ART OF FEAR
The Spark / The Process / The Song
ELECTRIC VERDELAND VOL. 1 - TRACK #7 - 2:59
RECORDED IN AUSTIN, TX @ ELECTRIC VERDE STUDIO - 2014
TRACK PLACEMENT
Legion (FX) - Season 1 • E7 • Episode 7 (End Credits) - March 22, 2017
The year was 2014, ten years away from the last the grassy knoll album and two years removed from a cancer diagnosis and treatment. I had a new lease on life, a new attitude, and a renewed energy. It was time. Time to create again.
THE STUDIO
The first order of business, setting up the home studio. There was an unused, small room that had potential; it just needed a little love. With the help of a friend I ripped out the carpet and added cork flooring. I painted the room electric green and mounted Auralex acoustic panels on the walls. Once finished, the sonic properties of the room exceeded my expectations. It was a conducive environment for tracking and mixing. This small studio became the main instrument in the making of the album Electric Verdeland Vol.1.
THE SPARK
While assembling the studio, I received an email from Vernon Reid. His band Living Colour was on tour celebrating the 20 year anniversary of their debut release Vivid. He wrote that he had been revisiting the grassy knoll albums while out on the road. He suggested a collaboration. The timing was uncanny. I was ready.
I first met Vernon in Poland during the 1998 Warsaw Summer Jazz Festival. His other band My Science Project, along with the grassy knoll, was on the Sunday night bill opening for Branford Marsalis. That night we discussed working on a project together, but given the limitations of the technology at that time, a long distance collaboration never got off the ground.
By 2014, technology had drastically improved. Digital, long distance collaborations were commonplace. It was time—the studio was ready, I was ready, and per his email suggestion, I sent Vernon demo tracks for his consideration.
THE PROCESS
The advancements in technology had a significant impact on my process. 2014 technology was far removed from how I created music during the ’90’s. No more floppy discs, 8-bit files, limited sample times, and no more waiting for expensive studio time to complete an idea.
My new way to work was with the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) Logic Pro. This software program opened up a whole new world of manipulating sounds, experimentation, and happy accidents. Yes, Electric Verde Studio was truly my main instrument, and I was energized by the possibilities.
Now I had the luxury of inviting artists to contribute to the music in a way I didn’t have in the past. While those living nearby could record at my home studio, those living far away could record in their own home studios, on their own time, and upload their takes to my dropbox. Freedom. Freedom without the pressures of time constraints or the headaches of big studio budgets.
THE TRUST
I’ve learned that communicating my process upfront to my guest musicians before a project begins is of utmost importance. Without it, feelings and misunderstandings could undermine the creation. When I’m working with sound, a two-minute take may end up becoming a one measure loop. An accidental sound, like stepping on a stomp box or tuning an instrument may become the foundation for a new track. A solo tracked for one song may become the solo for another. Anything that sparks a new idea or propels the direction of a song is game. In essence, I am sampling what inspires me from any given take and utilizing it as new source material. And because of this methodology, the process isn’t really a collaboration, it’s more akin to a contribution. I don’t work this way because I think it’s the best way; I work this way because it’s the only way I know how to work.
THE GUEST MUSICIANS
Brad Houser is a Dallas, Texas bass guitar, baritone saxophone, and bass clarinet player. He is a co-founding member of the New Bohemians, later known as Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians. He also co-founded Critters Buggin with fellow New Bohemian Matt Chamberlain and Skerik. He co-designed a line of bass guitars with Reverend Guitars named the "Brad Houser 5.”
Vernon Reid is a Brooklyn, New York songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Best known as the founder and primary songwriter of the rock band Living Colour, Reid was named No. 66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He first came to prominence in the 1980s in the band of drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. In 1985, he co-founded the Black Rock Coalition with journalist Greg Tate and producer Konda Mason.
Adam Sultan is an Austin, Texas guitarist, songwriter, and composer. He was a member of Poi Dog Pondering. He co-founded the band Hollowbody as well as the sado-vaudevillian act, Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat.
THE VOCALS
In 2003, I released the spoken word album Short Stories. The concept was quite simple. Artist Becca Ayers would record her poetry and meanderings into a portable digital recorder. I would take her words, look for phrases that could be manipulated and reconstructed, and then shape new stories out of her random thoughts. It was a rewarding exercise and my first attempt in working with a human voice.
As I began working on Electric Verdeland Vol. 1. vocals were on the forefront of my mind. Since my records in the 90’s were instrumental and Short Stories was spoken word, it was time to expand the colors on my palette and work with vocalists. By the time the album was completed, seven of the eleven tracks had vocals, created with five different vocalists.
When considering a vocal style for “Art of Fear” I kept hearing that cool-casual-confidence of Love and Rockets’ vocalist Daniel Ash. His sense of rhythm, melody, and laid-back delivery was the attitude the song needed. I knew the probability of Daniel Ash singing on the track was nil, but I did know someone who could give the song a similar sensibility.
In 1994, after finishing my debut the grassy knoll album, a friend introduced me to guitarist/vocalist Adam Sultan. His band Hollowbody was in need of a bass player for an upcoming tour. After listening to a cassette tape of his music, I agreed to help him out. The music was structured, melodic, and he had a really cool voice. It was shoegazer pop. Worlds away from my dark downtempo creations for the grassy knoll.
Twenty years after the Hollowbody tour, Adam returned the favor by laying down the vocal parts for “Art of Fear.” There were no lyrics prepared. We just started riffing on words. Nonsensical words. Writing down ideas on the fly. We were looking to re-create that attitude. We recorded multiple tracks, each take subtly different. These were layered and panned in the mix to give the vocals body.
THE GUITARS
Vernon’s input and creative experimentation was totally original. His first take, a chaotic bed of noise created in the software program Abelton Live can clearly be heard during the outro. He could have easily sent an amazing guitar solo, but instead, he went deep into the track and took it somewhere else. Vernon’s second take was a funky Prince-like rhythm guitar. Both takes fit effortlessly in the mix. However, the second take revealed a weakness in the song. The bass guitar that I had laid down on the demo was unsettling. Not focused. Wandering without confidence. It was sucking up sonic space. What the bass needed to do is groove and groove hard. It screamed for a darker tone, and it demanded heft. Once I resolved the issue, the new bass line was recorded and the tune just clicked.
Adam laid down the guitar solo for “Art of Fear.” Tracked without an external amp, I ran his guitar straight into Logic via a plugin. Adam, thinking that I was setting levels, began noodling around preparing for his take, unaware that I had already hit the record button. Phrases flowed out of him and by the time the length of the song had passed there was more than enough magic to work with. He will be forever mad at me for choosing to work this way. Sorry, not sorry, Mr. Sultan.
THE SAXOPHONE
Brad Houser’s searing saxophone provided the chef’s kiss. It cuts through the mix. Driving the song. Somehow creating frenzy with long sustaining notes. Feeding the music with aggressive desperation, and I love it.
THE FINISHED SONG
It’s an honor that musicians whom I admire trust me to use their takes in a way that best serves the grassy knoll. The artistic freedom to re-create the creation is the aspect of my process that I enjoy the most. Earning the trust to do so is humbling.
Thank you for reading and listening.
Edited by Vicki Keller
Vernon is a gem and Houser is my fave bass player on the planet. Amazing how you connected the dots!
I love the Vernon story! He is the epitome of “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”