Usually, we do this sort of thing on <a href="http://www.chud.com/package" target="_blank">The Official PKG Website</a>, but it's a slow Friday and I have been loving this disc, so I wanted to jot down the sort of "making of" of each song from my perspective. Nick and Steve will probably do the same at some point.
1. FADE ME OUT - This beaut just kind of came out of nowhere. It was one of those practice's where Nick literally said "Come up with something heavy." I happened to be on guitar at the time, and so I did. The music was written in less than 10 minutes, if memory serves correctly. the only modification we made slightly later was to add the double kick bass drum breakdown that Steve performed so ably. Then we recorded it, complete with impromptu solos shortly after. It flowed so naturally, we did almost everything on the first or second take - a PKG rarity.
2. STARSCREAM - Nick brought most of this one to the table. One of the things I really liked about this record was how he found a niche on keyboards, so that his instrumental role in the band became equivalent to his lyrical and vocal role. I didn't do much here but drum, and make an arrangement suggestion here and there. All the glory belongs to da Nunz. And Steve for a really nice fluid guitar solo.
3. SUNSPOTS - Another came out of nowhere song. This came about because we had a rare practice where Nick, Steve, John, and I were all present. With that much personnel on hand, we tried to jam something out. So off the top of my head, I strummed the main chord progression and we recorded a version of it live on the spot. While nice, we wanted to go back and add some extra sparkle, so re-recorded it with Steve replacing the Johnny Mak (who wasn't at the next practice or in town, even) on drums. Nick added the distinctive keys, and I went back and added the signature bassline and that was that.
4. IT'S ONLY PAIN - This was either the first or second PKG song I ever played on. When I first started playing with Nick, he just wanted me to add some guitar flash and I did a solo on an OLD version of this tune. He'd been wanting to redo it for some time, and on another rare practice where Nick, Steve, Andrew, John, and myself were all present, we decided to rip it out then and there. Everyone did a great job on their role with this one, and it flowed so well, we added an impromptu "jam rock" coda on the spot.
5. GOODBYE PICTURE SHOW - It's amazing how quickly a song this beautiful and textured came about. Nick wanted to do something softer and acoustic...maybe in the vein of "What I Know" from the first record. But as I recall, we didn't happen to have an acoustic handy then, so I dialed up a shimmering clean guitar sound and started picking out the verse riff. The rest of the music came to pretty quickly afterwards, and the song was completed in short order. To finish, we decided to make sure Steve added a solo, because slower, lyrical solos are his specialty. So he did the one in the middle of the song, and I added some licks at the end to ratchet up the intensity even more. But the real polish was added when Nick turned out his superb vocal performance here. One of his best with evocative lyrics to boot. This one is an emotional masterpiece, and stands as my favorite PKG song EVER.
6. FORGET TO BREATHE - As par for this record, this one came about very quickly. Steve happened to be out of town, but Andrew, Nick, and John were present, so we had what we needed. I picked up the 8-string bass, and just started plucking and, in minutes, I came up with the verse music. Shortly thereafter, we jammed out a chorus and started laying down parts. A great moody rocker in the "Alice in Chains - Angry Chair/What the HEll Have I" vein. SPECIAL credit goes to Nick for really making this one gel in the mix with so many layered keyboard effects and such.
7. EYES DON'T DECEIVE - A signature Steve song. He came up with the music out of nowhere, and before I knew it, we were laying down parts. He and Nick pretty much did all the composing and arranging with this one. I was just there for the free popcorn and the drums.
8. NEW KIND OF THERAPY - Another perpetual favorite of mine. The spark started with some keyboard ideas Nick had on a weekend Steve was out of town. He started in, and I immediately felt inspired. Between the two of us, we created a pretty layered arrangement very quickly. It took a while to get a final mix and arrangement we were both happy with, but Nick made it happen as he always does. This was one of the songs that really popped his keyboard cherry. Overall, it sounds very different for Package and reminds me of Zooropa-era U2 combined with Album of the Year-era Faith No More. A real high watermark for us, indeed.
