Petrified
1. "Plastic Man"
kk - We hadn't arranged the order of this album when we started to record it. We selected the tunes that would be included, just not the order - we sort of waited until they were tracked. The first time we heard this song rough mixed, we both agreed this had to bat leadoff. I mixed Cajon just under the jungle drums during the rap to give it some additional punch and urgency. In fact, when I came back to track the percussion, I forgot my stick bag (which contained the mallets to be used for the cymbal swell after the rap) Tracy had some broken up drumsticks from a previous session, we dug them out of the trash can and ended up duct-taping a fat wad of toilet paper to these broken sticks to create home-made mallets... quite an event, but it worked. This song is 100% non-fiction. Look out for wolves in pastor's clothes.
mb - I love this song... a lot of my songs keep me from therapy. My songs are therapy. This song is self - explanatory. A mentally ill pastor hiding behind the cloth who abuses and exploits for his own gain. He is as unstable as the wind, and he changes directions at the drop of a hat. Sadly, I bit the hook completely. (only for a season) This song builds and has a rather scary mid-section. Double tracked guitars panned hard right and left. It grooves nicely! My friend Traci brought us lunch that day and was listening in as we recorded. I think I was playing better because she was there... I tend to show off occasionally...

2. "Open My Eyes"
kk - On most of the tunes, after tracking, Mike and I would mix our own parts, then work together on the vocals. When I was mixing the percussion on this song, I pushed the congas way down... I'm just not completely comfortable with my conga playing 'cuz they're not my main rig, you know? Anyway, Mr. G (Tracy's pop) heard the mix through the door and heard me burying the congas. He peeked into the studio, pulled me and Mike aside, and said (musician to musician) "...Ken, congas come from the inside (pointing to his heart.) There is no right or wrong line. If you play what you feel, it's the right line..." They got pulled up a little hotter in the final mix. Thanks Mr. G.
mb - This song is about changing our patterns. Reflections of my past and anticipation of the future. Keep me moving forward. Realizing I have become the thing I hate was hard to swallow. Open your eyes before life passes you by. We can't always return to the old days, but life is precious and definitely worth living. I only tracked this with one guitar until the bridge. Capo 3

3. "I'm Falling"
kk - This was the first song we tracked on these projects. I remember hearing my drums in the headphones that morning... they were so bright and loud. I play so conservatively on this song because I was just getting used to the sound, the studio, the vibe. It coincidentally became the first song we mixed. We added way too much 'verb... everything way too wet - it sounded like we were singing from across the street - we had to fix it. This is the song that, after returning to Tracy's studio to strip all the verb and re-mix pushed us to get the project mastered outside. Thanks Nancy!
mb - If you read the lyrics to this song without the tune, I'm sure it looks rather depressing. This is hardly my intent. I have been continuously falling for the last few years. Literally and figuratively. I wear my heart on my sleeve. Pain is not always bad. A girl I was dating recently told me I was bipolar. She advised me to see a doctor and start taking prozac. She said it would even me out...
I told her thanks but no thanks. Why would I want to be evened out? Without my valleys I would never have my peaks. I find myself crying sometimes over the stupidest things. I love who I am, good and bad. It makes for good tunes... and dammit that's all life is really about... no? This song is capo 5. When I first played the groove with the band it was sooooooooooooo Lou Reed... This is my favorite song.

4. "Sometimes"
kk - We originally tracked and mixed this song with only the acoustic guitars. It just wasn't "rock" enough after the first pass, so Mike started stretching and really pushing his vocal track a little harder. Tracy turned around after the first pushed chorus and called him out "...don't be soft, man..." Mike just belted the rest of the song. It's become one of my fav tracks on this record, and my fav Mike vocal performance of the projects. Live, this tune flat out rocks, but with just the acoustic guitars and the pushed up vocal track, it was missing something without an electric guitar. We asked Tracy if he'd dump some electric onto it. It was the best 10 minute block we invested into the projects.
Mb - Focus is hard for me... I have continuous visions and so little time to follow through. Isn't that what a manager is for? I lose my way frequently. Friends like Tracy and Ken have kept me honest.
This song was written towards the end of my marriage. I don't think I was a good husband. I had a hard time communicating to the one I supposedly loved most. Next!!!! This song has one of my favorite guitar chords in it. It is the faithful F# with your hand lifted up. I'm sure it has a technical name, but I just don't know it. Used most by Alex Lifeson of Rush.

