I had no band, no label, no money, and a book of songs and ideas I’d been nursing along for several months.
Unbeknownst
to me, a year prior music archivist and producer Dave Schwartz had prepared
a compilation of my works for Fog City Records' head Dan Prothero, who
I remembered from my beat-digging days as the creator of the Bulldog Breaks
series, the secret fuel behind many a rap track. Dan was looking to branch
out from producing the rare-groove-jazz and swamp-funk he'd been known
for and I needed a partner in crime. It was an unlikely match, but unlike
other producers I'd talked to, he had actually listened to all my recordings
and liked my sound (rather than give it the "A&R" listen,
which means you press fast forward if you don't hear a hook in five seconds).
Bandless,
I was forced to return to my one-man-band M.O. and work on what would
become the six minute opus "Ghetto Zen Master," a sprawling
multi-genre piece complete with George Clintonesqe narration, a “We
Will Rock You” stomp track, and a sitar solo. After several weeks
of tweaking (not methamphetamine tweaking, but mixing board tweaking),
we slated it for internet release with an animated video, but my search
for an animator came up dry. The song was shelved...
Meanwhile, word of my bandless status somehow brought forth an unforeseen bounty of A-list collaborators. Wunderbassist Todd Sickafoose (Ani diFranco, Nells Cline, Noe Venable) was first on board, followed by CAKE alumnus Todd Roper on drums. A string section comprised of cellist Marika Hughes and violinist Alan Lin was added, while sit-ins by gunslingers Jim Campilongo, Chuck Prophet, Dave Immergluck and keyboard taste-meister Rob Burger lent the band a soulful, mature musicality seldom heard since 1972. Clearly, the time had come to commit this ensemble to the wonders of analog tape.
A
map of the San Francisco Bay Area was requisitioned and covered with an
array of pushpins representing various studios up to the task. Pastoral
isolation was a must to escape the rigors and trappings of urban life
while producer Dan Prothero had certain vintage gear requirements. We
settled on Prairie Sun Studios, birthplace of Tom Waits's Mule Variations.
Special foods were prepared, and help was summoned. The Todd & Todd
rhythm section was buttressed by potty-mouthed percussionist Dan Morris,
while engineering duties went to the perpetually easy-going Justin Phelps.
Docu-mensch Velvy Appleton and ostrich-herder Dave Schwartz joined the
party mid-stream. Everyone there seemed to have that strange manic energy
you get when something special is going down. We tracked, ate, and slept
for 5 days. By the end of the sessions, the mood in the control room was
of elation and exhaustion.
Everyone else thought we had a record, but next to the roughs from Prairie Sun, a few of my orphaned basement studio tracks suddenly seemed relevant. I was vanquished to work on my own while Dan made arrangements with Jose Alvarez, Mission roustabout and keeper of The Catacombs, a magical warehouse nestled in the squalor of Capp Street in San Francisco, frequented by Chuck Prophet, Charles Atlas, and other vibe-seeking locals. Here I was allowed to pursue some of my more ambitious ideas, including the album keystone "Juniper Rose." A few weeks and many burritos later, the album was ready for mastering. The rest, my friends, is what is happening right now.