9. GRAPPLING WITH SKELETONS (THE RISING) - This one was an older Package song that Nick had been wanting to redo for a bit, but I was unfamilar with it. Finally, on a fateful weekend when Steve again was out of town (Steve was missing for approximately 33 percent of this record simply because we had a period where he had to miss 2-4 practices straight and Nick and I were "in the zone" so to speak, so we forged ahead without him. He'll be on 100 percent of the remakes record and the new record after that), we took a stab at it. I modified the riffs slightly, put some stuff in a different key, and went at it. At Nick's mandate ("I want you to play something that will make kids want to pick up the guitar"), I added the showy shred bit at the beginning. I was trying to emulate Randy Rhoads' spot on the live version of "Suicide Solution," but at my ability level, I'm lucky it didn't come out sounding like Randy NEWMAN.
10. MONGORR - A great instrumental, and another watershed moment for Nick on keyboards, although I managed to get a little keyboard love too. Nick mentioned to me that he thinks I did some of my greatest drumming on the somewhat similar-Starscream, but I prefer my tcehno-thump drumming here. Steve did some appealing bizare whammy bar/wah guitar work on one of my older axes here, and it makes me smile quite often. This WAS my favorite PKG instrumental until we did Last Transmission (more on that later)
11. SMACKED WITH MOTORCYCLES - God, I love this one! The main riff is all Nick, and he just gave it to me to elaborate on. I came up with the bridge and verse parts, and we had s ong in quick order. It's another one where Steve wasn't able to make until late, so Nick and I knocked out most of the music before he even heard it. Undaunted, Steve came in and laid down a SPETACULAR bassline. Once we added the heavy chorus vocals, this one became a sparkling diamond of a rocker. We recorded it before I even knew the guy was alive, but this song reminds me a lot of Andrew WK. It's got that same punk/pop/metal exuberance to it.
12. WHO GOES THERE - Another very different song. Like many others on this record, the music started froma riff Nick conceived and we built on it, composed it, and recorded it while Steve was out of town. I have to thank Andy Summers of the Police for allowing me to live after completely copping his guitar sound for this song. This is another favorite.
13. LITTLE BIRD - A neat pop/groove rocker that was almost all Nick and Steve. Nick wanted a kind of funky/ethnic beat, and I did my best to make that happen the drums. After several tries at it spanning months, I knocked out a guitar solo that I could live with and the song was done.
14. COLLECTING MRS. CHONKS - Another signature Steve song all the way. Much like Eyes Don't Deceive, it was just me on drums and not much else.
15. NURTURED TO EXTINCTION - This one is an ABSOLUTE FAVE of mine, and I hope it gets a bit more attenion once more people have the record. It got overshadowed when we released the record a few days after announcing this song was done. Anyway....it came about from a practice with Nick, Steve, and I. Nick started playing the signature staccato riff on bass, and once we got into the groove, and I added the chorus music, which is pretty much a combo of AC/DC's "Back in Black" and Aerosmith's "Rag Doll." Steve drummed, and the rest fell together quickly. Alas, our first pass at this song just wasn't up to snuff, so Nick and I started from scratch before Steve arrived at practice one day, and by the time he got there, we were done. This is pretty much one of the songs I'm proudest of guitarwise, especially regarding the solo. Special Kudos to Nick for the anthemic chorus vox.
16. LAST TRANSMISSION - My absolute FAVORITE PKG instrumental, and one of our best songs overall. The song started when Nick got his latest keyboard, and he started coming up some pretty distinctive sounds and licks. Once he started playing the keyboard riff that snakes it's way through the beginning/main part of the song, I hit the drums, and we got a basic structure done. We recorded the keys and drums, and then I had to somehow go back and add guitar and bass parts that fit with those wondrously cacophonous keyboard sounds. NOT EASY. But as always...you start playing, and inspiration arrives, especially from John Barry, whose style I cribbed for the melodic high-pitched E major part of the song. I just love the layers of soft sounds and hard sounds...melody and cacophony. Just beautiful, especially the Nunz' mixing job. Oh, and did I mention...Steve wasn't there that day.