5. "Ugly Thoughts"
kk - This tune is all about fighting back the demons. It needed a dark jungle drum vibe. My drums were too resonate and musical the first pass, so Tracy had me shred a towel and literally tape chunks (with the TG signature Red duct tape, of course) to the toms and snare to quiet them down (ala: Ringo's "Come Together" drum tone.) He also had me track this song with HotRods (basically a bundle of tiny dowels taped together... sort of looks like a churro) and not sticks, so the drum attack is slower and more diffused. We put the ever-present FireLogg Flanger on the top of the drums so it sits mostly in the cymbals (ala: Zep's "Kashmir") and sort of swishes around in the transients. In this song I flip the snare strainer on and off throughout the tune. I had to do this with a churro in my hand as I was playing... I kept smacking the snare mic as I'd reach over. You'll hear me hit it a bunch of times on this track! I also tracked muted congas and I mixed them just under the toms to add some hand played tone to the diffused jungle drums. To add to the scary vibe, Tim played Fretless on this song, and for his solo, he broke it into three distinct personalities - the high, the super low and the snap. We tracked the solo a zillion times with all types of "feels." Finally it was very, very late and he just started beating on his bass... that's the third section of the solo that we kept. I showed up about 30 minutes late to one of the mixing sections (nice So Cal traffic..!) A few weeks after we originally tracked this song, and Mike had just laid down the electric guitar track... I love that track. It's the only electric Mike plays on the records... he thought the song wasn't ugly enough with just acoustic.
mb - This song is about an ex-wife who walked away... and who, while I was at work, emptied my house. The chord progression is sort of John Lennon-esque (listen to "Cry Baby Cry" from the white album). It also is very Pink Floyd. I love them because they are scary. Haunting is a better word. If you don't own "the wall", I'd advise you to buy it, and put on your headphones. I played Tracy's Baritone electric tuned to C. I suck... Kinda...

6. "I Get Lost In You"
kk - At the last moment I decided to lose the sticks and track this song with steel brushes. I never play with brushes, so it was really, really weird. I pulled off a chain I wear and laid it over the ride cymbal to get that jazz-ride type sizzle. Most of the drum track you hear is just the overhead mics. I wanted to capture a really loose vibe, with old-school tones and with the groove about to fall apart at any moment. We used a simple club slap back delay on the vocals (inspired by Springsteen's "Cover Me" and "Glory Days") to keep it sounding garage band-ish. There were multiple vocal tracks, but in the end, no harmonies with just a single vocal worked best. Later, I was shooting some images with a digital camera while Mike was tracking the vocals. All the lights were out, and the only light in the studio was coming from about a dozen Jesus Candles. So I'm tripping all over the place trying to get a shot in a room so dark I can't see a thing. I thought I shut off the sound on the camera... but of course I didn't. If you listen to the vocal tracks in this song, you'll hear the camera beeping in the background... what a dork.
mb - This is my tribute to Lyle Lovett. He is a master of relaying a message in such a simplistic, soulful, beautifully melodic way. I wrote this for I girl I loved for two months. Ms. Anne Spencer is/was a flight attendant I met in Altadena when I was working. A native New Yorker who smokes and swears a lot. She is blonde and oh so beautiful. We would sit, talk and drink coffee for hours. Our conversations were magical, and I still miss her. Of course I blew it... I played one track Capo2 on my Guild, and the other on my 1972 Yamaha FG-302 tuned down to A. (very swampy) They blend nicely as I pan each guitar hard left and right...

7. "You Care For Me"

kk - This was originally track 6 (with "I Get Lost" closing the record) but we decided to swap. This entire record has a lot of pain and humanity running through it. We wanted to not close it out without reminding ourselves that through the pain we are cared for... all of us. We love playing this one live, as it pretty much cranks, but it too was originally tracked and mixed with acoustic guitars only. I love the dynamics in this song, as it keeps building - and especially when Tim starts slamming bass chords in the last verse. With just acoustic guitars alone it wasn't complete. Tracy came through again for us, and laid down some tasty stuff at the 11th hour. Last time Mike and I played this song was at an organized "Christian Jam" function - we closed our 3-song set (and the night, as we were last on) with this song. It basically set the place on fire. It was way too much for the hosts... we could see it on their horrified faces. The crowd loved it, but the hosts were a little freaked out. Its been over 2 years and we've never been asked back... our name mysteriously fell out of the rotation - go figure.
mb - I think I subconsciously lifted this lick from Joe Perry. It kind of has a "seasons of wither" feel. My eternal questions again surface as I ask those unpopular questions... What the hell are you thinking? And why do things continually NOT go my way? I love this song... I am just a man. I am in awe of creation and how beautiful my children are. I love when my Plumerias and Gardenias bloom. I get too serious sometimes... sometimes I lose my way... yadda yadda yadda...

'Tree' Clear Cuts

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