we achieved with this album; it blends classic Alice in Chains with new sounds and moods. “Rainier Fog” gets released on August 24, 2018, until then enjoy these pre-released tracks!