Overall, tho, it's still a very representative recording of all of us. We're all very proud of it, and I can't wait to see what comes next.
1. FADE ME OUT - This beaut just kind of came out of nowhere. It was one of those practice's where Nick literally said "Come up with something heavy." I happened to be on guitar at the time, and so I did. The music was written in less than 10 minutes, if memory serves correctly. the only modification we made slightly later was to add the double kick bass drum breakdown that Steve performed so ably. Then we recorded it, complete with impromptu solos shortly after. It flowed so naturally, we did almost everything on the first or second take - a PKG rarity.
2. STARSCREAM - Nick brought most of this one to the table. One of the things I really liked about this record was how he found a niche on keyboards, so that his instrumental role in the band became equivalent to his lyrical and vocal role. I didn't do much here but drum, and make an arrangement suggestion here and there. All the glory belongs to da Nunz. And Steve for a really nice fluid guitar solo.
3. SUNSPOTS - Another came out of nowhere song. This came about because we had a rare practice where Nick, Steve, John, and I were all present. With that much personnel on hand, we tried to jam something out. So off the top of my head, I strummed the main chord progression and we recorded a version of it live on the spot. While nice, we wanted to go back and add some extra sparkle, so re-recorded it with Steve replacing the Johnny Mak (who wasn't at the next practice or in town, even) on drums. Nick added the distinctive keys, and I went back and added the signature bassline and that was that.
4. IT'S ONLY PAIN - This was either the first or second PKG song I ever played on. When I first started playing with Nick, he just wanted me to add some guitar flash and I did a solo on an OLD version of this tune. He'd been wanting to redo it for some time, and on another rare practice where Nick, Steve, Andrew, John, and myself were all present, we decided to rip it out then and there. Everyone did a great job on their role with this one, and it flowed so well, we added an impromptu "jam rock" coda on the spot.
5. GOODBYE PICTURE SHOW - It's amazing how quickly a song this beautiful and textured came about. Nick wanted to do something softer and acoustic...maybe in the vein of "What I Know" from the first record. But as I recall, we didn't happen to have an acoustic handy then, so I dialed up a shimmering clean guitar sound and started picking out the verse riff. The rest of the music came to pretty quickly afterwards, and the song was completed in short order. To finish, we decided to make sure Steve added a solo, because slower, lyrical solos are his specialty. So he did the one in the middle of the song, and I added some licks at the end to ratchet up the intensity even more. But the real polish was added when Nick turned out his superb vocal performance here. One of his best with evocative lyrics to boot. This one is an emotional masterpiece, and stands as my favorite PKG song EVER.
6. FORGET TO BREATHE - As par for this record, this one came about very quickly. Steve happened to be out of town, but Andrew, Nick, and John were present, so we had what we needed. I picked up the 8-string bass, and just started plucking and, in minutes, I came up with the verse music. Shortly thereafter, we jammed out a chorus and started laying down parts. A great moody rocker in the "Alice in Chains - Angry Chair/What the HEll Have I" vein. SPECIAL credit goes to Nick for really making this one gel in the mix with so many layered keyboard effects and such.
7. EYES DON'T DECEIVE - A signature Steve song. He came up with the music out of nowhere, and before I knew it, we were laying down parts. He and Nick pretty much did all the composing and arranging with this one. I was just there for the free popcorn and the drums.
8. NEW KIND OF THERAPY - Another perpetual favorite of mine. The spark started with some keyboard ideas Nick had on a weekend Steve was out of town. He started in, and I immediately felt inspired. Between the two of us, we created a pretty layered arrangement very quickly. It took a while to get a final mix and arrangement we were both happy with, but Nick made it happen as he always does. This was one of the songs that really popped his keyboard cherry. Overall, it sounds very different for Package and reminds me of Zooropa-era U2 combined with Album of the Year-era Faith No More. A real high watermark for us, indeed.
9. GRAPPLING WITH SKELETONS (THE RISING) - This one was an older Package song that Nick had been wanting to redo for a bit, but I was unfamilar with it. Finally, on a fateful weekend when Steve again was out of town (Steve was missing for approximately 33 percent of this record simply because we had a period where he had to miss 2-4 practices straight and Nick and I were "in the zone" so to speak, so we forged ahead without him. He'll be on 100 percent of the remakes record and the new record after that), we took a stab at it. I modified the riffs slightly, put some stuff in a different key, and went at it. At Nick's mandate ("I want you to play something that will make kids want to pick up the guitar"), I added the showy shred bit at the beginning. I was trying to emulate Randy Rhoads' spot on the live version of "Suicide Solution," but at my ability level, I'm lucky it didn't come out sounding like Randy NEWMAN.
10. MONGORR - A great instrumental, and another watershed moment for Nick on keyboards, although I managed to get a little keyboard love too. Nick mentioned to me that he thinks I did some of my greatest drumming on the somewhat similar-Starscream, but I prefer my tcehno-thump drumming here. Steve did some appealing bizare whammy bar/wah guitar work on one of my older axes here, and it makes me smile quite often. This WAS my favorite PKG instrumental until we did Last Transmission (more on that later)
11. SMACKED WITH MOTORCYCLES - God, I love this one! The main riff is all Nick, and he just gave it to me to elaborate on. I came up with the bridge and verse parts, and we had s ong in quick order. It's another one where Steve wasn't able to make until late, so Nick and I knocked out most of the music before he even heard it. Undaunted, Steve came in and laid down a SPETACULAR bassline. Once we added the heavy chorus vocals, this one became a sparkling diamond of a rocker. We recorded it before I even knew the guy was alive, but this song reminds me a lot of Andrew WK. It's got that same punk/pop/metal exuberance to it.
12. WHO GOES THERE - Another very different song. Like many others on this record, the music started froma riff Nick conceived and we built on it, composed it, and recorded it while Steve was out of town. I have to thank Andy Summers of the Police for allowing me to live after completely copping his guitar sound for this song. This is another favorite.
13. LITTLE BIRD - A neat pop/groove rocker that was almost all Nick and Steve. Nick wanted a kind of funky/ethnic beat, and I did my best to make that happen the drums. After several tries at it spanning months, I knocked out a guitar solo that I could live with and the song was done.
14. COLLECTING MRS. CHONKS - Another signature Steve song all the way. Much like Eyes Don't Deceive, it was just me on drums and not much else.
15. NURTURED TO EXTINCTION - This one is an ABSOLUTE FAVE of mine, and I hope it gets a bit more attenion once more people have the record. It got overshadowed when we released the record a few days after announcing this song was done. Anyway....it came about from a practice with Nick, Steve, and I. Nick started playing the signature staccato riff on bass, and once we got into the groove, and I added the chorus music, which is pretty much a combo of AC/DC's "Back in Black" and Aerosmith's "Rag Doll." Steve drummed, and the rest fell together quickly. Alas, our first pass at this song just wasn't up to snuff, so Nick and I started from scratch before Steve arrived at practice one day, and by the time he got there, we were done. This is pretty much one of the songs I'm proudest of guitarwise, especially regarding the solo. Special Kudos to Nick for the anthemic chorus vox.
16. LAST TRANSMISSION - My absolute FAVORITE PKG instrumental, and one of our best songs overall. The song started when Nick got his latest keyboard, and he started coming up some pretty distinctive sounds and licks. Once he started playing the keyboard riff that snakes it's way through the beginning/main part of the song, I hit the drums, and we got a basic structure done. We recorded the keys and drums, and then I had to somehow go back and add guitar and bass parts that fit with those wondrously cacophonous keyboard sounds. NOT EASY. But as always...you start playing, and inspiration arrives, especially from John Barry, whose style I cribbed for the melodic high-pitched E major part of the song. I just love the layers of soft sounds and hard sounds...melody and cacophony. Just beautiful, especially the Nunz' mixing job. Oh, and did I mention...Steve wasn't there that day.
Overall, tho, it's still a very representative recording of all of us. We're all very proud of it, and I can't wait to see what comes next.
